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Just like that, there was a new episode of Telltale's The Walking Dead. And guess what? It's good! More than that, it's interesting. A collection of five interwoven short stories, The Walking Dead: 400 Days is just the sort of experiment that smaller downloadable episodes make possible. Telltale appears to be running with that, putting together something that stands alone while teasing just enough information about the next "season" of the game to keep our longer-term interest. About Spoilers: There are no major story spoilers in this review, but there are plenty in the comments. Proceed below the article with caution. 400 Days is composed of five short episodes tracing the paths of five protagonists, each of whom has survived the first 400 days of the zombie apocalypse in his or her own way. Each episode plays out over a compact timeframe, running an average of about 15-20 minutes. (The whole thing took me about an hour and a half to complete.) Telltale's skillful, economical storytelling is on full display here. 400 Days manages to establish not one but five new characters in an hour and a half. They do so by rarely oversharing, leaving enough blanks unfilled that we the audience can figure out the characters' motivations for ourselves. I wasn't as invested in each story as I was in Lee and Clementine's, but that didn't make any of the game's trademark tough choices any easier. That's largely because the choices come fast and hard, very much the sorts of no-win, not-exactly-moral decisions that make The Walking Dead's first season so strong. (One of the mini-episodes even begins with a fun goof on those sorts of impossible decisions. I thought the answer was obvious, but your mileage may vary.) The cast of 400 Days is welcomely diverse—black, white, male, female, old, young—and their multiple threads tie together in a smart but not heavy-handed way. (We seem to be seeing more and more games with more than one protagonist, huh? I'm a fan of this.) The five stories can be played in any order. While there are occasional references to events and characters from the first season, the stories mostly stand on their own or, occasionally, reference one another. As I played, I was reminded of both the fascinating animated Matrix appendices The Animatrix and the masterful Avatar: The Last Airbender episode Tales of Ba Sing Se. The latter example consisted of a handful of wonderfully creative, often sketches of the lives of the show's characters, out of the constraints of the season's narrative arc. There's nothing quite so artful in 400 Days; it's more workmanlike in its construction, and ultimately concerns itself with getting our five protagonists from point A to point B. Each story begins with an in media res introduction, a quick choice or two, a transition to a second scene, and a second choice. The stories are all equally interesting and varied, though their structures are so symmetrical that I can't help but think it would've been nice to see one of them try something different. (My favorite bit of the whole thing had to be the introduction to Vince's story, as he and two other men sit on a bus discussing the ins and outs of bank fraud. Their consensus: "*crag* Wall Street.") Playing 400 Days, I was once again reminded of how well thought-out The Walking Dead's interactive conversation system is. Each dialogue tree offers a welcome third option that sits between two extremes, right where I'd probably land in real life. At least once I even uttered my personal response out loud before seeing it reflected back at me among the dialogue options. How nice to once again play a game where conversational options aren't binary and aren't tied to a binary morality system! Since I didn't know these characters as well as I came to know Lee in the main game, I often wasn't sure what they'd do in a given situation. I opted for silence, another of Telltale's smart dialogue options. After all, in scenarios like these, sometimes it's hard to know what to say. The Walking Dead's first season already opened the door for a lot of creative storytelling with its TV-like episodic structure. It's nice to see Telltale expanding on that, weaving multiple short story-bites into one bigger episode, which will itself fit into the grand arc of both seasons one and two. Your choices in the main game will translate into 400 Days, and choices made in 400 Days will carry over to the second season. That said, I burned through 400 Days on Xbox 360, when my "true" playthrough of The Walking Dead is on PC. I therefore didn't feel all that much attachment to the choices I made, as I'll likely wind up replaying 400 Days on PC, just to be sure I have one complete playthrough. However my choices wind up affecting the second season of The Walking Dead, 400 Days will remain a small but interesting, ultimately successful experiment in video-game storytelling. I'll look forward to seeing these characters down the road, but it was plenty enjoyable just getting them sent on their way. To contact the author of this post, write to kirk@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @kirkhamilton.

