Max Poker Night
Poker Night is a successor to Telltale's first poker game, Telltale Texas Hold'em, though the game's original characters were dropped in favor of various licensed characters from other media. Max appears as a tournament opponent, with Sam making a brief cameo. This is a reference to the first Sam & Max comic, Monkeys Violating the Heavenly Temple, which took place in the Philippines. In Poker Night at the Inventory, the Heavy tries to menace Max by saying 'I will make hat from you, little bunny', alluding to this hat.
16:3507 Jun
The troubled German poker pro, Maximilian ‘Max’ Heinzelmann, who cashed for close to $2million in tournaments over the years including several deep runs in EPT and WSOP events, has died aged just twenty-six, German newspapers and websites have reported.
The young German, known online as ‘HotKarlMC’, shot to prominence in the poker world when he took two consecutive runner-up spots in EPT Main Events, firstly in Berlin where he won €500,000 ($711,602) and then barely 3 weeks later when he again finished 2nd at EPT San Remo, this time for €600,000 ($874,508).
Despite these huge scores, Heinzelmann was the subject of great controversy when he was publicly outed on the 2+2 forum for borrowing money from dozens of sources and not repaying it, the thread titled: ‘My dealings with Max Heinzelmann’ posted back in September of 2014.
Heinzelmann himself quickly responded, stating that:
“I am very well aware of what I did, and yes I did lie to a lot of people about what I did just to cover up what I did. I’m trying to figure out paying everyone back at this point and fixing and owning up to my mistakes. I don’t ever expect to have anyone respecting me again or anything for what I’ve done, and that’s fine. I’ve ****ed up and I’m very well aware of that. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I’m ashamed of the way I handled it. I’ll do my best to pay everyone back as quickly as I can and make sure that I own up to what I’ve done wrong. I’m in contact with the people that I owe money to and I’m trying to correct this as quickly as I can.”
On the news of his death last week no cause was given, with many poker fans online suggesting that Max may have taken his own life, however his former girlfriend Lanni Deskins has stated that:
Max Poker Night Club
'Max suffered many health issues throughout his life and he passed in his sleep. The police ruled that he died of natural causes.” She added that, “He made bad choices but truly wanted to fix his mistakes.”
German poker site Pokerfirma.com posted an article which stated:
“Max Heinzelmann has gone through all the ups and downs of a poker player. Now he has found the eternal rest. On May 31 Max died, on Friday (June 9th) he will be buried buried. RIP!”
They continued:
“After doing some things that he was not proud of, he tried to get his life back in order. He also contacted us with the request to allow him to start a new life by removing various messages.”
However, the site itself apparently came under some fire after initially heading the obituary 'seat open' at first, which they changed to ‘Ruhe in Frieden!’ after people complained.
His parents and family posted an obituary in the local Ostalbtrauer newspaper which read ‘Suddenly and unfathomably you have been taken from us too early. In love and mourning…’ along with a poem which read:
“If you look for me, look for me in your heart, It is there that I have found a sense of belonging, where I shall always accompany you.'
Max Heinzelmann R.I.P. 02/07/1990 – 31/05/2017
| Poker Night 2 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Telltale Games |
| Publisher(s) | Telltale Games |
| Composer(s) | Jared Emerson-Johnson |
| Engine | Telltale Tool |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,[1]iOS |
| Release | Xbox Live Arcade Steam (Windows & OS X)
iOS
|
| Genre(s) | Card video game |
Poker Night 2 is a pokervideo game developed by Telltale Games.[1] It is the sequel to Poker Night at the Inventory and, like its predecessor, features crossover characters from different franchises. The game was released for Steam, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in April 2013, with an iOS version released the following month.[2][3][4] Due to expiring licenses, the game was pulled from sale in September 2018.[5]
Gameplay[edit]
Like the original game, Poker Night 2 is a computer-based poker simulation between an unseen participant (the player) and four characters. Each player starts with the same amount of virtual money, and competes in standard poker rules to try to eliminate all the other players by exhausting their money. In addition to Texas hold 'em style of play, Poker Night 2 includes Omaha hold 'em as well.
