Weird Wii Indiana Jones Kit

Looking for a weird Wii-mote container? Forget your Mario Kart wheel, D&D sword and shield and all the sports accessories for Wii sports. Here are the tools of choice of Dr. Jones in their most unexpected appearance yet. With this set you not only get the un-whippiest whip ever but also a shovel that might work for cat-litter.

Fate of Atlantis - The Novelization

Now and then I stumble over something really amazing on the net. This time the Indy-treasure stumbled over me - again. Dale Dassel, an old Indy friend of mine, stumbled over IJC.at. More than 10 years ago we were chatting about Fate of Atlantis, not knowing that a decade later Indy would return to the big screen. It was a fun time, the net was much smaller, not much Indy stuff was floating around. Heck, I was even running a Indy competition in IJC.at at that time, to get Indy fans a bit closer together.

But enough of the old times, Dale is working on an incredible project today: He is writing his own novelization of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - based on the great Lucasfilm adventure game by Hal Barwood and Noah Falstein. The prologue and the first 10 chapters are online already and ready to be read! Dale is doing an incredible job here, this is a real treat for every Indy fan. Add to that a sweet book cover done by Christian Guldager that grasps the heart of the story like the Drew Struzan covers usually do.

Trust me, stop reading the Globtrotter Gazette now and head over to Dale's site, you can pay me in Orichalcum later c|:)

Happy birthday IndyCast!

Two weeks too late but nevertheless from the heart:
Happy second birthday IndyCast!

Ed and all the other folks are doing a wonderful job with the weekly Indiana Jones podcast that keeps not only fans all over the world entertained but helps growing a solid Indy fan network. I have not emailed Ed the Indy story of my life (yet) or participated in any of the trivia games they are playing, but I am a listener of the show since the day I figured out it exists. (Which was sadly not 2 years ago, but then again I still have a number of old shows to catch up on.) Ed, I hope you keep on doing the show for a long time /bow


Unrelated but worth a note: My interest in mobile Indy games triggered by Indiana Jones and the Lost Puzzles a couple of weeks ago made me research similar official Indy games. To my knowledge three Java based Indy games have been released. I knew about the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull game but the LEGO Indiana Jones Mobile Adventure game was new to me. I put it all up on IJC.at.

Puzzle this!

The Staff of the Kings was not the big Indy gaming entertainment I had hoped for this year and I have never played any mobile phone game more than once or twice. So when I got my hands on IJ and the Lost Puzzles I was rather blown away by the quick fun this little gem delivers.

I heard about this Java mobile phone game on the IndyCast and got myself a copy to try it out. It is an easy to learn puzzle game whit a tiny but nice animated Indy that tries to jump from tile to tile in different sized rooms. The idea is loosely based in the second trial in Last Crusade. The tiles come in four different colors and the basic idea is to jump chains of the same color. In the advanced game mode additional elements like blocking spikes and snakes are added for more fun. Beyond the regular and advanced mode games there is an adventure mode that lets Indy beat themed scenarios (locations like Venice, Egypt and so on). In each scenario a number of single games of different styles have to get beaten to finish up.

Lost Puzzles is a real revelation to me because it is the first light hearted but successful attempt on an Indy game for a long time. If you have to wait for someone or just wanna kill some time, this will give bring an instant Indy smile to your face.

I have added the game to my game list on IJC.at.

free LEGO Indy Adventures

I was just looking for the 2009 LEGO sets that seem to got canceled (or has someone seen them?). Anyway, I found something else on the LEGO website: LEGO Indiana Jones Adventures - the free flash game. Now I am not easy to impressed but this game is really nice. It brings back some real jump'n'run feeling that reminded me of the Indy SNES Adventures. Pick up your hat and check it out!

Screenshots from the game

http://indianajones.lego.com/en-us/games/default.aspx

Indy in 1000 pieces

New find: Indy puzzles.
producer: Spiel Spass (German company, www.spielspass-verlag.de; but nothing on their homepage yet)
pieces: 1000 pieces
size: 65 cm x 47,5 cm
available motives: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Temple of Doom (picture is a composition I have not sen before)
here is a quick cellphone shot:

mixed bag of Indy goodies

I have a mixed bag of Indy goodies to show today. Let's start with some free giveaways available in the cinemas right now. I made all my friends to grab some, so I have a bunch of copies at home:

• Indy 4 postcards
• Indy 4 book marks
• The Austrian Skip magazine (free but readable movie mag)
  

Today my copy of the Indy board game by Clementoni arrived from Germany. It's bigger than I thought, 42 x 29 x 6 cm. I took a quick picture and labeled all the parts:

The company I bought the game from was actually thinking ahead. They included a flyer for the Top Trumps Special: Indiana Jones The Complete Adventures in the box. Yeah, something new to look for.
And finally back in the cinema (on the left you can see the counter). They have a nice cardboard display, about 2.5 m high, standing there now. (No, they won't give it to me...)

new Indy board games

A new Indy board game is released by the Italian game publisher Clementoni. The German titel is Auf der Jagd nach verlorenen Schätzen (Hunting for Lost Treasures). The game system of the new game is an adapted version of König Salomons Schatzkammer (King Salomons Treasure Room).

• publisher: Clementoni
• players: 2 - 5
• playing time: 45 – 60 minutes
• age: 8+
• complexity: 2 (easy)
• players type: casual player
  
• Here is a picture of the German version of the game:
  

Links: ratgeberspiel.de, spieletest.at

Another Indy game to come is a DVD adventure game by Hasbro. "Released in 2008 as part of the general licensing push built around the year's new Indy movie, this mass-market game invites players to recreate Indy's previous quests. The components include a board, player tokens, and miniature plastic replicas of the Sankara stones, the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail."

• publisher: Parker Brothers, Hasbro
• players: 2 - 4
  
• playing time: n/a
• age: 8+
• Here is a picture of the US version of the game:
  

Links: boardgamegeek.com

LEGO games & Indy and the Coco Pops

LEGO "Indiana Jones the original adventures" - the computer game (or better "games") has hit the preview section of computer magazines. The game will come in different versions for the PC / PS2 / PS3 / Wii / Xbox 360 / NDS / PSP. Some version will have special controls:The Wii will feature the Wii controls, the Nintendo DS will have specials like blowing up a raft by blowing into the NDS speaker and so on. Looks like you have to catch them all (or at least some) to see it all...

If you can read German check out fresh scans of the April 2008 Consol.at issue with a two page preview of the games and the May 2008 Players.at issue with a four page retro story about the old Indy games and a one page preview of the LEGO game.

And again more tasty Indy snack: I discovered Indy and the Coco Pops in an Italian super market. The coco pops come with four collectible mini ball mazes. They are "3D" meaning that each maze has two sides and two wholes that connect them. To get the ball from point A to B the route takes both sides. The four mazes are: Mutt's Motorcycle, the Crystal Skull, a Giant Ant and a Secret Sculpture. I have not yet found those Coco Pops in Austria super markets.