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American Mcgee gauges interest in Alice 3
American McGee could be pursuing another title in the Alice series. McGee posed a few question to Alice fans on Facebook yesterday. Specifically, he asked if fans were interested in a third game in the series, assuming he could acquire the rights from EA, and whether or not they would consider backing a Kickstarter for such a project.He further asked fans to "make some noise" if they are interested in the idea. "I'm trying to gauge interest in case I happen to discuss this with EA during GDC in 2 weeks," he wrote. "The more interest there is, the more seriously they'll take the conversation."Earlier this year, McGee decried Electronic Arts' marketing of 2011's Alice: Madness Returns (pictured), saying it gave gamers the false impression that it was a hardcore horror game. Should he reacquire the rights, this won't be his first Kickstarter project. McGee and his studio, Spicy Horse, recently (and barely) funded Akaneiro: Demon Hunters via the crowdfunding service.[Thanks, Jeff!]
American McGee AMA: EA ads for Alice were a 'trick'
American McGee, the man (and name) behind Alice: Madness Returns and its predecessor, has a lot to say about developing those games, working with EA, and Kickstarting his latest venture, Akaneiro: Demon Hunters. His recent Ask Me Anything thread on Reddit reveals a few gems, including some insight into how EA handled the Alice: Madness Returns trailers with animation company Shy the Sun. Spoiler: McGee isn't a fan of EA marketing."What was frustrating was how EA marketing interfered - telling STS from the start that all creative direction and final say would come from them, not from us (the developer/creator of the story/tone)," McGee writes. "That resulted in trailers that were much darker and gorier than the game, and that was a calculated disconnect created by EA. They wanted to 'trick' gamers into believing A:MR was a hardcore horror title, even though we refused to develop it in that tone."Their thinking is, even if the game isn't a hardcore horror title, you can market it as one and trick those customers into buying it (while driving away more casual customers, like female gamers, who might be turned off by really dark trailers). It's all a part of the race to the bottom EA, Activision and the other big pubs are engaged in. Expect to see it get worse before it gets better."How's that for dark? McGee notes that his Spicy Horse studio is the largest Western, independent game development company in China, and he discusses how he ended up there and the stress of maintaining a successful indie studio."Working as an indie means having a terrifying amount of freedom," McGee writes. "We make decisions that we know might simply put us out of business 6 months from now."For more insight into how Alice came about – The Crystal Method's "Trip Like I Do" had something to do with it – and all things McGee, check out the Reddit AMA.
Amazon's vorpal sword cuts $20 off Alice: Madness Returns
As if it'd taken a swig from a bottle labeled "Drink Me," the price tag on Alice: Madness Returns has diminished in size at Amazon. This week only, the retailer is offering American McGee's second excursion into Wonderland for $20 off, making it $40 on PS3 and 360 and $30 on PC. The deal is available only "while supplies last," and joins similar week-long discounts on Brink and The Witcher 2 -- which is also a fantasy game, but features far fewer flying pig snouts.
Alice: Madness Returns Review: Madness over method
Crazy is not as easy as it looks. If you want to create a world of nightmarish whimsy like that in Alice: Madness Returns, it takes more than just throwing random bloody bits into a blender and spewing it all over the walls. You need careful planning; a formula of producing unease that will affect the player. When Madness Returns is at the top of its formula, it is a fascinatingly dark and grotesque psychological tale. Unfortunately, the game's greatest strength tends to be impeded by gameplay that doesn't feel so much mad as obsessive-compulsive.%Gallery-118730%
Alice: Madness Returns trailer plays some minigames
Alice: Madness Returns will soon be unleashed to inflict that most terrible of scourges upon a platformer, the dreaded "minigame."
Alice: Madness Returns launch trailer is comparatively sane
Sure, the launch trailer for Alice: Madness Returns posted after the break features some genuinely upsetting imagery, discussion on how Wonderland is actually Hell, and murder -- but at least nobody rips their own face off. We're actually going to chalk that up as a victory for sanity.
Alice: Madness Returns screens are hysterical
There's nothing funny about a disturbed young girl clutching a giant butcher knife -- especially if she's near death and her Hysteria meter is full. When those morbid criteria are met, the star of Alice: Madness Returns can launch into a psychotic frenzy that would make Ryu Hayabusa proud.
