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Sam & Max Episode 5: Reality 2.0 (PC) Also On: PC Release Date: 06/01/2007 ESRB Rating: Teen Genre: Adventure Publisher: Gametap Developer: Telltale Games The WDS Network previews games with the philosophy that people want to hear our honest opinions on titles before they are released. If a game looks really promising, we'll pass on our excitement. But if a game needs work, we'll let you know. Here are our Sam & Max: Ep. 5 PC previews. Previews: Sam & Max: Ep. 5 Telltale talks philosophy, virtual reality, and Episode 5. As Sam and Max approach the end of Season 1, we're expecting a few plot twists, an alternate reality world, and something entirely unexpected -- and hopefully all three in the upcoming Reality 2.0. To sort out what's new this time out, we checked in with Telltale writer Dave Grossman. Look for Reality 2.0 on GameTap tomorrow, and downloadable on Telltale's official site early next month. WDS: So "Reality 2.0" -- obviously there's the virtual reality connection, but are there any other meanings to this title? DG: There is the inevitable deep philosophical question: is it Sam & Max's world which is Reality 2.0? Or is it our own? I lie awake at night [thinking about it]. And the use of the version number is somewhat self-referential in the title of a game which is itself somewhat self-referential about games. There might also be sly puns on the words "realty," "royalty," "regality," and "renality," but we leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine what on Earth that might mean. I could go probably on all day, but you don't want me to. WDS: What's this episode all about? DG: It's about the ways we look at ourselves through art -- a thought-provoking morality play about power, addiction, and responsibility. Ha! OK, actually, Sam & Max discover a massively multi-player gaming experience with questionable ulterior social motives. True to character, they decide that the best thing to do is to break it...from [the] inside, which is more fun. Everybody gets in on the action, and this episode has even more game-culture parody than usual... WDS: Do you see the alternate reality setting as a nice way to combat criticisms of the locations in the episodes feeling a bit repetitive? DG: Only because we worked at it -- not because of anything inherent in its being an alternate reality. We put a lot of effort into developing a whole parallel art style, one which is simultaneously cohesive and not cohesive (and you'll probably just have to play it for that statement to make sense), so the alternate reality does feel quite different from the other environments. But if we hadn't done that, things could easily have fallen into a trap of more sameness rather than less. Thank goodness we're paying attention. WDS: Given the theme of mind control in the episodes so far, do you see this (Emotiv Systems) as the future of videogames? DG: Judging by the way things play out in the episodes so far, I would suspect the design team of thinking that our minds are targets for manipulation, rather than instruments of control. I can neither confirm nor deny this or my silicon masters will destroy me. WDS: What are your thoughts on killing off characters in the Sam & Max world? DG: I'm somewhat disinclined to extinguish characters that I like, but I have no specific qualms about doing so if the story calls for it. Steve already killed Max off in the comics and then brought him back to life again, so there's established precedent. Who knows? Maybe we did somebody in already and you just didn't notice. WDS: How ready are you for Season 1 to be done? DG: Working episodically, it's not quite the same as when you're making one giant game and everybody goes nuts the last six or 12 or 18 months and then collapses in a heap. There's more of a constant hum of subdued nuttiness. Still, we have been working on Sam & Max for about a year, and there are brochures for exotic island getaways sitting open on people's desks all over the office. Other WDS GUIDES: BATTLEFIELD
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