IGN's guide to The Walking Dead: 400 Days DLC. In this chapter, take control of Wyatt, 41 days into the infection.

IGN's guide to The Walking Dead: 400 Days DLC. In this chapter, take control of Bonnie, 220 days into the infection.

Five harrowing tales of post-apocalyptic survival collide in 400 Days, a new episode in Telltale Games' The Walking Dead series premiering this week on iOS, PC, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. Choices made in previous episodes will carry over into 400 Days, and Telltale revealed that starring characters - the ones who survive, anyway - may appear in The Walking Dead's upcoming second season.

If you were poking around online yesterday, chances are you might have seen our LATE BREAKING ANNOUNCEMENT from Telltale Games that The Walking Dead: 400 Days is officially headed to PlayStation Network on PlayStation 3…. TODAY!

This special DLC episode features five short stories set during the first 400 Days of the undead apocalypse, giving you a unique perspective on the world seen in Season One of the series. 400 Days will also take into consideration the choices made during your play-through of the first five episodes, effecting certain aspects of your play through of the DLC. On top of that, the choices you make in 400 Days will also have an effect on the upcoming Season Two of the series, coming later this Fall!

If you’ve never played the series, we also have some more great news… Starting today, The Walking Dead: Episode One – A New Day will be FREE FOR DOWNLOAD on PlayStation Network for a limited time! This is especially good news if you’re interested in checking out this latest episode, since you’ll need to at least have Episode One of the series on your hard drive in order to purchase The Walking Dead: 400 Days DLC for just $4.99 USD. We don’t necessarily recommend playing 400 Days before playing all of Season One, but it’s not required as it features an entirely new cast of characters separate from Lee & Clementine’s story.

That’s probably enough babbling from me over here, but we’re thrilled to launch the episode today on the PlayStation Store, so check it out and let us know what you think! Also, the PS Vita version of The Walking Dead: Season One, including the 400 Days DLC, is looking on track for release sometime next month in August, and we’ll have more news and more details on that bundle very soon! Until then, if you’re a PlayStation 3 user, enjoy the episode and we’ll be tracking the choices made by the community all month long, so swing on into Red’s Diner today where the most difficult decision you’ll have to make WON’T just involve what’s on the menu…. trust us.

Just in case you forgot, the 400 Days DLC for season one of Telltale Games’ hit The Walking Dead comes out today. As previously detailed, PSN users get it first, with a staggered rollout onto other platforms. That new trailer up above makes it seem like the queasy decision-making we all love is back in full effect.

A new episode in Telltale's The Walking Dead series, dubbed "400 Days," will be available on Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, PC, Mac and iOS this week for $5. IGN says to expect it on PSN in North America this Tuesday, on Steam and the Telltale store on Wednesday, iOS on Thursday and in the Xbox Live Marketplace worldwide on Friday.

400 Days contains five different story threads, connected in some way through a crucial truck stop. Decisions from the Walking Dead's first season will carry over into the DLC, Telltale has confirmed.

Wait, this week? Sweet! Telltale games has confirmed to us that 400 Days, the next episode in their lauded The Walking Dead series, will be launching this week. The game will come to PSN on July 2, PC/Mac on July 3, and Xbox live on July 5. It'll then be out on PSN in Europe on July 10 and on iOS on July 11. The news was first reported by IGN, and we confirmed with Telltale as well. Tina had a chance to play the new episode at E3, and found that the tough decisions fly fast and hard, as usual. Looking forward to playing this one—we'll have some impressions of the game on the site soon.

