The International House of Mojo

So the lucky guys at 1UP managed to meet one Tim Schafer (who, surprisingly, isn't some awesome figment of our imaginations but actually exists), drag him into their studio, strip-search him (the fan-girls go wild) and get his voice on their podcast.

Based on my experience, this will do three things to the listener: 1. It will make you smarter; 2. It will make you laugh; and 3. It will make that baby you are pregnant with look like Tim Schafer. So, you know: listen.

Source: Double Fine

Just to prove I don't just make Star Wars posts on this site, occasionally I can even point your way to something actually interesting. Like this: a new interview with Tim Schafer at The Escapist.

There's a few things of interest in there, especially his correction that Psychonauts was not a flop as many believe - or as he suggests, actually want to believe.

Oh, and there's a quick glimmer of hope for Brütal Legend, where the interviewer suggests that it's still possible that Activision may pick up the title - they're still currently just "reviewing their options" about the Sierra games they haven't taken yet.

Two weeks on from Activision Blizzard's surprising exile of Brutal Legend, you might be wondering what the state of the game's future is. In short: things are just as cloudy and uncertain as they were right after the news broke.

According to Variety, MTV are definitely not publishing the game as was rumoured. MTV's official statement after being asked directly is that they aren't publishing the game, and that:

"We are big fans of Tim Schafer. We hope the game finds a good home."

Meanwhile, rumours are thundering through the internet that Electronic Arts may be taking Brutal Legend on board. This doesn't match up with an insider source's earlier comment saying that the publisher would be an untraditional one, but it's very possible the aforementioned publisher was MTV and negotiations simply fell through.

Once known for dismal working practices and unoriginal release schedules, EA has been working very hard recently to change how they're perceived by generating new, original games. The upcoming Spore and Mirror's Edge are a testament to this, as are recent outputs such as Mass Effect and Crysis.

No other publisher could market Brutal Legend as aggressively as EA, so I'd be very much open to seeing the game join the 'new' EA and its line-up of quality games. It is by far the best chance Brutal Legend has of hitting the kind of widespread exposure it most probably deserves.

Well, it seems that my usual unbridled optimism has proven incredibly misguided. As Nappi pointed out in his comment to the previous post, Gamespot has posted an update on the Activision/Vivendi situation, and it is unfortunately not good:

"The only franchises that Activision Publishing will release are based on Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age and Spyro, as well as Prototype and one other game that has not yet been announced," the representative said. "We are reviewing our options regarding those titles that we will not be publishing."

This leaves Brütal Legend without a publisher, and in an uncertain situation at the moment, as far as I'd know. Let's hope this news isn't as bad as it seems, and that Double Fine will have little trouble finding a new publisher for this game.

:~

Update by Tingler: Sierra have given a quote to gaming blog Destructoid about the Ghostbusters game, which reads simply:

"It is not cancelled and will not be cancelled."

They sound very sure of that. This means that there's definitely hope for all the other games, including The Rockin' Game Brütal Legend. Don't lose hope yet!

Update #2 by Jason: "Brütal Legend is fine," says DFAN.

Update #3 by Thrik:

Variety has provided some more details which imply that Brutal Legend has been completely dropped by Activision Blizzard, and not simply forgotten about or sold under another Activision Blizzard brand as many have speculated:

"Double Fine ... is very close to sealing a new deal to release the game. I don't know who it will be, but I understand that it may not be a traditional publisher. It could be a more "unique" arrangement."

That's all we've got, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that digital distribution is on the cards here. The most likely candidate would be Valve's Steam, which has been burning off plenty of copies of Psychonauts for some time now.

Hopefully an actual in-store release will still occur though, because clearly this is a big game that deserves more than to be exclusively distributed via downloads.

It's old news that Activision and Vivendi, two of the biggest publishers out there, have begun the process of merging together into an uber empire of hugeness. The effect that this has had on Double Fine's Brütal Legend, itself a Vivendi funded game (under their Sierra banner) has been irritating but minimal: the merger has caused some stalls (that have apparently caused rocker King Diamond to be told that he will be "gotten back to" with regard to voiceover work for the game), and inevitably delays.

