Epic Mickey Boner

[Valigarmander]

First Epic Mickey details spilled News | Wii | Eurogamer

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."

Awesome.

[Greenmarioman]

How awesomly dark.

[Metal Mario]

Sounds really cool.

Forgotten Disney characters, eh? I wonder if Horace Horsecollar or Clarabell Cow will be showing up.....

[Metal Man]

It's like NC, the game... only with Mickey!

[Calamity Panfan]

this is a fantastic idea

[Apiary Tazy]

Well.....at least there's a method to the madness

[Maximum Spider]

All that's needed is current Disney "Stars" as enemies and we're set.

[Valigarmander]

Video Games Republic » Epic Mickey not a Wii-exclusive?

PS3 and Xbox 360 owners can prepare to get excited about Epic Mickey all over again after Game Informer removed a claim from its story that the game will be a Wii-exclusive.

Game Informer earlier unveiled its exclusive Epic Mickey magazine cover while claiming it as a Wii-exclusive. A claim which has since been removed.

The exciting news for owners of consoles other than the Wii gives further hope of a multi-platform release for the most anticipated Disney game yet.

The control system is reported to involve players having to paint and scribble their way through levels, adding credence to the Wii-exclusivity reports. But with the PS3 and Xbox 360 also getting motion controls it could work just as well on either console.

Epic Mickey sees players take control of Mickey Mouse who must restore order after a bunch of jealous forgotten Disney characters seek to exact their revenge on his world. Learn more here.

Hmm. Chances are I'll still be getting it for the Wii, but this is still interesting.

[Valigarmander]

Destructoid - Epic Mickey is definitely a Wii exclusive

Game Informer caused a bit of a stir recently when it removed the "Wii exclusive" label from its Epic Mickey teaser, leading many of us to wonder if there were plans for cross-platform releases. GI has now confirmed that the game will be made for the Wii, and only the Wii. If you thought that the gorgeous concept art for Warren Spector's Epic Mickey would be realized in HD graphics on a PS3 or Xbox 360, then tough luck.

What happened was that Game Informer attempted to hide the Wii exclusivity news so that it could save the big reveal for the next magazine issue. Unfortunately, this is the Internet, which meant everybody saw it before and after it was taken down. As is often the case, things snowballed and now Game Informer has been forced to spoil its big reveal (that we had all guessed in the first place) and confirm the Disney title's platform exclusivity.

That's a shame, since I felt that with Sony's Wiimote coming out, a PS3 release would have definitely been possible. Perhaps it could still happen one day, but for now you're going to have to make do with Epic Mickey in SD.

I take it back.

[Apiary Tazy]

MAKE UP YOUR MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIND.

[Deepfake]

haha news fail

[Greenmarioman]

Point and laugh.

[Metal Mario]

[Valigarmander]

Sketching Mickey: The Time-Lapse Video - Features - GameInformer.com

A time-lapse video of concept art being drawn for one of the enemies. Looks awesome.

[N Kong]

I'm really liking the concept art. Is that Hades' head that's mounted on the machine? It sure looks like him.

[chibimod3]

I think not only do they have enough characters to make nearly a 1000 forgotten bosses but this took some serious thought. I think the person that thought of this was an old fan who realized that some characters were just being forgotten. I wholeheartedly agree with the universe and the artistic concept. Its just made the list of games I plan on getting.

[Valigarmander]

An Interview With Warren Spector - Disney Epic Mickey - Nintendo Wii - GameInformer.com

A bit more new info on the game.

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

There:

Wow. If this monstrosity came up to me, I'd have a heart-attack.

I hope this stuff will be incorporated into Kingdom Hearts 3. If not, I'm mad already.

[Valigarmander]

^ It's not, these all belong to JPS and its game. Square has nothing to do with this, other than the Disney connection. Anywho...

Spector Explains Epic Mickey, Why it's on Wii

In an interview with Game Informer (via VG247), Junction Point Studios' Warren Spector has finally explained in some detail what his mysterious Epic Mickey project is all about -- and how it reflects his thoughts on game design in recent years.

"The central game play mechanic of Disney Epic Mickey is paint and thinner," Spector says. "It's basically drawing and erasing; it's making the world whole, or making it go away." He went on to explain that the design concept was based on his belief that environments in video games don't have enough going on behind the surface.

"[If] you peek behind the walls you see that they're flats held up with 2x4s," Spector said. "And so I wanted to create -- of all the games I was pitching since I left Ion Storm, were about creating a world that was more than a movie set, where you could scratch beneath the surface and there was more going on there. And so this whole paint and thinner mechanic really plays into that because you can dynamically change the world to suit your needs. So dynamically changing the environment to solve problems is kind of what it's about."

Spector also explained why you'll only be playing it on the Wii. "Well, think about it. Would you really want to tackle convincing Halo or Grand Theft Auto players that they want to be Mickey Mouse?" Spector asks rhetorically. "Would you really want to do that? In terms of finding a congenial audience, let's go for a platform that?s known for Mario and Link and now Sonic."

But apparently what didn't factor too much into the decision was the Wii's tremendous sales success. "Honestly, with the unit sales on the hardware, it was kind of a lucky happenstance. We made the call to go to the Wii long before it was clear that the Wii was going to be, at least for now, the best-selling platform," Spector explained.

[Bad Dragonite]

I'm still confused as to why this is in Anime & Cartoons, and not somewhere else.
Is it just the fact that Mickey and the others are cartoon characters?

EDIT: ^Also, I can see how his logic worked on that one, and it was a good decision IMO, even without the luck they had on its high sales...