The International House of Mojo

The release dates for the pilot, which will be called Culture Shock, have been announced. Gametap will officially premiere Sam & Max Season One on October 17, which means that Telltale is rapidly running out of time to cancel it. But the premiere is only relevant to people who are both in North America and are interested in Gametap (not to mention owning the game permanently). For everyone else, the worldwide release date (when the game will be available for purchase on Telltale's site) is November 1, just a two week delay.

Pricing details will be announced soon. Check out Telltale's blog for the first episode's plot outline, download size (~75MB), system requirements, and a pretty damn awesome picture. And don't forget the official press release for your records.

If you still have control of one of your hands at this point, also be sure to catch up on some more Sam & Max PAX previews with Telltale's latest coverage.

So, so close.

Looking through all the recent Sam and Max news posts on the site, I came across an interesting comment on GameDreamZ.com - basically, Dan Connor says that he thinks "the game would do great on the Wii."

With a DVD release of the game defacto confirmed after all the Webisodes have been released, perhaps we'll get lucky and see it ported over to the Wii? The Wiimote is perfectly adapted to point-and-click games, and Sam and Max is certainly the unique kind of license Nintendo seem to thrive on.

Time will tell, of course.

Source: GameDreamZ.com

Fresh Sam & Max impressions and interviews from the game's display at the Penny Arcade Expo have been unleashed. The thing is there's tons of new coverage to track down and honestly you're not worth the trouble, but the kind souls at Telltale have gone ahead and neatly listed it all in their blog.

I'll let you go ahead and read up for the great details (and there are many), but know that the OCModShop preview has some blurry photographed screens from a recent playable build, and Dan Connors has confirmed that individual episodes will be a maximum of $10 (the latest pricing update since "less than Bone") which sounds pretty damn awesome. Anyway indulge yourself, though if you're worried about precious details of a small game being spoiled you may want to proceed cautiously.

One is by Gamespy and the other by the Game|Life blog. Oh, and did I mention that they both contain brand new screenshots? As in actual screenshots and not just environment renders (as arousing as those are)? They also go into a bit more detail on the first episode's plot than past have. There's more assurance of the game's challenge as well:

Anyway, Grossman says that the first episode will be a little smaller than Telltale's last product Bone: The Great Cow Race, but more difficult. Whereas Bone had an extensive hint system that would outright tell players what to do, Sam and Max's gameplay hints are more subtle. Talking to your little rabbit pal might nudge you along, but it'll be more "opaque," says Grossman.

In addition to the promise of gun-toting revelry:

In fact, at any time in the game, you can get out the pistol, which turns the cursor into crosshairs. Sam won't shoot things indiscriminately (well, not everything), but there are plenty of objects that you can bounce a bullet off of just for fun. And, of course, filling things with holes plays a part in the game's puzzles right off the bat.

Give them a look, and be sure to look out for any other previews that may pop up in the near future.

Update: Let me just throw this in here: There's a five minute audio interview with Dan Connors available here that's worth checking out.
Update update: I refuse to make a new news post. Adventure Gamers has got some new Sam & Max screens. Some of it seem to be promotional images and all of it seems awesome.

That wasn't so long a wait, now was it?

You check out Jeff Smith's blog, don't you? Jeff's a nice guy, his blog is always fascinating, and you should read it every day. But something particularly fascinating is this little piece from his August 13th entry which I'm just getting a chance to read:

I?ve also been busy working on something akin to a Director?s Cut for the Telltale BONE games, (which I am very excited about. I hope to tell you about that soon)

Huh?

The embittered LucasArts fan might claim that we never have any real updates, and well... The embittered LucasArts fan might be right, but once in a while we do surprise. Like today!

Our very own Gabez has conducted interviews with both Telltale and Bay Area Sound, and you get to reap the benefits. Sweet stuff. Go read!

This time at everyone's favorite web site that is named GamingTrend. Grossman, Connors, and Bruner all get a chance to answer some questions, and you should read them. Oh, and can I take this to mean that the sketchbook and/or that awesome Max skull T-shirt will be mine in the near future?