There are no shortage of zombie games out there—but outstanding ones have come out in the last year. At first glance, aside from the zombies, these games might seem like they don't have much in common. The Walking Dead is an adventure game about moral choices! The Last of Us is a cinematic survival horror game! Apples to oranges, right? Not exactly. Comparing the two reveals some huge differences, sure, but also some illuminates some fascinating things about the games and storytelling in general. Might as well shoot this in the head while we're here, no? Let's dig in. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE LAST OF US AND THE WALKING DEAD AWAIT AHEAD. THE "HERO" The Last of Us: Joel is a man with a past. The start of the game has him watching his baby girl die in his arms. Something like that changes a man—and while the prologue characterizes him as kind of on the stern and distant side, it's nothing compared to how hardened he seems after the outbreak. Granted, the world seems to necessitate it: it's the sentimental and the weak at heart that die. Joel wants to survive. "Survival," of course, doesn't explain some of the more unsavory parts of his past that the game hints at—but nobody said Joel was a good guy. Not in the traditional sense of the word, anyway. The Walking Dead: Lee was on his way to jail for murder at the start of the first episode, but "luck" would have it that the outbreak happened instead. While he escapes the prison cell, he gets thrust into a new type of hell—one where the demons are zombies and humans alike. That reality means Lee has to make choices, lots of choices. Those choices have consequences; people in your group live and die depending on what Lee does. EDGE: The Last of Us. While both games feature men who aren't quite "heroes," Lee is mostly a stand-in for the player. You get to dictate what kind of Lee emerges from the cop car—but whatever you choose isn't nearly as interesting as Joel's characterization. That's because Joel is deeply, deeply flawed. You get to see Joel grow as you play, but the ending is still a good example of how selfish Joel can be. Maybe you don't agree with the decision—but it still seems like something a real person would do. Not a hero, not a video game character. A flawed, but real person. I can appreciate that. THE GIRL The Last of Us: Ellie is a curious teen, and not just because she's somehow immune to the spores that turn everyone into zombies. Sure, she's tough and savagely stab a man in the neck if he get too close—heck, when the game lets you play as Ellie, you can't help but wish the entire game was from her viewpoint. But there's a spark to her, too; a certain liveliness that stands out in TLOU's bleak world. More importantly, she brings out a more humane Joel. The Walking Dead: Clementine is just a kid. She wants to see her parents, she puts bugs in boy's beds—you know, that sort of thing. You have to protect her and teach her how to survive in a world that's too dark for such a precious soul. Typically, that sort of responsibility is a burden. Not here though. Clem becomes an anchor for Lee; a light that brings joy and warmth to a player's heart. EDGE: Toss-up. Both Clem and Ellie are wonderful characters that are brought to life by fantastic voice acting. They'll make you laugh. They'll met your heart. They might even make you cry. The daddening of games has never been more heartfelt. Now if only we could get some games starring characters like these—zombie games, nay, games in general could use characters like these outside of the supporting cast. That is, if the games are really serious about exploring the question of what our children will inherit after the world goes to shit! THE ZOMBIES The Last of Us: A pedant might say that the things that attack you in TLOU aren't "really" zombies. Technically, they're fungus-people that have had Cordyceps take over their body. It's entirely possible that the 'real person' is still in there, but who knows? What's for certain is that you have to deal with a handful of different zombie-like enemies which can eff you up if you're not careful. To get infected, you must either breathe in spores, or the fungus has to enter your body somehow—likely a bite or a scratch. The Walking Dead: As far as I can tell, The Walking Dead has your run of the mill undead; slow but deadly. That's how it was in the comics and in the show, that's how it is in the game. As for what caused the outbreak—it's a mystery! Just know that turning happens no matter how you die, as the infection is in the air. EDGE: The Last of Us. Not only are the zombies (kind of) novel here, they're genuinely terrifying. You can thank the game's emphasis on scarcity, along with a few zombie types that can one-shot you if you're not careful. The zombies in The Walking Dead, meanwhile, are mostly catalysts for grueling moral situations. You're never scared of them inasmuch as you are scared of the situations they cause. THE ACTION The Last of Us: Combat is brutal, mirroring the climate of the world itself...but only if you get in close. Savvy players need to learn how to navigate areas without being seen, otherwise they risk using up too many resources to survive. This is true