Long story short, network C5N got trolled. Someone sent them a tip that a Facebook group was propagating this dangerous drink, all the rage among kids these days. Grog XD! I love how they included the smiley. Hairspray Job Number One ticks off the ingredients - rum with acetone, battery acid among them - and then the anchor brings in Dr. Alberto Cormillot, said to be a well known nutritionist, to appraise the health benefits of this potent mixture.

"This mixture has kerosene, sulphuric acid, red dye No. 2, SCUMM ... what could probably be SCUMM?" he says, according to one translation.

Well, Google it. Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion. Used in the development of several graphical adventure games back in the 1990s, one of them Escape from The Secret of Monkey Island. Think Dr. Cormillot got that answer?

"I googled it, and it's an alcohol delivery service," Dr. Cormillot says.

Palma de la mano de mi cara ...

The video above annotates what was actually broadcast on C5N with Monkey Island - in Spanish, no less - so you get the full picture of just how stupid this all is. I think it was produced by a comedy show down there, but I'm not sure if it's a broadcast program or web produced.

Epic Fail Argentinian Journalist Fears for Teens Drinking Grog XD [Lucasnews, thanks reader Jeff. Destructoid also had it earlier, from a different source.]

The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition is coming to the PC and Xbox Live with high-definition, hand-drawn graphics presented in 1080i and a new easier to use interface. But the original point and click adventure classic will always be running in the background.

At any time in the game you can press a button and Monkey Island will immediately switch over to the original, pixelated version running on the SCUMM engine.

While the game itself holds up nicely to the test of time, the biggest draw for me will be the ability to hot-swap between original and reimagined versions of the game. Every single scene has been upgraded, with new backdrops, new animations and that great hand drawn look. It's hard to resist the temptation to pop back and forth between both versions to see what the developers have done to each and every scene.

The game remains mostly faithful to the original, though the new controller configuration makes it a bit easier to get through the game. One trigger lets you pull down a verb list, another lets you access your inventory. Special Edition also adds a new three-level hint system, the final level of which is a bright yellow arrow showing players where to go next.

And the developers haven't forgotten about the many hardcore fans of the original. The game is now voice acted by the cast of The Curse of Monkey Island and the developers managed to put a key figure deleted from the original back in the game.

Spiffy, the dog at the Scumm Bar, showed up on the back of the original box, but had to be cut from the actual game due to space. Now he's back, though mostly as decoration.

Another neat touch: The loading icon for the game is the picture of a floppy disc.

That said, A Vampyre Story is showing progress toward being a good game. It's visually appealing — a prerequisite for a point-and-click SCUMM-based game — as this exclusive pic Bill gave Kezins certainly shows [more at the link]. And the story, another must-have for such a game, starts in the right place: An undead opera singer with dreams of performing in Paris someday. Tiller also worked for LucasArts on SCUMM classics like The Dig, The Curse of Monkey Island and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. So he knows the capabilities of the engine and how to make it useful to a game.

Apparently, Autumn Moon is working on not only A Vampyre Story, but also A Vampyre Story 2, and an unannounced third game. They've been so busy they haven't had time to update their Web site. Tiller says that'll happen around August or so.

Exclusive: ‘A Vampyre Story’ Progress Report with CEO Bill Tiller [Kezins]

Ron Gilbert — the funny, crazy, zany guy behind the Monkey Island games — has clued Computer and Video Games in with details concerning his next game. Unfortunately, those forthcoming details are pretty vague and confused at best.

"The thing I'm trying to do with the game right now is kind of meld it with an RPG," he continued, "So what you've got is the kind of large world exploration that you have in an RPG that you don't really have with an adventure game. You've got the action, some light combat, you know, Diablo-style combat going on with it, but it is also infused with really good adventure-game-style puzzles and adventure-style sensibilities to the storytelling.

"So what you can do there is take those puzzles and that storytelling that really appeal to people on a certain level, but you can fuse it with the kind of action and mindless play mixed in. I think you can really broaden that audience, and really get to the people who are buying and playing games today."

Now that's the sort of concise, clear vision you want to see coming from one of the industry's premier talents! Florian Eckhardt

Ron Gilbert monkeying with new game [Computer and Video Games] Image credit: Idle Thumbs

My very favorite grump is on blast at Gamasutra, grumbling about topics ranging from how there are no decent stories in games anymore, to how he is trying to remedy this and being thwarted at every turn by stonefaced game company executives. Full of piss, vinegar, and baseball metaphors, Gilbert gives us what-for:

GS: Is there anyone in particular that you would single out as doing the right things?

RG: Honestly, I have not played anything in a long time that I thought was doing a particularly good job at telling a story.

Computer games, as I just addressed, age very poorly. It must be insanely frustrating to have shed so much of your blood into a project that becomes unplayable to everyone but the gibbering fanatics (such as myself) a few scant years after it is birthed steaming onto the shelves.

Still, the news that he is still working, still campaigning for adventure games, is vastly hopeful. I'm rooting for you, Mr. Gilbert. Eliza Gauger

Ron Gilbert Interview [Gamasutra]

A team of Barnett college students has released a demo of their SCUMM-based adventure title, Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth.

SCUMM, or "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion", is a powerful scripting language by Grumpy Gamer Ron Gilbert. It has long since entered its dotage and been replaced by upstarts like the GRIME system (created for Grim Fandango), but has found new life in the continuing efforts of independent adventure game developers who prefer their players to do exactly as they're told, with none of this "nonlinear" jibba-jabba.

The game, Fountain Of Youth (known by many as FoY) is a freeware point and click adventure game with a similar style to the classic LucasArts adventure, Fate of Atlantis. It is being developed by an international team of enthusiastic fans of both Indiana Jones and point & click adventures.

A ten-room playable demo is available on the site right now, so I checked it out. Man, it brought me back (I miss you, Guybrush!). It's a pitch-perfect replica of the old LucasArts SCUMM games, with all the artistry, gratifyingly bad puns, and tantrum-throwing frustration that those titles entailed. It has all-new art, music, and story; a comprehensive website; forums; and the vague language of all volunteer-based freeware projects: "We'll let you know when its ready, so check back then!" Well okayyyy.

Not particularly encouraging, but the demo seems hopeful. I wish them luck and I'll be checking in. Eliza Gauger

Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth Homepage [Barnett College]

UPDATE: An observant reader pointed out that this game is actually being developed with the general point-and-click engine Adventure Game Studio, which allows users to create remarkably SCUMMlike games. Fooled the hell outta me!