Okay, so what could top the 3DS at E3? Well how about the response to Disney Epic Mickey?
I talked to so many people – easily in triple digits – and got to see even more playing the game in the booth (as I ran from the Disney area to somewhere else). And by the end of the show, we’d been nominated for at least 22 awards – won 15, lost 2 and there are still, as of today, 7 we’re waiting to hear about. Go Mickey! Go Junction Point team! I don’t want to brag (too much!) so, for a full rundown on what happened – and to stay on top of what’s to come – check out the Junction Point and Disney Interactive Studios web pages or, maybe even better, go to the Facebook pages for Disney Epic Mickey, Junction Point and Disney Interactive Studios. Oh, and there’s even a Disney Epic Mickey You Tube channel, and of course David Garibaldi‘s stuff, too. Tons of cool stuff to see!
Finally, before I forget (as if!), this year’s E3 will live on in my memory as the E3 where I GOT TO MEET SHIGERU MIYAMOTO AND STAN LEE! IN THE SAME WEEK! I’m pretty sure I jibbered like an idiot on both occasions – definitely had to put my head between my knees briefly on meeting Mr. Miyamoto… and I vaguely remember telling Stan Lee I was NOT a stalker at least 15 times… which, of course, branded me as a stalker immediately. Sigh.
Both gentlemen lived up to my expectations and then some – in my experience, heroes usually do. (It’s what makes them heroes, I guess.) These are guys who changed my life – Mr. Miyamoto’s work pushes me to do better in my own… And Stan Lee introduced me to a world of heroes and villains I still live in today. I remember vividly buying Fantastic Four #13 (The Red Ghost issue) and Spider-Man #2 (The Vulture!), back in 1963 and having my 8-year-old mind blown. Getting to tell Stan Lee about that was priceless.
(BTW, if anyone who was at the Nintendo Press Conference rehearsal took any pictures of the magical – if embarrassing – moment when I was introduced to Mr. Miyamoto, please get in touch. I’d sure love a photographic record of a real career highlight!)
So that’s it. My E3 experience. All I have to say is this:
Best.
Week.
Ever!
If you feel like it, let me know what blew YOU away at E3 this year – remember, I saw almost nothing!…
Warren Spector's blog 
June 27, 2010 at 7:40 pm |
I don’t know if this is the right place to post this, but…
As a big Disney fan, I’m of course very much looking forward to this game (and will be buying a Wii for that occasion)
THANK YOU so much for helping Disney getting back to their classic characters! That’s EXACTLY what they need, a better image. I REALLY hope you will get to make the Ducktales game you mentioned some time ago.
As a matter of fact, I’m the webmaster of a few animation fansites, including one of the most active TaleSpin fansite :
http://www.animationsource.org/talespin/en/
(We’re also talking about Ducktales, Darkwing Duck etc…there)
Do you intend to add some Disney Afternoon shows elements / characters into the game? I sure hope so! I’m sure you’ll agree that they are among the most underrated and forgotten characters of Disney.
About what blew me away for this E3, I must say I was very surprised by the graphics of Epic Mickey much better than the “alpha” version. The 3DS looks very interesting too, but I’ll have to see it “for real” to see if 3D is really worth it. And Sony and Microsoft conferences were…yuck.
June 30, 2010 at 12:45 am |
I can’t talk about what might or might not be in the game, but it’s good to hear from a fan. I have to admit, I never watched TaleSpin (though after bopping over to your website, I think I’ll check it out), but I’m a big Ducktales fan. Actually, I’m a big Carl Barks fan, the comic book artist and writer who created a lot of the material that inspired the Ducktales series. If you haven’t turned your readers onto Barks – or if you haven’t experienced the joys of his work yourself – go do so! You won’t regret it.
July 2, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Wow! I actually didn’t expect a reply, thank you so much!!
Yes, I do know about Carl Barks, I read a LOT of Disney comics when I was young (I’m from France). Actually I loved Don Rosa’s Scrooge comics the most – and still do, he’s often assimilated to Carl Bark’s successor.
I’m surprised you’ve never watched TaleSpin, it was part of the Disney Afternoon shows just like Ducktales and it was very similar – both are excellent! (NB : Don Rosa wrote stories for two TaleSpin episodes)
By the way, do you know about the new Darkwing Duck comics being currently released from Boom! Studios?
http://www.animationsource.org/talespin/en/comments/Darkwing_Duck_and_Ducktales_return_in_co/2773.html
Thank you so much for all your hard work on this project, and I hope Epic Mickey will be a critical and commercial success (I know it will!)
