It's been a long, hard wait for Sam & Max fans since the 2004 cancellation of Sam & Max Freelance Police; however, solace came a year later with confirmation that Dan Connors and the ex-LucasArts staff at TellTale Games had acquired the license.

Despite a veil of secrecy surrounding the first episodic chapter of TellTale's adaptation, the US developer in conjunction with GameTap, today announced an October 17th release for Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock.

Season 1 will consists of six episodes, each launching exclusively for 15 days across the GameTap network, with the first coinciding in October on GameTap's first anniversary. Subsequent episodes will commence in December and run in monthly increments until April 2007.

The first episode finds the investigative duo discover that a group of former child stars have become embroiled in nefarious deeds; only the dog and the hyperkinetic rabbity thing can unravel the mystery and stand in their way.

"Gamers get to play the new episodes of Sam & Max first on GameTap, where the whole Sam & Max experience is enriched with additional amazing content," said Ricardo Sanchez, GameTap Vice President of Content. "Telltale and GameTap are also co-producing new animated machinima "shorts," which will premiere in November as a prelude to the second game episode, with more shorts airing between monthly episodes to give Sam & Max fans a regularly scheduled fix. With the new machinima shorts and a behind-the-scenes documentary that brings them inside 'The Making of' the new Sam & Max game, this exclusive Sam & Max experience adds that much more value to the monthly subscription."

"GameTap has the vision, commitment and talent to build a network that fosters unique and innovative original content," said Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale, Inc. "We're proud that we can contribute the first original interactive series to kick off the programming next month."