The Walking Dead Episode 2: Starved for Help is out now on Xbox Live Arcade for the Xbox 360.
The release dates for the other systems have been announced as well. On Friday, June 29, the game will be available to gamers on the PlayStation 3 through the PlayStation Network in North America, as well as on PC and Mac worldwide.
Update: It's out on PSN and PC/Mac at the Telltale Games store and on Steam now too.
Source: The Escapist
Sam Suede in Undercover Exposure, a comedy adventure game by Wisecrack Games and coded by Wizarbox (Grey Matter and So Blonde), is now on Kickstarter. It has a game design that was created by Al Lowe (creator of Leisure Suit Larry) and Ken Wegrzyn of Wisecrack Games in 2006, and still remains in tact. Al Lowe is no longer involved in the project, and he stresses that his comedy writing is not present, but his game design is still present.
That said, Steve Ince (formerly of Revolution Software (he was director of the first three games in the Broken Sword series), and creator of Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso and So Blonde) is involved, so the comedy factor should be handled very well. He also did the art design of the games he worked on, and was the art designer of Beneath a Steel Sky. So, the game is in capable hands.
Like the other adventure projects on Kickstarter, there are multiple tiers to choose from, each with their own goodies, including a physical copy of the game at $125, along with the game bible and an art book. So, if you like comedy adventure games, choose a pledge tier at the Sam Suede kickstarter
Gamespy wanted to know what Ron Gilbert's favorite memories from the productions of Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Freddi Fish were. That was around the time they asked him. Will you read his responses, or just let it slip?
Source: Gamespy
Since we've been posting about the SpaceVenture Kickstarter, I thought I'd update with news that a playable prototype demo has been released which already contains a lot of the humor that the Space Quest series is known for. The Guys from Andromeda (the creators of SpaceVenture, and the creators of the Space Quest series) plan to release a new prototype demo each time a $100,000US goal is met. It's currently just above $270,000US (54% funded) with less than two weeks left to go.
Also, The Space Quest Collection is today's daily deal on Steam. For 9 more hours, you can pick up all 6 Space Quest games for only $5US.
The Space Quest games play just like SpaceVenture, so if you enjoy those games, pick a pledge tier and support SpaceVenture.
It's rare for an indie bundle to include an adventure game, so the Bundle in a Box: Adventure Bundle is a very rare thing, as this indie bundle includes nothing but adventure games.
Like the other indie bundles out there, this is a pay-what-you-want bundle to support developers and charity. For a minimum of less than $2US, you will receive the LucasArts-inspired adventures Ben There Dan That: Special Edition and its sequel Time Gentlemen, Please from Size Five Games. You will also get the adventure set in a neo-noir dystopian future, Gemini Rue, from Wadjet Eye Games, and the text adventure (interactive fiction) 1893: A World's Fair Mystery from Illuminated Lantern. You will also get the never before released The Sea Will Claim Everything by Jonas Kyratzes.
If you pay more than the average of less than $6US, you will also get the first game from Wadjet Eye Games, The Shivah, and the heavy-metal influenced zombie adventure from Walk Thru Walls Studios, The Metal Dead.
Last week Telltale reported on the release of a visual upgrade for the iPhone version of Tales of Monkey Island. The update is available to those who own the "Retina" capable iPhone 4 and 4S models, and the difference is like Wally B. Feed with and without a lighthouse lens.
The upgrade is free to those who can make use of it, and there's apparently some sort of discount going on with the series at the App Store right now, so, you know, food for thought for your nonexistent people who have an iPhone, read this site and never played Tales of Monkey Island.
Source: Telltale's Blog
And that would make it Telltale's fastest-selling game to date by the estimation of this press release.
Telltale has made upping themselves in sales figures a fairly routine occurrence. You might call them a going concern. Be sure to keep an eye on this promising team of "television adventure game" developers.
Source: MarketWatch
Since Mojo last looked at Kickstarter, Replay Games' drive to collect half a million dollars to remake the first Leisure Suit Larry game finished with over $150,00 in surplus. This week, Jane Jensen's Pinkerton Road kickstarter is nearing its end, having met its goal of $300,000.
The Two Guys from Andromeda (famous for the Space Quest series) have also decided to get on the bandwagon with their SpaceVenture kickstarter to see if they can get enough money to make another adventure game set in space. Last, Chris Jones and Aaron Conners' Project Fedora is firing up its campaign to collect $450,000 to make a sequel to the famous Tex Murphy adventure games.
