Adventure Gamers is proud to announce the launch of a brand new site feature, the Adventure Gamers Store. We have partnered with Telltale Games to sell Telltale Texas Hold ‘Em, their first game release ever! Fear not, though. Although Texas Hold ‘Em is a casual game, that is not the primary purpose of this store. Eventually, we hope to be able to offer access to a variety of electronically distributed adventure titles, from Telltale and others. In the meantime, go ahead and enjoy Texas Hold ‘Em.

As a special bonus, we have a mini-interview with Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale Games. For some background, you may also want to read our profile of Telltale Games from last October.

MB: How would you describe Telltale Texas Hold 'Em?

DC: Telltale Texas Hold Em is a hilarious Poker Game that focuses on the personalities of your spirited opponents. The four characters involved, Harry Weinhead, Boris Krinkle, Ted “Theodore” Dudebrough and Grandma Shakey are all very alive and responsive to the game as it is being played. Our goal was to make the player feel like they are sitting around a table playing cards with these characters.

MB: Why are you launching with a non-adventure, when it seems your goal is to develop adventure games?

DC: Telltale Games is about great characters and stories; Telltale Texas Hold Em is about characters. The reason this is the first product released by Telltale Games is because it is much more straightforward then launching a full adventure game based on a license. All the work we are doing on characters now will definitely benefit the quality of our adventure games.


MB: Is the Telltale Texas Hold 'Em engine the same one that will power your adventure games?

DC: The Telltale Engine and Toolset will be used to build all of our products. It is focused on elements required for 3d storytelling and character presentation. The reason why we chose Texas Hold Em as a game mechanic is that poker is all about nuances in the players. Everything we have done with the engine for Telltale Texas Hold Em will be iterated on in our future games.

MB: Texas Hold 'Em seems like your test case for digital distribution. Do you have additional plans to promote and distribute it outside the adventure community?

DC: Yes, part of our theory is that there are a lot of people who would enjoy a good interactive story but they don’t yet understand the language of games. This game is very easy to play (point and click) and offers a very entertaining experience. While there are many poker games available the character presentation is very unique and very adventure game like. When we designed the characters and dialog for this game we did it with an adventure game sensibility but with the desire to appeal to a mass demographic.

MB: Do you plan to extend your product line with more Texas Hold 'Em style games or expansions?

DC: When we create characters we want them to have the type of depth that makes them fun to interact with in all kinds of different ways. So I think character based games are something we will always be experimenting with. That being said, right now the focus of our business is on launching our first adventure game.

MB: When can we expect an announcement of your much-speculated about "exciting license"?

DC: Very soon.