The Duck Amuck/Esurance/Leapster connection
Can we admit to something? It's not that bad, but ... we kind of like the animated Esurance commercials. They're shrill, and senseless-- why is she stopping to get car insurance while being chased? And why is she being chased? And why is she always meeting that one David Seville-looking guy for the first time? But we overlook all of that stuff, because the geometric art style is brilliant, and the commercials are gorgeously animated. Whenever we watch one of those commercials, we hope that they are leading the animators into fantastic new opportunities.
We were then pleased to learn that the Flash animation for Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck was being done by Ghostbot, the company responsible for the Esurance ads. We don't know if a DS game is really a step up in prestige from a national advertising campaign, but at least the subject matter isn't horribly banal. Besides, doing official Daffy Duck animation for Warner Bros. seems like Real Prestige as far as the animation world goes. So, good for them! They're using the original 1953 "Duck Amuck" model sheets, too, which shows some wonderful attention to detail.
This information comes out of an interview between Newsweek's N'Gai Croal and WayForward designers Rob Buchanan and Jeff Pomegranate. Apparently WayForward and Ghostbot already had a connection, after Pomegranate worked on a Batman game with them for the Leapster. Which means that something good came of the Leapster after all.
