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He's huge, he's covered in foliage -- he's Majin, and in this latest trailer for Maijn and the Forsaken Kingdom, we get to see him and his friend some guy fighting the evil forces that have made the kingdom so forsaken. Majin may be cuddly, but he won't hesitate to straight up drop a wall on some monsters. He will emit lightning, should the situation require it. In addition, we see that even without his BFF Majin around, the kid can do some platforming and acrobatic fighting on his own.

Majin is currently scheduled to arrive on PS3 and Xbox 360 this summer.

You wouldn't expect to find "We've tightened up the graphics on Episode Three" among the usual list of noted improvements between Telltale's episodic releases. After all, with endearing, demented characters like Sam and Max taking up quite a bit of the screen, who cares how many polygons are left for that potted plant in the corner?

"We wanted to bump everything up presentation-wise for this season," said designer Chuck Jordan, drawing attention to the Telltale engine's impressive -- nay, tight -- visual enhancements. The Penal Zone, the first of five monthly episodes comprising Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, features noticeably improved lighting, real-time shadows and more expressive facial animation. As Jordan pointed out, "an expression can sell a joke for the first time."

Based on the demo I saw at the Game Developers Conference, it's also apparent that the improved graphics do make a difference to that potted plant. Because you transform into one. "When you finally get to control Max," Jordan said, "it's really weird." Like, really really weird.

Sam and Max will bring their off-kilter humor to PlayStation 3 for the first time in The Devil's Playhouse: The Penal Zone, the first episode in a new season of Telltale's episodic adventure series. In a first for the PlayStation Store, the full season -- consisting of five monthly episodes -- will become available for pre-order on March 18, nearly a month before The Penal Zone launches on April 15.

While PC and Mac owners will receive substantial benefits for pre-ordering the full season, including a free game episode, access to developer chats and extra downloadable goodies, Telltale noted that it also has a deal in store (you know, actually in the store) for console players. According to Telltale PR manager Chris Schmidt, pre-ordering the full pack will reduce the cost to $29.99, a minor but not unwelcome discount from the regular price of $34.95.

Speaking to Joystiq at a meeting during the Game Developers Conference on Friday, Schmidt also addressed the obvious question: Will this season of Sam & Max come to Xbox 360 or Wii? He called it a "definite possibility" a few months down the line, and noted that it's in Telltale's best interest to work with more partners and deliver its games to as wide an audience as possible. Designer Chuck Jordan jokingly added that Telltale would ultimately like "to get the games on everything that has a chip in it."

Forget the 360 -- what could be better than getting Sam & Max in a tube of Pringles?

Capcom has announced the Japanese release date for Ace Attorney creator Shu Takumi's supernatural puzzle adventure game, Ghost Trick. Japan will be able to put Sissel's spirit into a bicycle on June 24. Capcom has yet to offer a date for North American or European releases beyond simply 2010, but if the game is in a complete state by June, that bodes well for localization sometime in the fall.

However, if you can't wait that long, and you don't mind clicking through a bunch of Japanese text, you can play the TGS demo right now! Capcom posted a flash demo to the Ghost Trick site.

[Via Andriasang]

You may not remember this, but in the days before Magna Cum Laude, Leisure Suit Larry games were adventure games. And funny. Series creator Al Lowe has revealed what would have been the plot for Leisure Suit Larry 8: Lust in Space, had upheaval at Sierra not prevented it from ever happening.

Essentially, Larry is captured by "amazonian warrior women" from a distant planet. They brainwash the perennially behind-the-times loser into believing he's in a disco paradise. Then, they plan to use Larry to father a race of alien-human hybrids to take over the earth. "When he finally woke up, he realized: he had to figure out what was going on, find a way to stop the invasion and literally save the planet!"

So why didn't this happen? Sierra tried to hire Lowe to design the game with only a promise that a contract would come later. Considering that the last thing we heard about Al Lowe was that his Sam Suede was being worked on again (without him), and without his knowledge, we believe he was right to be suspicious.

[Via Big Download]

If you like your adventure games to be rife with mature content, gore and unimaginably insane plot twists, you might just want to check out GOG.com's latest downloadable offering: Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh. This sequel to Roberta Williams' adventure-thriller (which is also available on GOG) will only cost you $5.99. And for just six bucks, you'll be getting a whole bunch of crazy.

The game follows the exploits of pharmaceutical engineer Curtis Craig, a former psychopath who begins to suffer vivid hallucinations while seemingly being framed for murder. During these hardships, Craig also begins to explore his own sexual preferences, leading to a multitude of on-screen sadomasochistic encounters. Also, zombies.

