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EA Announces Simpsons Game, Parodies Videogames

Posted by Zonk on from the medal-of-homer dept.

Eurogamer has the news that The Simpsons will be coming to a new videogame title sometime in the near future, a new game with an interesting twist. Instead of playing as the Simpsons inside a more typical genre, such as the arcade smash-em-up from the early nineties or The Simpsons Road Rage, EA's newly-announced title will lampoon other videogames using typical Simpsons comedy. All of the cast members will be lending their voices to the title, and hints about the type of games we can expect were already available when the press release went out. A mock poster with the words Medal of Homer flying above a war-torn battlefield suggests what we might see in the game. "Described as a 16-level 'action comedy' with a storyline penned by the long-running TV show's long-running writers, the new Simpsons game is due out on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, DS and PSP this autumn. It's being put together by EA Redwood Shores, and is full of touches that EA reckons fans of the series - now 400 episodes old - will find exciting, like individual title animations and stories for each of the 16 levels, which are being treated like episodes." You can see the posters from the EA event over at Kotaku.

55 comments

  1. Is this finally... by Corpuscavernosa · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... a story where one can legitimately make a "I for one welcome our X overlords" joke?

    --
    We figured out a long time ago that it's easier to elect seven judges than to elect 132 legislators.
    1. Re:Is this finally... by tibike77 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I, for one, welcome our 4-fingered, yellow overlords ?
      Nah, doesn't have a very impressive ring to it...

      --
      By reading this signature you agree to not disagree with the post you just read.
    2. Re:Is this finally... by Corpuscavernosa · · Score: 1
      Yeah I see your point.

      I, for one, welcome our new 16-level 'action comedy' with a storyline penned by the long-running TV show's long-running writers overlords.

      Doesn't work either. Oh well, worth a shot.

      --
      We figured out a long time ago that it's easier to elect seven judges than to elect 132 legislators.
    3. Re:Is this finally... by PFI_Optix · · Score: 1

      I, for one, welcome our spikey-headed Butterfinger-eating overlords.

      --
      120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
    4. Re:Is this finally... by TheMadcapZ · · Score: 1

      Well neighbor, I can see your doodle!

  2. 7 platforms listed - none PC? C'mon! by dtolman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I know the PC isn't the huge platform it once was, but it seems crazy that every stupid system under the sun is getting it, but they aren't going to port it to the PC...

    1. Re:7 platforms listed - none PC? C'mon! by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      With all the wildly diverging hardware possible in PC's, it might just be that building a PC version would be relatively more expensive than any of the consoles. PC sales for such simple arcade games aren't really that high anymore so combine that and it might just be sufficient justification.

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    2. Re:7 platforms listed - none PC? C'mon! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Um, not really. Microsoft's XNA development framework is specifically designed to make Windows/Xbox360 co-development easy, and if you're working on PS3 you're going to be using C++ and OpenGL, which is also well supported on PC. You don't have to optimise for every configuration out there, at most you'll have ATI- and nvidia-specific graphics code.

      This decision is either about sales (and possibly piracy) or because they don't think the game is suited to mouse control.

      I don't think the game is going to be a "simple arcade game" either, they say Medal of Honour and GTA parody, so it'll at least have FPS sections and driving/shooting sections.

    3. Re:7 platforms listed - none PC? C'mon! by Sigma+7 · · Score: 1

      With all the wildly diverging hardware possible in PC's, Where did you get the information that indicates this would be a problem under modern PCs?

      Sure, it was a problem in the MS-DOS era where there needed to be a large quantity of video card drivers before VESA was standardized, and it was also a problem trying to get every single sound card driver for the games that required them. However, Microsoft resolved these issues in ~1995 with a technology known as DirectX. (Earlier if you feel that the stock 16-bit Windows API was good enough for graphics and/or sound.)

      PC sales for such simple arcade games aren't really that high anymore so combine that and it might just be sufficient justification./quote.

      Popcap is still in business last time I checked.

