TF2 Paranoia.
 

All right. This is a question I've had on my mind for a little bit.

So, a while back there was the deal where you pre-ordered The Devil's Playhouse and got three Sam and Max items in Team Fortress 2. Now they're giving out a bunch of items for Poker Night at the Inventory.

It's cool that Valve is trying to give more attention to Telltale, but at the same time I feel like it might potentially backfire. I mean, there are quite a bit of crazy TF2 fans who will do whatever is necessary for a new item. There have been people who bought The Devil's Playhouse, claimed their items, and never touched the actual game, which is a shame. I know you have to actually play Poker Night to get most of the items, but like with the Alien Swarm Parasite hat, the compulsive item-collectors would probably just see it as grinding. They'd play as much as necessary to get all the items (without any actual interest the entire time), then forget it entirely.

Telltale might decide a sale is still a sale, but I'm worried sales boosts like this might make it seem like interest in their titles is higher than it actually is. I mean, I'll be getting Poker Night personally because I think the game will be funny, but I can already guarantee the majority of sales will be people who want the TF2 items. I know Telltale wants to make "At the Inventory" into a series (though could it be a point-and-click adventure? ;)). They see how well their pilot game has sold, and begin spending their time and money onto a full series of it, only for it to turn out fan interest was only a small fraction of what they thought, and unless those games come with TF2 items too it could end up a commercial failure. :(

I love Telltale, I love Valve, and I'm hoping "At the Inventory" manages to blossom into a full series, but if anyone on the Telltale Team is reading this, I just want to say that I hope you can find a better way to convert people into real fans.

Sorry if I'm coming off as insulting or anything, by the way. That's not my intent.

Weren't there some people here posting about how they pre-ordered it on like 5 steam accounts?

Well... if everything is as online as Steam, they could know if a player stop playing after get all the items. I mean, we know we have our stats on Steam and everyone can check it, so Telltale can do that too. It's going to require more than simple count how much money they get but they can do it because the data is there.

I mean, that it's the first thing I can think off.

I'm sure any future "At The Inventory" games would come with TF2 items as well, since Valve seems to be really into the idea. There's really no major downside to this, except to the extent that PNatI will sell better than Puzzle Agent, and therefore will influence future development, but I think Telltale is intelligent enough to chalk that up to marketing, and it'll all be evened out

Relax? We've got this :)

I'm freakin' out here man!

We need PA items!

Three words, my friend: blood-stained Pac-Man watch :)


(It's for the Spy)

No, he meant items based on Telltale's own Puzzle Agent, not Penny Arcade.

I don't care they could make it a gnome for scout to attack with, aslong as it gets items to boost the sales so we can get a season. :P


Yeah I forgot Penny Arcade existed since I dislike said comic.

...oh. My bad. Sorry!

This time, people actually have to play the game to get the items, aside from the visor.

a good idea actually.

Holy crap! No wonder I couldn't find info about TF2 Item Rounds! That's genius!

As for Puzzle Agent items... Tethers' hat? Gnome hat?

A "back gnome". It's hanging onto your back, looking over your shoulder. Perhaps with its own gibs, in addition to the player's corpse's.

It's cool. It's easy to mistake.

The only thing that bothers me is that I Won't be able to play the game the day of the release,because everybody will be downloading the game for the items

That's an unlikely thing to happen, I think. I mean, I hope everyone downloads the game :) but I don't think the numbers will be high enough to murder Valve or TTG's servers...

Speaking of that, November's ticking away, will we be getting any sort of news this week, maybe?

For some reason this reminds me of this, starring Shaun as Flanders.