Rumor: EA cancels Wii Brutal Legend that might not even have existed [update]

by JC Fletcher { Jul 1st 2009 at 9:30AM }

[Update: EA's response: "Brütal Legend was never announced for the Wii." That's ... true ...]

Remember the rumored Wii version of Brütal Legend? It was rumored that EA planned to release a Wii version of the game, developed by someone other than Double Fine. The very mention of the project made Tim Schafer uncomfortable.

According to Destructoid, that Wii release, which we don't even know was real to start with, has been canceled. "Word has it that quality assurance testers who moved from Electronic Arts to Double Fine were recently let go," Destructoid notes, "after the demise of the project left their services unnecessary."

Whether the game was real and canceled or never existed at all, the net effect would seem to be the same: no Brütal Legend game on Wii. If it really was so bad that EA decided to cancel the project, we can only feel grateful that the company didn't subject Wii fans to the kind of embarrassment we had to endure whenever a screenshot of the Wii Dead Rising came out.

Tags: brutal-legend, cancellation, double-fine, ea

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rob @ Jul 1st 2009 9:35AM

I'm ok with this if it is true, because a repeat of Dead Rising on the Wii is something that does no one any good.

Maulok @ Jul 1st 2009 9:37AM

Agreed. I picked up Chop Til You Drop thinking "how bad can it be, it's zombies in a mall?" The cutscenes from the 360 version showing hundreds of zombies moving to real time where there are less than 10... yeah, that was jarring.

Rob @ Jul 1st 2009 9:39AM

Agreed double, I think they really need to make more Wii specific games, not just ports of PS3/360 games

Ridgecity @ Jul 1st 2009 9:54PM

The same thing happened with Psychonauts, came out on PC, xbox and PS2, while very good reviews came from everywhere, gamers didn't seem to care, and had abysmal sales.

Of course, the sad part was that the game was a total fit with the nintendo users who were craving for AAA third party games, and had to spend all their money buying buying million of copies of Resident Evil 4 instead that same year...

goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) @ Jul 1st 2009 9:45AM

I was looking forward to Brutal Legend until now. When the master of ass sucking claims something sucks ass, one takes heed.

coffins outside the door @ Jul 1st 2009 9:52AM

Didn't Pachter predict this would happen?

DaveMcRae the Haiku Artist @ Jul 1st 2009 9:58AM

Oh come on, now you're not even really trying. If you want to be a good troll you got to show more irrational hate.

Jack Hollow @ Jul 1st 2009 10:01AM

As stated above, when are devs gonna learn to make Wii specific games? Don't just port a 360 or a PS3 game. That's just lazy. Take the time to actually study the machine and develop for its strengths. Maybe build a Wii specific engine, which is what I believe High Voltage did for The Conduit. Granted it hasn't been exploding critics heads with awesome, but its been getting pretty good reviews. Better than the usual offerings on the Wii.

meist3r @ Jul 1st 2009 10:04AM

I just bought a 360 for the sole purpose of playing this game. I've been keeping myself busy with some other great titles and so far I won't shed a tear for a watered down version that I'll never get to play.

Cody @ Jul 1st 2009 10:45AM

"I just bought a 360 for the sole purpose of playing this game"

ROFL

Actually....

"I just bought a 360"

ROFLMAO

meist3r @ Jul 1st 2009 10:49AM

Sure, why not. Because everyone in the world needs to have a compulsive gaming habit like you do. Thanks very much for that insight. Btw. I haven't bought a PS3 because I don't need one nor do I own a car because I can get around just fine. I don't own an Iphone, no Guitar Hero guitars, no Rockband instruments, no Twitter account, no touchscreen cellphone, no Microsoft Windows or Mac.

That should keep you amused for a while. Once you're ready take a look at the world which is far larger than what you and your friends think is normal.

ZOMGBBQ

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 1st 2009 11:09AM

He doesn't have a compulsive gaming habit, as I'm pretty sure he only has a Wii. He's just being a douche as usual, ignore him.

Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jul 1st 2009 10:04AM

It's no big loss. Judging from Psychonauts, it'll be a very clever, possibly very funny, but dull action game. On release, people will pretend to enjoy it, much like the Conduit, but time will slowly reveal the truth, a truth in which tedium is the main characteristic. Plus, the game is about boorish, thrash metal, so it's a straight non-starter.

I'd forgotten all about that awful Dead Rising wiimagining. So many people defended that obviously stunted child.

meist3r @ Jul 1st 2009 10:56AM

"Judging from Psychonauts, it'll be a very clever, possibly very funny, but dull action game."

What Psychonauts did you play? I played the one where every level was even more weird and creative than the last one and even despite the flaws in the gameplay mechanics every minute was more enjoyable than all other action platformers I had played so far.

"On release, people will pretend to enjoy it, much like the Conduit, but time will slowly reveal the truth, a truth in which tedium is the main characteristic."

Astonishing comparison, Conduit being an underpowered excuse of a generic shooter that is meant to justify the hardcore genre on an underrepresented casual console and an open world action game in a setting which has never been tried before. And people don't need to "pretend" to enjoy things at first. They genuinely do. Many people enjoy screwed up relationships at first but once they start focussing on the bad parts they lose interest. Your view is utterly warped and not very convincing to say the least.

