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The Walking Dead: Episode 1's majority choice
Spoiler warning: The clip features what the majority of players chose in Telltale's The Walking Dead: Episode 1 for every fork in the zombie-infested road. Episode 2 will be available this week. Also, you heartless monsters... poor Doug!
Telltale's The Walking Dead: Episode 2 on XBLA tomorrow, Friday for PC and PS3
The second episode of Telltale's The Walking Dead adventure series will arrive tomorrow, June 27, on XBLA. The PC and PS3 version will be available Friday, June 29, except in Europe, where the date is still to be announced.Episode 2: Starving for Help picks up right where the surprisingly intense opener left us hungering for more. Having already made some tough decisions, Lee Everett and his post-apocalypse adopted daughter are in for a harder time now, with both humans and zombies succumbing to rumbly tummies.
The Walking Dead tops May PSN downloads
Despite being quite the success on PSN, Journey didn't take the top spot on the PSN and PS3 download charts for May. No, that honor goes to The Walking Dead – the first episode in Telltale's newest game managed to topple last month's top dog I Am Alive, and was followed by Journey and PixelJunk Shooter (thanks to a sale) in May, respectively. On the PS Vita side, Mortal Kombat managed to best all comers, unseating Escape Plan, which fell to third place. Taking second was Table Top Tanks, the AR tank battle game that debuted in late May.
The Walking Dead sells a million episodes [update]
The Walking Dead's critically acclaimed game adaptation has sold over a million episodes across platfoms in its first two weeks. The game takes Heavy Rain-inspired mechanics and weaves them into an intense and morally ambiguous experience."The most exciting aspect of getting off to such a great start is that this is just the beginning of the five episode series. The Walking Dead fans are going to experience some really great moments in the months ahead that are uniquely influenced by the choices they make throughout the season," said Telltale Games CEO Dan Connors.The second episode of the five-part series will be available in June. We are currently following up with the developer to find out if having "sold over one million episodes" means the first episode sold a million units or if those who bought a season pass of five episodes were counted five times.%Gallery-153825%
The Walking Dead tops XBLA activity
As it turns out, "point-and-click adventure game" and "horrible traumatic zombie apocalypse" go together like chocolate and peanut butter, or peanut butter and waffles, or chicken and waffles, or waffles and waffles. Look, this analogy is falling apart and we haven't had breakfast yet, but the point is that a lot of people bought The Walking Dead on XBLA.In fact, Telltale's tumultuous title was the number one game on XBLA for the week of April 30, beating out Trials Evolution, Fable Heroes and Fez, among others. Peep the full list of the week's top-selling games after the break, and be astounded by the fact that Castle Crashers is still in the top 20, one million years after its original release in 2008.
I Am Alive tops April PSN downloads, just one Vita game charts
Ubisoft's post-apocalypse third-person-survivor I Am Alive apparently struck a chord with PlayStation 3 owners last month, topping the PlayStation Network's download charts for April 2012, even edging out March's big PSN release, Journey.The Walking Dead's game adaptation from Telltale managed more than a shambling start as well, taking up two spots on the top 10 with the season pass and first episode in third and fifth place, respectively. Just one Vita title landed on the list, Escape Plan, in the number 10 spot. All of this information – and more! – can be found in the latest PlayStation "Pulse" video, which we've dropped just below the break.
Dish Network, AMC dispute could see the network's channels dropped this summer
It wasn't that long ago that Dish Network was proudly offering AMC HD to its customers (especially since DirecTV didn't, which has since been rectified) but now the company is willing to let the network's contract expire this summer, taking new episodes of Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead away from subscribers. The source of the sudden animosity, according to a press release from AMC, is continuing litigation between it and Dish Network over dropping the Voom HD channels back in 2008, leading to them going dark soon after. The LA Times reports Dish Network claims the denial of its appeal on a decision in the case has nothing to do with its sudden change of heart is solely about AMC's high renewal cost for a relatively low viewership. Whatever you believe, the sniping and threats will likely continue right up until the contract runs out June 30th, which is at least long enough for this season of Mad Men to finish on its own.
The Walking Dead won't head down under
Australian and Kiwi zombie enthusiasts looking forward to the first episode of Telltale's The Walking Dead have been infected with something even more dangerous than a dead-raising mutagen: Disappointment.While a listing for the title reportedly exists on the Australian PSN, The Walking Dead cannot actually be purchased or accessed in any fashion, according to a thread on the official Telltale forums. As it turns out, things are a bit worse than a broken listing: "Due to the OFLC ratings laws in Australia and New Zealand, and the fact that this is a mature game, we do not currently have plans to release the game there on consoles," so sayeth Telltale forums rep Mike.For those of you not mired in the intricacies of Australian censorship politics, "OFLC" stands for the Office of Film and Literature Classification, which was the Australian Classification Board's parent agency until it was dissolved in 2006. Currently, the Classification Board belongs to the Attorney-General's Department, where it is responsible for assigning ratings to movies and video games.At any rate, it must be reassuring to our friends down under that their island nations are apparently completely immune to zombie invasion.
