Rock, Paper, Shotgun

This is both cute and scary. Cute, because for the 20th anniversary of Wallace and Gromit, telltale are giving people free access to the Muzzled Episode of their Grand Adventures. You can also order the full package for twenty dollars instead of the usual thirty-five, which include a charitable donation. The offer runs until 12pm on Monday the 9th. If you’re interested, go gets. Conversely, it’s scary because I remember the very first Wallace and Gromit and I don’t need a reminder of my own mortality when I’m still in my dressing gown. Muzzled’s trailer follows…
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It’s Talk Like A Pirate Day on Saturday. If memes ad nauseum wind you up, that may be a good day to take a break from the internet. Unless, however, you’re really into free and cheap point’n'click adventure games. Oh, you’re listening now, aren’t you? Me hearty.
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Due to adverse weather conditions and abnormal levels of volcanic activity, we’ve yet to bring you thoughts on the Tales of Monkey Island episodic adventures. Alongside the remake of the original by LucasArts, Telltale are currently producing five chapters of a brand new story for the hapless pirate, written and coded by many original LucasArts developers. The first of these, Launch Of The Screaming Narwhal, has been out for just over a month, and the second part has just appeared. (As Alec reported yesterday, you can now buy them individually in the US at least.) Here’s some thoughts.

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There was a bit of a kerfuffle a while back over Telltale’s Monkey Islands not being entirely treated as episodes. In that you could only buy them as a job lot, despite the staggered release dates. Like, duh. American internet-folk will be glad to hear they no longer need to invest in five episodes up-front if they’re not entirely sure whether the series is for them, as Amazon is selling these bite-sized retromanced adventure games individually. $8.95 each, which as far as I can tell is in keeping with what Steam and Telltale’s e-store charge for single Sam & Max, Strongbad et al instalments. Hopefully this breaking up of Guybrush’s bulk will spread to other services and continents soon.

The demo for the first Tales of Monkey Island episodic adventure is available now. As indeed is the game. It seems so soon after the first announcement that it exists. This time you don’t appear to be able to buy the episodes separately. Instead Telltale want you to commit to the full five episode series in one purchase.

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The year’s most unexpected sequel is barrelling towards us, and Telltale hope to whet a few more preorder whistles by finally releasing a smidgen of interface’n'puzzle footage – specifically, the opening minutes of the reborn point’n'click adventure. Episode 1, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, is out in just six pirate days (which are like normal days, but with a looser moral code), and if you’re convinced you’re going to love it, you can pay pirate money (which is much like normal money, but with a slight scent of seaweed) for it right now. Video below. Comments that will almost certainly annoy someone are also below.
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Shock! Classic comedy-adventure Monkey Island is coming back – twice. First up, we’ve got a remake of the original Secret of Monkey Island, complete with new graphics and – ooh, controversial – voicework. Then, Telltale (who handled the recent, divisive Sam & Max comeback series) will work with Lucasarts on five new gamettes, to be known as Tales of Monkey Island. Blimey. Hell just froze over, pigs flew, and the pope did his business in the woods. Details and some footage below.
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Fans of the most critically acclaimed lumps of plasticine this side of Orson Welles – who was secretly molded by a very young Tony Hart and let loose as a Golem to revolutionise cinema – will be overjoyed of the release of Telltale’s Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures demo. And if that takes your fancy, there’s an offer to pre-order all four episodic games for 26 dollars - a saving of some money over the standard post-release price. Er… “Gromit, Inducing” is meant in a “Release Gromit” way rather than a comment on the demo’s quality, as we haven’t played it yet. And enough pun over-defensiveness – there’s a demo and a random tiny Wallace & Gromit related anecdote below.
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To conclude our Pulitzer Prize nominated coverage* of the war that has broken out between Telltale and made up company Videlectrix (made up of moustachioed geniuses, that is), below is our interview with the CEO of Telltale, Dan Connors, in which we grill him about the controversy in a way that makes other games journalists look like the frightened, corporate-bought cowards they truly are. But before that, learn more about the torrid situation with the third and final part of Behind The Bad – the behind-the-scenes exposé of life at Telltale working with Strong Bad.

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While there was almost another Telltale-related controversy yesterday, it remains completely shadowed by the rift between Telltale and Videlectrix that we first reported last week. For those unaware, Videlectrix claim to have been making cutting edge videogames for the last thirty years, and more recently have been closely affiliated with the Homestar Runner website. Their output includes classics like Salad Daze, Pigs On Head, and of course Thy Dungeonman 3. It’s literally impossible to calculate their impact on the gaming industry. Creative differences over the direction of the Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People episodic adventures have spilled over into the public in an ugly foray. Determined to prove there’s investigative journalism alive and well in the games media, Rock, Paper, Shotgun conducted a world exclusive interview with both developers at Videlectrix, in an attempt to uncover the Whole Truth.

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