Free Alice: Madness Returns iOS storybook released
We're still trying to wrap our minds around this recent, clever cross-promotion set up by American McGee's Spicy Horse for its upcoming psychopathic title, Alice: Madness Returns. Here's where we're at so far: They took a storybook, and turned it into a game, which they've now turned into a recently released iPhone and iPad-compatible storybook, which prefaces the events of yet another game. The iOS storybook is a sound investment, as reading through it unlocks a code which saves you $10 on an Alice: Madness Returns pre-order through the EA Store. Still, it's one of the most crazily recursive promotions we've seen in a good, long time. Why, it's nearly as insane as the game's latest trailer! Ha, just kidding. Nothing is that insane.
Alice: Madness Returns preview: Pretty weird
Ten years after the original American McGee's Alice debuted -- ten years! -- its sequel is nearly here. With its June 14 launch just over a month away, I accepted an invitation to dive into its fractured Wonderland and play through the first of its five chapters. Although a decade has passed, it felt like I'd never left. While the core game design hasn't changed much -- platforming interspersed with combat -- Alice: Madness Returns is harnessing today's tech to convey a visual spectacle that's closer to McGee's original concepts than the first game could get at the time. It's also capitalizing on some new design ideas dreamt up by its imaginative designers at Spicy Horse.%Gallery-123547%
Alice intro trailer is face-scratchingly insane
How does one put this politely? Alice done gone mad... again. We submit as evidence the story trailer for Alice: Madness Returns. It's, admittedly, a little disturbing.
Alice: Madness Returns' 'Online Pass' grants you Alice 1 (it's $10 otherwise)
"I should very much like to tell you of Project Ten Dollar," pleaded Alice. "Well, I never heard it before, but it sounds uncommon nonsense," replied The Mock Turtle. EA has confirmed that the original American McGee's Alice will be bundled as a downloadable bonus with Alice: Madness Returns when it's released on June 14. The catch is that the download will be tied to an "Online Pass," EA's special name for access to its games' online components, which are unlocked with registration codes included in new copies of the games. Additionally, players will be required to have the Madness Returns disc in the tray to access Alice 1. If you purchase Madness Returns used (and without an unused Online Pass code), you'd have to pay $10 for the downloadable bonus. This marks the first time that the original Alice will be available on consoles. It will not be available on XBLA or PSN as a separate purchase -- at least, not immediately.
McGee: Alice sequel to include original game as DLC bonus
Alice: Madness Returns will include the original Alice, according to Spicy Horse head American McGee. Speaking to CVG, McGee said, "A person who's purchased Madness Returns gets a download code and is able to bring Alice 1 onto their console and play through the entire original game alongside playing Madness Returns." Additionally, McGee teased that the Alice sequel would see plenty of DLC ... dresses, which "come with special abilities and enhance how you play through the game." Curiouser and curiouser, an EA representative told Joystiq, "Unfortunately, we do not have information in regards to Alice: Madness Returns including the original Alice game." Either way, Alice: Madness Returns is slated for June 14 ... unless it's not. Madness, right?
American McGee's Spicy Horse to focus on free-to-play games after Alice: Madness Returns
More than ten years after overseeing Alice with now-defunct developer Rogue Entertainment, American McGee is wrapping up a sequel with his Shanghai-based company, Spicy Horse. "This will be the first ever console triple-A game that's been developed from beginning to end in China, for the Western market," McGee told Joystiq during an EA event last Tuesday. "There's been a lot of stuff that's been outsourced, or various pieces of it have been made there, but in terms of production process we had to invent a lot of what we were doing to get this game made there." Spicy Horse was restructured to handle development of Alice: Madness Returns, and will restructure again once it launches the action game in June. "Well, we don't see that the future for us is in triple-A console games," McGee said. "We actually are trying to make games that are online, free-to-play, 3D advanced casual games, so as we finish this we're going to transition the company back to where we were intending to be when we finished Grimm." Spicy Horse was on track to follow up Grimm -- its fantasy-themed episodic series for games portal Gametap -- with more casual fare, but was temporarily derailed by an irresistible offer from EA instead. "So, we restructured for two years, we built the game, we did a great job, we're gonna ship it on time, on schedule, we never had a crunch and it's been really awesome. But now, it's back to what our belief is in terms of where things are going, so it's going to be all about free-to-play, 3D games for Asia." McGee claims that half of the development team has already completed work on Alice: Madness Returns, with ten to fifteen people doing "last-minute cleanup" -- of a project that has gone almost suspiciously (in this industry) according to plan. "I mean, we never had a freakout moment, we never had a crunch, we never had to work on a weekend and, in fact, we were always running ahead of milestones, so we would even give extra days off when the sky was blue, or something like that," he said. "So, it was a really pleasant development experience." Since Spicy Horse is set on transforming its production process once again, it's currently unsure about what would happen if EA asked for another Alice sequel. "That's a question to ask them. But it might take them another ten years to figure it out," McGee joked.%Gallery-118730%
Alice: Madness Returns gameplay trailer is no tea party
Nothing says "Hey, it's Monday!" like murderous teapots and bloodthirsty playing cards. It's fortunate, then, that this first gameplay trailer for Alice: Madness Returns has them -- and more! -- in droves. Watch it, then learn more about the game tomorrow morning in our new preview.
