The International House of Mojo

Woo! Won't have a chance to really play it until tonight, but based on the opening sequence alone the game gets five stars.

Those without Gametap need only survive for another 24 hours, which might be spent scouring the net for some first reviews or expressing your excitement on Telltale's web site, which will soon have new store items to go along with the season premiere. They seem to already have Hard Evidence available.

As you may know if you frequent the Telltale forums, Brian Ward, a producer on Shout! Factory's DVD release of the short-lived Sam & Max cartoon show, has been keeping fans current on the status of the release. Most recently he's posted a sneak peek at the cover art:



woot.

Some people, obviously not including me, still haven't played TellTale's excellent Sam and Max adventures. Shame on you!

But today I have good news. Episode 4 (Abe Lincoln Must Die) - which I am told is the best episode of the series which is easily the best episode of the series is available free, just for YOU, you loser who hasn't played it yet.

Of course, this may spoil the plot being the fourth of six episodes. I don't really know can't remember. But it's free! And like anything that's free on the Internet, you will lap it up like stray cats.

Download or die hard.

Update: Disregard this, I am blind. Go here.

Source: FileFront.com

Today Abe Lincoln's appearance on the penny is one cent inaccurate as Telltale has decided to release episode four of Sam & Max: Season 1 for FREE to everybody! (Gametap has also recently made the episode part of their batch of freebies.) Telltale has accordingly adjusted the price of Season 1 to $29.99, putting it in line with the retail version. You can check out 1up's brief Q&A with Telltale regarding the move here.

This brilliant bit of promotion is sure to get a few more gamers introduced to Season 1. For the rest of us, Season 2 premieres in just four days (three for Gametappers)!

Up on today's blog Telltale has posted a new gameplay video from Ice Station Santa when Sam and Max visit Santa's workshop for the first time. Telltale has also tossed up three music tracks from the episode, which has become a custom that meets with my approval.

One more week!

As he does every year, Dave Grossman has mutilated a pumpkin in a manner most unsavory to fulfill some sick, twisted need of his. Weep for his soul and check out the whole gallery while you're at it.

On the embarrassingly outdated Telltale news front, the company's latest blog post hosts a bunch of snapshots that the guys took when they went down to the "E for All" convention. Check out that Flint Paper poster! The blog also lists a couple of new previews for Season 2, and the one from The Inquirer has an episode 2 screenshot!

For those of you determined to scrounge every little bit of information you can about it, IGN have posted a small preview of Sam & Max Season Two.

I don't think it spoils anything, but then again I haven't read it. I want to remain pure and unsullied thank you. No spoilers for me. Oh, there's a trailer? Well watching that can't hurt, can it? ... There's a robot? Aargh!

Telltale went to "E for All" (you know, that other new convention that's filling in the shoes of E3) and showed off some of Sam & Max's new season to eager attendees and press goons. While Telltale ran into a mite of trouble getting their photos from the convention uploaded, several previews from other sites are already popping up.

See! Some brief thoughts on the season by Wired, who've got a few details on episode 2 as well. View! This Preview/Interview by Aeropause. Collate! That textbook you're fixing to publish while you read a chat with Dan Connors by Ripten.

Preheat! Your oven for twenty minutes before cooking pizza.

Update: I forgot! About a video interview with Dan at Gametrailers.

You can head on over to Telltale's Sam & Max Season 2 page to check out their trailer for Ice Station Santa. Also gracing the net are some new screenshots from the episode, available for viewing at Adventure Gamers and other fine web sites. Gametap has decided to revamp their Season 2 web site and they've put up a trailer of their own, so load up your client or wait for the leak to see it.

Ice Station Santa is due out on November 8th (three weeks from today!) on Gametap and the day after for the world. Telltale hasn't start taking pre-orders yet but you gotta think it will be soon.

It's worth noting that Graham Annable, the Telltale web-site cartoonist, has one of his videos featured on the main page of YouTübe. I didn't know that he made videos, but he does ? there?s a lot on there ? and if you like his web illustrations, it's well worth seeing his videos as well.

And it's not like there's anything else worth watching on Youtübe. Probably.

First up is a podcast called The Bobby Blackwolf show, the latest episode of which contained an interview with Dave Grossman and Jonathan Sgro (Telltale's Technical Director) recorded at PAX. Give it a listen!

Next in line is a pretty great article by bit-tech.net called "How to write... an Adventure Game," which only naturally contains some input by Dave Grossman. So do that too.

Moving right along, there's another podcast with a Dave Grossman interview. He sure gets around! And you should follow.

Finally, Graham Annable's Dank the Caveman web comic received its latest update yesterday. Not sure where you were then, but we both know where you're going now.

