First details on Disney’s Epic Mickey

It’s been talked about a lot, but now Disney Interactive Studios is ready to divulge some details on Disney Epic Mickey. The game is an adventure-platformer with some light role-playing elements and is being developed for the Wii. The game stars Mickey Mouse as re-imagined by Dues Ex designer Warren Spector and his Junction Point game development studio. Spector, who is a self-described Disney fan, taps into the history, worlds, and characters related to Disney’s favorite mouse to create an “edgy and unexpected cartoon adventure.”

“Mickey is an adventurous and rambunctious mouse,” said Warren Spector, creative director and vice president, Junction Point. “I want to bring his personality to the forefront, place him in a daunting world and connect his spirited character with video game players worldwide. Ultimately, each player decides for him- or herself what makes Mickey cool.”

In the game’s fiction, a sorcerer named Yen Sid creates a world where Disney’s forgotten and retired creations thrive. Originally, the sorcerer from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in Walt Disney’s 1940 film “Fantasia” was nicknamed “Yen Sid” by Disney animators, although never named as such on screen. In Spector’s game, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit - Walt Disney’s first cartoon star created in 1927 - becomes the earliest inhabitant of Yen Sid’s Cartoon Wasteland after Mickey Mouse is created.

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Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days in stores

How long have you waited for something, no, anything in the Kingdom Hearts universe to be released since Kingdom Hearts 2? Well if you are one of those people, Square Enix has your back today. f Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios have released Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days to retail stores across North America. This new game attempts to uncover the mysteries surrounding the story of Roxas, that “other hero,” with the latest entry in the series.

The first Kingdom Hearts title developed for Nintendo DS, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is also the first in the series to feature multiplayer capabilities. Fans can now explore the Disney worlds alongside friends, choosing to play as any member of Organization XIII, each with their own personality and abilities.

The game is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) by the ESRB and is available at North American retailers for a suggested retail price of $34.99. Find out more about the game by visiting na.square-enix.com/khdays.

GEEKEND 2009 invades Savannah in Nov.

For 3 days in Savannah, Georgia self-professed “Geeks” from all walks of life will descend upon the city to, as the organizers say, “get their geek on.” This happening, the GEEKEND 2009, will happen at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in historic downtown Savannah, Georgia, November 6-8, 2009.
The three-day interactive conference is the first of its kind for Savannah. Organizers view GEEKEND 2009 as a fun, interactive networking style meet-up that embraces all things Geek. GEEKEND will bring together geeks of all ages, whether they are iPhone obsessed, Facebook savvy students, gamera or experienced Blackberry wielding IT pros.

There will be three days of expert panels, presentations and a slate of nationally recognized keynote speakers. Keynote presentations include graphic design guru David Carson from Ray Gun Magazine, Major Nelson (Larry Hyrb) of Xbox LIVE along with an impressive roster of panelists and speakers from Disney, Behance, Sudjam, Rails Machine, Brandeis University, Savannah College of Art and Design, Music Intelligence Solutions and a wide variety of interactive and creative movers and shakers.

The first annual GEEKEND is presented by New Moon of Savannah, The Creative Coast Alliance, BFG Communications, Music Intelligence Solutions, Creative Seed Initiative and Refresh Savannah. For more information, visit geekend2009.com.

Warner Bros. forms DC Entertainment

Batman: Arkham Asylum has sold almost two million copies in less than a month, according to published reports. This kind of success with a DC comics-based game is one of several reasons that Warner Bros. is creating DC Entertainment, a brand new company dedicated to taking care of DC Comics properties. The new division will be headed up by Diane Nelson, the current president of Warner Premiere. Warner Bros. says that this new division will attempt to find the full potential of DC related products including games, films, television and other media.

Naturally this is a good idea given that Disney now owns Marvel Entertainment and will no doubt be doing its best to bring popular Marvel franchises to multiple fronts including TV, movies, comic books, and naturally video games.

Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian joins Disney

Disney Interactive Studios has added Bungie co-founder Alex Seropian to its team to head up its in-house videogame development teams. Disney has also acquired another company that Seropian helped found in 2004 after leaving Bungie: Wideload Games.

“We’re really trying to be a magnet in this industry for talent, as we are in so many other parts of the entertainment world,” said Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager of Disney Interactive Studios, in a conversation with NBC. “Having someone of Alex’s calibre join us is a tribute to the great people we have here already.”

The company also owns Junction Point, which is bought in 2007, bringing along Deus Ex creator Warren Spector into the family. Spector is rumored to be working on a Steampunk style game starring the iconic Disney character Mickey Mouse currently codenamed “Epic Mickey.”

Finally and probably most important of all, Disney now owns Marvel and all of its licenses after making it official at the end of August - though shareholder approval is still pending on that deal.

Source: GI.Biz

Disney to acquire Marvel

The biggest story of the day, if not the month of August, is Disney Company’s announcement this morning that it has agreed to purchase Marvel Entertainment. While this will eventually have a serious impact on a whole series of entertainment properties (like several cartoon series currently running on Viacom’s Nickelodeon) the real important thing to watch is the games and entertainment sector and the contracts Marvel has with companies like Activision and THQ.

The agreement to buy Marvel Entertainment includes a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today. Under the terms of the agreement (based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009), Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40 percent of the total merger consideration. Based on that closing price, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer, will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties. While the boards of both companies have approved this transaction, the deal is still subject to the normal regulatory approval and customary closing conditions - and the approval of Marvel shareholders.

And on a related note, Evan Narcisse has some interesting thoughts on the deal in his latest blog post - check it out.

What is Warren Spector’s secret Disney project?

Epic Mickey. That’s what the media is calling Warren Spector’s super secret project for Disney. Back in 2007 Warren Spector’s Junction Point studio was bought by Disney and the man behind Dues Ex has been busy working on something ever since. But let’s start at the beginning.

At the end of 2008 Gamasutra talked about a secret project they’d seen concept art for that indicated a title codenamed “Epic Mickey.” The concept art featured “pencil sketches of cities assembled from junk” and “a surreal seashore invasion scene, in which machines wearing the faces of the Seven Dwarfs deposit old-fashioned renditions of Disney characters onto the beach with mechanical hands.”

An even earlier report from 1Up offered this small tidbit of information on the project:

Ever since Disney bought his studio, thus crushing our dreams for Ninja Gold, we’ve wanted to know just what the heck ace developer Warren Spector is working on. Hints were dropped on GFW Radio, but Quartermann claims to have the skinny. Word is that Spector’s new Disney project will be a platformer looking to compete with a certain pesky plumber. And who’s big enough to take on Nintendo’s star? Only the mouse himself!

And so, here we are today, with some new information: new artwork uncovered by Neogaf, and details unearthed by Superannuation point to Epic Mickey featuring familiar Disney characters and locations with a steampunk setting.

The Neogaf art shows a robotic scorpion with a bear head, a spider-like robot with mouse ears, a steam punk style cityscape, a castle, a giant jug of paint thinner with Mickey Mouse on the label on a beach and a number of other conceptual sketches. The artwork was found on the web site of artist Gary Glover, who worked for Junction Point as a concept artist from 2007 - 2008.

Further proof comes from Superannuation who uncovered a mention of “Epic Mickey” in the resume of current Junction Point Studios concept artist Tony Puhlham - including the fact that the game is being developed for the Wii.

Of course “Epic Mickey” is probably a codename for something else, but at least we now have a general sense of what it is Warren Spector has been working on for almost two years.

More details when we have them.