New BttF, Jurassic Park games from Telltale

[Pulsar_t]

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - June 9, 2010 - Telltale Games, the leading independent digital publisher and developer of episodic interactive entertainment, today announced a multi-year, two-title video game development deal with Universal Partnerships & Licensing. Telltale Games has secured the rights to create video games based on two of Universal Pictures' most popular intellectual properties, Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. The first game released under the agreement will be a Telltale Games "season" based on the successful Back to the Future series of films.

With more than five million episodes delivered to date across all major video game platforms, Telltale is the acknowledged leader in digitally delivering episodic content to consumers. The agreement broadens Telltale's product offerings into new genres and new styles of gameplay.

"Our partnership with Universal is an exciting next step in our continued growth as a mass-market games publisher and developer," said Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale Games. "We are all huge fans of both of these franchises. For Back to the Future and Jurassic Park we will leverage Telltale's expertise in story-telling and game design to deliver on the unique elements of each series with our goal being to create compelling cinematic adventures paying homage to each franchise."

Jurassic Park and Back to the Future are two of the most successful film trilogies ever, grossing over $3 billion dollars at the box office collectively.

"Telltale Games has succeeded in establishing a unique combination of digital and physical distribution models, and their reputation for quality production is well earned," said Bill Kispert, Vice President and General Manger, Digital Platforms, Universal Partnerships & Licensing. "Telltale's episodic story-telling is an ideal means by which to add compelling new content to these important franchises."

Look for the first video game based "season" of Back to the Future from Telltale this winter followed shortly by Jurassic Park. Telltale will release more information on both game series at a later date.

About the Jurassic Park franchise

Since Universal Pictures and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment first joined forces to unleash an adventure over 65 million years in the making, Jurassic Park has become the "premier" and "authentic" dinosaur brand the world over. When Jurassic Park was released in 1993, it became an instant phenomenon. In the years that followed, two additional films were released - The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III - bringing the trilogy's worldwide box office total to more than $2 billion. The franchise continues to resonate with consumers worldwide via consumer products, popular attractions at Universal Studios Theme Parks and annual airings of the three films on a multitude of television networks.

About the Back to the Future franchise

From the Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis comes Back to the Future - the original, groundbreaking adventure that sparked one of the most successful trilogies ever! Starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, the phenomenally popular Back to the Future films literally changed the future of the adventure movie genre. Powered by innovative special effects, unforgettable songs and non-stop action, Back to the Future is an unrivaled adventure that stands the test of time. Back to the Future immerses you in all the breathtaking action, groundbreaking comedy and sheer movie-making magic of one of the most brilliantly inventive, wildly entertaining motion picture triumphs in Hollywood history!

About Universal Partnerships & Licensing

UP&L oversees Universal's consumer product licensing, film and home entertainment promotions, and all corporate alliances for Universal's theatrical, home entertainment, theme parks and stage productions. This dedicated division is also responsible for monetizing the studio's vast library of films and characters through licensing, branding and marketing opportunities. UP&L is part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% owned by Vivendi.

About Telltale, Inc.

Telltale is a leading independent digital publisher of interactive stories playable on every major gaming platform. Telltale is also the pioneer of episodic delivery of content developing games as series and successfully releasing on a schedule to create a longer consumer engagement for each release. Founded in 2004 by LucasArts veterans with decades of experience, Telltale has quickly become an industry leader, establishing the model for successful episodic game creation and digital publishing. Telltale has sold more than 5 million episodes since 2005. Telltale's reputation for quality has been established across more than 25 published releases that have cumulatively earned an average Metacritic score above 80%. Telltale's titles have won numerous awards including, "Adventure Game of the Year" accolades from publications such as IGN, PC Gamer, GameSpy, and Adventure Gamers, and have been recognized by mainstream outlets ranging from USA Today, to The New York Times to Variety. Telltale currently develops and publishes episodic series on PlayStation® 3, PC, Mac, Wii™, Xbox 360™ and iPad.

My biggest gripe with Telltale is that they recycle their NPC models a lot in their games. But otherwise this is exciting news indeed.

[fastbilly1]

Oooooh Jurassic Park games. Must clear schedule next spring.

[Kemiroch]

I really enjoyed their Tales of Monkey Island series, and if these are anywhere near as good, they'll have another couple of hits on their hands.

Can't wait to try them out.

[emwearz]

If they can make a decent BttF adventure game that would be utterly tits! Hopefully they still have enough time on there hands for a season two of Tales of Monkey Island because the first season was pretty true to the originals.

[Jrecee]

I think it'd be awesome if the back to the future game featured a sort of open world design where you could visit Hill Valley in a really wide range of dates. The area would obviously not be as massive as other open world games, but you could see the town/location progress in 20-30 different time periods.

But so long as there's hoverboarding and delorean driving I'm sold.

[Pulsar_t]

The Jurassic Park game is supposedly out now, but no reviews so far. Initial impressions are disappointing, but what were we expecting?

[noiseredux]

I only played the first episode of Back To The Future, but I didn't love it. I mean, it seemed to have really good intentions for fans of the movies, but I just found the controls really clunky and annoying.

[dsheinem]

The Jurassic Park game is supposedly out now, but no reviews so far. Initial impressions are disappointing, but what were we expecting?

Can you play as a raptor? If not, then I am not interested.

I am pretty sure that there will never be a better set of JP games than the two that appeared on the Genesis,

[noiseredux]

I only played the first Genesis game, but man was it awesome!

[Pulsar_t]

This is some freshly uploaded gameplay footage.