Sam and Max Return

T

Tannhauser

Venerable Relic of the Wastes
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Well, I know there are a number of adventure gamers out in the audience, and a number of fans of the LucasArts games. Now, you same people were sadly disappointed by the decision not so long ago to cancel the new Sam & Max game that was in development. Well, good news if you haven't already heard: Telltale Games will be creating a new Sam & Max game.

AdventureGamers.com said:
Telltale Games secures rights to Sam & Max
Steve Purcell: "If there's a better match, I don't know who it is."
Telltale Games disclosed tonight what many adventure fans have been waiting to hear for over a year: Sam & Max is making a comeback.

The announcement came during a special event, "The Future of Digital Entertainment," which took place in the San Francisco office of consulting firm AT Kearney. The evening started with presentations by Pixar Supervising Animator Alan Barillaro and AT Kearney Vice President John Ciacchella, focusing on the direction of the digital entertainment industry. Telltale principles Dan Connors, Kevin Bruner, and Troy Molander then took the floor to talk about Telltale's corporate goals, development process, and market strategy. The presentation closed with the surprise announcement that Telltale has entered into an agreement with Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell to reintroduce the popular dog and rabbit team to the digital age.

The deal was inked only days ago, and few details are available as of now. Telltale stresses that the game will not be Sam & Max: Freelance Police, the LucasArts title whose highly-publicized 2004 cancellation was widely mourned by fans. New content will be developed, and the game will be implemented in an episodic format similar to that of Telltale's Bone games. Purcell, who works at Pixar, says he will be as involved with the Sam & Max project as he can be.

"If there's a better match, I don't know who it is… I trust them," Purcell said, when asked why he chose to work with Telltale. Purcell knows the Telltale team from their LucasArts days and is comfortable with their handling of the upcoming first Bone game, which is adapted from the well-known comic by Jeff Smith. When LucasArts' hold on the Sam & Max rights ran out this spring, Purcell and Telltale had the freedom to move forward.

Telltale has positioned itself as a company intent on delivering high-quality, story-driven games to an audience hungry for interactivity. "Around a year ago, we left the bosom of the game industry because we saw opportunity," Connors said of the team's departure from LucasArts. According to Bruner, Telltale's plan for licenses such as Bone and Sam & Max is "bigger than video games. It's interactive entertainment."

Adventure Gamers will provide more details about the Sam & Max project as they become available. For now, disillusioned fans can stop signing petitions and set aside the bitterness over all those false rumors. We spoke; they listened.

posted by Emily Morganti on September 15, 2005
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Though I don't like the sound of 'episodic format' and "...bigger than video games. It's interactive entertainment." is a pretty tepid thing to say; all in all, it's good news.
 
Yay?

Though if they don't hire voice actors from the original Sam & Max, I'll send my minions after them.
 
Well, both Bill Farmer (Sam) & Nick Jameson (Max) are still doing voice acting for games. Someone will need a good kneecapping if they mess up on that.

By the way, Bill did work in Fallout Tactics and Nick did voices for Fallout: BOS, Arcanum (Gilbert Bates), and Tactics again.
 
Reading
took the floor to talk about Telltale's corporate goals, development process, and market strategy.
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in an article about Sam & Max sends shivers down my spine. And the "episodic content" thing makes me very uneasy too. I was all like "Yaaaay!!! The psychotic bunny is back" and shit until I saw that.


Anyway, it'll probably just be "Bone with guns" :mrgreen:
 
Holy crap, I hope this comes through okay. I've got so many fond memories of the original.

Sam: I hope there was nobody on that bus.
Max: Nobody we know at least.
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Sam: That was needlessly cryptic.
Max: I'd be peeing my pants if I wore any.
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Dammit, I'm gonna go play it again.
 
I don't know, the idea of it being released in episodes concerns me. Has anyone played the Bones games? What exactly does episodic content entail? When I buy the game, I'll only have a portion of it? Or will it be many games released, each of which is it's own game... they're just not full fledged games? I don't know, either way, episodic content just doens't sound cool.
 
SimpleMinded said:
I don't know, the idea of it being released in episodes concerns me. Has anyone played the Bones games? What exactly does episodic content entail? When I buy the game, I'll only have a portion of it? Or will it be many games released, each of which is it's own game... they're just not full fledged games? I don't know, either way, episodic content just doens't sound cool.
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Don't know if this is entirely relevant, but I found an interview with a guy from Telltale on the Bones games, and it said this:

Rosemary: Also Bone is a continuing story and the game will cover the first part. Will it be a full-length game, and will it have a conclusion or end with a 'cliff-hanger'?

