Brutal Legend finally lands a publisher: EA.
Brutal Legend is shaping up to be one ridiculously quirky game. Of course, we expect no less from developer Double Fine which houses Tim Schafer, ingenious game designer and full-time wit-ician.
Created by one of the most talented developers in the industry, the action/adventure game is drenched in satire and loaded with heavy metal references. Riding hot rods scattered about the ancient lands in the Age of Metal, you slaughter demons with raw rock (and trusty axe) in order to ensure metal prevails, and it stars Jack Black as the roadie-protagonist’s voice. We pity those who don’t think that sounds like multiple flavours of awesome.
Pitifully, the publishers previously involved with the title don’t hold the same views. Brutal Legend was originally going to be published by Sierra, a division of Vivendi Games. After the big publisher merge took place with Activision, the resulting ‘Activision Blizzard, Inc.’ coldly decided it didn’t much care for the creative game and left it to fend for itself.
The game has been going at it solo ever since, with Schafer having to assure concerned fans that the game hasn’t been canned.
Solo, that is, until now. No official announcement has yet been made (edit: see update), but if you head over to the official Brutal Legend website, it redirects to the EA sub-domain ‘brutallegend.ea.com’ which is inherently having some technical difficulties.
So, it’s pretty much confirmed – EA is obviously picking up Brutal Legend. Interestingly, this ties in with what EA’s John Riccitiello recently said, making sure we were aware that the title was a risky one. “I have seen it,” he told Gamasutra. “I am well aware of what the game is. It’s a very significant creative risk.”
“Santa may be putting some sort of publisher news in our stocking during the night,” writes Schafer, hours prior to the time of writing this. Apparently too lazy to catch Santa, he hopes that “someone in Hawaii or Australia or one of those other lands out by where the monsters swim on the edge of the map will be awake and catch Santa in the act.”
Well, suffice it to say, catching Santa with his pants down was awkward. A massive congratulations to Double Fine, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted on details of the game as it seeps through. In fact, Spike claims it will demo the game ‘live for the first time’ this coming Sunday.
Update: And it’s now official! EA has landed exclusive publishing rights to the game. You can find the full and rather colourful announcement right here.
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