FiringSquad ran an interview with Dan Connors and Dave Grossman of Telltale Games this past Thursday at the close of Sam & Max's first season.

FiringSquad: In terms of gameplay, do you feel that you have stayed true to the original LucasArts game while also putting in Telltale's own touches?

Dave Grossman: Actually, I don't think we've stayed true to Hit the Road in terms of gameplay, nor were we really trying to. There are essential elements of puzzle philosophy, structure, and dialog mechanics that are quite different, and if I were going to compare the gameplay to an older game I would be more inclined towards Day of the Tentacle or Pajama Sam, or both. With, as you say, a certain essential Telltale style.

Other responses, including vague status reports on current and future projects can be found in the full article.

IGN interviews Rob Ron Gilbert! Gilbert! Gilbert! He chats about Maniac Mansion, the current state of adventure games, and 300.

Mostly I do a lot of consulting for other companies. Game design, writing, stuff like that. There is an adventure, role-playing game hybrid that I'm currently designing and looking for a publisher for.

Nothing new there, then. Come on publishers, ya bunch of knobs, help out our Ron.

In non-Telltale games news, Adventure Gamers is reporting a new adventure based on the famous WW1 femme-fatale spy Mata Hari is in the works, being designed and written by a pair of well known ex-LucasArts employees

The story and game design for Mata Hari are provided by Hal Barwood and Noah Falstein, who are no strangers to the genre, having been involved in the Indiana Jones games The Fate of Atlantis and The Last Crusade with LucasArts many years ago. The actual development of the game is being done by the Hanover-based 4Head Studios.

The game is slated for a first quarter release in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with the rest of the world to follow.

Yep, today's the day. The final episode of Sam & Max: Season 1, Bright Side of the Moon, has made its premiere, bringing the dynamic duo's triumphant comeback to a satisfying close. Sniff.

If you're part of the Gametap crowd, this is probably the most substantive excuse you'll ever have to skip work/school/your anniversary, so you might as well stop kidding yourself and start playing. If you're left out of the premiere, then you know exactly where to be on May 10th.

There goes 75% of Mojo's news! Stay tuned for the first review round-up.

Update: 4 color rebellion put of the first review, giving the game a 10/10.

How many Telltale interviews can we post news about in a single day? The answer is three!

This one comes from the San Francisco Chronicle, and you can see it here. Watch Steve Purcell be cool, Emily be all laid back and relaxed, and Dave talk about episodic gaming, not blinking. He has no time to blink. He has to make more games! And possibly a weekly poem too.

Tim Schafer and Scott Campbell are also present. "I like the APE show," says Tim with a smile.

Conclusion: the next Double Fine game will be about apes... as in monkeys... as in Monkey Island!

As if they were trying to 1up the folks at 4 color rebellion, a certain site has tossed up a nice Q&A with Dave Grossman as they've done just before the premiere of each episode. Does Dave reveal startling new details about the season finale? Read to find out!

Now that the Sam & Max season is wrapped up, (at least on Telltale's end) 4 color rebellion decided it was high time to get the latest scoop on Telltale straight from the source. Check out their well done interview with Dan Connors and Dave Grossman that touches upon all the hot topics: Sam & Max, Bone, console development, and what's next for the company:

We know that you have some Wii content in the works. Obviously the pointer can be used as a mouse, but do you have any cool ideas for using motion-based controls in your Wii titles?

Dave: I had this great idea where you strap the controllers to your legs and walk around. Which we?re not doing, unfortunately, but we are doing more than just using the pointer like a mouse. That would be a waste of an opportunity. Designing for the Wii is pretty interesting, by the way ? it forces you to think in a different way than you?re used to.

Blind people can't read the rest of the interview so the least you could do is stop taking things for granted and check it out.

Also, Telltale has put up a gameplay video for Bright Side of the Moon.

When Mr Bill Tiller of Autumn Moon Entertainment announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Petaluma.

Read all about it here!

