f13.net

...Over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=1115).

So, I hate this guy. He's responsible for hours and hours of lack of sleep, from the Ultima Underworlds to Deus Ex, and now, how long has it been? Three years since the creation of Junction Studios (and maybe a couple since the Disney Assimilation?) ? And he still can't talk about his new project :(

If you read the interview, there are very small hints.

From what I gathered, it will be a CRPG where Rockerduck is the final boss and I can assemble a party with Paperinik, Goofy and others, with Pluto as a potential pet.

Yeah, Riiisee and stuff  :awesome_for_real:

There is a new article about Warren Spector's next project, courtesy of Gamasutra:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21537 (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21537)

Ahem...nice snippet:

uh?  :ye_gods:

Yea. I saw that. Junction Point is a few miles from me. I thought about applying.

That was, until I read that.

WTF?  :ye_gods:

Llamasoft levels of hallucinogenic drugs...

I really think you could add a lot to this project after reading that snippet. Think of it as a video game entirely in green text.

I liked this game better when it was called Kingdom Hearts. :grin:

Thats what I was thinking of when I read it, except more of an 'Oh no, not ANOTHER Kingdom Hearts...'

The 7 Dwarfs in World War 2?  :grin:

Sigh, still nothing new under the sun regarding Warren Spector's new game.

During the last E3, there was a somewhat related interview with Graham Hopper, "general manager of Disney Interactive Studios":

http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23916

So: Warren Spector. What's up?

Graham Hopper: One of these days you'll find out.

Have to ask.

GH: Warren's hard at work. He has a team working on a great project. We're going to show it when it's right and ready. We're very encouraged by what we're seeing. I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised.

(the interview goes on with little more info)
---

And on July 10th, a new "hiring" post appeared on Junction Point official website:

http://www.junctionpoint.com/

Ok, sorry for the useless update, but since I consider Deus Ex the best game of the past 9 years (well, among those I personally played, of course :P), I'm quite anticipating Spector's new project :)

Good. Let's go back to the days where developers keep their fucking pieholes shut until the game is released (in a finished state, plz).
Eh....you'll be disappointed.

Looks like something is slowly surfacing. Here is an article from Eurogamer (but...umm, only for the Wii? I surely hope not :P) :

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/spector-making-epic-mickey-for-wii

But wait, there is more:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=16881047&postcount=109

But wait, there is more!

http://www.fredgambino.co.uk/film_tv_thmbs.html ("Epic Mickey" section)

MWHAHAH  :drill: :drill: :drill:

(http://www.fredgambino.co.uk/images/pages/film_tv/epic_mickey/goofy_zombie.jpg)
(http://i25.tinypic.com/2hi022s.jpg)

I hope there's a refrigerated Walt head encased in glass on a cyborg frame. It could be guarding the Disney Vault copy of Song of the South.

The Robo Goofy was good. But too bad it's just a Wii game.

It's true, this being a Wii game is unacceptable.

Internet petition time?  :awesome_for_real:

I just want that art to be realized in hi-def :(

Maybe I missed it while skimming over all those links, but is there anything besides "insider information" that explicitly states this game is a wii/wii-exclusive?  I realize I'm hoping against the tide, no need to mention it...

So, being (at least for the first six months, then let's hope it's PC conversion time) a Wii exclusive, is it safe to assume it's not going to be a pure CRPG (which is my favourite gaming genre, so I hope it is), but more of an action game? And yes, looking at the Art, it just begs for immersive, high-def environments. Well, it's just the fact that, with Warren Spector at the head of the project, you would expect something related to his previous titles.

It's entirely based off the fact that they saw on 1 concept artist's resume it said "Wii". Which is now changed and gone.

There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to think that, even if it is your favourite gaming genre.

Hope so: it might be kinda superficial to do the "Wii = simplicistic games" equation (edit: which, ok, often it's unrelated to the concept of "fun"), but I really don't know.

Oh, "favourite" is british english, as far as I know: english in general is not my native language, so I use whatever term first comes to my mind :D

Well, chances of it being a CRPG are zero to none. I should've known you were british, I shouldn't try to grammatically correct when I wake up.

(OT blathering follows)


Moar coffee, Mr. Schild, moar! :


I'm italian, by the way  :heart:

I agree, more coffee may be in order :(

Also, our blisteringly silly quarrel will not make it a CRPG.

But don't let that stop you!

While I won't make any bets on CRPG or not, I will lay a stack on "will suck".

SAD PANDA IMAGE.

Edit: actually, some kind of twisted and perverted cyborg-zombie-panda picture would be more appropriate.