regardless of whether you face zombies or humans, although they react in different ways. Humans will try to sniff you out depending on your last known location, and they don't give up until they find you. Zombies are deadlier and can appear when you least expect them. Either way, encounters are full of tension and anxiety, sometimes getting bad enough that you'll run away rather than take enemies head-on. The Walking Dead: Although you'll have to defend yourself against zombies via QTEs and sometimes even cumbersome shooting sequences, most of the action in the game consists of simple puzzles and difficult moral choices. Will you cut a guy's leg off to try to save him? Whom do you feed? Whom do you save? What do you say to other people? Sometimes, these choices happen so fast that they hardly feel like choices—which is not to say they won't weigh on your mind well after you're done playing. EDGE: Toss-up. The games are wildly different in how they approach the action, ultimately giving us two potent, fresh takes on zombie games. Kind of crazy to think that could be true, but it is! Now, if a game could combine the action of The Last of Us with the moral choices of The Walking Dead—now that could be the ultimate zombie game. THE SURVIVORS The Last of Us: While things are far from normal 20 years after the outbreak, there are still many survivors. Most of the ones we see are in closed-off quarantine zones that are governed by the military, although seedier groups run rampant. It's implied that the military has a force worth fearing, although in some cities, that wasn't enough to fend zombies back. There are also the Fireflies, which are an anti-government militia who are still looking for a cure. Finally, you have outlier groups—some are opportunistic hunters, and some—like Joel's brother—simply choose to live in their own separate communities. Although Joel initially lives in a quarantine zone, it's clear that he mostly keeps to himself and prefers to be alone. The Walking Dead: Groups are scattered about—families, bandits and couples—making most of the world in The Walking Dead seems fragmented. If there's a body of government, you don't come across it. Few outside your group seem to be doing well, with some communities resulting to cannibalism, stealing, and in some cases, inhumane edicts meant to ensure survival. The pack that travels with you all have their own needs and wants, often requiring Lee to diffuse tough situations and make impossible choices. EDGE: The Walking Dead. While the survivors in The Walking Dead are a hot mess, the factions in The Last of Us seemed like excuses to give the player enemies that weren't zombies. It's noble that the Fireflies are still looking for a cure, though you don't learn enough about them to be invested in their cause. You don't see much of the military either. The Walking Dead, meanwhile, puts the survivors at the front and center—it's not really a game about zombies. It's a game about people; people cause conflict and drive the game forward. THE ENDING The Last of Us: After the outbreak, Joel focused on survival at all costs. Thing is, there's a difference between survival and living—but it took losing nearly everything for Joel to embrace life. This meant that after the sacrifices Tess made, and after all the ordeals he went through just to get Ellie to the Fireflies, he chose to be selfish. He chose not to give Ellie up for a stash of guns and the mere possibility that a cure might be found for a world. And can you blame him, really? He's angry at the world and what it's taken away from him. Why would he choose to give something back to it? Couple that with the calculated decision to make you play as Ellie for that final bit, and....oof. It's not surprising that Ellie goes along with it, either. I mean...she must've known, eh? The Walking Dead: It's not obvious until the end, but the point of the entire game was for Lee to teach Clem how to survive. That's why he teaches her how to shoot. That's why they cut her hair. Survival, a lesson that continued up until Lee's final moments. We might never know what it's like to turn into a zombie, but having to watch Clem deal with losing Lee—potentially even shooting Lee—is painful enough. EDGE: Toss-up. If both of these endings didn't punch you in the gut, I don't know what to say! The Walking Dead is more of a tragic story, since the central idea behind the series could be said to be "it never ends." Heavy stuff. The Last of Us is more of a literary game, opting for an ending with complicated character motivations. Both leave you wondering what comes next—but hopefully the developers keep that a mystery. It's better that way, even if it's not as satisfying. There you have it: two rather different games that, hey, maybe aren't that different after all. If you've kept count, it's nearly neck and neck—The Last of Us at 5, and The Walking Dead at 4 (these are including the toss-ups, though). I wouldn't say The Last of Us "wins," however, because really should should play both of the games. They're both excellent, albeit for different reasons. I'm curious, though: What do you think of these two games' similarities and differences? Share your own comparisons in the comments.

