First details of Epic Mickey

A source close to Disney has let slip the first details of Warren Spector's new Wii game, Epic Mickey, to Eurogamer.

The choice of platform, incidentally, boils down to Mickey's tools - paintbrushes, erasers, thinner, pencils and other artist tools - being mapped to Wii remote gestures.

But let's rewind a bit.

Epic Mickey is a tale about the 'forgotten' Disney stars: the rides, the characters, the lesser-known cartoons. When nobody any longer cares, they are cast into a dark void; a forgotten world of broken machines and bitter personalities - a bit like Sid's bedroom in Toy Story, but without the friendly furnishings.

This forgotten world is run by Oswald the Rabbit. He was Disney's first creation, made long before Mickey Mouse, and his jealousy of the newcomer has fermented for years. Now, finally, Oswald is ready for revenge.

He unleashes The Phantom Blot to wipe out Mickey and his cartoon world. The Blot pollutes the Disney universe with sticky black ink that makes colours run and fade (as seen on the Game Informer cover), so it's up to Mickey to restore peace and order. And this is where his tools come in.

Mickey has to draw and scribble his way through levels, mending broken bridges by applying the right colour paint or peering through walls after applying thinner. He can even clear rubble from his path by erasing parts of the world.

Our source told us Epic Mickey is a game about thinking and artwork - laterally considering your environment in order to overcome puzzles.

On top of that is a healthy dose of exploration, plus Mickey will be getting "his first makeover in years". "That's why no one's seen his face yet," our source explained, "But he's far more retro than you've seen him for years."

phantom_leo said:

Wow! A Boy and His Splooge Blob took me a little bit by surprise!

(1) I had no idea it was coming so soon (10/14)!

(2) I thought originally it was announced for WiiWare. I just saw it on GameStop.Com.

Looks nice! Anyone interested?

We have a thread.

gamingeek said:

Did some more updates.

Iga_Bobovic said:

gamingeek said:

To make the game possible for all consoles the levels would had to made with dumbed down mechanic in mind. This means if you want to have a simultaneous Wii/360/PS3 release all versions would have to be designed for the lowest denominator. In other words the graphics would be horrible compared to other 360/PS3 games and the controls and level design would not make full use of the Wii. A better option is to make two separate games, where the 360/PS3 version would be a more traditional platformer.

Also the painting controls could be the games unique selling point, look at Max and the Magic Marker. The fact that you can do these things simultaneously is one of the features of the game. With this feature it stands outside of the crowd. Making a more traditional platformer would mean that you can reach a larger user base, but the danger is that you lose your unique selling point and get lost in the crowd.

So in short the Wii and the HD consoles are different beast that require different kind of software. Look at Square, Wii get's Crystal Bearers and PS3/360 get's FFXIII. The HD consoles get Soul Calibur 4 super busty edition and the Wii gets Bushido Blade motionplus edition (okay I made this one up, Square make it now)

I agree we need a Silver surfer game.

However Broken Sword is a point and click game that was then ported successfully to gba with d-pad controls. COD4 this game that supposedly couldn't be done on Wii is being released very soon. Soul Caliber 4 and SFIV mind you could easily have versions done on Wii. There are many cases where a game can have a version, successfully adapted for the platform, RE4 is on mobile phones and a full GTA is on DS.

"This means if you want to have a simultaneous Wii/360/PS3 release all versions would have to be designed for the lowest denominator"

Wrong, as you said there are different versions of the same game with different features. Ghostbusters Wii vs Ghostbusters HD. Or COD World at War, the Wii version did not mean that the other versions became burdened with the lowest common denominator version or that the other versions were limited by what the Wii could do.

As for Mickey its USP is that it is Dark epic Mickey set in this forgotten lost world, that is the hook, its going to stand out either way.

Anyhow now we actually have more details on the game we can forget about this theoretical debate. I want to see it in motion.

 Yeah I mentioned the possibility to make multiple versions of the same game. But if you go for that you might as well make two entirely different game. I mean you already have two teams doing one version each, why not make two completely different games that each take advantage of each platform? And you would have an added benefit that some people would buy both games. Like Epic Mickey for the Wii and Epic Donald for the 360/PS3. 

And yes most HD games would be possible on the Wii with crappier graphics, but seriously I would rather have RS2 and Bushido Blade M+ then Soul Calibur 4 and CoD 4. 

Ravenprose said:

"In an industry that's certainly had its challenges this year, we like to say that the environment where PlayStation wins is best for this industry. We have a brand that can play on a worldwide basis, young and old, male and female, where our competition tends to be relegated to either select regions or to select consumer audiences. ...We don't have unlimited money, we cater to a more mass market audience. I think we're willing to take a little bit more risk than a competitor like Nintendo is and ultimately we deliver to the masses on a worldwide basis and that's what we've done for the last 15 years." - SCEA boss Jack Tretton

Link

 You would not be laughing if you saw that at gaf there are people (easily recognized by their Uncharted 2 avatars) that actually agreed with him. 

Ravenprose said:

"the environment where PlayStation wins is best" - SCEA boss Jack Tretton

From gaf

Look you can see Foolz spotting an Ico shirt back there.

aspro said:

Heads up for you guys, I'll be lurking for a few days. I injured my hand (cut on barbed wire, down to the bone) so I cannot type but with my left hand. Since I can't work I'm going to try gaming a DS game that requires simple button presses. (Maybe Chrono Trigger?) - I'm open for quick suggestions.

The way my hand is braced I can't really use a Wii-mote or other console controller.

Youch.  Chrono Trigger isn't a good idea because the battles have a real-time aspect so you don't want to be taking your time.  Fire Emblem would be a better choice in that regard.

aspro said:

I have a sealed copy of that one -- YAY!  But looks like a strategy RPG - I have not tried one of those before... Well, I'll give it a go, lord knows I have a lot of them.

I'm not sure what's more surprising, that you haven't played a SRPG, or that you didn't know what Fire Emblem is like.  The genre seems to fit your situation as well as anything, though I'm not as big of a fan of Fire Emblem as others here, it's still certainly enjoyable.