I don't generally like making blogs about an upcoming game because all too often it sounds like every other blog that gushes about an upcoming title but I would be lying if Warren Spector's Upcoming Wii exclusive Epic Mickey wasn't intriguing.

First of all, it's the first time a Wii exclusive has been on GameInformer's cover since the first Red Steel. Now we all know Nintendo is very secretive about their projects but it's not like third party games like Madworld and The Conduit couldn't have been coverstories and then the journalists bash us for not buying games they themselves barely talked about. It was a bit ironic because in the previous month's issue had a letter from a fan who was a bit annoyed at no Wii games being feature on the cover for nearly 2 years to which the editors did mention that they did do cover stories on multiplatform games (also on the Wii) such as Ghostbusters and Guitar Hero. So I will give them that. Still Epic Mickey on the cover did finally get my attention after month after month of features with same brown, gray garbage dump games and overhyped sequels that land in the bargain bin a month after release. It was nice to have a GI cover story I actually was interested in reading about.

Mickey Mouse has actually had a rich history in video games. I don't know many Genesis owners who didn't own Castle of Illusion which I still think was one of the Genesis's greatest 2D platform games rivaling Sonic. SNES owners had The Magical Quest where Mickey donned various suits to traverse the land but this was a different time when developers didn't treat games based on cartoon characters as quick cash in shovelware.

As I read the article Warren talked about how Mickey, over the years was still recognizable as an icon but sort of fell out of the limelight. For years it seemed like the only quality thing coming out of Disney involved the word "Pixar" while the rest was crappy direct to DVD sequels raping our beloved animated cla$$ics and the teen pop garbage known as Hannah Montanna and The Jonas Brothers. I even read where Disney made more on Winnie the Pooh than Mickey Mouse which is kind of sad. Like Pokemon making more money than Mario. Currently in terms of media, Mickey is now CG and on the preschool kids show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse which my nephew loves where Mickey and his friends just participate in a Blue's Clues knockoff with Mickey saying wonderful* catch phrases like "Mooksa-meeska-Mickey Mouse!!!" Later games didn't do much for him either as the shift to more mature games caused developers to take a look at Mickey and see a game with him as nothing more than "something only kids would buy."

But if there's one thing we can say about Disney is that they seem to be pretty laid back with what can and can't be done with Mickey. I know I'll get yelled at if I don't mention it, but Kingdom Hearts gave Mickey a much more serious role and it works for him. I myself have not played Kingdom Hearts but from what I've seen Mickey makes for a kick ass king and proves how versitle he can be as a character.Watch him lay a beatdown on Scar.I could never see Bugs Bunny doing this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z83eZy35sV0

Of course in Kingdom Hearts Mickey still takes a backseat to Sora and Roxas but with Epic Mickey, we get to see him in his solo outing and I have to say, it's fasinating the path their taking. First of all, despite a more dark feel, Mickey isn't pulling a Shadow the Hedgehog and giving himself guns and curse words instead, from what I read, Mickey's estranged older brother Oswald the Lucky Rabbit jealous of Mickey's success has sucked him into a twisted paralell dimension.

Ok some of you are confused in "Who's Oswald?" or "Mickey's brother?" Quick history. This is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

He was actually Walt Disney's creation before Mickey when he worked for Universal Studios and believe it or not, Oswald was the Spongebob of the 1920s and 1930s having a series of popular animated shorts but then the depression hit and Universal wanted to cut back Walt's salary despite the success of Oswald. Disney left Universal and created a new character based off Oswald's design which became Mickey Mouse.

And that was the idea behind Epic Mickey. Oswald with the help of some evil creatures and a Mad Doctor bring Mickey into a paralell world in hopes that Oswald can trap Mickey and steal his popularity away. Mickey appears to battle through the world by painting the landscape (like Okami maybe) as well as it throws in a moral choice system where Mickey can be the good hearted hero or the mischeivous scrapper. We sometimes forget that back in some of the really old cartoons that Mickey was a bit more mischievous. But more than anything I like the idea of Mickey battling his estranged brother and trying to make peace with him and it's cool that Disney managed to get the rights to Oswald back from Universal.

I also like that Warren admitted that originallly they considered making this a multiplatform game but Warren Specter realized that porting games to the Wii never works out well and that it's better for it to be designed for the console from the ground up. (Cue whining from 360/PS3 fanboys about how it's not a "real" console and how it will suck if not in HD.) As well as he's happy in the shift of the industry now having to focus more on gameplay than graphics. Kudos to you Mr. Specter. Though at first he turned down the Mickey game idea saying he didn't do "kid games" but once again there's no shame in making a good game that isn't full of gore and swearing. The industry has just forgotten that it shouldn't matter who your demographic is. it's not an excuse to make crap and that a game doesn't needs gallons of blood, boobs and swear words to be good. Anything and I mean anything can make for a good game if in the hands of the right developer. I've played crappy games staring super heroesand macho gun toting super soldiersand I've played great games about a stocky little italian man who hops around on turtles eating mushrooms. And personally I hope Epic Mickey proves that using a cute cartoon character as your protagonist doesn't mean the game has to be dumbed down.

Though I also just remembered something ironically hilarious. If you watched Gametrailers Top Ten video game developer's video. Warren Specter is mentioned and at the end they mentioned how his company was bought by Disney and joked about a "Mickey Mouse Ninja Action Stealth Game." Well, Mickey's not a ninja but it's still a bit funny that we are getting a dark, somewhat serious Mickey game.