Secret of Monkey Island

[Jimi]

I've just downloaded Secret of Monkey Island, and I can't open it. Any ideas why?

[MadReizka]

You could tell more, PC specs, what file you cant open.

[Jimi]

The file is called "monkey~1.001" and when I try to open it (regularly or in DOS), it displays "Windows cannot open monkey~1.001 unless it knows what program created it".
 

[BOYD1981]

is that the only file you downloaded or was there more than one?
if you did download more than one you'll most likely have a file called "monkey~1.rar"
start by extracting that file and it *should* extract all the others, it's also a good idea to have WinRAR installed

[Igor]

I guess that's the true secret of Monkey Island then  

I don't really know if that's the problem, but "*.001" usually means that archive is separated in more files. For example: Monkey.arj, Monkey.001, Monkey.002....
So, if you want to open Monkey.001, you'll need Monkey.arj (or zip, or rar...) first.

[Jimi]

its a zip. only i unzipped it, and that's the result I got. What can I do? (I have winzip 8.1)

[Privateer Puddin']

where did you dl it from? its on kazaa.. (and works)

[Pumaman]

where did you dl it from? its on kazaa.. (and works)

Haha, you mean you downloaded something called "Secret of Monkey Island" from kazaa and didn't end up with "Secret Island Fantasies 5 XXX"? Blimey.



Jimi: your problems are due to the way it was zipped up - we can't give you a definitive answer because it's not a problem with the game, it's a problem with whoever uploaded it.

[scotch]

You should just download it again ._.  There are loads of places to get it apart from kazaa.  And if it wont run still use scummvm.
Actually the one on kazaa doesn't work for me either (gets a divide by zero error somehow), only the german version works

[Jimi]

Thanks.
(if it says divide by zero, the site said keep trying, it will load eventually.)

[Matt Brown]

hahaha, that happened to be once when I tried to download FIFA 2002 CHris. one file was p0rn, the other was GTA3.

[Jimi]

ha!

[Scummbuddy]

The .001 is only part of the file.  You need a couple more.  Just buy it off ebay.

[Andail]

And while we're at it, we should discuss whether monkey island 2 was just a dream or not. That's obligatory with a subject title like that.

[Jimi]

What's the Monkey Island series actually about?

[Privateer Puddin']

grog.

[Jimi]

Eh?

[scotch]

It is about grog.

[Matt Brown]

what IS teh secert of monkey island?

[Scummbuddy]

It was a small chest in the amiga version, but Guybrush was so stupid he blew up the dam with the gunpowder blowing the chest above his head and God knows where it is now....

[Sylpher]

http://www.sylpher.com/oldforum.html

[jannar85]

*sigh*

Piracy....  :'(

[Czar]

...so yes i can say, DID ron gilbert try to make it a dream, alll that ends as him being a boy...etc. etc.
i remember when this stuf started but lost track of teh forums...and the found it again and those MI forums are sure something...
Wish i discovered that before AGs...
*sigh* :'(
j/k


or not?

[Scummbuddy]

Its plausible, but by the end of making MI2 he had aspirations for a third one, so in my mind, it wasnt the real ending or secret.  

[Trapezoid]

Yeah, I remember reading that the MI2 ending was supposed to serve as the "secret" in case a MI3 was never made. He wasn't around for CMI, but CMI treated MI2's ending as a curse, which is probably what Ron would've done in his MI3.

[Czar]

he he i've seen some un official mi3 pictures (as i think some of you have also)
they go something like this:

[Trapezoid]

Wow! Looks like some sort of CMI outtake. Where'd you find this/

[AGA]

Look at the image's properties - http://www.billtiller.com - so they definitely are genuine...

[Trapezoid]

Ah, cool, cool.

http://www.billtiller.com/images/lucasarts/mi_36.jpg
I don't recognize this one either... Might be from a cutscene...

[Gilbert]

* Gilbot V7000a tried to avoid this thread, as he was already frightened by the old MI thread, but...

This thread doesn't belong here, move it to Gen. Gen. (or lock it) please!1!

[Czar]

I'll make it belonge here...
errr....so yeah i think MI could be made by AGS, maybe even better... compared tu SCUMM revisited...err did i say enough? I did mention AGS...

[Adamski]

How could the engine inprove what is already a pefect game...

[babybuu_bad]

I've just downloaded Secret of Monkey Island, and I can't open it. Any ideas why?

Have you downloaded everything for it yet.

If you want download it from worldofmi.com then it might work there or let me do it fo you.

[evenwolf]

Hmm, well that first pic is definitely looking down on Danjer Cove, or whatever- at its right across the bay from this: http://www.billtiller.com/images/lucasarts/mi_31.jpg

and that barber pole suggests to me that maybe there was an extra cutscene or puzzle involving the barbers?  At their home or whatnot? Hehe, someone friggin ask Bill.

[Jimi]

I have the CD now

[Barcik]

Speaking of the Secret of Monkey Island, here's the SCUMM Bar latest's poll:

The results of the last poll which read Guybrush was originally meant to be a kid - good ending or not?:

No way dude. Thank god for the CMI creators moving away from that: 52%

Very cool in a David Lynch kinda way: 34%

Both explanations suck! Monkey robot forever: 15%

Teh horror, teh horror!

[Jimi]

It just wouldn't be the same if Guybrush was a Monkey Robot!

[Scummbuddy]

Play EMI and then you will understand.  We're not saying that Guybrush is a monkey robot.

[Adamski]

The image you're refering to Even was a conceptual picture back when the game was being planned and Bill was sketching up the artistic style for the game. The Barber Shop was originally on Blood Island, hence the nightly-ness of the picture. Apparently, he'd hit the nail on the head with the style and colouring of this picture, and kept it for future reference, or something...

[Jimi]

Scummbuddy- I am making my way throughh all of the MI games. Yesterday I completed MI1, and today I've got half way through MI2.  8)

[Eero]

So fast! I'll bet you used walkthroughs...

[Jimi]

I havn't actually. Although Mats Berglinn gave me a few starting off hints on MI:1 (I'd never played an adventure game before, now I'm addicted!).

[Eero]

I spent 6 months to complete parts 1-3 without walkthroughs. I do have 4th too, but I haven't played it yet, I currently play Simon the Sorcerer 3D...

[Jimi]

I've never heard of any of these games. I'm used to Action games,and simulation games (eg: The sims, and Die Hard).

[Quickstrike]

what IS teh secert of monkey island?

A non-refundable e-ticket.

[m0ds]

Err, whoever reported this thread to me, stating, "can i be something in this please", I don't understand what you mean. Sorry.

m0ds

[Layabout]

I first saw the cmi 'outtake' at the scumm bar, and their interview of bill tiller. There are lots of unreleased pics there.

[remixor]

Err, whoever reported this thread to me, stating, "can i be something in this please", I don't understand what you mean. Sorry.

m0ds

This is the absolute funniest thing I've read all day.

[Czar]

Yeah, in the interview they show a lot of concept arts.. but all of that belongs to LEC..

[Jimi]

 Remixor is WELL right! He sounds like a person with no friends who NEEDS to fit in somewhere!  

[agsking]

lol I agree, that was very funny.

[Ghostmakers]

hey guys, where can i download the first monky island, i have clocked 2-3 and i need the first one, i need grog, and i need more peices "o" eight, sorry im just a junky for adventure games

[Esseb]

We shouldn't tell people about where they can find old games to download, but have you tried www.google.com?

(not trying to be patronizing here, I just don't wanna find out if the gov'ment will knock down CJ's door because of me)

[DGMacphee]

Try Kazaa

[SSH]

hey guys, where can i download the first monky island, i have clocked 2-3 and i need the first one, i need grog, and i need more peices "o" eight, sorry im just a junky for adventure games

Try:
http://www.fast.org.uk/

[Scummbuddy]

Why not buy it and give LEC some money. or at least eBay.

[DGMacphee]

After EMI, I'm giving LucasArts diddley-squat!

Robot monkey my ass!

[Jimi]

I REALLY need to play MI 3+4. I completed !+", but after seeing screenshots of 3+4, I REALLY NEED to play them!

  "Keeww   Keeeee, Keeeeew, Keeee.   Luke, You are my father."
  "What??!!"  :o

[Trapezoid]

DG: Careful, people who said that after CMI either had to eat their words or miss out on Grim Fandango.

