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The Making of Maniac Mansion
Edge Magazine Online has a piece up discussing the making of the classic title Maniac Mansion. From the article: "Maniac Mansion, then, is a tale of two achievements: one of the engine that would go on, in true Purple Tentacle style, to take on and momentarily conquer the gaming world, the other being an onscreen escapade that would fire the imaginations of all who embraced it, later inspiring a TV sitcom and proving the perfect application, unsurprisingly, for its tailor-made technology."
I still love the SCUMM games like Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, and Sam & Max Hit the Road. The multiple-endings idea in particular in particular was brilliant (even though that aspect was limited to Maniac Mansion). It ticked me off when I couldn't get them to play on XP... (Even with 98, I had to "reboot in DOS mode" and pull a few other tricks to get them to play.)
The great thing is, with ScummVM, you can play them on Linux, Windows, Mac, BeOS, and even a Palm or Pocket PC! I just recently re-played Day of the Tentacle on my Treo. Worked great, except for some sound problems. It does take a bit of configuration to get it going on some systems, but it's well worth it.
You do have to have the original CD or floppies that the games came on, so make sure that you dig those out before you bother with the install... but once you dig those out, you'll be microwaving hamsters in no time!
There's nothing you have that they can't take away: Absolute zero, Gentle Jack, bottom line.
(All of these are paraphrased:)
"And there was this horrible sound like... DING!"
"Dr. Fred is all tied up in red tape... Literally!"
"The hundred-dollar guy... I like the sound of that!"
"Who's Mike Cords and why does he need to be tied down?"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot... He's incredibly evil, isn't he?"
"How does a tentacle use a bowling ball?"
"You must be the homeliest homo-sapien I've ever seen!"
"Isn't it hard for a tentacle to get into that bean bag?" "Getting in is easy... It's getting out that's the hard part."
"I could use [the hamster] in the band. You know, we could, like, bite its head off or something..."
"I've never tested it on people before!"
"I only chop down cherry trees. Family tradition, you know."
"I guess I should just kill myself then!"
"Yoo-hoo... Mister tentacle guy!"
"'George says everyone should have a vacuum cleaner in the basement.'" (Hancock reading what he believes to be a suggestion for the Constitution.)
"Excuse, me mister..." "Mister Hammer of the Gods?" "Hey, I've read that book!"
"1976. 1985. Oooh... 1967!"
"How about we make [the U.S. flag] just like the British flag, but upside down to cheese 'em off?"
"And then what?"
"And then what?"
"And then what?"
BTW, why was the parent modded "Troll"? Did he offend someone who dislikes these games?
There's nothing you have that they can't take away: Absolute zero, Gentle Jack, bottom line.
Get a DS and buy Another Code (may be called "Trace Memory" or something in the US). It's clearly too short (I finished it in under 5 hours), but it's still worth it. The story is amazing, and some of the puzzles are nothing short of astonishing. Also, it has no weird Gabriel Knight style puzzles. The puzzles are all logical and can be solved by thinking rather than randomly trying to apply items.
The creator of DoTT, Full Throttle and the like (I forget his name) just released the platformer Psychonauts. And I can personally vouch for the new game's hilarity. It's totally twisted and funny, if you liked those old lucasarts games, I highly recommend this one.