hello

Hm, what is this now? :P

Its a clever way of getting attention, thats what it is.
Maybe he spelt out Monkey Island with his numbers.
1, 10, 13, 20, 40 .11


Nope.

i am excited. when is the release date?

God dammit! You tricked me!

What's going on here? I don't get it. Apologies for my idiocy, but it's unavoidable.

Gees, does it need to be explained?

Lottery ticket? Monkey Island 5? It's a pretty straightforward joke.

Didn't get it though...

sigh

If I win the lottery, I'll buy the rights to Monkey Island and make Monkey Island 5, which I will call Monkey Island 3a: The Secret Revealed or your Money Back.

Will you also give the game for free? I mean we BOUGHT MI:3 (and MI:4), so we need compensation :P

Perhaps, you can include some grog instead.

And i will love you! :D :D

How about people donating money?
I dunno... With the massive fan base MI has, it shouldn't be completely impossible for enough people to be willing to donate money if it means MI3 "The Real One"...

Well, maybe not... But it's a nice thought eh?

How was that not obvious?

'There's better chance of winning the lottery than there being a Monkey 5', would also have been a valid answer given the hints.

But that would've been totally unrealistic given Lucasarts policy. However, it could also be that Ron's subliminally begging for Paypal donations :grin:

quote:

"If I win the lottery, I'll buy the rights to Monkey Island and make Monkey Island 5, which I will call Monkey Island 3a: The Secret Revealed or your Money Back."



"oh so obvious..." gees

I thought maybe it was something to do with the Logo...

I thought about the fingers puzzle in Monkey Island 2: Le'Chuck's Revenge
or maybe...
Stan's Previously Owned Lottory Tickets

but no.

I think you guys are way too desperate to find some kind of hilarious inside joke or easter egg. :)

Fuck lucasarts- they should sell the license as soon as possible so that the MI craze should not be wasted bloody dogs- I love MI so much and Im sick of waiting around for these corrupt mandarins to hold Guybrush hostage indefinitely.

What about calling it "Ape Continent" or "Moon Key Is Land"? I don't think Lucas got money from "Pirates of the Caribbean". While I was watching that movie, I just missed the cannibals and rubber palm trees 8)

Hey wasn't there supposed to be a trilogy? Maybe on II, there are cannibals, rubber palm trees and root beer that smacks dead to limbo.

But hey, I wonder why the old creative team of MI and other LA adventures didn't make an anniversary adventure with those free adventure game tools that are lurking around the internet. Oh wait. No bucks. Damn.

Ron, try to win the european lottery instead. It's higher than the dollar (pays 1.2x)....

Pleas win the lottery...

exactly how much would it take to buy the rights off lucas??

I'm sure it doesn't have a set price tag. ¬

I wouldn't be surprised if you could find it on eBay.

That said, I'm thinking Ron had the price in the region of say, lotto winnings (unless he was planning on using some of it for the actual making of the game).

We should just get this license from Lucas Arts in an appropriate way. We'll just go to the goddamn Lucas Arts HQ with torches and pitchforks, threatening to burn them. I suggest to burn them anyway,but we could maybe get that license first. That shouldn't keep us from fulfilling our duties.

We could buy Monkey Island's license if we could raise a certain amount of money. I wonder what the price could be, but I wouldn't mind giving away a couple of bucks for the right crusade...

Well, I'd give thirty bucks or something like that. If everybody who liked monkey Island would donate something like that, we could eventually get enough money to buy... well... a gamecube or something like that. I'm not sure how much Lucas Arts wants for the license, but I guess it's fucking pretty darn much. So we have to kill them.
Anyway, didn't they say that they stopped producing adventures? If they really want to do that, we might experience Guybrush in a new,thrilling "Half- Monkey Island" based on the source engine. Instead of insulting your opponents, you just blow their head away with a shotgun. I can imagine the great puzzles, like "Press trigger A" or "Find a monkey, so you are able to replace it with the severed head you found in the basement, for whatever reason."
Well, or they might sell the license for... err... 100.000 bucks, so the community could donate... 5000 Dollars. Ron has to pay the other stuff on his own, but hell,  good things have their price, eh?

Next person that comes this way and whines about Monkey Island should be shot on the spot. I am sick and tired of adventure gamers.

Next Monkey Island game should be a first monkey person shooter.

No, it should obviously be a hack 'n' monkey-slash game.


Oh, and I hate you too.

sry but any1 that didnt get that is REALLY DUMB

okay now for a serious comment...
I'm really tired of fps's. I can say that because im one of the biggest financial contributor's to the cause. hl2 collector's and all. But my favorite game is still the orig mi. Why has the world abandoned adventure games? I guess it's because we have no imagination, patience, or attention span huh? well i guess i can't really complain... Does anyone else out there think that they could concepualize and create like, the best fucking adventure game ever?? I do.

