Poker Night 2
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Poker Night 2'' is a poker
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
developed by
Telltale Games Telltale Incorporated (trade name: Telltale Games) was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. The company was founded in July 2004 by former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors and Troy Molander, following ...
. It is the sequel to '' Poker Night at the Inventory'' and, like its predecessor, features characters from different franchises. The game was released for Steam, PlayStation Network and
Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...
in April 2013, with an
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
version released the following month. Due to expiring licenses, the game was pulled from sale in September 2018.


Gameplay

Like the original game, ''Poker Night 2'' is a computer-based poker simulation between an unseen silent participant (the player) and four characters that is played in The Inventory that was featured in the previous game. Each player starts with the same amount of virtual money (which was raised to $20,000 per player and $100,000 total from $10,000 per player and $50,000 total in the original game), and competes in standard poker rules to try to eliminate all the other players by exhausting their money. In addition to the
Texas hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt fa ...
style of play featured in the original game, ''Poker Night 2'' introduced the
Omaha hold 'em Omaha hold 'em (also known as Omaha holdem or simply Omaha) is a community card poker game similar to Texas hold 'em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make their best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five ...
style as a playable mode as well. Like the original game, there is a large amount of dialogue due to the banter that the characters share. The four additional characters in addition to the player are Sam from the ''
Sam & Max ''Sam & Max'' is an American media franchise about Sam and Max, a pair of anthropomorphic vigilante private investigators. The characters, who occupy a universe that parodies American popular culture, were created by Steve Purcell in his yout ...
'' franchise (voiced by David Nowlin), who is assisted by Max (voiced by
David Boat Dave Boat is an American voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talen ...
),
Brock Samson This is a list of main and recurring fictional characters from ''The Venture Bros.'', a comic science fiction television series broadcast on Adult Swim. Overview Team Venture Team Venture comprises the central characters in the show; they for ...
from ''
The Venture Bros. ''The Venture Bros.'' is an American adult animated action comedy TV series created by Chris McCulloch (also known as "Jackson Publick") for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. Following a pilot episode on February 16, 200 ...
'' (voiced by
Patrick Warburton Patrick Warburton (born November 14, 1964) is an American actor. On television, he has played David Puddy on '' Seinfeld'', the title character on ''The Tick'', Jeb Denton on ''Less Than Perfect'', Jeff Bingham on '' Rules of Engagement'' and L ...
), Ash Williams from '' The Evil Dead'' franchise (voiced by Danny Webber), and Claptrap from the ''
Borderlands A borderland or borderlands are the geographical space or zone around a territorial border. Borderland or borderlands may refer to: Places * Borderland, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in Mingo County, West Virginia * Borderland (ele ...
'' series (voiced by David Eddings).
GLaDOS GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) is a fictional artificially superintelligent computer system from the video game series ''Portal''. GLaDOS later appeared in ''The Lab'' and ''Lego Dimensions''. The character was created by ...
(voiced by
Ellen McLain Ellen McLain (born 1952/1953) is an American voice actress. She is best known for providing the voice of GLaDOS, the primary antagonist of the ''Portal'' video game series, the Combine Overwatch in '' Half-Life 2'', and the Administrator, the a ...
) from the ''
Portal Portal often refers to: * Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...
'' 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 Roger Labon Jackson is an American voice actor. He is known for voicing Ghostface in the ''Scream'' film series, where E! ranked him as #46 on their list of ''Best Kept Secrets of Hollywood''. He is also known for voicing the character of Moj ...
) from ''
Tales of Monkey Island ''Tales of Monkey Island'' is a 2009 graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games under license from LucasArts. It is the fifth game in the ''Monkey Island'' series, released nearly a decade after the previous installment, '' Escape ...
'' reprises his role as the host. Additional brief cameos include Steve the Bandit (voiced by Mikey Neumann) and Mad Moxxi from ''
Borderlands A borderland or borderlands are the geographical space or zone around a territorial border. Borderland or borderlands may refer to: Places * Borderland, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in Mingo County, West Virginia * Borderland (ele ...
'', Doug and a Save-Lot Bandit from '' The Walking Dead,'' General Skun-ka'pe (Roger Jackson) from the ''
Sam & Max ''Sam & Max'' is an American media franchise about Sam and Max, a pair of anthropomorphic vigilante private investigators. The characters, who occupy a universe that parodies American popular culture, were created by Steve Purcell in his yout ...
'' franchise, and a waiter from '' Gravity Bone''. There is a large amount of dialogue, due to the banter that the characters share. The player, however, is silent (and this acknowledged by the other characters in dialogue). 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 ''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' mod for '' Quake'' and its 1999 remake, '' Team Fortress Classic''. The game was ...
'' items on Steam, Xbox Avatar items, or PlayStation 3 themes. 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 from the Inventory's bar in order to more easily expose their tells.


Development

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
Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
that contributed to the success of the game, luring players with ''
Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' mod for '' Quake'' and its 1999 remake, '' Team Fortress Classic''. The game was ...
'' items for performing well in the game. 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. 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 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
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. Similarly, Allison stated that Cartoon Network readily agreed to the inclusion of Brock from ''Venture Bros.'', one of the Telltale team's first selections.
Gearbox Software Gearbox Software is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, s ...
, the creators of ''Borderlands'', appreciated the first game, and allowed the Claptrap character to be used. 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. To help make the play more personable, they needed to have a dealer for the table, and GLaDOS was considered an obvious fit.


Marketing

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.


Reception

The PC and iOS versions received "generally favorable reviews", while the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions received "mixed or average reviews", according to the
review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.


References


External links

*
Telltale's ''The Key Party'' teaser website
* {{Telltale Games 2013 video games Casual games Crossover video games MacOS games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Network games Poker video games Telltale Games games Windows games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games Video games based on Sam & Max Borderlands (series) Monkey Island Video games developed in the United States The Evil Dead (franchise) video games Portal (series) The Venture Bros. Video games scored by Jared Emerson-Johnson