[Ghostmaker]

he's got a point, grim fandago, sam & max and the Monkey Island series make up for most of lucasarts "mistakes"

[LL Notorious B.I.G. Will C-H]

monkey island 4 was POOR!
i havent been able to play 3 as my puter is too shite

[Jimi]

 :o "WWHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :o

[Scummbuddy]

Jimi!  What did we tell you... calm down with your responses in legnth and how often.  please.

[VaporeonEvolved]

sam'n'max was one of lucasarts's mistakes? can't be- the game's cool!

[remixor]

sam'n'max was one of lucasarts's mistakes? can't be- the game's cool!

Right.  He meant that the games he listed are great enough that they outweigh any mistakes LucasArts has made.  I'd tend to agree there  

[Jimi]

Soz ScummyB.

I have only played: (lucas arts games) Monkey Island 1, Monkey Island 2, Star Wars episode 1, Star Wars Jedi Power Battles, and Yoda Stories.

[Ghostmaker]

thank u remixor, u have saved many people some embarisment.

[Roy Lazarovich]

I'm not sure about it, but I believe Monkey.001 is not an archive, it's a file in the game itself, obviously, you should click on executable files (EXE), if you don't have it, you probably didn't download the whole thing.
If you are just missing the EXE than you can play it using ScummVM

[Ghostmaker]

It would be a lot easyer, just to get on kazaa and download it again. its only 8mb comes in a convinent self-extractor, and its own personal .exe file to run nthe game. (no more using scummVM)

[Jimi]

If you read the whole thread, You'll find that I've got AND completed MI1, and MI2. I am currently playing MI3. I've only just managed to get that working!

[Roy Lazarovich]

You're doing quite a Monkey Island marathon there

[Jimi]

Yep! I like Elaine!  :o

[DGMacphee]

DG: Careful, people who said that after CMI either had to eat their words or miss out on Grim Fandango.

The robot monkey was from EMI.

I'm safe.

[Adamski]

The only mistake Lucasarts made was all those freakin' Star Wars games... and possibly the Dig and Monkey 4. Yes, definatly Monkey 4.

[DGMacphee]

I'll second that.

They need another DOTT or Sam n Max.

[Ghostmaker]

dont forget MI3, that game was pushing the edge of crap, i recon, they shouldn't have made it so dam 3D, i liked the way that guybrush made those funny little faces in MI2, and what the hell was with taking away the actions bar down the bottom. but hey you have to move with the times, and if that means no more games like DOTT, Sam & Max and other such classics, then, so be it, now im of to find some rope so i  can hang myself, can people sue if i blame my death on George Lucas  

[Adamski]

Monkey Island 3 was of the higest quality. Analyse the soundtrack, the background art and animation before passing it off as a mistake. Even though the writing and humor (and Guybrush's character to an extent) was very different, it still bares all the hallmarks of what made the previous two Monkey Islands great. It also has a brilliant soundtrack, gorgeous background art and fluent animation. Unlike Monkey 4, which watered the humour down to an embarrasing level, had some truly awful plot devices (the whole Herman Toothrot and Robot Monkey stuff made me vomit everywhere). Monkey 3 had originality, Monkey 4 relied on bad parodies and re-used ideas. Did I mention the soundtrack, background art and animation was great?
The long and short of it is that if you do a bad game, you do a bad game, whether it's in 248912x83531 with 32 trillion colours and photorealistic 3d or in 160x100 with 16 colours. If a company were to truly move with the times and do a fully 3D adventure game using the latest stuff such as normal mapping, unified lighting and skeletal animation systems, provided it had a solid plot and original ideas and good dialog, 3d art, soundtrack etc. it would be great.

Edit: and this goes for the 3D adventure engine thread too

[Jimi]

WELL SAID!!! And the classic: "I'm selling these fine leather jackets" is still there! I admit, though, MI3 takes some getting used to, but I still think they did a great job! And the artists that drew all those backgrounds, my hat goes off to you.  

[Ghostmaker]

Fine. You win, the animation was bloody good, and the soundtrack was classy, and some of stans jokes were not all that bad, but i stick by what i said about the actions bar, and what was with making Guybrush look younger. But hey, when i look for a game, i dont mind if it has 256 colour animation, or if it lacks a soundtrack, i like my games to be origanal, or better than the origanal, and funny, really bloody funny. personaly, i would give up unified lighting and skeletal animation if i ment we could have the classic gameplay back, with all the fun and lol's it brought.

[Trapezoid]

Dark: I mostly agree on you with CMI, but EMI was, I think, more original than CMI. CMI, I feel, reused old ideas from the previous games, such as the "part where you're stuck somewhere and there's a bunch of useful tools which you can't reach" and such, whereas EMI's humor and style were more quirky parody stuff. It twisted the pillars of the MI series more than people were expecting, which I guess wasn't what they wanted. Even Ron Gilbert says that game developers don't owe the public anything.

[veryweirdguy]

To be honest, I wasn't that keen on CMI OR EMI. I hope that they don't hire the same team to do the new Sam n' Max game that is being made.

[Jimi]

I have to admit, I was kind of annoyed that they didn't use the SCUMM interface in CMI.

[Gonzo]

Whilst I think CMI and EMI are pretty good games, and it was great to see LucasArts keeping their adventure game output going, I have to admit, after much denial, that they don't really live up to the originals.

For a start, the gags aren't as funny. If Ron Gilbert and co. had written a film together, it'd probably be hailed as the most hilarious film ever, by everyone. (Unfortunately the average person on the street has no idea what a point and click adventure is so their awesome comedy talent is appreciated by relatively few). A game without the same team doesn't stand a chance. I think Dominic Armato does a pretty good job delivering Guybrush's lines, but most of the lines aren't as laugh-out-loud funny (with some exceptions).

Then there's the graphics, the magic of the old 256-colour SCUMM games has been lost and somehow, even the most splendiferous 3D graphics can't better that for me. Call me an over-nostalgic pig-headed buffoon, but there's something in me that loves the way the first two games looked. I loved the background art in CMI but I felt Guybrush looked very little like I would imagine an updated Guybrush. He didn't seemed based on the early character at all, he had different hair colour for a start. I just find watching the pixelly Guybrush walking around Melée in SMI so much more enthralling than watching the 3D Guybrush walking around EMI's Melée. Not sure why.

Then there's the unoriginality. Look at SMI -> MI2, they were hugely different in story and structure. But the structure and puzzles within CMI and EMI seemed to 'borrow' from the first two games (mainly SMI) on occasion. Also, EMI has these ridiculous un-piratey things like the coffee bar - sure they were there early on with the Grog Machine, the (TM) etc, but never to such excess. It felt more like Sam 'N' Max or something at points, not the Carribean.

I still feel The Dig is a worse game than either of the two recent Monkey sequels though. I was really, really excited about it when it came out but I never enjoyed it a lot, it felt a bit bland. That was LEC's big adventure game mistake if they have one.

[Trapezoid]

Ok. The original two games weren't THAT funny though. They were amusing, but most of the games' strength was in the atmosphere, characters, and puzzles.

[Gonzo]

Well, I genuinely laughed out loud at a lot of the first two games, to me they were really funny. It's kind of crucial to the game working, so much of it is built on humour. Guybrush is fundamentally ridiculous, from the very start his name gets a little smile.

There was equal strength in those other things though you're right. I think that atmosphere was lacking a bit in the last two games as well though. I do feel that EMI had some really excellent puzzles though. I reckon that the diving competition is probably one of the best puzzles in the series.

[Timosity]

This thread has made me wat to play all these games again,

I enjoyed them all for different reasons, CMI was similar to SMI in a few ways eg. same sword fighting, but obviously they were trying to bring in something that was already popular, this sort of stuff happens in many industries. Movie, Music, TV etc.

I wasn't dissappointed with the development in the graphics, well the backgrounds, the 3D character in EMI wasn't the best, but I still haven't seen a realistic looking 3D character on a computer game yet, I think it's the imperfections in real life people, that haven't been able to be perfected with computers yet. I think they still draw people too squarely and need much more diverse mathematical equations for it to seem more real.

Even in recent movies, when we get it right, we'll look back on movies like Jurassic park and Toy story and think they look too fake.

It's hard to get used to the interface in EMI, you don't have as much control but I figure it was designed with the Play Station in mind.

My favourite is SMI probably only for the fact that it started it all. I enjoyed them all, therefore I can enjoy 4 games rather than just 2.

