5-20-07
Woah haha, hi there. Yeah. Not much going on. As you know (or should if you don't), the best place to get up to date info on Maniac Mansion or any other LucasArts adventure for that matter is Mixnmojo, so check there instead of here for all of your news-related needs. As always, this site serves as sort of an archive, so I'll only post on the off chance that something groundbreaking happens. Oh, and did you check out Ron Gilbert's blog entry from last month that talked about developing MM? You should. And remember, anyone who wants those MP3s need only fire me an email. If you've tried and I seem to have ignored you, try again. And of course you guys have all played and enjoyed the first Sam & Max season from Telltale Games (The lead designer of which is none other than Dave Grossman of DOTT fame). If not, shame on you and get gaming.
So yeah, I'll see you guys on Mojo, if any reader of this site isn't a longtime reader there already. I may post here every six months or so just to touch base, but that's it, go to Mojo.
10-16-06
Heh, haven't updated in quite awhile, but that's not unusual, is it? Nothing too Maniac Mansion-y has happened in the past few months, though there are some nice Ron Gilbert interviews that have popped up since my last post. You might want to check out this wonderfully cynical audio interview with him at Gamespot. Also, Adventure Gamers has posted a review of Maniac Mansion. Not as high as I would have rated it, but hey. Oh, and while it's not directly MM related all of you should care that the "premiere" of the first Sam & Max game episode is tommorow.
Well, that's all for now. I've got to pop up every now and then to ensure that this place is still alive! I still get a steady stream of emails from MM fans which is always great; keep them coming! And remember, if you need the MP3 tracks that are indefinitely down just shoot me an email and I'll get them to you. Until next time!
6-25-06
SCUMMVM 0.9.0 has been released. Go get it!
6-20-06
Hey, ever wanted to see that Maniac Mansion poster? Fan gyromatical noticed it on an eBay auction awhile back and, well, ta-da! It's getting really hard to find these days.
Oh yeah, I don't know when the second server will be up again (which hosts all the mp3s, movies, and larger picture files). Sorry about the frustration. If you'd like any of those files in the meantime (I've gotten several requests for the soundtrack) feel free to email me and request them and I'll be happy to send them your way.
4-20-06
Ever wanted Maniac Mansion icons for your Mac? Well, Maniac Mansion fan Pedro Gomez has apparently taken pity on you. Get 'em here.
4-4-06
Edge Online has an article about the presence of humor in video games. The works of Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer are cited, and Ron is quoted several times, having a fair bit to say about the matter.
2-20-06
Maniac Mansion fan James has taken it upon himself to upload videos of the two episodes of the Maniac Mansion television series that was available on the Love Collection video tape for everyone to see. James invites you to request the videos via his AIM screenname TheDeadMan1979. Wanting to top himself, James also provided the ending theme song for the TV show in MP3 format. Get it at the music section whenever the second server starts working again.
2-19-06
Reader hampsterinthemicro (of forum fame, back when this site had a forum), wishes to report an update about his Maniac Mansion map project. He's now completed a Maniac Mansion map for Timesplitters, and anyone with the game and an XBOX Live account can look up the map or his gamertag (helljumper49) to acquire it. Anyone with the means should give this a looksee!
1-20-06
After quite a few years of being unseen (at least as far as I know), the rom of the prototype version of the NES Maniac Mansion has resurfaced on the web. Grab it in the downloads section or right here. Don't play it too long, though - it might scar you with its unabashed offensiveness.
1-19-06
Remember those two fan flashes from awhile back? Well, he's just completed part 3, and you can check it out at Newgrounds, or right here on this site thanks to adam. Also check out this fred avatar he sent. Adam notes that a part 4 could be on the horizon, so keep an eye out for that. Woo! Also of course thanks to ian who continues to graciously offer his server.
1-1-06
As pointed out by Mojo, you should check out the most recent Photoshop Phriday entry from Something Awful. There are some great fake movie posters from LucasArts adventure games, including Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle.
11-14-05
Watch this guy play through every LucasArts adventure up to The Curse of Monkey Island and point and laugh.
10-30-05
SCUMM 0.8.0 has been released, sporting, among other things, several bugfixes and support for the NES version of MM. Download!
10-7-05
Uh, whoops. Apparently I'm an idiot.
10-6-05
The Unofficial Maniac Mansion Fan Site, the definitive web site about the Maniac Mansion television series, has recently undergone a major overhaul and a change in location. Be sure to check it out, and keep an eye on it as further updates are coming.
Also, Duke, if you're reading this, e-mail me!
8-18-05
PC Zone magazine recently did an interview with Ron Gilbert. Check out the scans at Mojo.
8-16-05
Idle Thumbs has put up the final part of its Ron Gilbert interview today. Among other things Ron offers an amusing tidbit about him wanting to put the word "shit" in MM. Go read.
