The reviews for The Tomb of Sammun-Mak are emerging all over the internet. Here's a list, which we'll update with new reviews as we spot 'em:
Of course, you could always just skip to the definitive take on the game by checking out our own review.
Articles
Although I'd find it hard to believe that Steve Purcell's cover art for the Telltale collector's disc of Sam & Max: Season 2 left anyone unsatisfied, Purcell seems to make a habit of sketching multiple concepts for his covers, and today he shares the alternate idea in his latest blog post, depicting Sam and Max munching away in Stinky's Diner, presumably on duty.
Purcell even suggests that he may go ahead and realize the concept and make it available in print form. Such a development would, of course, be awesome.
Source: Spudvision
Gamasutra have put up excerpts from Game Developer's Tales of Monkey Island postmortem, penned by former Telltale marketing coordinator Emily "fov" Morganti. It explores What Went Right and What Went Wrong during the development of Tales, and is a good read all around.
This particular bit caught my eye:
Spending time perfecting the story’s important moments is easy to justify. It’s devoting too much time to smaller bits and throwaway gags that can get us into trouble. For example, when Guybrush dives down to the ocean floor in the third episode, we had a perfect opportunity to reference a similar scene in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. Doing so wasn’t necessary for the story, but it made the game a richer experience for Monkey Island fans who would understand the reference.
Later:
Of course we’re going to keep creating the best games we can, but we need to get better about prioritizing and ensuring that any last-minute additions are really important 'need to have' changes as opposed to tweaks that would be nice to have.
For what it's worth, it's the little things like that which make a game special.
Source: Gamasutra
That's right. In a nigh-undisturbed, dusty GameSpot warehouse, diligent archivists have recently unearthed tantalizing clips of footage from a long thought-to-be-lost silent video game, Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse, Episode 2: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak! Makes that Metropolis restoration look like peanuts in comparison.
Well, go and check it out. It's only so often such a priceless piece of video game history is rediscovered.
(Actually, the trailer is hardly long-lost, but who cares? It makes a good news post, and admirably sets the mood for the game. Which looks awesomely old-timey, don't you know.)
Source: Telltale Forums
To go with the release of Steam on Mac and timed nicely with the announcement of The Tomb of Sammun-Mak's release date, those who don't own either Tales of Monkey Island or Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse can pick up both together in the Telltale Steam Pack for a ridiculous £19.99/$29.99.
Separately these two are £49.98, more than twice that. It's definitely worth picking up if you haven't already got both, with the new series of Sam & Max alone being worth that.
Source: Steam
In their latest blog post, Telltale has revealed that the second episode of The Devil's Playhouse, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak, will be released for PC/Mac and the North American PSN on May 18th, with European PS3 players getting it on May 26th. Four new screenshots for the episode are included with the announcement, so check those out.
Source: Telltale
The second episode of The Devil's Playhouse, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak, must be getting close, as Telltale seems to be talking about it a bit more lately. Those who are subscribed to the Telltale newsletter (that's all of you, right?) probably already noted this bit from the latest issue:
The second episode, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak, will release in just a few short weeks, and the Freelance Police face even more bizarre and dangerous new characters (and some familiar faces). The game's designer calls this episode Sam & Max's "trippiest trip yet", as it features new psychic powers, peculiar foes, a journey on the Disorient Express and an ancient mysterious riddle from across the ages.
Today Telltale continues to ramp things up for Sam & Max 302 with a blog post that contains an interview with episode director Andy Hartzell, features some brand new concept art worthy of your speculation, and concludes with the promise that the finalized release date for The Tomb of Sammun-Mak is soon to be public knowledge.
Source: Telltale
Telltale CEO Dan Connors takes time to discuss the Telltale Pilot Program with G4TV, especially where it could head in the future.
Connors: Right now, I would say there's four products in development at Telltale. This is one (Puzzle Agent), with another three, all at different stages.
"One thing we might do...there's a lot of talk around here about lawyering types of games".</p></div>Sam & Max & Puzzle Agent we know of. What else is in development right now I wonder?
Source: G4TV
The May 2010 issue of Game Developer magazine, the superb sister print publication to Gamasutra, contains as its feature story a post-mortem for Tales of Monkey Island, which apparently includes some "crunch horrors" as well as an interview with Ron Gilbert, and by virtue of the fact that you're browsing Mixnmojo.com, will probably make for a fascinating read for you.
The issue is available for purchase both at magazine retail and in digital form. If you're still short on cash after placing your mandatory pre-order of Telltale's first pilot, you could wait six months and hope that Gamasutra publishes the whole post-mortem online as they did with Brutal Legend.