But today, Gamespot reports that several of Vivendi's in-development games are being re-evaluated as a direct result of the merger, with a few of their projects apparently set to be axed in an effort to "streamline" Vivendi. As a high profile game, Gamespot of course notes that the publisher's press release on the matter made no mention of Double Fine's upcoming heavy metal action/adventure. A few months earlier, Activision Blizzard executives had required some games on Vivendi's slate to be re-pitched by its developers for re-evaluation. At the time, Tim responded to the situation with the following encouraging words:

I'm sure Activision is reviewing all the games--that only makes sense," said Double Fine boss Tim Schafer. "But I haven't been asked to go anywhere or pitch anything special. Anyway, like you said, Brütal Legend speaks for itself! Anyone messes with our game, Ronnie James Dio will put a hex on them.

And really before you get too worried it should be said that this news, like the merger in general, will probably end up having no negative effect on the development or existence of Brütal Legend, but still, my heart can't take this. After all the drama and grief Schafer fans had to go through with Psychonauts (which itself was a victim of Microsoft's own "re-evaluations"), you'd think the gods would cut us a break.

Contrary to earlier reports, those hoping to see Brutal Legend shown at this year's E3 will be disappointed — it isn't happening, according to MTV.

The delay's supposedly a result of the publisher, Vivendi, who you may have heard are in the process of merging with the venerable Activision and will weirdly become known as Activision Blizzard.

Reassuringly, there're apparently no issues with the development status of the game. It's still being produced, and Schafer hopes there'll be a new media release shortly after E3 once the publisher merger is more of a memory. We're probably talking months rather than weeks here, of course!

It's looking increasingly likely that the 2008 release date will end up falling into 2009, sadly.

UPDATE: Tim reveals the reason behind this decision.

I have no idea if you've seen the MTV Movie Awards, but if you have you might have noticed that Jack Black went wearing a Brütal Legend t-shirt.

The majority of the press didn't ask him what these two words of awesome meant, but MTV News did. There is scarce little information but what information there is is interesting. Basically: the game is coming "someday," the PR man from Sierra has no comment on whether the Activision-Vivendi merging will affect the game, and we can expect new information "soon". Soon can't come soon enough, really.

Source: MTV Multiplayer

You can now buy the awesome Double Fine action comics in comic book form (it's like it all makes sense now, right?). They're only Scott C's actually, but they're 300 in number, include sketches, and have a foreword by King Schafer himself. They ship in august and cost $20.00 (plus shipping) if you buy now.

Update: by elTee
$35 including shipping, to the UK and presumably the rest of Europe. Bargain!

Source: Nerdcore

The Guardian managed to grab Tim Schafer back in the days of yore (before he fed himself to a bear!) and convince him to blurb out some nice details on Brütal Legend.

Sitting here, posting this, I realise it is significant for two reasons: 1. This game sounds more delicious every second, and it has whet (yay!) my appetite even more; and 2. This is a new record for Mojo's annual "How long would it take us to post this?" competition. What I'm trying to say is: Guys, eat your hearts out. That is all.

Source: Guardian

In honour of Gabez, Tim Schafer is now a father.

The staff of Mixnmojo send out congratulations and best wishes to Mr. Schafer. It's a girl!

Update: 2HB the real version is now complete as Mr. Graham Annable's son, James Oliver Annable, says "Hi" to the world.

Source: Double Fine Action News

In what has all ready already given Brütal Legend that first 10/10 score from me, underground heavy metallist King Diamond of the band of the same name and Mercyful Fate has spoken about Brütal Legend:

There's a game that's coming out sometime in 2008 called 'Brütal Legend.' I've seen a lot of screenshots and little things from it. They have showed interest in using some King Diamond music in there, and they've also talked about maybe doing a voice-over.

He does not provide much more information, (well, a paragraph and a half more) but I think that's great. I was personally worried that the game would be completely dominated by the Iron Maidens and Black Sabbaths of the world but it's nice to see some good ol' underground metal potentially in the game.

