Skip to main content

Telltale Games goes deep into the geek bank for this awesome crossover in ‘Poker Night 2’

Poker Night 2
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The company was built around expanding on existing properties, from its sequel to Back to the Future, to games based on the Homestar Runner web cartoons, to its award winning Walking Dead, Telltale is a geek’s geek studio. The newly announced Poker Night 2 for Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3 is built in that idea. The game mixes up characters from Telltale’s own stable, with those of other favorites, from Portal to Borderlands 2.

“It’s great to revisit our roots after the success of The Walking Dead,” explains Telltale CEO Dan Connors, “People might not know that we have a strong history of humor in our games and players are going to find a lot of laughs in Poker Night 2.”

Recommended Videos

The cast has a powerful comedic background. Sam replaces his partner Max, and joining him are newcomers Claptrap from the Borderlands series, Brock Samson from The Venture Bros., Ash Williams from the Evil Dead and Army of Darkness films, and finally the game’s new dealer, GLaDOS of Portal

Few games embraced Telltale’s geeky fan service identity like Poker Night at the Inventory. That simple, strange PC poker game pitted you against Strong Bad of Homestar Runner fame, Max from Sam & Max, The Heavy from Team Fortress 2, and Tycho Brahe, one of the lead characters from the webcomic Penny Arcade.

Playing the game occasionally resulted in a high stakes pots, where the prize included a costume accessory that could be used in the PC version of Team Fortress 2. Those items will be back in Poker Night 2, but the game also has unlockable accessories for Borderlands 2 characters in both the PC and console editions.

There is one hold up: Telltale Games has yet to confirm if actor Bruce Campbell is reprising his role as Ash for the game. With the new Evil Dead  remake renewing interest in Campbell and Raimi’s beloved character, it would be an enormous disappointment to hear that the actor isn’t back. We’ve reached out to Telltale for a statement. Brock Sampson returns to the role of Brock Samson and Ellen McLain reprises her role as GLaDOS.

Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
We need to start having real conversations about AI in gaming
Copilot Quake II game.

AI has become a dirty word across almost every discipline over the past few years. As big corporations keep pushing this technology forward, a vocal resistance among creatives, critics, and passionate communities has risen up in opposition. While every creative medium is at risk of AI influence now, gamers are particularly sensitive about this technology sucking the creativity and human element from our beloved medium. Even the mere mention of AI being used in game development triggers a massive backlash, but we need to start being more nuanced in how we talk about the ways AI should and should not be used. Because, like it or not, AI is going to become more ubiquitous in gaming. We can't keep talking about AI as though it is a black-and-white thing. It is a tool, and like any tool, there are ways it can be used appropriately.

The question we need to ask ourselves now is, when is it ethical to use and what crosses the line?

Read more
Mecha Break is the closest I’ve felt to piloting a real Gundam outside Japan
Key art for Mecha Break.

In 2015, in a mostly-empty arcade in Fukuoka, I slid into the pilot seat of a Gundam.

I pulled the door down, watching as it seamlessly merged with the rest of the wall and turned into a display of my surroundings. As I pulled the earpiece down, the radio crackled to life as other pilots greeted me through comms.

Read more
Still shopping? Amazon Prime Day deals going strong into day 4
We're bringing you the best Prime Day deals throughout the sales period
Best Prime Day Gift Card Deals

It’s the fourth and final day of the longest ever Amazon Prime Day event, and if you thought the best deals were behind us, think again. Amazon’s stretching this year’s event across four full days (July 8 -11 ) which means price drops are still rolling in hot, with fresh discounts landing on everything from big-name tech to everyday essentials.

There have been stellar savings so far, with the AirPods Pro 2 heading down to $149 as the best saving we've seen.

Read more