Search This Blog

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Acclaimed Sam & Max video game series on Xbox Live Arcade

Xbox LIVE joins PC and Wii as new channel for "gaming's first sitcom"

The dog and rabbity-thing stars of Telltale's popular episodic games are one step closer to world domination today with the announcement that the first two "seasons" of Sam & Max will be appearing on Xbox LIVE Arcade. This is the award-winning comedy duo's first appearance on the Xbox 360, as well as on a connected console download service. Worldwide PC and Wii retail releases of the second season are also upcoming.

These approaching releases will sport catchy new monikers to more closely tie the season titles with their respective story arcs. Season One, which takes the Freelance Police from the New York City streets to Washington D.C. and all the way to the moon on the trail of a hypnotic nemesis, will be dubbed Sam & Max Save the World for all new releases moving forward. Season Two, which involves a baffling series of time paradoxes at the hands of unconventional aliens, has been renamed Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space. The Xbox LIVE Arcade releases will carry these new titles, as will Atari's 2009 retail versions of the second season.

"With Sam & Max coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade and the approaching retail launch, we're reaching a larger audience than we ever have before," says Telltale CEO Dan Connors. "These new releases give us an opportunity to better communicate the imaginative stories that make the Sam & Max games so special, and to strengthen the unique identity of each season."

Both Sam & Max seasons will be released on Xbox LIVE Arcade as full-season bundles, providing instant gratification to players who have been eagerly waiting for the Freelance Police to appear on Microsoft's console. The second Sam & Max season - which recently received Best Adventure Game accolades from IGN and PC Gamer and took home five Aggie Awards, including Best Comedy Writing, Best Gameplay, and Game of the Year from Adventure Gamers - is also scheduled to hit retail for PC and Wii in the coming months.

Today's news follows Telltale's recent announcement that the highly anticipated new series, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, is leading the company's expansion to Xbox LIVE Arcade. For more details about Sam & Max, Wallace & Gromit, and Telltale's other games, please visit http://www.telltalegames.com.

About Sam & Max
Sam is a six-foot dog in a baggy suit sporting a trombone-sized .44 hand-cannon. Max is a three foot "rabbity thing" with a saw blade grin and the impulsive nature of the average piranha. Together they patrol the sticky streets of a fantastical New York City, righting wrongs, pummeling perps, and ridding the urban landscape of the shifty legions of "self-propelled gutter trash" that litter their streets. Sam & Max have appeared in comics, video games, an animated TV series recently reissued on DVD, and an Eisner award-winning webcomic.