The background art in EMI is amazing and that alone is a strong point for me, I love being motivated in a game to get further just to see some more stunning graphics.

I've just started playing EMI then I'll play through them all backwards so I finish with SMI.

I got inspired cause I just Bought and Finished Grim Fandango for the first time, And for me it was The Best Adventure game I have played, quite easily.

I'll have to play all the MI games just So it can confuse me so I can play Grim Fandango again.

Then the Indy games - LC & FOA

Then All the Sierra Games

It's just a vicious cycle, but all in amongst all the AGS games too, it will never end,

I hope

[Jimi]

You will probably not agree, but I think Gonzo is right because the first three Star Wars movies they made, (ep 4, 5, + 6) are much better than 1+2, because even though 1+2 have more action, 4, 5+6 have a better storyline.

[Ghostmaker]

Good point. the fact that ep 1+2 were just SHIT. now wats that i hear about a new Sam & Max?

[Scummbuddy]

..... there is a new sam n max game being produced, as well as a new full throttle game.

[Rhubarb]

1+2 were awesome movies. 1 was needed to just get used to new actors/characters. if they were movies on them selves without the previous 3, i would think lots of people would enjoy them, but because people don't like change, they are happy to put down the newer movies.

[Gonzo]

Yep, it's an exciting time for LucasArts adventure fans...

Although it does worry me that they're talking about 'levels' in Full Throttle, like its being turned into an action game. I have an inkling it'll be like Streets Of Rage or something, with lots and lots of fighting and not much else. The original had bits of action that fit in fairly well, but it'd be a shame if they dropped the puzzley aspect. I suppose we just have to wait and see though.

E3 coming up, hopefully we'll get some screenshots of this new Sam 'N' Max, or at least some more FT 2 stuff.

[Gonzo]

1+2 were awesome movies. 1 was needed to just get used to new actors/characters. if they were movies on them selves without the previous 3, i would think lots of people would enjoy them, but because people don't like change, they are happy to put down the newer movies.

Well I don't hate 1 and 2 like a lot of SW fans do, but I think they aren't the standard of the original trilogy. They still have good acting and good direction (and some even better action scenes, the Ep1 finale duel is brilliant). But the story isn't as interesting...sure we want to know how Anakin became Vader, but it's not really fleshed out so well, it's like a framework with awesome action scenes thrown in.

I guess it must be realised that these films are a spin-off of the originals. If this trilogy had been the more interesting and captivating story, he'd had filmed this one first, instead of Eps 4, 5, and 6. He's just filling out the story for us all to see what went before, which is a great thing to do.

[veryweirdguy]

The problem that George Lucas had with 1+2 is that everyone expected them to be immediate classics like the first two. They may not be brilliant, but as sci-fi movies in their own right they are pretty good. People compare them to the originals too much, but very few films can live up to their standard anyway.

Gone off topic a bit, haven't we? Oh well.

[Timosity]

Ahhhh, I playing EMI and I'm up to the part with the bolders where you have to time it so 1 bolder goes down the middle shoot,

I know exactly what I have to do, but it's probably the hardest part of the game, I've tried it about 50 times and I must be out with the timing by a nano second or something.

I keep getting 2 bolders to go through, it's just pissing me off, the chances are I'll get it first time tomorrow.

bastard bullshit action parts of adventure games, they should have a skip button (well some do, even CMI{the canon battle part})

I just had to vent my frustration somewhere

[Jimi]

I'm on CMI. I have reached the part when the monkeys are at the theatre, but don't have the faintest idea what to do!

[Andail]

Rhubarb?
Would that be Rhubarb Celestial? Welcome back, in that case

[Jimi]

How would people feel if LucasArts revealed they were making a MI film?

[Gonzo]

I'm on CMI. I have reached the part when the monkeys are at the theatre, but don't have the faintest idea what to do!

Do you have some kind of grease in your inventory? Look around in that back room.

[Jimi]

Spoiler

YEAH. I have the chicken grease, but I can't find anything in the back room. I've already got the book out of the hat, and have used the lice.

[close]

[Trapezoid]

How would people feel if LucasArts revealed they were making a MI film?

That would rock. It probably won't happen though.
There is a very cool looking Pirates of the Caribbean movie coming out this summer though. Based on the Disney ride which inspired MI. http://us.imdb.com/Details?0325980

[Jimi]

I went on that. It's actually quite scary the first time, because there is a little drop in the water. It just made me jump!

[Timosity]

I probably shouldn't ask this here, but it's the right topic for people that might know the answer.

In EMI I'm still stuck on the bolders, And I know what to do but my timing is off.

Anyone know the precise timing.

Eg. what's supposed to happen:

Throw bolder in right tunnel - wait for 1st root to move
then throw bolder in middle tunnel - wait for 2nd root to move
then throw bolder in left tunnel - wait for 3rd root to move
then throw final bolder in left tunnel.

In theory 1 ball should go through the middle chute at the bottom.

When I do it either 2 balls go through the middle chute or they miss and none go down.

does anyone know the precise timing?

ie throw just as the root starts moving
or throw in the middle of when the root is moving
or throw just after the root stops moving

or is there a combination of the three.

cause the roots aren't precise for the signal to throw.

I never remember having this much trouble last time I played it.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks

[Stue]

I have to admit, I was kind of annoyed that they didn't use the SCUMM interface in CMI.

Just in case you didn't know. CMI used an updated version of the SCUMM engine and so does Grim Fandango. They are SCUMM based games, just different art and new features I guess.

[scotch]

Isn't Grim Fandango an entirely new engine?
Yeah CMI was scumm engine.. but it didn't use the classing LEC interface.  Personally I prefer the CMI one though.

[Gonzo]

Well they called it SCUMM over several incarnations of it. When people here refer to SCUMM, they're usually referring to that great verb box GUI of Monkey Island 2 and Indy Fate Of Atlantis.

I believe that they ditched the 'SCUMM' tag for Grim and EMI though, wasn't it called GRIME or something?

[Jimi]

I definately know that Grim Fandango used GRIME.

[Timosity]

Damn it, I figured out what I had done had worked, so I was just wasting time, I was waiting for a cutscene to tell me I'd finished the part but it doesn't happen.

Oh well I finished the game now. So onto CMI

Just on EMI, I think the monkey kombat is really clever, more challenging than the sword fighting. Some people think it sucked, probably cause it took them a while to figure out the system, but it's quite easy once you make a table or something.

Still, Grim Fandango is the best Game I've played, I'm so glad I heard people mentioning it on these forums or I would have never bought it, hence missing out on one of my favourite gaming experiences so far.

[Jimi]

I wish I could change this threads name to "Lucas Arts Games Discussion". I've not played Grim yet, but I'm planning on it once I've finished the MI series.

[AGA]

You can, edit the title of the first post in the thread.

[Jimi]

Really? I tried that before but it didn't work!

[Timosity]

I just played and finished CMI today, really enjoyed it again,
now onto MI2.

I love playing these games once in a while.

Edit: OK, now I've completed MI2, Now onto SMI

[veryweirdguy]

Hey Jimi, are you going to play Sam 'n' Max or Day of the Tenticle?

[Jimi]

I'd like to. When were those games made? They may not sell them anymore. (I tried to buy MI1 + MI2 but they didn't sell them)

[veryweirdguy]

You can get them both here:

http://aw.localhost.ee/aw/

I think it's legal but sometimes you can't be sure.......

[Jimi]

OK. Can you tell me how you have got different Avetars everytime I see it?

[veryweirdguy]

I am going to change the goose's hairstyle ( or hat or whatever ) every so often. I have a few set up.

[Jimi]

So how does Tímósíty have his change then? Are you english VWG? or american, or from Isreal, or whatever?

[veryweirdguy]

I'm English, but I live in Scotland. You?

[Jimi]

I live in England. In the west Midlands. It's near Wolverhampton, which is kind of near Birmingham.

