Telltale Games have been burning both ends of the wick recently: they just launched the first episode of Wallace and Gromit on XBLA, announced Tales of Monkey Island, and are about to release Sam & Max Save the World. The latest addition to their armory of Sam & Max games will hit Xbox Live Arcade on June 17th, which happens to be this Wednesday.

If you're a little confused, let's backtrack: Telltale released a series of episodic games called Sam & Max: Season One two years ago for PC and Wii. Earlier this year, they renamed the collection to Sam & Max Save the World, bundled all the episodes together, and decided to schlep them onto XBLA. Season Two, re-named Beyond Time and Space, is also on its way to XBLA. 

The XBLA version will put you back a hefty 1600 Microsoft Points (about $20), which averages to 300 Points (about $3.30) per episode. Not bad, I say, especially considering the HD graphics upgrade, widescreen support, and updated controls. If you missed the collection on PC and Wii, why not treat yourself? It's quite good.

On a semi-related note, I just realized that if you try to abbreviate Sam & Max, you get S&M. There's no way in hell Steve Purcell didn't do that on purpose.

Starting June 17, Sam & Max Save the World on Xbox LIVE^® Arcade

Acclaimed six-episode bundle includes high density graphic support, achievements, and foreign-language subtitles

SAN RAFAEL, CA, June 11, 2009 - Sweet swirling red rings of Saturn on a playdate with the junior varsity men's cheerleading squad, the Freelance Police are on Xbox 360®! Telltale Games is announcing that the dog and rabbity-thing crime-fighting team's episodic adventures will launch on Xbox LIVE® Arcade on June 17, 2009 with Sam & Max Save the World, a bundle of six award-winning comedy games.

Sam & Max Save the World, which was known as Sam & Max Season One for previous releases, has been enhanced for Xbox LIVE Arcade with achievements, widescreen and HD graphic support, and updates to the gameplay controls. The game is in English with subtitles in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. The Xbox LIVE Arcade download will sell for 1600 Microsoft points—less than 300 points per episode.

Sam & Max Save the World is a sitcom-style game with an overarching story that develops across its six episodes. The series kicks off close to home with a trio of former child stars who propagate self-help video tapes with hypnotic qualities throughout Sam and Max's neighborhood. Each subsequent episode takes the Freelance Police deeper into this mind control plot, from a casino run by unusually cuddly Mafioso to the White House and finally to a disturbingly blissful lunar retreat, where Sam and Max must face down the mastermind behind it all. The Save the World episodes have won a variety of awards, including a "Funniest Game" nod from GameSpot, plus "Editor's Choice" and "Adventure Game of the Year" accolades from publications including IGN, PC Gamer, and GameSpy.

The June 17 release comes less than a month after Telltale's Xbox LIVE Arcade debut with Fright of the Bumblebees, the first of four Wallace & Gromit episodes. The remaining Wallace & Gromit games and Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, the second season of Freelance Police adventures, will be appearing on the channel in the coming months.

Sam and Max got their start in comics in 1987, courtesy of cartoonist Steve Purcell. They have appeared in several formats over the years, including a graphic adventure game, Sam & Max Hit the Road, in 1993; an award-winning animated series in 1998; and an online web comic in 2006, for which Purcell was awarded an Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic. The 20th Anniversary Edition of the Surfin' the Highway comic anthology has been nominated for a 2009 Eisner Award.

About Sam & Max
Sam is a six-foot dog in a baggy suit sporting a trombone-sized .44 hand-cannon. Max is a three foot "rabbity thing" with a saw blade grin and the impulsive nature of the average piranha. Together they patrol the sticky streets of a fantastical New York City, righting wrongs, pummeling perps, and ridding the urban landscape of the shifty legions of "self-propelled gutter trash" that litter their streets. Sam & Max have appeared in comics, video games, an animated TV series recently reissued on DVD, and an Eisner award-winning webcomic.

About Telltale, Inc.
Telltale is the first and only company to release interactive episodic content on a monthly schedule. Their landmark Sam & Max series, based on the independent comics by Steve Purcell, paved the way for episodic gaming with two award-winning seasons on PC, Wii, and Xbox LIVE® Arcade. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, based on the Homestarrunner.com web cartoons, soon followed as the first episodic series for WiiWare™. Telltale's latest series, Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, is now releasing monthly on PC, as well as on Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Telltale's other games include two installments in Ubisoft's CSI series, based on the most popular television franchise in the United States, and two games based on the best-selling Bone comics by Jeff Smith. Telltale's games have won numerous awards, including Adventure Game of the Year accolades from publications such as IGN, PC Gamer, GameSpy, and Adventure Gamers, and have been recognized by mainstream outlets ranging from The New York Times to Variety to Playboy. USA Today ranked Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures among five downloadable games to watch for in 2009.

Telltale currently develops and publishes episodic series on PC, Wii, and Xbox 360, with plans to expand to additional platforms and channels in the coming year. For more information, visit http://www.telltalegames.com.