Sam & Max return to Xbox Live Oct 14 for Season 2

Gas up the Desoto and Grab Your Fedora … The Second Season of Everyone’s Favorite Freelance Police is coming to Xbox LIVE®

(Press Release) – Xbox 360® owning fans of talking anthropomorphic dogs, hyperactive rabbity things and great gaming comedy rejoice! Telltale today announced that Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space will launch on Xbox Live® Arcade this Wednesday. All five critically-acclaimed episodes of the award-winning series’ second season will be bundled together and sell for 1600 Microsoft Points – a great deal for five games at only 320 points each.

Like Sam & Max Save the World, the XBLA® version of Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space will include achievements, HD graphic support, localized subtitles for German, French, Italian and Spanish, and a custom control scheme adapted specifically for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. Additionally, a second Sam & Max Xbox picture pack will release on Wednesday.

Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space pits the Freelance Police against the surreal and supernatural, with the duo facing off against a demon-possessed Santa Claus, gigantic robots, and an emo vampire amassing an army of rave-loving zombies. Mariachis will sing, dead goldfish will prophesize, and Hell just might freeze over, and when friends are caught in the crossfire, Sam & Max risk their very souls to set things right. With an overarching story told throughout five action-packed episodes, the second season of Sam & Max is brimming with mind-bending puzzles, exotic environments and the unhinged humor fans have come to expect from Telltale.

And that’s not all! The Xbox LIVE debut of the second season provides Telltale fans with a fountainhead of inspiration for the studio’s annual Halloween contest which has just kicked off, offering the potential to win a gaming console of their choice and more fabulous prizes! Telltale fans are encouraged to submit creations inspired by any of our games. Previous notable entries include a custom Max hand puppet and a dog costume of Sam made entirely out of used underwear. Classy! For more submissions from years past, additional details and official rules for this year’s contest visit http://www.telltalegames.com/community/blogs/id-509.

Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space is the follow up to Sam & Max Save the World, the first season of the series, which premiered on Xbox LIVE Arcade in June. All six episodes of that season are now available for purchase on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for Xbox 360, along with gamer pics and a profile theme.

More great Telltale episodes will join the Xbox LIVE Arcade line up in November with the release of additional Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures. Fright of the Bumblebees, the premiere episode of the series, is available now on Xbox LIVE Arcade.

For more information, please visit http://www.telltalegames.com.

Even better than Talk Like a Pirate Day!

How has the legendary pirate Guybrush Threepwood done you wrong? Enter the Tales of Monkey Island contest, and your words could appear in an upcoming episode!

(Press Release) – What’s your opinion of that scoundrel, Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate? Telltale is announcing the unique chance to put your words into the mouths of pirates in an upcoming episode with the Tales of Monkey Island dialogue contest that begins today.

To enter, flex your funny bone and send Telltale a one-liner that explains how Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate, wronged you in some way. The funniest and most imaginative entries will be submitted for consideration to be recorded by Tales of Monkey Island voice talent and inclusion in an upcoming game episode.

Tales of Monkey Island is a brand-new pirate adventure told across five months, set in the universe made famous in LucasArts’ popular Monkey Island game series. Telltale is bringing all the drama, intrigue, and swashbuckling adventure of Monkey Island to today’s gamers in this five episode saga, which premiered last week at www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland for PC.

In the series’ first chapter, “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal,” Guybrush washes up on the shores of Flotsam Island after a heated and unsuccessful battle with his arch-nemesis, the demon pirate LeChuck. His quest: to rescue his wife Elaine, to clear up the voodoo pox that’s infecting pirates across the Caribbean, and to finish off LeChuck once and for all. But first, he’ll have to find his way off an island plagued by winds that always blow inward, while giving the slip to a maniacal scientist who keeps trying to cut off Guybrush’s pox-infected hand. And that’s only the beginning of the Mighty Pirate’s five-month adventures! The dialog line from the contest winner may appear in a pivotal scene within the penultimate chapter of the saga this October.

In addition to featuring the winning entries in an upcoming episode, contest winners may appear in the game credits and be eligible for other great prizes. The contest kicked off July 14, 2009 at noon PST, and runs through midnight PST, August 10, 2009.

Additional contest details can be found at http://www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland/contest.

(Press Release) – Arrrrr! Polish up your swashbuckles and grab your sword, because legendary pirate Guybrush Threepwood sets sail today on the first all-new Monkey Island® adventure in over a decade. Telltale’s highly anticipated game series, Tales of Monkey Island, begins now at www.telltalegames.com for PC with “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal,??? the first chapter in an epic five-month adventure created by the same team responsible for acclaimed episodic series’ including Sam & Max, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. The first Tales of Monkey Island chapter is expected to release for WiiWare™ in the coming weeks as well.

The saga begins with a heated battle involving the brave but often bumbling Mighty Pirate™ Guybrush, his beloved wife Elaine, and their nemesis, the demon pirate LeChuck. When the showdown goes up in flames, Guybrush finds himself marooned on a strange island with winds that always blow inward. How will our hero manage to escape this meteorological anomaly? What has become of LeChuck and Elaine? And what’s the story with the infectious voodoo pox that’s spreading across the Caribbean, causing Guybrush and other pirates to act like unruly hooligans? These are just some of the many questions posed in this first chapter of what will become one of the most rollicking and rip-roaring entertainment experiences of the summer.