June 28, 2010 at 12:38 am |
You know, the thing that blew me away was actually Disney’s booth. With the new Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned game coming out, I am actually excited! I mean, it has the word “Damned” in its title! It’s definitely going to be amazing with the morality and fame ideas in place.
And the Tron game was incredibly stunning. I haven’t seen the first one, but I want to, especially after seeing the ads for the new one and seeing its part in Kingdom Hearts II.
The only thing that I actually was hoping for at E3 this year was Disney Epic Mickey! When I was looking for the listings of who would be at E3 and I didn’t see Disney on the list, I was actually a little dissapointed, but I am so glad you guys showed up at E3!
I especially liked seeing the gameplay for Epic Mickey. I loved the environments and characters from Disney’s past, and there were definitely a few areas I saw that made me thinking “I know I’ve seen that before… Somewhere…”
Seeing Mickey in action with his movements and the paint and thinner was mindblowing, and got me even more excited for this Holiday season!
I would share your excitement for the Nintendo 3DS, but I really want to see it close up first. But from all first-hand accounts, it sounds amazing! Imagine a Wii system with 3D graphics…. mmmm….
June 29, 2010 at 5:58 pm |
I think that the praise has been very much earned Warren. The work you guys are doing on Disney Epic Mickey is incredible. As someone who has been spoilt by being a Nintendo only gamer for years, it takes a great deal to get me as excited as I am about Epic Mickey. I think it was back when Mario 64 came out that I first wished for someone to come along and make a 3D Mickey game that could go toe to toe with Mario.
June 30, 2010 at 12:30 am |
It’s great that you’re getting so much praise, but the news going out today regarding the focus groups and the elimination of Scrapper Mickey have basically turned me off of this game.
The ability for Mickey’s personality to change between being nice/mean was not just a huge gameplay contrivance, but was also a pretty big deal from the perspective of Disney as a company – that they were going to let you guys basically do whatever you wanted. Where you were willing to take the character and the world is what interested me, and now it would seem a fairly major portion of that stuff is most likely missing or, at the very least, severely neutered.
No thanks.
June 30, 2010 at 2:21 am |
I agree! A lot of fans are already furious about the idea of eliminating Scrapper Mickey, and many have already decided not to buy the game for that reason alone.
July 1, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Why don’t you guys wait until you have actually played the game before you get all riled up about something that was changed about the game because it didn’t work?
July 2, 2010 at 3:16 am
I believe I made it clear that it just wasn’t gameplay connotations, but the concepts themselves that interested me. If Warren went to a focus group that gave him the impression not to “mess with Mickey”, I’m saying that I want Warren to mess with him. The idea that Mickey could be messed with is the entire thing that piqued my interest to begin with. It was a new direction; a new way to consider the character.
If that’s been neutered, so has my interest in the game.
June 30, 2010 at 1:16 am |
Hello, Mr. Spector! My name is Rachel. I’m 19 years old, a classic Disney die-hard, and I’ve been excited about your Epic Mickey game since the moment I saw the trailers. I’ve been searching under Google News for updates on the game, and I found several articles posted today saying that you are removing Scrapper Mickey from the game.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3180160
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101759-No-More-Mean-Mickey-in-Epic-Mickey
http://chud.com/articles/articles/24254/1/MCP-EPIC-MICKEY-JUST-GOT-A-LITTLE-LESS-EPIC/Page1.html
Is it all right to ask if these stories are true? I understand if you want to keep some game information private. All I want to know is whether or not Scrapper Mickey will be in the game.
July 1, 2010 at 1:58 pm |
Ha! That’s funny you saying you were jibbering on in front of SHIGERU, I remember finding out I was sitting next to you in a coffee shop and tried to not to pass out! You seriously rocked the house Warren good stuff!
Donald Harris
http://www.donald-harris.com
twitter.com/tallgamer
July 4, 2010 at 12:55 am |
You should check out the comments of this page in order to see how wrong that biker is about scrapper mickey.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3180160
Focus groups only ruin games rather than help them. Mickey was very menacing in the old cartoons.
July 4, 2010 at 9:03 pm |
Just like Donald, I’m happy to point out that I lost all my means when I shook your hand in Montreal two years ago at the IGDA keynote.
I should have said I wasn’t a stalker.
July 10, 2010 at 3:31 am |
I started playing Deus Ex recently and given that it was made in 2000, it is quite amazing. A game with that level of intricacy and manipulation was quite rare. So I definitely look forward to using paint and thinner to destroy/build the world around me. On top of that, Growing up on Talespin and Darkwing Duck, I look forward to Disney from the Spector spin.
Trace