Disney Epic Mickey Message Board

#screengrab Legendary game designer Warren Spector was talking at the DICE convention in Las Vegas today, but didn't want to talk about his departure from Disney and the shuttering of his studio. He wanted to talk about the "graying of gaming" or at least about his journey though gaming. But the elephant is in the room, he said. More »

#junctionpoint Following rumors yesterday, Junction Point, the development studio behind Epic Mickey and its sequel, has shut down. More »

Confirming rumors that began to swirl yesterday, Disney Interactive Studios has confirmed today that Junction Point Studios, the Austin, Texas based development house behind the Disney Epic Mickey series, has been closed.

Initially rumors simply began via Twitter feeds acknowledging the closure of the studio, but confirmation from Disney remained nonexistent. Today, Disney released an official statement confirming the closure and acknowledging the studio's contributions to the Disney brand.

It was with much sadness that we informed our teams today of changes to our Games organization, which include the closure of Junction Point Studios. These changes are part of our ongoing effort to address the fast-evolving gaming platforms and marketplace and to align resources against our key priorities. We're extremely grateful to Warren Spector and the Junction Point team for their creative contributions to Disney with Disney Epic Mickey and Disney Epic Mickey 2.

Founded in 2005 by former Ion Storm heads Warren Spector and Art Min, Junction Point was purchased in whole by Disney in 2007. In 2010, the studio released its first game, the Wii-exclusive Disney Epic Mickey, followed by 2012's multiplatform, coop-focused sequel, Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two. Unfortunately, neither game yielded strong sales, and with Disney now squarely focused on its new Infinity initiative, Junction Point didn't exactly seem to fit into the publisher's current scheme.

According to Polygon, Junction Point housed as many as 160 employees as of early last year. No word yet on how many of those employees were still in the mix as of today's closure.

#junctionpoint Rumors are flying that Junction Point, the game studio behind Epic Mickey and its sequel, the recently-released Epic Mickey 2, is facing some issues. More »

#epicmickey Epic Mickey was supposed to be one of the games that pumped new life into the Wii. More »

Fans chat with well-known Game Designer Warren Spector about everything from his unique history in the gaming business to his latest game: Epic Mickey 2.

We're hosting a fan chat with industry legend Warren Spector about his newest project, Disney Epic Mickey 2. Want to get on IGN and ask your questions? Heres how you can.

#warrenspector Someday, somewhere, someone will make a video game musical. Legendary game designer Warren Spector hopes it will be him. His latest game, Epic Mickey 2, is something of a video game musical, but it's still not a realization of Spector's musical ambitions. More »

#deusex A cybernetically enhanced secret agent with a sniper rifle. A mouse with a paintbrush. You'd think those two things couldn't have less in common. But Warren Spector, who has now created games starring both of those characters, would tell you that they're more similar than you may realize. More »

Warren Spector, long-term industry survivor and creative director of Disney's Junction Point Studios, still wants to do a high definition version of Wii-exclusive Epic Mickey for other consoles.

"It's been about four or five days since I've asked to get that project greenlit. It's not my call to make. I can't even tell you how much I want to see the first game with all the enhancements and improvements we've made on Xbox 360 and PS3," Spector told us today at Gamescom. "Just have all of your readers send emails to Disney corporation and say: 'Warren should make this game.'"

Spector told us there are two things he very much wants: "I want to make a duck game and I want to see Epic Mickey on next-gen platforms."

But this is Warren Spector we're talking about. Can't he just wave a magical paintbrush and make his dreams come true? He may not have his duck game, but he's got his duck comic.

"There's only so much clout," he admitted. "When you're talking about the kind of money games cost now, there's only so much you can do."

Well, what we can do is just slide the Disney Twitter over to you fine folks reading and you can decide whether to let them know if you want Epic Mickey on HD consoles.

#epicmickey Sure, we've got musical video games. But we've yet to have a real video game musical, a game that brings the goofy, earnest energy of musical theater onto a console or PC and lets us play our part. More »

#epicmickey Epic Mickey was a game that fought against itself. Oh, I really, really wanted to fully embrace Warren Spector's love letter to Walt Disney's creations. But the continual struggle against the game's camera meant that the Wii exclusive undercut all its charm with severe control problems. More »

#epicmickey It's impossible to miss the huge amount of Disney love that Warren Spector brings to bear on the Epic Mickey games. The celebrated game designer has been talking about how much he cherishes the world Walt Disney engineered ever since the run-up to the first Epic Mickey game. But this year he did more than talk. More »

#epicmickey Part of what you'll see in this latest teaser for Epic Mickey 2 is how the game looks on the Xbox 360. Warren Spector and the other developers from Junction Point talk up the visual upgrade that comes with moving to the PS3and Xbox 360 after having the first Epic Mickey come out only on the Wii. And that sure does seem to be a green A button. Better visuals and hope for a better camera? This Mickey game might be epic after all. More »

#nintendo Just because we pre-empted this week's Nintendo Download for some special Mass Effect 3 news doesn't make it any less exciting and important. More »

A three-part preview from our friends at Dtoid...

Epic Mickey 2 is 'the first musical comedy game'

Epic Mickey 2: The three biggest issues addressed

Preview: Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

#epicmickey The word's out that Disney Interactive's working on a musical sequel to Epic Mickey and new details have emerged about what to expect. More »

Say what you will about how Disney's Epic Mickey ultimately ended up, it was certainly a game that got people's attention. Disney stuff always seems to (unless you're talking about John Carter...*cough*), so it's no surprise that despite not-blockbuster sales of the first game, Disney would be eager to bring about a sequel. And, perhaps, one that exists on more platforms than just the Wii.

