The International House of Mojo (often called ''Mixnmojo'') is a website focused on

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

. It later expanded to cover studios founded by former LucasArts employees, including Double Fine Productions, Telltale Games,

Autumn Moon Entertainment Autumn Moon Entertainment is an independent computer game developer founded in 2002 by Bill Tiller. The company specializes in traditional graphic adventure games in the style of the LucasArts classics, particularly '' The Curse of Monkey Island'' ...

and

Crackpot Entertainment Crackpot may refer to: * Crackpot, North Yorkshire, a village in the United Kingdom and home of Crackpot Cave * Crackpot Hall, a landmark ruin near Keld, North Yorkshire * a DC comics character, see Blasters (comics) * Crackpot (band), an Austr ...

. It was founded in 1997 by

James Spafford James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

and is among the longest-running "fan sites" on the internet. ''Mixnmojo'' once enjoyed an active relationship with LucasArts, and reviews have occasionally been quoted in the company's marketing such as on the cover of the UK release of '' Monkey Island Special Edition Collection''. The site was also referenced in the book '' Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts'', and staff has been interviewed by the gaming press. Developers highlighted by the site have often reciprocated its fondness.

Tim Schafer Timothy John Schafer (born July 26, 1967) is an American video game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in July 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts. Schafer is best known as the designer of critically acclaimed games '' ...

of Double Fine Productions called ''Mixnmojo'' their "friendly friends" and praised the staff for their knowledge. At E3 2003, in order to make light of an extended downtime the site was experiencing, staffers in attendance playfully cajoled then-producer Dan Pettit of LucasArts into appearing in a video painting him as complicit in the site's technical woes. The site once even received permission from LucasArts to pull an elaborate April Fools prank that announced a fictional fifth ''Monkey Island'' installment (at the time, the series only had four games) complete with fake cover art and sound files of

Dominic Armato Dominic Armato (born November 18, 1976) is an American voice actor, journalist and food critic. He is best known for his work on LucasArts games. His most famous role is the voice of the pirate Guybrush Threepwood in the ''Monkey Island'' series ...

performing dialog invented by the staff. Though created as an all-encompassing LucasArts site, ''Mixnmojo'' has always favored the studio's original titles, particularly its classic graphic adventure games, over the more popular '' Star Wars'' products. This at times strained the relationship with the company. As the site featured the unregulated opinions of its contributors rather a unified editorial point of view, it quickly established an endearingly quirky, if occasionally abrasive, tone in its editorials and news posts. After the turn of the century, LucasArts began shifting away from original properties and the adventure genre in particular, culminating in the cancellation of '' Sam & Max: Freelance Police'' in 2004. In response to this, ''Mixnmojo'' began broadening its coverage to include studios operated by LucasArts alumni that they believe continue the creative spirit abandoned by the original company. LucasArts was eventually shut down soon after Lucasfilm was purchased by Disney in 2012. Its oldest fan site remains active as an information hub for LucasArts legacy titles, which have remained topical due to their continued influence, remakes and re-releases, as well as a news source for games produced by key LucasArts alumni.

The LF Network

At its height, ''Mixnmojo'' cultivated a very active and diverse community of LucasArts fans and hosted a number of other sites directed at related franchises and itself belonged to the now defunct "LF Network." Another prominent LFN site, The SCUMM Bar, dedicated to the ''

Monkey Island ''Monkey Island'' is a series of adventure games. The first four games in the series were produced and published by LucasArts, earlier known as Lucasfilm Games. The fifth installment of the franchise was developed by Telltale Games in collabor ...

'' series, also remains active.

Staff members in the video game industry

A number of former ''Mixnmojo'' staffers have gone on to have careers in the game industry, both in development and journalism. Jake Rodkin, Andrew Langley, Doug Tabacco and David Eggers even had stints at Telltale Games, during which they worked on ''

Sam & Max ''Sam & Max'' is an American media franchise about Sam and Max, a pair of anthropomorphic vigilante private investigators. The characters, who occupy a universe that parodies American popular culture, were created by Steve Purcell in his yout ...

'' and ''

'' - franchises they once covered at ''Mixnmojo''. Rodkin, who ultimately had a project leader role on a ''

'' title, was the webmaster of a ''Sam & Max'' fan site hosted by LFN. Rodkin, Spafford and Chris Remo, who was an editor for the online magazine ''

Adventure Gamers ''Adventure Gamers'' is a computer game website created by Marek Bronstring in March 1998 dedicated to the genre of adventure games. It publishes reviews and previews of adventure games, as well as opinion articles and interviews with game desi ...

'' for several years, collaborated to launch Idle Thumbs in 2004.

Meaning of the name

"The International House of Mojo" comes from the name of the Voodoo Lady's business in '' Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge''.Where does the name "The International House of Mojo" come from?
The site's web address comes from "The Mix 'N' Mojo Voodoo Ingredient Proportion Dial" copy protection mechanism, also from ''Monkey Island 2''.

References

External links

The International House of Mojo
{{DEFAULTSORT:International House of Mojo Video game news websites Internet properties established in 1997