Pictures have gone off-line... if you e-mail them to me (gabez@mixnmojo.com) I can upload them to somewhere more permanent.
Done, just emailed them to you.
Thank you. :)
Is there any DRM on this version? SecureRom? CD Key? Online activation? Steam?
Thank you. :)
Is there any DRM on this version? SecureRom? CD Key? Online activation? Steam?
Nope, no DRM whatsoever, no activation key nothing just pop in drive, install and play :)
I assume no matter what language you pick, speech is English only?
Yes, English only speech.
Wow nice screens!. Can you please tell us if the special features are worth the buying?
Wow nice screens!. Can you please tell us if the special features are worth the buying?
I've only found the soundtracks and the concept art. Theres plenty of concept art on there especially for the canned film some I've seen before but others I think are new, not sure on that. Soundtracks can be found on the launcher has all the tracks for both games but I've noticed on the MI:SE soundtrack there appears to be a bonus track, I've not heard it before.
I don't know where this full video commentary session is that was mentioned in the product details from Play.com, its not even mentioned on the back of the case.
What's the bonus track on the MI:SE soundtrack?
Probably the Maniac Mansion theme Harlin recorded during the MI sessions. It was mentioned in the Mojo review as a bunch of asterisks because the "soundtrack is coming soonish". Soonish in this instance, being around 2 and a half years. ;
That's odd, since Jesse told me his MM track won't be included...
Or the track that was on the CD version of SMI, but not included in the game?
I think that's most likely it, he did say he recorded that I recall.
I really need to get this disc.
I really need to get this disc.
+1 here! :thmbup1:
[cross-posted from the Telltale forums]
Turns out quite a lot of concept art, and the complete story board for the MI film, is included, and it's awesome. It takes place before Secret, and includes an un-un-dead Murray, and LeChuck as a human. Guybrush is a Mighty Fisherman by profession.
Are there more background paintings from MI2 included? What's the resolution of all that stuff?
No new background paintings from MI2. All of the concept art/story board art is really high resolution, way bigger than my monitor, which is 1366*768, so I can't really capture a whole picture in its "native resolution" in one screenshot. The in-game size is about four times as big as these screenshots:
The film's "title card"
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9313667/MI%20Art/Title.png)
The first storyboard picture
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9313667/MI%20Art/Storyboard-1.png)
Not bad, thanks! :-)
Another thing: I assume the soundtracks are MP3? At what bitrate?
Not bad, thanks! :-)
Another thing: I assume the soundtracks are MP3? At what bitrate?
They are only accessable from a built-in player in the launcher, so I don't know. I can't find any music files on the disc or in the installation folder :(
Why haven't I bought this yet?
"USE monkey wrench WITH built-in player" - "I can't use those two things together!"
Damn... we'll find a way though, I'm sure ;-)
All right, I'll head out to the store today and pick it up. Don't care if I already have both the Steam and PSN versions. Damn you all!!!
Sounds quality this does. I thought they'd never lift the lid on all the movie stuff. Let the POTC comparisons commence!
Will the xbox version come with a full 1000 gamerscore, do you think? I'd love to get acheivements for doing silly things like buying everthing in the shop on booty island.
*ding* Real pirates plunder! - 20g
Oh crikey, now I know that it includes the movie storyboard, I just have to get this.
Can't wait for my shipment from Amazon to arrive. It will come with Rage in next month. (Have to use that super saver option) ;)
"USE monkey wrench WITH built-in player" - "I can't use those two things together!"
Damn... we'll find a way though, I'm sure ;-)
Hopefully. I find this release a bit frustrating. First they announce a fully localized version with stand-alone Soundtrack, then it's only subtitled and the soundtrack is only accessible via this launcher executable with annoying clicking sounds when selecting tracks.
Tried some unPAKers but nothing worked. :(
Well, I got one 190MB file out of the "Launcher.pak" with Benny's MI Explorer, but I don't knowif it's actually the music. It's got the file extension .aws and I've got no idea what that is.
It's really stupid to have the launcher be the only way to listen to the music, especially when switching to another window mutes the music!
Benny, any ideas?
It's not one of those magical CDs that works in an actual CD player too is it? If not I expect Benny can come up with a solution, but failing even that there's always line-in recording. ;
Actually it's a DVD, so, no.
"Line-in" recording isn't even necessary nowadays, as most recording programs and/or soundcards can just set "what you hear" as an audio source.