Q: Any chance we can throw you some money in the form of more varieties of Sam & Max T-Shirts and other merch? You hear me?! I?m asking how I can send you more money?

Dan Connors: We are selling pieces of what used to be the wall in our office for $10 bucks a piece, probably asbestos free. Also we will have some new merchandise really soon: t-shirts, books, etc.

Check out this new Sam & Max interview from FiringSquad. There's a few new details there, including a handful of puzzle descriptions from Grossman. Also Mark Rein gets ridiculed which is always fun. Head on over there.

After a notoriously long wait (due to Steve Purcell being busy working on the games), the eighth edition of the Sam & Max webcomic has been posted. Enjoy!

Gamasutra has the 2nd part of its Telltale interview up, this time with CEO Dan Connors and GameTap guy David Reid.

GS: Have you been approached by any of the console makers for digital distribution on, say, Xbox Live Arcade, or Nintendo's Virtual Console, or whatever the heck Sony's doing with the PlayStation 3?

DC: Actually, David [Reid] and I were just talking about this. Figuring out this whole episodic move-over into distribution, it's something that you have to be there to learn the behavior of the audience, and what the consumers want, and start tailoring the products in that direction. So the fact that Telltale's sort of jumped in the water and learned how to swim, we're starting to see that we're in a position to work with Xbox and Sony to deliver content for their system that's right.

Again, it's this broadband-friendly, higher quality product than just Bejeweled. It's either a Bejeweled / Tetris kind of thing, or whatever huge title, like?Oblivion. And there's a ton of space in-between, you know. Oblivion isn't broadband friendly, and Bejeweled is not an Xbox title. So there's this whole space that needs to be filled, and Telltale's kind of commitment two years ago to fill this role has put us in the position to be the right answer for people like Xbox and Sony.

Sounds interesting...

Source: Gamasutra

More Comic-Con coverage is surfacing, this time a Gamasutra interview with Dave Grossman, which is part one of a larger, ongoing Telltale interview. Lots of neato stuff in there, including some of those ever popular behind-the-scenes tidbits about the makings of the classics. Here's a sample:

GS: What do you think of cutscenes?

DG: I like them in very small doses. I kind of learned my lesson on that, Day of the Tentacle had one of the most notoriously long beginnings in any game I can think of. And in fact, we cut it in half. There's kind of an interactive part in the middle where you kind of get to the mansion and it's like, 'oh, let's find the tentacles' and stuff. Well, that was just put in there to actually break up the original cutscene that was something like seven minutes long!

For future Comic-Con Telltale coverage keep your eye on this thread (though we'll probably post about it here too to make it seem like we're active).

Oh, and out of nowhere Gamasutra also decided to put up this podcast with Tim Schafer from the 2004 Game Developers Conference where he lectures on character design. Outdated stuff rocks!

Dan Connors of Telltale Games quoted from this Game Informer article;

GI: A lot of those LucasArts franchises are still very popular ? you spoke about Day of the Tentacle. Is there a chance you?ll be able to wrangle a few more of those away for more episodes? Are you working on that at all?

Connors: It?s definitely on our minds and it?s definitely something we think about. Maybe I can give you more information a while from now. It?s definitely something that makes good sense to everybody. For them it?s the same thing. For them it?s "What?s the business model? What?s the retail model?" It?s not their type of game ? it?s not Star Wars, it?s not with the movie, with the lightsaber ? an action game. When trying to do the two things at the same time it makes it challenging. They?ve been trying to figure out the right solution, and hopefully Telltale is part of it.

Monkey Island 5a, 5b, 5c...etc ahoy!

(Of course the article actually namechecks Day of the Tentacle, and co-writer / designer of that title, Dave Grossman, works at Telltale these days).

Source: Game Informer

Leech off of others! Adventure Gamers has got a cool image of Sam and Max's office (among other screens) from the upcoming games right here. Notice anything familiar about that date on the stacked box? Check out the rest of the great environment art, some of which is from the online and printed 1up previews, and most of which is brand new. Good thing we have no integrity.

For the sake of interest, here's the Freelance Police version so that you can see how the same thing was done twice, only different.