We're barely a scene into the next The Walking Dead game—recently announced downloadable content for the first season of Telltale's fantastically emotional zombie series—before we're already forced to make some unfair decisions. Warning: The scene I describe takes place at the start of one of the characters' storylines, but if you rather leave it unspoiled, avoid reading. Will you shoot Justin's ankle or Danny's? Danny may have been convicted of raping a minor, but he seems to have the moral senses to care for people he sees in danger. Besides, you're all cons on this prison bus. And someone's ankle has got to get shot, because zombies are piling into the bus and you're all chained together by the ankles. This is The Walking Dead: 400 Days. Here we go again, with the tough decisions. Either way, someone is getting left behind. Either way, you're betraying someone and, potentially, betraying your own moral code. And even though The Walking Dead game masquerades as a game that gives you choices, in the end you really don't have a choice, do you. Because in the end you're going to shoot someone's ankle to set yourself free, leaving him to bleed out and get gnawed on by zombies. The only silver lining? Maybe the fresh feast will slow those walkers down. You're a monster. If you don't know, I'm a huge The Walking Dead fan. I nominated it for a Game of the Year award last year on Kotaku. I stared wide-eyed at the livestream for Sony's E3 press conference when Jack Tretton announced this new DLC. And yet, I can't help but feel like something is off, even after just 10 minutes of my viewing this demo. 400 Days follows 400 days of the zombie apocalypse. It features decisions you made in the first season of the game. It'll impact the second season of the game (which is coming sometime this year, I'm told). You'll follow the undead journey through the eyes of five different characters playing out five different stories. Your choices are Shel, Russel, Wyatt, Bonnie or Vince. Our Telltale demo leader chooses Vince. I wonder if I would've winced less if he had chosen another character to highlight instead. Vince is awkward. He makes awkward facial expressions and his voice actor reads his lines awkwardly. He even runs awkwardly. The other two featured characters, Justin and Danny, are less awkward. But when they're all interacting... Well, have you seen a comedy sketch go wrong? Where everyone seems to be missing their cues by even just half a second, but it's enough for the entire thing to feel out of place? That's how it feels to listen to the three interact as they joke or sulk about their sentences and crimes. Or the crimes they supposedly committed. We're used to awkward and slightly janky animations coming from Telltale's The Walking Dead series, but the voice acting has always felt spot on to me. It was a disappointment, but I'm certainly still holding out for improvements as I'm sure the team has a lot of work left. But the core concept of what The Walking Dead is all about still seems to be alive. The whole "holding people's lives in your hands while feeling completely helpless and kind of like an asshole" looks to be very much there. And you're still making dialogue decisions that impact how other characters feel about you. Here's what I picked up from the very short demo shown at E3. While discussing the ethics of lying while on the stand during your trial, our demo leader chose to make Vince reply by saying that he'd say anything to get out of serving more time. Danny, the convicted and alleged pedophile who was very clear that he could never lie, made a note of that.When Danny protested his conviction and claimed that he was innocent, Vince replied, "You WERE convicted." Danny noted your mistrust.When asked about your sentence, you denied your guilt.Chained to the floor with a zombie precariously close to nipping at your toes, Danny and Justin both noticed Vince's imbecilic shout that they can't do anything with those damn chains on. Duh. Obviously your relationship with Danny seems to already be straining. You don't trust him, you're a liar, and you say dumb stuff in the heat of the moment instead of being resourceful. But, hey, at least you didn't shoot his ankle off with the shotgun. The DLC will be out in July and it'll be about as along as one episode in the first season (so about three to four hours, depending on how you play).

