The LucasArts brand of adventure games were always my favorites growing up. Among the very best the company had to offer in the heyday of the genre was Monkey Island. The series created a world where pirates existed simply for the sake of being pirates and Guybrush Threepwood's innocent charm and bumbling bravado made him one of the most memorable characters in all of adventure games.

After the mediocre Escape from Monkey Island, LucasArts appeared to have signed the death warrant for the series. Adventure games had been in decline for some time already by this point and this was to be the very last game developed using the developer's signature interface. I never thought I'd ever get to travel to Meleé Island ever again.

And, yet, here we are. The original Secret of Monkey Island is getting a fresh coat of paint. Even more exciting, the adventures of Guybrush, Elaine Marley and the nefarious Ghost Pirate LeChuck are about to set sail in episodic form, courtesy of the fine folks at Telltale Games. Read on to learn a little bit about what you can expect in the coming series.

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It's only recently that I've even begun to play the Ratchet & Clank series of games, having started with the last full-retail release, Tools of Destruction. Why it took so long for me to get around to it is probably chalked up to years and years of notable platforming protagonists wearing me down. I feel as though I really missed out on something with the series, as it's one of the most charming and genuinely humorous series of platform games I've played in a long time.

So it was, armed with my newfound love of the Lombax and his robot pal, that I had an opportunity to sit down at E3 and check out what Insomniac has in store for players in the next iteration of the game. I got to see a little Ratchet, a whole lot of Clank and some very cool new gameplay. Read on for my impressions.

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I didn't have a lot of time to talk to the people at Telltale games about the next episode of Wallace and Gromit -- there was Monkey Island to discuss, after all -- but they did supply with me with a collection of screenshots from the upcoming episode. The new adventure is called "Muzzled" and takes the residents of Wallaby Street to what appears to be a carnival.

I'm curious to know more about the sleazy-looking gentleman in these images. And then there's the typically complex invention from Wallace in the concept art images. Seems to be an automated ice cream truck, so that's bound to end in tears. Won't have to wait much longer as the new episode is scheduled to release later this June.

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As a general rule, I don't play racing sims. The learning curve is usually a little too steep for me to become adjusted to driving a realistically recreated, high-performance automobile using a tiny analog stick and buttons to replace a wheel and pedals. What usually winds up happening is a painful struggle to make it around the track in a good position, only to lose my lead to a stupid mistake and I give up

I thought I was fairly ill-suited to attend a meeting with Microsoft on the subject of Forza Motorsport 3 as a result of this. Nevertheless, they managed to surprise me with a beautiful game containing features that could help take some of the frustration out of the genre.

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When I met with Telltale Games to take a first look at their upcoming series of Monkey Island episodic games, I was pleasantly surprised to have the opportunity to meet Dave Grossman, writer/programmer of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. In our conversation, he revealed a highly exciting bit of information about the team working on the new series.

The Telltale offices are chock full of LucasArts talent who participated in the development of the series, which should give any fan more than enough hope for its continuation. Grossman, however, expressed a certain level of guilt about working on a Monkey Island title without the participation of Ron Gilbert who, along with Tim Schafer, rounds out the trio of people most responsible for the games' success.

To hear Grossman tell the story, it sounds as though such guilt has been assuaged more than a little bit:

Once the ink was on the contracts and we didn't have to keep the thing a complete secret from everyone in the industry, I called Ron and said, 'I'm doing another Monkey Island game.' Ron said that he was going to be in town in a couple of weeks and he'd cancel all of the things he had scheduled to do and just hang out in our offices. So, we had him for three days. He helped out with the story and designed a few puzzles for us.

I was already pretty damn excited to get a new Monkey Island in addition to the remake of Secret of Monkey Island. Now, I'm ecstatic, especially with all the other details about the game that I'm going to be bringing you a little later in a preview from the show. Stay tuned!

While I was out at the Codemasters booth playing Overlord 2, I figured I had absolutely no good reason not to check out its cousin for Wii, Overlord Dark Legend. I'd had so much fun with the first one that I was in really good spirits about the series as I picked up the Wii remote and began to play. That changed somewhat, sadly.

Hit the jump and I'll explain why I'm so keen on one and a little concerned about the other.

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Yesterday, I took you on a magical mystery tour of E3's West Hall. Now check out what's going on in the South Hall, which is clearly the dominant of the two. Between Microsoft, Konami, Ubisoft and many more exhibitors, there's a metric ton of gaming on display.

Hit up the gallery below to see what we've had to contend with for the last several days. It's absolute chaos in there.

