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Was the unnamed publisher Activision? | |
I've actually never heard of this game before. It's a hard rock adventure game? Do want. Though in order to truly win me over, the Game Over music has to top this. | |
I would find that about 100 times more interesting than Brutal Legend's seriously dubious take on metal. And hip-hop has plenty of lore and mythology. | |
I would say that I would have been Extremely pissed if it was hip-hop, but due to the screwy way time works I wouldn't have even thought about making the game more Dio and less Chere (Spelling?). The only difference I can see with my semi-prescient abilities is that next to nobody would be all excited for it. Well, Thank god for Iron Maiden I guess. | |
Wow, imagine the protagonist in a super-wide hoodie with matching baggy knee-high pants. Glad we got away from that one. | |
Oh yeah, the God of Hip-Hop has TONS more tributes to him then those nobody Gods of Rock. I mean, it's not like any big rock stars have sold their souls to Their particular deity, Unlike say, Mrs. Spears, am I right? :P | |
I don't think we can be friends anymore. | |
And I would rather shove a soldering iron into my ear than play yet another game that pretends to be hip-hop out of some focus-group-derived marketing need. I'm with Schaefer on this one. -- Steve | |
That any of it is good? I kid...I kid! But Country and Western...uggggggghhh. | |
Metal somehow fits in with viking mythology and stuff, I feel anyway :D And many axe weilding maniacs are usually based (no matter how loosly) on norse stuff :D | |
Come on now, really good bluegrass is worth listening too and it always makes me think of Spaghetti Westerns and Post Apocalypticism. That and a game based off of Oh Brother Where Art Thou... think about it... | |
I agree with your statement up until the part where you say you were kidding. Not that I plan on getting this anyway. And if it were announced as a hip-hop game, I'd have just dismissed it as shit and moved on without giving it a second look. But I understand "wanting to be cool with the kids." | |
"What do you do with a bunch of kids who do nothing but bang their heads on the wall all day?... You start a revolution"... Tell me how would you translate that to a hip-hop context? | |
YO CHECK THIS UP! CHE CHE CHECK CK CK!! WE DA BROTHAZ OF DA STREET, HEAR OR MUSIC OR DIE MOFO!! This be good, rite? | |
Soulja Boy: Crank Dat Legend sounds so awesome! Honestly, it would have sucked to change it from rock lore and mithology into a drive-by shooter with hidraulics and the like. People should let Schafer do the things he's good at: offering us a brilliant action adeventure full of wit and inteligetn hilarity. | |
You Aaight, you Aaight... | |
How long has this game been going on for? Since there are now about 10 different Guitar Hero games. | |
If the publishers demanded the hip hop or no publish I would rage like few gamers have raged before so glad they agreed to stay with rock | |
Considering what Schafer's doing with metal, I don't think I would want him to try the same with hip-hop. My gripe with Brutal Legend isn't so much that it's about metal but the way it approaches it by maximizing the cheese factor with all its umlauts and spiked belts, it's like Metalocalypse or whatever, it's more about a certain perception about metal than the music itself, which is fine, but I think kinda played out at this point. Of course you could do that well, and Brutal Legend may very well pull it off, so we'll see. I'm not really giving the game the benefit of the doubt, and if it is done intelligently, well, then it stands to reason that someone could give hip-hop the same kind of treatment. There's plenty of room to be playful with its history and be smart and respectful at the same time. I just think a lot of gamers assume that when it's hip-hop and games, it's going to be stupid and bad, and that has as much to do with the games themselves (justifiably) as the general perception of the culture. | |
Dude it's just a game, a cartoony looking game. Nobody's taking it or Schafer's view on metal seriously (what the hell, you're not even supposed to take metal seriously to begin with). I think it's a brilliant take on the image metal music has created for itself over the years, the over-the-top feeling I get when looking at the previews just reminds me of how equally over-the-top the genre can be in terms of image, lyrics (just listen to DIO) and overall stage presence. When people in this forum refer to metal mythology they are talking about the album covers (Iron Maiden and Megadeth even have their own characters to go with the image), supposed ties to Satanism, the musician's posture and image: long haired, bearded norse looking men playing instruments that somehow resemble medieval weapons (anybody familiar with the B.C. Rich Bitch and the Warlock?) screaming or grouling at the top of their lungs and performing thick, heavy and distorted musical pieces that somehow reminds us of how Satan likes his symphonies. It's exaggeration and cheese at it's best, and it's fun as hell if you ask me. | |
I haven't seen the game in action, so I can't say that it's a "brilliant" take or not. Metal is ripe for satire (and self-satire), nobody's going to doubt that (I have listened to Dio) and I'm not saying I don't like metal for being ridiculous, at all. I just think that making fun of metal for being cheesy and over-the-top is getting kind of stale, almost as stale as taking metal too seriously. Brutal Legend could do new things with it, though, and I'm more than open to that. | |
I almost wish they'd made this instead now | |
He's making a game. Check it out. | |
I'm with Grandpa Krillin on this one, I think Brutal Legend should itself a little more seriously then it currently is. We all understand that heavy metal is silly, campy and over-rated (or not, it's your opinion) but this game seems to be playing all of those angles a little too close to the cheek to not be open satire of Metal culture. | |
Ow, my faith in the gaming industry. No, no... I'll wait until reviews come about before I lose all hope... | |
Why is it whenever someone mentions hip hop on these forums they get molested? Besides the fact that around 85% of The Escapist are Metal fans.