The last time we saw The Walking Dead it was lying in a pool of blood, waiting to rise again as some sort of brain-hungry second season. The bastard game hadn’t so much jerked the tears from my eyes as attached wild horses to the ducts and had the muscular beasts run toward the horizon for a couple of hours. It’s still not clear precisely how the two seasons will be connected but the announcement of 400 Days, a new episode that will act as a bridge between the two seasons, will surely provide some answers. That’s what bridges do. There are probably some clues in the trailer below, which contains at least one character who has appeared previously.

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Hey everyone, its E3 week and we hope you’re enjoying the excitement as much as we are here at Telltale Games!

I’m Kirsten, Producer on The Walking Dead game series, and as you may have heard during PlayStation’s E3 press conference, we’re excited to confirm that a brand new episode of The Walking Dead game series is headed to PlayStation Vita!

The Walking Dead: 400 Days is a new chapter (also available as DLC for PlayStation 3 owners on PlayStation Network) in the series chronicling the first 400 Days after the outbreak through the eyes of five all-new characters. This special episode will allow you to choose a character and play through each of their stories in any order, which are all centered around a truck stop on a Georgia highway. Some decisions you may have made in Season One will affect moments of 400 Days, and while we don’t want to give away too much yet, we will say that your decisions in 400 Days will echo into future installments of the series.

Our friends at PlayStation are also announcing The Walking Dead Limited Edition PS Vita Bundle coming to North America, which will include a 3G/WiFi PS Vita, the complete first season of The Walking Dead game series (including 400 Days) and great bonus content. For those of you who already own a Vita and want to check out The Walking Dead, we’re also releasing all six episodes both digitally and as a complete full season at stores.

There’s another aspect of the Vita version we’re excited to confirm—the control scheme! PS Vita allows us to use two different control styles so you can decide whether you prefer using the analog sticks and face buttons, or use Vita’s touch controls, bringing a new level of control and interactivity to Robert Kirkman’s grisly world.

If you aren’t already familiar with The Walking Dead game series, it’s based on Robert Kirkman’s Eisner Award-winning comic book series. You play as a man named Lee Everett, a former college professor and convicted felon on his way to prison at the start of the undead apocalypse. He’s unexpectedly freed from police captivity and meets an eight-year old girl named Clementine, orphaned in the aftermath of the outbreak. Lee takes Clementine under his wing, forming a tight emotional bond in a world gone to hell. What happens from then on is for you to decide as you control the story through your decisions. Lee and Clem are faced with the constant menace of walkers and learn that human survivors can be just as dangerous.

We can’t wait to get Season One along with the all-new 400 Days into everyone’s hands on Vita. We’ve heard you asking for it loud and clear, and we’re happy to finally let PlayStation fans take The Walking Dead with you wherever you go. We’ll have more news on the release date soon after E3, and we thank everyone for their excitement for the series and look forward to bringing you more information this year. If you have any questions about The Walking Dead, feel free to shout out in the comments but remember, please be mindful of spoilers for those that haven’t played Season One yet, but for those of you that have… keep that hair short.

Telltale may be gearing up to announce new DLC for The Walking Dead. That's according to an update to the game's entry in the Steam database, titled 'Walking Dead 400 Days DLC.' The name correlates with teaser clips published recently by Telltale Games.

The four clips are titled Day 2, Day 220, Day 184, and Day 236. Each one features a person's photo pinned on a 'Missing' board, perhaps pertaining to characters introduced in the DLC.

Back in February, series writer Gary Whitta said "there may very well be more Walking Dead from Telltale before Season 2." Also, a Polygon report indicates at one point Telltale's exhibitor page on the E3 website listed 'Season 1 DLC' for The Walking Dead. While it's never safe to assume anything when it comes to the zombie apocalypse, chances are there are some more tough choices on the horizon.

Day 2 vine.co/v/b3gbMwUuD1x — Telltale Games (@telltalegames) June 3, 2013

The current Humble Weekly Sale spotlights developer Telltale Games in a pay-what-you-want collection featuring multiple episodic adventure games.