"Plus, the game is about boorish, thrash metal, so it's a straight non-starter. "

OK you lost me there ... Thrash Metal? Have you read ANYTHING about Brutal Legend and the people involved? Megadeth, Sepultura and some of Metallica is Thrash Metal if Wikipedia is to be believed. What this game is supposedly going for is the Glam/Heavy Metal aesthetics of the 1970/80s. You don't like Metal? Fine but at least you might want to differentiate. I'll wait for actual reviewers who've played the actual game, or better yet, my own judgement to decide whether I'll be bored with this game in the near future. Thanks for trying though. Better luck next time. Practice makes perfect trolls.

Girugamuk (Moptimus Slimed) @ Jul 1st 2009 11:44AM

I played the Pyschonauts with crap gameplay and a bunch of art game bullshit (which I will admit I semi enjoyed).

Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jul 1st 2009 12:20PM

Someone who has an aversion to a game is instantly a troll. If you weren't German, such authoritarianism would be a slight surprise.

Regardless of that, I played the Psychonauts game with one good level (the milkman one). It was a miracle that I lasted that long. And thrash metal is thrash metal. As long as dudes are wearing eyeliner and there's lots of out of tune guitar, then it's trash metal. I mean, thrash metal.

Poisoned Al @ Jul 1st 2009 10:10AM

All I read was: "Mum and Dad won't buy me another console becuase I have already have a Wii! BAWWWWWW!"

cuteSAVAGE @ Jul 1st 2009 10:18AM

"...what more do I need?"

I'd suggest a Mega Drive, Super NES, Dreamcast, or if I may be so bold, a PlayStation 3.

samfish (uses the Joystiq Comment-Kill filter!) @ Jul 1st 2009 10:24AM

heh. I actually agree.

Assuming it's as terrible as Psychonauts.

. . .

No, no, you're gonna want to click the little red minus icon across from my name. Not the green one.

Mr Khan @ Jul 1st 2009 10:34AM

Figures. Schafer's like id. By design or by coincidence, he has meticulously avoided Nintendo home consoles for a long time

j.howlett @ Jul 1st 2009 10:48AM

i thought Psychonauts was on the cube

Mr Khan @ Jul 1st 2009 11:07AM

It wasn't. PS2/Xbox/PC.

goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) @ Jul 1st 2009 11:11AM

Double Fine hasn't even had two games published yet, how have they avoided Nintendo? If it bothers you so much that your favorite devs don't develop on your console of choice, get another console.

Ihavepants @ Jul 1st 2009 11:47AM

Doom was on the SNES...

Cosmo (formerly Chin-Poh) @ Jul 1st 2009 11:54AM

Wolfenstein 3D was also on the SNES but like Doom, ported by another company and not really supported by ID, just like The Orange Box on the PS3, ported by EA and not really supported by Valve.

Ihavepants @ Jul 1st 2009 12:41PM

Valve didn't port the 360 version either, or that of Left 4 Dead at least. Although they may have supported it, smaller developers actually handled the changes.

But yeah, stuff.

fco. @ Jul 1st 2009 3:20PM

Actually, Schafer loves Nintendo:

http://www.doublefine.com/news.php/about

(just roll down to question nº 8 on the FAQ, or nº 10 if you still have doubts)

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 1st 2009 11:07AM

Well at least I know for sure that Brutal Legend's going to be awesome, since Sprinkles dislikes it. He has such awful taste in games so I'm relieved he doesn't like this one.

el serpiente @ Jul 1st 2009 11:21AM

Sprinkles, no one cares what you think. Your opinion is less useful to the gaming community than Jack Thompson's law degree.

Poisoned Al @ Jul 1st 2009 11:23AM

It's always amusing to watchthe fanboys crawl from under their rocks and denounce a game that isn't coming to their system. Lets face facts here, if you want to play some real games other then the casual kiddie toys, you need something other then the damn Wii. A 360, a PS3, hell even a half decent PC will do. If you consider yourself a gamer, you should have at least more then one system.

Cosmo (formerly Chin-Poh) @ Jul 1st 2009 11:40AM

I'm still waiting for a 360 and PS3 emulator to hit the PC, I'll be waiting a looooong time I know. : )

I believe there's already a Wii emulator for the PC though.

goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) @ Jul 1st 2009 11:48AM

Cosmo, By the time a PS360 emulator comes to PC, you are going to have to fork over as much cash for compatible hardware as it would have cost you to buy both consoles at launch. PPC emulation on X86/64 is enough of a bitch to completely abandon your plans of EVER loading PS360 code onto any home computer produced between now and 2020.

Cosmo (formerly Chin-Poh) @ Jul 1st 2009 11:53AM

I know, that's why I said I'd be waiting a loooooooong time. : )

Call me crazy, I have this thing where I want a device that can do everything. Instead of purchasing a separate PS3/360/Wii, etc. I'd like for instance to have a PC hooked up to my HDTV to play PC games and an emulator to play all the console games. But its extremely far-fetched and I spent a lot of $$$ on building my very first own-built PC so I'll be PC-exclusive for a bit.

Though some of the exclusives on the PS3 especially look tempting.

Averna @ Jul 1st 2009 7:26PM

That's the problem with Microsoft's business model. The 360 exclusives are usually release on Games for Windows too and, if you're a purist, a proper gaming computer can look far better than any console version.

Cosmo (formerly Chin-Poh) @ Jul 1st 2009 11:37AM

It is sad that Sprinkles believes he actually has a purpose here, that he's enlightening us with his oh-so-wonderful comments. That's why he keeps coming back after getting banned, to share his holy words with an audience that has not learned to love and is still awash in the sins of Sony.

Come oh mighty Sprinkles, wash away our many sins and convert us all away from the heathen Sony and leave the infernal Sony fanboy flock into your loving embrace!