October 28, 2009
WARREN SPECTOR REVISITS A CARTOON ICON’S
LEGACY IN DISNEY EPIC MICKEY
Mickey
Mouse Makes His Wii Debut Alongside Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney’s First
Cartoon Star
Disney Interactive Studios today announced the
development of Disney Epic Mickey, an adventure-platforming game with
light role-playing elements for the WiiTM home video game console.
The game stars Mickey Mouse who has been re-imagined for videogames by luminary
game designer Warren Spector and his Junction Point game development studio. In
Disney Epic Mickey, Spector, a life-long Disney fan, taps into Mickey
Mouse’s rich history along with the characters and worlds brought to life by
Walt Disney to create an edgy and unexpected cartoon adventure.
"Mickey is an adventurous and rambunctious
mouse," said Warren Spector, creative director and vice president, Junction
Point. "I want to bring his personality to the forefront, place him in a
daunting world and connect his spirited character with video game players
worldwide. Ultimately, each player decides for him- or herself what makes Mickey
cool."
In the game’s fiction, a sorcerer named Yen Sid
creates a beautiful, whimsically-twisted world where Disney’s forgotten and
retired creations thrive. Originally, the powerful sorcerer from "The Sorcerer’s
Apprentice" in Walt Disney’s 1940 film "Fantasia" was nicknamed "Yen Sid" by
Disney animators, although never named as such on screen. In Spector’s game,
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – Walt Disney’s first cartoon star created in 1927 –
becomes the earliest inhabitant of Yen Sid’s Cartoon Wasteland after Mickey
Mouse is created. Oswald makes the Cartoon Wasteland comfortable for other
retired characters as they join him in this magical land. Years pass, and as
Oswald dwells in the Cartoon Wasteland, he becomes resentful watching Mickey’s
popularity swell. When Mickey curiously stumbles upon Yen Sid’s map, he makes an
innocent yet terrible mistake and inadvertently devastates Oswald’s comfortable
world. Eventually, Mickey’s mistake pulls him deep into the mysterious Cartoon
Wasteland to face the destruction he unknowingly created.
"Having Warren combine creativity and innovation
with one of the world’s most famous characters takes Mickey back to his creative
roots and allows fans to deepen their engagement with him as a character –
especially in video games," said Graham Hopper, executive vice president and
general manager of Disney Interactive Studios. "In addition to Warren’s lifelong
love of cartoons, films and comics, his visionary approach to game design and
storytelling will make certain that this heroic tale of discovery and redemption
resonates with Disney fans and gamers alike."?
Players use the Wii RemoteTM to wield
magical paint and thinner to re-shape the world around them. Paint’s creativity
and thinner’s damaging effect give the player robust tools and empowers them to
make choices about how they move through the world. Each player’s decisions to
use paint, thinner or both dynamically changes the world with consequences that
affect the environment, interactions with other characters, and even Mickey’s
appearance and abilities.
"The core of this game is the idea of choice and
consequence, and how that defines both the character and the player," says
Spector. "By putting the mischievous Mickey in an unfamiliar place and asking
him to make choices – to help other cartoon characters or choose his own path –
the game forces players to deal with the consequences of their actions.
Ultimately, players must ask themselves, ‘What kind of hero am I?’ Each player
will come up with a different answer."
Blurring reality and fantasy, Oswald the Lucky
Rabbit’s role is as significant in the game as it was in real life. The Walt
Disney-created Oswald appeared in 26 silent cartoons between 1927 and 1928 for
Charles Mintz, who contracted with Universal for distribution. At this time,
Oswald was primed to be Walt’s first big animated star. When faced with daunting
production costs, Walt asked for more money to ensure the quality of the Oswald
cartoons. When a deal could not be reached, Walt lost the rights to Oswald and
with the rabbit went much of Walt’s staff. Among those who remained with Walt
was animator, cartoonist and long-time friend Ub Iwerks, and together they
created a new character named Mickey Mouse.
The initial concept behind Disney Epic Mickey
originated within the Disney Interactive Studios’ Think Tank. The Think Tank
conceptualized Mickey as a cartoon character thrown into turmoil. Spector
expanded and refined Disney Epic Mickey’s concept and built the game
for a broad audience fully utilizing the Wii and Wii Remote for accessibility
and engaging gameplay.
Developed by Junction Point in Austin, TX,
Disney Epic Mickey is slated for a fall 2010 release. The game currently
is unrated by the ESRB. For more information, go to
www.disney.com/disneyepicmickey.
