Californian development studio Telltale Games today announced plans to reignite LucasArt's seminal Monkey Island franchise with two projects - a high-definition remake of the classic Secret Of Monkey Island game for PC and Xbox Live Arcade and an all-new episodic series called Tales Of Monkey Island for PC and WiiWare.
You can read the official press release below:
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif – June 1, 2009 – LucasArts today announced that the original hilarious pirate adventure is back, with two new projects underway based on the classic Monkey Island franchise. Beginning in just a few short weeks, Telltale will premiere the Tales of Monkey Island™ game series, delivering a completely new epic storyline and swashbuckling flair that will unfold across five monthly episodes on PC and WiiWare™. The Monkey Island celebration continues later in the summer when LucasArts publishes The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition, a completely re-imagined version of the first game in the series that adds updated high definition graphics, a re-mastered musical score, and full voiceover to the classic adventure game originally launched in 1990. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition will be made available on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PC.
Today's announcement represents a new partnership between LucasArts and digital entertainment pioneers Telltale who are crafting new experiences for today's audiences with engaging stories delivered through regular monthly episodes. Tales of Monkey Island is developed by Telltale, whose team includes designers and artists who worked on all of the previous Monkey Island games. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is being developed internally by LucasArts, the company that started it all with the original Monkey Island games.
“We couldn’t be any more excited about bringing Monkey Island to today's gamers — both in our special edition of the original classic, and through our collaboration with Telltale on the episodic series,” said LucasArts’ President Darrell Rodriguez. “We can’t wait for Guybrush Threepwood and LeChuck to return to gamers’ screens.”
Telltale Games was formed in late 2004 by ex-LucasArts employees and is responsible for such games as Sam and Max: Season One for Wii, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventure for XBLA and the Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People series on WiiWare. Telltale will be joined by several members of the original Monkey Island development team for Tales Of Monkey Island, including director Dave Grossman, composer Michael Land and the voice of Guybrush himself Dominic Armato.
The first episode of the series is dated for a PC release on July 7, with no scheduled release dates for Tales Of Monkey Island on the WiiWare service. Considering the somewhat erratic release schedule of the Strong Bad series on WiiWare one can imagine why Telltale might be reluctant to announce anything at this point. Oh, Nintendo.
Stay tuned to NintendoLife for more updates on the status of Tales Of Monkey Island as it comes to hand.
[source bluesnews.com]
Comments 45
In related news, I'm selling these fine leather jackets.
Glad to see we're the ones getting the new stuff. This should be good.
@CB HA! Oh monkeys on wii must be good. It has the original voices, me so happy. And btw NICE CROWBAR!
I love this series of games, a true classic.
Looks great. Here's the main site with the trailer:
http://www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland
Michael Land will do the Music again
I hope they translate the Text and Sub the Voices again very professionell like Sam&Max with the same german Voice of Guybrush. That would be cool. I think i will play it on PC then with all Episodes complete.
Yes,except they should revive Lucasarts rogue squadron and shadow of the empire
I've heard about that series....long time ago! are they good? is it worth save for buy them?
The original two games are classic, Buffalo Bob. I also enjoyed the third game, but I don't think it was as well-received. Anything after that I haven't played.
It'll be worth keeping an eye on them, I'll put it that way.
This is amazing. Telltale rock. Also, I hope LucvasARts Monkey Island 1 remake ends up on Wii too, seems such a waste to only have it on PC/XBLA.
The first 3 games were great. The 4th wasn´t very good
I hope this means LucasArts will eventually release Maniac Mansion for the NES on the VC.
Can't much about this other than...can't wait for it come out!
Cool, but what I REALLY want is the Amiga version of SOMI, or failing that I guess the Sega CD version will do.
"I got this scar on my face during a mighty struggle"
...
After 20 years! W00000T! I'm so exited! (turn on Celebration) WOOO!
AWESOME!!!!!!! I feel kinda bad for complaining about the lack of official SCUMMVM support on wii. With this stuff coming out, I don;t know why there isn't a Scumm section in the VC. Why God Why..........
"How appropriate; you fight like a cow!"