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I don't own a PSP -- an oversight that I have planned to resolve this year -- and this game is giving me more of an impetus to get one. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is easily my favorite entry in the series and it's exciting to know that there's going to be a direct sequel to it coming, even if I have yet to possess the hardware to run it.

Up above is the trailer that we've seen at the Sony press conference and again at Konami's event. Down below are screenshots. You should totally check out both. Even if you've watched the trailer before, that last bit of humor Kojima threw in is comedy gold.

I have a question for the Dtoid readers: Do you think it's possible that this whole "Love Pack" cardboard box thing might point towards a cooperative mode in the game? I can't seem to shake that thought from my head right now. Speculate away!

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I frequently check Woot in the wee hours of the night on the off-chance that I can score a sweet deal on something that I actually want. Sadly, it's usually only sprinkler heads.

Today, however, they have an offer for Ubisoft games conveniently contained on an 8Gb thumbdrive. When you order, you'll get your choice of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Lockdown, Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30,
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory or Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII. At $14.99 (plus $5 shipping), that's not a bad deal. Worst case scenario, you get an 8Gb flash drive for that price, after all.

By the way, yes, I did try to find a beautiful woman to insert into this post. The results of a Google search for "tig o bitties" were just too disturbing to put on the front page of Destructoid and I decided it was better to leave well enough alone. Better luck next time.

I, for one, am uncharacteristically excited about the new Castlevania game which was announced at Konami's E3 press conference. I have yet to really enjoy a 3D game in the franchise but I'm strangely hopeful that this one is going to be good because the trailer just looks so damn exciting.

Yeah, there's a very good chance that it'll be an awful clone of games like God of War and Devil May Cry, but it's been so long since we had a really good Castlevania title on a home console that I can't help but pray that this one will break a long-running trend. Check out the above trailer and then venture into the gallery for some screenshots.

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I love me some Overlord. I might not love it as much as Jim does but I think it would be a close race as to who has a bigger tent for the upcoming sequel. Now that I've had an opportunity to play it on the show floor at E3, I'm even more excited than ever.

Hit the jump and check out why it feels so good to be so bad.

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The LEGO games, while always decent, started to run out of steam for me a while ago. The same old collection-based platforming was getting a bit stale and it's nice to see the franchise branch out a little bit into new territory. LEGO Battles is one such example of this. Having not really read anything about it up to this point, I was pleased to discover a decent looking RTS game in there.

Hit the jump for some impressions

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E3 is a hectic place and it's often hard to find the time to write posts inbetween all of the meetings, booth tours and just plain walking. But when you get asked if you'd like the opportunity to see BioShock 2 in the midst of a full schedule, well, you make time to do that.

And that's what I've done. 2K's demonstration was strictly hands-off but they gave us some juicy info and allowed us to see a live demo of the title's multiplayer component. Go past the jump for impressions.

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As someone who went to E3 back in 2005 when things were still massive only to miss the show in subsequent, low-key years, this year's show feels just like home. Yes, home to me is apparently thousands and thousands of square feet and jammed with people.

Check out this gallery and realize that this is only one of the two halls in the Los Angeles Convention Center that the show is occupying. West Hall features Nintendo, Sony, Activision, THQ and more. Stay tuned for a gallery of South Hall coming up in a few hours. 

And if you're wondering where all the lovely ladies are, so am I. Perhaps Hamza will be able to tell us more about that in due time.

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Warner Bros. took me on a tour of their E3 offerings this afternoon and I kicked things off by checking out their recently announced Lord of the Rings title. Having recently acquired the license from EA, I was wondering what Warner Bros. was going to do with the franchise. And, of course, the very first thing they do is put it on the Wii in a game subtitled, "Aragorn's Quest."

It's pretty different from what EA had been releasing. Keep in mind that this is not a bad thing. It is just a different thing. I'm not quite sure exactly how I feel about this one and it's probably too early for me to have a hard and fast opinion. Nevertheless, I'll give you some general impressions of the title after the jump along with a trailer and some screenshots.

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I'm super excited that Mario & Luigi 3: Bowswer's Inside Story is on its way. I've been dying to play it since the first content started appearing to promote the Japanese release. I would have imported but the moonspeak always gets in my way and this series is always way too funny for me to want to miss any text anyway.

Along with the announcement today, we've acquired a bunch of screeenshots, art assets and a trailer. I've even tossed in a press release for you to enjoy. Yeah, I'm cool like that. Check all of it out in the gallery and after the jump.

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