O_O Kill it with fire. Failing that, kill it with intellect. EDIT: Failing that, kill it with musical ability OH SNAP! | |
Just another case of publishers not knowing how to be designers. I don't like hip-hop and I don't have anything against country but a heavy metal game sounds 1000 times more interesting. | |
Well i for one can't wait for Brutal legend, imagine slicing demons in half to the tune of Wicker man by Iron maiden, it'll be awesome! | |
[/quote] "what the hell, you're not even supposed to take metal seriously to begin with"[/quote] Dude, I ALWAYS take metal seriously. | |
I'm gonna agree to disagree with this. Some things work. And hip hop doesn't mesh with over the top european medieval battles. It just doesn't. | |
So if it were Hip Hop we'd probably have a less fun version of Saint's Row 2 instead. | |
Such as...? I am actually trying to decide whether you're being sarcastic there or not, given your take on Brutal Legend. ¬¬ | |
I wouldn't have thought it woulod have been that difficult. Personally, I think the major shift of gamers towards that style happened when Rockstar released GTA Vice City. | |
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Publishers Wanted Brütal Legend To Go Hip-Hop
It's hard to imagine Brütal Legend as anything but an all-out head-bangin' rock attack but designer Tim Schafer says that in the game's early days, publishing executives wanted him to change the theme to hip-hop - or country.
Brütal Legend tells the story of Eddie Riggs, a roadie who finds himself transported to a heavy metal fantasy world via his cursed belt buckle. Once there, he must put his unique skills and experience to use, leading the enslaved people in a rock revolution against the tyranny of Lord Doviculus and his minions. The game stars Jack Black, who possesses no small amount of his own rock cred, and will feature appearances by heavy metal icons including Ronnie James Dio, Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford and Lita Ford.
It sounds firmly rooted in the world of leather, spikes, wailing guitars and combustible drummers but in a recent Eurogamer interviewer, Schafer revealed that executives at unnamed publishers were hesitant about the rock and roll backdrop and asked if he could make an ever-so-tiny change to the setting.
"When we were first pitching Brütal Legend, it was before the first Guitar Hero game was announced and we were like, 'There's this game in a heavy metal world,' [and they said] 'We like the game, but could we change it to be a hip-hop game, or maybe country music?'" Schafer said. "There's nothing against that music, but it doesn't have a lore of heavy metal, in terms of a certain kind of mythology that leads to epic, medieval battles."
But the explosive success of Guitar Hero, which included classic tracks from Ozzy Osbourne, Deep Purple, Blue Öyster Cult, Motörhead, Megadeth, Judas Priest and numerous others, changed minds and opened doors. "After Guitar Hero came out and [Black Sabbath's] 'Iron Man' was one of the first songs on it, it seemed to expose a whole new generation to that kind of music," he continued. "So by the time we were pitching the game for a second time there was a lot more interest in it being exactly what it is, which is a brutal heavy metal action-adventure."
Sounds like we really dodged a bullet there. On the other hand, now we can all look forward to the sequel, Brütal Legend: Bröken Hearts and Stölen Picküps Edition.
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