[Timosity]

Jimi, to get the random avatar thing happening, First you need a host that supports PHP

Then you need to make a page that contains this code

Code: ags

<? 
$absolute_path = "avatar";
$dir = opendir($absolute_path); 
while($avatar = readdir($dir)) { 
if (($avatar != "..") and ($avatar != ".")) { 
  $avatars[] = "$avatar"; 
} 
} 
$avatars = str_replace(chr(32),"%20",$avatars); 
$random = array_rand ($avatars, 1); 
$randomAvatarURL=$avatars[$random]; 
$avatar = fopen("$absolute_path/$randomAvatarURL","r"); 
while (!feof ($avatar)) { 
        print fread($avatar,120); 
} 
fclose($avatar); 
?>

call the file avatar.php or something like that

create a folder on your site "avatar"

Then all you have to do is put the avatars you want into that folder.

also you need to link to the page instead of an image eg.

yoursite.com/avatar.php
instead of
yoursite.com/avatar.gif


Note this line
$avatar = fopen("$absolute_path/$randomAvatarURL","r");

it is automatically changed from just 1 letter rrr to are

It's that text fixeruper thing

[veryweirdguy]

Hey...that's a great idea! Thanks Tìmôsít¥, I might try that out!

[Jimi]

I'll try that! Since you seem to be inteligent, (I'm sucking up!) Could you tell me. I want to post a song me and my friend did on the critics lounge, for people to C&C it. How can I have a link to listen to it rather than you have to download it?

[Timosity]

That's a tough question cause it depends on how peoples individual internet settings are, but even if you are streaming music it is still being downloaded anyway, I'm no expert on streaming music.

It depends what format you are using, eg. mp3 ogg midi, I think you can stream wma files, they're pretty small I think.

You might have better luck asking in the Gen forum


EDIT: YAY, I finished SMI, so now I've played them all in reverse order

[12431]

why did you download the secret of monkey island? that's copyrighted material!
you don't wan't lucasarts(tm) to go bankrupt, do you?

[scotch]

Yes SMI probably brings in a massive amount of money to Lucasarts nowadays.. I'm really sorry for all the LEC games I've downloaded :'(

Oh wait, I do want Lucasarts to go bankrupt.

[Jimi]

As much as I like the Monkey Island series, since those, the quality of thier games has really gone downhill (except for sam&max, etc.)

[Scummbuddy]

As much as I like the Monkey Island series, since those, the quality of thier games has really gone downhill (except for sam&max, etc.)

That doesn't really make much sense, since the MI series is still going, and Sam and max came out over 5 years ago... so your idea of order inwhich its gone downhill doesnt really work.  If you mean after a certian MI game then its a little different.

[n3tgraph]

now WAIT!

LEC definitly shouldn't go bankrupt!
They might not finish the last jedi knight  :'(

And what about a second Grim Fandango? Who knows....

[Timosity]

Yeah, I think George Lucas will definately go bankrupt, no one would pay to see a starwars movie, no one will buy any of the games, He's on his way to the unemployment office.

(imagine if he shared his wealth with the 3rd world)

I just finished Indy: Last Crusade, much harder than I remembered, figuring out all the different dialog sequences, I couldn't find the keys to fight, plus it's more challenging to talk your way around things.

EDIT: interesting point using SCUMMVM to play this game, there were a few animation glitches, and Near the end in the trials where you walk over the letters, the player character was invisible, also during the trials you are not supposed to be able to save your game, but with scummvm you can.

[Jimi]

So, Scummbuddy, are you saying that you know that LA are making an MI5?

if (yes) {
  Display("COOL!!!! PLEEAASE don't go bankrupt!!!");
  }
if (no) {
  Display("D'oh!");
  }

[Czar]

hey, i just got back in the Secret of  MI thread to say: What, you are still here?? 7 pages?
Anyway, i dont think LEC will ever go bancrupt, cause they have GL behind it all...

[Jimi]

This is the most sucsessful thread I have ever started! Normally they fizzle out after about 20 replies.

[12431]

people are still buying the monkey island 1 and 2 games.
I think their still worth a penny...

If we all download the games we want instead of buying them, there'll be no more gamedevelopers in the world.

think about that.

[Jimi]

 

[Matt Brown]

of course people will make games. what are we??? We make games, we let folks download them for free.

Also, I think that whatever sales lucusarts gets from their old MI games is pretty small. small enough that they haven't made much of an effort to stop it. I see a copy every once in a while of MI4 at best buy for 5 bucks. LEC doesn't see any of that money I dont think, and if they did, it would be peanuts. Now, if LEC created a NEW game, and we all ripped it, it wouldn't be fair. after people stop buying it much after say, 10 years, then yeah, we can download it.

[Ghostamaker]

screw waiting 10 years to download a game, if they charge $80+ for a game i think there asking people to rip there game off. if they started selling them at a resonable price (say $20 AU) i might consider opening my wallet, intill then if they want my money, they can bloody well earn it.

[Timosity]

I bought Grim Fandango for $19 AU in Kmart and CMI for around the same a year ago, but I have downloaded many others, even talkie versions, ie FOA, I can't find Full Throttle anywhere in shops but I'll probably d/l the full cd version next month when I have more bandwidth to spare.

I just completed FOA, which I have played before but it was the first time I'd played the TEAM journey, It is one of the hardest games I've ever played, It took me about as long to finish as MI 1-4 put together.

[Jimi]

The english store: HMV is wierd, it's a music store, but they sell games too. I was looking at the PC games, and there, was Escape from Monkey Island. £14.99. Next to it was a game (about 2 years old) called Black and White. It was £9.99. It had beeter grahics, but was cheaper. It just goes to show that LA will either go out of bussiness for having their prices too high, or because they no longer release old classics which are their most popular games!

[Matt Brown]

I think stores set the prices for older games. MI4 is 10 US dollars. GF is 15 us dollars at best guy. LA sells them for different prices. if people will shell out 15 bucks for an older game, the store would be stupid not to charge more.

when the company sets a price, (like sony and the ps2) and its too high for an older game, then, screw them.

[Scummbuddy]

pfft, why go to a store during normal hours and actually buy a computer, and pay their higher rates to make a profit, when you can go during the night and steal one.  Its cheaper.


yes, this is the same thing.
Edit*In case you didnt know, i was using sarcasim and do not condone people to start, or continue stealing games, computers or puppies.

[remixor]

intill then if they want my money, they can bloody well earn it.

Yeah, that's the part when they "spent countless hours making the game that you want to play"   :

[ghost maker]

they "spent countless hours making the game that you want to play"  

Im not to sure how many countless  hours they spend making some games but its not enough (lucas arts ) recently there games arnt worth the cd's there printed on, all there earlyer games were great, but ever since they started on the star wars games there other games have lost value. Im willing to may $10 for Sam & Max but not $80+ for EMI or CMI (brand new)
Im with scummbuddy i say we steal what we want but cant afford, like those poor iraqies, having to steal national treasures, and rob banks of millions.

[Scummbuddy]

I was using sarcasim, and plus, EMI and CMI did not come out priced at 80.....

heres some more sarcasim:
They practically tell us to warez their games.....To quote Guybrush "Never pay more than 50 bucks for a computer game"

[Jimi]

Let me ask you this: "Would you go into a store, and steal a lucas arts game, when there are even beter games on sale?"

[Scummbuddy]

Wait, who are you asking, and what do you mean?

[Grog_boy]

I think is ridiculous LucasArts Still trying to earn money with old dos games.... They're all great games they should choose, or make the games full audicence acessible, or Remake then to run under Win 9x/XP...
This is a poll at Scumm Bar.... "Should the first two Monkey Island games be available for free?"...
Keeping the same old engine but with voices maybe....

[Jimi]

I would say YES. If they were free, more people would get interested in adventure gaming.

[Privateer Puddin']

it'd be too much work to put voices into the original 2

[remixor]

recently there games arnt worth the cd's there printed on

Fine, then don't bother stealing them.

If LEC can make money off their old games, they probably will.  It's not really a moral issue; it's their choice.  Obviously it would be nice if they offered them for free, but if they don't it's too bad.  It's not like they're charging exorbitant sums or anything.  Ever seen how much some old games sell for on Ebay?  I know this isn't directly related, so don't bother telling me, but they often sell for many times more than the game originally retailed.  At least LEC keeps their games available.  It's so easy just to become accustomed to stealing whatever software or media (music, videos, anything) you want these days that people start to think they somehow DESERVE that as a right.  That's total rubbish.  I don't want to start an argument about recording industry ethics or whatever, but most people seem to pirate media and software far beyond what can be reasonably justified.  If you're going to do it ANYWAY, who cares if LEC doesn't offer their old stuff for free?  You don't see furniture stores letting go of their outdated chairs for free; they may discount them a bit or a lot, but they're still a company and if they can get someone to pay for it they will.  Welcome to the world.