(large pic of Game Informer Cover)


http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2009/10/05/spoiler-alert-epic-november-issue-revealed.aspx?PageIndex=8

Video Interview with Warren Spector (http://gameinformer.com/games/disney_epic_mickey/m/disney_epic_mickey_media/11550.aspx) (fluff about his passion for Disney and Mickey; but cool frames on the background of his works with Origin and Looking Glass)


Wii exclusive.

EDIT: Oh wait:

http://gameinformer.com/mag/mickey.aspx

To keep track of content additions (why am I speaking like a gargoyle)

I am amazed they got permission from Disney to use their characters in this kind of setting and style.

I'm amazed they're wasting this amazing art on a 480p system.

When I think what I'd like to see Disney to do, it'd be to take their classic characters into a darker, edgier setting.

Actually, no. What I'd like to do is kill them and erase them forever and ever. Explore new settings with a consistent background and genuine character development that doesn't reek of a marketing machine.

and Mickey Fucking Mouse.

this seems really odd -- to have their icons in an un-Disney scene.  Be surprised if it's actually released.

Considering JP is owned by Disney, it's a pretty safe bet they approve.

still.  It's like GM saying let's start putting sails on our 4x4's.

Disney used to be willing to take artistic chances. Fantasia has wonderful dark imagery, and Destino was a delightfully trippy little film. Neither match up with the Disney we know now. If Specter is as big a fan of Disney as he seems to be, then it's not shocking he might channel a bit of Walt.

(http://www.spinnwebe.com/reviews/images/ptm_buzz.jpg)

(http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8898/poochie.gif)

Some places are reporting (http://www.joystiq.com/2009/10/07/rumor-epic-mickeys-wii-exclusivity-in-question/) that GameInformer have left all mention of Wii exclusivity off their article and site. So there may be hope for the future.

Nice :)

http://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2009/10/12/sketching-mickey-the-time-lapse-video.aspx

In the meantime, we’ve put together this short film for your enjoyment – a three-minute time-lapse video shortened from a half-hour of drawing by one of the character artists at Junction Point. As you watch Mickey come to life on the page, you’ll also get your first glimpse at a potential enemy in the game – one of the robotic Beetleworx. Keep your ears open as well to hear some of the great music from the upcoming game.

http://gameinformer.com/games/disney_epic_mickey/m/disney_epic_mickey_media/24611.aspx (http://gameinformer.com/games/disney_epic_mickey/m/disney_epic_mickey_media/24611.aspx)

Holy hell I wish I could draw. :awesome_for_real:

http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2009/10/15/epic-mickey-seeing-is-believing/

Looks like shit in game. Thanks, Nintendo.

Every time I see the name "Epic Mickey", I think Warren Spector is making a date rape game.

Nothing I've heard has proven this hypothesis wrong thus far.

All it takes is practice. Drawing is easy, creativity is hard.

Wow.  It looks like they just replaced Spyro with Mickey Mouse.

I don't think tech is enough to explain the difference between those scans and the previous concept art.  It's a change of artistic direction.  It looks like Junction Point got corrected by corporate.

Gee, who'd ever think that Disney wouldn't want a title where Mickey is a mutant cyborg spider?  :why_so_serious:

Seems I won't have to borrow my sisters Wii after all. After the buildup that was quite underwhelming.

I wonder if they'll include the shark Warren is jumping over.

Has he actually done anything worthwhile since Deus Ex?

Thief:DS was good until it wasn't. Even though it went kablooie with the stupid AI, it was worth it for the game up to that point.

Long interview with Spector about Epic Mickey here: gameinformer (http://gameinformer.com/games/disney_epic_mickey/b/wii/archive/2009/10/24/An-Interview-With-Warren-Spector.aspx)
A lot of it is him recounting early Disney history, but plenty of detail too about his recent history and his aspirations.

I mean literally I was standing outside [the E3 press conference] on the steps with with a pen and a contract, and I had my phone to my ear and I was talking to my lawyer with one hand, and I was talking to my agent with the other hand, and it’s like there are 300 journalists in there...

http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/article.php?id=12784

So, has anyone gotten a chance to play this yet?   My gf's roommate and I are thinking of getting it.

Reviews are so tepid for this. 

Under the tree.  Will report next year, I expect.

I was going to pick it up for my 5yr old, she's getting decent at Mario so I figured this would be okay.  The reviews harp on the camera, and that is one thing that will disinterest my daughter from games - if it controls poorly she'll put it down and not pick it back up.

So, at some point it will be $20 and I'll buy it for her for fun.

