Telltale's episodic games are a series of 3-4 hour, story-driven games that are released online on a regular schedule. The episodes usually have self-contained stories, but they're part of a greater, season-wide arc that becomes apparent as you play the episodes. As with a favorite TV show, the more you play, the more familiar you'll become with the characters and the overarching story.

Our store supports both of these options, so it's really up to you. Some people like to buy one episode to see if they like it, before investing in the full season, or to pick and choose among episodes depending on which stories are most appealing to them. Other people like to buy the full season up front, knowing they'll be getting a new episode every month. There is usually a small discount if you buy the full season, as opposed to individual episodes. Also, once a season ends, full season customers are eligible to get a disc containing the games and bonus video content for just the cost of shipping.

Most of the games we sell from our store are downloadable. After you finish checkout, a download link for the game you just bought will be added to your Telltale account. The game's serial number will also be stored on this page. You use the download link to download the game directly to your computer. Once the game has been downloaded and installed, you need to unlock it using either your Telltale username and password, or your serial number.

The CSI games are not downloadable. (We developed these games, but they were released as retail products by Ubisoft.) The rest of the games on our site come as downloads. For some games, you can get a CD or DVD bundled with the downloadable version. You'll find all the details in the store.

You can! If you buy one episode of a series, we usually offer a discount for the rest. (We call this a "season upgrade".) There are currently upgrades available for the following series:

• Sam & Max Season One
• Sam & Max Season Two
• Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People

If you buy a full season of games from Telltale's store, you have the option to get a Collector's DVD version at the end of the season for just the cost of shipping. Your order number serves as your coupon code to get this free disc. The following Collector's DVDs are now available:

• Sam & Max Season One
• Sam & Max Season Two
• Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People

The Collector's DVDs for Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures and Tales of Monkey Island will be available after all of the episodes have been released for download. We'll send season customers an email letting you know when the disc is available.

You sure can! Just email us with your order numbers or the email address on your account so we can look up your orders, and we'll send a coupon for you to get the free disc.

Nope, sorry.

Check this FAQ first. If your question is not answered here, send us an email describing the problem and we'll get on it right away. If you got the game somewhere other than Telltale's website (such as another online channel or in a retail store), please tell us that in your email so we can make sure to give you the best possible support for the problem you're having.

When you launch the game, the first screen you see prompts you for a username and password. These are the same username and password you use to log into our website. Just enter them, and you should be all set!

Start by clicking "No thanks, just take me to the demo" to bypass the login screen. Then click the "Already Paid" button and go to the Serial Number tab. Try entering your serial number (it's stored in your Telltale account, and also contained in the email confirmation you received when you bought the game).

If entering your serial number also doesn't work, it's probably because your computer isn't able to communicate with our activation server. This could be due to a temporary server problem, or it could be due to interference from a firewall or other security software on your computer or network. If this happens, the easiest thing to do is to unlock the game manually instead. Simply go to the Manual Unlock tab and follow the instructions.

You can download the game as many times as you want. There is a limit on the number of times you can unlock, but the limit is so high you'll probably never encounter it. (The limit is simply there to prevent serial numbers from being posted to the web where hundreds or thousands of people can access it.) On the rare chance that you do use up your game activations, just email our friendly support staff and we'll be happy to increase it for you.

Yes, that's fine.

Once you have downloaded and installed the game, an internet connection is only needed the first time you run it, so you can unlock it. Once a game has been unlocked, you don't need to be connected to the internet to play it.

If you want to play a downloadable game on a computer that isn't connected to the internet, you can unlock the game using a Manual Unlock code. When you first run the game, click "No thanks, just take me to the demo" to bypass the login screen. Click the "Already Paid" button, then go to the Manual Unlock tab and follow the instructions. You will need to email us your serial number and the request code that is displayed in the launcher window, so we can generate an unlock code that will work on your computer.

No, a Manual Unlock code is computer- and game-specific. If you need to unlock more than one game, you can send the request codes from each game in one email and our support team will generate all of your unlock codes at once. (This way you won't need to email us every time you're ready to get started on a game!)

Absolutely. After downloading a game, simply burn it to a CD to make a backup. You might want to print out a copy of your Telltale username and password or serial number and keep it with the backup disc. (Also, remember that your serial numbers are stored in your Telltale account!)

Our computer games are designed for Windows XP or Vista. Mac and Linux users may be able to run the games using virtualization software (such as Crossover for Mac), but Windows is the only supported platform. Intel Mac users can run the games on Windows under Boot Camp.

