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Hit the Road in the Telltale shop?

bobdevisbobdevis
edited September 2009 in Sam & Max
Yo, Telltale guys!

You are selling pretty much all there is to have of Sam & Max except Hit the Road.
There is a very quick and easy way to remedy that. Using ScummVM as a wrapper will make any XP/Vista issues non-existent. The GoG shop is doing exactly this for other classic games.
Basically you just need an arrangement with ScummVM and Lucasarts. The technical details are trivial.

It seems to me this arrangement would be beneficial for everyone and you will become the all-time ultimate shop for everything Sam & Max :)

Comments

  • ShwooShwoo
    edited August 2009
    I don't think they legally have the right to sell the game. LucasArts still owns that.
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited August 2009
    I'm sure once Lucasarts decides to do a digital release of Hit the Road, they would certainly consider selling it through Telltale in addition to Steam and other places, simply because Telltale is kind of the home base for Sam and Max fans these days.
  • Martyr667Martyr667
    edited August 2009
    I think they would just sell it on there own website personally
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited August 2009
    Martyr667 wrote: »
    I think they would just sell it on there own website personally

    Lucasarts don't really have a tried and true digital distribution method of their own, though, and I doubt that they're really keen on getting into making one, what with their recent support of Steam.
  • LogicDeLuxeLogicDeLuxe
    edited August 2009
    LucasArts doesn't seem to like ScummVM. The SCUMM games on Steam use the Windows port of SCUMM. And so does the last re-issue of Hit the Road. If there will be a download release, I'm pretty sure, it will also use the Windows port.
  • City Of DelusionCity Of Delusion
    edited August 2009
    LogicDeLuxe wrote: »
    LucasArts doesn't seem to like ScummVM. The SCUMM games on Steam use the Windows port of SCUMM. And so does the last re-issue of Hit the Road. If there will be a download release, I'm pretty sure, it will also use the Windows port.

    This is correct. I also understand that it's fairly easy to make ScummVM compatable with the WindowsPort versions (or at least the Steamed versions), but there's no official support yet.
  • bobdevisbobdevis
    edited August 2009
    Yeah. The communication between LA and ScummVM that public is a cease and desist letter. There has been other communication that has has not been made public though.

    I was thinking that LA has an other attitude towards Telltale as I suspect they are very happy with what Telltale is doing with their IP.

    Regardless. It is a very odd situation that all S&M stuff is for sale EXCEPT Hit the Road, for no good reason.
    It boils down to telling fans of your franchise to torrent it. This can't be the smart business tactic....
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited August 2009
    bobdevis wrote: »
    Regardless. It is a very odd situation that all S&M stuff is for sale EXCEPT Hit the Road, for no good reason.
    The reason is actually fairly simple. LucasArts owns the rights to Hit the Road, and doesn't want to sell it yet for whatever reason. They could be holding it back for a Special Edition later on.

    The reason we have Sam and Max stuff from Telltale is that Steve Purcell owns the characters, not LucasArts. So Telltale don't have to ask Lucasarts permission for anything, they ask Purcell.
  • City Of DelusionCity Of Delusion
    edited August 2009
    Rather Dashing wrote: »
    The reason we have Sam and Max stuff from Telltale is that Steve Purcell owns the characters, not LucasArts. So Telltale don't have to ask Lucasarts permission for anything, they ask Purcell.

    Of course, if LucasArts wants to re-issue Hit The Road, they have to ask Purcell, not Telltale.
  • Rather DashingRather Dashing
    edited August 2009
    City Of Delusion wrote: »
    Of course, if LucasArts wants to re-issue Hit The Road, they have to ask Purcell, not Telltale.
    It depends on a lot of complicated issues. I'm almost certain they completely own Hit the Road and can release it in any form they want. They certainly own the characters made for Hit the Road(and Freelance Police), and Purcell can't give permission to use those.
  • SHODANFreemanSHODANFreeman
    edited August 2009
    Rather Dashing wrote: »
    It depends on a lot of complicated issues. I'm almost certain they completely own Hit the Road and can release it in any form they want. They certainly own the characters made for Hit the Road(and Freelance Police), and Purcell can't give permission to use those.

    They DO completely own Hit the Road, but they can only release it in its existing state with minor updates for compatibility and whatnot. No special edition or anything like that without Purcell's consent, though.
  • LogicDeLuxeLogicDeLuxe
    edited August 2009
    Rather Dashing wrote: »
    They certainly own the characters made for Hit the Road
    Wouldn't this include Bosco as well? He seems too insignificant in Hit the Road to be worth obtaining the rights from LEC.
  • punkmariopunkmario
    edited September 2009
    im pretty sure purcell would of been clever enough to keep all his own characters in his own continuity and universe, anyway all lucas arts own is the game itself, not the liscence, they can only release if they remove ALL the sam and max references in the game and rebrand it as....i dunno, some maniac mansion spin off.
  • lattsamlattsam
    edited September 2009
    Or if they get hit with a restraining order and are forced to hand over the rights to Purcell.

    Not that that's likely to happen, though...
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