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Band of Brothers announces 'MAX' strategy in The New York Times
Mainstream media seems to pick up on this odd, new 'MMO-thing' occasionally, but now and again they turn up something interesting. A piece from The New York Times does just that, in an article about one of EVE Online's most powerful alliances -- Band of Brothers (BoB). The alliance holds a player gathering each year, the most recent of which was a weeklong get-together in Copenhagen for over 150 members of BoB. The alliance's leader, SirMolle (real name: Pär Molén), announced a new direction that Band of Brothers will take in EVE in the coming months, which he calls 'MAX' -- as in 'maximum damage.' MAX, if SirMolle is able to make good on his pledge, will be a different direction for Band of Brothers. Rather than establishing sovereignty over as much of EVE's galaxy as possible, BoB will attempt to lay waste to the vessels, holdings, and power structures of their numerous enemies in New Eden.
Sam & Max ready to Wii-lease this fall
Telltale finally confirmed to GameSpot that Sam & Max's first season is coming to the Wii this fall. Rumors of Sam & Max bringing their freelance form of policing to the Wii began in early 2007 and became pseudo-confirmed this January in a German press release. The game will be a port of the Sam & Max: Season One PC compilation. Sam & Max for Wii will be published in the US by Dreamcatcher and The Adventure Company. In Europe, JoWood will handle publishing duties of the game, which will have French and German voice acting, with Italian and Spanish subtitles added. No word yet on price for the title, but if it does end up being budget priced (PC was $30), we're very curious to see if this excellent adventure game finds an audience on the Wii. [Thanks Sam]
Maximum stamina
If you want to live through any boss fight as a tank, the one thing that you need above all else is health. Stamina, which gives ten health for every one point of stamina, is by far the most important stat that a tank needs in order to do their job well. No matter if you have reached the armor and defense cap, or if you're producing more threat than your DPS can keep up with, you won't live for a lick if you don't have enough health.Defining minimum health is an important concept in end game raiding and groups. For most instances, a minimum of 10,000 to 11,000 unbuffed is needed. This will at least let you take a few blows from a boss before dying, hopefully enough blows that the healer will be able to get off a few heals on you. For more entry level raiding environments, it's necessary to have unbuffed health between 11,000 and 12,000. If you've got 11,500 hit points going into Kara, you'll probably be able to reach 13,000 health fully raid buffed. This will let you survive a good portion of Kara, which means you can get more gear, which begets more health in the long run.
Rumor: Sam & Max coming to the Wii according to German press release
It's been almost a year now since the rumor of a Wii version of the Sam & Max series surfaced after Telltale Games began searching for a Wii programmer to add to their staff. Now, a German press release for JoWooD Productions' latest creation, a Wii adaptation of the PC adventure title Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None, has all but confirmed a Sam & Max adventure on Nintendo's console, which JoWooD is apparently porting.A translation of the press release specifically mentions that "Sam & Max will soon be hunting criminals on the Nintendo Wii," though Telltale Games, the developers of the PC adventure, have not yet confirmed their intent to port the game to consoles. However, the press release seems on the level, and based on earlier evidence, we're fairly certain that we'll be seeing everyone's favorite revolver-toting, anthropomorphic dog and hyperkinetic rabbity thing on the Wii in the near future.[via Evil Avatar]
Telltale Games looking to the Wii
Telltale Games, the studio currently in charge of the Sam n' Max titles, has recently put out a calling for a Wii programmer. Among the very long list of necessary technical experience, the final line includes a requisite love of adventure games. Seriously.So, is SnM coming to the Wii? Rather contrary to their namesake, the company remains tight-lipped. An official forum post by the developer reads: "We haven't made any announcements about why we're hiring a Wii developer and we really really haven't said that we're working on a Sam & Max game for the Wii. If we do such a thing, you guys will be the first to hear about it, surrounded by 800 gigantic trumpets and probably some cherubs or something. But as of right now, you're talking crazy talk."Crazy-talk is the only kind we deal with, people. Our guess? Sardonic canines and whack-job lagomorphs are coming to a Wii near you.
CDMA Motorola MAXX Ve in the flesh, kind of
It's been a few months since we heard a rumble from the CDMA side of the stable, until recently when a Howard Forums member put up marketing pics of the yet to be Motorola MAXX Ve. The device has been updated with a new color scheme, will support VCAST Video and Music (sorry, no TV support here fellas), EV-DO, have a 2 megapixel shooter with expandable microSD memory, and that infamous Verizon interface. Other than that, we are on pins and needles hungering for more information. Anyone care to share?
