Strong Bad checks his wiimail

 

Announcing Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People for WiiWare

New episodic series set in Homestar Runner universe coming in June from Telltale

 

SAN RAFAEL, CA, April 10, 2008 – Interactive entertainment pioneer Telltale, Inc. is pleased to announce Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People (SBCG4AP), a new series of episodic games for WiiWare^™, in partnership with Videlectrix. Starring Strong Bad, the self-proclaimed coolest person ever, the series is based on Matt and Mike Chapman’s online animated series, which has been running at Homestarrunner.com since 2000. SBCG4AP will launch on WiiWare this June.

 

As the very first episodic series for connected consoles, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People has been designed specifically for WiiWare, with easy-to-use controls and WiiConnect24^™ features. Like Telltale’s popular Sam & Max series, SBCG4AP will be released as a five-episode “season” akin to a season of television. The episodes will come out on a monthly schedule. Release dates and pricing details will be revealed in a future announcement.

 

“Homestarrunner.com is one of the biggest success stories in online entertainment,” says Telltale CEO Dan Connors. “The Chapmans have been treating the Internet to episodic content for years. We’re thrilled to have teamed up with them to take episodic gaming to the next level via Nintendo’s innovative WiiWare delivery system.”

 

Telltale is working closely with the Chapmans on the series’ art style, storylines, and scripts. This hands-on collaboration will deliver long-time fans the ultimate Strong Bad experience and give new players a crash course in the series’ offbeat and unusual humor. The episodes play like extended cartoons, during which the player assumes the role of Strong Bad—controlling his actions, hearing his innermost thoughts, and becoming part of his awesome world.SBCG4AP features the cast of characters and locations from the Homestarrunner.com cartoons, and the games are fully voice acted by Matt Chapman and the rest of the original cast.

 

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People is a story-driven series with a comic spin that’s undeniably Strong Bad. The player uncovers each episode’s comedic plot through character interaction, dialogue-based puzzles, and the use (and abuse) of inventory items. In addition, each episode will be crammed with time-wasters to keep players poking around in the world, including Strong Bad emails to check, prank phone calls to place, and mini-games styled after the arcade games on the Homestarrunner.com website.

 

“Telltale has been rejecting my ideas for green text adventures for years,” laments thousandaire gadabout Strong Bad, “but we finally reached a compromise with this puffy 3D point-and-click-em-up adventure. They claim all the coding was done with green text, so I guess that’s pretty cool.”

 

In addition to WiiWare, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People will be available on PC. For more details about the series, including a brand new trailer, screenshots, and Strong Bad’s development blog, please visitwww.telltalegames.com.

 

Wii got Sam & Max

As part of a continuing effort to extend episodic gaming to new audiences and platforms, Telltale is officially announcing that Sam & Max Season One will be coming to Nintendo’s Wii™ console. This collection of the first six Sam & Max episodes will introduce a brand new audience to the popular and critically-acclaimed game series. The Wii release is expected to ship to retail stores worldwide this fall, thanks to a partnership between Telltale and JoWooD/DreamCatcher.

Sam & Max’s journey to the Wii platform has been fueled by fan excitement. Just before the episodic series’ PC debut, fans launched an email campaign clamoring for a Wii version of the series. Continuous rumors and rampant speculation online led to developer and publisher enthusiasm for the title. With Telltale now focusing on console development in addition to PC, the company can finally bring Sam & Max to Wii in response to this overwhelming demand.

The Sam & Max episodes let players guide the Freelance Police through a series of bizarre—and often sidesplitting—mysteries. Sam & Max Season One has already experienced enormous success, both as an episodic series available for download through Telltale’s website and other services, and at retail. Honors include Adventure Game of the Year from GameSpy and IGN, and inclusion on Games for Windows’ list of Top 10 Games in 2007.

Nintendo’s Wii is a perfect fit for the Sam & Max games. The series’ story-driven gameplay and episodic structure has often been favorably compared to TV sitcoms. The new Wii version will present Sam & Max in a format that can be enjoyed from the comfort of the living room, either alone or with a group of friends—a setting perfectly suited for this kind of experience. The game’s easy-to-use interface has a low learning curve, making it ideal for the Wii’s broad consumer audience.

