Over the last two decades, the self-proclaimed Freelance Police have appeared in a number of formats, including independent comics penned by Steve Purcell, an interactive PC adventure game, a Saturday morning cartoon, a web comic, and now Telltale's innovative game series. Season 1, which initially launched last fall and had monthly releases through the spring, has received high praise from press and fans for its well-written and often irreverent humor, stylistic cartoon art, and high production values.

Each Sam & Max episode sells on Steam for $8.95, with a 10% discount available the first week of release. To help customers get up to speed with the franchise, the first three episodes have been made available as a bundle for $19.95, with episodes 4 through 6 bundled for the same price point.

"Digital distribution is clearly a core component of our business and we're really impressed by Valve's approach to the market," says CEO Dan Connors. "The Steam folks have a great understanding of how robust online channels can bring new value added content, product expansions and serialized episodes to keep audiences regularly engaged."

"Sam & Max, a pioneering episodic series of PC games, and Steam, a pioneering distribution platform for PC games, are a natural match," said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. "Creating a path to millions of gamers for the delivery of episodic content is just one of the new business models enabled by Steam."

Sam & Max's expansion to new channels will continue in August, when The Adventure Company and JoWooD bring Sam & Max: Season 1 to retail shelves worldwide. More information about Telltale's continuing work on Sam & Max and other episodic games can be found on the company's website (http://www.telltalegames.com).