The Rumors Were True. Schafer. Black. BRÜTAL LEGEND!!!!!

[RepoMan]

Once again Game Informer makes with the big fat fucking exclusive. That rumor about Tim Schafer doing a rock-and-roll game with Jack Black? It was TRUE.

You play a roadie (voiced/characterized by Jack Black) whose cursed belt buckle sends him back in time to the land of the heavy metal legends, who reached such titanic heights of rock-and-roll godliness that they ascended, leaving the land littered with mysterious relics (a metal ribcage? no, motorcycle exhaust pipes!) that humanity's demon overlords and their rebellious chattel are equally mystified by, until YOU arrive to unleash the POWER OF ROCK, creating the ultimate hardcore tour of DEMON LIBERATION.

That's the first page of the preview. Gotta post now, more soon. All I can say is HELL FUCKING YEAH.

[Adree]

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=26684&page=3

[Funkman]

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=26684&page=3

Awww.. but he made all that effort.

As an aside, I am super excited. Schafer can do no wrong in my eyes, Grim Fandango has given him a free pass forever.

[Coca Cola Zero]

Tim Schafer is a fantastic writer/idea-man but still has to prove he can design a fun game that isn't a traditional adventure game.

[Rock8man]

Tim Schafer is a fantastic writer/idea-man but still has to prove he can design a fun game that isn't a traditional adventure game.

Bah, speak for yourself CCZ. I still think the platforming elements of Psychonauts are second only to Mario 64. I thought Double Fine did an incredible job with the mechanics of their platformer. The different moves you learn throughout, and more importantly the feel of the jumping with that funky looking levitation ball that pops into existence when you double-jump? It was exquisite.

So RepoMan, I wanna hear more. Does the preview actually mention anything about gameplay? Is this going to be another platformer?

[flyinj]

According to the Game Informer article, it's going to be a third-person over the shoulder game that takes place in a huge open world. You'll recruit an army of rockers to aid you in your quest, and command them from the third person perspective. There are also vehicles that you can get, that you can trick out and upgrade.

It looks a lot like Sacrifice. With hot rods. And Dio.

In other words, it looks completely fucking awesome.

[krokodile]

According to the Game Informer article, it's going to be a third-person over the shoulder game that takes place in a huge open world. You'll recruit an army of rockers to aid you in your quest, and command them from the third person perspective. There are also vehicles that you can get, that you can trick out and upgrade.

It looks a lot like Sacrifice. With hot rods. And Dio.

In other words, it looks completely fucking awesome.

A Heavy metal Overlord?

Fuck yes, Day one.

[Jakub]

Tim Schafer? Win.

Jack Black? Buckets of fail.

It's like the unstoppable force meets the immovable object. Can Schafer's awesomeness cancel out the Black hole of suck?

[RepoMan]

Son of a bitch, I looked for that other goddamn thread too. Oh well, the umlaut deserved to be in the thread title.

Black has had some moments of glory. School of Rock was damn fine. I think Black is at his best when he's not the center of attention, and this is going to be Schafer's baby, so I have a good vibe.

Latex devil nuns? Headbanger armies? Literally face-melting guitar solos? Arch-enemy traitorous big-hair rockers? Riding the lightning, running for the hills? New music recorded specifically for this game by Halford, Judas Priest, Dio, and more? Fucking Rob Halford and Ronnie Dio as ACTUAL CAST MEMBERS?

Jesus God, I may explode. And I'm not even a metal fan. Yet.

[Gendal]

Jesus God, I may explode. And I'm not even a metal fan. Yet.
Sums it up for me. Will preorder this the first chance I get, since another thread here brings up the good point it's the best way to support your favorite developers.

Course I buy Schafer games because of the writing, if there is a good/decent game included then all the better.

[Erlend Grefsrud]

Tim Schafer? Win.

Jack Black? Buckets of fail.

It's like the unstoppable force meets the immovable object. Can Schafer's awesomeness cancel out the Black hole of suck?
They don't cancel out, they surrender.

Duh.

[Midnight Son]

Latex devil nuns?

Yes!!

[Aeon221]

Son of a bitch, I looked for that other goddamn thread too. Oh well, the umlaut deserved to be in the thread title.


I'm jealous of your umlaut. I can't make a Blue Oyster Cult thread until I find out how to umlaut :-(

[Tom Ohle]

I drink a fair bit of Jack Black-flavored Hateorade, but that trailer was awesome. Can't wait to see more.

