New Tim Schafer interview at IGN

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http://xbox.ign.com/articles/585/585118p1.html

My favorite part:

IGN: Which is your favorite level?

TS: I don't have a favorite level, 'cause I like them all. The level where you get to play on the battlefield of Waterloo, but it's a spoof on hex games, you know, but you move the pieces down with telekinesis. Then you can actually zoom down and actually be on the scale of the game pieces and talk to them. And then you can zoom down to the houses of the game pieces and recruit more people to play. And that whole zooming in and out of the scale of the level is really fun. So I like that level.
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Everyone buy, please.
 
You know that sounds really cool and creative all, but I'm frankly getting really fucking tired of Schafer fanboys demanding everyone buys this without having played it and the testimony of a certain Microsoft employee who works here declaring it to be an average game, plus the whole Microsoft dropped it deal, just like they did with Tork, which also turned out to be average.
 
Mike Works said:
You know that sounds really cool and creative all, but I'm frankly getting really fucking tired of Schafer fanboys demanding everyone buys this without having played it
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Yeah, that's pretty much just me.. Sorry..

and the testimony of a certain Microsoft employee who works here declaring it to be an average game,
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And the testimony of ign, gamespot, che, and someone from txb that I quoted in my other thread say otherwise.

plus the whole Microsoft dropped it deal, just like they did with Stranger's Wrath, which also turned out to be great.
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Agreed!
 
That was a fun interview to read, less "So how many bumpmapping layers do you really use?" and more two guys just talking. Very cool, I really liked the style of the interview, and while there weren't any really hard hitting questions you could tell that Tim has a great passion for his work and games in general, it's not just PR-speak.

One thing he commented on, is something I've noticed as well and aren't too happy about, and that's MS' moving away from supporting new types of games. When MS first started out there were a lot of new and different games released by them. And while the actual execution of the games wasn't the best, at least the ideas were fresh and new. Now it seems MS is all about simply mainstream/successful games which are usually deficient on the innovation.

Kudos to Sony for continuing their support of the development studios that release fresh games that receive critical acclaim while failing in the market place.
 
i like schafer games and all, but this game has been hyped since the beginning of time.. sure it was probably hurt as blinx and gbtg launched one bomb after another, but the xbox 2's just around the corner and this game is barely getting out of the door... u cant blame microsoft too much for dropping a project they thought wouldnt sell and was taking forever to develop

that said.. i'll probably end up getting it ;P
 
MS doesn't believe in potentially smaller titles anymore. Only big budget heavy hitters. Hopefully they don't forget a publisher truly needs a vast portfolio.

This sounds great:

TS: Because we really care, Hilary. (Laughs) Um, we, you know, Psychonauts is a very ambitious project. We wanted to have 13 really completely unique levels. Each one is a different style -- different style of gameplay, different style of art. We don't reuse anything between the levels. There's not that one doorway/arch combination that you see in every level, you know, it's all custom-made, 'cause I think that's part of the fun of exploring a game and unlocking new areas. It's like a whole bunch of new stuff to see and experience.
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The black velvet level is really a personal favorite too, because early on our publisher suggested cutting it and some people on the team suggested cutting it. I was like, we're going to have a level based entirely on the art of black velvet and that's it. There's no two ways about it. And it got done and I think it's one of the best-looking levels that we have and it's really fun and we get to have you chased by this big bull and there's this matador and there's dogs playing poker. It's great.
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good read. looking forward to the game, despite oxy's impressions (from how long ago?)
 
Grim Fandango was not a fun game. There, I said it. Escape From Monkey Island and Grim Fandango's UI were both complete shit. Tim Schafer is a funny dude, but now that point-and-click adventures are pretty much officially dead I think he should consider writing a cartoon or something of that sort.
 
trippingmartian said:
Grim Fandango was not a fun game.
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You sir, just lost your relevance to the land of the living.

Allow me to introduce you to your new travel agent.

dom_scythe.jpg
 
Sorry to be the pimper of our own shit, but here's the Psychonauts feature we ran in XBN late last year.

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3138084&did=1

In stark contrast to the inherent cynicism found in the vast majority of today's games ("We've got bullet time/crate bashing/sniper rifles in there because that's what you do when you're creating an action game for today's market"), everything in Double Fine's game has a reason for being. Ammo is, in fact, represented by "mean little balls of hate," which are collected by Raz and then transformed into destructive psychic blasts.
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I think the piece gives you a decent idea of the game Tim is trying to make.
 
Grim Fandango could very well be my favorite game of all time, but I can't help from getting sort of a "Stretch Panic - Hey it's a PS2 game from Treasure, it has to be good!" vibe from this one. I really hope I am proved wrong, but there is no way i'm going to pre-order until then.
 
chespace said:
Sorry to be the pimper of our own shit, but here's the Psychonauts feature we ran in XBN late last year.

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3138084&did=1

I think the piece gives you a decent idea of the game Tim is trying to make.
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Yeah we all know Tim is a great story writer and has a great sense of humor. I was as big a fan of his games at Lucasarts as any. But what about gameplay ? Since E3 2003 we have no idea how this game plays !
 
Tre said:
Manny Calavera >>>> trippingmartian.
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Well, that goes without saying, but The Curse of Monkey Island SCUMM engine* is far superior to the Grim Fanango/Escape From Monkey Island SCUMM engine.

*and its predecessors
 
The borderline viral marketing on this game is disgusting. I'll pass until this lame ass hype train passes. By then it should be $20.
 
Drek said:
The borderline viral marketing on this game is disgusting.
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As is the unbridled pessimism and skepticism about the game.

ONE person from microsoft (who wouldn't possibly be trying to justify ms's decision to cut the game, or anything........), says the game is boring, and that automatically negates all the NEWER, POSITIVE impressions from places like xbn, ign, gamespot, this guy and now "prisoner" in ga's chat, who said he played it in november, and says the game is good but had some minor problems.

I'll tone down the shameless promotion, since I'm pretty much the only one on the hype train, but someone has to be there to rebut the ridiculous attitude some people have towards this game.
 
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