[Ghostmaker]

I say it makes no diffenece whether we steal the games, pirate them, or pay for them, nobody gets hurt, and nobody cares so lets do whatever the hell we like, now i have some buring to do.

[Scummbuddy]

What do you mean, "No one gets hurt."   ?    The game makers who make their living on making games would get hurt, as well as the company.  Lesser sales because people are stealing the games will make the company not feel like there is a need to make more since no one bought the game (whether or not they know they are being pirated is not the issue)  Without the revenue coming in, they wouldnt need so many writers, designers, artists and such and people are let go.  


Way to go... you just got someone fired.

[Trapezoid]

The type of people who would pirate a game generally aren't the type who pay for it if a pirated copy wasn't available. The type of people who pay for it generally aren't the type who would seek out a pirated copy. Either way LucasArts is making the same amount of money off their old games: Not a lot.

[Ghostmaker]

By the time a game gets to australia, and a pirate copy is available, the gaming company will have already made a profit, and will continue making a profit, whether or not i obtain a pirate copy, and nobody gets fired it a company as big as lucas arts inless they deserve it, and i only pirate games from the larger companys as they make the better games. (not as good as some people on this website)

[remixor]

By the time a game gets to australia, and a pirate copy is available, the gaming company will have already made a profit, and will continue making a profit, whether or not i obtain a pirate copy, and nobody gets fired it a company as big as lucas arts inless they deserve it, and i only pirate games from the larger companys as they make the better games. (not as good as some people on this website)

Rather ironic that you choose to pirate the better games...  :

As far as your statement about people getting fired, people are actually fired more easily from larger companies.  Happens all the time.

[Jimi]

I'm asuming that having a job as a games programmer is pretty lousy. You only get payed when the game actually sells, so if the game was crap, they would go bankrupt.

[Ghostmaker]

I chose to pirate the games created by larger compays because if they missout on a few sales its not going to send them bankrupt, unlike if i pirate from a new company that invests all its money in one game. If game developers didnt want to go bankrupt then maybe some of the CEO's should take a pay cut. :o

[DGMacphee from work]

Piracy bankrupting LucasArts?

Har har har har har har!!

I'm sure Uncle George has a thick wad o' cash to aid the company, especially after the recent name change.

Besides, after the pieces of dreck I call the last two Star Wars movies, he deserves to get a piece of profits stolen by a few gamers living in their Momma's basement.

[Scummbuddy]

All you people think you deserve things when your mind is just twisted.  They don't owe us anything but a good game, which we should pay for if we decide to play it.  You guys are just trying to calm your concious by giving reasons to your piracy.  It's stealing.  Just that simple.  

"oOooo.  It's a big company.  They can take a hit by me not buying their product."    
---Thats the biggest load of crap I've heard to justify piracy.

[DGMacphee]

Speaking of owing us a good game, I think releasing Escape From Monkey Island is reason enough to start looting LucasArts like liberated Iraqis!

LucasArts should be levelled for releasing a piece of shit like that!

And so goddamn what if it's stealing?

What right do you have to condemn anyone with such sanctimonious ravings when we're stealing games from a company that no longer gives a shit about us?

Case in point: I spend 50 quid on EMI, thinking "Oh wow! I can't wait to see what happens to Guybrush!"

Hahaha -- I'm so damn foolish!

I wasted 50 bucks, which I earned through hard work selling crack to old people in a nursing home, so I could afford that game and it turns out to be (and you may quote me) "ONE OF THE WORST ADVENTURE GAMES I HAVE EVER PLAYED!"

I tried to return the game to the shopkeeper, but he said the product had to be faulty.

"It is faulty," I said, "It's a fucking awful game!"

You see, judging by the number of ridiculous Star Wars games and the very dodgy EMI (Giant Robot Monkey my arse!), LucasArts just want to take our hard-earned cash for half-assed attempts at games.

Not only that, but they're phasing out decent adventures -- E.g. Full Throttle 2 will be a stupid arcade games (It's being released on XBox, nuff said) with a very-happy looking Ben -- which is FUCKED (repeat: FUCKED) because Ben doesn't smile!

Meanwhile, they refuse to support older adventure games because they're scratching their heads and arses, wondering how you're suppose configure them with XP, which most people seem to be turning to these days.

And what was their latest strategy?

Oh wow -- they changed their name!

Brilliant -- as if I could actually care less whether they call themselves LucasMcblogs Fartypants Incoprerated Ltd Pty.

Their current stock of games are still SHIT!

I'll just repeat for those who have foggy eyes: SHIT!

Hey, LucasArts -- Stop trying to figure out what to call yourselves and make a decent game for a change!

If LucasArts did that, maybe we would actually care what happens to them and stop stealing.


Ahhhhhh -- I'm glad I got that out of my system, and it felt soooo good!

[Ghostmaker]

Im with you DGMacphee.

I havent done anything special with my life, im noting great, im just a nice body with a good face, so i dont "deserve" to pirate these games, i still do, and if you want to call it stealing, go ahead and call it stealing, it doesnt matter to me, so im a thief, big whoop, if george lucas wants me to stop, he can bloody well come to my house and tell me, so i can take some of my pent up anger out on him.

And another thing, i dont live in my mothers basement...

[DGMacphee]

I do.

[remixor]

I'm not saying LEC has a sterling track record of late or anything, or that I'm a big fan of George Lucas as a person, but just so people are clear (since I see posts all the time that indicate otherwise) it's not like LucasArts is a one-man project comprised of George Lucas, and George Lucas makes the games, and George Lucas markets the products, and George Lucas is directly responsible for them being shit, and George Lucas directly takes all the profits.  Other people who are much less wealthy than George Lucas rely on the sale of LucasArts games for their income.  I know I'm not going to change anyone's mind on their practices, so don't bother telling me this.  I don't really understand though why people would want to pirate games they think are total shit.  I guess I can sort of understand pirating it and deciding you don't like it, even if I don't necessarily support it.  I can see where you're coming from.  But then stop playing it, since it's so bad.  And if you DO buy a game, and it's bad...Well, do you expect someone to be held responsible?  You can complain and say it's a bad game, and sure it probably is, but unfortunately that's kind of how things work.  When you buy something you take a chance, and with software as far as I know it's pretty universal that there are no returns unless the product doesn't work.  I've spent more money on bad movies in the theatre than I have on bad games, and I'm not happy about it, but I can hardly call it unfair.  

BTW, in case people haven't noticed, LucasArts is not "phasing out decent adventures"--the damn INDUSTRY is doing that.  LucasArts is PART of the industry, and it's happening to them too.  Now, I KNOW that there are other companies making good adventures, but as a genre it obviously doesn't have the market power it had.  Unfortunately, adventures just don't really sell.  Grim Fandango was fantastic and it hardly sold at all.  It got amazing press--I never read a bad review of that game.  It still didn't sell well.  Do you think that gave LucasArts a lot of motivation to keep making "classic" adventures?  I'm not happy about the direction FT2 is taking, and I'd rather have it be a more traditional adventure game.  But you know what?  LucasArts has no real duty to do that.  I don't mean to sound like a bastard, but honestly it's not the tiny company it once was, and they want to make money on their games.  That's what companies do.  Welcome to the market system.  Talk about adventure games, at least they're not Sierra, for shit's sake.  I doubt you could get a Sierra executive to even admit the existance of Sierra adventure games in the past.  I'm not saying LucasArts is necessarily living up to their past franchises, but at least they're giving us sequels to old adventures.  You think they make money on games like MI5 and GF?  Cause they don't.  After GF they did not predict real profit on MI5, even with cross-platform release and so forth.  They have no logical reason to make those games, other than catering to fans.  And unfortunately, they're not going to be as good.  As we all know, Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer do not work there anymore.  Sad but true.  Not that those two guys were the only talented people at LucasArts but they certainly were the heart and soul of Monkey Island, Full Throttle, and so forth.  We're going to have to get it through our heads that LucasArts doesn't make games like that anymore.  And neither does most of the industry, as I said earlier.  
As far as DGM's thing about their name: I can only assume by that time in your post you were trying to find things wrong with LucasArts.  If you don't care so much, why even bother mentioning?  As you say, the name change is inconsequential.  Hooray!
My stance still stays on pirated games, as I'm sure yours will too.  However, I don't think your opinions are any more justified than my (or anyone else's) "sanctimonious ravings."

[DGMacphee]

I don't really understand though why people would want to pirate games they think are total shit.