The fifteenth and final machinima short, "Fireside Chat," is now up on Gametap. All that's left is for the season finale to premiere next week, and so ends the most successful episodic series to date! You can check out machinima #14 on Telltale's site if you haven't had a chance yet.

Update: Telltale now has all the shorts up on their own site, including downloadable versions.

According to Ain't It Cool News, the title of Indiana Jones 4 will be (maybe) Indiana Jones and the City of Gods. Hey, whatever.

And just to pad out this post, I'll direct you to some more Frank Darabont bitterness, because I'm a troublemaker. And what's up with Sallah not returning? Anyway, as always we'll be back with more Indy 4 news whenever it's convenient for us.

Gamestop has got a listing for the boxed release of Sam & Max: Season 1 being published by The Adventure Company (under the banner Dreamcatcher) this fall. They attach a price of $29.99 and a release date of August 28th. Heh, remember the last time we saw a Sam & Max game for preorder?

There's still no word on what extras will be included on either CD version of the season, but the first info on Telltale's version is supposed to be made known in a few weeks. Just to refresh your memory, that one will be available shortly after the season ends.

Oh, and remember the awesome but slowly updated webcomic? We've got page 12 to enjoy!

The latest Sam & Max Machinima short "Artichoke" is now up properly over at Telltale's site. I can't recommend it highly enough, as the ending honestly made me shoot milk out my nose for the first time ever. Hooray!

Also on the same page, Telltale has a few new Bone-related goodies. Most notably, however, are the new Soundtrack CD covers made by regular (and incredibly talented) Mojo forumite Laserschwert, who of course is the proud creator of the wonderful LucasArts Soundtracks site. Good on yer mon!

Blimey, what's this then? Can it be true? Is the review for Reality 2.0 up on Mojo already? And before Adventure Gamers too? Woohoo!

Join us for the verdict here as Sam & Max take the trip of a lifetime - onto the Internet! (And no, we're not going to be doing a 'Surfing the Information Super-Highway' joke)

A version of Scumm VM has been made for the Nintendo Gamecube, meaning that you can play old LucasArts on your TV. Whilst sitting down. On a sofa! What?s next? A Wii port? Maybe! (Source: World of Monkey Island)

A guy called "El-Nino" completed Maniac Mansion in only 9 minutes 14 seconds! This prompted the following set of interesting recollections of the game's development from Ronzo.

LucasArts have employed a new lawyer, who is wanting to sue ScummVM again (probably). Read all about it. (Source: clone2727)

The Legend of Monkey Island's forums got spammed to smithereens. Go there to read posts about "Johnny Depp lesbian strip!" "Pamela Anderson in nylons!" and "What will Guybrush eat in MI5?" before Blondebeard updates the forum software and blocks the spammers.

Captain Dread has dusted off the cobwebs of LucasRadio, opening it to the public once again! It?s a 24 hour Internet radio station playing music from adventure games, from early LucasArts to Telltale. To listen, point a program link Winamp to this address.

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Quick, before you fire up that Friday the 13th marathon, check out this quote from yesterday's Sam & Max Finale press release:

"Sam & Max: Season 1 is a testament to the fact that true episodic gaming can be successful," said Ricardo Sanchez, GameTap's vice president of content. "We look forward to continuing to work with Telltale on more groundbreaking projects."

So, okay, it's no surprise at all that Gametap would be involved with season 2, and I'm only even pointing this out because the last we heard on the subject from Dan was that Telltale was considering other partners. It sure sounds like the second season will see Telltale and Gametap together again, which is definitely a good thing from the way both companies talk about the current collaboration. Make of the exceedingly vague "more groundbreaking projects" what you will.

As hinted previously, the 6th and final Season 1 Sam & Max episode will literally be out-of-this-world.

The title has been revealed as Bright Side of the Moon. The first screenshots and teaser video are now available at Telltale's site.

I imagine most of you have already got your hands on the game, but today is the launch of Reality 2.0 for individual purchase from which no one is excluded. Yay!