Doesn't it all look great and/or awesome?

Source: AG

More or less. Check out the three awesome-looking images on 1up as well as the accompanying preview, which claims that we'll get a two-hour episode monthly! We also have an official release month, October, and even some vague plot elements for the pilot episode! Be sure to buy that August issue of CGW when it's out in stores, or right now online - it contains a different preview from the 1up article as well as more screens.

And, don't forget that today's episode of The 1up Show will feature Sam & Max. Exciting stuff, guys!

Update: 1up's "gamevideos.com" has a video feature up called The Return of Sam & Max.

Telltale's most recent blog entry reports that the next issue of Computer Gaming World, due out July 24, will feature a massive nine-page article on the Sam & Max game. They also point out that The 1UP Show podcast show will be talking about Sam & Max in their July 14th episode! Sam & Max have taken over the gaming media in an appropriately violent manner.

So be sure to buy that magazine when it comes out, with your money. Unlike you're going to do with issue 127 of PC Powerplay, which featured a nice four page dedication to Sam & Max Hit the Road that was totally scanned and posted in this forum thread a few weeks ago and I forgot to post about it I seem to have forgotten some conjunctions between my independent clauses somewhere.

Comic Book Resources has published a short article / interview with Steve Purcell regarding the forthcoming Sam & Max games plus other plans around the franchise;

And while fans might see the new "Sam & Max" video game and web strips as portents of things to come, Purcell reminds fans that there are no plans for a "Sam & Max" revival. "I'm not going to start doing comics for a living any time soon. I'd like to continue the web strip and collect that into a book. I'd like to someday finish the unfinished story I have in my drawer and I'd like to re-release the old comics for people who were never able to get them. If I ever did a 'Sam & Max' series again I'd only do it for an older audience. Although the show we did made the best of having to skew younger, I think 'Sam & Max' works better when they're a bit more unwholesome.

Read the whole article here.

Steve will also be attending the San Diego Comic Con in July. Check the Telltale Games site for more info.

Source: Comic Book Resources

Here is a Telltale interview about the Bone games from Adventure Island that, yes, may be a month old, but I bet it's new to you. And you know, I don't think we've ever really given the Dank online comic the coverage that we probably should have, so let's start now at a nice round number: The 17th Edition is up!

You've probably read Tim's post from last week, asking fans to spam the Microsoft emulation team until they add Psychonauts to the XBOX 360 backwards compatibility list. You've also probably noticed that it actually got quite a bit of attention, and that some response emails have been interpreted as proof that the game is actually being worked on. Assuming the "Emulation Ninjas" don't send this sort of reply to every game request, it's pretty cool to think that Double Fine managed to get their game supported by stirring a rabid fan email campaign.

GameSetWatch has published a short Sam & Max related interview, where senior designer Dave Grossman lets out some golden nuggets about the upcoming game. Like:

Interface-wise, expect a wise interface ? guffaw, guffaw, oh, I couldn?t resist, though I?m sure we?re all wishing I did. The games use an intuitive and fairly minimal point-and-click style interface, with an inventory and a few other whistles to support things like driving Sam and Max?s extremely cool car, shooting, and other mayhem. Cranium required, but for the most part you can leave your reflexes at the door.

For more, check out the interview. And oh, the new Telltale newsletter is out, but you all knew that.

Issue one hundred and sixty-nine (??) of PC Zone is out in the UK, and contains much that will be of interest to readers of the Mojo.

Like, for instance, their belated Bone review! Sixty seven per cent they gave it, though it should be noted that their rating system is more harsh than most; fifty per cent is average, not mediocre, and a score of sixty seven is thus not embarrassing in the least. In fact, Dreamfall got the very same score on the opposite page.

Also included is a piece about the LucasArts logo, though writer Will Porter seems to have been overcome with nostalgia before he?d had a chance to say anything meaningful. Marry me!

Oh, and before I forget: the most interesting piece of news from the magazine! Psychonauts won "funniest game ever" with a landslide victory. Check out their forum post and have your say with a vote.



Also: Telltale's CSI game was given 62%, and is reportedly at number 12 on the sales charts.