[Adam Altmann]

When you are a man, sometimes you wear stretchy pants in your room.

It's for fun.

[J. Matthew Zoss]

I'm am pretty anti-Jack Black, but the trailer convinced me that the game is gonna be pretty freaking sweet.

On the other hand, I'm calling it right now: biggest commercial flop of 2008.

[Reldan]

Jack Black is at his best when he's performing in The D.

Moviewise... it's a mixed bag.

[Tom Ohle]

I'm am pretty anti-Jack Black, but the trailer convinced me that the game is gonna be pretty freaking sweet.

On the other hand, I'm calling it right now: biggest commercial flop of 2008.
I dunno... given that Sierra's publishing and they have all the money in the world thanks to WoW, I think they could market the hell out of the Jack Black connection and make it a pretty successful title.

[Funkman]

Jesus.. what is with all the Jack Black hate? Did no one see School of Rock? High Fidelity? His cameo in Anchorman? Nacho Libre ? (admittedly, I'm a huge Nacho fan).

I think he and Schafer are on the same wavelength when it comes to humor. And I don't even have to mention his Tenacious D stuff.

[J. Matthew Zoss]

Sadly, I don't think Jack Black, Tim Schafer, or Heavy Metal in general are popular enough to make this game resonate with the mainstream gamer crowd. I hope I'm wrong, but at this early stage this game reeks of flop to me.

[Tom Ohle]

Jesus.. what is with all the Jack Black hate? Did no one see School of Rock? High Fidelity? His cameo in Anchorman? Nacho Libre ? (admittedly, I'm a huge Nacho fan).

I think he and Schafer are on the same wavelength when it comes to humor. And I don't even have to mention his Tenacious D stuff.
I've never really seen the appeal of Tenacious D. It's mildly funny, but mildly funny isn't enough to get me to listen to generirock. I passed by School of Rock because my Jack Black hate was already well established; he was good in High Fidelity because he (as mentioned previously as a positive) wasn't the center of attention -- same in Anchorman. Nacho Libre... meh! Jack Black suffers from a serious case of BenStilleritis -- PLAY A DIFFERENT CHARACTER, DAMNIT.

[Murph]

At least Ben Stiller's one character is WAAAY funnier than Jack Black.

I did like School of Rock, though, and even thought Jack was okay in Saving Silverman.

But Tenacious D...I am not a fan, and that movie is one of the worst movies I've ever tried to watch...I did not finish it.

[Adree]

To really understand Tenacious D you need to see them live.

[Matthew Gallant]

Jesus.. what is with all the Jack Black hate?
You sort of have to be able to both really love and laugh at Meatloaf-style rock melodrama to have fun watching him.

I think if you don't like his schtick, though, it's going to get on your nerves given he has been pretty prolific. You don't really see him at rest; even when he's showing up on a talk show or whatnot he's going to be "on". It could maybe drive you bonkers.

[Rock8man]

I also thought Jack Black was hilarious in the Farrelly brothers movie. I always forget its name, the one where he sees Gwyneth Paltrow as a hottie. Let me IMDB it...... ah yes, Shallow Hal. The movie itself was a mixed bag, but I thought Jack Black's part in it was really well done.

But School of Rock will probably be the apex of his career. It's a movie where the subject matter was perfect for him, and he was allowed to be the best that he can be in that movie.

[RepoMan]

Sadly, I don't think Jack Black, Tim Schafer, or Heavy Metal in general are popular enough to make this game resonate with the mainstream gamer crowd. I hope I'm wrong, but at this early stage this game reeks of flop to me.
I dunno. After all the Guitar Hero (and soon Rock Band) excitement in the video game world, I think 2008 is actually really good timing for a rock-themed video game that isn't just about playing songs yourself. We'll see.

No doubt this game is going to have much bigger pull than Psychonauts, if for no other reason than that you have a large axe and you whack goths with it.

[Talisker]

But Tenacious D...I am not a fan, and that movie is one of the worst movies I've ever tried to watch...I did not finish it.
I am a fan, and that movie was one of the worst movies I've ever watched. I finished it 'cause I kept hoping there would be a really awesome musical segment at the end or something.

There wasn't.

[Mordrak]

I am a fan, and that movie was one of the worst movies I've ever watched. I finished it 'cause I kept hoping there would be a really awesome musical segment at the end or something.

There wasn't.
I dug the opening scene and the rock off at the end. That's it*. They should have kept the fantasy vibe throughout the whole movie instead of playing it straight as stupid comedy. This game seems to be avoiding the movie's mistake. They (Tim and Jack) look like a good pairing.