8-4-05
Seeing as it was Slashdotted and all, I may as well point out that Ron Gilbert has commented on the fan-made Nintendo DS port of SCUMMVM. Pretty cool stuff, by the way. You should look into it.
7-14-05
MM fan zach544 is working on something incredibly cool - the Maniac Mansion mansion in 3-D! The map is being made for the game Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and Zach will offer early stages of the map file and those who wish to get the file can request it. The map is being modeled after the graphics style of the NES version of Maniac Mansion, and early screenshots of the work (featured in this forum thread) look stunning enough to make any MM fan giggle in excitement. Check it out!
7-6-05
Issue 151 of Edge magazine features an excellent (seriously, it's awesome) article on Maniac Mansion. It contains some excellent tidbits on the history of the game and some quotes from the game's heads such as Ron, Gary, and Dave (Fox). It's also got some great, never-before-seen (at least as far as I know) concept art, so you have to go check out the online version right now.
Also, just for people who were wondering, the new LucasArts online store opened up yesterday and sucks - there's no older games available.
6-21-05
The LucasArts company store is offline until July 5th, when a "new and improved" store will open! Maybe, just maybe, LucasArts will take this opportunity to put all of its older games up for sale again (like, a certain game that rhymes with Maniac Mansion). Or, maybe they'll just spruce up the site graphically and make buying their hundreds of generic Star Wars games more hassle-free. Who knows?
Yeah, there's nothing to talk about. Unless you're a PS2 owner and still don't own Psychonauts, because the playstation port of Tim Schafer's rather Excellent Game has shipped today. Go get Psychonauts already. Seriously, every Maniac Mansion fan should have purchased it already.
6-17-05
MM fan Tim has sent in a new piece of fan art today. Check it out!
6-13-05
We'e got a great fanart submission today. Andrea Neil writes:
I'm a professional Illustrator and I made a portrait of one of the characters, Razor, in an oil painting about 2 years ago.
It looks amazing! Check it out!
6-7-05
Okay, I'm putting this here because the more people who see it, the better: My e-mail address has changed to: [email protected] So, only send mail to that from now on. All done.
6-6-05
There's some not-so-hot news to break: The forums are going down come November. Read this for more information and how we can secure a new forum in the meantime.
I would say something else but the date has two sixes in it, which might mean something bad, or something. I'm really worried, and scared. Another month of no updates should do the trick though!
5-11-05
Okay, so I may or may not be a month late in posting this, but LucasFan Games' Maniac Mansion Deluxe totally sweeped the 2004 AGS Awards. That is, they won best scripting for an AGS game. So a belated congrats to them!
Also, as has been noted in the forums, episodes 8 and 15 of Maniac Mansion Mania have english versions available! Check 'em out, and remember: You can always offer episode creators to translate episodes in other languages.
But, wait, there's more! The great folks of the SCUMMVM team have announced that the NES version of MM has recently been supported. It's like, crazy.
4-29-05
I don't know how many of you caught the Tim Schafer episode of "Icons" last night on G4TV, but I'm here to tell you that it was almost totally unlike everything that appears on that network - in other words, it's really good. The hour-long special covered the crunch mode of Psychonauts as well as Tim's past and history at LucasArts. This touched upon Maniac Mansion and of course discussed Day of the Tentacle. Any fan of Tim will want to check out the repeats of this special, and for those of you who don't catch G4, there's supposedly a fan recording being uploaded at some point in the near future.
4-26-05
Stop playing Psychonauts for one second, this won't take long. An Argentina based design studio has recently released an entry into the ever-growing volume of awesome fan-created work. Presenting Maniac Jackson & The Moonwalking Mindbenders. I'll let them explain it:
It's a game, turned into short movie, coded within the styles of the Lucasart's SCUMM games of the 80s... Give it a look! We had to recode the script (SCUMM) it took years! But it's finally ready to watch!
So watch it! Now!
Note: As usual with all fan stuff, you may or may not find the material offensive.
4-19-05
Psychonauts.
4-16-05
Woah, how the hell did April creep up on me like that? It made the last two weeks pass by like they were only fourteen days. Regardless, it's my duty to once again post that LucasArts has once again discontinued the Adventure Collection, once again destroying all options of buying Maniac Mansion officially from the company. Will they bring it back at some point? Who knows, but it's worth crying over for at least a few days.
Speaking of things to cry over, be sure not to when you play episode 10 of Maniac Mansion Mania. Yes, they're already up to episode 10! Play it!
Oh and by the way, have you ever wanted to access this site from, say, the URL maniacmansion.info? Dude, me too! And now we all can, thanks to cool and awesome reader Shaun. Who is awesome. You should all thank him. And don't forget, he is awesome. Unlike LucasArts.
3-29-05
SCUMMVM 0.7.1 is out now. Totally rad.
