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Swoon! Telltale Hires Grossman 29 Jun, 2005, 00:52 / 21 comments

By jp-30


Weeeeeeeee! Read today's regular staff interview blog entry at telltale.com and who's up for discussion? None other than ex-LucasArts Adventure legend Dave Grossman.
Also, Telltale is a company where characters and story are the foundations of a game, instead of being the wrapping paper on yet another boring run-around-and-shoot-and-don?t-do-anything-else title. The bulk of the games industry is, sadly, a place where people think having a conversation about "character" means trying to think of a cool weapon for the protagonist to use. (You think I?m exaggerating, but that really happens all the time.) Not so Telltale. It?s very refreshing to be here. And it?s a small company where people enjoy their jobs ? like LucasFilm was in 1989, but without the mountain lions.


Also, their recent TELLTALE NOW press release smallprint mentions "Telltale is also finalizing an agreement to work on one of the most popular television franchises which it will announce shortly" which lends some weight to the rumoured pickup of the CSI franchise license.

Source: Telltale

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21 Comments

  • Remi O on 26 Jul, 2005, 20:08…
    Shhh, just testing.
  • Shmargin on 30 Jun, 2005, 01:18…
    Since when is a game company picking up any form of television or movie license a good thing? Bad TellTale, Bad! Be original god damnit! What the hell is wrong with people? Bone works, much in the way Sam & Max did, but come on...CSI? Makes my brain hurt just thinking about it.
  • Twilo on 30 Jun, 2005, 11:26…
    Hear Hear!

    Don't toot the originality horn until you create something original!
  • jp-30 on 30 Jun, 2005, 03:50…
    Even if you don't like CSI, a big-name license with strong sales will help set-up the company and effectively subsidise other projects, such as original character games that are more niche market, harder to market and are probably more appealing to the, err, 'hardcore adventure gamer' market.

    It would be hard to imagine games with such a big license being available via download only (but who knows?). The other advantage with boxing the games & selling at retail is that Bone & original IP demos etc can be included on the CD or DVD, spreading the word about your less-mainstream titles to the unwashed masses.

    So yeah, even if you don't personally care for CSI, aquiring such a big-name global franchise can only be good for Telltale as a whole.
  • Shmargin on 30 Jun, 2005, 01:19…
    Oh, but it does rock that they hired Dave Grossman, dont get me wrong...
  • The Tingler on 29 Jun, 2005, 18:33…
    Maybe it's not CSI. Maybe they're gonna get Doctor Who instead.
  • Scummbuddy on 29 Jun, 2005, 11:17…
    This is phenomenal.
  • Twilo on 29 Jun, 2005, 10:27…
    Awesome and original storylines like...
    Somebody else's comic!
    Poker!
    A TV Show that doesn't actually have stories!
  • Thrik on 29 Jun, 2005, 15:10…
    I can't say that I particularly care about any of their apparent current licenses, but it *is* a good way to get some initial funds and success which will pave the road to more original games. I mean, with popular licenses you can't really go wrong.

    Let's just hope that they don't get too carried away and travel down LucasArts' path.
  • Twilo on 30 Jun, 2005, 11:29…
    Heh, it was only after I replied to the previous comment that I noticed you said pretty much what I said.

    Other than that, I don't think that anyone can justify touting Telltale as makers of original and creative games or stories until they actually come up with an original game or story.
    Until then, everyone is putting their faith in the (admittedly promising) big names.
  • jp-30 on 30 Jun, 2005, 17:41…
    Maybe, just maybe, those touting Telltale as makers of original and creative games (like Mike Stemmle in the press release) actually know more about what's going on development-wise inside Telltale than the public does.
  • Udvarnoky on 29 Jun, 2005, 12:03…
    They've been saying from the beginning that they want to make their own licenses, but starting off with well-known ones will hopefully gain them some success and a following.
  • Twilo on 30 Jun, 2005, 11:25…
    Or send them down the same path Lucasarts took.
  • Udvarnoky on 30 Jun, 2005, 12:07…
    How 'bout we let them release some games before deciding that they're shifting their "path."
  • Twilo on 01 Jul, 2005, 09:50…
    Similarly, let's not sing their praises yet either.
  • Erwin_Br on 29 Jun, 2005, 10:46…
    Well, it beats Star Wars. :/ And Bone is actually quite high on my anticipation meter :)
  • monkeyboobs on 29 Jun, 2005, 07:36…
    Good news. But also bad news for me 'cause if the rumours are right.. I don't like CSI :(
  • jp-30 on 29 Jun, 2005, 16:33…
    Well, you didn't have to like Star Wars to play Monkey Island, so...
  • Udvarnoky on 29 Jun, 2005, 01:00…
    Can Telltale get any more awesome? Seriously.
  • jp-30 on 29 Jun, 2005, 01:08…
    Ooops - it was you and not Artwking4 who mentioned the TT blog at AG's forum. Sorry dude.
  • jp-30 on 29 Jun, 2005, 00:54…
    Ogh, and by the way. Thanks for the tipoff "artwking4" over on the AG forums... :)