Here's a Telltale forum thread dedicated to getting our games up and running on Linux.

Yes!

• CSI: Hard Evidence is available for Xbox 360 and Wii.
• Sam & Max Season One is available on Wii and Xbox Live Arcade (as Sam & Max Save the World).
• Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People can be downloaded through WiiWare.
• Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures is available on Xbox Live Arcade!
• Tales of Monkey Island will be released on WiiWare!

Yes, but we try to keep it as low-key and non-annoying as possible. Our downloadable games use a version of SecuROM that requires online activation. Our disc-based games also use SecuROM. Disc games don't require online activation, but the disc must be in the drive while you play.

The requirements for Telltale's games are as follows:

• Operating system: Windows XP / Vista
• Processor: 2.0 GHz + (3 GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent rec.)
• Memory: 512MB (1GB rec.)
• Sound: DirectX 8.1 sound device
• Video: 64MB DirectX 8.1-compliant video card (128MB rec.)
• DirectX®: Version 9.0c or better

Our games require 3D video cards that are new enough to run under DirectX 9. If you have a Geforce or Radeon card purchased within the last five years, our games will probably work! (To find out what video card you have, right-click the desktop and select Properties, then go to the Settings tab. Your video card should be listed here under "Display".)

If you have integrated graphics or an older 3D card, our games might not work for you. A good way to find out is to download the demo version of the game you're interested in buying. If the demo runs okay for you, the game probably will too.

(Special note for people with Intel graphics: If your video is included on this list, you probably won't be able to run our games. Sorry about that.)

There are a few reasons this error could occur. To resolve the problem:

• Make sure you have DirectX 9.0 (or higher) installed. To do this, click Start, select Run, type 'dxdiag' (without the quotes) and click OK. In the window that opens, look for the DirectX version. If you do not have DirectX 9.0 or higher, you can get the latest version from Microsoft's website.
• Make sure your computer's color quality is set to 32 bit. To do this, right-click the desktop, select Properties, and go to the Settings tab. Look for "color quality" (also called "color depth") and set it to 32 bit if it isn't already. Then click OK.
• Make sure you're not running the game in Windows 98 compatibility mode. To do this, right-click the game executable (you'll find it in the game folder), select Properties, and go to the Compatibility tab. Make sure nothing on this tab is checked off.
• Update your video card's drivers. This error sometimes occurs if you're using older drivers.

Try turning your audio hardware acceleration down. To do this, open the Start menu, select Run, and type 'dxdiag' (without the quotes). This opens the DirectX Diagnostic Tool window. Go to the Sound tab and adjust the Hardware Sound Acceleration Level.

This problem has been reported by a few of our customers. Here are some things to try:

• Make sure the music volume is not turned all the way down in the game options menu.
• Update your audio drivers to the most recent version. Avoid using beta drivers.
• Turn off any firewall, virus protection, or background programs, then launch the game again.
• Make sure sound card is set as your primary sound device, and not an input device or alternate core audio device. Or, if you have more than one sound card installed, try switching to the other sound card. To view these settings, go to Start / Settings / Control Panel / Audio and Sound Devices. (Make sure to relaunch the game after changing audio settings. You may also need to reboot the computer.)

This sometimes happens if you have been playing for a long time without shutting down the game. Try saving your game, quitting, and reloading, and hopefully the music will come back!

Are you running the game under a limited user profile in Windows? If yes, switch to an administrator profile in Windows and try again.

Please visit our support forum and look for threads about the same problem. If a lot of people have posted about an issue, we're probably working on it at this very moment. Please be aware that after a problem has been reported to us, we can't always fix it immediately, but we do our best to find out what's going wrong and get it fixed as soon as we can.

Our online store accepts credit cards and PayPal.

We accept orders from most countries in the world. (Some of them we've never even heard of!) When you check out, you will need to select your country from a drop-down list. If you can't find your country on that list, email us and we'll look into it.

The extra money is for tax. Tax is calculated just before checkout, based on where you live. For example, you may be charged US sales tax if you live in certain states, or VAT if you live in Europe. Any taxes applied to the order are shown on the last page before you submit your order.

Shipping is calculated based on where you live and the items in your cart. There are usually a few shipping methods, which are presented to you on a drop-down list during checkout.

After adding the game to your cart, check of "I'm buying this game as a gift for someone else" on the shopping cart page. Then proceed through checkout. At the end of checkout, you will see instructions for sending your gift.