Factor 5 speaks out on 'Superman' game

by Jason Dobson { Nov 17th 2008 at 5:00PM }

Last week's closure of Brash Entertainment left a number of unanswered questions lingering, and as thrilled as we are that Saw is still set to get its game on, we're more curious to find out if Superman survived the publisher's swift implosion. The Man of Steel was allegedly the subject of a deal between Brash and Factor 5 earlier this year, and MTV Multiplayer recently caught up with the Lair developer's president, Julian Eggebrecht, to find out more.

While the exec admitted that Factor 5 is working on "several" multi-platform and Wii-specific titles, he stopped just short of admitting that the studio is developing a game based on Superman. "One of our large-scale multi-platform projects was started with Brash because it is a dream property for us, hasn't been given its dues in gaming since the Atari 2600, and has a huge universe to draw from," teased Eggebrecht, who added that "things are obviously in flux and we hope that the game proves to be as indestructible as our hero..."

Though still unconfirmed, it seems fairly obvious that Factor 5 has its sights set on the son of Jor-El. We just hope that there's something left of him after his current cross-universe beatdown.

Tags: brash, brash-entertainment, brashentertainment, factor-5, factor5, lair, superman

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Courtney @ Nov 17th 2008 5:04PM

E.T.?

Mr Khan @ Nov 17th 2008 5:07PM

They could do well with the project. The problem is how do you make the game challenging? That problem was what helped lead to the shitfest of Superman 64, since they decided to flood the world with kryptonite gas to weaken him and add the challenge

Certainly they are up to the task

Jakka ( The Order of Haters of Balance) @ Nov 17th 2008 5:25PM

I do believe it's something to do with modern DC Superman being overpowered.The only way you can truly defeat him now is by chucking Kryptonite in his face over and over again.Not exactly the most fun or balanced superhero if you asked.

Nicholas Sulikowski @ Nov 17th 2008 8:24PM

The game's gonna need liberal amounts of magic enemies then.

Eric @ Nov 17th 2008 5:13PM

The problem with the man of steel is, the same one that is in the movies. finding something that is obstacle for someone who can do anything. Superman is about hope how do you make that a game i do not know.

Arnob @ Nov 17th 2008 11:24PM

we should ask obama...

turrican @ Nov 17th 2008 5:21PM

The only thing I can think I'd care about hearing from Factor 5 about would be MORE TURRICAN!!!

Superstar90 @ Nov 17th 2008 5:22PM

Superman's true kyrptonite is video games.

Alien Lord @ Nov 17th 2008 5:22PM

We can only hope it's not a complete pile-0-shit like Lair is.

ComicShaman @ Nov 17th 2008 6:15PM

One hopes. Factor 5's most successful games have been on Nintendo systems, so one might hope they could revert to some of their past quality.

On the other hand, Lair was a steaming pile. Much of what was wrong with it was due to fundamentally bad design decisions. That doesn't give me a lot of confidence in their future choices.

(And to the small but oddly persistent Lair Defense Force: Yes, I did play the goddamned game. Or at least about 7 stages worth, before I finally gave up and traded it in.)

Hyams @ Nov 17th 2008 5:24PM

Superman Wii:

Like Superman 64, but with waggle.

Fernando Rocker @ Nov 17th 2008 5:26PM

I hope that they are developing Star Fox...

If someone can make a Star Fox game as good as Star Fox 64, is Factor 5.

I remember back in the Lair days, Factor 5 said that they were going to develop a Wii game, and the most interesting part of the Wii Remote to them was the IR Pointer (and I agree)... and they said that they are going to push the Wii to the limits too, graphically speaking.

A Star Fox game on Wii could work like this: Analog stick to move the Arwing, IR Pointer to aim and move the camera, with a little bounding box, kinda like Metroid Prime 3, A to shoot, B for right barrel roll, Z for left barrel roll, and C for bombs.

And D-Pad down to brake and D-Pad up to boost.

And the voices coming from the Wii Remote speaker...

Moptimus Slime @ Nov 17th 2008 5:32PM

or: you could just use the Wiimote as A FREAKING JOYSTICK

thats what I never understood about flying games on Wii: why not just have people hold the Wiimote upright? Its the first thing that came to my mind looking at the Wiimote

Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 17th 2008 5:42PM

Analog to move, quickly tilt nun chuck towards you to brake, quickly tilt nun chuck away to boost, IR pointer to aim, B to shoot, A for bombs, D-pad right/left to barrel roll.

