Epic (Mickey) trade: Disney swaps Al Michaels for Oswald

by JC Fletcher { Oct 16th 2009 at 9:55AM }

The Game Informer preview of Junction Point's Epic Mickey is out, revealing not only the game's art style and Mickey's retro-inspired look, but details of the storyline and characters as well -- definitely worth picking up the mag to see, even if it means another trip into GameStop. One of the most interesting details isn't really in the game, but about the game.

The antagonist, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, almost wasn't included -- kinda hard to be epic without a bad guy, you know? "Disney didn't own the rights to Oswald," designer Warren Spector explained to Game Informer. The Epic Mickey project was apparently of such importance, though, that Disney CEO Bob Iger made a deal with NBC Universal and "traded Al Michaels, a human sportscaster, for the rights to a cartoon rabbit." For what evil purpose was Universal keeping Oswald locked away? We may never know.

At Game Informer's website, see the first look at Epic Mickey's environments, along with more of that wonderful concept art.

Tags: disney, disney-interactive, epic-mickey, junction-point-studios

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

vwbeetlvr @ Oct 16th 2009 9:57AM

This game will be the first epic win game.

Ridgecity @ Oct 16th 2009 1:38PM

I imagine the day they told Al Michaels:

"What??, I have to sell my house and move to New York??"

"yes, Mike, Disney traded you for a cartoon rabbit from the 30s that no one remembers...it's called Oswald I think..."

"Damn, I'm gonna fuckin do it just so people can enjoy Epic Mickey, my children can make new friends once they tell eveyone they sold their house for Epic Mickey to be done..."

"you are a good man Mike... may I pleasure you?"

Sillines @ Oct 16th 2009 9:58AM

Holy shit! You don't trade Al Michaels for just anything! Disney must mean some serious business.

Chicago Mafia @ Oct 16th 2009 10:10AM

NOooo! Not Al Michaels!!!

D dogg @ Oct 16th 2009 10:41AM

What's epic is that Disney co-created Oswald and then gets put through the ringer - LOL

From Wikipedia:

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit or Oswald Rabbit) is an anthropomorphic rabbit animated cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney for films distributed by Universal Pictures in the 1920s and 1930s.

umm....hello??? @ Oct 16th 2009 11:19AM

Disney is ALWAYS serious about business. I'd be willing to bet that the revenues for a Mickey game + Nintendo would be a lot larger than Al. Add in that this game will be huge and definitely get a sequel (or several) = big profits.

In before Pachter and his predictions!

BananaBoat @ Oct 16th 2009 6:35PM

When asked for comment, Al Michaels was noted as saying "I knew this would happen without the job security that John Madden brought to our partnership"

Mewchu [Super Kawaii Power! ^.^ ] @ Oct 16th 2009 9:58AM

Figures that the rights to a cartoon rabbit would matter more to Disney than the rights of a living human being.

Jack_Jackington @ Oct 16th 2009 5:37PM

It would make sense if Al Michaels is jewish

esposch @ Oct 16th 2009 8:25PM

In case anyone is thinking of downvoting Jack for being racist, his comment was actually a witty pun about Walt Disney being anti-semitic.
In the words Bjorn (I think) "cleverly done."

manyquestions @ Oct 17th 2009 11:15AM

Puns about Disney being anti-Semitic lost their clever value around the time they started.

kriscolumbus @ Oct 16th 2009 10:04AM

I think it's hilarious. "Here, you can have this person. We REALLY REALLY need that rabbit!"

fffunfarm06 @ Oct 16th 2009 10:04AM

because of that trade maybe epic mickey also be a movie. they know people aren't gonna buy a non-first party title, so they can get the rest of their money in film

umm....hello??? @ Oct 16th 2009 11:22AM

right....because if it isn't the house of Nintendo then nobody would buy all those "imagine" games or all the party games....Rayman Raving Rabbids is from Ubisoft--hell! I think I just discovered the sequel to Oswald the Rabbit just now!!

Daniel C. @ Oct 16th 2009 10:08AM

I think it would be a mistake to say that the entire value of the character Oswald is around this game. There is the historic value that it was Walt Disney's first featured character, I have to think that owning that history would be invaluable to the house that Walt built.

Nathan-DTS [He is your father] @ Oct 16th 2009 10:16AM

FACT: Walt Disney was racist.
FACT: Walt Disney didn't make Toy Story (The best film ever)
FACT: Walt Disney owned 1202 eyepatches.

dantebk @ Oct 16th 2009 11:13AM

FACT: This sentence is a lie.
FACT: I just blew your motherlovin' mind.

manyquestions @ Oct 16th 2009 11:28AM

FACT: Nathan, YOU FAIL.

Old Professor Zertoss @ Oct 16th 2009 10:10AM

Oswald in Kingdom Hearts 3 CONFIRMED.

ObiBen @ Oct 16th 2009 10:10AM

Gotta wonder how Al Michaels feels about being traded for a cartoon character.

C.A. @ Oct 16th 2009 10:46AM

In the words of his old buddy Madden "BAM! They gottem lookin out his earhole!"

dextro @ Oct 16th 2009 10:14AM

I guess Epic Mickey is serious business then.

Cory @ Oct 16th 2009 10:15AM

that trade was made years ago. Back when Al left ABC to go to NBC to do Monday night football with John Madden.

