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Sam And Max Get a Price Tag

Posted by Zonk on Wed Oct 04, 2006 03:58 PM
from the expensive-dog dept.
Entertainment Games
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."
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[+] Sam and Max Hit the GameTap 56 comments
Gamespot reports that the episodic sequels to the original Sam and Max title will be available on GameTap starting next month. Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock will be available starting on October 17th for subscribers to the PC-download service. Non-subscribers will be able to download the game at some future point. From the article: "Just under a year ago, indie studio Telltale Games acquired the rights to make games based on the underground comic Sam & Max: Freelance Police. The news was a godsend to many old-school gamers who loved the first game the comic inspired, 1993's Sam & Max Hit the Road, and lamented the 2004 cancellation of its sequel, Sam & Max: Freelance Police." Update: 09/08 19:24 GMT by Z : Jake Rodkin from TellTale wrote to make sure we pointed out the copious details that didn't make it into the Gamespot piece. For those of us without GameTap, we can look forward to the non-subscription release on November 1st.
[+] The Manifesto on the Evils of GameTap 79 comments
Gamasutra sits down with Manifesto Games co-founder Greg Costikyan to discuss how the revolution is coming along. They explore the group's business model, the retail market, and the dangers of GameTap. From the article: "They don't worry me, particularly; I'm skeptical that their business model is sustainable. But basically, my argument is that they can afford to offer so large a number of titles for a $10/month fee largely because the major publishers view older games as worthless, since they cannot be sold through conventional retail any longer, so they're willing to accept a small share of rental revenue. But I also believe that PC games, in particular, are going to move online in a big way over the next few years and will eventually disappear from game stores — PC games are responsible for just 6% of their revenues, and take up a lot more shelf space than that justifies." Mr. Costikyan further explores this last concept in a post on his site called, simply, Why GameTap is Evil.
[+] Sam and Max Hit the Road 69 comments
Gamasutra reports on the unveiling of the 'GameTap Originals' publishing label, a brand led by the anticipated episodic revival of Sam and Max. The game is now available both via the GameTap service, and at the TellTale site. From the article: "Sam & Max: Episode 1, which launches today exclusively on GameTap, as well as the upcoming Myst Online: Uru Live, are two examples of franchises that GameTap has co-published and helped bring back to life. While nothing specific was announced regarding upcoming franchises set to debut as part of the new GameTap Original label, representatives did note that it will be used to identify soon to be announced episodic games based on renowned TV and film franchises. Finally, supporting its new GameTap Original label, GameTap will be the premiere sponsor of the 9th Annual Independent Games Festival, held in conjunction with the 2007 Game Developers Conference to celebrate the innovation and creativity of independent game developers." Chris Kohler, over at Game|Life, has a short review of the first three hours of content.
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Sam And Max Get a Price Tag 35 Comments More /

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  • $9 ?? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by revlayle (964221) on Wednesday October 04 2006, @04:01PM (#16311685) Homepage
    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.

    • Re:$9 ?? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rsmith-mac (639075) on Wednesday October 04 2006, @04:08PM (#16311819)
      Considering it's only a month between seasons, it may very well only be an hour.
      • Uhh, you saying that it's a month of development time? I'm fairly sure they've been working on it for a while and probably have more than one team working at it..
        • The majority of the time spent so far was on engine development and art resources, I'm sure. Now they've got a month at a time to produce an episode. I could very well see these episodes only taking an hour to complete, for the hard-core point-and-click gamers.

          I'm still waiting to see if they captured the feeling the original game at all. The video they released didn't, so now I'm waiting on a demo.
      • Gamespot reported a while ago that the first episode will be 2-3 hours. Even if the next 5 episodes in the season are only an hour each, $35 for 8 hours of play isn't a bad deal.
    • "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."

      And at $35 it's a steal. More game companies need to realize that if they cut out the publisher AND the retailer, they can slash prices and still come out ahead!
  • 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?
    • UPS charges $10 to even show up, much less take a package anywhere for you. And how much more would you pay to guarantee it gets there? And how much more to get it there sometime this century?

      It sounds like extortion, but in reality, it's more like anal rape.
      • "It sounds like extortion, but in reality, it's more like anal rape."

