XBLA Tales of Monkey Island possible

By Robert Purchese Published 23 June, 2009

"I wouldn't rule it out," says director.

Telltale Games design director Dave Grossman has said Tales of Monkey Island may appear on Xbox Live Arcade after release on PC and WiiWare, which launch this summer.

"We didn't so much decide not to put it on Xbox Live Arcade as we decided not to put it on XBLA now," Grossman told Eurogamer in an interview published this morning. "Normally what we do is PC and one of the other platforms, and we've been bouncing back and forth between them.

"Yeah, I mean I wouldn't rule it out. We might do that one later on."

The first episode of Tales of Monkey Island, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, arrives for PC on 7th July. A WiiWare date is still TBC - a minor drawback of introducing a third party, explained Grossman.

And while PC, WiiWare and Xbox Live Arcade have been the target so far, Grossman said the real dream is to span every possible platform, including PS3.

"We just haven't gotten there yet," he said. "Ultimately, we would like to be on every downloadable channel there is. We think that's the perfect place for our stuff to be.

"It was just luck of the draw how the business relationships worked out and what chips were falling where. And we have to get our engine working on the platform, which is quite a bit of work, so we only want to do one at a time.

"We wound up doing Xbox," he added, "but maybe later we'll do PlayStation - we'll see."

As for Mac and Linux, Grossman told us Telltale will "get there", but it's a matter of "how and when and can we actually afford to do it".

"But I'd like to see that, too," he said.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • LazyDan #1 3 years ago

    Oooh what a bunch of cockteases

  • menage #2 3 years ago

    I thought that was already confirmed. Ah well.

  • Wayne #3 3 years ago

    Monkey Island games must be the most over rated series of games in video game history. An absolute bag of bore!!!

  • woodnotes #4 3 years ago

    @menage: Only the remake.

  • moggsy #5 3 years ago

    @ Wayne

    There's that word again, 'overrated'. You don't like it, that's fine, but that doesn't make it overrated.
    Edited by 1 at 23/06/09 @ 09:04

  • woodnotes #6 3 years ago

    @Wayne: It takes some intelligence to decipher the wit and unravel the puzzles.

  • kangarootoo #7 3 years ago

    I'm more interested in the remake at this stage. I tend to worry about brand new games based on old classics, almost on principle, even if the original artists are involved.

  • kangarootoo #8 3 years ago

    @Wayne

    At first I did you a -1, like no doubt everyone else will. But then I thought "hang on a minute, disagreeing with someone is not enough of an excuse".

    However, I objected not just to your opinion but also the way you phrased it (i.e. like a grumpy kid, with no actual constructive content).

    But I'm inclined to hear some more, so how about you say WHY you don't like Monkey Island. In proper grown up terms - "'cos its shit" doesn't count you see - neither does excessive use of !!!!. I'm all for discussion and differing opinions, but lets actually have something of substance to discuss.

    Begin :)

  • Rowlsten #9 3 years ago

    Really loving this genre is having a huge comeback, been enjoying Sam and Max again recently. Wonder if Simon the Sorcerer could manage a new game :D

  • Malek86 #10 3 years ago

    I too am more interested in the remake, but even more than that, I'd be interested in a remake of MI2. It took what MI1 did, and perfected it in every possible way. If they remade it with voices and remastered audio, how cool would that be?

  • kangarootoo #11 3 years ago

    @Malek86

    I reckon if the MI1 remake sells well, there will be a business case for doing the second one too. I agree, the second was was the stronger of the two all things considered. I really enjoyed the third installment as well though.

  • InsoFox #12 3 years ago

    It would be excellent, Malek, but much harder - it's a very big game compared to the first. A lot more assets to update. It also has one of the most, if not THE most complex MIDI score programming ever devised for a game, and it would be a difficult thing to translate into pre-recorded audio.

  • Malek86 #13 3 years ago

    Yeah, I guess it would be a lot more expensive. Still, if MI1 sells well, maybe Lucasarts will see it as viable.

    As for the music, well, they would probably need to cut the seamless transitions in order to use normal wave music, like in MI3. It would really be too bad though, those transitions, especially in Woodtick, made the game feel alive.

  • kangarootoo #14 3 years ago

    @InsoFox

    I know they went all posh with proper instruments for the MI1 remake, but there are some very high quality instrument banks available these days and I bet if they took the original MIDI score and re-mastered it, most gamers (including me) would barely know the difference. That said, said instrument banks aren't cheap either.

  • kangarootoo #15 3 years ago

    And Wayne is still all quiet. Ah well, never mind.

  • Bravestinsane #16 3 years ago

    Not really played it... my friend had it and i watched him play it aaagggesss ago, but it looked quite good and different, so when it comes out and i have MS points then i might buy it.

  • metallicorphan #17 3 years ago

    i have only played the PS2 monkey island game,and loved it...very much looking forward to the remake of the first game on XBLA

    i hope they bring out the whole series in order before they bring out 'Tales' as isnt Tales the newest addition to the series?

    i am really loving how XBLA has upped the game quality in the last few months

    and still i hope for a Grim Fandango Live Arcade title!!
    Edited by 1 at 23/06/09 @ 12:21

  • Moribundman #18 3 years ago

    @Wayne Is your surname Carr? Maybe not everyone's cup of tea (mainly I'd say ignorant, illiterate and impatient people would dislike the Monkey games in general) but they are still gaming milestones.

    @Metallicorphan Escape from Monkey Island was definitely the weakest of the lot, while still being a decent game. Hopefully you've got a treat in store with the MI1 Special Edition (if you can acclimatise to the original 2D game format).

    I've pre-ordered the season on PC and intend to buy for Xbox when they (inevitably?) release it there. Everyone needs to do their part and buy Sam & Max (to get TOMI released on Xbox) and the Special Edition (to get a special edition of the superior Monkey Island 2!)

  • metallicorphan #19 3 years ago

    @Moribundman

    wow the PS2 game was/is the weakest?..it looks like i definitely am in for a treat then

    i have the Sam and Max game for XBLA,i also got the other Telltales game Wallace and Gromit...all great stuff

  • kangarootoo #20 3 years ago

    Ooh, I'd forgotten about the S&M game on XBLM. I probably have enough points kicking about too.....

  • AceRadd #21 3 years ago

    Malek: MI3 did still have the iMuse music transitions systemy thing. Only example of it that comes to mind at the minute though is talking to the different pirates in the Barbershop.

  • InsoFox #22 3 years ago

    @AceRadd - yes, and at the end part. Doing that is quite easy, but there are lots of other tricks iMUSE does in MI2 which are just infinitely easier to pull off with midi. I think compromises would have to be made.