Your person after my own Heart.
BRING back the original Adventure game...I'll even go so far as to say Bring back the Text based adventure games...yeaaahhhhh..
Well for one I am a big fan of the Adventure Game...And we are talking old school here... Wishbringer,Zork,Magnetic Scrolls Adventures,Kings Quest series, Space Quest series,Krystal (remember that one) Monkey island (Not the fourth), Zak Mckracken, Maniac Mansion and even the Ultima series. and many many more I cannot remember... Bring them all back...well games like them anyway. Staying clear of course from the realm of 3D I say.
But I agree with you Someone.... It's like the people of today dont' want to sit down and get their mind around some good old Puzzle Solving.....No Patience Whatsoever!!
For The best fucking adventure game ever I am your Man... I myself are a  Concept Artist. My renders a splendour. And just for a hobby I draw background similar to those found in the Monkey island world and then render them on my Pancoter.... sorry computer... Their sweet, I enjoy it and I know what sells....ha....

KRYSTAL - what an awesome game - Anyone know where I can get a copy. I'd love to play it again!

You know what's been bugging me in the adventure games? That once you finish them, you will play them aaaafter aaaaa looooooong time (and not in a galaxy far far away).

And I don't mean adventures like those Ron made, or the sierra ones. Remember back then that there also was Legend Entertainment, and the other company that made Tex Murphy mysteries (which eventually got sold to the devil, M$).

There is no thrill after you finish the game. And if the puzzles are frustrating, you just have to get the walkthrough. I mean, I've been playing CSI games (which nowadays are the closest things in adventures). Apart from the obvious "why 3 discs when you could have made it with SCUMM into one 500 Meg game", the puzzles were not only frustrating, in the part that "hey I have to pass everything on the scanner twice to fullfill the conditions of the logic engine", but also that they were monotonous after the 3rd chapter. You get the evidence, send them to Greg, he throws a quirk remark and you get the extra question that you need to finish the chapter.

I think that adventures could be profited if they get incorporated to the internet. How's that? In a way that already happens in MMORPG. You get an item and you use it. Why can't this happen in a more adventuristic ("role play") mode?

First of all you wouldn't have to be alone. You can have a friend help you in, for example into a puzzle that WILL require the cooperation.Remember the old maniac mansion puzzle, push the brick and pull the door to go?

Secondly, puzzles will be able to be refreshed indefinetly (ok this will require staff and game makers). This looks like myst (as I write it down), where you couldn't actually finish the game.

Thirdly and most important. Storylines. You know, if there was an online adventure, there could be something like a normal "day" in the hero's life (for example the "Jones in the fast lane" story), but as days passes by, the hero finds evidence that something wicked happens to his life-town-world-universe. He must gather the ongoing evidence and find enough to save the world, or be part of the destruction of it (Ok this sounds like Deus Ex, but that was the freedom of the game. Be the good guy or be the bad guy).

Anyway, I wrote those pointers on-the-fly from my gaming experience, so if they are not worth, please tell.

why is there some1 complaining about adventure gamer's on this site?! Dumbass

I seriously hope you win that lottery!  From Maniac Mansion to Monkey Island, your games have been the most memorable I have ever played.  Thanks for your hard work and I hope to see what you'll be working on in the future.

Signed,
The Rubber Chicken

I think you need a greater attention span for adventuregames than you need for many other games.


- :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

MI5! MI5! MI5!

let´s collect contributions for the real Monkey Island 3 !

yeah! cmi was just an illusion!

Come on. CMI was pretty damn good. The art is some of the best in any game, the music is fantastic, and the writing was spot on. Sure some of the players in the story did some things slightly out-of-character, but 98% of people would not be able to tell that CMI was not made by the person resposible for 1 & 2. EFMI is the one to direct your hate at.

I just wanted to say that Ron Gilbert is a genius in the field of adventure games.  I hope that he can produce a Monkey Island 5 very soon because Lucas Arts sucks at making Monkey Island games.  The first two are by far the best.  I for one am sick of first person shooters and RPG's.

I disagree when you ppl say that LucasArts' Monkey Island(TM) sucks... They made pretty good games, I think they got the "Monkey Island(TM) spirit"...
The only problem I see is that it is not the original plotline, and also, it lacks the peculiar humor that only exists on MI 1 and 2, even though the humor from MI 3 and 4 is quite nice too (not as nice, but very good).

My daughter (8) and I just finished playing CMI for the zillionth time...she can't get enough of the MI series!  She keeps asking me when they are making another one.....sigh I have to disappoint her over and over again...   It's a real shame!  :-(

Hey!

What?

MI5?

Where?



Oh... shit.

