To this day, it baffles us that LucasArts still hasn't re-released its library of adventure titles, if only so our non-gaming friends can believe us when we tell them the developer "doesn't just make Star Wars games." Speaking to Eurogamer, Fracture assistant producer Jeffrey Gullett said it's something they've looked into it but that there's an issue of size limitations for a DS version.

Said Gullet, "The cart size of the DS makes it impossible to put out ports of any of our old graphic adventures ... There's literally not enough room on those carts to put the games out." The standard DS cart supports up to 256MB (but with slower data transfer speeds), while the DS version of ScummVM is just over 7MB. We're not sure if Gullet meant the entire LucasArts adventure library wouldn't fit on a cart, but we're willing to bet you could at least get the first three Monkey Islands under 128MB.

Holy sandpaper grinding against the rough side of cactus on the fourth Friday of the month! In an interview with The BBPS, Telltale's Emily Morganti confirms that Season 3 of Sam & Max isn't due out until 2009. The previous two seasons were released 387 days apart, so it comes as a bummer to all of us who had already marked our calendars (with a permanent marker, no less!) for Sunday, November 31, 2008.

Morganti also said that the company is interested in bringing Sam & Max to the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 in addition to the already-announced Wii-lease. "Our tools currently allow us to develop for PC, Xbox 360, and Wii," she said, later adding, "We're interested in PlayStation, also... we want our games to be everywhere!" Morganti also answered a question about Sam & Max's chances of coming to the Mac ... but the answer is just too painful for us to write about.

[Via X3F]

"Holy rollerblading geriatrics on a steeply inclined lido deck, Max! The deadline for our Season 2 giveaway is set to pounce tomorrow at 5PM EST!"

"Dead lion, Sam? I thought we adopted a strictly enforced ban on ferocious, undead felines in the office."

"You crack me up, little buddy. Who did you name as your favorite adventure game character in the giveaway post, anyway? Was it ... me?"

"None of your damn business, Sam."

• Ice Land 2 (Windows) - Mortimer the penguin must collect floating fish while not falling in the water because apparently penguins -- or, at least this one -- can't swim.
  
• Uru: Ages Beyond Myst (Windows) - Bend and twist the mind in this return to Myst.
  
• Tank Battalion (Arcade) - And somewhere in this blogger's mind he recalls playing this game at a dingy bar in Dorchester, Mass. during the early '80s while his uncle played pool... darn flashbacks.
  
• Sam & Max Season Two Episode 5: What's New, Beelzebub? (Windows) - It's time to go to Hell LLC in the last episode of the season. (Psst, cheapskates, we're also giving away some copies of the whole season too)
  

After the break we've posted GameTap's list of free games, which adds Fastlane Pinball and King of Monsters 2 into the mix of 117 free titles.

Wouldn't it be terribly sad if you missed the opportunity to play Sam & Max: Season 2 for free? As far as deeply depressing events go, we'd say it's on par with a plane full of puppies crashing into an orphanage. Only you can prevent it by naming your favorite adventure game character on our giveaway post! No, not here, there. On the giveaway post. You have until 5:00PM EST on Friday, April 11th!

Update: Entries are closed. We'll be alerting the winners via e-mail soon, so please keep an eye on your inbox!

In celebration of this Friday's release (Thursday if you're on GameTap) of the Sam & Max Season 2 finale, "What's New, Beelzebub?" Joystiq and Telltale Games are giving away three full Season 2 bundles (valued at $34.95 each). If you've yet to point and click your way through the highly untrained duo's second stab at episodic adventure, you can start right here and right now. These rules are all self-explanatory, so be sure to carefully explain them to yourself:

• To enter this giveaway, leave a comment naming adventure gaming's best character (any game).
  
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec).
  
• Limit 1 entry per person per day. If you enter this giveaway more than once each calendar day you'll be locked up in a circus cage alongside the amazing giraffe-necked girl.
  
• This entry period ends at 5:00pm EST on Friday, April 11th. We'll randomly select 3 winners at that time (please check your email!).
  
• For a list of complete rules that you can blow away with a very large Luger, click here.

GameTap brings an all new episode of Sam & Max this week to give gamers their adventure genre fix. In the latest episode, Chariot of the Dogs, the dog detective and his rabbity-thing compadre search for the missing Bosko. Don't know who Bosco is? Then you're obviously not playing these games! Shameful!

• Sam & Max Season 2: Episode 4 Chariot of the Dogs (Windows) - Help find Bosco!
  
• Iron Warriors (Windows) - A game where you play as a tank commander in the former Yugoslavia during the Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian War. Seriously, that's what it's about.

After the break we've posted GameTap's list of free games. New additions this week are Fatal Fury and Vulgus. There's also very little time left to check out Myst Online: Uru Live before it disperses into the void of the intertubes.

We did a terrible thing at last week's Game Developer's Conference. Aside from our usual barrage of photographs and "reporting," a select group of attendees had to endure a particularly inane and utterly pointless line of questioning -- just for laughs. This is what happens when you hunt down several adventure game connoisseurs and challenge them to solve a typically obnoxious adventure game puzzle.

The Player
Recent Telltale Games addition Mike Stemmle, co-designer of Sam & Max Hit the Road and Escape from Monkey Island, and designer on the ill-fated Sam & Max Freelance Police. He also worked on Afterlife, but he doesn't think you remember it.

The Puzzle
You're standing in front of a cave. The goal is to get inside the cave, taking care to foil the ferocious robot bear guarding the entrance first.