With Guybrush Threepwood fans taken care of, Telltale's adventure game-lovin' enthusiasts have voted Sam & Max as the next title to get Mac-ified. The Telltale blog confirmed the choice yesterday, saying that the other two titles up for porting (Wallace & Gromit and Strong Bad) will be playable on OS X "within the course of this year." Alongside the announcement (which didn't include a release date), the site posted a handful of "propaganda" created by voters to sway others to their side. We've posted one of our faves above, but we suggest checking out the whole lot.

Namco Bandai has announced that it's localizing Majin: The Fallen Realm, Game Republic's action-adventure about a boy and his giant, adorable monster pal. The game, now called Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, is expected to release in North America on both PS3 and Xbox 360 this summer.

According to the publisher's press release, Majin stars a "cunning young outsider" who explores a kingdom that was mysteriously overwhelmed by a "dark force" one hundred years prior. During his travels, he meets Majin, a super-strong monster, and the two explore the kingdom together. Gameplay-wise, the player works with the AI-controlled Majin, who acquires new abilities throughout the game, as they solve puzzles, fight enemies, and navigate ruins together. Namco Bandai calls it an "emotional journey of courage and respect."

There are plenty of adventure games on DS about solving crimes -- but none of them star the world's greatest detective. Sherlock Holmes, that is. There are already plenty of Batman games. But developer Frogwares and publisher Focus Home Interactive are taking care of the deficiency of Holmes games, with a new original story starring the detective (from an established adventure game series).

In Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Osborne House, Holmes and Dr. Watson are tasked by the British Royal Family with recovering the Queen's stolen genealogical records. To find out who stole the records (seriously? That's the case? It's not an impossible prison escape or seemingly supernatural murder or something?) "you will have to use your senses of logic and observation through dozens of riddles, puzzles and brain teasers of all sorts." No date has been announced by Focus, and we deduce from the company's status as a European publisher that there is no information about a North American release yet.

Gallery: Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Osborne House (DS)

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Although it commanded a large presence at E3, Sony has been otherwise quiet about God of War III. With the game's release only weeks away, Sony has opened the floodgates, revealing new footage, highlighting new levels, and most importantly, advertising the game on TV. The European markets are treated to an ad which simply states "Revenge Starts Here." The ad doesn't need a gimmick: it simply relies on real-time footage of the game.

Check it out after the break.

[Via TheSixthAxis]

Here's some refreshing news: Tecmo announced the release date for a handheld game whose existence isn't totally humiliating: the supernatural murder mystery Again for DS. The publisher gave a specific day to its former March release date: March 30.

In addition to the date, Tecmo provided some more evidence of Again's gameplay in the form of a trailer. Fans of Rorschach tests, full-motion video and, particularly, totally intense headache pantomime would do well to have a look. Seriously, this trailer contains the most intense fake headache we've seen in the game.

Quantic Dream's serial-killer-suspense-meets-family-drama adventure title, Heavy Rain, received the official Joystiq Seal of Approval™, but how did our peers in the world of gaming journalism feel about the title? Let's see what some other critics had to say about the interactive romp through rainy Frenchadelphia:

• GamePro (5/5): "Put simply, Heavy Rain is a gaming experience that took huge risks in design, narrative, and game mechanics, and executed on its ideas to masterful effect. You will care, in the end, about the decisions you made to shape the fates of your characters, and wonder long after it's over if you made the right choices."
• 1UP (A-): "Though shorter than other epic, multi-disc titles, there's more than enough content in Heavy Rain to warrant a purchase. At the end of my first playthrough I was left utterly satisfied with the conclusion of the story and wanting more titles of this caliber."
• Eurogamer (9/10): "A thrilling mystery, cleverly composed, and unlike anything else you will play this year. It may also be the only game you play this year where pulling the trigger makes you really feel something, and I can think of no greater compliment."
• Giant Bomb (4/5): "Interactive storytelling might not yet be able to evoke the same degree of raw human emotion as more traditional art forms, but this is a big step in the right direction."

Click to investigate
What's Disney doing with Wideload Games, the development studio it acquired last year? It's going to take some detective work to find out. No, really, if you want to play through Disney Guilty Party, the new game from Wideload, you'll have to do some sleuthing. Because it's a detective game, you see. Never mind.

Disney Guilty Party is slated for release in the second half of 2010.

Since the addition of Activision (by which we mean Sierra) titles to its catalogue of classic PC games, Good Old Games has become one of the most worthwhile game retailers online. This week, another Sierra adventure game makes its way into the shop, with an announcement of more -- two wildly different styles of point-and-click adventure game.

Today, you can get Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within for six bucks (warning: it is an FMV game). In the same announcement, GoG noted that a pack containing King's Quest IV, V, and VI is coming soon, as is the strategy game Call to Power 2.