The International House of Mojo

If you bought Sam and Max (I'm not sure how many episodes: I own all the Sam and Max games) then check your email: you might have a coupon code that lowers down the price of a Season Pass - that's five episodes - for Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People from $34.99 to $19.99. To be honest with you that's a steal and you'd be (and no joking here) incredibly stupid not to buy it. Like incredibly, utterly irreversibly stupid not to get it now. Because it's great quality, is cheaper than the crap that plays in most movie theatres and most importantly is a load of fun. That's more than you can say about 99% of other games.

So go. This is for a very limited time only - I'm not sure if all coupons end on Wednesday but mine does. Maybe someone can clear-up?

Anyways, thanks Telltale Games. You really are more than we could have ever hoped for.

Update: Because I'm a dofus, I didn't notice when it said it expired on Wednesday...the 21st of January. All of them do. OK, anyways. Strong Bad. Super cool.

The Sam and Max statue Symbiote Studios were making (based on a sketch by Steve Purcell and apparently 17 inches high) should start shipping today, according to Steve Purcell's blog, who gives it a thumbs-up.

And then get these symbiotes, of which a second wave should be available Q2 2009.

So sit back, gaze at the statue and nod your head for money well-spent.

Source: Spudvision Blog

So Telltale's latest, Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People, has been nominated for a number of awards by Nintendo Power. Woo, Telltale! Strange fact, though: although there is a "Best Story/Writing" award, Strong Bad is for some reason not among the nominees. (Nintendo Power magazine has no writers, maybe?) Oh, who cares? Just vote for the game, if anything just so we make Telltale feel (more) loved.

Of course, there's always a reason for you not to vote for Strong Bad. Like, say, that you hate fun games. Or that you don't like good writing. Or acting, you might not like good acting. It might also be because you are ugly, and that your mummy doesn't love you, and that you never played this fantastic game and you want to unleash your hatred on all that is good in this world.

Go vote for Strong Bad, you ungrateful monkey.

(Oh and also watch the conclusion to Behind the Bad).

Don't forget to vote!

Thanks to a tipoff from AlfredJ in the forums, you should be clicking through to Eurogamer's lovely preview of Telltale's first Wallace & Gromit adventure.

While Aardman gets final say on the script, Telltale's attacked the material with typical enthusiasm, producing a story that encompasses "some new entrepreneurial ideas from Wallace, unintended consequences, Gromit saving the day, Wallace saving the day (no, really!), dastardly villains, colourful locals, romance, kidnapping, chase scenes, camaraderie, and Wensleydale", says Grossman. We're also promised all manner of new and loony contraptions.

Go, go, go!

Source: Eurogamer

The season finale of the Strong Bad games, 8-Bit Is Enough, has finally been released.

So, clicky!

Fellow human beings who run Adventure Gamers have published an interview with Mike and Matt Chapman, who as you'd damn well better know are the minds behind Homestar Runner. In their lengthy chat with AG, the Brothers talk the site's history and of course go into how Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People came about and what they think of it. Things that you will enjoy are disclosed, so read it!

In other, marginally less relevant, HR news is the fact that the site has launched Dangeresque, a "roomisidoc" flash adventure game based on Strong Bad's film making endeavors. If their excellent Peasant's Quest from a few years back was the Chapmans' answer to old school Sierra games, Dangeresque seems to be a celebration of Sierra, LucasArts, and those hip "escape from the room" point 'n clickers that we've all wasted many an hour on while on the internet. Anyway, it's definitely worth checking out!

It's just been confirmed that episode 105 (the finale) of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People will be released on December 15th. That's right - this coming Monday you'll be able to play "8-Bit Is Enough" on WiiWare or PC.

The Strong Bad season finale, 8-Bit Is Enough, is almost upon us, and Telltale has thrown together their usual minipage complete with a plot summary, screenshots, and the trailer available within 104.

So go check it all out, and get excited for the grand finale to the series so excellent, we almost considered reviewing it at one point.

I'm a happy owner of Telltale's superb DVD release of Sam & Max: Season 2, what with its Steve Purcell artwork, extras, and spiffy packaging. However, while Season 1 got itself a boxed retail release at the hands of The Adventure Company within six months of the season finale (plus the recent Wii release), Season 2 has yet to receive such a treatment, and I think everyone shares my desire to see more Sam & Max on a store shelf.