First of all, I didn't pirate EMI.

As I said previously, I spent $50 on it.

And if you DO buy a game, and it's bad...Well, do you expect someone to be held responsible?  You can complain and say it's a bad game, and sure it probably is, but unfortunately that's kind of how things work.  When you buy something you take a chance, and with software as far as I know it's pretty universal that there are no returns unless the product doesn't work.  I've spent more money on bad movies in the theatre than I have on bad games, and I'm not happy about it, but I can hardly call it unfair.  

Secondly, I DO expect somone to be held responsible.

I spent $50 on that game -- That's not a figure you find under your matress everyday, especially if you're a low-income student like me.

As for taking chances, I do expect some consumer quality, like a decent story for one thing or a Guybrush that doesn't look like a retarded lump of plasticine.

Paying $50 on EMI is like spending $30,000 on a car that explodes by itself within the first week.

It's different to movie theatres where I can pay only $6 (on a student discount, thus not sending me broke).

BTW, in case people haven't noticed, LucasArts is not "phasing out decent adventures"--the damn INDUSTRY is doing that.  LucasArts is PART of the industry, and it's happening to them too.  

So LucasArts is a cog in a giant machine that is phasing out adventure games.

That still means LucasArts is phasing out adventures..

Grim Fandango was fantastic and it hardly sold at all.  It got amazing press--I never read a bad review of that game.  It still didn't sell well.  Do you think that gave LucasArts a lot of motivation to keep making "classic" adventures?

I've known filmmakers who keep making critically successful films time and time again, even if they continue to be box-office bombs.

It's because they actually CARE about their films, instead of worrying about profit.

LucasArts has no real duty to do that.

They have a duty to ME and EVERY OTHER ADVENTURE FAN who made them rich by buying their classic adventure games.

Talk about adventure games, at least they're not Sierra, for shit's sake.  I doubt you could get a Sierra executive to even admit the existance of Sierra adventure games in the past.

In defence of Sierra, GK3 was a way better game than EMI, in both technical standards and story.

We're going to have to get it through our heads that LucasArts doesn't make games like that anymore.  And neither does most of the industry, as I said earlier.

Which is exactly the reason we should keep downloading classic adventure games for free.

The industry doesn't support me, so why should I support it?

As far as DGM's thing about their name: I can only assume by that time in your post you were trying to find things wrong with LucasArts.  If you don't care so much, why even bother mentioning?  As you say, the name change is inconsequential.  Hooray!
My stance still stays on pirated games, as I'm sure yours will too.

No -- I'm not trying to nitpick things wrong.

You missed my point completely.

To change your registered trademark takes a lot of money, especially considering Licensing, Distribution, a change to the Logo perhaps.

Why spend all this money on a stupid name change when you can invest it into a decent game?

Perhaps if the game were good enough, I'd have reason enough to buy it.

Instead of wasting $50!!!

THAT'S my point!

However, I don't think your opinions are any more justified than my (or anyone else's) "sanctimonious ravings"

I never said I was a god.

[Jimi]

DG's been rumaging through the pages of this thread...so old, they are haunted! 0 _0  0_ 0

[remixor]

I don't really understand though why people would want to pirate games they think are total shit.

First of all, I didn't pirate EMI.

As I said previously, I spent $50 on it.

And if you DO buy a game, and it's bad...Well, do you expect someone to be held responsible?  You can complain and say it's a bad game, and sure it probably is, but unfortunately that's kind of how things work.  When you buy something you take a chance, and with software as far as I know it's pretty universal that there are no returns unless the product doesn't work.  I've spent more money on bad movies in the theatre than I have on bad games, and I'm not happy about it, but I can hardly call it unfair.  

Secondly, I DO expect somone to be held responsible.

I spent $50 on that game -- That's not a figure you find under your matress everyday, especially if you're a low-income student like me.

As for taking chances, I do expect some consumer quality, like a decent story for one thing or a Guybrush that doesn't look like a retarded lump of plasticine.

I'm sorry, but there are many ways you could have found out if that game was generally considedered to be a worthy MI game before you bought it.  In the age of the Internet, it would have been quite easy for you quickly find out what other adventure gamers thought of this game before you bought it.  I do it all the time.  The Adventure Gamers forum is a good place, for one.  ( http://www.adventureforums.com/ for anyone who doesn't know)

Paying $50 on EMI is like spending $30,000 on a car that explodes by itself within the first week.

I suppose, if you buy 600 copies of EMI.  I think it's more like the car RUNNING, just you not liking the throttle response, or the gas mileage, or the handling.

It's different to movie theatres where I can pay only $6 (on a student discount, thus not sending me broke).

I do the same thing as a student, but saying this is so different doesn't really fit well with your $50,000 car metaphor.  And my point is that I see more movies than I buy games, so it's a rather comparable situation for me.  I pretty much only play adventure games anymore, and I still watch movies, so I'm sure I spend more on movies.

BTW, in case people haven't noticed, LucasArts is not "phasing out decent adventures"--the damn INDUSTRY is doing that.  LucasArts is PART of the industry, and it's happening to them too.  

So LucasArts is a cog in a giant machine that is phasing out adventure games.

That still means LucasArts is phasing out adventures..

Yes, basically that's what I mean.  However, it's different for them to just be "another company that's doing it" rather than to be leading the effort.  I'm not saying it makes them BETTER--there's nothing noble about being a sheep--I'm just saying it wasn't their IDEA to phase out the adventure game.  They're still trying to make them anyway, even if they're shit.

Grim Fandango was fantastic and it hardly sold at all.  It got amazing press--I never read a bad review of that game.  It still didn't sell well.  Do you think that gave LucasArts a lot of motivation to keep making "classic" adventures?

I've known filmmakers who keep making critically successful films time and time again, even if they continue to be box-office bombs.

It's because they actually CARE about their films, instead of worrying about profit.

As do I.  That's very admirable, and I hope that in my intended after-college life as a musician that's how I lead my life too.  However, I, and probably most of those filmmakers, am not a fairly large company.  A "filmmaker", as a single person, has far more control over his artistic integrity.  Whose artistic integrity in particular would be represented at LA?  As I said, the visionaries have left.  It's just a bunch of guys making games now.  And I'm not saying I like it, I'm saying that we sort of have to deal with it because that's how business works, and they have always been a business.  Just before, there were a smaller business with better games designers.

LucasArts has no real duty to do that.

They have a duty to ME and EVERY OTHER ADVENTURE FAN who made them rich by buying their classic adventure games.

I guess we'll just have to disagree on this one, because you think they do and I concede that they don't.  If they please all the adventure games that make them rich, then become poor because of it, we'll be in the same state as we are now.  They won't be making good games, but because they don't have the money, not because they don't have the talent.  And look, do you think they INTENDED to make MI5 a bad game?  It WAS a bad game, but again, without the people there who helmed the great AGs in the past, I'm not sure it's quite as easy to just release a great and classic adventure game out of thin air.  It would be wonderful if they did, but who's going to do it?

Talk about adventure games, at least they're not Sierra, for shit's sake.  I doubt you could get a Sierra executive to even admit the existance of Sierra adventure games in the past.

In defence of Sierra, GK3 was a way better game than EMI, in both technical standards and story.

That's true, but on the other hand GK3 was released in a closer proximity to GF than EMI, and can't imagine any adventure gamer calling GF a bad game.  It's not a huge difference, but it's unfair to single out EMI when GF was released only 11 months or so before GK3.  And again, LA is still trying to make adventure games.  And again, I'm not saying they're going to be good.  FT2 looks like crap, but time will tell about Sam and Max 2.  And again, that may be crap.  If it is, well there goes another failed effort.  But at least it's an effort, I guess.  It's just a different way of looking at it.  FT is one of my favorite games, and from a certain point of view I'd rather not have them taint it with a shitty sequel.  However, when FT2 was NOT in development, I'd probably still want a sequel.  Obviously I'd have no way of knowing whether it would be good or bad.  Well, now it is in development and I'm disappointed but when you get down to it, if it does turn out to fit with my current expectations, I just won't buy it.  At least it'll give me an excuse to give an earful to the younger gaming generation about the great adventure games of old.  Hell, I do that all the time already.

As far as DGM's thing about their name: I can only assume by that time in your post you were trying to find things wrong with LucasArts.  If you don't care so much, why even bother mentioning?  As you say, the name change is inconsequential.  Hooray!
My stance still stays on pirated games, as I'm sure yours will too.

