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Sam And Max Get a Price Tag
Joystiq is reporting that Telltale games has finally announced pricing on episodic Sam and Max content. The game installments will be available as part of GameTap's $10/month service, but each episode will also be available for download straight from the Telltale site. From the article: "Gamers will be able to download individual episodes from Telltale directly for $9 per episode or $35 per season (six episodes). The season pass will save you nearly $20 off the individual price and earn you the option of ordering a CD of the entire season when it's all wrapped up for just the cost of shipping. That's all the benefits of episodic distribution, with none of the non-physical hangups our retail-addicted brains insist are so important."
Finally... someone who can price episodal content at a point where even *I* would want to give it a shot. Unless the episodes last a measly hour of gameplay or so, sound like a decent deal.
The season pass will save you nearly $20 off the individual price and earn you the option of ordering a CD of the entire season when it's all wrapped up for just the cost of shipping.
Anyone wanna bet that the "cost of shipping" will be $19.95?
This guy's the limit!
...but "episode-based" game content just seems like yet another excuse for game developers to release incomplete products, except this time rather than hide that fact, they can tout it as a feature?
[episode 2 of this rant scheduled for release next week]
Episodic content is a novel approach that will give the company a predictable income to budget off of. While it may not meet the die hard fans request of a full game right off the bat, it essentially promises that (as long as they find a market for the product) there will be a full game at some point. The alternative is to not make the game, which seems silly to potentially leave money on the table like that.
Hi, can someone explain to me what the appeal of the Sam and Max franchise is?
To me the only thing that was even halfway decent about the series was the old cartoon that ran many years ago... and it wasn't really that good.
I consider myself a "cult game"/"cult movie" fan, and even I don't get the appeal of Sam and Max.
Can someone please explain?
From the makers of World of Home Improvement Loans-craft, Sim Taxpayer, and Virtua Grocery Clerk, it's:
Sam and Max Get a Price Tag!
and no I won't read the article for clarification. Let me have my delusions, please.
Looks like the games will only run on a win32 platform.
Think about it. If you want a cheap gaming experience, you'll buy the gametap so you can play it for a month.
If you want just to test it you pay less then 1/3 the price for a month a of gametap, or for 1 episode for the rest of your life.
And if you want to own the game, a little more than half price for 6 episodes + for just the cost of shipping a cd version of the game.
Basically it's the best of all three worlds. And if the game is worthy of the name "sam and max" it'll be a good model for other "small time" games.
...does this price tag make my arsenal look big?
It also allows the game companies to get immediate feedback on the game, not only froma story but also a technical standpoint.
... All of the episodes are going to use the same engine. So if there's a problem in the first episode that they didn't catch, which is very possible because of the huge number of combinations of hardware out there, they can quickly make engine adjustments for the next episode. In some respects that might be the same thing as a "patch", but considering the negative connotation that the word "patch" includes, this is probably a better solution from a public relations frame of mind.
For example
Additionally, it gives them immediate feedback that can be allpied in the next episode. What if people play the first episode then make great game comments about "Would that be great if they did such and such in the next episode based on this particular occurrence in the first episode?" If it's a really good idea, it could be written into the next episode. If this was a complete game, there'd be no opportunity to work it into the story.
On a similar tangent, it gives the writers more opportunity to expand the breadth of the story for future episodes, which is something that could not be done with a complete. That most likely could not be done with a sequel not only because it could be years until a sequel comes out but also because the sequal might have a storyline that is not compatible with ideas that were thought of before the prequel was finished.
I am the kind who does not like episodic games. I admit it. Imagine is a game like "Battlefield 2" went episodic where you got one map every month. That's unacceptable. But when it comes to games where the strength is the storyline, I can see where episodic releases would be a wise idea.
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I posed the question with them some time ago about using OpenGL instead of DirectX and porting their software to a native Linux binary. Although I was told that some of the developers would love to do that, they simply don't have the in-house knowledge and resources at this point. Unfortunately for those who don't want to run a Windows environment, an emulator or Windows VM is probably the only way to do it at this point.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.