Sam and Max Interview

[JCalCGM]

FiringSquad chats with members of Telltale Games about their upcoming episodic revival of the classic LucasArts adventure game Sam and Max. You can check out the interview right here (http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=11570). Here is a snip:
FiringSquad: Why do you think the original Sam and Max game has remained so well known and admired over the years?

Dave Grossman: Two things, in my opinion. One, the source material is great. Sam & Max is a unique, extraordinarily fun license, and the comics are engaging, insightful, and generally awesome. (I was a Steve Purcell fanboy before I ever went to LucasArts and started working with him.) The other is the sense of humor possessed by the people who wrote it. Steve was involved himself, of course, and Mike Stemmle is also an extremely funny man.

[Harlan Hoyt]

I'm super excited to have new Sam & Max game to play. It sounds like things are headed in the right direction, although there are things in there to give me pause. I'm somewhat worried about the idea of action content. I still have nightmares of the action sections in Full Throttle. Hopefully it won't be overbearing or out of place.

I'm also worried about this GameTap thing. I don't know anything about it, and I'm not sure I want to sign up to a monthy service for one game. I am profoundly sceptical of episodic content. I bought Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and enjoyed it, but I'm not sure that it was worth $20. It took me about five hours to complete it, and while it was extremely well done, I don't know that I'd buy Episode 2 for a similar price. I guess we'll see how that one turns out.

Ten bucks a month to play Sam & Max. In all fairness, it would allow me to play a bunch of other games, I suppose. But, if I quit the service, will I be able to play Sam & Max again? One of the bugaboos of microtransactions has always been the idea of "leasing" content -- books, movies, games and music you play for access to, but never actually know. I think there are a lot of questions unanswered, and I think they're important questions.

[Liquidize105]

Sad that this game isn't selling. Episodic gaming just doesn't have the numbers, supposedly.

[thecrazyd]

Sad that this game isn't selling. Episodic gaming just doesn't have the numbers, supposedly.
What do you mean it isn't selling? It is not out yet.

[JazGalaxy]

I'll have to see the quality of the puzzles before I make any kind of decision. That's the most important part of an adventure game, and it gives me pause when they say taht an episode will last "x" number of hours, because a good adventure game should depend entirely on how fast the player navigates the puzzles. Not how long the cut scenes run for...

[Liquidize105]

They've already released 2 episodes of Bone, I mean.

[thecrazyd]

They've already released 2 episodes of Bone, I mean.
Oh, well I don't blame that on episodic content. I blame it on the 2 Bone episodes not being that great.

Sam & Max has a bigger following though, and I am sure it will sell better on name alone.

[claws]

Ugh, I didn't know about the GameTap deal, and it's a killer for me. I just don't like the idea of monthly subscriptions for PC games, even if I do get new content - I'd rather buy 6 months worth and know exactly what I'm getting.

And why GameTap? At least Steam has crowbarred it's way into the public conciousness a bit with HL2/etc, and there's a proven market for lower-budget/episodic games there. I fear S&M is going to bomb spectacularly on sales, which is a real shame.

[thecrazyd]

Ugh, I didn't know about the GameTap deal, and it's a killer for me. I just don't like the idea of monthly subscriptions for PC games, even if I do get new content - I'd rather buy 6 months worth and know exactly what I'm getting.

And why GameTap? At least Steam has crowbarred it's way into the public conciousness a bit with HL2/etc, and there's a proven market for lower-budget/episodic games there. I fear S&M is going to bomb spectacularly on sales, which is a real shame.
You can buy it direct from Telltale if you don't want to go the Gametap route. I know I am going to.

[claws]

You can buy it direct from Telltale if you don't want to go the Gametap route. I know I am going to.
Ah, cool - thanks. No idea why I thought it was GameTap or nothing.

[MrPoo]

Cone of Tragedy. Hehhehe.

Man I miss the good ol' LucasArts adventure games.

[kid cabelgo]

Ah, cool - thanks. No idea why I thought it was GameTap or nothing.

I thought that too. Very good to hear.

Although, if I only play the episode once, or even twice, I could probably pay 10 bucks fora month of gametap, and get to play a bunch of their games for that month until I cancel, or pay 10 bucks for the episode alone. Then again, I'd rather own the game than rent it.