Sam and Max’s third season has finally been officially announced! Titled Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, one surprising note is that the series will exclusively hit PS3. This is the first time the series has been available for the console, as the series has previously been available on both Xbox 360 and Wii. Devil’s Playhouse will also be available on PC and Mac, of course.

As Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse opens, Max has been bestowed with a set of powerful psychic abilities from an unusual ancient source that he’ll wield against the strongest and strangest foes the Freelance Police have ever faced. Join gaming’s greatest dog and rabbit sleuths as they investigate the source of these powers, with manic Max exercising new and amazing abilities with each episode. Max’s shape shifting, teleportation, mind reading and future sight powers prove particularly useful as intergalactic simians, eldritch gods, under-dwellers and an arcane scholar ruthlessly hunt down these powers for their own evil ends.

You can preorder the whole season already right here, which will give you a free episode from the Telltale library as well a membership in the Freelance Police “Elite Forces”, that will allow you access to chats with Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell and the designers, as well as some other goodies. They seem to be focusing on the PS3 version quite a bit, though.

“With Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, we’re bringing PlayStation fans five months of exciting episodic content and continuing our commitment to deliver exclusive, innovative gaming experiences to the PlayStation Network,” said Rob Dyer, senior vice president of publisher relations, Sony Computer Entertainment America. “The unhinged humor, unforgettable cast and irreverent undertone of this enduring franchise are aspects we expect will resonate with our audience, and both Telltale and SCEA can’t wait to deliver.”

I really hope they’ve learned from their console experience thus far. The 360 version of the series was plagued with problems- lips not syncing, dialogue being clipped and some stuttering animations. Even so, it wasn’t enough to diminish from the amazing humor and clever puzzles. Get on this now if you haven’t already, people, it’s adventure gaming of the highest calibur.

The first episode of the new series (titled “Penal Zone”) will release April 15th. Four more will follow, one each month! Check out the new dialogue system they have in place… quite interesting.

Along with that, Telltale has announced a collector’s edition dvd of the Tales of Monkey Island series. It seems as packed with goodies as the other dvds they’ve released- full of commentary tracks, extra videos and all sorts of stuff. Tales of Monkey Island wasn’t quite as good as Sam and Max but it’s close, a real treat for fans of the series.

Keep it going, Telltale! Someone’s gotta be the lone beacon of light in this cold, dark world devoid of decent point and click games.