Update: Here's an excerpt that has all information related to Mojo.

Source: Crypt Magazine

Metro Pulse managed to get their hands on Tim Schafer and they've interviewed him about life, love, Brütal Legend and a guy called T. (Been talking to a mirror lately, Tim? This is The Shining all over again.)

Anyways, check it out. It's got some good new info, and it's wet whet* my appetite. Man, I can't wait for this game.

*(Someday, I won't have a typo.)

Source: Metro Pulse

If you're lucky enough to live in LA, that is. Scott C, designer of all things Brutal Legend and Psychonauts, will appear at Secret Headquarters, and he's giving you the address. This all happens on Saturday, May 3rd, from 8 to 11 PM (USC time, obviously - obviously). Go over there and express your love to Scott C. by dressing-up as the Milkman.

Source: Scott C.'s blog

Gamasutra have written an interesting article called "Why More Games Need More Subtext," which includes a section on Full Throttle.

The fact that both this article and that one share the same title is completely and utterly coincidental, but should Mojo be down later it will be because they sued us for copyright infringement. If you click on the site in a few hours and we're not here, simply lynch Gamasutra.

Source: Gamasutra

I'm pretty sure we never covered this Brütal Legend preview by Hooked Gamers last March, so here you go.

Schafer has said that he wants the game to feature a proper streaming open world with wildlife and cool places to explore -things that he attempted in Psychonauts- but wants to do justice to in this game. With the kind of imagination gone into the lore of this world, it's hard to imagine it failing.

...

A multiplayer mode has also been confirmed, but concrete details have yet to emerge. The only thing we know is that it will most likely focus on large scale battles. Interestingly the core battle mechanic of the main game was devised during the early stages of development, as the multiplayer was the first aspect of the game to be designed.

There's lots of great info in the preview, so do read it. Also included are a batch of screenshots, several of which look unfamiliar to me (but could also be in that IGN preview from a few months back that I don't feel like checking). The point is, this link leads to a preview for Brütal Legend.

So far, you, loyal Schaferists, have helped Double Fine fight it through the terrors of CCP, the battles of Lionhead, the cunning Napoleon that was SEGA. And now, it is your final battle. Ladies and gents, go out now and vote for Doublefine as they go head-to-head with the world's most notorious: Valve. The very same Valve that has literally never shipped a game on time. Crush them.

Source: The Escapist

Ho ho ho, Christmas has come early this year! Thank you, Schafer Claus!

Well, no, Tim Schafer has nothing to do with the fan-made PS3 Psychonauts themes (except create Psychonauts), but you should check them out.

There was never a rumour or a report that Brütal Legend, the latest offering of awesome from Double Fine, would be delayed, and yet here I am saying it won't be. Is it really worth posting about? Have I lost my mind?

Why, yes, and yes, but I don't see how my psychotic urges are relevant. What I'm trying to say is that even though some Sierra titles will probably not get released, Brütal Legend is not among them. In case you were wondering. Like me. For if Brütal Legend were among them Activision should put the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose.

Source: Gaming Today

This is cool - Double Fine's own Scott Campbell, the mastermind behind the original Double Fine comic has his artwork featured in the DVD release for The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.

If you haven't seen the movie - well, why not? Oh, right, because of its extremely limited release. Well fair enough. But it's a great movie! If, apparently, a little inaccurate.

Anyway, Scott's cool artwork can be seen here.

What do you mean, 'not good enough?' FFS. Okay, well how about this: Scott C. Will be in LA on the 22nd of March to sign copies of the DVD. Or, as Tim pointed out, "Psychonauts. Or your bus pass. Or your backfat. He loves all of those things."

For the record, my personal high score on Donkey Kong is 133900. This is a high score ;

Source: Double Fine Action News

There is for your enjoyment a relatively recent preview for Brütal Legend written by PSX Extreme. Since details for the game are hard to come by, the new information that the preview has to offer is definitely worth checking out.

Most bizarrely, the preview lists the game as coming out in Summer of 2008, but, you'd have to be a far more optimistic man than I to believe something like that. Anyway, read the latest on Brütal Legend!