Well, today a Telltale forumer noticed a seemingly fishy announcement by Official Nintendo Magazine that Sam & Max: Season 2 will be hitting retail both on PC and Wii in 2009, with Atari as the publisher. Jake confirmed the somewhat surprising news, promising a formal Telltale announcement in the future.

So, that's awesome, and thankfully seems to carry the implication that Sam & Max hasn't been sinking like a rock in the retail market.

Update: As promised, Telltale has addressed the situation on their blog, complete with work-in-progress cover art. woot.

Subscribers to Telltale Games' newsletter may have noticed an invitation for those in the Bay Area to attend a playtesting session. It's coming up very soon and is for the first Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures episode.

Generally speaking, playtesting happens when games are fairly near completion, so we can hold out a little hope for some Wallace & Gromit goodness this side of Christmas. Maybe.

Source: Telltale Games

Available for PC and WiiWare today is the fourth episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: "Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective." Exchange your Wii points, claim your episode as part of your season pass, or do whatever it is you have to do to start playing through Strong Bad's latest cinematic masterpiece.

Telltale is also offering until Wednesday a free shipping deal for orders placed at their store with the condition that one the items you purchase is a downloadable game. More details here.

The penultimate episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, titled "Dangeresque 3" will be available for PC on Telltale's website and on the Wii through WiiWare November 17th, precisely six days from today.

You can read the plot synopsis as well as check out some screenshots, the trailer, and gameplay footage on Telltale's mini-page for the episode. Between this and A Vampyre Story (still only confirmed on the 17th for Germany, I should concede), next Monday looks to be a good day to be an adventure gamer.

Chris Remo of Idle Thumbs Shacknews Gamasutra sat down with Mike Stemmle of LucasArts Perpetual Telltale to discuss Stemmle's past present and future, with a strong prejudice toward the topic of Sam & Max. You'll want to be reading it now.

From an interview with Mike Stemmle by allgeektout:

What it coming up next for you?

Mike: Right now? Another cup of coffee. Afterwards, I’ll be pitching in to help wrap up Mark Darin’s zanier-than-a-drunken-bedbug fourth episode of SBCG4AP. Some time this week I’m scheduled to have a meeting to kick around some Sam & Max Season Three ideas that have been bubbling up from the urpy bowels of Telltale. After that it gets kinda hazy; I’m still trying to keep my options open for a possible congressional run in 2010…

You can read the rest of the interview here, and another one with Stemmle by Gamepro Arcade here. Or you can just visit Telltale's website, which regularly provides links to such interviews.

The latest episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is available today on WiiWare as well as for the PC from Telltale's web site. Grab the individual episode for $8.95, or simply claim the episode as part of your season pass.

Rock on!

Telltale has just announced that Episode 3 of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, "Baddest of the Bands," will be hitting both WiiWare and Telltale's website on October 27th, this coming Monday. They've even provided a flyer for you to print out and litter your streets with as though your were a tall, dark figure promoting an autumn carnival.

In the crazy rumour department today, we have an addition to the Wikipedia article about the Strong Bad games naming the fourth episode Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective where apparently Strong Bad again will play the role of Dangeresque and Homestar Dangeresque Too.

Also, our secret sources tell us that episode three will be released on Monday. That's Monday in five days.

Hoho, right, as if. As if anyone is cool enough to get Sam and Max for free. But Telltale, they're awesome enough to give you a free episode of Sam and Max - the third episode of Season Two, The Night of the Raving Dead - if you buy an episode (or more!) of Strong Bad.

Not that you need it, of course! I mean, you have already bought every Sam and Max game, right? And the Strong Bad games? Because, you know, you're some kind of loser if you didn't. Your mother will disown you and you'll get fired from your job if you don't buy these games. And you get cooties. So if you have cooties, or lice, or whatever, just buy some games from Telltale and they'll go!

Today Telltale continues its hilarious video series, Behind the Bad, which gives us a glimpse of the true, sometimes troubling behind-the-scenes story behind the production of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.

This is probably the only video you'll see this week of Strong Bad mocking the contents of Dave Grossman's desk, or Dan Connors acting like Michael Bluth, so do check it out!

It seems that every once in awhile Telltale adds yet another talent from the golden days of LucasArts to their ever-growing number. The latest is art director Derek Sakai, who worked on such games as The Curse of Monkey Island, Outlaws, and was the Lead Artist on Sam & Max: Freelance Police.

Between Telltale, Double Fine, and Autumn Moon, it seems like a staggeringly large number of the guys who brought us the top story games ever are back doing what they do best. And it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And that's not just the hamster I swallowed whole on a bet.