What, you make Oswald playable, and you don't even show him in the first screenshot? No respect.

Such a sequel hit the rumor mill just yesterday, and was confirmed today by an AP interview with Warren Spector, where the Junction Point studio head announced that Disney's Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two was in development, and would be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii.

Two big changes were highlighted in the interview. One is a new co-op mode, which features both Mickey Mouse and Mickey predecessor Oswald the Lucky Duck as playable characters. Throughout the game, Oswald will either be controlled via A.I., or another player can simply pick up a controller and jump in at any point.

The other big change is voice acting. Both Mickey and Oswald will be fully-voiced, which is sort of a big deal since Oswald has never had a voice in any of the stuff he's appeared in previously. The voice acting is intended to give the game a bit more personality, as well as the opportunity for characters to just break out into song.

Said Spector:

"I'm such a geek about musicals," said Spector at the recent Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, where he was honored with a lifetime achievement award. "I love the co-op and next-gen stuff, but for me, when a character breaks into song, which they do on a regular basis in this game, it's magic."

The game will feature original songs penned by songwriters Jim Dooley and Mike Himelstein, who wrote the music for the upcoming animated film Dorothy of Oz.

I'm maybe not quite the musical geek that our friend Warren is, but admittedly, Disney stuff without characters breaking out into song just doesn't feel quite right. Am I alone on this? Anyone not particularly thrilled to suddenly have a song in their hearts? Or does this sound like an exciting new direction for this sequel? Comments presented in song form are encouraged.

Say what you will about how Disney Epic Mickey ultimately ended up, it was certainly a game that got people's attention. Disney stuff always seems to (unless you're talking about John Carter...*cough*), so it's no surprise that despite not-blockbuster sales of the first game, Disney would be eager to bring about a sequel. And, perhaps, one that exists on more platforms than just the Wii.

What, you make Oswald playable, and you don't even show him in the first screenshot? No respect.

Such a sequel hit the rumor mill just yesterday, and was confirmed today by an AP interview with Warren Spector, where the Junction Point studio head announced that Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two was in development, and would be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii.

Two big changes were highlighted in the interview. One is a new co-op mode, which features both Mickey Mouse and Mickey predecessor Oswald the Lucky Rabbit as playable characters. Throughout the game, Oswald will either be controlled via A.I., or another player can simply pick up a controller and jump in at any point.

The other big change is voice acting. Both Mickey and Oswald will be fully-voiced, which is sort of a big deal since Oswald has never had a voice in any of the stuff he's appeared in previously. The voice acting is intended to give the game a bit more personality, as well as the opportunity for characters to just break out into song.

Said Spector:

"I'm such a geek about musicals," said Spector at the recent Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, where he was honored with a lifetime achievement award. "I love the co-op and next-gen stuff, but for me, when a character breaks into song, which they do on a regular basis in this game, it's magic."

The game will feature original songs penned by songwriters Jim Dooley and Mike Himelstein, who wrote the music for the upcoming animated film Dorothy of Oz.

I'm maybe not quite the musical geek that our friend Warren is, but admittedly, Disney stuff without characters breaking out into song just doesn't feel quite right. Am I alone on this? Anyone not particularly thrilled to suddenly have a song in their hearts? Or does this sound like an exciting new direction for this sequel? Comments presented in song form are encouraged.

#epicmickey Warren Spector is working on Epic Mickey 2. We knew that already. More »

Yes, there's a sequel to Disney Epic Mickey. A tweet from Geoff Keighley first confirmed the title (of a game his show will reveal on TV as a "world premiere"): Disney Epic Mickey (2): The Power of Two. Then a piece on the Boston Globe went ahead and confirmed everything else.

It's coming out for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 -- not just Wii this time and features drop-in, drop-out co-op play with Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald is AI-controlled when another person is not around, and can be controlled at any time by a second player, who then wields Oswald's "remote" ability, which can control electricity.

Other new developments for this now-official game include full voice acting, including the first voice work for Oswald in Disney history. That voice acting will be used to make the game a for-real musical. ""I'm such a geek about musicals," Junction Point studio head Warren Spector told the Globe. "I love the co-op and next-gen stuff, but for me, when a character breaks into song, which they do on a regular basis in this game, it's magic."

[Image: the original Epic Mickey]

#epicmickey The Internet was abuzz today with rumors about a possible Epic Mickey 2 for Nintendo 3DS following a tweet from France's Nintendo Magazine yesterday afternoon. More »

#rumor Disney fans have been waiting for news regarding still-rumored title Epic Mickey 2 since news first slipped around the first of the year. More »

#deusex With nearly 30 years in game development and a career spent crafting unique gaming experiences like Deus Ex and Epic Mickey, Warren Spector has been chosen to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards. More »

#fineart For all the awesome art found in video game production—so awesome we run this regular feature on it—not too many publishers go to the trouble of releasing big, fancy coffee table books showing said art off. Which is a shame! More »

Thanks to Nightram for the heads up!

According to a report on Destructoid a sequel to 2010's Epic Mickey is currently being assessed by Disney via online marketing...

#bestsellers Disney's Epic Mickey made its (rather late) to the Wii in Japan last week, debuting in the top ten, but not in the top five. Another adorable mascot, Nintendo's Kirby, fared much better overseas. More »