The Walking Dead: Episode 1 moseys onto XBLA this Friday
Much like the lumbering, rotted corpses of your former friends and/or family members, some things in life just can't be rushed. The Walking Dead: Episode 1, for instance, came out on PSN last Tuesday, but won't be coming out on XBLA until this Friday, according to Major Nelson.See, the trek from PSN to XBLA takes a couple days longer than usual when most of your nervous system has disintegrated and your skeletal structure has been ravaged by necrosis. When it does show up, it'll set you back a paltry 500 MS Points, which ain't half bad for four stars.
The Walking Dead: Episode 1 review: The value of people
In the zombie apocalypse, we'll all be human resource managers. We'll need to make harsh critiques on the value of one human against another in a post-apocalyptic scenario. At least, that's what the first episode of Telltale's The Walking Dead adaptation has taught me. As someone who's mapped out his strategy for the zombie apocalypse countless times, I always told myself I'd keep my humanity; I wouldn't become the monster I was trying to survive. And then I chose to rescue a grown man over a helpless child.%Gallery-149821%
The Walking Dead walks on over to PC, Mac, PS3 tomorrow
Hoard up your supplies and board up your windows, walkers are coming. More specifically, the first episode of Telltale's The Walking Dead, titled "A New Day," will be shuffling its way over to PC, Mac and PlayStation Network (for PS3) tomorrow.PC and Mac users can still pre-order the entire season for $22.49 – 10% off the usual price. As a bonus of sorts, PC and Mac users can bundle The Walking Dead with Telltale's "Almost Everything Pack" – which includes nearly every game in the Telltale catalog and normally sells for $90 – for a total of $42.99. PSN users, meanwhile, can grab the first episode for $4.99, or pre-purchase the entire season for $19.99, shaving $5 off the normal price and receiving a premium PS3 theme to boot.Just remember, if you must point and click zombies, be sure you click them in the head.
Robert Kirkman talks The Walking Dead, shows gameplay, is charming
The third installment of Telltale's The Walking Dead behind-the-scenes interview series, Playing Dead, features Robert Kirkman, writer of The Walking Dead comic series. Kirkman and the guy who voiced Marty McFly in Back to the Future talk art style, writing the game and why it isn't an open-world shooter, among other interesting tidbits.This episode also features a good chunk of gameplay footage (7:02 and 11:50) involving batteries, why there aren't more female mechanical engineers, and of course, zombies.
The Walking Dead is $5 per episode, pre-orders get discount and contest
Telltale's The Walking Dead will launch the first of five episodes for $5 on PSN, PC and Mac, 400 Microsoft Points on XBLA, or as part of a $25 season pass from the Telltale online store, starting in "late April."Pre-ordering for PC and Mac through the Telltale online store makes the five-episode bundle 10 percent off, $22.50, and enters pre-orderers into a contest to be drawn into the fourth episode as a human survivor who is turned into a flesh-frenzied zombie.Just what mamma always wanted you to be.
First gameplay trailer for The Walking Dead lurches into view
IGN premieres the first trailer for Telltale's The Walking Dead, and writer Gary Whitta joins afterward to discuss the challenges of crafting the game's story. You'll want to jump to 8:50 in the video for all the good stuff.
The Walking Dead to hit a horde of platforms, starting in April
Telltale's The Walking Dead is coming to XBLA, PSN, PC, Mac and iOS, with the first episode dropping in April, IGN reports. The Walking Dead will consist of five episodes in total, each following "regularly" after the first launch -- at least, about as regularly as a group of shambling* zombies can be expected to move.*One editor specifically commanded us to not use the word "shambling" in the headline of this story. However, he neglected to say anything about the body copy. Enjoy.
The Walking Dead shambles over to Facebook in April
You've got the comics, you watch the show every week and you're counting down the minutes until you can play Telltale's game. Well, listen up, The Walking Dead fans: another game is coming ... to Facebook.AMC and social games publisher RockYou have teamed up to offer The Walking Dead Social Game, in development at Eyes Wide Games. The gameplay is built from two major activities: setting up and maintaining base camps, and sending out scouts to scavenge for supplies. There's also some combat, naturally.As you can see in the screen above, it's quite the colorful game. Inside Social Games has more screens, and the Facebook page has a few videos showing off some of the characters from the show.