Next Sam & Max episode hitting Gametap on December 21
That's excellent news if you consider yourself to be a fan of anthropomorphic police officers, surreal humor or, a bit more generally, oxygen. A politely worded e-mail from Telltale Games alerts us to the fact that the follow-up to the disturbed duo's download debut will be released to Gametap subscribers on December 21, with a general release following shortly on January 5. Entitled "Situation: Comedy," the second episode sees Sam and Max infiltrating a TV studio in an attempt to thwart a talk show host gone mad (an alarmingly frequent occurrence in that profession). A further talking point is the first release in a series of animated, Sam & Max machinima shorts -- though temptation remains to describe these as frightening clockwork pants, they're actually just animated clips produced within the game's engine. A new short will be released every Thursday, debuting on Gametap TV and then showing up on the Telltale website the following week. In addition, Gametap TV offers episodes of the brilliant Sam & Max cartoon series which has yet to appear in DVD format. Be sure to write an angry letter to someone about that.A single Sam & Max episode goes for $8.95, while a full season pass (six episodes) costs $34.95. Read -- Joystiq's review of Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture ShockView -- Screenshots and movies from Episode 2: Situation: Comedy
Sam and Max scope out the DS
It seems like just yesterday (or last week) that Telltale Games was begging for help in getting Nintendo to notice them, and now IGN is interviewing CEO Dan Connors about the possibility of bringing versions of their point-and-click adventure, Sam & Max, to both the DS and the Wii. How time flies!For those unfamiliar with the dynamic duo, Sam and Max, an anthropomorphic dog and his "hyperactive rabbit thing" partner, first debuted in a comic book by Steve Purcell back in 1987. The pair are self-styled "freelance police" (see: private dicks) and have made cameo appearances in several LucasArts games while their creator was working there. They've also starred in their own games and television shows, as well as other comics. Recently, Telltale Games has been panting for notice by Nintendo, but did they bite off more than they can chew?In discussing the possibility of a DS title, Connors expressed some apprehension. They love the DS at Telltale, he says (and we commend their impeccable taste), but for a small company, a project of that scope is somewhat daunting. The Wii would be easier to adapt for their style, Connors said, if only because it needs only one screen and DS games work best when they take full advantage of the handheld's capabilities. While we admire the sentiment, we hope they can grow with new support from Nintendo and manage to bring a new title to the DS.
Sam & Max could make it to the Wii
It seems Telltale Games, the fine folks in charge of the latest Sam & Max adventure, wanted some attention from Nintendo to possibly bring Sam & Max to the console following an innocent comment made at PAX that generated some solid buzz for the idea. Well, sure enough, Nintendo contacted the group and talks to bring the title to the Wii have, we assume, begun.Personally, we here at Wii Fanboy are hoping an agreement is met. Not only would this title pave the way for future adventure games on the Wii, but also set a precedent for episodic content on the console right from the gate. Considering how quickly Nintendo contacted Telltale, we're fairly certain that this will turn out to be a very good thing for all of us.[Thanks, Banjo4321; via Joystiq]
Arresting new Sam & Max gameplay clips
We really appreciate Telltale Games' business acumen. With roughly a month to go before the doggy detective and hyperkinetic rabbity thing return in a brand new (and very episodic) adventure, the shared excitement between veteran point-and-clickers is beginning to emit an unseen vibration that threatens to shake the very universe apart. As the universe is very much a necessary component in conducting business, the developer has wisely indulged the disastrous demand for Sam & Max content by releasing a trio of gameplay snippets on their official blog (embedded after the break). Hypothetically, these should help you keep your composure for a little while longer. Be sure to compare the new voice actors to the original duo -- though Sam sounds a little robotic at times, the new pair really nail it in terms of humor and spirit. That's really all that matters."Do you ever wonder what life would be like if we were bugs?""Short, I hope. Although I've always wanted to have more arms."Also, we promise not to use the word "acumen" again.[Via Adventure Gamers]
VidaBox launches media center PC line-up
In a market becoming saturated with one HTPC offering after another, VidaBox is launching what seems like just another HTPC line-up for those too busy to build their own. Four strangely familiar looking models are headed your way: the ROOMMATE, SLIM, LUX, and MAX, which aside from performing all the usual functions -- recording live TV, storing music and photos, and sporting a snazzy case -- feature "unparalleled storage offerings." The LUX and MAX models offer up to 3.75TB of storage and includes their "VidaSafe" technology (which appears to be RAID, folks) to keep the machine running and your files recoverable, even if one of the hard drives fails while operating. As with most pre-built HTPCs, they don't come cheap, and with prices ranging from $1,499 to near-infinity, the VidaBox line-up can satisfy your wildest home theater desires if your credit card can stand the punishment.
Sam & Max to debut this fall on GameTap [update 1]
After more than a decade of absence, Sam & Max will be returning in an all-new episodic adventure game this fall. The catch? According to this press release, Turner's gaming service that provides a library of games for a monthly fee. GameTap coproduced the title with TellTale Games.An official website has launched for the title, and an official video will debut on the site Thursday. This is big news for GameTap, but we don't know of any plans to distribute the game via conventional means -- will only GameTap players be able to get their Sam & Max fix? Say it ain't so![update 1: not exclusive to GameTap]
