Psychonauts encyclopedia wants your brain
by Randy Nelson 
{ Dec 31st 2008 at 1:30AM }
Double Fine has (thankfully) not forgotten its beloved platformer, Psychonauts -- and neither has its legion of fans. The developer recently launched a wiki-style "Psycho-pedia" to flesh out the game's 'verse, offering up articles on all of its important people, places, and things. Oh, so many things.
What's more, Tim Schafer and crew have opened the tome of knowledge to ... your knowledge. By creating an account at the site, you can update the articles with info that (gasp!) even the developer might have overlooked. Double Fine is also soliciting fan art, fan music, cosplay photos, and "any other art you may have created while under the influence of Psychonauts." We can see this getting fittingly weird.
What's more, Tim Schafer and crew have opened the tome of knowledge to ... your knowledge. By creating an account at the site, you can update the articles with info that (gasp!) even the developer might have overlooked. Double Fine is also soliciting fan art, fan music, cosplay photos, and "any other art you may have created while under the influence of Psychonauts." We can see this getting fittingly weird.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
HyperNexus @ Dec 31st 2008 1:37AM
Tim, this is great and all, glad you haven't left Psychonauts behind, but where's my sequel, dang it? *shakes fist*
baconaholic @ Dec 31st 2008 1:46AM
They're having us write it for them.
Courtney @ Dec 31st 2008 1:46AM
I got really excited when I saw a Psychonauts 2 entry in the wiki:
http://www.doublefine.com/news.php/Psycho-pedia/index/Psychonauts_2
But it appears to just be fan made.
In some respects though, I'm fine with just the one game. Sure, a sequel would be great. But between the choice of another Psychonauts or Tim and his crew working on new, original works, I think I would prefer him to experiment with new things.
soviet chick @ Dec 31st 2008 1:49AM
Sequel?
A talent like Tim Schafer and Double-Fine should never be relegated to producing sequels to unique and original games that stand so well on their own that a sequel would threaten to seriously disturb the original game's classic standing.
Wouldn't you much rather have them ("them" being Double-Fine and Erik Wolpaw) work on an equally brilliant and original game, that may or may not be a 3D Platformer?
Graham Wellington (formerly tyrone washington, or marsha goldberg) @ Dec 31st 2008 3:50AM
but soviet chik i liked the characters so much and enjoyed it thoroughly. i just cant imagine brutal legend being as good, i hope so, but jack black can be annoying.
Moorio - XBL: peacebyanymeans @ Dec 31st 2008 1:39AM
Psychonauts is the best game of the last generation of hardware, and the best platformer I have ever played (Sorry Super Mario Galaxy).
(Serious. For real. Ferrari.)
comtar @ Dec 31st 2008 2:15AM
I really look forward to a sequel to Psychonauts with the same twisted and fun humor of the ori......
.....TV.....
.....TV.....
Tiptup300 @ Dec 31st 2008 2:26AM
I wish Rareware would make another collect-a-thon, I love them so much.
mietha CAG @ Dec 31st 2008 2:40AM
Am I the only person who thought this game sucked? It's not very funny, the art style is obnoxious, at best, most of the characters are annoying and very few are likable at all, the platforming itself isn't so hot, etc. Just because something is different doesn't mean it's earth shattering. It's a mid-range platformer with a couple of twists. That's it. I'll never understand why it's treated as the second coming.
Moorio - XBL: peacebyanymeans @ Dec 31st 2008 3:00AM
You are about to be (and I am in no way being figurative) utterly destroyed.
Reader @ Dec 31st 2008 3:09AM
I bought it off Steam just the other day after rewatching the ZP review, and I have to say I disagree thoroughly. I've only played an hour or two, but I have to say it's one of the few games I have actually found funny, and the characters likable. I actually found myself stopping trying to convince the short round kid to cross the minefield and when he wouldn't going back to try again.
My only complaint so far is that the cut scenes aren't in 1280*1024, which makes them look like utter shit on my LCD.
muddyhelmit @ Dec 31st 2008 3:14AM
yes, you are the only one. let's just pretend that comment was never written.
t_m @ Dec 31st 2008 4:08AM
Its just you.
Though if you tried it on the PC with the mouse and keyboard controls then you might just be forgiven. Until i plugged in a joypad i was very unimpressed.
The characters are awesome. I can't believe they manage to create about 20 unique, interesting kids whose lives i cared about and wanted to knowmore about. I had almost as much fun just wandering the camping grounds and having random encounters with all the kids as i did with the story.almost.
The story is awesome and original and deep and varied. The art style is great. Plus the fact that almost every "world" has a different artstyle.
The platforming isn't stunning, but as soon asyou get your first couple of abilities it becomes at least as good as it needs to be.
Can't think of any bad points about this game...
j.howlett @ Dec 31st 2008 9:52AM
i couldn't get into it. i tried around the time it came out and the art style turned me off.
offday @ Dec 31st 2008 10:46AM
It is really fun.
And I hate to burst the guy's bubble who bought it off steam, but did you know you can download gametap and play psychonaughts for free?
Smurfy @ Dec 31st 2008 12:07PM
Sure, if you subscribe to GameTap. I'd much rather pay a couple of quid to get it on Steam.
offday @ Dec 31st 2008 12:52PM
No. You don't have to subscribe. It's completely and totally free. They have gold accounts which let you play anything for a fee and then a standard account that lets you play some games for free and Psychonauts is one of them.
Abdo @ Dec 31st 2008 6:48AM
Great idea, but by letting people write their own "facts" (or fiction), things really will get weird.
Gibson @ Dec 31st 2008 8:32AM
Meat Circus (n) -- FUCK IT
Cobra951 @ Dec 31st 2008 8:47AM
The high difficulty of the final level doesn't follow the rest of the learning curve. That annoyed me. Other than that, brilliant game, one of my PC favorites. I'm glad to see it's still making some money on Steam and such.
eldee @ Dec 31st 2008 2:22PM
eh.. it wasn't THAT hard. Sure there's a little pressure with it forcing you upward, but the jumps aren't harder or anything like that. The hardest part is looking for the next platform and not having much time to do so.
I think I only died once or twice getting to the top (playing on the hardest difficulty setting)