Still I bet Benny will make us proud yet again :D
That's what I meant, sound cards I've had often do that when you select 'line in' as the recording channel and don't actually have anything plugged into that port. I really can't see it being necessary though, Ben is after all limitless in capabilities. ;
The file you meant is ogg! I renamed it but couldn't played. Then I've simply tried to convert it with the dbPoweramp Converter. It worked! :-)
Really?? I didn't find OGGs, but maybe I haven't looked thoroughly enough...
Edit: Nope, extracted the whole launcher.pak ... no OGGs in there.
Really?? I didn't find OGGs, but maybe I haven't looked thoroughly enough...
Edit: Nope, extracted the whole launcher.pak ... no OGGs in there.
There's a file, around 200 to 300MB. The ending is like aw* (sry I don't know exactly, I'm currently not at home) This you've to rename as ogg. On my VLC this wasn't playable (curious, I know) - but it's convertable. I'll take a look at home. :-)
Oh, I see... yeah, AWS... like 190 MB
I'l give it a try!
Edit:
Yay, it worked... unfortunately it's one single file now. Cutting commenced!
Edit2:
They're not making it easy, as the tracks aren't in the correct order in that file! Sound quality is awesome, by the way. Does anybody know how to check the spectrum of an audio file to check for data compression?
Brief video showing the launcher with concept art and soundtrack menus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkFVe9m187w)
They really did a fantastic job with these special editions.
What about the commentary sessions that the creators did for MI2:SE?, Is that included aswell? I saw a bunch of videos on YouTube and it was said that they will include them in this release :S
another misleading statement ...
only the audio, sorry. :(
I'm very disappointed by such misleading statements, because I think that 90% of us is going to buy this release just because of the extra contents.
I'm happy that it's possible to rip the audio files quite easily!
About OGG files, if the format is OggPCM then it's lossless audio, otherwise if the format is OggVorbis it's lossy with variable bitrate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg#Ogg_codecs)
I didn't see a way to actually check the original file's bitrate... once converted (to WAV) it's of course uncompressed.
But doing the math:
137 minutes of music = 190 MB
8220 seconds = 1556480 kb
1 second = 189,35 kb
So the bitrate should be around 190 kbps. It's a huge step upward from the in-game MI1 music, but wasn't MI2's music uncompressed in-game? Still the Collection's tracks sound different than in-game... not only regarding arrangement (like in "Woodtick Suite"), but also instrumentation (the slap bass in MI2's opening is different from the one in the game). It might be worth compiling a complete soundtrack including these alternates. Also MI1 features a "flute less" main theme in the menu (which the Collection's launcher uses as well, although not complete), which should be included too.
Still the Collection's tracks sound different than in-game... not only regarding arrangement (like in "Woodtick Suite"), but also instrumentation (the slap bass in MI2's opening is different from the one in the game).
Alternative takes? VERY very interesting.
I was wondering how each track ends, since the iMuse system implies loops. Maybe it's where these different arrangements come from?
By the way I love that slap bass in MI2 and I think that on the Special Edition version is not as good as it should be.
If it's OGG it's probably not as simple as that Laser, unlike MP3 it always uses variable bitrates so parts of a track could be like 16kb/s and others 320kb/s depending on the audio detail at any given moment. It uses quality levels rather than bitrates to determine overall quality, and I believe higher qualities basically increase the maximum bitrate it can balloon to when needed.
Without further analysis it could very well be the OGGs are set to the maximum quality level which would mean sounding at least as good as a 320kb/s MP3, which would be pretty great — although I'd still prefer a proper CD release at some point.
Without further analysis it could very well be the OGGs are set to the maximum quality level which would mean sounding at least as good as a 320kb/s MP3, which would be pretty great — although I'd still prefer a proper CD release at some point.
Yeah, I totally agree. I would be ready to pay a few extra bucks for a stand-alone music CD.
Jesse Harlin told me that while it's not the worldwide iTunes release he was was hoping for, he's still happy that it's released at all.
So I guess a CD was never in the cards anyway. But I've gotta say, the tracks do sound pretty clear to me.
So, are the games themselves changed or updated at all from the downloadable versions? I saw they've changed LeChuck's face on the MI2:SE boxart.
Seriously doubt it. They also changed Guybrush's head. But the launcher still shows the original box arts complete with classic hair. As do the screenshots. I doubt anything's changed, but I don't have a copy so I can't confirm.