Steffen_Shook October 28, 2009 Features, Wii 1,174 views Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

If you stay in touch with gaming news on a regular basis, you have likely heard about industry veteran Warren Spector’s newest project with Disney. Just this month, Game Informer Magazine and its online component unveiled the truth behind the mysterious concept art that prominently showed a Mickey Mouse-eared watertower on a ship. Spector and his studio, Junction Point, are working on a game currently titled “Epic Mickey.”

Who is Warren Spector?

Warren Spector is a designer whose credits include Deus Ex and the sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Thief: The Dark Project, System Shock, Ultima Underworld I and II, Wing Commander and many others. His industry experience spans work with many companies, including Origin Systems, Looking Glass Studios, helming the Austin, Texas branch of John Romero’s ill-fated Ion Storm, and now Junction Point.

After founding the studio in 2005, Spector mentioned working on a game that used Valve’s Source engine and would be released Steam. Job advertisements for the company called for artists to work on a game that included “classic Hollywood cartoons” with “cartoon mice, cats and wabbits.” In 2007, Disney Interactive acquired Junction Point, fueling the rumors that the studio was in fact building a game associated with Disney. The following release of the above concept art all but confirmed them. Finally, last month, Game Informer revealed they would be unveiling and confirming the existence of a game from Junction Point named “Epic Mickey.”

The Plot

The story of the game is this: the sorcerer Yen Sid (seen in Fantasia) created a pen-and-paper world many years ago for forgotten Disney characters. The world can only be accessed through a mirror, and Mickey being Mickey, trips through it and spills paint thinner on the world. Naturally, the world was affected for the worse by this, but Mickey gets out before Yen Sid discovers him. Disney-philes may know of a classic character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who will be Mickey’s enemy in the game. After a turn of events where the Phantom Blot (seen below) kidnaps and sends Mickey back into the world, Oswald formulates a plan to destroy the mouse. To add to his troubles another classic Disney character, The Mad Doctor, works with the Blot and creates robotic versions of Mickey’s friends to confuse and intimidate him. Oswald, who is jealous of Mickey’s success and popularity, has The Mad Doctor make him friends that look like Donald Duck and Goofy. Mickey’s mission is to save the world by stopping the Phantom Blot and gaining the trust of Oswald.

To fit with the game’s orientation towards those that do not normally play video games, Epic Mickey will be a Nintendo Wii exclusive. Interestingly, Spector and Disney originally intended the game to be a Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 title with a more sinister bent, but realized that a game based on Mickey Mouse would be a more natural fit for the Wii.

Disney Interactive and Junction Point have not yet announced a release date, but given the progress shown so far, expect to see it in stores next year.