The four additional characters in addition to the player are Sam from the Sam & Max franchise (voiced by David Nowlin), who is assisted by Max (voiced by David Boat), Brock Samson from The Venture Bros. (voiced by Patrick Warburton), Ash Williams from The Evil Dead franchise (voiced by Danny Webber), and Claptrap from the Borderlands series (voiced by David Eddings). GLaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain) from the Portal series takes a supporting role as the dealer. During the hands, these characters provide humorous chatter between each other and towards the player. Reginald Van Winslow (voiced by Roger L. Jackson) from Tales of Monkey Island reprises his role as the host.[1][6][7] Additional brief cameos include Steve the Bandit and Mad Moxxi from Borderlands, Doug and a Save-Lot Bandit from The Walking Dead, and a waiter from Gravity Bone.
The game features unlockable in-game card, chip and table designs, as well as 'Bounty Unlocks' for completing certain goals, which unlock Borderlands 2 content and, depending on the platform played, Team Fortress 2 items on Steam, Xbox Avatar items, or PlayStation 3 themes.[6][8] Simultaneously using chips, cards, and tables sharing the same theme alters the design of the Inventory, opening up new conversation possibilities. Players can also buy the other characters drinks in order to more easily expose their tells.
Development[edit]
The first Poker Night game was developed by Telltale during a lull in their release schedule, and proved to be successful; Steve Allison, vice president of publishing at Telltale, believed it was the relationship between Telltale and the Valve that contributed to the success of the game, luring players with Team Fortress 2 items for performing well in the game.[9] As completion of The Walking Dead neared, Telltale found themselves in another lull, and returned to the Poker Night concept as a way to fill the gap.[9]
Character selection was more direct than the first game, with Telltale wanting to bring in characters from movies and television. Allison had a good relationship with MGM Studios who were eager to offer characters, and was able to secure the character of Ash from Evil Dead, which also was timed well against the release of the 2013 remake.[9] Similarly, Allison stated that Cartoon Network readily agreed to the inclusion of Brock from Venture Bros., one of the Telltale team's first selections.[9]Gearbox Software, the creators of Borderlands, appreciated the first game, and allowed the Claptrap character to be used.[9] The final spot at the table was to be left open for a character from a Telltale game, eventually resulting in Sam. They had considered using either Marty or Doc Brown from the Back to the Future game but realized that they would not be appropriate in a game with mature spoken content. Similarly, characters from The Walking Dead series would not be a thematic fit for the poker title, as it would make people emotional about the game.[9] To help make the play more personable, they needed to have a dealer for the table, and GLaDOS was considered an obvious fit.[9]
Marketing[edit]
Telltale started a website called The Key Party in 2013 in order to promote the game, with a new keychain related to the game characters revealed every working day from March 25 until April 1, when the game was officially revealed.[1]
Reception[edit]
Max Poker Night
Anthony Gallegos from IGN gave the game a 7.5 out of 10.[10]Review aggregator website Metacritic gave the PC version of the game 75/100,[11] the PlayStation 3 version 63/100,[12] the Xbox 360 version 69/100,[13] and the iOS version 80/100.[14]
References[edit]
- ^ abcd'Telltale Teasing The Key Party'. The International House of Mojo. 2013-03-27. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
- ^'Ash, Claptrap, Sam and Brock Samson Ante Up For Poker Night 2'. Kotaku. 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
- ^Usher, Anthony. 'Take Evil Dead protagonist Ash Williams to the cleaners in Telltale Games's Poker Night 2 for iOS'. www.pocketgamer.com.
- ^'Out Now: 'Combo Crew', 'Poker Night 2', 'Epic', 'Stickman Tennis', 'Zombie Fish Tank' and Much More'. Touch Arcade. 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
- ^'Why is Poker Night 2 no longer available?'. Telltale Games. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
- ^ abMiller, Greg (2013-04-01). 'Telltale Games' Poker Night 2 Announced'. IGN. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
- ^'Poker Night 2 – YouTube'. YouTube.
- ^'Poker Night at the Inventory 2 Leaked Through TF2 Promo Items List'. Softpedia. 2013-03-14. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
- ^ abcdefgMcElroy, Griffin (2013-05-07). 'How Evil Dead, Venture Bros. and Borderlands Ended Up at the Poker Table'. Polygon. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
- ^Gallegos, Anthony (2013-04-30). 'Poker Night at the Inventory 2 Review – IGN'. IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
- ^'Poker Night 2'. Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
- ^'Poker Night 2'. Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
- ^'Poker Night 2'. Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
- ^'Poker Night 2'. Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-03-15.