Fable II: Game Episodes is the full version of Fable II split up into five easy pieces, with all of the achievements, co-operative gameplay, and hero-creating joy of the retail release. Xbox 360 owners can download the first episode today for free, taking their hero from childhood to young adulthood in the first volume, and then additional volumes are available at the player's leisure. It's the Time-Life Books of gaming.

Additionally, players who purchase the disc edition after downloading the free episode will carry over all of their statistics, experience, and items relatively seamlessly.

If you've yet to experience Fable II for yourself, you have no excuse anymore.

With Telltale trying to juggle putting out new games with porting their existing technology to the PlayStation3, PS3 owners are feeling a bit neglected when it comes to the episodic adventure genre. Buzz! developer Relentless Software is looking to change that, with Blue Toad Murder Files, a murder mystery series they are self-publishing on the PlayStation Network later this year. Executive director David Amor comments:

"We're really excited to be self publishing this. The murder mystery genre has been a staple in TV, books and movies for years and we think we've come up with a great videogame interpretation."

Not much to see right now, but interested parties can register at the game's official site to receive updates as soon as updates are available. In the meantime, do not fret, adventure gaming PS3 owners. Relief is in sight.

This is the first few minutes of the first installment of Tales of Monkey Island, due out next week on the PC and Nintendo Wii. As you can see, they've done a fine job of capturing the spirit of the series, particularly in the dialog of Mr. Guybrush Threepwood, whose calm in the face of incredible danger verges on stupidity. Yeah, we'll go with that.

Telltale's latest episodic adventure title, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, is also a grad adventure for the developer, marking their first foray onto Xbox Live Arcade. Primarily developing titles for the PC, Telltale first made the leap to consoles with their last game series, Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People, which was also released on the Nintendo Wii.

"Our episodic series focus on story, character, humor, and cinematic presentation—very much like a television or film production. This all makes for a great living room experience through the gaming console," says Telltale CEO Dan Connors. "We're looking forward to expanding our catalog onto Xbox LIVE Arcade."

In honor of the announcement Telltale has delivered new screenshots of the upcoming dog and inventor show for your viewing pleasure.

At this point, Strong Bad and his Cool Game For Attractive People will have split the room already. You either 'get' the gruff-voiced lucha libre fella and his antics or you don't.

For those in the former camp, this trailer will tantalise and intrigue with its subtitle "8-Bit Is Enough" and chiptunish musical sting promising 8-bit era parodies and retro goodness.

For everyone else.. well, there can't be that many of these left. Go play something else.

This teaser for Identifiction's new episodic sci-fi game AO Sphere might not quite be the "PS3 quality" that Marketing Manager Salima Bessaraoui told us about last month, but its isn't too shabby - especially considering that this is all done in Flash.

It is hard to get much of an idea of how this will play from what is on offer but if the way the animated characters move in and out of the nicely rendered backdrops remind me of anything it is Lucasarts point 'n' click adventures like Fate of Atlantis or Full Throttle. Not bad company to keep, in my book.

Beta sign-ups are still open - check out the link above for details.

"We know it’s risky for us, and the safe move would have been to cram out a retail game alongside the film release," Senior VP Samantha Ryan told MCV, "but we didn’t feel that was the right decision.”

Surely the risk with Watchmen isn't the length of the game, the media it arrives in or how closely it aligns with the film's release.. it is the fact that Watchmen is such a beloved comic that fans are convinced it is going to stink up the place before seeing even a few pixels and will hunt you down, vigilante style if it is worse than they fear?

Warner: 'Watchmen release is industry first' [MCV]

"We're certainly going for the clay look with this," Telltale Games CEO Dan Connors told The Associated Press. "Clay presents a challenge if you really get into the detail of it. For example, adding fingerprints in a medium where there aren't any is one of the discussions of how far we should go with the game's detail."

Wallace & Gromit have appeared in their own standalone games in the past, but Connors explains that the episodic nature of the upcoming game will capture the feel of a W&G short far better than a platformer starring the characters ever could, sentiments Strong Bad creators Mike and Matt Chapman echoed regarding their upcoming Telltale game series.

'Wallace & Gromit' to become episodic video game [Yahoo! News]

The Season Two Collector's DVD comes with all five PC games from the series, plus "hours" of region-free video with special features, developer commentary, a Christmas video short feature, promo trailers, concept art, desktop wallpapers and a MP3 soundtrack sampler.

Additionally, if you already bought the Sam & Max Season Two downloadable set, Telltalle will give you the Collector's DVD for shipping and handling costs only. It's $34.95 for the rest of ya, and should ship in August, the company says.

Full announcement follows the jump.