Sam & Max first hit the indie comic scene in 1987, courtesy of franchise creator Steve Purcell. In the twenty years since, they have appeared in an animated TV series, an Eisner-winning webcomic, and numerous video games. The success of the Sam & Max episodic series has fueled a renaissance for the franchise. Telltale recently released a special 20th Anniversary Edition of the complete Sam & Max comic collection, Surfin’ the Highway, after nearly a decade out of print, and a DVD box set of the 1997 animated series has just been published by Shout Factory. Both are available in Telltale’s online store (www.telltalegames.com/store), along with other Sam & Max merchandise.

Sam & Max Season One for Nintendo Wii will be published by Dreamcatcher/The Adventure Company in North America, and by JoWooD in Europe. In addition to English language, the game will be fully localized in French and German, and subtitled in Italian and Spanish. All versions are expected to ship during the fall 2008 season.

Caspian the friendly Prince

The good folks from Disney Interactive Studios sent along this brand-spanking-new trailer for the game based on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Like the last game, this one was also created by Traveler’s Tales, the company best known for the Lego Star Wars games.

Take a look:

Downey, Howard voice Iron Man game

SEGA® of America, Inc., SEGA Europe Ltd., and Marvel Entertainment, Inc. announced today that the Iron Man™ video game, based on the successful Marvel comic book series and the upcoming film by Marvel Studios, will feature the voice talents of Robert Downey Jr., Terence Howard and Shaun Toub. All three actors will reprise their onscreen roles of Tony Stark (Downey), Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Howard), and Yinsen (Toub). The Iron Man video game launches day and date with the blockbuster movie on May 2, 2008.

Iron Man, an explosive third-person action shooter game that pits one of the world’s most renowned Super Heroes against unspeakable odds, draws its story from the upcoming movie while also incorporating story elements from original Iron Man comic books. Using the advanced technology in Iron Man’s suits of armor, gamers can take advantage of the wide array of high-impact weapons to strategically annihilate any enemy force standing in their way. Before tackling stunning and immense open battlefields, players can customize their armor suit as they encounter progressively more vicious enemies, and fight in epic battles that could challenge even the toughest Super Heroes.

Iron Man is the story of Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and inventor who had it all. But during a routine weapons test in the Middle East, Stark was captured and forced to construct the ultimate weapon. Instead of following his captors’ demands, Tony built his own devastating weapon – a powerful suit of armor that provided the key to his heroic escape. From this point forward, Tony Stark became more than a man. He became Iron Man.

I am Iron Man

Sega’s trailer for Iron Man: The Game (based on the upcoming movie). I’ve got very high hopes for this one…

Super-Snot

SouthPeak Games today announced that it will release the action adventure game, Mister Slime, in North America. The title, developed by Lexis Numérique, features clever “elastic” controls using Nintendo DS™’s unique features. Mister Slime will be available in April, 2008.

“Fresh, tactile, fun, and addictive. That is what Mister Slime is all about,” said Katie Morgan, Executive Vice President of SouthPeak Games. “The title’s creative features, imaginative characters, and great storyline make for a crazy, one-of-a-kind, can’t-put-it-down gameplay experience. Mister Slime is awesome right from the get-go.”

As the young but determined hero Mister Slime, players set off on an exhilarating adventure, trying to protect Slime Village from its evil enemies, the Axons. Using the touch screen and stylus, players must navigate the levels by dragging and stretching Mister Slime’s arms to grab hold of small anchor points scattered throughout the game. Mister Slime features inventive uses of characteristics specific to Nintendo DS, including sound and shape recognition. As an example, players are able to blow on Mister Slime to make him fly in the air or to help him breathe under water.

“We wanted to take an old-school 2D side-scroller and update it with innovative features and gameplay specific to the platform,” said Djamil Kemal, Development Director at Lexis Numérique. “The advanced physics engine combined with elasticity, and interaction with many different objects creates a very engaging gameplay experience. There is nothing else out there like it.”

Mister Slime will feature both single and multiplayer game modes with a huge variety of level design. All together, Mister Slime will keep gamers busy for hours trying to stretch and manipulate their way through the wonderful world of slime.