The International House of Mojo

Wow, I let curiosity get the better of me and watched the Giant Bomb Quick Look. I honestly don't get why people are complaining about the graphics. This game is drop-dead gorgeous. Christ, every other second they were throwing something at me I wasn't expecting. It actually looks like a movie now. Or a strange lovely mix between the comics and the cartoon series. I love the map, Sam's notebook and the fact that the city feels like a real city now. I can't wait to see what they're doing with the more outlandish setting. I think this is the first time I really think of a Telltale world as an actual real world, where characters actually live their lives. But the best thing had to be the fact that they're mixing up conventions and are introducing new ways of thinking about puzzles and storytelling. This is what I want you to do more often Telltale. Great stuff.

Yeah, I love how grainy and dirty everything looks.

Yep. Like I said, I'm really happy with everything, and I'm very excited for the future :) Imagine a Monkey game in 2, 3 years. Ahh, c'est l'amour!

That having been said, I hope they don't keep on re-using locations. I'm not sure how I feel about constantly re-visiting Bosco -> Stinky -> Sybil -> Cops -> Office. It's tedious.

Yeah, definitely. It looks as if they're putting more resources into new locations now, though, so my hopes are high that this will change.

And, anyway, it looks as if Bosco's is closed this season (or at least in The Penal Zone.)

Yeah, I was one of those people who kept saying they had to abandon the street and the office, but I think I might reconsider now. Not just because everything looks pretty different now. One of the happiest moments in that quicklook for me was the moment they pulled out that map and started driving around. They had only unlocked two locations so far, but that right there (in combination of the increase in details and graphic quality, the more dynamic camera and the fact that the world doesn't feel as a SCUMM-style stage anymore) made me much more aware of the world Sam & Max live in. I'm happy they didn't completely abandon New York but just decided to make it bigger and better. Having a real, believable 'home base' makes the trips to more outlandish locations actually feel weird and outlandish. You need some sense about what is normal for guys like Sam & Max in order to make the weird locations feel properly weird, if you now what I mean. I'm still a bit scared it might turn into the old routine like you guys mentioned, but right now I'm a happy puppy.

Forgive me if I'm rambling, but it's been a crazy week for me, and this is just the explosion of happiness I needed.

Man, this looks pretty cool, and the music is terrific as always. Right on!

Noticed another video on the GDC Gamespot site while looking at this..

MI2:SE "Preview"

http://gdc.gamespot.com/video/6253419/

Interview with project lead, clarifies some things. No mention of Mac version even though Twitter etc has said otherwise. Bizarre.

Loving the look of new Sam & Max

Good eye! :) I'll stick that in with a thank you on the next MI:SE update.

"We're detectives Sam, not mind readers!"

Such inaccurate last words, Max.

Ooh, look at this new dialogue "tree": http://files.telltalegames.com/samandmax/thedevilsplayhouse/sm301_dialogue.jpg

Looks like the one in Bioshock or whatever it was called. Does that mean we will be able to say things before people have finished talking?

I think it's more to hide the exact dialogue and just give the direction of what you want to talk about. It did remind me of Mass Effect, though.

hmm.. that screenshot looks gazzillion times more interesting, atmospheric and of good quality than the intro video :o

You see the trailer? Loads of cool stuff.

I still can't get over how good the stars/space looked in the intro movie, though.

hmm, can't they get a decent physics engine for once... one with more than 30 polygons for a character?

i'm sorry to sound so harsh.. i love these games being made, it keeps the genre alive.. but the graphics quality is not doing the legacy justice... in the 2d adventures the Sam and Max (and all lucasarts adventures for that matter) were top-notch in graphics...

now with these 3d adventures it seems they're using 10 years old engines..

i know these proper engines are costly.. but.. perhaps request lucasarts for the funding of a decent graphics engine?

And then.. once we get the graphics quality.. the rest of the industry will take these games more seriously..

Of course I know its not all about the graphics in these games, but it is went it comes to being judged by the rest of the industry..

love what you're doing though Telltale, you've really succeeded in living your fanboy dreams by making these games.. of course we thank you for that despite the graphics quality :)

hmm, in retrospect.. i take back most of what i just said.. i guess i would just love to see our beloved games in even better graphics quality..

overall i think i shouldnt criticize telltale that much at all.. they're doing an amazing job in the industry... just looking at the merch they put out, look at all that MI treasury stuff you get with the deluxe edition. Great stuff!

I think the current incarnation of telltale engine is more than capable of pumping out top-notch graphics... I'd rather blame the (comparably) sub-par graphics on rushed art assets.

It doesn't hurt my enjoyment of the games, but I wouldn't mind seeing some real-time fur on Sam & Max :)

Season Three looks gorgeous, though. Maybe it's the art direction, plus the new lighting system, but yeah, it does look beautiful.

Still, I AM looking forward to seeing the tech develop even further in the next few years.

The graphics are getting much better, though...I can't wait to see what they'll look like in a few years. Hell, Sam and Max 01 was four years ago, if you think about it. See how far they've come since then.

They obviously can't go full-out CryEngine. Many people are already having trouble running the current tech.

I think the more important aspect of their engine is how fast they can implement changes. Reading the interview with Bay Area Sound, I got the impression that every department is depending on "The Tool" being as accessible as possible. I think that's the only way TTG is able to produce so many games in such a short period of time. Until now, the visual side of the engine wasn't a priority, but it looks like S&M S3 will be the next big step for the engine.

Although I've gotta admit I am a little disappointed that the models for Sam and Max didn't get updated with more polygons, at least their textures are more detailed now. Plus the overall visuals have improved a lot, so I won't complain.

Enough with the good news! Sheesh!

Tim Schafer was just eaten by a giant bear.

Didn't even THAT work out for him in the end? I forget how it played out.

Well, to be fair, the lighting is all excellent, but the opening shots of space are something else. I especially love the sunlight streaming on the earth, punctured by a moving spaceship.

I still wish Telltale would fix their subtitles, though. They come on-screen way too early.

For real. I didn't think a lot of things were as well-developed as they could've been in the scene, but those establishing shots were really beautiful. Telltale's artists get better and better at layers of abstraction like the roughly rectangular forms of light that frame the "Telltale Games" logo in the first shot. Good shit.

What? No, I liked the scene - I thought it set-up the story rather well, introduced everything you needed to know, and was funny. Well, the humor was a little too trademark Sam and Max, but there were enough hints at more varied jokes. I'm ecstatic. Nothing compares to the beautiful opening shots, though.