Oh, and most importantly, LucasArts has shipped Stars Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron for the PSP and next week they'll be blessing store shelves with Thrillville: Off the Rails. Let the good times roll!

Adventure Gamers has added a brand spankin' new interview with Bill Tiller who's preparing to unleash his beautiful looking graphic adventure on the world.

Well, we designed so much of the game and then the story became so big that we realized we are probably going to have to make three games to tell the whole story. The budget and the time we have are also much shorter than we had at LucasArts, so we have to do it that way. It isn't episodic like the Bone or Sam & Max games. I think A Vampyre Story is probably a good size, about Full Throttle size. And it'll feel more like how The Lord of the Rings had been divided up into three books, or like Star Wars. It's an epic story so it just makes more sense to tell it in three games.

Take a look for yourself.

Source: Adventure Gamers

What the hey? Awesome!

For those with a hazy memory, Justin Chin is the former LucasArts employee (best known for Jedi Knight/Dark Forces) who founded his own company, Infinite Machine, with some fellow Lucas vets around 2000. The company went bankrupt following the release of its first and last game, New Legends, taking the largely mysterious Sam & Max Xbox space game with it while it was still being conceptualized.

Now Chin is an Executive Producer at Telltale, and what could be more appropriate? Happy days indeed.

Two new previews for Ice Station Santa have found themselves existent, and they are from GamesRadar and 1up. Inside both is a veritable treasure trove of new information, screenshots, and a gameplay video.

Revelations include that the season will consist of five episodes this time around and that the pricing structure will remain the same: $8.95 a pop as well as a full season offer that includes the option of a disc version. For more Season 2 stuff, check out Telltale's web site later today.

Update: There's also one by Gametap. Gametap does previews now?

In a short but sweet announcement by Jake he reveals, well, this:

Sam & Max Season Two makes its debut with Episode 201: Ice Station Santa, premiering for GameTap subscribers on Thursday, November 8th. Then, just a day later on Friday, November 9th, the game will be available to buy and download from Telltalegames.com!

After a quick break, the releases will go monthly, starting with episode 202's debut on GameTap, Thursday, January 10th, followed by the worldwide release on Telltale's website, Friday, January 11th. After that, look for the subsequent episodes to land on GameTap and Telltale's site the second Thursday/Friday of each month!

Awesome. Stay tuned for tomorrow's more detailed announcement about Season 2 which will hopefully contain an episode count.

I'm pretty sure this is the case. Look for the game in stores over the next week or so. It's not a release accompanied by much fanfare, but Ubisoft treated 3 Dimensions of Murder the same way and apparently it worked out alright for them. Expect the Wii version to come out sometime later in the fall.

Update: It's definitely out, as this Ubisoft press release confirms. Additionally, it contains a new Case 3 trailer!

The Gamers Pub conducted a 25-minute audio interview with Greg Land and Mark Darin, the designers of the upcoming CSI: Hard Evidence. Available both for streaming and as a downloadable mp3, the interview reveals every single thing that the designers are willing to answer to the questions that the interviewer elected to ask. How could you pass that up?

A recent forum post by Emily at Telltale suggests that the PC and XBOX versions of CSI: Hard Evidence could be released before the month is over. Adventure Gamers, a site that, unlike us, doesn't tend to lie, lists the game as coming out in September.

Seeing as games get released on Tuesdays, and seeing as there's only one Tuesday left in the month, it's looking like CSI: Hard Evidence will be released on September 25th. That's not exactly an official date, but don't freak out if it happens.

In other Telltale news, the good folks are holding a playtest for the second episode of Sam & Max: Season 2 this Saturday. Forget about buying that anniversary gift and book the next flight to San Rafael so you can violate your NDA and tell me everything.

But seeing as you're a gluttonous hog, you'll still want to check out the latest preview of Sam & Max: Season 2 by OCModShop. This sentence helps to make the post a bit longer.

Adventure Gamers took a stroll down to Telltale's offices and got some hands-on time with the first episode of Sam and Max's second season. What did they think, you might ask?

Naturally, one thing that really stood out to me was the humor. I often found myself laughing out loud and for a long time as I played. As Season One progressed, the humor got a little edgier, and in this first episode, I thought it was edgier still, with a bit stronger language and references to some dark subject matter (which was even the basis for one puzzle). So for those who felt the first season was a little too tame in its humor, at least in the beginning, rest assured that no similar complaints are likely to greet the new series.

You owe it to yourself to read the entirety of the preview which has a good deal of exclusive scoop in it. It is also mentioned that some "specific details" about the season will be coming later in the month, so get ready for that.