Please Ron, give us your point about this... is it really so important to have MI rights to make a new adventure game? What would happen if you change some details (characters names, story references) to workaround Lucasfilms rights?
Anyway, I think there many people on the net who would help you to buy a licen$e to have a sequel.

hang on murdock. ron is most famous fro monkey island, and at the minute (with the disgraceful monkey island 4) lucas arts new approach to games is to make them more action packed, star wars republic commando (hilariously titled) for example
they canceled sam and max (which had huge potential) and monkey island is at risk of another bad sequel. ron doesn't want that, he doesn't want to see his best franchise destroyed by the sequel wagon.
and I don't either,

I'M making Monkey Island 5.

http://dreadedkane.cjb.net/media.html

Ha ha, this has to be the most insulting compliment I have ever read.

Greate a new game
call it Zebra Island.. or ..  Monkey Suburb
worth a try!

I say we make monkey island 5 "The performance art" ;)  Brush up on our Lua code, write a UI mod for World of Warcraft that communicates with a "SuperSpazztastic" MI5 server that has all the game logic to control the  in game clients. We can make them pirates. They can talk funny. we add "Commando Stealth Content" to someone else's game. :P

You Twat!! Monkey island is only Monkey Island if it has Originally painted backgrounds, great charcters, puzzels & ya point and click interface and so on. NOT ya fuckin warcraft, Statagy game you can play them anywhere.............Go back to ya FPS dude....

wow.. sarcasm is really lost on some people.

Lucars Arts sucks they only thing they care about is making dumb ass Star Wars games wich suck ass and nobody likes execpt for a few Star Wars Geeks who can't get enough things with the name Sar Wars on it. If they were smart they would immediatly stop with shitty Star Wars games and pick up Monkey Island 5 and Full Throttle 2 (which they started on then stopped, faggots).

helo

I wouldnt be so hasty to judge things. Yes LAEC has definattely abused the Star WArs universe and characters, but there was a very pleasant recent surprise. Knights Of The Old Republic a.k.a Kotor (the first one not the damn expansion) which had one of the most original and innovative stories one can witness, similar to many self-proclaimed "original" games. Nothing personal, but i'd mind what i say in the future. (i apologize in advance if you are not familiar with Kotor).

Now about Monkey Island, let me put it in a few words:
MI1: Perfect MI2: Excellent MI3: Funny MI4: (") (O.o) (") Dont shoot me LucasArts!

I've enjoyed each incarnation of the Monkey Island franchise and strongly believe that there will be a MI5 at some point in the future, probably when the next generation of consoles have asserted themselves in the market so Lucas Arts can capitalise on this.

Make them an offer they can't refuse... but seriously, I wonder how much they'd sell the rights for.

ive seen some stuff posted on alot of sights that they're saying there will be a mi5. and i don't know about you guys but i prefer cmi and emi cuz the graphics are 10x better than 1 and 2. as for the comedy i find it just as hilarious.

...**They as in marketeers not the web posters themselves

Gerbilaski, graphics does not make a game become good, it's only there to sell the games...
I, and I think most of the grumpy gamer readers agree, think that the ingame fun as well as a story and gameplay are the most important things on games... graphics help, but I don't think that a true gamer cares a whole lot...

I myself become interested in a game purely from the look of it, if it looks like some game from the eighties I won't even give it a chance.
Take Doom 3, that game is a visual masterpiece which is why I was drooling over it however the gameplay is a bit repetitive so I've kind of stopped playing it.
Half Life 2's graphics weren't quite as appealing to me but the game was really immersive, however I haven't played that in a while too (because the graphics were quite repetitive).
So IMHO the game has to strike that supreme balance of visual appeal and immersive gameplay to grab the player by the nuts and also to keep him coming back for more.

oh shut up.

What, exactly, is wrong with Monkey Island 2's graphics?  Monkey Island 1 I can understand, with the backgrounds being pretty sparse and the characters being a little smallish with limited animations, etc...but Monkey Island 2  had great graphics to this day that remain that way to this day.  They haven't suddenly gone bad just because we can "do better" now.

In Monkey Island 2, the backgrounds are interesting and detailed, the characters are the perfect size with a wide range of interesting animations that are fun to watch.  All of your inventory items are colorful and easy to recognize, etc...

In all honesty, I prefer 2's graphics to Curse's.  Curse still looks fine and all, but to me it's too much cartoon.  Two just struck the right notes in all aspects, and I won't even comment on Escape's polygonal blehness.

I just don't understand why EVERYTHING has to be realtime polygonal rendering.  I never will, either.  There is a lot of beauty in hand painted backgrounds and traditionally drawn animated sprites.