    4. Re:7 platforms listed - none PC? C'mon! by tepples · · Score: 1

      However, Microsoft resolved these issues in ~1995 with a technology known as DirectX. Not every video card that supports DirectX allows use of the same set of features in Direct3D. Some will just return an error that they are not implemented. Worse yet, some video card drivers have defective implementations of what they do claim to support.
  3. Good potential - but will it be fun? by MBraynard · · Score: 1
    I'm sure there will be some great laughs (if you enjoy Simpson's humor, and I do), but without a structure to the game, it seems like these levels will play like minigames and in terms of fun, be a jack-of-all-trades, ace-of-none product.

    Hopefully the price will reflect this.

    It sounds like the game design is being led by non-game designers - not necessarily a good sign becauses few designers first tries make it out of the park.

    1. Re:Good potential - but will it be fun? by Gregb05 · · Score: 0

      It sounds to me like a Simpsons reproduction of Conker's Bad Fur Day, except substitute squirrel for yellow person, and movies with videogames.

      --
      --
  4. OMG... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Simpsons Road Rage, EA's newly-announced title will lampoon other videogames using typical Simpsons comedy.

    The only way EA can lampoon it's own video games is to come out with Simpsons Road Rage 2008 next year and every year after that.

    1. Re:OMG... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Parent is a troll. Quote out of context.

  5. In Soviet Springfield... by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    EA's newly-announced title will lampoon other videogames using typical Simpsons comedy.


    In Soviet Springfield the jokes see YOU coming.
    1. Re:In Soviet Springfield... by Square+Snow+Man · · Score: 1

      Congrats, you _almost_ made me laugh!

  6. Long running authors? by spun · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I hope they mean some of the earlier authors. The buffoons they have writing for the Simpsons these days should be beaten to death with their own worthless Ivy League diplomas. The situations they put the Simpsons in are about as far removed from the working class experience as it is possible to get. Add to that the tendency to try to inject Family Guy style pop-reference non-sequitur humor and you have a recipe for disaster. The Simpsons is not Family Guy, and it is definitely not fucking Frasier, you twits. They are a working class family, they don't go to fucking jazz concerts in the park, m'kay?

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    1. Re:Long running authors? by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They are a working class family, they don't go to fucking jazz concerts in the park, m'kay?

      Congratulations on displaying your prejudice! My half-brother (who I don't talk to if I can avoid it because he is a pain in the ass alky) is a construction worker. His wife has an office job. We have free jazz concerts in the park here in Lake County, California (hicks in sticks living next to wineries and antiquated retirees, around a lake full of algae and mercury called "Clear Lake") and you will see about average parts of each major group here except the Mexicans represented there (we have grapes and pears around here, lots of migrant labor.)

      In fact, they've been known to go to them.

      I know that a TV show isn't the most important thing around, but have you ever noticed how Marge makes occasional attempts to inject culture into their lives? Or how occasionally the family does something that Lisa wants to do? That's pretty much how it works in the real world, too. Except it's not always the woman trying to do it, of course. I don't want to be sexist while I'm accusing you of bigotry.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Long running authors? by SQLGuru · · Score: 1

      Actually, Lisa has been into Jazz since episode one (and not Star Wars Episode I)....in fact, she was into Jazz when the Simpsons were just short on the Tracy Ullman show.

      And lots of people go to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.....especially working class people. http://www.nojazzfest.com/

      Layne

    3. Re:Long running authors? by spun · · Score: 1

      Hrm, you are right of course, working class people do go to such things. I used the concert in tha park as an example. I'm just referring to a general change I've noticed over the last few years. The writers nowadays seem to have little idea what it was like to be raised working class.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    4. Re:Long running authors? by spun · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, yes I know Lisa has been into Jazz. I used that episode as an example because it is one of the few recent episodes I've watched, and it represents a general trend in the Simpsons, away from their working class roots and towards what I can only imagine is what the current crop of writers are more familiar with. They just don't feel like the same family any more.