Bundle buyers will receive all episodes of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse, Back to the Future: The Game, Hector: Badge of Carnage, and Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures. The package additionally includes both entries in the Puzzle Agent series, along with the cross-universe gambling sim Poker Night at the Inventory.

Beat the average purchase price (currently $4) and you'll also receive all five episodes of Telltale's acclaimed series The Walking Dead. Steam keys are included for all featured games, and buyers have access to DRM-free downloads for Windows and Mac.

To hear Telltale tell the tale, The Walking Dead wasn’t built to be a wildly acclaimed game of the year award magnet. A good game? Yes. A great story? Clearly. But not a bowling ball catapult into zombified super stardom. With all eyes suddenly on the once-unassuming developer, “that Fables game” has an incredibly tough act to follow. But The Wolf Among Us is a) about a gruff, nicotine-addicted werewolf detective and b) not about gazing sullenly out the window while protesting, “No, it’s just the rain/my allergies/this waterfall we’re standing under.” It takes place in a mad fantasy reality where anything can happen – except, um, the undead apocalypse. It’s maybe a bit different. So, where does Walking Dead’s DNA end and Wolf Among Us begin? What about Fables-specific issues like mystery-solving, a pre-established main character, wolfed-out combat, and a somewhat controversial creator? I spoke with Telltale president Kevin Bruner about all of that and more.

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Did you know that The Walking Dead has a "zombie school"? That's where extras learn how to become the undead. Don't think you'd make a good zombie just because you can hiss and throw your arms out, either. While they talk about how there's no real 'right' way of being a zombie—they let the actors feel that out and come up with whatever works best for them—there's definitely a cliched, if not wrong way to be a zombie. Though if you drink a lot you may already know how to be a good zombie, apparently... Season 4 Zombie School: Inside The Walking Dead [amc]

Europeans, Australians, and New Zealanders can feast on the retail release of Telltale Games's The Walking Dead when it reaches their regions on May 10. This version of the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC package, which includes the first season's five episodes, comes with new French, German, Italian, and Spanish subtitles - tiene encanto que sale de su culo.

Zombies aren't the fastest movers, of course, so five months to cross the globe isn't that sluggish by the undead's standards. Hopefully this retail release won't encounter the kind of issues its North American counterpart did, and otherwise blight a game we at Joystiq very much enjoyed.

I wonder if Telltale are worrying about Difficult Second Album Syndrome, despite Fables: The Wolf Among Us actually being about their dozenth adventure game series. The rapture their Walking Dead series was met with puts them, if not actually on the A-list then at least on the waiting list for the A-list. By which I mean they’re on the list of developers who I’d say are on the list to be on the list. Maybe I should do a list of all of them., but to be honest I feel a bit too listless to bother.

The Wolf Among Us, then. It’s an episodic adventure game based on the modern-day fairy tales, Big Bad (were)Wolf-starring DC comic series Fables.(more…)

Starting on March 26, Microsoft will host the Xbox spring sale, which will see discounts across Games on Demand and DLC.

Highlights include cheap downloads of The Walking Dead episodes ( first one's free) and discounts on Skyrim DLC. LA Noire and Max Payne 3 downloads and corresponding DLC will also be half-off. Meanwhile, Hitman: Absolution will be knocked down to $20, with Assassin's Creed 3 following to $40.

Have a look at the full list of discounts on Major Nelson's blog before it kicks all kicks in next week.