The Inventory

• (1) perforated parasol
• (1) rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle
• (1) sealed manila envelope
• (1) miniature macaroni Tim Schafer statue

Peek hard at Mike Stemmle's Star Trek strategy after the break.

We did a terrible thing at last week's Game Developer's Conference. Aside from our usual barrage of photographs and "reporting," a select group of attendees had to endure a particularly inane and utterly pointless line of questioning -- just for laughs. This is what happens when you hunt down several adventure game connoisseurs and challenge them to solve a typically obnoxious adventure game puzzle.

The Player
Steve Purcell, illustrator and writer best known as the creator of Sam & Max. We're surprised he even talked to us after last year's drunken debacle.

The Puzzle
You're standing in front of a cave. The goal is to get inside the cave, taking care to foil the ferocious robot bear guarding the entrance first.

The Inventory

• (1) perforated parasol
• (1) rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle
• (1) sealed manila envelope
• (1) miniature macaroni Tim Schafer statue

Find Steve Purcell's solution to the "meta-puzzle" after the break.

Telltale Games has bolstered its collection of adventure veterans with Mike Stemmle, a man you may remember as the co-designer of Sam & Max Hit the Road, Escape from Monkey Island and the lead designer of the thoroughly canned Sam & Max Freelance Police. What you're less likely to remember (by the designer's own admission) is his game Afterlife, a title which has been unable to enjoy the complete resurrection bestowed upon everybody's favorite dodgy doggy detective and hyper-kinetic rabbity thing.

"Mere words are proving woefully inadequate to describe my delight at hooking up with this fiendishly dedicated crew," said Stemmle. "The excitement and talent swirling around Telltale remind me of the geysers of iagination that erupted across the gaming industry in the early 90's. Only this time, with rational production schedules."

Also joining the Telltale Team is award-winning artist and designer Justin Chin, whose credits include the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight series and more recently, The Simpsons Game. Chin will be serving Telltale as an executive producer, alongside newly acquired hired Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike and Lair veteran, Brett Tosti. Both are expected to contribute to Telltale's output and its "growth in multiplatform development."

Sam and Max have altered the space-time continuum and moved the GameTap Thursday update ahead by a couple of days this week. The dog detective and his insanely platonic life partner start their latest adventure, Night of the Raving Dead, today on GameTap and tomorrow on Telltale Games' website.

• Sam & Max Season Two: Episode 3 Night of the Raving Dead (Windows) - If you have any moderate love for the adventure genre and still haven't played Sam & Max ... well, we're just going to hope you've been off the grid for a couple years.
• Gondomania (Arcade) - A top-down vertical shooter from the late '80s where the protagonist rides a hover-bike and destroys everything in his path. Good times.
  

After the break you'll find GameTap's list of free games for perusal. Aside from a few new additions this week (bolded), Myst Online: Uru Live still warrants a spin before it dies in 52 days.

The dog detective and his rabbity-thing companion are back for "Moai" adventure in Sam & Max: Moai Better Blues. This time they hop over to Easter Island for some R&R, only to discover things are about to get explosive with a volcano eruption. That's the fine wine GameTap is serving up this week -- the service's other offering is a bit more vinegar.

• Sam & Max Season Two Episode 2 Moai Better Blues (Windows) - The second episode in the second season of Sam & Max's second coming.
  
• Jewelcraft (Windows) - You can find better color matching games on GameTap here, here, here, here and here.

After the break we have GameTap's list of free games, including this week's addition, Black Tiger. Still haven't played any Sam & Max yet? Be sure to check out Episode 4 Abe Lincoln Must Die! in the free section to get your paws wet with punny humor.

The gang over at GameTap (how did they ever manage to get this exclusive?) have a new preview on the second episode of Sam & Max Season Two, entitled Moai Better Blues. What's important to know is that the changes seen in the first episode Ice Station Santa are here to stay - for those who didn't play it, that means more organic, less illogical puzzles and "slightly racier themes, references and language."

This season will feature more of a cohesive, multi-episode story arc, according to Telltale Games' Emily Morganti. "Our goal is present a game that tells a story more like a TV show, like Lost, where those who pay attention to the whole series will be rewarded," she said. Moai Better Blues is coming to GameTap next Thursday, January 10; new gameplay footage for the episode (here's the old one) after the break.

Time for some definitions:

• Lagomorphic: "Any of various plant-eating mammals having fully furred feet and two pairs of upper incisors and belonging to the order Lagomorpha, which includes the rabbits, hares, and pikas."
• Mo' Better Blues: A 1990 Spike Lee drama that follows the life of a jazz trumpet virtuoso played by Denzel Washington.
• w00t: Merriam-Webster word of the year. No, really.
  

Did you really need a proper description of a trailer for the next episode of Sam & Max: Season Two, humbly entitled Moai Better Blues? All you need to know is that it's Sam & Max and embedded after the break. Enjoy.

Sam & Max: Season One was one of the first real success stories of digital distribution, where folks could download episodes of the game from month to month, and then after everything had been released, pick up a DVD copy of all the episodes with some extra content. Season Two launches on November 8th (tomorrow, kids!), putting Sam & Max right back into the fray.

We sat down with Telltale Games founder and CEO Dan Connors during E For All to talk about all things Sam & Max, Bone, and what's coming up for the young studio. We started off by waxing poetic about E for All or E3 possibly moving to Vegas, so we could have done this over drinks and then hit the tables. We'd like to think Sam & Max would have been proud.