My girlfriends roommate got this for Xmas.  The camera and controls are terribad.  I tried it out for 3 minutes and put it down before I threw the wiimote at the tv.  I'll stick with my ps3 backlog.

"If reviewers want to give us a hard time about it because they're misunderstanding the game we made, it's not for me to tell them that they're wrong, absolutely not. But I wish people would get it out of their head that we made a 'Mario' competitor, because we didn't." - Warren Spector (http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=144555)

I think the full quote is worth reading, but that's the heart of it.

This is very clearly not the same man that made Deus Ex, System Shock, etc. Something happened in the last decade.

So fuckin' true.

My eldest (14 now) played this for half an hour.  She walked through a door, had it close behind her, and was not able to open it from the other side.  She was irritated because she still had two or three tasks to complete on the other side, and had no way to go back and complete them, short of restarting.  So far as I know, she shut it off with the intent of playing it later, and hasn't played it since.

(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/85916/not_reggies_problem.png)

I'd disagree with Specter and say that Epic Mickey is at least Psychonauts with a good/evil slider (does Tim Schaefer consider Psychonauts a platfomer?).  If it was Mario with a good/evil slider, it would be a far better platformer.  Specter is dead-on about trying to appeal to more than one playstyle and that merging them is hard, but sometimes you don't want to try to merge certain things because they will always produce retard spawn.  That said, I've played games with far worse camera control... just not in recent history.

If Specter thinks everyone gets third-person cameras wrong, someone needs to give him a copy of God of War.  The thing is, GoW doesn't also blend in situations where you have to enter first-person mode, like when you're looking to see if you missed something to dissolve or if you're navigating a cramped room.  He could have refined the camera more if he had focused his game design a bit more, in my feeble opinion.

It does have some appeal but I keep wondering if I've gotten to the real game yet.  I left off at Asia in the "it's a small world" ride but I think there is a "town" later on, if I can get to it.  Hopefully there will be an option to revisit previous areas to collect pins, otherwise I'm going to be sad.

My son likes it, but not as much as Kirby's Epic Yarn, which is fucking awesome.  No camera problems or good/evil slider.

Layoffs:

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/24/source-epic-mickey-dev-suffering-layoffs/

So games that sold nearly 2 million units worldwide so far are now considered flops? At least the story for the layoffs is that is't due to Tron: Legacy and Epic Mickey being huge flops. I don't know about Tron but despite its failures Epic Mickey has sold nearly two million units which at least to me seems strong.

How was Tron a flop?  It made back all its money in the first two weeks, prompting the studio to green light two more sequels....

Tron, the tie-in game, not the movie. since the layoffs concern Disney's game division I didn't mention that explicitly.

I thought the most impressive thing about the Tron game was the massive Tron logo that they used for their trade show booths. The game though? Eh.

I think they wanted to make a game for kids with a property that's decidedly not for kids.

I wonder how Tron 2.0 did vs. Tron: Legacy: The Video Game: The Cash-In.

Update: HUGE layoffs :(

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/24/disney-interactive-layoffs/

The problem is that they cost a lot to make. I don't think exact figures have been mentioned, but Epic Mickey apparently cost a bomb that 2m sales hasn't yet hit the targeted returns.

The other thing that is happening is that Disney is getting out of unprofitable video game ventures very quickly. They bought Playdom and killed Acclaim's titles pretty much instantly, preferring to focus on social games.

Epic Mickey took too long to make (read: WAY TOO LONG for the final product that was produced) and sold too few on a system with pathetic margins and ridiculous licensing fees (meaning, the Wii, just a terrible system to make games for if your name isn't Nintendo).

I know that it was already mentioned in this thread but what on earth made them do that?

For a 3rd party Wii game Epic Mickey's sales were astounding to say the least. 3rd party titles don't usually perform well on the Wii (another reason why many developers don't make games for it).

On the other hand there are now a few good cross-platform capable engines out that would have let them easily do versions for PS 3, XBOX 360 and the PC, just like with any other major title out there.

If they managed to move that many units on the Wii, they should have been able to perform great on the other systems as well and would have had the opportunity to provide much better graphics.

Epic Mickey would've sold 10M if it looked like the concept art.

Disney, and by extension, Junction Point made a terrible, terrible decision. Mostly though, gonna go with Disney. Everyone knows it takes Warren Spector FOREVER to make a game.

I haven't played this myself yet, but my sister picked it up and played it.

Her review was that the game is fun, but a let down to be sure.  She also said the camera is almost unforgivably bad and has more than once basically just walked her off a cliff.