Source: Gamasutra
This afternoon the full "Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent" website went live at Telltale Games.
www.telltalegames.com/scogginserasers
It features a youtube interview with Mark Darin and Graham Annable, a pre-order link ($9.95), screenshots, an audio track to download, and a whole host of other goodies.
Source: Telltale Games
Attention Sam and Max fans who have enjoyed "The Penal Zone": It seems that Telltale have actually set-up a Toys of Power hotline for you to call. I'm not sure what's the point, but if you're feeling up to it, call 1-516-vis-ion-1 (aka 1-516-847-466-1). Telltale forumer Jennifer was nice enough to record the message you hear when you call, and she (I assume) put the recording up on YouTube.
If you do end-up calling, tell us what you say. And if someone figures out the point of this thing (besides having a bit of fun, I suppose), let us know. You'll get thanked in the appropriate newspost and get totally famous, like Jennifer or George Lucas.
Update: According to the now-even-more-famous Jennifer, the point of this telephone thingamabob is to promote this. I guess that's somehow related to The Devil's Playhouse page being updated. Or not. Maybe. I'm sure I got the correct answer somewhere in this post.
Source: Telltale Forums
The Telltale Store is now selling The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, which will cost you $9.95. Alternatively, and for a limited time only, you can buy both Secret and Tales of Monkey Island for $19.95. This offer supposedly ends May 7th, but, based on previous Telltale "deadlines", May 7th will simply be when they extend the offer's lifespan by a couple of days.
In other news, the Telltale Forum now includes a section specifically made for their upcoming game, Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent. The game, which will arrive in June, is being designed by Mark Darin ("Dangeresque 3", "Rise of the Pirate God") and written by Sean Vanaman ("Muzzled!", "Lair of the Leviathan"). Discuss it here. Or here.
Source: Telltale Store
The Mystery of Scoggins has been revealed, now with the slightly less catchy name of Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent. Destructoid has the reveal, including the first video of main character Agent Tether's encounter with one of The Hidden People.
Telltale also revealed that Puzzle Agent will be the first game in what they are calling their Pilot Program, which seems designed to get quirky games like this out the door at a faster rate. If these 'pilots' are successful, then a full series could be commissioned. Puzzle Agent itself features obviously the work of Graham Annable and is a puzzle/adventure game in the style of the excellent Professor Layton & The Curious Village (if you're an adventure game fan, own a DS and don't have this game, shame on you). The game will be released on PC, Mac, iPhone, and iPad in June.
EDIT: IGN has their own post up too, and they claim the game is also coming to WiiWare too.
Telltale also revealed that Puzzle Agent will be the first game in what they are calling their Pilot Program, which seems designed to get quirky games like this out the door at a faster rate. If these 'pilots' are successful, then a full series could be commissioned. Puzzle Agent itself features obviously the work of Graham Annable and is a puzzle/adventure game in the style of the excellent Professor Layton & The Curious Village (if you're an adventure game fan, own a DS and don't have this game, shame on you).
Puzzle Agent follows Nelson Tether, the lone agent of the FBI's Puzzle Investigation division. Nelson is sent out to Scoggins, Minnesota, to investigate why the town's eraser factory has been closed down. Nelson soon discovers that the town is hiding some kind of secret and it's up to you to find out what's going on.
EDIT: IGN has their own post up too, and they claim the game is also coming to WiiWare too.
Source: Destructoid
Being that he's Steve Purcell and all, none of us gets tired of reading Steve Purcell's responses to the same questions being fielded at him in internet articles. What makes the latest nostalgic gabbing ritual with the iconic LEC artist of yesteryear by the ever-bustling Sam & Max.co.uk a little bit more enticing than the norm, however, is that it's by the fans.
Yup, after collecting interview questions in a Telltale forum thread a month or so ago, Sam & Max.co.uk webmaster "Pinchpenny" zipped the least creepy ones over to the creator of the Freelance Police, and the worthwile results can be found right here to satisfy your daily reading quota.
Source: Sam & Max.co.uk
Our friend from the frontline, Bill Cauley, has sent us word:
It was then followed with the following about pricing and release
The next page consisted of screenshots from the game and showing various locations, characters, and parts of puzzles that you'll end up solving.