*I lied, I liked the crude Beethoven** number as well.

** Or wait, was that Bach? I'm uncultured swine.

[madkevin]

I am a fan, and that movie was one of the worst movies I've ever watched. I finished it 'cause I kept hoping there would be a really awesome musical segment at the end or something.

There wasn't.

Are you fucking kidding me? They have a rock off with THE DEVIL at the end. That's like the definition of an awesome musical segment.

[espressojim]

At least Ben Stiller's one character is WAAAY funnier than Jack Black.

I did like School of Rock, though, and even thought Jack was okay in Saving Silverman.

But Tenacious D...I am not a fan, and that movie is one of the worst movies I've ever tried to watch...I did not finish it.

To be completely off topic: Please see Permanent Midnight. That's Stiller playing a completely different (and far more interesting) character. I'm not sure why he didn't continue with eh...real acting.

[Andrew Mayer]

I'm not sure why he didn't continue with eh...real acting.

$$$$$

[Talisker]

Are you fucking kidding me? They have a rock off with THE DEVIL at the end. That's like the definition of an awesome musical segment.
Er, I might've been asleep during that. I nodded off a bit.

[Funkula]

I'm a huge Jack Black fan, which is a stance I maintain by avoiding nearly everything he's in that is not Tenacious D-branded. I've also seen Nacho Libre and his appearances on Mr. Show, both of which were great. The D is completely awesome as far as I'm concerned, and I'm not sure why people hate it so much. The movie, maybe, assuming people didn't give it a proper chance. It went from awesome to horrible to FUCKING AWESOME, and a conscious choice to ignore the middle section is necessary. However, in my opinion the definitive D experience is the HBO episodes, particularly the one with sasquatch.

Here's hoping KG puts in an appearance in the game.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Kieron Gillen?

[Midnight Son]

Does this game use a guitar controller at times?

[Kunikos]

It would have been cheaper to get Sock from Reaper instead of Jack Black, and you get the same effect but younger and more hip.

[Coca Cola Zero]

Regardless of what you think of their relative talents, Jack Black has huge name recognition. Tyler Labine doesn't.

[Kunikos]

Regardless of what you think of their relative talents, Jack Black has huge name recognition. Tyler Labine doesn't.

Except a lot of people hate Jack Black and don't know who Tyler Labine is so don't know if they hate him yet.

... since when does a video game have to ride on some actor's name, anyway? Halo 3 has no movie stars in it (anymore and certainly none billed in the title) and sold how many copies ...?

[Moore]

I once saw jack black sing for the gogos. It was fucking awesome.

[Coca Cola Zero]

Halo 3 was the sequel to Halo 2 which was the sequel to Halo which was a game that Microsoft spent tens of millions of dollars advertising. Brutal Legend is by "The Makers of Psychonauts". Nobody in the real world has even heard of Psychonauts. So I'd say the situations aren't comparable.

And anyway a lot of relatively famous actors did do voices in Halo 3 -- Ron Perlman, Adam Baldwin, Katee Sackhoff, etc, though that wasn't really a part of the advertising push.

[Kunikos]

If by "relatively famous" you mean B-Movie actors. ;)

Anyway, so the solution then is throw a ton of advertising at it?

[scotthal]

Anyway, so the solution then is throw a ton of advertising at it?

I'm pretty sure that's always the solution.

[Greatatlantic]

I'm pretty sure that's always the solution.

That, and finding one of these.

http://www.homestead.com/dclwolf/files/shammy08.jpg

[SRFisher]

To be completely off topic: Please see Permanent Midnight. That's Stiller playing a completely different (and far more interesting) character. I'm not sure why he didn't continue with eh...real acting.
And The Zero Effect. Ben Stiller gets the dramatic role, Bill Pullman gets the funny.

Jack Black is fine when he's restrained by a director. Since this director is the Milk Man himself, I'm salivating already.

[Qenan]

Tim Schafer is a fantastic writer/idea-man but still has to prove he can design a fun game that isn't a traditional adventure game.

That makes his games only twice as good as most of what gets released. Seriously.

I agree that Psychonauts could have had better gameplay, but the writing and art were so good that I wondered why he wasn't making movies instead of games.

[Midnight Son]

Just read the GI preview of this game..... it's gonna kick ass! And RAWK! :)

[Rob_Merritt]

Jesus.. what is with all the Jack Black hate? Did no one see School of Rock? High Fidelity? His cameo in Anchorman? Nacho Libre ? (admittedly, I'm a huge Nacho fan).

