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Tim Schafer walks us through Brutal Legend's beginning
Brütal Legend's Rocktober release is drawing closer, and the game's creator, Tim Schafer, has tossed us a bone in a pair of developer walkthroughs for the beginning sections of the game over at IGN. Be warned: The videos show off a great deal of content, so if you're trying to avoid spoilers, steer clear. For the rest of you, we suggest you don your spiked bracelet and sleeveless leather vest and peer past the break for some glorious metal action.Source - Brütal Legend developer walkthrough (part one)Source - Brütal Legend developer walkthrough (part two)
Rumor: EA cancels Wii Brutal Legend that might not even have existed [update]
[Update: EA's response: "Brütal Legend was never announced for the Wii." That's ... true ...]Remember the rumored Wii version of Brütal Legend? It was rumored that EA planned to release a Wii version of the game, developed by someone other than Double Fine. The very mention of the project made Tim Schafer uncomfortable.According to Destructoid, that Wii release, which we don't even know was real to start with, has been canceled. "Word has it that quality assurance testers who moved from Electronic Arts to Double Fine were recently let go," Destructoid notes, "after the demise of the project left their services unnecessary."Whether the game was real and canceled or never existed at all, the net effect would seem to be the same: no Brütal Legend game on Wii. If it really was so bad that EA decided to cancel the project, we can only feel grateful that the company didn't subject Wii fans to the kind of embarrassment we had to endure whenever a screenshot of the Wii Dead Rising came out.
Tim Schafer's Brutal Legend box art accolade
Whilst staring longingly at Tuesday's finally released cover art for Brütal Legend, something struck us as a little ... out of the ordinary. There they were, right above the game's logo: the words "A Tim Schafer Game." (With a seriously metal "S" in Schafer, we must say.) You see, unlike the wonderful world of film, it's a rarity that video games' creators get credit in promotional materials, let alone on their games' covers. Sure, there are exceptions, like Sid Meier, Hideo Kojima, Tom Clancy and John Madden. Oh, that's right. Those last two don't even make "their" games; they just get all the credit. For shame!But Tim Schafer? He makes the game (in more ways than one). Although his lone "solo" work to date -- Psychonauts -- was a critical success, it unfortunately didn't set cash registers ablaze, literally or figuratively. So, why the box-front accolade then? Two likely answers. The first is the fact that EA, in its early years, was fairly unique among computer game publishers in that it prominently displayed the names of its designers on their games' boxes -- so there's precedent. The other, perhaps stronger possibility: EA knows it's got something good, and is banking on Schafer and his Double Fine crew to keep on making EA-published games with his name on them, hopefully for many years to come.
Brutal Legend box art unveiled, tiny [update: not so tiny anymore!]
Somehow, the itty-bitty, teeny-tiny reveal of the official Brütal Legend box art seems inappropriate. Given that the game itself has a huge personality and contains physically huge landmarks within its digital realm -- including things like a massive corpse pile, for example -- and some other big things -- big battles, big hair, etc -- the limited size of Gamestop's art seems pathetically small. Honestly, this isn't nearly big enough to fill the specially reserved spot on the Joysitq poster wall (right next to Shia, of course).We suppose it will have to do. For now.Update: Victory! EA has relinquished high-res versions of the cover art in what can only be described as an epic win for METAL. Make with the clicking below.%Gallery-66613%
Guinness World Record wailed on and then smashed for Brutal Legend
440 European fans of the upcoming heavy metal-inspired game Brütal Legend got together in Leicestershire, UK this past weekend to, well, fake-play guitar all at the same time. During the metal heavy 2009 Download Festival, the game's publisher EA organized attendees clad in Brütal Legend shirts around its "EA hub" and began the faux rocking while an "official adjudicator from the Guinness Book of World Records" oversaw the whole schebang. Though we're wary of fans of games that aren't even released yet, it's hard for us to deny our love for Tim Schafer's latest project. We'll let you slide this time, strange publicity grab, but next time you're gettin' a ticket, ya hear?
