Topic: Epic Mickey - Wii Exclusive

[Peachylala]

This is true.

Our games aren't bogged with melodramatic cutscenes.

[broodwars]

This is true.

Our games aren't bogged with melodramatic cutscenes.

Or often any attempt at storytelling or epic scope.

[Peachylala]

"Epic" scope can sometimes lead to "epic stupidity".

Thank you, HD generation.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Pokemon is pretty epic.  Look at that expansive universe and endless poke-mastering drama and insanely huge monsters that are too big for pockets.

[Pale]

It's amazing how many threads flirt with devolving into more console wars crap. Keep it on topic!

[EasyCure]

It's amazing how many threads flirt with devolving into more console wars crap. Keep it on topic!

Considering the (tentative) title is "Epic Mickey", the talk of what "epic" in gaming really means is valid. I say we're on point. After all, the game could end up being the most "epic" 3d adventure to grace any console this generation, yet you'd still have people saying its not "epic" just cuz its not HD. Or, the budget for this game could go so out of whack trying to achieve a maximum level up "epic" that the disney backs out of the project to an extend and the developers end up cutting back on actual game content and all we're left with is a "pretty, for the wii" looking game with some 3d, some side scrolling levels that feel like mini games and a giant but empty hubworld that lets us restore ONE Disney monument at a time (once completing the appropriate mini-game level of course) until everythings bright and pretty and you go off to conquest that one last dark fortress FTW. The game gets slammed in reviews, people will say it shoulda never been on wii and that it woulda been a "true epic" game on the HD consoles (though not realizing that my fictional over-budget issue woulda been 10x worse with HD development) and we'd be back to square one. Basically, you can't win this one Pale. Sorry.

Oh and then we'd be discussing how "epic scope" never turns out as epic as develepors wish.

"Epic" scope can sometimes lead to "epic stupidity".

[broodwars]

It's amazing how many threads flirt with devolving into more console wars crap. Keep it on topic!

I was perfectly content to just focus on this as a Wii game and enjoy it as one, but some people just can't let a day go by without knocking one of the other consoles (usually for fanboy-ish and suitably idiotic reasons).  So long as people keep their swords sheathed around here, I'm content with keeping mine in its sheath as well.  So shall we get back to looking forward to this game, then?

EDIT: That said, I do think actual discussion on the term "epic" in this context is valid conversation.  Let's just keep it there.

[Peachylala]

I just want "Third Party" Mickey to be good. Is that too much to ask?

Yeah, it kind of is.
 

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Capcom's Mickey game for GameCube had some promising animation for its time, when I saw it at E3 2001.  What a failure that turned out to be.

This new game has hopes to deliver proper Mickey personality along with a proper game.

[broodwars]

Capcom's Mickey game for GameCube had some promising animation for its time, when I saw it at E3 2001.  What a failure that turned out to be.

This new game has hopes to deliver proper Mickey personality along with a proper game.

You'd better hope for more than "proper Mickey personality".  Mickey is so historically bland that he has no personality, which is why for a lengthy period of time in the 30s and 40s Donald was pretty much the company's mascot.  I'll settle for "an incredibly well-made game that celebrates Disney's history and characters with tight gameplay, good storytelling, and a wonderful sense of style as could only be conveyed with the Wii Remote".

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

No, I'm not hoping for more.  That'd mean spending development energy on an area that's not needed.  The personality will be defined by the player inside the game.

And we can't have 3rd parties working too hard on Wii.  It wouldn't be like them.

[broodwars]

No, I'm not hoping for more.  That'd mean spending development energy on an area that's not needed.  The personality will be defined by the player inside the game.

And we can't have 3rd parties working too hard on Wii.  It wouldn't be like them.

I'm sorry, but I will accept nothing less from Disney on this.  They have the resources, from the looks of it they may have the talent, they have the characters, and they have the audience to make this worthy of a AAA-quality title.  There is no excuse for this game being mediocre, especially one that tries so hard to appeal to old Disney fans instead of Disney's usual toddler-to-preteen audience.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

You don't have to accept anything, it'll fit in the same pile with the rest of the 3rd party and licensed movie games out there just fine without you.

Disney and Rare made Mickey's Speedway, and the rest is history and video gaming business.

[broodwars]

You don't have to accept anything, it'll fit in the same pile with the rest of the 3rd party and licensed movie games out there just fine without you.

Disney and Rare made Mickey's Speedway, and the rest is history and video gaming business.

Glad to know the future is ever so bright with the Wii.  And people say I'm cynical.

[GoldenPhoenix]

You don't have to accept anything, it'll fit in the same pile with the rest of the 3rd party and licensed movie games out there just fine without you.

Disney and Rare made Mickey's Speedway, and the rest is history and video gaming business.

Glad to know the future is ever so bright with the Wii.  And people say I'm cynical.

Pro is just grumpy that people didn't buy his game of the year, Cursed Mountain.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I might still get it, but not for more than $30 since it would immediately join my backlog.

[EasyCure]

I might still get it, but not for more than $30 since it would immediately join my backlog.

Secondededededed.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

You don't have to accept anything, it'll fit in the same pile with the rest of the 3rd party and licensed movie games out there just fine without you.

Disney and Rare made Mickey's Speedway, and the rest is history and video gaming business.