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for the advances in technology that allow such visually stunning games such as Half Life 2 or Doom 3....but, as in all things, I believe that everything has its place.  The realtime polygonal renderings worked very well for Grim Fandango, for example.  The same cannot be said, however, for their use in Escape from Monkey Island.

I can also understand not liking the look of older games, but only up to a point.  Once we reached VGA graphics and everything became not only easily recognizable, but also artistically expressive, you can't really say that the games look bad now just because we have "better" graphics today.

You may prefer the normal mapped, plasticy-looking characters and environments of today's games, and that's fine - but just because we can create photorealistic digital actors today doesn't mean that a Van Gough is suddenly no longer a fantastic piece of art.

Cant agree with you more. Monkey Island 2 still looks fantastic to me. Its got atmosphere and character even though its in VGA with adlib sound!

It still makes me laugh out loud.

MI1 was fantastic, MI2 was better, MI3 was good and MI4 I must say I never bothered to finish.

Same goes for Star Wars... the new ones just dont cut it. They look fancy, they sound fancy, but they miss that special something.

I wonder whether George Lucas even knows what he's doing these days.

I thought CMI was really, really bad, actually.  It was such a poor follow-up to 2...it felt like some crummy fan game.

4 was a bit better.  It definitely felt more like a Monkey Island game, possibly just because of the inclusion of some older LucasArts writers.  Of course  both of the later games soerly missed Ron and his vision for the series...

'Super Lotto Plus'

'Mega Number'


I think the American lottory is slightly enphusiastic about itself.

Strange, strange America.

I sure hope the lottery ticket could be a gag in a new Ron game. Or yet another library card reference (let's use dewey on this guys)...

"Ron Gilbert: How I won the Lottery ticket and bought Monkey Island from the LA"

"LA: How we lost our rights for a franchise"

"The gamers: How we got our groove back"

I have to get something off my mind..... Now since a very young age I have grown up playing Lucasarts Adventure games. Many have been burnt in my mind like the series of Monkey Island. This game not only changes my pre-conception of what a GOOD adventure game should be. But it also won my heart over, with the beautiful rendered graphics, the story and charcters and of course the great humour throughout..........
So you would be surprised to know that my enthusiasm for the Fourth in the series (Escape from Monkey Island) was not carried on!
Now what i don't understand is that if a person, or company or whatever has a strong working formula like they had with Guybrush and the world of monkey Island, with it's colourful hand painted background, insane animation (more refering to the third game) and the funnist gags.... why on gods earth would you take that same solid working formula and rip the GUTS OUT and replace it with something that does not belong, does not work and looses the whole desired effect... yes I am reffering to Monkey Island 4. IN 3D............
What the F*¢£•#K Happened.........does anyone KNOW?
WHAT IS THIS 3D Shite....the graphics are so flat and empty, it's really boring...Oh but WOW we still get the Whooshing clouds thing happening....):  (cry)    ohhhhh come on. Fine if its any other type of Game genre fair enough go for 3D Its the way of the future they say......But this is sacrilege, to change a game of this calibre which relied basically on its beautifull painted background and detail to transform it into a completly different game. This is not the adventure game I grew up with. It's like someone in marketing or sales has turned around and said Hey with the Forth Monkey Game we should move with the times and make guybrush and the rest of the Monkey Island world 3D... yeah 3D really SELLS just look at all the other games, FPS, Simulators, Stratagy... Hell even a basic Shootem-up in 3D looks great. Yeah lets change everything that they've been working on for the last 12 years.... and replace it with a.......rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle....Thats basically what they have done...am I the only person on this planet that thinks they have been ripped off completly. They have lost it with the latest Monkey Island 4.?
The STEAMS out now....It's all off my chest
Thankyou....
Fungusbumbottle!

You are an Idiot, they Went 3D so they could make Sales you know appeal to a new generation of kids. fair enough it was pretty choody graphically but the jokes were still there and thats all that matters to me.
Thank you for your time.

Viva La MI5

You summed up my thought on 4 completely. There is almost nothing redeeming about the game at all. It was an extra big slap in the face after the funny jokes in the option menu of CMI. That made it sound like the dev team understood that there was no need for 3D in the MI universe. I agreed with this assessment.

Well I liked it

I agree 4 lacked quite a bit visually, the backgrounds looked good in 3d but I think they we pre-rendered. The real-time characters however looked really out of place, I reckon that game would have been so much better if only to keep the 3d backgrounds but change the characters back to 2d...

I think they switched to 3D as this was the emerging technology at the time and so they thought they'd go with it. Have to say that I didn't think it was up to much...BUT.....if I was asked to describe the worst MI game, I would still say "FANTASTIC".

I've been into this style of game ever since I had a commodore 64 and discovered adventure games (wonder what happened to my old text adventure Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).