      Not only that, but the characters don't feel like the same people. It's as if the current writers are utterly unfamiliar with the Simpsons. They do things completely out of character all the time these days, they are just walking one line jokes. Bad one line jokes.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    5. Re:Long running authors? by moderatorrater · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I completely agree, over the course of 18 years the simpsons has changed way too much. They should be the exact same family that they were in the first season.

      Reminds me of futurama, when they note that the simspons is still running, but the last century wasn't as good as the first.

    6. Re:Long running authors? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I'm just referring to a general change I've noticed over the last few years. The writers nowadays seem to have little idea what it was like to be raised working class.

      IMO the problem is that even people who began as working-class have a certain tendency to transform and forget what it was like once they get money and have it for a while.

      This problem isn't restricted to money, of course. Most adults have pretty much entirely forgotten what it was like to be a child. A month or two ago (approx, probably way off base, I've never had a sense of the passing of time) I accused someone of ageism when they were saying something horribly ignorant about young humans. They turned around and said "you must be fifteen years old because no one else complains about such things" or something similar. Well, I was 29 or 30 at the time (I'm 30 now, I just can't remember how long ago it was) :) and they were just talking out of the wrong orifice.

      I don't appreciate prejudice of anyone against anyone, although I have to admit some prejudice against the stupid. I just can't bring myself not to feel SOMETHING negative when I encounter them, and I'm short on pity.

      (Pity, pity, all the masses of ignorant people
      All the future centuries to come)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re:Long running authors? by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      it represents a general trend in the Simpsons, away from their working class roots and towards what I can only imagine is what the current crop of writers are more familiar with.

      I think you might be letting your imagination run too wild here. Yes, the current group of Simpsons writers are mostly Ivy graduates, but that was true of the writers back during Your Favorite Season also. You can't attribute the change in the show's tone to something that hasn't changed.

    8. Re:Long running authors? by spun · · Score: 1

      Heh, yeah, prejudice in all its forms is bad. even prejudging stupid people will get you in trouble sometimes. One of the most enlightened conversations I've had was with a stupid person at a bar. Ever talked to an enlightened stupid person? They make you feel dumb for not being able to put your philosophy of life, the universe, and everything into a few monosyllablic sentences.

      Interesting point about remembering what it's really like to be a child. I do, it's one of the reasons I get along so well with kids. I can even remember being a kid, and swearing to myself that I would never, ever do what most adults appeared to have done, and forgotten.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    9. Re:Long running authors? by An+ominous+Cow+art · · Score: 1

      ObHolyGrail: There you go bringing class into it again!

      I agree that the show's overall tone has changed as the seasons have marched on. The writers have to work harder and harder to come up with ideas which aren't too close to ones they've used before. They've satired this themselves, several times (with Poochie, and in the 'NNNth Episode Spectacular' episode, probably others). I think that they've just started using more and more off-the-wall stuff because they feel like they've exhausted the possibilities for the 'typical working class family' of the earliest shows.

      That said I still love the show, and it's one of the darned few things I still watch on TV. I've said many times that the day after the season finale, I'm canceling my cable TV subscription.

    10. Re:Long running authors? by operagost · · Score: 1

      Why not install some rabbit ears and cancel now? It's a network show!

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    11. Re:Long running authors? by An+ominous+Cow+art · · Score: 1

      I can hold out a little longer :-).

    12. Re:Long running authors? by LKM · · Score: 1

      Interesting point about remembering what it's really like to be a child. I do, it's one of the reasons I get along so well with kids. I can even remember being a kid, and swearing to myself that I would never, ever do what most adults appeared to have done, and forgotten.

      Funny thing, I did that too. I remember quite a bit of choice moments where I encountered adults that behaved in a way I promised to myself to never copy once I become an adult. I think I'm doing okay so far :-)

    13. Re:Long running authors? by drsquare · · Score: 1

      The Simpsons was better in the early days when Homer spent all his time either bowling or at Moe's Tavern. Nowadays, he seems to exist soley to go around having 'zany' adventures meeting celebrities. Even the rough around the edges first series is better than the shit they've been putting out for the last ten years.