Glad to know the future is ever so bright with the Wii.  And people say I'm cynical.

Pro is just grumpy that people didn't buy his game of the year, Cursed Mountain.

EasyCure, is that my game of the year?

That vampy's been sucking the wrong kool aid.

[Stratos]

I would venture a guess that Rune Factory is Pro's GOTY contender.

I'm wondering how this game will fare. If estimations to it's release date are true (Fall 2010) then won't it be going head to head with Mario Galaxy 2 at retail?

Now that may be an 'epic' showdown

[GoldenPhoenix]

I would venture a guess that Rune Factory is Pro's GOTY contender.

I'm wondering how this game will fare. If estimations to it's release date are true (Fall 2010) then won't it be going head to head with Mario Galaxy 2 at retail?

Now that may be an 'epic' showdown

Isn't Mario Galaxy slated to be released early next year?

[broodwars]

I would venture a guess that Rune Factory is Pro's GOTY contender.

I'm wondering how this game will fare. If estimations to it's release date are true (Fall 2010) then won't it be going head to head with Mario Galaxy 2 at retail?

Now that may be an 'epic' showdown

Isn't Mario Galaxy slated to be released early next year?

Well, right now I don't see anything listed for a release date (not even a Quarter number), but that would be unusual if it was.  That would mean it was released without ever actually showing at E3 in playable form, something I doubt will happen.  I'm guessing we'll probably see a Summer/Fall release.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Game Informer Updates

October 23rd
An Interview with Warren Spector

GI: Certainly there are a lot of things about that world that set it apart from what we’re used to seeing from Mickey Mouse cartoons – do you have a general way of describing the tone of the world and the characters we see there?

WS: It’s dark and twisted, that’s kind of what it’s about. I want people to have – as they play the game and they look at things, and they move through spaces and they listen to the soundtrack – I want them to have this feeling of recognition and familiarity, and then I want to yank the rug out from under them. I want them to feel like, “You know, I’ve been here before but – no, I really haven’t. I’ve heard that song... no, that’s different.” So there’s that moment of recognition, and then there’s the shock that something’s different. That’s kind of what I’m hoping for.

On top of that, I really want to scare kids. I’m gonna keep saying that until I’m blue in the face. It’s going to be a funny game. Honestly, I bet a lot of fans are really gonna be upset with me about this, but I really want to do something lighter. I don’t want to do dark and heavy. I want people to smile when they’re playing, not get all scrunched up with adrenaline. I want people to smile when they’re playing a damned game for a change. This seems like a perfect opportunity to do that, but thrown in there every once in a while, there’s going to be an “Oh my god!” scare. That’s what I’m shooting for. We’ll see if I succeed. That’s a tough thing – funny and then scary. But we know Disney can do it, so we’ll see if we can do it in a game.

GI: Who or what is the Phantom Blot?

WS: The Phantom Blot was created by Floyd Gottfredson who is probably the second greatest comic book writer and artist of all time after the sainted Carl Barks who did all those Uncle Scrooge stories that I love so much. (...)

Also, I want to do a Duck Tales game. Convince the world that a Duck Tales game needs to be made. I can’t convince anybody at Disney to let me do a Duck Tales game. How can that be?

GI: Everybody I know, when you ask about the cartoons that they are fond of from childhood, there’s that varying list of all the action ones, the G.I. Joes and the Transformers and the Thundercats and all that stuff, but everybody loves Duck Tales.

WS: Carl Barks really is the greatest American comic book writer and artist ever. Some people would say Will Eisner. There’s competition. But Carl Barks is the best, and he wrote and drew the stories that inspired half of those Duck Tales episodes, and they are watered down. You would not believe the beauty and the power of those stories. They’re not for kids. They’re really very adult or certainly appealing to the broadest possible audience, which is kind of where I want to be now. I don’t want to make games for kids, I don’t want to make games for gamers, I want to make games for everybody. I think if someone did Carl Barks or Duck Tales right, it would be awesome. Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge were Indiana Jones 50 years before Indy was a glimmer in Spielberg’s eyes. It’s just amazing, and they’re doing nothing with him right now.

[Stratos]

Game Informer Updates

October 23rd
An Interview with Warren Spector

A very nice interview. I enjoyed it and I appreciate Warren Spector a whole lot more now.

Also, I want to do a Duck Tales game. Convince the world that a Duck Tales game needs to be made. I can’t convince anybody at Disney to let me do a Duck Tales game. How can that be?

I really hope he gets to make a DuckTales game. Maybe I could convince him to make a Darkwing Duck one as well?

[KDR_11k]

I think "epic" is a fuzzy term anyway. Epics are just a kind of story originally AFAIK, people just use the term on something different when they feel like it, just like "immersion", the bullshit buzzword of the generation.

Also Steamboat Willie made sound film an art form? I thought that was generally attributed to Fritz Lang's M?

[Arbok]

Also, I want to do a Duck Tales game. Convince the world that a Duck Tales game needs to be made. I can’t convince anybody at Disney to let me do a Duck Tales game. How can that be?

I really hope he gets to make a DuckTales game. Maybe I could convince him to make a Darkwing Duck one as well?

Oh god, someone please give this guy a huge blank check... please