Telltale announces Sam & Max Season Two Collector's DVD

Special package featuring five complete games, hours of video bonuses, and original cover art by Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell available for order now at www.telltalegames.com

SAN RAFAEL, CA, July 23, 2008 – Interactive entertainment pioneer Telltale, Inc. is announcing that the Collector's DVD for the acclaimed game series Sam & Max Season Two is available for ordering today. Telltale has given the second season of "gaming's first sitcom" the premium boxed-set treatment that has become common for television favorites, with behind-the-scenes extras and loads of special features. Telltale is also introducing new merchandise today to celebrate the release, including a signed commemorative print, a 2-CD Season Two soundtrack, and several special bundle offers.

Sam & Max Season Two has garnered critical acclaim from numerous sources, including two Editor's Choice awards from PC Gamer and positive reviews from mainstream press ranging from the New York Times to Playboy. The series is based on comic book characters created by Eisner award-winning cartoonist Steve Purcell, who has been publishing stories starring the offbeat dog and "rabbity-thing" crime-fighting duo for over twenty years. Purcell contributed an original painting inspired by the games' events to serve as the cover for this unique DVD release.

In addition to all five games from the award-winning episodic series, which play on a PC with a DVD-ROM drive, the Season Two Collector's DVD contains hours of region-free video viewable on a PC or in any standard DVD player. Special features on the disc include game footage reels with audio commentary from the development team, the 20-minute holiday video feature "Sam & Max Nearly Save Christmas," outtakes and promotional trailers, concept art, desktop wallpapers, and an MP3 soundtrack sampler. Samples of the video content can be viewed at http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax.

Customers who already bought the downloadable Sam & Max Season Two set from Telltale can get the Collector's DVD for just the cost of shipping and handling. For new customers, the Season Two Collector's DVD sells for $34.95 and comes with free downloadable copies of the games. The DVD is expected to start shipping in August. More details are available here: http://www.telltalegames.com/store/samandmax-season2-disc

To celebrate the arrival of the Season Two DVD, Telltale's store has been stocked with new Sam & Max merchandise and great value bundles. The following new items are now available for preorder:

* The complete Sam & Max Season Two soundtrack, a 2-CD set featuring nearly three hours of jazz music from the games and another Steve Purcell original on the cover, retailing for $19.99
* A limited edition case file stuffed with "evidence" from each Season Two episode, priced at $5.99
* A poster print based on the Season Two DVD cover art, available unsigned for $14.99 or signed for $19.99

Additional Sam & Max merchandise currently in Telltale's store includes the 20th Anniversary Edition of Purcell's complete comic collection, Sam & Max Surfin' the Highway, available in paperback and limited edition hardcover versions, and the Sam & Max Freelance Police animated series 3-DVD box set. All of these items and more can be found in Telltale's online store (http://www.telltalegames.com/store).

Thursday night, between having my balls handed to me at the SCEA Blogger Congress and hanging at the Gamecock party, I stopped by a private little affair hosted by Nintendo.

Held in Machiavelli Room of a nearby restaurant, about a dozen journalists mingled with Nintendo folk, including Beth Llewelyn and Reggie Fils-Aime, and played Wii Sports.

I ended up having my ass handed to me in Bowling by a Game Daily guy, but knew better than to take on Reggie, who was creaming everyone.

About a half hour after I arrived I looked over at spotted David Jaffe, of God of War fame, standing near a Wii chatting with some folks.

I was a little surprised to see him at a Nintendo party, but he said he's a big fan of Nintendo and had the time to swing by. That's the thing about GDC, it's so much more about bigger concepts than party lines.

We had a chance to speak for a bit about the whole Sony/Kotaku thing and while I think he appreciated what happened we ended up getting onto one of the central questions people seem to ask about it: Why did I risk the relationship for the seemingly minor story?

It's a fair question, but one that could only be asked in retrospect. At the time when McWhertor was writing the story the real question wasn't about choosing between my relationship with Sony and running McWhertor's story. It was a question about ethics and integrity.

My choice was to either be told how to do my job by a PR company or to do what I'm paid to do and report the news.

Jaffe, MTV's Stephen Totilo and I also got onto the topic of episodic content. To be fair, Totilo and Jaffe were having a smart conversation about the topic when I sort of interrupted and interjected my ideas. Totilo is on this bent, a pretty smart one, about the consumption of video games and how people aren't as versed in the wide variety of games because they are so time consuming and long.

He thinks, I believe, that it would help if there were more short, smart games out there. While I agree, I'm also a bit afraid of the repercussions. In an ideal world episodic content is a fantastic idea. But once you through the market and publishers into the formula, I could see their successes degregating the traditional, long-form of game development that we enjoy now.

There are plenty of games out there that wouldn't suffer. I think that most games people play, are played to be beaten, not so much experienced. But with some games, it is the experience of playing that is fun. God of War II happens to be a prime example. I'm thoroughly enjoying everyone moment of that game and almost don't want to beat it. I'm not as interested in the destination as the journey and I fear that could become a thing of the past if, no when episodic content takes off. Brian Crecente

Sam and Max titles have had a rough time making it to market lately. Here's to hoping!

Sam and Max [Telltale Games]