Also, to keep you up to speed with MM Mania, they're up to Episode 5 and still going strong! Keep track of 'em here (might want to babelfish that) and wait for any English translations...or volunteer to the team to make a translation yourself! And don't forget to head over to this thread to discuss! Killer!
3-20-05
The english version of Maniac Mansion Mania episode one is out.
3-19-05
Man, this is awesome. The LucasFan folks as well as a bunch of other MM fans have begun a project called Maniac Mansion Mania, which will consists of several "episode" adventures set within the MM universe. LucasFan himself has created episode one (as of now in German only) and MM fan khrismuc has made episode 2 which you can get (with a rough English translation) here. And don't forget to check out the project's main site here. This opens up a lot of opportunity for fans to make their own little MM games, and apparently character sprites, animations, and backgrounds are all free for the taking for people to easily take a stab at their own little AGS MM adventure. Also as usual with these projects they're probably going to need some translations for other languages for future installaments. Weeee!
3-8-05
Okay, this update was totally supposed to happen awhile ago, but I was really busy and neglected to add it. Reader Mark, who is awesome, has awesomely sent in full scans of the Famicom manual. See the scans here in the documentation section. Mark also sent in some cool Famicom themed Fan Art that you should check out here.
Again, sorry. I know that a mere apology is not enough to rectify my mistake, and the ridiculous amounts of damage I've doubtlessly inflicted are irreparable anyway. So I'm going to go ahead and praise Psychonauts, which is totally hip right now. Psychonauts owns. All of you should have pre-ordered it by now. How else is Tim Schafer supposed to feed his family? Selfish bastards.
2-27-05
There's some disturbing new Fan Art today that you should check out. Stay tuned for some documentation-related updates.
2-24-05
This post at LucasForums features an article from the March issue of Game Informer Magazine: a Q&A with LucasArts president Jim Ward. You should read the whole thing, but here's the part that spells doom:
We need to move beyond the IP that we have.
So no sequels will come out of LucasArts except Star Wars and Indiana Jones. No Maniac Mansion 3 will come from LucasArts. Damn. Well, at least they claim they'll be making some original games, which is a good thing, but it's a shame that we won't be seeing a Monkey Island 5 or any other sequel to the other IPs.
2-21-05
To honor Presidents' Day (By the way, today also happens to be my birthday, and tommorow you don't have the "but it's a postal holiday" excuse not to send me cash) Gamespot has put together a video featuring games that have presidential references. DOTT gets a natural nod, so you should probably check this out.
2-13-05
About a week ago, Wired posted an article about fan-made adventures based on old licenses, mentioning LucasFan Games' Zak2 and MM Deluxe. It's worth a read, plus it's fun to mock Wired's inability to spell "McKracken."
2-06-05
Those of you who frequent LucasForums may be aware of this thread in the Monkey Island forums where some Guybrush sculptures have been shared. Well, scroll down to check out a cool preliminary Bernard Bernouli sculpture by Nasenmann12. Yeah, it's in DOTT-style, but who the hell cares? It's awesome.
1-28-05
After a long wait, fasdit has finally completed his epic sequel to his Maniac Mansion flash movie. This one is long, and worth watching.
Note: This flash has some adult content that some may find offensive.
1-17-05
Mixnmojo recently received two amazing pictures from Steve Purcell (ex-LucasArts artist/creator of Sam & Max) that you really should check out NOW. Besides the awesome MI2 cover art painting is the painting of the Edison family that Purcell did for the back of the Maniac Mansion box. See it here and drool. We appreciate it, Mr. Purcell! And for someone who holds MM and Monkey Island 2 as the greatest games of all time, this is naturally a pants-wetting moment for me.
Purcell had this to say:
"I had these images of two of the paintings I did for LEC packages. I thought some of the folks that follow the old games might like to see them in this non-package format."
We'll discuss how we're going to break into Steve's house and swipe these soon.
1-15-05
MM fans have been treated to some really exceptional fan work in recent times, and there's more today. Fan Andrew has created an amazing model of the mansion (see this picture as well as this one). Now that's craftsmanship. Andrew tells me that lighting work had been put into the mansion, and that a really cool outlining effect is created when the model is shown in the dark. Apparently he wasn't able to get a photograph of that yet, but if he does he'll send it in. Enjoy!
1-5-05
Forum member Goya has recently presented what may very well be the greatest thing of all time ever: An amazing Maniac Mansion video. Check out this forum thread for the details (as well as some appetite-whetting images to help you realize it's worth the file size), check out the site, and for the lova George, download it. Words cannot describe this video so just watch the damned thing.
1-2-05
Yeah, so I haven't been in town for the past couple of days so here's the first post of the new year: a Wired article which praises the LucasFan Games' popular Maniac Mansion Deluxe. Read it, won't you? (And nevermind that I'm a few days late.)
Visit the separate archives of the site updates and news items. Remember that as of June 11, 2004, site updates and news items merged into site updates.