      Notice how when people quote the Simpsons, it's always the old episodes, and not the new ones?

    14. Re:Long running authors? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've long thought the same. But that's just because every new episode is crap. It's true. As long as an episode is only a month fresh, it's chock-full of strange jokes and punchlines that seem completely un-Simpsons. Yet after two years of aging, I saw an episode from a couple seasons back. I recognised it as one I had mostly ignored, but the second time through it resonated with the same hilarity that the classic episodes do.

      Simpsons is like a fine wine. A little off when it's brand-new, but great as a re-run.

    15. Re:Long running authors? by BTWR · · Score: 1

      Simpsons is like a fine wine. A little off when it's brand-new, but great as a re-run. You nailed it. We've been hearing these "Simpsons sucks now" for about 350 of the past 400 episodes. They all suck until we've memorized the lines in re-runs, and then they rule once more (but... the new ones still "suck.")

  7. The Simpsons: Hit & Run? by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I liked the game and it was a lot like a GTA3 "sandbox".
    Actually... it is pretty much like the game described in this announcement.

    1. Re:The Simpsons: Hit & Run? by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 1

      My thoughts, too. Hit and Run was a pretty decent game.

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    2. Re:The Simpsons: Hit & Run? by faloi · · Score: 1

      That's what I was thinking. There's even the snide comments about the first level being a tutorial. Is the attention span of the average gamer so small that EA figures they won't remember? Wait, don't answer that.

      --
      "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
    3. Re:The Simpsons: Hit & Run? by *weasel · · Score: 1

      Hit & Run was pretty fun.

      But having a load screen every time you got into or out of a car killed it.
      It's a testament to how solid the rest of the game was, that anyone suffered through that.

      (yeah, it wasn't a long load, but it was at least a 3 second pause every time)

      --
      // "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
    4. Re:The Simpsons: Hit & Run? by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 1

      What platform did you play it on? Neither my PC nor my GameCube had anything like what you describe...

      --
      This guy's the limit!
    5. Re:The Simpsons: Hit & Run? by *weasel · · Score: 1

      on the xbox.

      it's possible my mind is merging hit & run and road rage.

      --
      // "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
  8. two thoughts by kisrael · · Score: 1

    1. This post sounds a bit like a press release.

    2. This games sounds like... I dunno, if they do it right, I could almost see something like a Conker's Bad Fur Day... (an underrated title, IMO-- the writing and voice acting were pretty bad, but the mini-game-ish scenes (usually more like boss fights) were very decent, and with pop-culture references galore.

    --
    SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
  9. Could be good by Toonol · · Score: 1

    A series of levels parodying other videogames? Don't think of it as the seventeenth Simpsons sequel... think of it as the first sequel to Gorf.

    1. Re:Could be good by Pojut · · Score: 1

      My dad actually has an original Gorf standup-arcade machine...

      "Some galactic defender you are, space ca-det"

      --
      Living With a Nerd
  10. The Simpsons pinball games where fun and had good. by Joe+The+Dragon · · Score: 1

    voice acting and you can now play both of them in pinmame + visual pinball.
    http://www.vpforums.com/

  11. Less creative humor, and more parody... by spocksbrain · · Score: 1

    Over the years, the Simpson's show has stooped more and more to parodying pop culture, instead of the creative and introspective satirization of the typical American family that the show originally contained. This is the problem with other modern comedy cartoon's such as Family Guy. So I guess it only seems fitting that the game would be just more parodies of other games instead of an original story that fans would appreciate.

    1. Re:Less creative humor, and more parody... by bh_doc · · Score: 1

      I honestly don't like most Simpsons episodes post 2003 at the latest. I was reading the parent and thinking to myself, "Yeah, that might be why."