The Walking Dead shambles into certification this week
The Walking Dead is getting closer -- grab the shotgun! -- and is expected to be submitted for certification on XBLA and PSN this week, with a release soon after, Telltale CEO Dan Connors told Digital Trend at GDC. Connors expects the certification process to take about six weeks, with the launch soon after, placing it in late April or May. He didn't specify the launch process for other platforms, including PC.Telltale wants to capitalize on the "popularity" of the TV show, whose second season ends March 18, Digital Trend wrote. "Popularity" is of course a loaded term, but personally we've come to enjoy the show with a drinking game -- take a drink every time Lori is mad for a ridiculous reason; take two drinks every time an awkward silence lasts longer than four seconds; finish your drink every time someone shoots more bullets than their gun actually holds.That said, we're looking forward to Telltale's adaptation; either we'll finally get to enjoy the comic in a new form, or we'll have to buy some more beer.
The Walking Dead gets new life with dev webseries, Playing Dead
Telltale's video game adaptation of The Walking Dead is making slow, shuffling, possibly even moaning progress into reality, at least from our perspective. Luckily for us, Telltale has created a new web show, Playing Dead, in which developers and designers talk about the tone and progress of the game, instead of taking that time to actually make it.Don't get us wrong, we love hearing details about a game based on one of our favorite comic series in recent memory, but we won't be responsible for our actions if we don't see a gameplay video soon. We might write letters.Playing Dead launches alongside a new website for Telltale's The Walking Dead, and the first episode is watchable above. In it, lead designers Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman discuss the timeline of their Walking Dead, which runs parallel to the beginning of Rick's canonical story, and the authentic approach they're taking to original writer Robert Kirkman's lore.Rodkin and Vanaman reveal that players will interact with established characters such as Glenn and Hershel, and the video offers some in-game screenshots, one featuring a woman that could be Lori. We have provided the screens below for closer inspection.Choices players make, such as saving a character's life, will carry through the month-to-month episodes, Rodkin and Vanaman say, affecting later decisions and gameplay options. Vanaman notes that the game is five episodes, spread over five months.Supplementing all the new Walking Dead info, The Book of Eli writer Gary Whitta announced today that he is working with Telltale on their adaptation.%Gallery-147727%
Must See HDTV (October 10th - 16th)
Baseball playoffs are in full effect and altering TV schedules, so if you're digging Fox's lineup then too bad -- it's going to be mostly on ice for the next couple of weeks. We've still got a few major fall premieres trickling in, but the most significant addition are the first Blu-ray titles with Ultraviolet (Horrible Bosses, Green Lantern). Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames. Forza Motorsport 4 It's no big secret that around these parts, our love of things that plug in and log on only narrowly beats out the need to go fast, and since we can't drive every car in real life, we'll leave that up to Forza. The fourth iteration of Turn 10's driving game arrives this week and has racked up a list of glowing reviews. New this time around are Kinect-enhanced car walkarounds and driving, enhanced community features and a revamped career mode. The only knock seems to be that some things are a little too familiar from its predecessors, but we can't wait to get behind the wheel and find out ourselves. ($59.99 on Amazon, October 11th) Psych The Adventures of Shawn & Gus' Psychic Detective Agency continue on this week, and while that title may make one USA's best show's appear somewhat childish, we assure you -- it's even more childish than you think. Of course, one of the appeals of Psych is its retro flair (so far we've seen Ralph Macchio as a guest star and an entire episode spoofing Twin Peaks) so if you're in the target age range and haven't quite grown up, this is one to watch. (October 12th, USA, 10PM) The Walking Dead One of last season's most-talked about shows, this tale of survival in a zombie infested wasteland came in with a bang and went out with a whimper. We'll be watching to see if it can retain the crunchy action flavor of the first few episodes and avoid the boring melodrama that came in later on. If you're willing to risk a few spoilers (surprise, the RV breaks down at the worst possible time) then check out the season two trailer after the break. (October 16th, AMC, 10PM)
DirecTV adds AMC-HD next week, too bad Mad Men is still six months away
After slowing its pace of adding HD channels dramatically as of late, DirecTV has finally satisfied one of the loudest and longest running customer requests by announcing AMC-HD will come to its satellites starting September 9th. There's still a pretty long list of channels it's not offering yet, but if you're on contract and just want to enjoy some Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Mad Men (when it returns in March) in HD then today's Facebook posting (just hours after it was dug up by the satellite sleuths at DBSTalk) is exactly what you've been waiting for. [Thanks, Joe & Casey]