I was on Facebook today and one of the ads caught my eye. It was using a Phoenix Wright graphic and claimed that if you filled out a quick survey for a video game that I could win some cash prize. Thinking it could be worth a laugh I entered and after putting in some basic information (date of birth, what types of games I like, etc.). I was treated to an outline of a new game that was coming out. Here's the outline that was given:
Nelson Tethers, the only agent at the U.S. Bureau of Puzzle Investigation, hasn’t had a case in more than a decade – until today. An unexplained event in the bizarre town of Scoggins, Minnesota has left the entire burg obsessed with puzzle-solving, completely shutting down all productivity. The mystery can only be solved through Agent Tethers’ expert puzzle-solving skills. His path ultimately leads him to find that an unseen force has placed the entire town under mind control. Utilizing his crack puzzle solving abilities Tethers will unravel the mystery -- if the townspeople don’t stop him first. Who or what is this mysterious force and why is it making the good people of Scoggins solve puzzles 24/7?
It was then followed with the following about pricing and release
If this game were available now for $9.99 as a digital download for your preferred gaming platform, how likely would you be to purchase this game?
The next page consisted of screenshots from the game and showing various locations, characters, and parts of puzzles that you'll end up solving.
Since our original spotterizing of the Mystery of Scoggins, more details have popped up - but instead of revealing more they only seem to deepen the mystery, Lost-like (urgh).
IGN got a package in the mail yesterday. It originated from 'Scoggins, MN', and contained a lot of Pencil Erasers and an iPod Touch. The Touch seemed to be from the 'FBI Department of Puzzle Research' and contained the note:
"Mr. Hatfield (the name of the writer who received the package),
Something is wrong in Scoggins, MN.
Check your calendar."
So, an iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone puzzle game perhaps? Or maybe Telltale are just trying to throw us and they really are getting out of adventure games into the Eraser business due to marketplace realities or somesuch.
UPDATE: Kotaku have received their package. They've added a few new details the others left out, such as a video called 'The Hidden People' and that the iPod Touch contains digital versions of prints by Graham Annable. It seems that little red gnome that pops out when you click on the glowing window on the site is actually one of these 'Hidden People'. Interesting. Don't know what it means, but those prints are available to buy here.
Source: IGN
Telltale designer Brendan Ferguson is now conspicuously absent from the web site's Team page, suggesting that he has recently moved on from the company. One of the first (if not the first) employees of Telltale, first seen alongside the company's founders when Telltale first appeared publicly in April 2004, Ferguson was previously an employee of LucasArts, having been one of the designers and writers on the still somewhat fabled Sam & Max: Freelance Police.
Known for penning some humorous blog posts in the company's earliest days, Ferguson's contributions at Telltale over the last six years seem to have been primarily Sam & Max related, with him serving as the co-designer of Save the World with the legendary Dave Grossman, and again on Beyond Time and Space with Chuck Jordan. His work on The Devil's Playhouse will be predominately found in upcoming episodes.
Source: Telltale's team page
In a recent survey, Telltale asked fans what they'd most like to see next as an episodic adventure game. According to Telltale boss Dan Connors (speaking to Joystiq), the number one adaptation fans most want to see is TV's Lost.
May I just be the first to say: no. If you voted for Lost over, say, Futurama, you're an idiot. If ever proof were needed that game makers shouldn't listen to their fans, I think this would be Exhibit A.
On the other hand, redeeming my faith in Telltale fans, the second choice was Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, which would be an absolutely perfect choice and desperately needs (another) good adventure game adaptation. Or even Dirk Gently.
Source: Joystiq
The folks at GamePro went visit the Telltale studio in order to put together a multi-part video retrospective about the history of Sam & Max. The first part, now available, covers the characters' creation up until how it came about that they starred in their first video game. Included are interviews with Purcell himself as well as Mike Stemmle. Go watch!
Source: GamePro
Team Fortress 2, which you may know as developer Valve's excellent team-based multiplayer FPS, has has had a weapons/item upgrade. What makes it weird - and I can't believe I'm writing this - is that it has been updated with weapons and a (let's say) "lagomorph cap" from Sam and Max (oh my lord that's out today). The items will be available to anyone who buys the game in the next week, and to anyone who already owns the game. though it is unclear whether it's for Steam-only customers or for anyone who's bought The Devil's Playhouse for PC/Mac for Steam customers, and ones who own/will own Team Fortress 2, only. Update: As in anyone. Telltale have confirmed that anyone who owns Team Fortress 2 and The Devil's Playhouse from either the Telltale Store or Steam gets the items.
There's also a Mysterious Teaser about "Scoggins Erasers" worth checking out.
There's also a Mysterious Teaser about "Scoggins Erasers" worth checking out.
Source: Valve