Sam & Max Ride Again

duck2ducks writes "Adventure game fans had a rough time last year when the eagerly-awaited Sam and Max sequel was canceled, revived, and canceled again. Fortunately, the rights have now been picked up by Telltale Games (currently at work adapting Jeff Smith's Bone graphic novels) - and since Telltale is made up of former LucasArts designers, the dog and hyperkinetic rabbity thing may have found the perfect place to call home."

Comments

It would be sweet

[Tachikoma]

If they could arrange a crossover with some tentacles bent on world domination.

Re:It would be sweet

[zr-rifle]

... and throw in three Yale coeds, a kazoo and sushi in a fish bowl too, just for the kicks.

Best news I've heard all day

[Masami Eiri]

Definately the best news all day.. maybe all week. All I have to say is WOOHOO

Re:Best news I've heard all day

[ivan256]

Now we just have to worry that this announcement forshadows their inevitable bankruptcy. If we're truely doomed to never have a new Sam & Max game, this license could be the death of Telltale.

Voices

[kenp2002]

What happened and who were the original voice actors for the game? Without them I highly doubt they'll be able to capture the charm. The animated series, sans the original actors, was dissapointing.

Re:Voices

[Enti]

I'll second that "Then bring me all the unclothed women my poor eyes can stand!" "Jesus, Max, take it easy. You don't even like girls!" "Oh, yeah, in that case, how about some more of these great peanuts?" "You crack me up, little buddy!"

Re:Voices

[exick]

While I don't necessarily agree that without the exact same actors the charm can't be recaptured, both actors are still alive and keeping busy with voice-over work. So unless money is an issue, there shouldn't be any reason to not bring the same guys back.

Also, this is terrific news.

Re:Voices

[DarkHelmet]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192565/

Come on, you didn't even need to be resourceful to find that one out.

Coffe-Achievers Unite!

[Anonymous Coward]

Alright, glad to hear Lucas Arts had a desency of letting go of trademark to someone who can make use of it. Adventure games rock!!

Re:Coffe-Achievers Unite!

[ja2ke]

LucasArts never owned the rights to Sam & Max - the characters/world/etc are owned by their creator Steve Purcell. He'd licensed the rights to Lucas to make the game, but that license expired in May and Purcell took the characters to Telltale.

Scummvm

[Saiyine]

While we wait for this to come true, we can play to the original with scummvm!

--
Superb hosting 4800MB Storage, 120GB bandwidth, $7,95.
Kunowalls!!! Random sexy wallpapers (NSFW!).

Bone

[cpt kangarooski]

I dunno. The trailer for the Bone game doesn't look very good at all. Too bad; it's a great comic book.

Re:Bone

[kaptron]

A demo just came out here... I haven't downloaded it yet myself. But I hope it's good because apparently the Sam & Max games are going to be done in a similar format.

Re:Bone

[Seor Jojoba]

I'm tempted to get the first Bone episode, but twenty bucks for 4-6 hours of gameplay? It just makes me want to look around on eBay instead for the remaining adventure games I haven't played yet.

Re:Bone

[Haeleth]

I'm tempted to get the first Bone episode, but twenty bucks for 4-6 hours of gameplay?

I've spent more than twenty bucks on a night out at the theater before now, and that sure didn't come anywhere near 6 hours of entertainment - more like 40 minutes driving, 10 minutes looking for somewhere to park, 1 hour queuing, 1 hour of advertisements, 90 minutes of disappointing movie, and another hour listening to the people I was with complaining about what a crap evening it had been all the way home.

Looked at that way, it suddenly doesn't sound quite such a bad deal, does it?

3D graphics

[Moonbird]

Who else thinks that 3d games based on comics always look like crap? Those Bone screenshots are terrible and I have worst memories of the last Monkey Island game. Let's hope the best for Sam&Max though...

Re:3D graphics

[MisterMurphy]

Come on. The most recent Monkey Island game was pretty darn good. It didn't quite hit CMI levels, but then again, once you hit "The Best" it is often hard to pull a repeat performance. The opening puzzle was even a rad use of the whole 3D thing.

Re:3D graphics

[Seor Jojoba]

I'm with you, buddy. Curse of Monkey Island had beautiful 2D graphics that Escape never matched. It was the apex of point-and-click adventures.

Re:3D graphics

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Not based on a comic, but remember Grim Fandango?

Monkey Island 4 wasn't that bad. Granted that the 3D didn't really add anything to the gameplay, but I don't think it really took away anything either.