Tim Schafer comments on Brutal Legend's disappearing Dio
So Dio's out of Brütal Legend and Tim Curry's in, but it has nothing to do with any ongoing feud between Dio and Ozzy 'Prince of Darkness' Osbourne, as speculated. Tim Schafer has issued a statement clarifying the reasons for the decision, stating that "Ronnie James Dio is an amazing singer and truly one of the great figures of Metal, but as the character of Doviculus evolved, we realized that Tim Curry was a better fit for the part."That's all it is. He's a "better fit." Schafer claims that it was Curry's role as The Lord of Darkness in the 1985 movie Legend which landed him the part of Doviculus, but we suspect it may be his most famous role, as Rocky Horror's Frankenfurter, which is the real reason behind the casting. Just you wait, Doviculus will be prancing around in stockings and a corset before the game is through. Yeah, we see you shiver with antici ... you know the rest.
Dio cut from Brutal Legend, replaced by Tim Curry
The "Holy Diver" himself, Ronnie James Dio of heavy metal band Dio, has reportedly been cut from Brütal Legend's voice actor list. Dio's management confirmed to Blabbermouth the removal of the lead singer's voice from the game, not citing any specific reasons, though it noted that actor Tim Curry will be filling the position.Speculation surrounding the cut points to a longstanding feud between Brütal Legend's "Guardian of Metal" Ozzy Osbourne and Dio, though we're not so sure that their feud would carry over into the Double Fine-developed, EA-published title. To be honest with you though, we're still reeling from the lack of inclusion of any members of Slayer. "Raining Blood" playing while the act itself takes place in game -- these things write themselves, people![Thanks, The Weaponeer] [Image credit]
Interview: Tim Schafer and the art of selling out
My name is Tim ... S-C-H-A-F-E-R. [points to my notepad] That's correct. Do people get that wrong a lot? They never get it right. Does it annoy you? No, I just like to fight for my particular spelling. For no reason it's completely arbitrary but for some reason it's enjoyable to fight for the specific spelling that I randomly have. You're trying to keep your Google ranking up. Exactly. You don't want people messing with it. And people who spell their names A-E-F-F-E-R. Hate those guys. They're jerks.
Hands-on: Brutal Legend (the umlaut breaks our RSS feed, sorry)
This is going to be the easiest preview ever. Though Tim Schafer calls Brütal Legend the most personal game he's ever done, it's possibly the most widely, inescapably appealing project he's been involved with. I don't need to champion the amazing band of kids at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp or Manny and the delightful denizens of the underworld this time. We're talking about a hilarious, open-ended heavy metal epic starring Jack Black. Do you really need me to tell you it's awesome?Because, you know, it is.%Gallery-41208%
This Brutal Legend trailer renews our faith
We'll admit, we were starting to get a little worried about Brutal Legend after Activision sued to stop the sale of the game last week. But after watching this new trailer for the game (entitled "Rock Gods") we find that our faith has been renewed.Seriously, look at the thing! Look at how hard the game is rocking! You think mere lawyers can stop a game like that? ... No, we thought not.
Tweeted@E3: Brutal Rebuttal
You've got to hand it to the team at Brütal Legend, even when staring in the face of a potential problem leading into release, they can still crack wise. Of course, as you may have already noticed, here at E3 the hilarity works both ways!
Activision sues Double Fine over Brutal Legend
Yahoo reports that Activision filed a lawsuit against Double Fine, developer of the Jack Black-fueled Brütal Legend, on Wednesday to "stop the release" of the game. The mega-publisher claims to have invested "roughly $15 million" into the game's development and that "it still has a valid contract to release the game," despite Double Fine transferring rights to Electronic Arts late last year.Last February, Electronic Arts responded to Activision's saber rattling saying, "We doubt that Activision would try to sue. That would be like a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy." Yeah ... So, to recap: Sierra is subsumed into Activision, following the Activision Blizzard merger Activision drops much of Sierra's lineup, including Brütal Legend Brütal Legend looks for another publisher, but Activision is "blocking the process" EA Partners swoops in as the game's new publisher Activision sues Double Fine (that's this post)
Jack Black pumped for 'that Brutal Legend movie'
In anticipation of his upcoming movie game, Brütal Legend, Jack Black is getting pumped. He's curling axes and mic stands, making silly faces and, apparently, taking toxic levels of anabolic steroids. Things are ready and on course for the game's October release then, no?Yes. Thankfully confirmed by a calm and collected Tim Schafer halfway through the video, the game's "almost done" and ready for the stage this fall. Maybe Schafer could've told Jack before he took all those steroids? Meh, we'll consider it payback for School of Rock. We kid! We kid!