CMI was by far the best game I have ever ever ever played (and I once thought that DoTT was the best). It was totally brilliant and I have lost count of the number of times I've played it.

What I wouldn't give to have MI5 created, (in the style of MI3 obviously). The graphics were amazing, I loved the cartoon style, I loved the landscapes, I loved the humour, I loved the storyline. Everything was just perfect.

Wish there was a definitive answer to the question of "is there going to be a Monkey Island 5?"

well personally I think all of the monkey island stories are ace! I was brought up on monkey island when my dad brought it home once and I got to play on that purple potions screen that completly baffled me and the wheel that went with it!!!
I also loved Indiana Jones, now that was another brilliant text adventure game and as I got older I played broken sword another cool text adventure game.
If u want to bring back Monkey Island then u need to do it in style..make the movie version and entice kids into the movie and then bring out the game..thats what most popular kids games do these days take for example Harry Potter.
I only just in the last 3 years have got getting into monkey island again since as a kid playing those games left a imprint which I will remember for years now I have all the games and one indiana jones.
The monkey Island Movie needs to be realised!!!!!
Hannah

However much you, I, we, I mean the hard core adventure gamers (HCAG), whine around and curse LucasArts, the only thing that at the end really matters and will ever matter to such big companies is money. Even if you, I, we, every single HCAG would buy 10 copies each of the new hypothetical MI5, it's not enough. Face it, we're too few to matter. Then again, I am sure as you are that people at LucasArts are aware of the fan potential and high value of the MI series and the company makes shitloads of yearly profits anyway; so one might wonder, should eveything done for money, why the hell not give them poor souls out there another MI game for the sake of, say, goodness? No. Today, where even the United fuc.ing Nations HCR is just a moneymaking paravan, no. Since long the people with reason and goodwill are not in charge anymore. People with fashion and people who follow fashion are in charge. And you, I, we won't get another MI game.
Imagine it is like your favourite author being dead all of a sudden. You've read all his\her books and now what? you simply outread it and it'll be no more. Just as there will never be other fantastic adventures that grab you in their world so bad you nearly sob after finishing like MI's and Grim F. and Gabriel K.'s and Universe and Indy's and Discworld's and Larry Laffer's and Broken Swords and Full Throttle and MM and DOTT and...The only thing left to do is just looking for other authors to like, other games to enjoy.
Meanwhile, as digesting the sad truth, I suggest you check out sites like www.fullyramblomatic.com and www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk and see what other Hard Core Adventure Gamers do instead of whining around. There are some REALLY good and challenging games there. I personally suggest "5 days a stranger" and "7 days a skeptic" from the hilariously funny wanna-be writer Ben Croshaw (Hope he manages to get published) to start with.
Lastly, despite the fact given in the first paragraph, there still seems to be madmen in the gaming industry who, though rarely, make and will make adventures. Check out "Martin Mystere" at the www.justadventure.com.
Very lastly, I know that the topic is exclusively MI5 but this fuc.ed up situation applies to MI5 and every other adventure that's why I wrote it and I hope I am a pathetic loser without the slightest sense of factfiltering and foresight and end up being wrong and see the ads of MI5(with Ron in charge of course) in the papers tomorrow.
Really very lastly, Ron Gilbert is a man of super humanly talent and he simply and undeniably rocks and I hope to see and play anything he does.     Do something man, anything, I swear I'll buy it.
I wish you all the best, over.
----Transmission End------

Man, this text gets to the heart of it!
There are also nice and new Adventures, and the adventure genre ist not only Monkey Island!
I like every part of MI, espacially 1,2 and 3. 4 was not the best, i think it   can't hold a candle to the three parts, but that was also very funny to play!

Fu.k LucasArts nowadays, i think if there will be a Monkey Island game in the future (from LA), it will never reach the high standard like 1, 2 and 3. Ron has to buy the license, if we want to play a GOOD MI!

So, don't mind my mistakes, I'm only a young german guy who loves to play good old adventures. Greetz! =)

Most everything I wanted to say has been said already, except --

If you want to see more adventure games, why not make them yourself? Macromedia Flash and Director (Shockwave) are robust, affordable packages that have all the power you need to make a point-and-click adventure. Sure it's a lot of work, but it's way easier to develop those types of games now than it was in the 80's and 90's. Basically what I'm saying is put your mouse-click where your mouth is. If you want to see a new Monkey Island, why not try making it yourself!? And, you can use whatever graphical style you feel is best, instead of being upset at corporate choices.

Personally, I'm learning Flash scripting right now specifically to create a 2d adventure game. There are a lot of people who have already done it and many like to share their techniques.

I was going to make a new monkey island game until everybody said LA would sue the pants off me so I canned it.

