Kotaku: Maniac Mansion

When Nintendo Is Your Penpal

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 03:00:00 EDT

Remember life before email? Like when people wrote letters? On paper? Kotaku reader Matthew does. Because during the early 1990s, he was a little kid writing them to Nintendo. More »

Holy Shit, Somebody is Remaking Maniac Mansion

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 26 May 2011 06:30:00 EDT

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Maniac Mansion, if you don't know, is a classic adventure game from Lucasarts (then known as Lucasfilm) that spawned en entire generation of titles like its sequel Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max and Fate of Atlantis. And now it's getting a remake! More »

If Lucasarts Had Made A Lost Game...In 1987...

Luke Plunkett — Sat, 29 May 2010 01:30:00 EDT

In 1987, Lucasarts (well, Lucasfilm) released Maniac Mansion, a game that would revolutionise PC adventure titles with its innovative "SCUMM" menu system. This is what the world would look like if that game had been based on TV series Lost. More »

Scene From PAX: Ron Gilbert Inspires

Stephen Totilo — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:20:46 EDT

Wil Wheaton was a hero. Online porn was primitive. His parents got him a computer when he was a kid that had 8K of RAM. Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island co-creator Ron Gilbert is on stage at PAX reminiscing. More »

LucasFilm Re-Ups Maniac Mansion Trademark

Michael McWhertor — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:40:40 EDT

Don't call it a comeback, but Lucasfilm has filed new trademarks for Maniac Mansion, its classic 1987 adventure game. More »

Ron Gilbert on Episodic Gaming and the Film Industry

Maggie Greene — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Ron Gilbert is probably best known for his work at LucasArts, where he worked on such favorites as Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Day Of The Tentacle. Most recently, he's worked on Penny Arcade Adventures and has a forthcoming title called DeathSpank. Gamasutra sat down for a somewhat lengthy interview, discussing the episodic model, working within the current industry framework, and moving outside the current studio framework into a more 'Hollywood' type model. On this aspect (shifting to a more 'team' based approach where people come together to work on specific projects), he's got this to say: More »

Ron Gilbert Joins Hothead For DeathSpank

Mike Fahey — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:40:41 EST

Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island veteran Ron Gilbert has signed on as Creative Director at Vancouver-based Hothead Games, with whom he will finally publish his long-awaited episodic RPG adventure, DeathSpank, which is described as "Monkey Island meets Diablo". If it indeed winds up as a combination of those two I may never need another video game or the love of a good woman again. Gilbert got to know the folks at Hothead while helping out on Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, and I suppose they just couldn't get him to leave afterwards.

Speaking from his secret game design cave, Ron Gilbert said, "I've spent over four years trying to find the right publisher for this strange little game. Now that I've done it, you just know that somewhere four horsemen are saddling up."

At least it'll be a humorous sort of apocalypse. More »

PocketGamer: Give Us These DS Games... NOW!

fdemarco — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 12:00:00 EST

U.K. games website, PocketGamer, has posted a great list of games that they would like to see come to the Nintendo DS. I have to say the list is pretty dead on, especially in picking games that would take advantage of the DS's touch screen and control scheme. A few standouts on the list include Mario Paint, Okami, Marble Madness and a collection of Lucas Arts Games. More »

Maniac Mansion Decorates Your Desktop

fdemarco — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 17:00:55 EST

Ah, Maniac Mansion. You will always hold a special place in my heart and now you can hold a special place on my desktop. More »

Purple Tentacle Link, Green Tentacle Zelda

brownlee — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 10:40:57 EDT

While dressing as a gigantic tentacle at a cosplay convention will very certainly get you laid in Japan, where the culture is more open to the cuddling of cuttlefish, over in America, it will only get you incredulous looks and the scorn of your peers. More »

Maniac Mansion in 7:18

brownlee — Tue, 16 May 2006 16:40:39 EDT

From the implausible speed run department, this tool-assisted speed run of the LucasArts adventure Maniac Mansion, completed in well under 8 minutes. What will those wacky speed freaks speed run next? More »

Maniac Mansion Lead Sings Port's Praises

Brian Crecente — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 09:34:50 EDT

Grumpy Gamer, aka Ron Gilbert, aka the creator of the Lucas Arts Maniac Mansion script language, is singing the praises of the SCUMMVM group. The SCUMMVM project has been deligently porting the old adventure games from Lucas Arts so that they work on current operating systems, PDAs and even the DS. More »