Dan: We are going to structure it like a comic book, the game will have a conclusion but future games will build on it. Each game will be playable as a stand alone product.
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I don't know if that helps, but it would seem "episodic content" just means "We've already planned sequels".
 
That's cool and all unless it means you'll be paying 45€ for 3 hours of game time x 10.

SiN2 will also be released episodically through Steam which IMHO is bullshit.
 
Wow talk about travel back in time!


I brought this topic back because i just bought and downloaded the first episode of the new Sam and Max adventures! I'll test it tomorrow.
 
I got it today. And completed it today.

So, this is the first thing to know. It's very short. Extremely short. Even for just one episode of a three episode game.

Otherwise, mainly everything is good. It's really funny, the puzzles are a bit easy, but some quite interesting like the one where you have to get a form signed.
The voices are not the same from the previous game, but they're similar and quite good.
The graphics are good too and they have a nice cartoon feeling and the characters look great even if it's 3D.

Due to it being so short, though, I'd say the chances of someone replaying it are zero. Maybe after getting all the episodes and completing them, and then replaying all of them in row.

But even so, it's worth the 9 dollars.
 
Hmm, then there must be three episodes per season, or something like that.

Well, then things are even better if there will be six episodes in total.


Edit: Wait, no, there will be six episodes in the first season.

Damn my lack of research.
 
Game: Sam and Max episode 1: Culture Shock
Availability: through the Gametap site for the North American crowd, all the others can now get it through the Telltale site. The same for the next episodes, we need to wait a few weeks after the americans to get them.
Computer used: Athlon64 3200+, Geforce 6600GT, 1 gig of DDR400, a really fast 160 SATA HD, 19" LCD monitor, Windows Vista RC1.


First let me talk about the online distribution model used here: it's freaking slow! I had to download a client, that refused to work on me a few times, when it did it started downloading 70 Mb... but didn't make the 10 Mb mark...

Another attempt, and all went well, if d/l something at 9k on a 16Mbt connection can be called "well"... most of the people are reporting a d/l speed of 180k.

Quick installation, I added the activation key, watched the intro (discreet but very Sam and Max) turn the options up to the top, tried a bit of the start, it runs flawlessly, and quit the game, ready to start in the next morning.


Edit: At this point when I was posting this NMA went down, so I stopped writing. I'll continue later today.
 
Briosafreak said:
Another attempt, and all went well, if d/l something at 9k on a 16Mbt connection can be called "well"... most of the people are reporting a d/l speed of 180k.
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Edit: At this point when I was posting this NMA went down, so I stopped writing. I'll continue later today.
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Ever consider changing your ISP? :wink:
 
Sorry for the double post, but I won't edit what's already written, since this is an altogether new post.


--------------------xxxx----------------------


Well playing the game in Vista turned out to be impossible, since it changes the hardware profile every time it's loaded, meaning the DRM that came with the game thought i had installed it in 10 diferent computers... by the way customer support is great, helpful and informal, no bullshit, a rare quality...

Anyway the game is in 3d, but feels and plays like 2D. Point and click, only the left mouse key, inventory comes in a box on the low left corner of the screen. Pure classic adventure, meaning this interface makes the game smooth and simple, and we can expect a rather linear story.

Some long time fans of the genre are complaining about the puzzles being too easy, but in fact this is only the first chapter, meaning it takes us to the gameplay and introduces the story, giving a chance for everyone to feel comfortable.

My kid finished the thing in three hours, which shows it isn't the most complex game, but he had never played a point and click before, so he liked the chance to feel the game without much brainteasing. I actually liked the idea to brush my skills a bit too, before jumping to the next stages, it's been a while since i played such a game.

To be fair he didn't played much of the car mini game , which probably gives it a few more minutes, and in fact although this mini game is classical Sam and Max it can become a bit boring after the main jokes are exhausted.

For a comedy point&click the most important features are the characters and the story, and in that it is quite fun, at times hilarious and engaging. The puzzles aren't very demanding or anything out of the extraordinary, but they do have the surreal Sam and Max humor, and that's all it was asked.

As a standalone game it is too short, and that also means it's still not on the league of the old classics, but it's a solid adventure with whacky humor, so I'll rate this first chapter with a 7/10.
 
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