Monkey Island Special Edition coming to XBox Live Arcade!

[MusicallyInspired]

For those who weren't there or didn't know, LucasArts did a live 1-hour playthrough of the new Monkey Island Special Edition today at Justin.tv and it just ended a little while ago. I recorded most of the entire playthrough (audio only). So you can't see anything, but you can hear some of the updates. Plenty of examples of voice work and the new soundtrack as well. It's in OGG Vorbis format because it's smaller than MP3 and it's quite a long file (brought the file size down 94.7%!).

I missed the intro music and the opening. But the recording starts in the Scumm Bar while talking to Spiffy, I believe. They also switch between the Special Edition and Classic modes often so when the sound dies down and you hear the original CD-ROM version that's what that is. Enjoy. The quality is actually pretty good. If you don't know how to play OGG files then download Winamp or a plugin for Windows Media Player. The sound is also a little loud and distorted just at the beginning because I had the volume level up too high. I fixed it shortly after recording.

Monkey Island Special Edition Playthrough 52:42 long, 28.4MB

Some musical cues. Some of these aren't the only times they come up:

00:00 - Scumm Bar
06:47 - LeChuck's Theme (cutscene)
14:38 - Jail Theme (Otis) (notice that this version uses the alternate bass lead from the Adlib/MT-32 soundtrack that wasn't included in the CD-ROM version)
16:40 - Following the Shopkeeper
21:56 - The Circus
24:22 - Melee Island Map
26:24 - Voodoo Shop I love this version but my only issue is that this wouldn't sound near as threatening enough in the Monkey Island cave tunnel maze
52:02 - Stan's Used Ships

Also I missed the Loom guy's sales pitch, but the voice acting for that character was spectacularly goofy! Too bad I missed it. The shopkeeper's voice is absolutely excellent.

[MusicallyInspired]

Actually, scratch that. You can just watch the archived video in four parts here:

http://www.justin.tv/clip/51614f11159958be

http://www.justin.tv/clip/e2ed2efb16b700d7

http://www.justin.tv/clip/9fc63696aa02f759

http://www.justin.tv/clip/2e48e093c9479bed

[andrew603]

AHH!   One week!  I'm getting anxious! 

[Locutus]

Thanks for the links!

[MusicallyInspired]

New gameplay footage of the beginning of the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island. Seems they've kept the traditional Monkey Humour^TM and improved the graphics a fair bit since the first screenshots we were subjected to in the beginning of June.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP5uDNhOiPg

[BlueMax]

Whoa....  impressive!  Good humour!  I LOVE IT!!  *squee!!*

[MusicallyInspired]

The first chapter of Tales of Monkey Island is out!!! Go get it!

I've played a fair ways into it and I am really enjoying it! Well worth the money!

[Marten]

Rumor at Kotaku is that Monkey Island 2 remake will be announced soon.

http://kotaku.com/5486393/rumor-lucasarts-releasing-monkey-island-2-special-edition

[andrew603]

Rumor at Kotaku is that Monkey Island 2 remake will be announced soon.

http://kotaku.com/5486393/rumor-lucasarts-releasing-monkey-island-2-special-edition

...YAY!!!

I sure hope so.

[Marten]

Confirmed!

http://kotaku.com/5490621/monkey-island-2-special-edition-hits-this-summer

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge is coming to the iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this summer.

[MusicallyInspired]

The Announcement

The Official Website - Screenshots, Concept Art, Animations, and feature list!

More Screenshots at Joystiq - More amazing screenshots along with hi-res scans of the title and the remade cover artwork!

Well, it's a rotten day for King's Quest fans (with the demise of TSL), but adventure game fans as a whole are getting a pretty big pick me up! This is the most fantastic thing to ever happen in 2010 since the finale of Tales! It's so much more well-done than the already fantastic SMI:SE! Smooth animations! Hand-painted backgrounds! Speech available in both remade AND classic modes! Alternate optional secondary control interface for moving Guybrush! All-star Monkey Island cast returns (of course)! In-game commentary by the game developers! And more! It's a dream come true!!!

This is truly EPIC for the adventure community and gaming as a whole! This is seriously one awesome looking game. I can't see myself even switching to classic mode at all this time around like I do for SMI:SE! I was worried about them carrying over the same mood and atmosphere from the original screens but honestly these new screens truly SURPASS the originals in every aspect! I almost can't even look at the originals anymore!

Also SMI:SE is getting released on PSN and Mac as well

I am seriously so excited right now I don't know if I can wait until summer....I don't even know if I can sleep tonight!

[andrew603]

OH MY GOD!  :-)

[endre1952]

That's exciting news! I imagine that the classic mode might have music recorded from an MT-32, as there was no CD-ROM version of MI2.

[MusicallyInspired]

More than likely it'll be an Adlib emulator.

[andrew603]

More than likely it'll be an Adlib emulator.

I hope not.    That would be kind of disappointing IMO. 

Maybe we should record all the MT-32 music & sound effects, and send it to them.

Anyone have real proper midi rips of MI2 with sysex?  Mine are not very good.

[MusicallyInspired]

Well, apparently they ARE using some sort of MT-32 emulation for classic mode. I'm quite impressed. It's not of the same quality as a real MT-32, however. Maybe they're using some kind of soundfont system? Also, they claim that full-working iMuse is present with the digital recordings. I'm quite excited.

Some of the latest videos:

Gameplay demo at E3 booth

- The game in action, some features explained.

Featurette with interviews with the creators of the remake and the original (Ron, Tim, and Dave)

- Despite the Woodtick sequence here not being in iMuse, the developers said that the music for this video was just pasted in for thematic effect. The final game does indeed have the fully functioning iMuse system with live recorded instruments. I can't wait to hear it.

Teaser Trailer - MT-32 emulation music in classic mode featured.

Sadly, it still doesn't seem like the original introduction/credit sequence has made it into the remake....hopefully it's still there when you first run the game or something.

[andrew603]

As excited as I am at the prospect of the MT-32 soundtrack being put in the game, I don't think that trailer is really credible.  Seeing as it's more of a teaser/goof made for fun than anything else and not really representative of the actual game.  Hopefully I'm wrong!  Those basses did sound a bit funny.

I'm sure the intro sequence is in the game, why would they remove it?  It has to be in classic mode after all.  They probably just pressed the skip button in the gameplay video, just like they skipped the first meeting with Largo.

Still, can't wait till the 7th!  MI2SE looks to be shaping up quite awesomely!  This is gonna be the game of the year for me, unless they got a secret MI5 coming out that they're gonna spring on us LOL! 

[Marten]

Only if Gilbert's on board and finishes the story the way it was meant!

[MusicallyInspired]

Monkey Island 2 Special Edition on Steam for pre-purchase now. Only $9.99 like the first special edition. If you pre-purchase before July 7th when the game releases and unlocks you get The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition for free! If you already own it on Steam you can gift it to another Steam user.

I guess we'll find out in a week and a half if classic mode truly does make use of the MT-32 soundtrack in some way.

[MusicallyInspired]

You can now pre-load MI2:SE on Steam in preparation for the release tomorrow!