When I read all those speculations on what MI5 should be like, I notice that some people would like to turn back time, use only text and pixelated backgrounds. I believe that MI1&2 when they were first released, measured up to the capabilities of computers at that time, and I see no reasons why MI5 shouldn't do that. A lot more has become possible this day, so why not use that? In 2d adventures, you could design anything you like in high detail!

Also, why is it that people emphasize the graphics that much? I didn't play the MI series for the graphics! They're only there to convey messages, and if the messages are adequately conveyed then I'm satisfied with the graphics.
There's a whole lot more to a great game, like the humor, the storyline, the quality of the gameplay and how it's integrated into the story. Then there's also the dialogue lines, the voice acting (get Dominic Armato!) and the sound design. There are probably a helluva lot of other things that make a game a great game.

Personally I enjoy the music of the MI series a lot, especially the first three soundtracks. I enjoy the themes of LeChuck, the Voodoo Lady and Stan, which return in every episode. It's just neat how the iMUSE (MI2 & CMI) engine smoothes out the transitions between tunes when locations change, not to mention the great "a pirate I was meant to be", as far as I know it's the first and only interactive song ever to be integrated into a game!
Anyone ever notice that sometimes during dialogues short melodies reminiscent of recurring themes pop through? Neat details!

Nowadays game music stinks! Who will stand up and open the window?

I didn't mind the graphics so much for EMI, other than the inability of any character to make too many facial expressions. 3-D worked fine in Grim Fandango, and it worked okay in EMI. The problem with EMI was that the writing, as they say on the streets, sucked "a billion dicks."

But don't feel bad, adventure gamers! Even if the old point-and-click adventure game genre isn't commercially viable anymore, there are plenty of freeware adventures to keep you occupied!

like?

Monkey Island...


...Drool

You cant even immagine how much I am shocked to have found Ron Gilbert Page ! m 30 now playin SCUMM games since Maniac Mansion on amiga and really regretted  couldnt afford a disk drive for c64 when I had it (afterall in Europe it costed as much as the C64 itself !) Btw Internet wont ever stop to amaze me !
Gamers in General these days are zombies hollow the hype,they ll never understnd how much fun those adventures were ! Infact I did collected the whole scumm games original for Amiga ! Wonder if George Lucas will ever stop to release crap movies remakes as StarWars new 3 episodes a total crap wrapped up for sales,and start back producing good games like onc was, in that Awesome Lucasarts mansion K magazine dedicated many pages on,and that I always wanted to visit . Think i feel like 10/15 again.Mighty ZakMckraken anybody ? damn finished the Ita and English one just to check different jokes and translations ..... Remember the ones on biplane ? hahahah

Ciao from Rome.

Hey...

What IS the Secret of Monkey Island? If I die before knowing it, I'll be so upset. Waaah.

OK = I am all up for the Guybrush being a kid theory with everything being one great imaginative trip from a little fella who 'Wants to be a pirate'. So sweet. Elaine being an attendant or something and little 'Guybrush' becomes so infatuated.

All kids do that at some stage, eh?

Peace.

It wouldn't be a secret then, would it? =)

Love to say...

'Before I die, I would like to pass on to you the secret of immortality...'

Surprised no one has ever said that before :)

So Ron, I'll tell you my secret if you let me know yours! Is wee Guybrush a child all along?

Hello Ron ! if you want money why ask Monkey Island Fan to give you donation to buy monkey rights ? I'm sure with a little publicity you found lot of money to do it !! :o) May be i'm a dreamer ...
Excuse me for my bad english
Best regards

I'd certainly give a penny or two :)

Why not just make a game called Ronkey Island with Ruybrush Reepwood and Relaine Rarly? No-one will notice, and we'll all be happy...

You mean Ronkey Risland?

I think the folks who own the rights to Scooby Doo might sue.

I never understood those Super Lotto, i never had one either ;) , but it seems like you just select 6 numbers to participate, so why don't you wait till the drawing day and see the results and choose your numbers then?

Because you can't hand in any just before they roll until next time?

Damn Lucasarts, why don't they just give the license away? I mean they're not doing anything with it. They're just making their crap star wars games all the time.

U WERE SMART ENOUGHT TO CREATE  MI1&2
WHY DONT YOU CREATE A WHOLE NEW STORY ONLY FOR  THE WEB?

AND I DONT MEAN YOU MAKE MI5...BUT SOMETHING ELSE...
I DONT KNOW

A ZOMBIES STORY BY RON GILBERT AND Tim Schafer??

Kangaroos make me horny

hear hear

How about this idea: we open a fund to finance the development of Monkey Island 3a. Everyone willing donates some money and trust in poor Ron Gilbert.

Uhm, how much does the license for Monkey Island cost nowadays?

Lots and lots.
And it seems its the only adventure franchise Lucasarts is still interested in...

