![Telltale’s Next Game ISN’T Episodic? [updated]](http://gamecola.net/wp-content/themes/arras-theme/library/timthumb.php?src=http://gamecola.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/celebrate.jpg&w=630&h=250&zc=1 "Telltale’s Next Game ISN’T Episodic? [updated]")
Just saw a report over on Joystiq about Telltale’s upcoming Jurassic Park adventure game (well, Heavy Rain-style game, but I’m not sure that counts as a genre yet). They seem to think the big news is that the game now has an official release date of November 15 for PC, Mac, and PS3 (with the 360 version coming later [on a disc!]), but they’ve got it wrong. The actual news is this:
THE GAME ISN’T BEING RELEASED EPISODICALLY!
According to Joystiq, “every episode will be immediately available for download—as opposed to doling them out monthly.” That means no more waiting around for the next episode, in the meantime forgetting everything that happened in the episode prior. That means no more two months between every two hours of gameplay (or, in the case of Bone—it’s been like five years now, right?). No more us complaining about it constantly. DING DONG, THE HORRIBLE RELEASE SCHEDULE IS DEAD!
…Assuming they stick with it, anyway. Fingers crossed! We’ll find out what’s what in November.
Update: Telltale’s PR Manager Alan Johnson has reached out to us (via our comments section—see below) to clear up some confusion:
Hey guys, I’m Telltale’s PR manager and I just wanted to clear something up. While Jurassic Park is not being released episodically we remain committed to the very successful episodic model and our future releases will be released episodically. We had a great opportunity to release Jurassic Park on the Xbox 360 via retail this fall and to do so meant packing the game on the disc as a whole.
…darn. False alarm!
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Hang on. If the purpose of episodic gaming is ostensibly to give the developers more time to work on a game and integrate feedback before the finale, then why offer individual episodes all at once unless they’re totally unrelated games?
I was actually wondering the same thing. My guess is that they’d already started developing them as individual episodes before deciding to nix the episodic release schedule, and it was too much work to go back and change it.
Or, maybe they’re just hoping they can gouge more money this way. But I wouldn’t want to say something bad about Telltale.
I’d prefer them to release it as on game, even if it’s divided up (in the game) as five chapters. If that makes sense.
Hey guys, I’m Telltale’s PR manager and I just wanted to clear something up. While Jurassic Park is not being released episodically we remain committed to the very successful episodic model and our future releases will be released episodically. We had a great opportunity to release Jurassic Park on the Xbox 360 via retail this fall and to do so meant packing the game on the disc as a whole.
@Alan: Sorry about the confusion. Post updated!
@Gabriel: I’m with you. It’s not the chaptered format I have a problem with; it’s trying to follow a story that I’m only able to play for a couple of hours every month or so. That’s why I’ve given up playing the individual episodes as they come out, instead waiting for the full release to buy and play the game as a whole.
Though, I’ve only really started to notice this as a problem starting with Tales of Monkey Island. I guess because, before that, the individual episodes of games like Sam & Max seasons 1 and 2 and Wallace & Gromit were much more self-contained, whereas now the games are more centered around one overarching story.
I’m actually a little confused as to why you dislike the episodic model so much. It has some snazzy perks. I’d much rather finish games in snack-sized portions than a big, 20-hour marathon I’ll have little time for.
It’s not necessarily that I dislike the model; I just dislike it for this type of game in particular. At least for me, it makes the story kind of annoying to try to follow, particularly in a game like Tales of Monkey Island, which relies on you to remember a host of pretty generic side-characters. I’m not opposed to playing the games in small chunks; I’m opposed to playing them in small chunks that are released every month or so.
Though it’s also possible that my memory is just shot in my old age.
The only episodic game, I ever bought/really liked, Was “Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive people”. Very fun. d(^_^)
And verry funny. Q(@_@Q)
Telltale reads us? I take back what I said about CSI. Give me free things, I am for sale!
@Darkspines: You gotta check out some of Telltale’s other games! I’d recommend Wallace & Gromit, the latest Sam & Max series, and Back to the Future: The Game.