No -- I'm not trying to nitpick things wrong.

You missed my point completely.

To change your registered trademark takes a lot of money, especially considering Licensing, Distribution, a change to the Logo perhaps.

Why spend all this money on a stupid name change when you can invest it into a decent game?

Perhaps if the game were good enough, I'd have reason enough to buy it.

Instead of wasting $50!!!

THAT'S my point!

Ok, I'll give you that it's somewhat frivolous, but I honestly don't think that's money they took out of the "Good Games" fund.  And beyond that, I think it's utterly unrelated to anything having to do with making better games.  I'm sure they have all the money they need to make good games, name change or not, but without the guys there to put that money to good use, it's not going to happen.

However, I don't think your opinions are any more justified than my (or anyone else's) "Sanctimonious ravings"

I never said I was a god.

How appropriate.  You fight like a cow.

[DGMacphee]

I'm sorry, but there are many ways you could have found out if that game was generally considedered to be a worthy MI game before you bought it.  In the age of the Internet, it would have been quite easy for you quickly find out what other adventure gamers thought of this game before you bought it.  I do it all the time.  The Adventure Gamers forum is a good place, for one.  ( http://www.adventureforums.com/ for anyone who doesn't know)

First of all, all the magazine critics gave it the thumbs up.

So did a lot of internet critics.

So why should I trust them?

Secondly, aren't adventure games (and all art forms) subjective.

It's the same with movies -- For example, Roger Ebert, one of my fav movie critics, gave The Usual Suspects 1 star, yet it's one of my favourite films.

By your logic, I should only trust popular opinion.

I am wary of critics -- they can be very misleading.

Just because critic so-and-so says Titanic is a brilliant film, doesn't mean it will be for me.

Case in point: I went to see the Hours this year because it was critically successful, scored several Oscar nods, and everyone was talking about Nicole Kidman.

And I thought it was a terrible -- It had one-note characters and Nicole Kidman practically sleepwalked through her Virginia Woolf portrayal with no life or energy in her performance.

But that was just my opinion.

However, I didn't feel too cheated because it was only $6, right?

Spending $6 on a bad movie is way different to spending $50 on a bad game.

I suppose, if you buy 600 copies of EMI.  I think it's more like the car RUNNING, just you not liking the throttle response, or the gas mileage, or the handling.

No -- EMI is like a full-scale car accident with one of the passengers flung out the windscreen.

It's an utter bomb.

do the same thing as a student, but saying this is so different doesn't really fit well with your $50,000 car metaphor.  And my point is that I see more movies than I buy games, so it's a rather comparable situation for me.  I pretty much only play adventure games anymore, and I still watch movies, so I'm sure I spend more on movies.

Yes, but my point there is that movies don't send me broke.

I can watch, say, a movie per week without losing too much cash, but if I want to play a new game I have to fork out anywhere between $50-$90.

And if I'm paying that much, I expect a damn good game.

Take for example a little gem I got a while back: Hitman.

Great game -- different genre to EMI, but I got way more enjoyment out of it than I did with EMI, and it had a better story and better elements to it.

Same with GK3 -- which is in the same genre, and was the last adventure game Sierra released (as was the same for EMI for LucasArts)

Hitman and GK3 were worth the money.

EMI wasn't

My point here is, friend, if I'm paying that much money while on a low income, I expect someting good.

As a movie-goer, I don't go broke because I can afford $6 a week easily.

Yes, basically that's what I mean.  However, it's different for them to just be "another company that's doing it" rather than to be leading the effort.  I'm not saying it makes them BETTER--there's nothing noble about being a sheep--I'm just saying it wasn't their IDEA to phase out the adventure game.  They're still trying to make them anyway, even if they're shit.

Are they making less adventure games?

Yes.

Then they DID decide to phase them out.

I don't care who the leader was, LucasArts got rich by making classic adventures and now they've abandoned that AND abandoned us.

It's just a bunch of guys making games now.  And I'm not saying I like it, I'm saying that we sort of have to deal with it because that's how business works, and they have always been a business.  Just before, there were a smaller business with better games designers.

Excuse me, but WHY THE HELL SHOULD I HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT?

I have every right to complain and hold them responsible.

I guess we'll just have to disagree on this one, because you think they do and I concede that they don't.  If they please all the adventure games that make them rich, then become poor because of it, we'll be in the same state as we are now.  They won't be making good games, but because they don't have the money, not because they don't have the talent.  And look, do you think they INTENDED to make MI5 a bad game?  It WAS a bad game, but again, without the people there who helmed the great AGs in the past, I'm not sure it's quite as easy to just release a great and classic adventure game out of thin air.  It would be wonderful if they did, but who's going to do it?

Pleurghburg is free and made by a handfull of people.

Same with KQVGA 1 + 2.

And both of those games are better than EMI (Btw, it's MI4).

My point here is that people can make a free indie game that's more credible than the dreck LucasArts are releasing.

I don't think LucasArts intend to make a bad game.

But you think they could try WAY better than a giant robot monkey and crap like "The Ultimate Insult".

The only "Ultimate Insult" is EMI itself.

That's true, but on the other hand GK3 was released in a closer proximity to GF than EMI, and can't imagine any adventure gamer calling GF a bad game.  It's not a huge difference, but it's unfair to single out EMI when GF was released only 11 months or so before GK3.

You miss my point here too.

You said it would be hard for a Sierra Executive to admit the existence of an adventure game of the past.

And I provided one.

And it isn't unfair to single out EMI -- Both EMI and GK3 were the last adventures released by both companies.

At least Sierra ended the genre on a high note -- I hold them in respect for that.

Ok, I'll give you that it's somewhat frivolous, but I honestly don't think that's money they took out of the "Good Games" fund.  And beyond that, I think it's utterly unrelated to anything having to do with making better games.  I'm sure they have all the money they need to make good games, name change or not, but without the guys there to put that money to good use, it's not going to happen.

In other words, LUCASARTS HAVE SOLD OUT.

Instead of getting the talent to make the games, they've just been releasing crap after crap.

They're trying to appeal to popular demands and failing.

It's just lucky Uncle George has the new Star Wars movies for tie-ins.

It's the only way LucasArts makes any money.

They're sellouts!

How appropriate.  You fight like a cow.

I think you need to go back to Melee island and practise some more insults.

You're not good enough to fight the Swordmaster (TM) yet.


Listen, all your points are valid but you still haven't justified why I shouldn't download LucasArts games for free when:
A) LucasArts are sellouts who don't care about adventure gamers anymore.
B) They openly state they don't support the games anymore because of the introduction of Windows XP
C) I'm on a budget and don't see the point of buying a collectors pack when it's unsupported and LucasArts are a bunch sellouts who don't really care about their fans.

[remixor]

Secondly, aren't adventure games (and all art forms) subjective.

Ok, let's go with that then, which is a perfectly reasonable statement.  As you say, many critics quite enjoyed MI4.  Who's to say then that it's a "bad" game?  I say it's a bad game, and you say it's a bad game, but if plenty of people enjoyed it while as we didn't, it comes down to a difference in taste more than anything.  It's unfortunate that they used a license we love, such as Monkey Island, but they just took it in a different direction.

Yes, but my point there is that movies don't send me broke.

I can watch, say, a movie per week without losing too much cash, but if I want to play a new game I have to fork out anywhere between $50-$90.

I understand your point, and I suppose it's different for everybody, but I buy games much more infrequently than I see movies, and the total amount I spend on movies is more than the total amount I spend on games is what I'm saying.  And what game costs $90?  I'm not necessarily saying there aren't games that cost that much, but I've never spent more than $50 on a game before.  You may not be referring to USD (which I am), but if you are that seems unusual to me.

Are they making less adventure games?

Yes.

Then they DID decide to phase them out.

I don't care who the leader was, LucasArts got rich by making classic adventures and now they've abandoned that AND abandoned us.

You could look at it that way.  I don't however think that "LucasArts got rich by making classic adventures" is a very definitive statement, though.  They made some of the greatest and most popular flight sims of all time with X-Wing and TIE Fighter, for one thing.  The Dark Forces series has made them tons of money as well.  As much as it may seem sometimes, they were never "an adventure games company".  They were a games company who made, among other things, really good aventure games.  As is not too surprising to me, they have changed with the times.

I have every right to complain and hold them responsible.