Zipline Games issued a press release today announcing that Double Fine has selected their Moai platform to power their upcoming adventure game.
“We’ve chosen Moai as the technology platform for our new adventure game,” said Tim Schafer, CEO of Double Fine Productions. “Moai’s supposed to be awesome, but since I’m not smart enough to tell you all the reasons why, I’ll just turn it over to the Double Fine developers to explain.”
“We built the first demo of Double Fine Adventure in 2 days using Moai,” added Nathan Martz, Technical Director at Double Fine Productions, “Gameplay changes take seconds instead of minutes because you can do almost all your work in Lua. Then we can build both client and cloud features for the game in the same language.”
“We like to control every aspect of our games in order to bring Tim’s awesome, crazy ideas to life, and because Moai is open source we can change any line of code we need to,” Martz added. “Plus the fans asked for Double Fine Adventure on five different PC, tablet, and mobile phone platforms, and Moai supports them all with a single core codebase. It was the best choice for us.”
I guess SCUMM got rejected. The press release also indicates that the studio is aiming for a Spring 2013 release. Oh, and here's a video:
Source: Virtual-Strategy Magazine
Adventure Gamers previewed The Walking Dead about a week or so ago (sorry). Written up by Emily Morganti, who's back scribing for Adventure Gamers after her stint at Telltale, the impressions include an overview of the controls and a taste of how the much-ballyhooed choice system functions.
There's also some obligatory talk about whether or not the puzzle volume and complexity will appeal to hardcore adventure gamers that gets extended in the comments, but I fell asleep so I can't tell you where that one landed.
Source: Adventure Gamers
Autumn Moon will jumping on the Kickstarter bandwagon soon. This is not conjecture, or have you not seen Bill's Twitter?
Autumn Moon plans to going to get back to making games soon with the help of Kick Starter. We are currently working on our pitch.
I presume that A Vampyre Story 2 is still tied up with Crimson Cow and that this would be for the prequel and/or altogether new Autumn Moon projects. The Double Fine Kickstarter has inspired a saturation of copycats, but it had the unparagoned advantage of Tim's celebrity status within the industry combined with the ridiculous amount of goodwill his studio has accreted over the past ten years that has expanded beyond niche circles. With household adventure icons like Al Lowe straining to raise half a million dollars, I hope Bill Tiller sets a reachable goal when he joins the fray.
I hate to be cynical, though, and it's hard to be when there's any indication that we'll be getting more graphic adventure games from Bill. The Autumn Moon logo has been collecting dust for three years too many, and I know my wallet will be opening to the cause.
Source: Bill Tiller's Twitter
This and more revealed in this fine, career-encompassing interview with Steve Purcell by the fine chaps at Thunder Chunky.
Source: Thunder Chunky
Remember that Monkey Island 2: Special Edition E3 trailer that ended with a surprise 3D twist that had us all talking? Here, refresh your memory:
Source: Juan Solís García's blog
A site called Dual Pixels is claiming to have a line on the titles that will appear on the eShop service for the Wii U (the upcoming Nintendo console) when the system launches toward the end of the year. Among the titles they list is Telltale's The Walking Dead. Telltale establishing a presence on the console seems plausible enough to me considering that they're everywhere else, but time will tell if this particular rumor proves accurate.
In other Telltale news, the company would totally love to be acquired by Disney. Learn this and other lurid secrets in this interview with Dan Connors that ran on Gamasutra earlier this week.
Source: Dual Pixels
Sensing that the success of Double Fine's Kickstarter campaign would translate into a need for new hires, Marius has submitted a resume to Tim Schafer's studio - an interactive one, taking the form of a brief, Monkey Island-cognizant flash adventure game (playable here) in which you're a Double Fine HR goon named Clark who is interviewing Marius, his skill set revealed via dialog tree.
Marius' method is brilliant, and functions either intentionally or unintentionally as homage to the very same technique Tim Schafer himself employed when he sent a resume to Lucasfilm Games in the form of a text adventure game depicting the happy ending to his job search. Hopefully Marius' creativity pays off - he seems to only be after a brief internship, and unlike Schafer he has the advantage of not inadvertently revealing to his prospective employer that he pirated one of their games. I don't know what happens next, but I hope someone will make a speculative flash video shedding light on the subject. I want this to get so meta that it consumes itself helplessly into a black hole.
Source: In-game