Moptimus Slime @ Nov 17th 2008 5:28PM

Superman can fly right?

You know what else can fly? PilotWings/Kid Icarus/Star Fox

take your pick, Factor 5

Mr Khan @ Nov 17th 2008 5:50PM

My money's still on Kid Icarus

Though StarFox is the franchise Nintendo seems most willing to farm out. The only one EAD developed (and, neatly, the best one) was 64. The original was made by Argonaut, then there were Rare, Namco, and Q Entertainment

Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 17th 2008 5:52PM

Pilot Wings was a pretty cool game for the time. It would be nice if you could use the IR controller like a flight stick for the Wii version.

I heard something a while ago about a kid Icarus game in the works. Don't know if anything every happened with that though.

JCollum @ Nov 17th 2008 5:39PM

Yar's Revenge. Making a game about someone who's basically indestructible is silly.

citan666 @ Nov 17th 2008 5:50PM

The only way I can think to hurt superman is mentally. Build a game where he has all his powers but demonstrate how he can't save everyone at anytime. For example have a level where you have to save two different people at the same time. Create the level where you can use all of his powers but also make players aware of the two lives at risk. The key is making it intense and actually making the player care weather or not the person dies.

Titanium_Orchid @ Nov 17th 2008 5:54PM

bingo

citan666 @ Nov 17th 2008 9:47PM

Some other ideas I have are instead of a health bar you have a sanity bar. Like eternal darkness except that when your bar is full its game over and superman freaks out. It should also be a sandbox game like gta. Situations like do you have enough time to change into your suite then save them or risk exposing your identity to the public to save a life. Your decisions could change the course of the game. Damn I wish I was creating this game.

Shogan @ Nov 17th 2008 6:00PM

Superman needs to be as powerful as he is in the comics in the game. The strength, speed, and everything else NEED to be there. Make missions that cause the player to think fast, or weigh moral choices.

Maybe a spaceship is about to crash into Saturn, killing 1000 people on board... while a block away, a car is about to explode with a passenger inside. Maybe you can do both if you're fast enough, but if not, you have to decide.

Then you've got Mongul, Lobo, Doomsday, and Darkseid and other heavy-hitters in the DCU that can act as boss fights if need be.

Open up the world this time. Let him travel the entire globe, and if possible, open up the whole Solar System, if not (part of) the Universe.

A good Superman game is totally do-able.

Kryptinite @ Nov 17th 2008 6:04PM

There's no question that I want a decent Superman game.

I want it.

xGeneral DEATHx (Mr ESC Welcome Back Party Ultimate Mega Action Force) @ Nov 18th 2008 8:32AM

Judging from your avatar, I'd say you're lying.

J.Goodwin @ Nov 17th 2008 7:44PM

Oh yeah, Peter Molyneux presents a Sid Meir production of Stephen Spielberg's ET: The Extra Terrestrial: The Game: The Definitive Edition

Phillip @ Nov 18th 2008 4:34PM

Okay, I'm reeeeeally confused now. The very first sentence talks about, "Last week's closure of Brash Entertainment," referencing this post:

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/14/variety-brash-to-cease-operations-today/

from November 14. But then the very next sentence says that, "Saw is still set to get its game on", referencing this post:

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/11/07/brash-layoffs-result-from-tough-economic-landscape/

from November 7.

So, Brash is going to continue to work on games like they said 10 days ago even though they are, "planning to cease operations, with investors having walked away," as of three days ago?

stanginsteve @ Mar 12th 2009 10:25PM

well Honestly what they need to do in a superman game is to make the player feel possible to understand and fathom the fact of Superman's powers and how vast they really are and how much fun it would be to have them. To make a game where it doesn't just take place in one type of environment such as a City even though that is the main and most important environment for the Character but to hook a player in and make u feel emursed within that world spread it out a lil. have a countryside, see the city in the distance so u can u take it all in and get a sense of great distance between two places which would make flying more enjoyable and super speed as well. that and have a few character skins as extras like a clark kent one i know some ppl will say wuts the point of a clark kent one well it would be cool to mess around with this powers without the super hero costume once in a while .