That's true, but they have no duty to respond to that.

Pleurghburg is free and made by a handfull of people.

Same with KQVGA 1 + 2.

And both of those games are better than EMI (Btw, it's MI4).

My point here is that people can make a free indie game that's more credible than the dreck LucasArts are releasing.

I agree with you there too.  However, do you think the gaming public would buy those games?  They're incredibly well-built games, but if they were going to expect people to actually buy them, they would have to be made in such a way that would demand more than a handful of people.  Today's gaming technology is such that each individual technical aspect of a game requires too much experience and knowledge to be done by one or two people.  I'm not happy about that (trust me), but it seems to be the way things are going.  And unfortunately, as you'd probably agree, when you get that many people working on a game, it's less likely to be as cohesive an effort.  This isn't quite as bad in action games which are more about the pure fun gameplay aspect, but in story- and character-driven games it can be the kiss of death.  There are exceptions, but that seems to me the way the games industry is going lately.

I don't think LucasArts intend to make a bad game.

But you think they could try WAY better than a giant robot monkey and crap like "The Ultimate Insult".

The only "Ultimate Insult" is EMI itself.

You'd think they could.  It really bothers me that for some reason they didn't, but if they don't have decent writers on staff because they've all left, I'm not sure what they can do about that.  I get the feeling not many great story and dialogue writers look for jobs in the games industry these days, given the most popular genres lately.

You miss my point here too.
You said it would be hard for a Sierra Executive to admit the existence of an adventure game of the past.
And I provided one.
And it isn't unfair to single out EMI -- Both EMI and GK3 were the last adventures released by both companies.
At least Sierra ended the genre on a high note -- I hold them in respect for that.

Ok.  I wasn't really being completely literal, I was more attempting to get across that LucasArts still seems to publicly take pride in their old games, for better or worse, whereas Sierra really doesn't, from all accounts I can see.  And I do think it's unfair to single out EMI.  I mean, sure it's TECHNICALLY the last adventure released by LA, but they're in the process of two more right now, even if one of them seems to be more of an action-adventure.  For all we know, Sierra could come out with a half-baked adventure any time now.  Just because their last one happened to be good doesn't really mean anything to me.

In other words, LUCASARTS HAVE SOLD OUT.

I don't fully disagree with you there, but that's not what I was implying in the text you replied to.

Instead of getting the talent to make the games, they've just been releasing crap after crap.

They're trying to appeal to popular demands and failing.

It's just lucky Uncle George has the new Star Wars movies for tie-ins.

It's the only way LucasArts makes any money.

They're sellouts!

Well, I don't deny that they've completely sold out as far as their Star Wars license goes.  Their collection of Star Wars games is a festering pit of shit.  But I honestly don't think this applies to their adventures.  Those are not licenses that in today's age can really be construed as money-makers like the Star Wars license can.  I meet people all the time who have never heard of Monkey Island, Sam and Max or Full Throttle.  When I DO meet someone who has heard of ANY of those (I mean in real life of course) it's quite a rare occasion, and rather exciting.  Seeing how many gamers I know, this is rather telling.  I honestly believe the LA designers are TRYING to please their old adventure fans and just not knowing how to do it without the guys who made those games great in the first place.  I don't want to come off as a blind defender of LA, so if it for some reason looks like that, trust me I'm not.  But I'm not sure it's that easy to just go out and get talent.  With adventures being such a scarce genre, where are they going to find people like that?  I know there are people here making amateur games that could come up with much better stuff than LA has lately, but those people have other jobs and to the best of my knowledge aren't pursuing professional game designing careers.

I think you need to go back to Melee island and practise some more insults.

You're not good enough to fight the Swordmaster (TM) yet.

I am rubber and you are glue...

Listen, all your points are valid but you still haven't justified why I shouldn't download LucasArts games for free when:
A) LucasArts are sellouts who don't care about adventure gamers anymore.

I still disagree regarding them not caring about adventure gamers anymore, which I attempted to address above.

B) They openly state they don't support the games anymore because of the introduction of Windows XP

I'm not going to argue this because I'm not sure specifically what you're referring to.  I know they've released an XP-compatible Adventure Pack.  However, it's not like what you download is going to be XP-compatible anyway if they don't sell an XP-compatible version.  You'll end up having to use 3rd party software like ScummVM anyway to make it work.  Again, I'm not sure how to fully respond to this point.

C) I'm on a budget and don't see the point of buying a collectors pack when it's unsupported and LucasArts are a bunch sellouts who don't really care about their fans.

See above for sellout part.  As far as not understanding why to buy a collectors pack: Well if you already own the old software, you don't need to buy it.  But you don't need to pirate it either.  If it's unsupported and ScummVM has the same improvements the collectors pack does (which it does), just use ScummVM.  Seems simple to me.


I'm in rather a hurry at the moment so hopefully this response is somewhat coherent.  I've got to go this instant, but perhaps I'll come back and edit it later.

[DGMacphee]

but if plenty of people enjoyed it while as we didn't

Name them  

And what game costs $90?  I'm not necessarily saying there aren't games that cost that much, but I've never spent more than $50 on a game before.  You may not be referring to USD (which I am), but if you are that seems unusual to me.

I'm talking Australian dosh.

You could look at it that way.  I don't however think that "LucasArts got rich by making classic adventures" is a very definitive statement, though.  They made some of the greatest and most popular flight sims of all time with X-Wing and TIE Fighter, for one thing.  The Dark Forces series has made them tons of money as well.  As much as it may seem sometimes, they were never "an adventure games company".  They were a games company who made, among other things, really good aventure games.  As is not too surprising to me, they have changed with the times.

Of course X-Wing, TIE Fighter and Dark Forces made money -- They're Star Wars games.

But the bulk of their income came from Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island, The Indy games, DOTT, Sam n max, and The Dig (That was a real bread winner).

That's true, but they have no duty to respond to that.

As a customer that provided his $50 to Joe Retailer, LucasArts DO have a duty to me and every other disappointed gamer.

However, do you think the gaming public would buy those games?

They don't need to because they're free -- and they rival the classic adventures, which are not supposed to be free.

I was more attempting to get across that LucasArts still seems to publicly take pride in their old games

Then how come they don't provide any XP support?

I don't fully disagree with you there, but that's not what I was implying in the text you replied to.

It does if you read the rest of my comments.

Their collection of Star Wars games is a festering pit of shit.  But I honestly don't think this applies to their adventures.

It does to EMI.

I still disagree regarding them not caring about adventure gamers anymore, which I attempted to address above.

Suit yourself, but you haven't convinced me.

I know they've released an XP-compatible Adventure Pack.  However, it's not like what you download is going to be XP-compatible anyway if they don't sell an XP-compatible version.  You'll end up having to use 3rd party software like ScummVM anyway to make it work.

If they've released an XP-compatible pack, then why do the say on their website that their games are not compatible with XP and they do not offer support.

They also don't support ScummVM.

See above for sellout part.  As far as not understanding why to buy a collectors pack: Well if you already own the old software, you don't need to buy it.  But you don't need to pirate it either.  If it's unsupported and ScummVM has the same improvements the collectors pack does (which it does), just use ScummVM.  Seems simple to me.

You stated before that none of the original members who created those games are with LucasArts now.

And yet the company believes it can milk the last remaining drops of profit from those games.

Even if the ones they make now are utter shit.

So why should I support that.



I'm tired of writing these essay length responses.

I've given all my reasons and am now going around in circles.

Feel free to have the last word.

[remixor]

Fair enough.  Like you, I think I've said pretty much all I'm going to say on the matter.  I don't have any particular need for the last word.  It's been fun  8)

[LL Notorious B.I.G. Will C-H]

i wish i could afford to go to the cinema every week

[Adamski]

I prefered the other Secret Of Monkey Island thread.

[Jimi]

Oh thanks!  

agsforums.com? That's a new one.

EDIT

I just went on that site, and there are LOADS of wierdo's. Theres this extremely srange guy called DGMacphee, oh and another called ScummyB. The only normal person is probably Jimi.  

[Ghostmaker]

Bad news jimi
I think this threads finished
and now we must give it a proper burial
ashes to ashes, dust to dust
if any one has any objections to this burial speak now or forever hold your peace

[Jimi]

Isn't the "speak now" thing for weddings?

:'( Goodbye thread, I'll miss you.
*Thread ends

Is it gone?....   Woo!! Party!!!