Slashdot Mirror
EA Announces Simpsons Game, Parodies Videogames
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.
... 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.
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...
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.
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.
In Soviet Springfield the jokes see YOU coming.
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.
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.'"
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
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
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.
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
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
voice acting and you can now play both of them in pinmame + visual pinball.
http://www.vpforums.com/
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.
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.'"
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.
Your post is great. Sadly, I have no mod points.
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
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.
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
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.
Why not install some rabbit ears and cancel now? It's a network show!
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
I can hold out a little longer :-).
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.
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 :-)
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.
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?
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.")