Good news I suppose, but I'd still much rather have the original Amiga version of SoMI on Wii.
i know it would take up too much space for 1 download, but i hate it when they release games in more than one download, like this one being a 5 parter like strong bad
Oh, how neat. Just listening to the music on the trailer made me feel all nostalgic and happy
I don't think I like the fact it'll be in 5 parts though.
I never really cared for episodic content, but I will make an exception for this great series.
yeaaaah
Hopefully King's Quest will get the same treatment.
Oh how I pumped for this AMAZING game series. The old ones for DOS are classic! Can't Wait!!
Yes.
How appropriate! You fight like a cow!
if it's 800 points an ep, I will get it on the wii, if it is more I will wait for reviews and probably get the season on pc
I am rubber, you are glue...
Just to let you guys know, the link to the staff members who were involved in previous Monkey Island games is broken....
The first episodic title I ever really cared for. Could be quite fun, even with dumbed down gameplay.
Sweet i never got the chance to finish the 1º one as a kid, (i didn't know too much english at the time).
Looks like thats going to change.
I never got a chance to play anything from this series. I'll have to keep an eye out for that. (Wait, by PC do they mean retail or Steam? (I only have Steam on my computer at all because Portal forced me to install it, and I'm not really interested in launching it again since I finished Portal... though Plants Vs Zombies is tempting... (How about a WiiWare release for THAT?)))
Anyway, yeah... I'll be looking forward to the new episodic game as well.
Am I overlooking something or do they not say how many episodes it is?
Awesoooooooooooooooooooome! I'm a big fan of the Monkey Island series and of Telltale, so this is going to be fantastic. I'm still downloading the PC version though, because it is going to be much cheaper.
Oh man this is awesome! I love monkey island, and point-n-click adventures in general! And Telltale! This is great news!
I never played the original one and the wife likes the point-and-click adventures so this should be good for us to play together (for a change).
Hopefully we'll see some classic Lucasfilm Games 8-bit stuff on the C-64!
Terrific news. Although the 'Curse' of Monkey Island is my fave.
But since when did Threepwood have a goatee?! This won't do, unless they make some gags out of it...
@Golgo:
Threepwood had a goatee in MI2.
Damn, you're right! Still, it doesn't suit him. Looks like an emo-pirate, now.
Interesting, Nintendo gets the graphically better version...
@Golgo:
Yeah, I admit, the beard looked a lot better on his 2D sprite than this one. I actually really liked it then. Now it just looks...
...well, if I can't say anything nice, I won't say anything at all.
This has my interest
It will be 5 episodes, that's official. And seeing the 5 episodes of Strongbad are 1000 points each, I can see the same coming for Tales of Monkey Island. But that won't keep me from getting this. I want it!
I don't expect a new classic, but the development team is amazing, and they're likely to expand the Monkey Island storyline and bring us fun puzzles and dialogues, worthwile our time and blowing some fresh air through my old rotten pirate sails.
"Geh mich aus'm Wech oder ich schneid dir durch!"
I have never heard of the series before, but the video from Awsome 5 has me excited. If it's similar to Strong Bad in terms of points, count me in!
Definitely looking forward to this. I love point-and-click adventure games, and I've been wanting to play some of early classic ones.
I absolutely LOVE Monkey Island
Plus, Telltale did a good opening impression on me with SBCG4AP, so this new MI saga should be sweet to take a look into. I do agree there, with Nintendo's funky release schedules I see their reluctancy in announcing it late, though in my case, I don't care
(and now, I'm off to wondering whether they're refer to the rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle or not...!)
I really hope they get all cast members back especially Dominic Armato. He helped sell CMI. I am also hoping for Murray the skull to reappear. An interview from E3 suggests that another season could be made after this one is finished. On a different note: I pirate I was meant to be, trim the sales and roam the sea.
Awesome!! ... I love Monkey Island, period! Actually I'm playing through the series and now THIS. Really great news. The only thing is that they want to set the price to 1.000 Nin-points (like Strong Bad). 5x1.000 = 5.000 = 50,
€/$ Compared to 35,$ for the whole PC Version i have to say NO to WiiWare. I hope they reconsider.Tap here to load 45 comments
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