I think he and Schafer are on the same wavelength when it comes to humor. And I don't even have to mention his Tenacious D stuff.

I'm a huge fan of both as well. Sure Jack Black has made some terrible movies (Shallow Hal and King Kong come to mind) but that doesn't effect my over all enjoyment of his work.

Shafer hasn't had a mis-step yet but I'm worried that he is due. I'm actually not that hot on Brutal Legend. Visually it doesn't look too interesting in the trailer.

[Dave Long]

I dunno if it was in previous threads, but I ran across news of the voice talent for the game. Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, Ronnie James Dio... yeah, this is going to be pretty incredible.

[Gendal]

Shafer hasn't had a mis-step yet but I'm worried that he is due. I'm actually not that hot on Brutal Legend. Visually it doesn't look too interesting in the trailer.
I preordered it within hours of it's official announcement and I can't stand the whole heavy metal rock crap, I don't like the music or it's accoutrements. Still, he seems to have a lot of passion for the material so I can't imagine that's going to hurt his treatment. Can't wait.

[Rob_Merritt]

Sounds like Brutal Legend is in trouble. It was schedule for the fall 2008 until the game recently disappeared off its release list. Sierra says the project is up in the air pending the merger with Activision.

[pj-]

majesco is still around, right?

[schurem]

ohnoes! this cant be! we gotta save brutal legend!

[Kunikos]

I could have sworn that in pic that went around of Jack Black at the MTV Movie Awards show (standing next to Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr.) he was wearing a Brutal Legend t-shirt.

[salwon]

Tenacious D is completely unnecessary in a world that include Flight of the Conchords

</troll>

[Rob_Merritt]

I could have sworn that in pic that went around of Jack Black at the MTV Movie Awards show (standing next to Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr.) he was wearing a Brutal Legend t-shirt.

Yeah he was. http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/06/10/jack-black-on-brutal-legend/

[Rob_Merritt]

Brutal Legend is in the black hole that is Axedivision. In short, they won't publish it and they are blocking all attempts by Double Fine to find another publisher.

http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2008/10/brutal-legend-s.html

[Fersis]

Nacho Libre is a good movie... just saying.

[biclops]

Tim Schafer is the Terry Gilliam of video games.

[unbongwah]

I spoke to some sources on the Double Fine side and they said the problem isn't that other publishers aren't interested. They say it's that Activision Blizzard has been "an impediment" and that they're "blocking the process."
Weird - what does Activision have to gain from blocking Brutal Legend's publication? If they're not publishing it themselves, it's presumably because they think it won't sell well enough to be worth the investment - so what do they care what Double Fine does with it? Do they just hate Tim? Or Jack Black? Or metal?

[Kool Moe Dee]

From what I understand, this situation is not uncommon. Sounds like they didn't have a clause in their contract reverting the rights to the game in case Actiblizz didn't want to publish it...

[RepoMan]

Yes, but what does Actiblizz get out of this situation? I guess they're holding out for some kind of a dowry (or something) from whoever comes along to publish it next? And if they can't get someone to cough up cash for the publishing rights, they'd rather just sink Double Fine out of spite?

Fuck, Double Fine must really have pissed some people off at Axedivision for them to be fucking them over like this. Tim Schafer == Terry Gilliam, indeed. Perhaps someday there'll be a Lost In La Mancha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_in_La_Mancha) about Brutal Legend. But I hope not, I'd rather fucking play it :-((((((

[steve]

Brutal Legend is in the black hole that is Axedivision. In short, they won't publish it and they are blocking all attempts by Double Fine to find another publisher.
They wouldn't necessarily be "blocking all attempts." Actard has invested X dollars in the project, and presumably wants that investment back from the new publisher.

I haven't read much on the game, but it's also possible Double Fine sold the IP as part of the deal, making the negotiations even tougher because Actard might not want to walk away 100% from a game that could prove to be a hit for someone else. They'd either want a higher buyout cost or some sort of licensing deal specifically related to the IP or any licensing that may occur from it.

So, the new publisher could have to pony up a fair amount of cash to acquire it, which, in this climate, few would be willing to do.

In short, it's business. And business sucks right now.

[alexlitel]

Ben Fritz says (http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2009/04/brutal-legend-is-coming-to-the-wii-double-fines-not-making-it.html) the game is coming to Wii.