Today is also the premiere of the fourteenth machinima short, "What Kind of Man Are You." Also the thirteenth machinima, "Artichoke," came out last week which I just barely forgot to mention. This leaves one remaining short next week and, of course, the season finale the week after. Look at me, Sam! I'm episodic!

As pointed out by clone2727 in the Mojo forum, LucasArts trashed all the old game minisites during the recent site redevelopment. The web designers appear to be listening to the fans' requests to restore (some of) them, and have asked for feedback in this LucasArts forum thread.

You can see some of the older minisites linked here on archive.org and some of the newer ones by clicking through to the 'official site' from these links. The ones with lots of flash don't appear to have been saved fully, rendering many of the archived ones useless.

... so how about this, Mr. LucasArts Lawyer?

Or even these guys? They are using a very similar name to yours after all! Sue the plagiarising scum!

I feel this joke will go on for a while. That and the 'marketplace realities' one.

Reality 2.0 is shaping up to be the best reviewed episode so far and premiered on Gametap as the service's most played game. How happy then you'll be to know that, like was the case with Abe Lincoln Must Die!, Telltale is offering Reality 2.0 a bit early to those who have made the season purchase. To enter Sam & Max's new reality, those who apply need only check their email.

Those who are getting the game individually needn't cry, because the wait for the official release is only three more days. Why not put your President's thoughts on Passover and Easter on a loop until then?

Codename Revolution learned that a Wii version of the upcoming CSI: Hard Evidence is in the works for a September release. Whether the port is the work of Telltale or a Ubisoft studio is unclear since Ubisoft was responsible for the PS2 3 Dimensions of Murder, but as we all know Telltale recently hired a Wii guy (or gal).

As for the original PC version, there's still no hard evidence (hur hur) on a release date. The latest I've heard was a May or June release, though it could very well be coming out in September as well.

According to Kotaku, LucasArts is readying a new non-Star Wars shooter, set in a future East Coast vs. West Coast US civil war. Crips / Bloods?

The first- and third-person shooter features some nifty land deformation schtick courtesy of an advancement in weapons technology. Players will be armed with grenades that can transform the landscape to their advantage, whether it be to establish cover or to reach new heights on a particular level, you'll literally reshape the battlefield. Each splintered faction will also have access to firearms that deploy mines that travel beneath the surface at rocket speeds [carried by sharks? - jp-30] to take out enemies and carve out craters. Expect plenty of flying rocks.

Looks as if LucasArts is trying to launch a new Mercenaries style franchise in the wake of it losing the rights to Mercenaries 2.

...a new holiday!

Happy Easter from Autumn Moon. And Mojo.

When other sites review games, it's cute and all, but we both know there's only one opinion upon which you base your purchasing decisions, and that opinion is Mojo's.

So it's for your benefit that I hastily threw together a review of CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder, figuring that Mojo should probably have one up before Hard Evidence comes out, or at least within a year and a half of its release. My review seems to have neglected to enter that crucial phase where it's edited down into something that's coherent, concise, or readable, but that's never stopped you from viewing my stuff in the past and it shouldn't stop you now. Special thanks to Gabez for doing all the work in getting this article up because I can't format a picture.

If the cynic in you is convinced that the recent deluge of articles is mere coincidence and not a sign of things to come, you're probably right. Still though it was fun while it lasted. Oh and be sure to keep an eye on the CSI database page just in case I end up doing that in-jokes gallery I told myself I'd do a year ago.

When GDC was going on there was a sudden flurry of Telltale interviews, and this one with Dan Connors by the human beings at TwitchGuru got lost in the shuffle. Anyway read it to learn a few details surrounding Telltale and Gametap going steady, as well as the status of a possible Wii port and Season 2.

Hi guys... as you know we?ve been working on a new version of Mojo for a long time now. Well we?ve finally settled on a design, and we want your feedback! Jake spent a long time on this, and says that it?s the best version of Mojo yet! It?s very streamlined, efficient and modern. New Mojo will have less content than ever before, but the content that is there will be very high quality! Also, we won?t have to update the site as much!

Let us know what you think!

It?s good, right? Do we love it?