      But then I read the bit about Family Guy. I like Family Guy. So if you're equating the newer Simpsons episodes to Family Guy, I'm not sure what the reason for my distaste is.

      Perhaps it's just a general decrease in the wittiness of the Simpsons that has lost me. I recall old episodes seemed much wittier than the new ones. Family Guy has wit too, perhaps less than old Simpsons, but it also has some shock humour that, at least for me, seems make up for that.

      I don't know. Perhaps I just got older.

      - These lunchbreak pseudophilosophical ramblings brought to you by particles. For that rich quantum-mechanics flavour, choose particles.

    2. Re:Less creative humor, and more parody... by spocksbrain · · Score: 1

      I have nothing against Family Guy either, I enjoy it most of the time too. I just feel that because Family Guy has been successful with the slapstick/cultural parody humor, the Simpsons have deviated from their original style to be more like Family Guy, and it just doesn't seem to work in the Simpson's established universe.

  12. 50% Funny, 50% insightful by paladinwannabe2 · · Score: 1

    Your post is great. Sadly, I have no mod points.

    --
    You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
  13. XBox and PS2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know if it was ever released for the GC, but it was fairly popular as a Simpsons-based GTA clone.

    1. Re:XBox and PS2 by LKM · · Score: 1

      He doesn't mean the Cube didn't have the game, he meant the Cube had no loading time when entering a car. Which is true, I own the Cube version, too.

  14. Yeah, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not until you, Didgeri Dingo, find and devour the seven crystal babies!
    Otherwise, you'll end up in Deep Didgeridoo!

    I'm still one anti-gravity lozenge away from a power wand...
    Damn nunchucks, they're not even Australian!

  15. Re:Summary? Who needs that... the title says it al by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yay for EA shills with mod points who can't handle the truth.

  16. Re:Summary? Who needs that... the title says it al by praxis · · Score: 1

    Um, you posted an opinion, not fact, and in an inflammatory way. If the article was "Linus annouces X" and you wrote "All I needed to read was that it was Linus announcing, I'm tired of his Y and Z," that would be flaming too. You see, it contributes nothing to the conversation.

  17. Re: none PC? -- welcome to Vista by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Vista has probably killed the PC as an attractive platform. The sales vs effort isn't going to be worth it, and if you're on all the other consoles, you don't need those sales to have an entirely worthwhile success.

    See the later /. article for a scratch of the surface,
    http://games.slashdot.org/games/07/05/10/174209.sh tml

  18. If mouse sucks, then why Wii and DS? by tepples · · Score: 1

    This decision is either about sales (and possibly piracy) or because they don't think the game is suited to mouse control. Control-wise, almost any game that can be played with an Xbox 360 controller on an Xbox 360 console, a Dual Shock 2 controller on a PS2, or on a PSP, can be played with an Xbox 360 controller on a PC running Windows OS. Almost any game that can be played with a SIXAXIS controller on a PLAYSTATION 3 console can be played with a Sidewinder Freestyle Pro controller on a PC running Windows OS. Almost any game that can be played on a Nintendo DS or with a Wii Remote controller on a Wii console can be played with a Logitech mouse or trackball on a PC running Windows OS.
  19. Re:Summary? Who needs that... the title says it al by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fact 1. Every PC game EA has released in the last 5 years had bugs. LOTS of bugs. Some were barely playable out of the box. Their console games are also buggier than most.

    Fact 2. EA software has far more bugs than software from any other "reputable" publisher.

    Fact 3. Most software companies don't release new versions of the same old crap with as few new features as what EA releases, and still price them the same as if it were a whole new game. All of their sports franchises you can safely skip at least 2 or 3 years without missing anything worthy of note. What EA charges you $50+ for every year, most publishers would consider a free patch or at most a $20 expansion pack.

    I dunno, sounds to me like pretty much EVERYTHING in the GP was based on fact.

    Now let me give you a proper example of OPINION: EA's games suck.