Although episodic game development makes all the sense in the world theoretically, things seem to get problematic in practice. The SiN: Episodes series turned out to be poorly named, given that Ritual Entertainment managed to release only a single episode before suspending the project and being acquired by casual-game publisher MumboJumbo. Meanwhile, Valve's episodic treatment of Half-Life has been well-received, but annualized franchises were able to launch multiple full-fledged sequels in the 16-month gap between the first two Half-Life episodes.
Those missteps aside, one episodic series has delivered on the theoretical promise. Next week, Telltale Games is set to release the 11th episode in its Sam & Max series, the adventure-game successor to the 1993 cult PC classic Sam & Max Hit the Road. The episode concludes the reborn franchise's second "season," which, along with the first, was released in a little less than 18 months. The relaunched series has rekindled interest in the anthropomorphic dog and rabbit-like detective duo, as evidenced by a republishing of the pair's original comic adventures in compendium form, as well as a DVD release for the short-lived 1997 Fox TV cartoon.
Telltale Games is hoping to stoke the Sam and Max resurgence even further. Today, the developer confirmed for GameSpot long-standing rumors that it would be bringing its episodic series to consoles, and specifically to the Nintendo Wii. The canine-lagomorph combo's debut on Nintendo's console will come in the form of a port of the PC first-season compilation, from pilot episode "Culture Shock" through to "Bright Side of the Moon."
Telltale representatives said the game's release on the Wii is due in large part to fan demand, in particular an e-mail campaign launched prior to the debut of the Sam & Max episodic series on the PC. Rumors and speculation of a Wii port helped spark publisher interest in bringing the series to Nintendo's platform.
Sam & Max: Season One is set to be published in the US by Dreamcatcher and The Adventure Company, whereas publishing duties on the European version (which adds in French and German voice-overs, as well as Italian and Spanish subtitles) will be handled by JoWood. Gamers in both regions should expect the game to arrive on store shelves this fall.
stupid invaders.
Sam and Max is the s***. I might buy a Wii just because they're porting this game onto it.
I though point and click adventures where dead... Glad to see they aren't, that way I can finally stop playing "Quest for Glory"and "Day of The Tentacle". This should be enjoyable and what better platform for a point and click adventure, then a Wii.
"iv got 5 bucks saying its rated m" I bet 10
@_em_ "This sounds pretty interesting. I haven't played Sam and Max before, but I do like point-and-clicks, so I may pick this one up when it is released." They are giving away an episode as a promotion. If you want to try it out, download away: http://www.telltalegames.com/community/blogs/id-268
sam and max on wii..... iv got 5 bucks saying its rated m.
Oh please. . . please please please give us Monkey Island! "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"
Hope its good. doubt i'd buy it though
A match made in heaven.
Great news, because I enjoyed Night of the Raving Dead a whole lot.
Aww I miss 2d point n click adventures, where's Gabriel Knight gone :( Thankfully I'm so old now and have drunk so much vodka to kill my brain, I can now go back to the original classics and play them again without remembering what to do. Score one for senility / alcohol induced memory loss! :D
I really hope this renews the genre of point and click adventures. I would love to see Monkey Island and Simon the Sorceror series make a comeback, whether it be on the Wii or PC or DS. "My name is Guybrush Threepwood, and I want to be a pirate!"
sounds like its going to do well on the console, I played the first up of the new Sam and Max games and honestly i didnt like it, it had fun story but th puzzles really didnt do it for me. maybe im getting too old. I rather see a new grim fandango.
Seems fun
This sounds pretty interesting. I haven't played Sam and Max before, but I do like point-and-clicks, so I may pick this one up when it is released. Like others said earlier, I do think think this type of game is a good fit for the Wii, and I hope they keep it at a reasonable price (below $50).
Oh Fetch this is AWESOME!! :)
im a huge point and click fan. i can remember trying to complete sam and max "hit the road" years ago... it took me ages!!
Hmm, so just a compilation of the first season. I dislike that they are shying away from putting it episodically up for download. I mean, wasn't that how the game was supposed to be distributed on PC? There are obviously reasons to do this, but it takes away from the impact of this being the first successful episodic franchise.
should be a good game :)
Well with all the success of the Wii and with so many consoles sold already it's impossible for them to sell less than 500,000 copies.
Sam and Max are legends of the golden age of PC adventure genre. And I think Wii is a good choice because their controller is the only adequate replacement for a mouse.
aah i can't wait... this should be awesome!
Man I miss the cartoon itself, damn fox. This will be awesome, I am personally saving space on my game shelf for this one.
My dreams have come true*tear*
ive always wanted to play this game on pc cuz i heard it was really good, but maybe now ill just buy it for the wii if it turns out to be good
Cool.
I've heard many good things about this game on PC. but i wonder will it be any good on the Wii... if turns out to be good. might end up buying it.
NOT INTRESTED !
i hope such sam and max never goes to 360 or PS3
I've never played Sam and Max on the PC, but i have heard very very good things about it, i will for sure pick up this game for the Wii!!!
Hopefully this will be "budget priced" since season 1 has been available for the PC at $35 for quite a while now. I think anywhere from $30-40 would be fair.
YES. MY DREAMS HAVE COME TRUE.
I've heard good things about Sam & Max, but I'll wait to see if it releases on the 360 or PS3.
should be good :)
Now every kid will get to know Sam&max :D
God, I am so amped for this
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whats sam and max?
To anyone on the fence.... the first season was completely worth it.... just play them... you'll enjoy it
I like this
These are some really good, really funny adventure games, so it's nice that more people will be able to enjoy them.
This is absolutely amazing news!!! I haven't been able to play the recent Sam & Max games on my PC, due to its age, so I am super psyched about this. If only they would bring 'The Neverhood', 'Toonstruck', 'Braindead 13', 'Time Traveler', 'Phantasmagoria', and other PC classics to the system.
Sounds good. I might just get it for Wii. Also, the Sam & Max cartoon was great. Barely remember it though since I was 7.
From a controls perspective, the Wii is a good match, but they will probably have to scale down the graphics a little bit.
I think this is a great fit for the Wii, and I personally enjoy the hell out of the new Sam and Max episodic games (espically the last episode!), and I think buying both season 1 and 2 was of the best investments in video games ive ever made. However i think Sam and Max works well as downloadable content, and it seems a wasted opertunity for the game to not take advantage of the Virtual console, and it could also prove to be more expensive. Plus this is just season 1, season 2 is nearly over! Still anyone who hasnt played this, and is looking for a new Wii game this fall that isnt in-house Nintendo developed this would be a good choice (presuming its done well enough).
I won't be getting it for Wii, since it's one of those games you don't play twice, but I'd HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who missed it for PC.
Finally, I'll be picking this up.
*tear* thank you god, this game is the perfect example of how you don't need flashy graphics amazing enemys, or hell it doesn't even have to be a fps to be good. This game is a must buy i will honestly preorder this just for the comedy, the challenge and the sheer amount of quality gameplay.
@ necronaux Each episode is a few hours of gameplay, so the whole thing should run you around 15 hours. A decent length, I'd say. @ Zerosumgame Have you ever even heard of Sam & Max before? It's a point and click adventure game. Doesn't translate well to a traditional controller. And crappy is hardly the word anyone would use to describe it, unless you just hate the genre, in which case you should refrain from commenting.
This is amazing news! Next, we need Monkey Island and a Wii-make of The Dig.