Either interested in, or interested in keeping from everyone else...

Why not put together a development fund that fans can contribute to?
Present this to LA and say "If I do this, will you distribute it?".
They might even chuck some money into the pot?
How much do you think is a good starting amount?

Then you won't have to worry about the License fee, or I imagine you wouldn't as they'd be distributing it?

It would be a decent game from LA, which they haven't managed for ages in their obsessed "EVERYTHING MUST BE STAR WARS!".

The irony of it their mission statement is the best Star Wars game for ages has been "Lego Star Wars"!! Oh how I laugh.

That way they don't have to worry about the development costs and the viability of an adventure game, which they seem to think isn't good.

Also, what's with all the hostility to CMI? It was just as good as 1, not quite as good as LR, but what is? It also had "A Pirate I Was Meant To Be!" which is a wicked song! The voice acting was superb as well, everyone cast was perfect!

I think CMI had the spirit with MI, EFMI was just a bit... well... short and not that good - stupid graphics.

"Do you have a reservation?"

MI The Movie? Surely that was called Pirates Of The Carribean?

try 4 8 15 16 23 42 and you'll win

No place for game development artists in this world..

RON GILBERT ,FATHER OF MONKEY ISLAND

I HAVE ALL YOUR BRILLIANT ADVENTURES !!!!!

I LOVE YOU !!!!!

MONKEY ISLAND IS THE BEST ADVENTURE!!!!!!

How much does LucasArts ask for the rights to Monkey Island?

Instead of buying a car for Ron, maybe could we find money to buy him rights ! I REALLY want the 3a story !!!

Hey, did you won?

http://miforum.forumcommunity.net/?t=3421388&st=0

They still didn't get it.

During the last few years, since I found the first two games (again) and the ScummVM emulator, I've introduced tons of slightly younger generations than me (I'm 27 btw) into the universe of the Monkey Island series. And guess what? They've ALL loved it...to say the least. No matter 15 years of old graphics and sounds, there is something with the atmosphere that is just irresistable. If I were to list games that had the most impact on me, the Monkey Island series will always be the first one coming to mind. And I DO play other genres like Doom 3, Hitman, (World of) Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt etc. but classics are simply always classics. And as previous posts mentioned, LucasFarts have lost their heads completely (exception Indiana Jones and The Emperor's Tomb) and only milk every last drop out of the tiresome Tar Whores movies. They've got the policy to give gamers the games THEY think we should play and not the one single game we all have been longing for for so many many years. It's really ugly of them and sadly our dear Ron Gilbert doesn't own the rights to his most wonderful creations.

Read a possible plot for Monkey Island 5 somewhere (Scumm Bar or Mix'N'Mojo) about Largo helping LeChuck getting back from hell. Sounds like a good angle if you ask me...I'd sit myself down and write a complete plot for MI5 if I only would be assured it was to be released...

Give em' hell, we're not giving up on MI5!

The day I see a new Monkey Island announced that captivates the atmosphere and uniqueness of the first 2 (and a bit of the 3rd) is the day I regain my faith in the industry (unfortunately it is an industry).

If you Guys Consider on Donnating Founds For Monkey Island 5, well, i wouldn't even think twice to give all i've got left from my monthly salary (witch is not much but...). To tell you all the truth, i've lost faith in videogames, games do not satisfy me anymore, i fell old remembering back in the days that i used to play all Ron's Adventures, man that time i really felt like a gamer, ok... like a HAPPY gamer, and the way things turned out is sad, cuz there must have something stoping our genius to create a new game (legal problems with the rights of the series a suppose), a game the way its meant to be played, the most revolting part of all this, is that lucasarts doesn't give a crap anymore for the monkey island series, so why not sell it to the creator of the series, i'll never understand, but i will be patiently waiting for a new game, better say i'll be patiently waiting to be a gamer once more... thanks ron for all that u have done, u really made my life easier, i lost my parents and had to grow up alone with my brother, and when i say your games made my life a litle happier, i really meant it. Bye and the best luck for you in your fight for the rights of the game... or to win the lotery, doesn't matter as long as you do it.
sorry for the bad english

well if you win, make somethiing with the graphics from MI3! better then the 3D thing

Why not screw the license, and make a game called:

"The classified information of primate land"

????

I think they will make a M-I 5 They have to ....it even says in the game theres gonna be one, Hers some quotes i think i can remember correctley (Guybrush) "Hey this quicksand is sucking everything from my pants, Now theres an Odd Sansation!!!"....MY fave one is
"Oh, Cabbanna Boy!" Lechuck"Blast Weeth your hair womman, cant you see that this saunty old sea corpse, pines for your every gentle cress!"..."Now,with the demon flames of this voodoo cannon ball,ill blast my significant other ,into the, significant other world,Tha'ttl show her how much i trully care!"....One question for everyone ....whats your fave charecter besideds Guybrush ...MINE HAS TO BE MURRY,the invincibla demonic skull...and if they do make a M I 5 they have to bring murry into it where he finds and ataches himself onto a skeleton and he has an army of followers ....But sumwhere in the game he losses his power  and hes back to where he started ...a Floating head...AWWSUM i think ...cheers mateys.