Dave Grossman, Telltale’s design director and a designer/writer for the original Monkey Island games says “I was laughing my eyepatch off on a daily basis while we were first cooking up Monkey Island at Skywalker Ranch, but if you’d told me then that it would become a classic, and that twenty years later I’d be working with a killer all-star piratey crew to spin an epic new tale and bring the series to a whole new generation of players, I would have said… well, probably, ‘Look behind you, a three-headed monkey,’ but then I’ve always been a bit weird that way.???

Tales of Monkey Island will unfold over the next five months, with each episodic chapter raising the stakes on Guybrush’s quest to eradicate the insidious Pox of LeChuck, reunite with his wife, and vanquish his rival. Much like the best television and films series, the story becomes deeper and more engrossing with interweaving threads building to twists and surprises in the grand finale this fall.

Customers who order from Telltale’s online store during the first week of availability can choose any other Telltale episode of their choice to include free with their purchase. Visit www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland to get into the adventure now. Additional Tales of Monkey Island details, gameplay trailers, and a playable demo are also available at the site.

Is that blue poop? Could be.

(Press Release) – Sweet swirling red rings of Saturn on a playdate with the junior varsity men’s cheerleading squad, the Freelance Police are on Xbox 360®! Telltale Games is announcing that the dog and rabbity-thing crime-fighting team’s episodic adventures will launch on Xbox LIVE® Arcade on June 17, 2009 with Sam & Max Save the World, a bundle of six award-winning comedy games.

Sam & Max Save the World, which was known as Sam & Max Season One for previous releases, has been enhanced for Xbox LIVE Arcade with achievements, widescreen and HD graphic support, and updates to the gameplay controls. The game is in English with subtitles in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. The Xbox LIVE Arcade download will sell for 1600 Microsoft points—less than 300 points per episode.

Sam & Max Save the World is a sitcom-style game with an overarching story that develops across its six episodes. The series kicks off close to home with a trio of former child stars who propagate self-help video tapes with hypnotic qualities throughout Sam and Max’s neighborhood. Each subsequent episode takes the Freelance Police deeper into this mind control plot, from a casino run by unusually cuddly Mafioso to the White House and finally to a disturbingly blissful lunar retreat, where Sam and Max must face down the mastermind behind it all. The Save the World episodes have won a variety of awards, including a “Funniest Game” nod from GameSpot, plus “Editor’s Choice” and “Adventure Game of the Year” accolades from publications including IGN, PC Gamer, and GameSpy.

The June 17 release comes less than a month after Telltale’s Xbox LIVE Arcade debut with Fright of the Bumblebees, the first of four Wallace & Gromit episodes. The remaining Wallace & Gromit games and Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, the second season of Freelance Police adventures, will be appearing on the channel in the coming months.

Sam and Max got their start in comics in 1987, courtesy of cartoonist Steve Purcell. They have appeared in several formats over the years, including a graphic adventure game, Sam & Max Hit the Road, in 1993; an award-winning animated series in 1998; and an online web comic in 2006, for which Purcell was awarded an Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic. The 20th Anniversary Edition of the Surfin’ the Highway comic anthology has been nominated for a 2009 Eisner Award.

Telltale currently develops and publishes episodic series on PC, Wii, and Xbox 360, with plans to expand to additional platforms and channels in the coming year. For more information, visit www.telltalegames.com.

(Press Release) – LucasArts today announced that the original hilarious pirate adventure is back, with two new projects underway based on the classic Monkey Island franchise. First, Telltale will premiere the Tales of Monkey Island™ game series, delivering a completely new epic storyline and swashbuckling flair that will unfold across five monthly episodes on PC and WiiWare™ beginning with the season premiere episode on July 7. The Monkey Island celebration continues later in the summer when LucasArts publishes The Secret of Monkey Island™: Special Edition, a completely re-imagined version of the first game in the series that adds updated high definition graphics, a re-mastered musical score, and full voiceover to the classic adventure game originally launched in 1990. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition will be made available on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PC.

Today’s announcement represents a new partnership between LucasArts and digital entertainment pioneers Telltale who are crafting new experiences for today’s audiences with engaging stories delivered through regular monthly episodes. Tales of Monkey Island is developed by Telltale, whose team includes designers and artists who worked on all of the previous Monkey Island games. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is being developed internally by LucasArts, the company that started it all with the original Monkey Island games.

“We couldn’t be any more excited about bringing Monkey Island to today’s gamers — both in our special edition of the original classic, and through our collaboration with Telltale on the episodic series,” said LucasArts’ President Darrell Rodriguez. “We can’t wait for Guybrush Threepwood and LeChuck to return to gamers’ screens.”

