Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two Wii

Released on 23-Nov-2012

• Epic Mickey 3 might be a musical, says Warren Spector

  Warren Spector, the man behind Deus Ex and now working on the Epic Mickey series for Disney, has bold ideas for where he'd like to take the series. The addition of two-player co-op in the upcoming Epic Mickey: The Power of Two is an obvious evolution, but the inclusion of songs is apparently just the first step towards creating a full video game musical.

  "I had some really crazy ideas about ways to use music in games, that seemed very Disney-like to me," Spector told IGN in an interview this week. "This time around, in the second game, I just wanted to take a baby-step to making the full-blown interactive musical game. This is not it. Gamers, you tell 'em there are songs in the game and they start getting panicked, but I just want to see if people will accept songs in games and, if they do, next time I'm going crazy. People don't even know what's gonna hit 'em."

  It's all part of what Spector calls his three-story arc, where he works out in advance what new ideas he'd like to explore in future instalments of any game he works on. "One of the parts of my process is I figure out a three-story arc, like a narrative arc, and then I figure out, 'Okay, if we get lucky enough to do more than one game set in this world, what's the game innovation? What's the new thing in the first one? What would the new thing be in the second game? What would the new thing be in the third?'"

  Are you ready for song and dance numbers in games? We'll find out in November, when Epic Mickey 2 arrives for the Wii, Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3.
  

• Comic book legend Marv Wolfman signed up to write Epic Mickey 2

  Marv Wolfman, the legendary comic book writer and editor, who has created classic characters for both Marvel and DC, is the man behind the word processor for the upcoming Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.

  "The opportunity to work with Marv Wolfman was incredible to me", gushes Warren Spector, boss man of Junction Point studios where the game was made. "He was the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and one of the first story editors on Disney Adventures magazine. He totally gets the characters, he has a deep understanding of the Disney universe"

  "I don't think you can grow up in America and not be a fan of the Disney material", Wolfman says in a new promotional video about the game's story. "I watched the shows all the time, all the cartoons. I really love the old Disney black and white cartoons. I'm a huge fan of that."

  Writing for a game is very different to writing for the page, as Wolfman found out. "Comics, as a writer, I control everything," he explains. "Videogames are unique, in that players are affecting things, and therefore as a writer you have to take that into account and give the information that's necessary in ways that give them the freedom to go off and do it in the way they want."

  That freedom of choice was a key feature in the first Epic Mickey game, which came out for the Wii in 2010. It'll play an even larger role in the sequel, which finds Mickey Mouse teaming up with his discarded predecessor, Oswald the Rabbit for a co-operative adventure.

  Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is out in November for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and PC.

• Halo 4, Uncharted among the picks for Writers Guild of America award

  They may not have the highest profile in the games industry, but the annual awards handed out by the Writers Guild of America still carries a lot of weight. That's because the WGA is union that represents scriptwriters across all media, including movies and television.

  That comes with its own restrictions though. To be nominated, a writer must be a WGA member which counts out a lot of videogame scripters who have only ever worked in games. Similarly, the publisher must officially put their game forward for an award, meaning many games aren't even considered.

  The 2013 line up for the Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing award is still pretty good time capsule of where big blockbuster gaming is getting words right though. Halo 4 and Assassin's Creed III are both up for the prize, as is the PlayStation Vita exclusive spin-off Assassin's Creed Liberation. The PS Vita gets another nod in the shape of Uncharted: Golden Abyss, which continued the spritely storytelling of the main series in fine style.

  Also up for the award are 007 Legends, for which GoldenEye screenwriter Bruce Feirstein combined multiple Bond movie storylines into one game, and Disney Epic Mickey 2, which had a story helmed by comics scribe Marv Wolfman.

  The WGA ceremony takes place on February 17th.
  

  Published: 17/01/2013

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