Our money was indeed on a full release of the episodic Sam And Max season one for the Wii, and now all we have to do is sit back and wait for our winnings to pour in, as Telltale tells GameSpot official tales of just such a release. Both European and North American Wii consoles will be graced with the first season of the dog and bunny-thing show this fall, with Dreamcatcher and The Adventure Company handing U.S. publishing and JoWood handling Europe's version, which comes complete with German and French voiceovers plus Italian and Spanish subtitles. I almost want to import the Euro version, just to hear Max threatening people in the language of romance, or perhaps French.

Sam and Max report for Wii duty [GameSpot - Thanks Dathcha!]

Zero Punctuation On Zack & Wiki

I bought Zack & Wiki on day one, triumphantly presenting my wife with the game that would both explain some of my history as a gamer (PC adventure junkie) and placate her need for an interactive experience without headshots or corpse humping—all while providing us a worthwhile, couple-building challenge. She got about ten minutes into it before deciding to hate the game forever. Yahtzee likes Zack & Wiki a bit more than she did.

Zero Punctuation: Zack & Wiki [The Escapist]

More On Machinarium

First announced back on Halloween of last year with a whimsical greetings card, German developer Daedalic Entertainment is finally ready to show us exactly what their upcoming point-and-click PC adventure game The Whispered World is made of. The game follows the young clown Sadwick, searching for meaning in his life with his pet worm Spot. the story promises to mesh fairy-tale whimsy with melancholic undertones to create an epic fantasy story, and nothing says epic fantasy adventure like gorgeous, hand-painted backgrounds. The only problem I have with the screenshots so far? There are only three of them. More please.

Sam And Max Back In Print

Telltale games is now taking preorders for the reprint edition of Sam and Max Surfin' the Highway, the 1995 paperback collection of Steve Purcell's comics that - alongside the 1993 LucasArts adventure - launched a failed cartoon and eventually led to the episodic adventures we know and love today. The book contains all of the original material plus 25 pages of extra content, including promotional material for the upcoming DVD release of the animated series! The book comes in two flavors: a $19.99 paperback shipping at the end of this month and a $49.99 limited-edition hardback signed and dated by Steve Purcell due out in the Spring. Order before the 29th of this month and you'll get a code good for a free copy of Sam & Max: Ice Station Santa, the first episode of Season 2 of Telltale's adventure series. Having an extremely dog-eared copy of the original in a place of honor on my bookshelf, I cannot recommend Surfin' the Highway enough. Go buy now.

Sam & Max Surfin' the Highway Preorder Page [The Telltale Store]

Al Lowe Says Google Hurts Adventure Games

For those who grew up in the early days of PC adventure gaming, Al Lowe needs no introduction. To those whom need such an introduction, Crecente is coming by your house later to use his feared hair whip fatality. Anyway, here's what the point and click adventure god had to say about developing adventure games in the modern gaming world:

No, not futile, but not mainstream either.

Ron Gilbert Joins Hothead For DeathSpank

Speaking from his secret game design cave, Ron Gilbert said, "I've spent over four years trying to find the right publisher for this strange little game. Now that I've done it, you just know that somewhere four horsemen are saddling up."

Adventure Games Get Very Own Digital Portal

Over at his GamesLOL site, blogger and designer Marek Bronstring has been remarking that not only is the adventure game not dead, but there's a new digital store which is _just_ for PC adventure games:

"Just wanted to quickly point out that AdventureGamers.com now runs a partnership with Lezard Electronic to offer digital downloads of many popular adventure games. It’s called Adventure Shop and it launched with a catalog of 23 titles. New games will be added regularly going forward... It already has some titles that are hard to find elsewhere. Sherlock Holmes vs. Arsène Lupin won’t be in stores until sometime in 2008, but it can already be downloaded from the Adventure Shop."

Holmes vs. Lupin? Forget about Sonic Vs. Mario, this is the matchup to watch for this holiday season.

Digital downloads of adventure games [GamesLOL]

When thinking of something development-related (and interesting!) I could post as guest editor this week, I decided connecting to notable game developers - and getting them to spill the beans about what games inspired them growing up - would be a neat thing to do.

So, the first of these micro-Q&As chats to Brian Reynolds, CEO of Big Huge Games, and co-creator of classic strategy games including Civilization II and Alpha Centauri (while at Microprose), Rise Of Nations - and even the Xbox Live Arcade version of Catan. What classic title made him the designer he is today? You can find out after the jump...

"The Whispered World is a project carried by a strong creative vision. The story about courage, sacrifice and the search for yourself is expressed with the help of unique visuals. We look forward to revealing more of the game's fantastic world in the coming months", added Creative Director Jan Mueller-Michaelis.

Darkness Within - 'Things Man Was Not Meant To Click At'

Buka Unleashes The Swarm

Becoming Nancy Drew

Gallery: A Vampyre Story

Sherlock Holmes Versus Cthulhu

Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened combines the eerie mysticism of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos with the mystery-solving powers of the great fictional detective - Sherlock Holmes.