Truth @ Oct 16th 2009 10:19AM

I remember the Al Michaels story a few years ago. He was actually being traded because NBC sports wanted Al Michaels to do the NFL Sunday Night Football with John Madden. They owned Oswald the Rabbit because when Walt Disney first created Oswald, Walt Disney was doing contract work, and not for his own company. Eventually the rights to Oswald became part of Universal.

Mayne @ Oct 16th 2009 10:26AM

Yeah, so unless this game's been in the pipeline for quite some time now (which it could have been and we just never knew) then that little anecdote is probably bogus.

But still cool to see more art from this game, and even get a taste of the music...!

AsherR [Planeteer | Power of The Hoff] @ Oct 16th 2009 10:51AM

@Mayne: The game has been in the works for a while it seems. Warren started Junction Point Studios in 2005. They were then purchased by Disney in 2007, so it's debatable when work actually started on the game. They could have had a deal with Disney before they were purchased, as a job advertisement mentioned working on a project that dealt with "Classic Hollywood cartoons."

I'm not familiar when this Al Michaels deal took place. But they also probably wanted Oswald for nostalgia reasons, so who knows.

Donald @ Oct 16th 2009 10:56AM

Al Michaels's last game for ABC (owned by Disney) was Super Bowl XL in 2006. He moved to/was traded to NBC for Sunday Night Football that fall.

samfish [is sad there is no Gene in Tats v Cap =( ] @ Oct 16th 2009 11:11AM

As far back as early 2008, Warren Spector was talking about making a 'Mario killer' game with Mickey Mouse. Or at least that was the rumor in one of of the game magazines.
It's not really out of the question that the time frames match up.

Drake @ Oct 16th 2009 11:16AM

if only this came out for ps3...

rowd149 @ Oct 16th 2009 11:12AM

Shut up.

samfish [is sad there is no Gene in Tats v Cap =( ] @ Oct 16th 2009 11:12AM

Scans!
http://nintendodpad.com/Welcome/News/Entries/2009/10/15_First_Epic_Mickey_Scans!.html

I was really hoping for cell shaded. I'm kinda sad to see it's regular ol' 3D :\

WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Oct 16th 2009 11:28AM

Cellshaded will made it look cheap and no one will buy it like Mad World or that other game with swords.

WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Oct 16th 2009 11:29AM

Looks pretty cool, for the first video I though it was gonna be 3D and I'm glad we got a happy old Mickey and not an angsty one.

manyquestions @ Oct 16th 2009 11:38AM

I would've still bought it. Cell-shaded stuff looks awesome.

Victor @ Oct 16th 2009 11:58AM

I don't think cel shading looks cheap. I think it looks great!

b33z3r @ Oct 16th 2009 12:02PM

Agreed. Especially with the "retro" look they're trying to achieve.

Dopple Boppler @ Oct 16th 2009 12:16PM

I love how the ears are done in the game. You know, how you always see both his ears no matter what angle you're looking at him from, just like the cartoon; such a nice touch

Jason Statham (Has a ps3 now) @ Oct 16th 2009 12:51PM

While I'm also disappointed this isn't cell-shaded, it still looks freaking amazing. Also I'm loving retro mickey.

bongoes is no longer a Black Lantern. @ Oct 16th 2009 3:07PM

I love those eyes. I'm so glad they used retro Mickey

Windmill @ Oct 16th 2009 5:14PM

Cell shading would've looked great, but I'm not surprised. Cell-shading isn't really disney's style. They do proper 3D animation in-house.

Drake @ Oct 16th 2009 11:17AM

You are telling me to shut up because I wish a game would come out for a system that I own? Real awesome kid.

xGearSecondx @ Oct 16th 2009 11:43AM

Yes

BlueXArmed @ Oct 16th 2009 12:01PM

Shut up.

emirabal @ Oct 16th 2009 3:58PM

Drake, imwith you, i wish this was multiplatform, i am not buying a system for one game, i feel you, i would want it on the 360, maybe they can port it over and make some more money, i know Disney loves making money.

Diodax @ Oct 17th 2009 2:43PM

@Drake:
I also want Demon's Souls for a system that I own (360), but if I say that Sony fanboys would shred me to pieces

rowd149 @ Oct 16th 2009 11:16AM

I'm pretty damn excited for this game. I'm not gonna lie, it's partly because I'm a big fan of Kingdom Hearts, and... well, the comparisons are obvious. One thing not brought up yet: who's doing the music for this? One thing that really MADE the set-pieces for KH was Yoko Shimomura's wonderful original and remixed-classical-Disney pieces.

Considering that it looks like they're going to be drawing on locales seen in the Disney canon just like KH, they're going to have to come to the table with some awesome music to complement what are so-far absolutely beautiful environments.

Dopple Boppler @ Oct 16th 2009 12:12PM

According to this GoNintendo post (http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=100611):

"- Jim Dooley 'Pushing Daises' is doing the soundtrack"

As for the Kingdom Hearts comparisons, I guess you're right to a certain extent, but this sounds more like what I imagined Kingdom Hearts was going to be in the first place. Not that I don't like Kingdom Hearts mind you, but in terms of the mood and all that it really felt more Final Fantasyesque than Disneyish, if that makes sense; I was really hoping for a more darker focus on the Disney stuff, and Epic Mickey seems to not only have that but really interesting gameplay mechanics and art style as well.