I am a huge fan of the MI series. I own all of the original CDs, have floppies of both the C64 and Amiga versions, as well as having ScummVM set up with the FM Towns versions of MI1 and 2 as well as FM Towns versions of other Lucas games.

I also have originals of all the other great games from that era of Lucas including Sam&Max, DOT, org Maniac Mansion, Full Throttle, The Dig, Loom, Zak, the Indy games, and others.

Having said this I'm not so sure that for MI5 to be a good game that it should even try to emulate those original games. People complain about how games now, are all about the graphics, and point back at the MI games as an example of good games without all the fancy graphics. Yet, when the Secret of Monkey Island came out it did in fact have some ground breaking graphics for it's time.

Of course the reasons we all claim to have such fond memories are because of the great humor, the creative story telling, and the magic that comes from a unique gaming experience but the graphics, the art work, the music, story telling etc. were all cutting edge for thier time. Funny as hell and a blast to play but also a major break through in game design.

Now I'm in no way trying to say that MI5 should turn the franchise into an FPS or base it on a DOOM or Source game engine but I do think some break throughs in game design are in order. One of the things that helped make the original MI a fresh experience and ground breaking was SCUMM, one of the earliest "game engines", and while I think that great writing, art work and design are certainly important the designers of MI5 should also be looking at the technology too.

Personally I think one of the reasons adventure games died is that while the FPS and Thrid Person action genre were breaking new ground in game design, adventure game designers kept reusing the same old formula of 2D linear design and when publishers eventually tried to move forward with 3D adventure games they brought in FPS designers who were out of thier element. A few games like Omikron got close but most games blended the worst of both worlds instead of the best.

That half hearted attempt at transitioning adventure games from 2D to 3D was the proverbial nail in the coffin and has left fans of the adventure genre disgusted and crying for the good old days. With out innovation though those good old days continually come up stale.

I really hope there is an MI5 but I hope it isn't a clone of MI1, 2, 3, or 4. I hope who ever developes it, good luck on the Lotto Ron, is able to make MI5 as fresh and unique a gaming experience as the original.

EB

Hey, I'm in for five bucks.

LOTTERY??? WTF?????

Mr. Gilbert, I'd really want to see your Monkey Island "5", but if you don't take this seriously, who is going to do it?

The only legitimate option to make it happen is negotiating with Lucasarts. You are too vocal about your views, so you should get a good agent first to do the talking. You don't know the new management, anyway. And you will compromise, in one way or another.

Could you buy back the rights? Wishful thinking! Good IPs are not handed back to authors just like that, unless you can really offer something valuable in exchange. Could you pay the price? You'd need investors. Yes, real investors with big money; games are now just like the movies. Therefore, the individual Paypal donations idea is useless. Even if that weren't the case, the commissions are so high that Paypal would be the only one really profitting from the idea, and well, we are just a small bunch of hardcore gamers.

Maybe there is a way to work around the right issues, if you are in for a guerrilla approach. The 'different names' method could be interesting. Eidos removed any reference in name to the Deus Ex universe from Project Snowblind when DE: Invisible War bombed, but the connections in the final game are still too obvious.

Just change the names. 'Return to Ape Isle' would be dumb, but you get the idea. The main character could be just "The Guy", who is still in love with 'Ellie'. The villain's name would be Chuckleberry, but they just call him "Chuckle". Stan could introduce himself now as "Mr. Tan" (for obvious reasons, after his latest visit to Cancun, and maybe to escape the IRS), but his telltale verbosity is louder than any name.

Do the graphics in relatively realistic style, just like the originals. Forget everything  about MI:3 and MI:4: the Disney-like dumb cartoonish looks, the cluelessness portrayed in Dom Armato's performance (Guybrush was supposed to be getting wiser, not the other way round), and so on...

And here you are, the real 'MI:3a', and happy gamers everywhere. Word of mouth would sell the game: 'The real sequel to the Monkey Islands, man!'. Good virals, intelligent advertising... and intriguing, crowd-pleasing teasers: A NEW TALE FROM THE CREATOR OF MONKEY ISLAND, followed by the line 'You already know my name, and I'm a pirate now'.

Then, the modders would restore the names back to the originals, and voila! Full circle.

Not sure where to post this, so here it goes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo81q5D6k3k

The Monkey Island theme butchered by some Spanish nerds.