About Tales of Monkey Island
Telltale’s Tales of Monkey Island brings the adventures of pirate Guybrush Threepwood into a new era with an explosive storyline that becomes deeper and more entangled during the course of the five-episode saga. While battling his nemesis, the evil pirate LeChuck, Guybrush accidentally unleashes an insidious voodoo pox that threatens to transform the buccaneers of the Caribbean into unruly pirate monsters. Players will experience the humor, romance, and swashbuckling action the Monkey Island games are famous for and unravel an insidious plot which is revealed across the course of the series. Tales of Monkey Island is set to premiere on PC and WiiWare in the coming weeks.

More from Monkey Island here at www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland.

(Press Release) – Holy crap! Telltale’s Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People game series can now be ordered on DVD for the first time. Pre-orders for the Strong Bad Collector’s DVD opened today at www.telltalegames.com with the DVD expected to ship in June. Like Telltale’s Sam & Max games, the episodic Strong Bad series was originally delivered online via digital distribution. The new Collector’s DVD is the equivalent of a TV series’ “box set,” complete with region-free video extras for the diehard Strong Bad fan.

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People features Strong Bad—the loudmouthed, wrestling-masked star of the ongoing Strong Bad Emails shorts at Homestarrunner.com—in a series of five games akin to interactive cartoons. The data portion of this hybrid DVD contains all five episodes playable on PC, as well as an MP3 soundtrack sampler and desktop wallpapers. The video portion includes game trailers, the complete “Behind the Bad” documentary series showing how Strong Bad himself collaborated with Telltale on the game, footage from Telltale’s “Make a Scene with Strong Bad” panel at last year’s Penny Arcade Expo, cartoon shorts, and a barrage of hidden surprises.

Telltale is extending special offers to customers as the pre-order period begins, including bundles of Strong Bad merchandise and free shipping for orders over $25 through May 3. The DVD is available for just the cost of shipping to customers who have already purchased the full Strong Bad season from Telltale, and at the limited-time discounted price of $19.95 for customers who have bought at least one Strong Bad episode. The regular price for new customers is $34.95. While supplies last, Collector’s DVD customers will also receive a free commemorative Strong Bad pin.

Each episode in Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People has a unique plot dreamed up by series creators Mike and Matt Chapman and the creative team behind Telltale’s acclaimed Sam & Max games. From a grassroots uprising against the gluttonous King of Town to a high-stakes heavy metal showdown to a face-off with the fire-breathing, peasant-burning dragon known as Trogdor, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People takes players on a crazy trip through the amusing and creative landscape of Free Country, USA.

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People has been lauded by fans and press alike, receiving Editor’s Choice awards from IGN and GameZone and recognition in IGN’s Best of 2008 round-up. Additional details about the Strong Bad Collector’s DVD and the new value-added bundles are available at www.telltalegames.com.

About Telltale, Inc.
Telltale is the first and only studio to release interactive episodic content on a monthly schedule. The studio’s landmark Sam & Max series, based on the independent comics by Steve Purcell, paved the way for episodic gaming with two award-winning seasons available on PC and Wii, and coming soon to Xbox LIVE® Arcade. Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, based on the Homestarrunner.com web cartoons, soon followed as the first episodic series for WiiWare™. Telltale’s latest series, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures, is now releasing monthly on PC and will debut this spring on Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Telltale currently develops and publishes episodic series on PC, Wii, and Xbox 360, with plans to expand to additional platforms and channels in the coming year. For more information, visit http://www.telltalegames.com.

Wallace & Grommit yips into Xbox Live Arcade

Interactive entertainment pioneer Telltale, Inc. today announced that their highly-anticipated episodic series, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures, will lead the company’s expansion to Xbox LIVE Arcade this spring. Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures will also be available for PC.

Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures will deliver all of the humor and charm of the duo’s popular animated films, with a monthly series of brand new interactive stories in Telltale’s unique episodic format. Alternating between the roles of quirky inventor Wallace and his faithful canine companion Gromit, players embark on their own style of entrepreneurial business ventures, tinker with creative contraptions, and interact with an ever-expanding cast of fun and endearing characters in each episode.

“Our episodic series focus on story, character, humor, and cinematic presentation—very much like a television or film production. This all makes for a great living room experience through the gaming console,” says Telltale CEO Dan Connors . “We’re looking forward to expanding our catalog onto Xbox LIVE Arcade.”

The series’ launch follows the record-setting Christmas Day premiere of Aardman’s new Wallace & Gromit short film, “A Matter of Loaf and Death,” the most watched TV program in the United Kingdom on Christmas Day with 14.3 million viewers. The film also recently won an Annie Award for Best Animated Short and secured a BAFTA Award nomination in the same category.

Showcasing visuals modeled closely after franchise originator Aardman Animations’ clay creations, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures is Telltale’s most cinematic series to date, immersing fans in the stories and interactions with the colorful personalities of West Wallaby Street . The game also features a new direct control scheme for gamepads, designed specifically for Xbox.

Telltale has become the industry leader in regularly delivered episodic games, with the release of two award-winning Sam & Max series and most recently, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. The Strong Bad series became the first monthly episodic set for a connected console, with the finale episode releasing in December on WiiWare and PC. Telltale plans to announce additional titles for Xbox Live Arcade in the coming months.

For more details about Telltale’s games and Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures, please visit www.telltalegames.com.