Metaphors: Alice stabs one-eyed monster in latest trailer
Lewis Carroll's seminal Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is certainly packed with metaphors, but we think none so explicit as this Alice: Madness Returns clip that has the heroine cutting up the Mad Hatter's one-eyed monster.
American McGee on bringing Alice's madness back
At a pre-TGS event, EA demonstrated gameplay of Alice: Madness Returns, with a segment in real-world London transitioning to a Wonderland in which Alice used a pepper grinder as a Gatling gun, fighting weird baby-doll monsters and giant teapots that spat boiling tea. After bearing witness to the return of the madness, we chatted with American McGee, head of developer Spicy Horse, about the new game, his name as a brand, and, of course, the other recent reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, courtesy of Tim Burton. %Gallery-102210%
Alice: Madness Returns with a new TGS trailer
"Every enemy is a puzzle," creator American McGee stated, when describing his upcoming Alice: Madness Returns at the EA Tokyo Game Show press conference. At Alice's disposal will be four weapons, including the Vorpal Blade from the first game, and three new weapons: the Tea Pot, Hobby Horse and Pepper Grinder. Check out all the new images and the trailer after the break. %Gallery-102210%
'Alice: Madness Returns' revealed [update: new screens, video]
Twitter account @thewhiterabbit is teasing news related to "the mad world of Alice," a note that EA's own Twitter account relayed. This is about 100 percent likely to be the announcement of Alice: Madness Returns, the sequel to American McGee's Alice. For one thing, the background of the Twitter page includes the "alicemadnessreturns.com" URL, which currently redirects to EA.com/alice. "Alice: Madness Returns" was trademarked earlier this year by EA, and an Alice sequel was announced way back at DICE 2009, followed that year by an "unofficial" Alice-related video produced by someone with ties to developer Spicy Horse. EA is holding a press event in about ten minutes to announce several games, so we'll find out soon enough! Unless, like the White Rabbit, EA is late. Update: It's official, and the game is coming in 2011 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Catch the terrifying teaser after the break, and the press release here. %Gallery-97858%
'Alice: Madness Returns' trademarked by EA
Electronic Arts has submitted a trademark application for "Alice: Madness Returns," a possible name for the previously announced sequel to American McGee's Alice. Beyond an "unofficial" teaser video for the sequel released in late 2009, details on the project have been slimmer than the Queen of Hearts' soldiers. We've contacted EA for info on what's down the rabbit hole.
Alice 2 'teaser' not officially sanctioned
On Monday, we brought you an awfully official-looking teaser trailer for a follow-up to American McGee's Alice, which was announced in February. Now, via his blog, McGee is debunking the cool stop-motion clip, saying, "I wanted to clear up any confusion ... it was unofficial, and does not represent any of the final art direction or story elements in Alice 2." It's worth noting that when we attempted to verify the clip's authenticity on Monday, we tracked the site (the now-missing www.returnofalice.com) back to American McGee, so the confusion is pretty understandable. The "fan" that created the video, Troy Morgan, is an accomplished artist who has worked with the developer in the past. Morgan says he created the ad on spec as an ad pitch to EA, though it appears not to have been picked up. It's a pity, because the clip was just starting to get us excited for a return to (evil) Wonderland.