Joystiq impressions redux: Brutal Legend
We imagine that we'll have several more looks at Brütal Legend before it drops in Rocktober, and that's just fine with us. We took a look at the opening scenes of the game back in April, along with other key moments like the creation of The Deuce (protagonist Eddie's hot-rod) the start of a headbangin' revolution. This time around we spent an hour with the legendary Tim Schafer as he took us into the full-fledged stage battle mode.If there's one thing we took away from it, it's that people will be going nutshit for this game. Find out what that means after the break.%Gallery-63381%
Brutal Legend as it once was, sans Jack Black
Brütal Legend developer Double Fine has been working on its heavy metal-based action game for some time now. And they've got the leftover art assets to prove it. Recently showcasing a grip of work from the past few years previously only seen during the "Brutal art of Brütal Legend" panel at GDC 2009, the screens (below in the gallery) hint at the variety of metal themed environments we're anxiously awaiting to fully explore come the game's October release date. Possibly most interesting of all is the distinctly Lemmy-ized main character, pre-Jack Black days apparently. But really, would it have been so hard to see the Motörhead lead singer commanding the armies of rock in a revolution? Yeah, not so much.[Via Kotaku]%Gallery-63101%
GameStop's Brutal Legend preorder bonus is a tribute
Here's some synergy we can totally get behind. If you pre-order Brütal Legend from GameStop, you'll receive an in-game Tenacious D guitar. According to GameStop, the axe was made "in close collaboration with Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D" and features not just a customized appearance (with a sweet "Tenacious D" fretboard and image of the band on the body), but "new sound effects, new voice over work from Jack Black and Kyle Gass, a new visual effects suite, and new geeky technical stuff like unique textures, materials and shaders."Does that mean that both the in-game avatar and his guitar -- which features an image of Jack Black on it -- will have the voice of Jack Black? How much more Jack Black could this game have? The answer is none. None more Jack Black.
New Brutal Legend trailer starts a revolution
Excerpt from the above Brütal Legend trailer:Dude 1: What is that sound?Dude 2: It's a devil screaming.Dude 3: It's an angel singing.Dude 1: It's f*cking awesome!That about sums it up.
New Brutal Legend shots, now with more Lemmy!
click to Lemmy-size Double Fine has released a new batch of Brütal Legend screenshots. There's plenty of metal goodness to be had, including dragons, cars and giant-fisted baddies. We won't lie though, the most exciting screen, as you can see above, is that of the Kill Master, played by MotörHead's Lemmy. We're not entirely sure what he's doing with that bass guitar -- what are those strings attached to, anyway? -- but we're fairly certain it's something awesome.Check out all the new screens in the gallery below.%Gallery-51461%
Brutal Legend rocks up on Oct. 13
Though that one Nazi at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark would have you believe otherwise, having your face melted off by a supernatural display of awesome power is probably one of the best things that could ever happen to you. Since the overwrought, open-world rock epic Brütal Legend promises to scorch our grinning mugs in similar fashion, we're pleased to note that it's scheduled to arrive on October Rocktober 13th in the US (and the 16th in Europe). "Wooo! Having an official release date is awesome!" shouted Tim Schafer, lead singe-er at Double Fine Productions. "And how cool is it that EA threw down the dough to have the name of an entire month changed to Rocktober?" Pretty cool, Tim -- but not as cool as the reception we plan on giving those stupid intervening months whenever they get in our pre-melted faces.%Gallery-41208%
Tim Schafer thinks 'fans worry too much about sales'
Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, Tim Schafer recently addressed humanity's shocking failure to purchase a satisfactory number of Psychonauts game discs. "Fans worry too much about sales, to tell you the truth," said the procrastinating awards show host, possibly telling the truth. "As long as you make a cool game, publishers want to talk to you... [They say,] 'We liked 'Psychonauts. and we think we could have sold it better." Schafer assuaged fears of Brütal Legend becoming the next commercial Psychonauts, pointing out that the open-world shred-em-up "naturally has more commercial hooks, like hot babes and Jack Black." As reassuring as that is, fans may still worry, if only because we yearn to see Tim Schafer showered in unimaginable riches, enough for him to buy all the tuxedos he wants or construct a rocket-propelled candy castle which he'll use to fly across the globe searching searching for that special person that was missing in his life and then he'll land in our backyard and before we can yell at him for incinerating the dog during the landing procedure he'll walk up to us and put his finger to our lips and say shh don't worry where we're going you won't need animal companionship or anything because where we're going is a place where there are no animals because it's in space and that is where my space station is and we will learn to design really awesome games together but for now you have to stop writing this sentence because it's quite long you know.