That said, I would love to see Monkey Island 1, 2, and 4 all redone in the style of Monkey Island 3.

Re:3D graphics

[Jordy]

The original Monkey Island games were among the best games I've ever played. The only transition I thought was decent was Final Fantasy games. I loved the original and I loved the 3D versions.

Best Adventure game of all time

[CrazyJim1]

Sam & Max was my most favorite adventure game ever. I was able to play through it without looking at a cheat guide. So many other adventure games aren't the least bit intuitive.

Re:Best Adventure game of all time

[eLDeR_MMHS]

Sam & Max was intuitive? Reaching into a cat's throat to get something right at the beginning of the game was NOT intuitive even to my creative/twisted mind as a child when I played this game! It did set the tone, though!

Re:Best Adventure game of all time

[Blakey Rat]

CrazyJim is crazy. Like, seriously. Look at his website, or his posting history.

rather...

[fafaforza]

I'd still rather see another Tex Murphy game. I never got into Sam And Max; too much pixel hunting. I know that there's a bit of it in Tex Murphy, too, but at least there are far fewer options and it seemed t obe more flowing.

This is great!

[ravyne]

Sweet, I just hope that after this and the Bone game, that they can get their hands on some of the other LucasArts classics that have been so sadly neglected. In addition to the catalog of excelent adventure games, I'd also love to see someone create a sequel to the SNES's little-known classic Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

Here's hopeing.

Has to be said

[MilenCent]

Holy jumping mother o'God in a side-car with chocolate jimmies and a lobster bib!

Unquestionable proof!

[Lisandro]

There is a God after all...

Full Throttle?

[basketcase]

Any chance they can pick up Full Throttle too? It also had a sequel that was cancled and is my favorite of the old scumm games.

Re:Full Throttle?

[AnamanFan]

I'm sorry I can't find the sources, but I remember that the developer consences was that the game wasn't going quite as well as the Sam & Max game.

Reguradless, the situation is more grim for Full Throttle than for Sam & Max. The key point to keep in mind is that the Intellectual Property (IP) of Sam & Max is owned by Steve Purcell. LucasArts aquired a licence to produce a game based off of the comic book series for both the 1993 release and the developed 2004 release. Though Purcell owns the IP, LucasArts owns the game property.

This is why you're not going to see the game LucasArts started to produce. In addition to aquiring the licence from Purcell, a developer/publisher would have to buy the rights to the 2004 game material. In short, that would be stuipid if possiable. So TellTale will make a new game in-house.

Full Throttle is wholely owned by LucasArts. Not just the games, but the propery of the characters /story/etc. Either LucasArts develops the game, or someone buys the IP from LucasArts. LucasArts would charge a lot of money if they are willing to let go of the IP. That will not happen.

Re:Full Throttle?

[basketcase]

That really sucks. Full Throttle was one of my all time favorite games. I even have the soundtrack CD from The Gone Jackals.

Sweet!!

[Rob T Firefly]

Sam and Max constantly battles with the Space Quest series for status as my favorite adventure game. I have high hopes for this one.. but if they screw it up, heads will SO roll.

Don't count your chickens Max...

[PhoenixOne]

"Adventure game fans had a rough time last year when the eagerly-awaited Sam and Max sequel was canceled, revived, and canceled again."

Now that its been revived again. They can cancel it for a third time making this year just as rough as last year...

How about DoubleFine helping with that?

[Psykechan]

Wouldn't it be nice if Telltale could team up with DoubleFine to work on this?

FYI, DoubleFine is Tim Schafer's company that he and a few other LucasArts alumni started after leaving LA.

The Reason for 3D

[LKM]

I read in an Interview with Autumn Moon Entertainment (some other former Lucas Arts employees working on an adventure called "A Vampyre Story") that the reason they use 3D characters instead of the beautifully drawn 2D sprites is money. It's a lot cheaper to make one 3D model and define its behaviour than it is to draw every single position a character can have, possibly from different viewpoints.

Besides, it's possible to create quite good looking 3D models if you take the time to do it right - things like cell shaded rendering might help, too.

Still, it's sad, but probably necessary, especially if they don't have huge funds.

This is going to be GOOD

[Parabolic Photon]

"Ooooh!" "Does this mean we get to kick some puffy white mad scientist butt?"
"Can't think of a reason not to,"

And so help them if they cancel this one.
There's only one thing that can happen.

"Er.. should I confront, pummel, and subdue the suspected perpetrator, Sam?"
"Sic 'em up, little buddy,"