        I guess we have to bow to your superior knowledge of both. ;-)

  • Call me a cynic... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Delusion_ (56114) on Wednesday October 04 2006, @04:13PM (#16311909) Homepage
    ...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]

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by normal_guy (676813)
      Exactly. In this case, it's 10% of a complete product at 10% the cost. Why couldn't they just make us wait so we can pay the whole thing at one time, in November of 2007?

      Episodic entertainment like TV shows and some of the great movie trilogies of the past should have been released all at once, on DVD, at a cost of $199. Why should I enjoy part of an incomplete product?
      • Cash flow and risk Better for it to flop at the 10% mark now so they can take a small hit rather than wait for November 2007 and lose it all in one go. Some very good companies have gone down this way. One big failure is all it takes. If it is better/safer for the game companies then I am happy for them to try it. We need more risks taken in the games that are developed.
      • Nothing prevents you from waiting untill all episodes are released and buy them all at once.
      • Funny you should mention it... Duke Nukem Forever is doing just that, and look how well they're doing. Extrapolate the timeline and the cost of development, and I expect a DVD copy will retail for, say, a bajillion dollars or thereabouts...

    • You're only half a cynic (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Khammurabi (962376) on Wednesday October 04 2006, @04:54PM (#16312605)
      ...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?
      Games are becoming too costly to develop and, as such, are a huge gamble for investors. Episodic content is a way for the game to prove it has financial merit, and gives the investors a low risk option of cancelling further work on the product if the returns aren't there.

      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.

      • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Games are becoming too costly to develop and, as such, are a huge gamble for investors. Episodic content is a way for the game to prove it has financial merit, and gives the investors a low risk option of cancelling further work on the product if the returns aren't there.

        which would really really really piss off those that did buy the first episodes, probably preventing them from buying (episodic) content (from this developer) ever again.

        Maybe if every episode is just a small complete game this would be ok,

      • It also allows the game companies to get immediate feedback on the game, not only froma story but also a technical standpoint.

        For example ... 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 c
      • I remember buying my first Episodic game about 5 years ago now. Soul Reaver is probably the first time I experienced an Episodic style game. It was great because instead of paying $70AU for 1 game I paid $65 x 3 for three episodes of the same plot. Well, I would have, except Eidos never made game 3 and I really want to know how it all ended since the game was decidedly one of the more expensive games I have invested in even after only the first two Episodes.

        Later I bought Frank Herbert's Dune, another hidde

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by iocat (572367)
      Cynic.

      Seriously, I -- maybe -- have a couple hours every month for adventure games. I'd RATHER get episodic content.

      Another advantage for game players (and makers)is this. If someone does a 40 hour game, they gotta pack a lot into that last hour for those players who make it. But a lot of people don't make it that far. They lose out, and the developer did a lot of work for nothing.

      Doing several two or three hour episodes, as a game maker, I'd know most of the people who play them will get to see every

    • Sorry, but that's an asinine question, even if it was meant with a genuine desire for understanding. If you have to ask, then nothing that we say will make you understand.
      • dont understand this whole thing... are they new sam and max games but in episode format? or just rehashes of the old game??
        • Brand new games. The team who WAS working on the Sam and Max sequel at LucasArts before they got canned wnet off to form TellTale. They got nothign from LucasArts, who still holds the rights to both the released game and the almost-released game. So, TellTale had to come up with a completely new story and graphics engine, but this time Steve Purcell is very active with the writing and overall direction of the game.

  • Worst game title...ever! (Score:5, Funny)

    by BeeBeard (999187) on Wednesday October 04 2006, @05:06PM (#16312789)
    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.
    • Hell, they've had a price tag for years! My copy of "The Collected Sam & Max: Surfin' The Highway" clearly states that it's $12.95 on the back cover! Boy, talk about old news! :)
  • Looks like the games will only run on a win32 platform.
    • What a wild and crazy idea. Personally, I'm not sure if game content developed exclusively for Windows will ever take off. The future is in games that are designed for Linux and BSD, but with a Mac OS port. If there's time, perhaps they'll make a port for Windows - but that's such a small audience, I wonder if it's even worth doing.
      Making a game that only runs on Windows? It'll never sell.
      • 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.
  • 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 t

  • The most important question is... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Archimedean (923556) on Wednesday October 04 2006, @06:12PM (#16313739)
    ...does this price tag make my arsenal look big?

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