#showus Earlier this week, I was messing around with video game bows and arrows for an article I was writing on the subject. Shooting arrows, lighting stuff on fire, blowing up aliens... you know, research. More »

#thewalkingdead The wonderful zombie film Shaun of the Dead starts out with a running gag where it's clear that a zombie apocalypse is going on, but the heroes don't notice. As they walk down the street, we can see obscured scenes of undead carnage in the background, but Shaun is too wrapped up in his girlfriend-troubles to see. More »

TV is evil. No, no, not because it drains our brains, turns all children into devil-worshiping miscreants, and won’t let Gordon Ramsay host everything, but because it taught me to expect that the very TV-like Walking Dead season two would arrive only a year after its pioneering predecessor. But alas, tearing out the reigning Emotion King’s decaying guts and replacing them with state-of-the-art new ones takes time. So then, when do you think Walking Dead season two is kicking off? 30 years from now? Tomorrow? Half-Life? Nope. Try late next year. Besides, everyone knows Half-Life 3′s been out for years. Valve’s just doing a timed exclusive with the actual Combine dimension to ensure this one’s safety. I mean, obviously.

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#thewalkingdead When season one of The Walking Dead hit last year, a lot of people assumed that the episodic adventure series would turn into an annual thing. Many of us thought season two would be out in 2013. More »

These ain't no 28 Days Later zombies: Telltale's The Walking Dead season two has a tentative launch window of fall 2014, studio CEO Dan Connors tells Eurogamer. Season one concluded in November 2012, and recently writer Gary Whitta outed a mysterious "something extra" coming before season two hits.

"He's been sacked. We threw him into the zombie pit," Connors jokes. But really, "We'll probably have something to announce fairly soon about what we're going to do. It'll be different."

Whether something "different" is a line of trading cards, collectible stuffed animals or a Broadway show is still up in the air. Connors says he's a fan of the PS4 but he can't announce The Walking Dead on Sony's console yet. Executive Producer Kevin Boyle tells IGN that Telltale is looking forward to trying its formula on next-gen platforms.

"Season two will read what you did in season one and that will tailor some of the things that happened in season two," Boyle says. "They'll be a lot more social and in-between episode features for season two that definitely exploit what the new platforms have to offer. We're super-excited about PlayStation 4 and what all the other big console manufacturers have in store."

There's no word if saves from PS3 games will transfer to the PS4. By fall 2014 we'll probably have microchips in our arms to directly stream all of our save files and biological data anyway, so no worries.

#pc Artist Jón Kristinsson runs a site called Point n' Clicking, where he posts images of famous adventure game characters (or casts). Some are recent, some are old, some are very old, but all are fantastic, capturing the spirit and tone of the games they're paying homage to. More »

#thewalkingdead Poor Kevin Hart. All he wanted to do when he hosted SNL this weekend was eat "white people brains" and do the dance from "Thriller." More »

#thewalkingdead Telltale's Walking Dead adventure games tell a really great story. They also tell an awfully glitchy story. More »

You probably haven’t heard, but Telltale’s The Walking Dead is kind of a big deal. It maybe won some awards or something and also made its players weep so much that their ducts now cough out specks of sand and the occasional cactus. There is, in other words, something to be said for using games to spin crushingly compelling yarns, and Telltale knows it has something very special on its hands. Season one, however, was just the beginning. The only envelope’s had its shoulder bumped. Now it’s time to give it a good, hard push. I sat down with Telltale CEO Dan Connors to discuss how he plans to go about doing that, what he’s taking away from reactions to the first season, and how his company plans to squash some of Walking Dead’s more glaring flaws – for instance, those awful game-wrecking save bugs.

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It's been known for quite some time that Telltale's The Walking Dead would have a second season, but it turns out fans of the award-winning adventure series may not have to wait as long as expected for another bite. IGN's Up at Noon had TWD writer Gary Whitta on the show, who teased there's more The Walking Dead coming before season two's official start.

"Knowing that [Season 2] is a way off, and knowing that people are hungry for more Walking Dead...there may very well be more Walking Dead from Telltale before season two. We may have a little something extra for you between season one and two," said Whitta.

Whether the filler is a one-off episode or a mini story arc has yet to be clarified. For all we know, it could a Fruit Ninja-esque game with zombie heads (we sure hope not!). We'll update if any more information shakes out.