Telltale Games has bolstered its collection of adventure veterans with Mike Stemmle, a man you may remember as the co-designer of Sam & Max Hit the Road, Escape from Monkey Island and the lead designer of the thoroughly canned Sam & Max Freelance Police. What you're less likely to remember (by the designer's own admission) is his game Afterlife, a title which has been unable to enjoy the complete resurrection bestowed upon everybody's favorite dodgy doggy detective and hyper-kinetic rabbity thing.

"Mere words are proving woefully inadequate to describe my delight at hooking up with this fiendishly dedicated crew," said Stemmle. "The excitement and talent swirling around Telltale remind me of the geysers of iagination that erupted across the gaming industry in the early 90's. Only this time, with rational production schedules."

Also joining the Telltale Team is award-winning artist and designer Justin Chin, whose credits include the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight series and more recently, The Simpsons Game. Chin will be serving Telltale as an executive producer, alongside newly acquired hired Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike and Lair veteran, Brett Tosti. Both are expected to contribute to Telltale's output and its "growth in multiplatform development."

In one minute (as of this writing), it will be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. For those who wish to celebrate September 19 properly, greet everyone you see with "avast," be sure to elongate your "arr's" and "yar's" and don't forget that you answer to Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate! Check out the highlights for today:

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With pirates being de rigeur in the entertainment industry these days, it only seems right that the reinvigorated LucasArts would dig up their backyard and consider rescuscitating the venerable (and hysterical) Monkey Island series for a whole new generation of swashbuckling scallywags. And they are, if you believe the Rumor Reporter who, uh, reports that "the fifth Monkey Island is coming." According to his top secret sources -- "some of the guys who worked on the music compositions for the original PC classics" -- the title is being considered, but don't expect to see any piratey action until 2008 "at the earliest."

Sound fishy? Yeah, we thought so too, so why not try to rinse that taste out of your mouth with these delicious Steve Purcell drawings of a suspiciously familiar dead pirate guy? Purcell is quick to point out that these images (more at World of Monkey Island) are "in no way connected to any existing or canceled piratey project." Aye, we'll see about that in ought-eight.

[Via Gamesblog]

Read - "The fifth Monkey Island is coming" (Rumor Reporter)
Read - Steve Purcell artwork (World of Monkey Island)

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PS3 this, Wii that... whatever happened to the days when all you needed for a good time was a crappy computer and a copy of your favorite adventure game? Relive those days with a selection of music from LucasArts' brilliant Monkey Island series, performed on piano, mandolin, and live six-piece band (cool!)

Previous game music days (please excuse the two week gap)

LucasArts, longtime custodians of secrets pertaining to primate islands, have announced their intention to work with the timesplitting folks at Free Radical on a brand new game. Slated for next-generation consoles, the as yet undisclosed title will benefit from the combined efforts of two experienced studios. Peter Hirschmann of LucasArts labels the agreement as a good idea, since Free Radical "has always been about titles with great gameplay and innovative design." [Opposites attract quip here.]

With Raven Software spending most of their time reading comic books these days, it might not seem outlandish to suggest that the mystery game here could be a new entry in the Jedi Knight franchise -- to be more precise, Dark Forces 5: Jedi Knight 4: Jedi Outcast 3: Jedi Academy 2: Jedi Colon. Then again, it could be an entirely new IP. Just as well, since the only other idea we can muster is a first-person shooter starring a despondent Bobbin "Are you my mother?" Threadbare.

When he isn't busy dressing us down for bullying up on student plays, Ron Gilbert -- the lead designer behind adventure-game classics like Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island -- apparently has lengthy chats with outlets like Gamasutra on what's missing in gaming today (the stories, stupid) and how to fix it (make his game). Yup, he talks a bit about that secret project he keeps going on about ... but, first the stories!

"I think there are a lot of people out there who are just not willing to play games that involve a lot of twitching and a lot of action. But if there was more of a slower-paced game like an adventure game, or a kind of light role-playing game, I think these people would be a lot more interested ..."

A light role-playing game, eh? Wonder what he meant by that ... we may never know. Or maybe he'll spill the beans on the next page.

"The thing I'm trying to do with the game right now is kind of meld it with an RPG. 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."

Diablo Lite with a funny adventure-game story and goofy adventure-game puzzles? We are so there.