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.

Sam & Max: Season 2 finale

After months of building anticipation, the groundbreaking episodic game series Sam & Max Season Two has reached its climax. Now Telltale can at last reveal details about the exciting Sam & Max Season Two finale. With souls on the line and the fate of mankind hanging by a thread, Sam & Max will come face to face with their biggest, baddest adversary ever. The episode, entitled “What’s New, Beelzebub?”, will debut Thursday, April 10 for subscribers of Turner Broadcasting’s GameTap service. Its worldwide release will follow one day later, on Friday, April 11, from Telltale’s website.

“What’s New, Beelzebub?” caps a five-game season that has been gaining momentum since November. During this time, Sam & Max have faced off against a demonically-possessed Santa in the North Pole, visited the tropics to stop a cataclysmic volcano eruption, stormed a trendy Eurotrash nightclub overrun with dancing zombies to vanquish their vampire leader, and launched across space and time to track down their missing friend Bosco. Now, judgment day is at hand, and it’s time for a showdown with the guy downstairs to bargain for Bosco’s soul. But, in the corporate wasteland known as Hell, not even Sam & Max are safe from eternal damnation. Can they wiggle free from Satan’s grasp, or have they finally reached the end of the line?

The Sam & Max series has been widely heralded as one of the best examples of successful episodic gaming. In Season Two, the model has been used to piece out a clever and humorous story month by month, gradually growing suspense and winning the praise of critics and fans as seemingly unrelated threads and increasingly varied scenarios have woven into a surprising and compelling plot. As the most epic and off-the-wall Sam & Max episode yet, “What’s New, Beelzebub?” promises to close the season with a bang.

Anticipation is already high for those following the series, but it’s not too late for new players to dive in. All Sam & Max Season Two episodes can be purchased from Telltale’s online store through a full season set or as individual episodes and are also available as part of a GameTap subscription.  Additionally, customers who purchase the Season Two bundle from Telltale will be eligible to get a DVD that includes all five episodes along with bonus content for just the cost of shipping and handling. Emails will be sent to qualifying customers when the DVD is available for ordering.

The success of the Sam & Max game series has fueled a renaissance for the franchise. Telltale recently released a special 20th Anniversary Edition of Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell’s Surfin’ the Highway comic collection after 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, along with other Sam & Max merchandise.