Activision Blizzard threatens to sue Electronic Arts

Just when we all thought the whole publishing fiasco with Brutal Legend was over, Activision Blizzard — the former publisher of the game — has broken its silence and threatened Electronic Arts, saying that it still owns the rights and that EA’s contract with Double Fine is invalid.

EA has gone straight for the jugular with this blunt response:

“We doubt that Activision would try to sue. That would be like a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy.”

As Variety speculates, it’s clear that the game’s former publisher has no interest in actually supporting the game, so presumably this action is intended to do only one thing: get a tidy sum from EA in return for turning the license over.

The twist is that it may be Activision Blizzard doesn’t own the rights after all, as it was rumoured back during the publishing issues that Double Fine had a legal loophole in the contract on its side that gave it the rights to Brutal Legend.

I guess we’ll see before long what comes of this, but I think it’s fair to say at this point that Activision Blizzard is the new EA.

Official Xbox Magazine article now online

The Official Xbox Magazine article that I posted about a few weeks ago has now been made available on the OXM website, including unspoilt — albeit small — versions of the screenshots included in the article.

Two of the screenshots were new to the article, so you’ll find them now in the screenshot gallery. If you know of any screenshots not included there, be sure to get in touch so they can be added!

Also, as Kroms mentioned (Thanks to him for pointing out these new shots, by the way!) the latest issue of Game Informer contains a new Brutal Legend preview. If you have access to this magazine, it’d be highly appreciated if you could send in some scans.

Official Xbox Magazine covers Brutal Legend

The official Brutal Legend site has been teasing us about a looming article in the next issue of the Official Xbox Magazine for some time, and as highlighted by Double Fine you can now grab it in the shops.

I believe the Brutal Legend article is in the US edition only, so if you’re on that side of the ocean be sure to pick it up. You might even want to go ahead and scan all the pages, then send them to me. Just a thought!

Update

[January 15th, 2008 at 12:00pm GMT+0] Chris Capel has just notified me that the UK edition of the Official Xbox Magazine is also sporting a Brutal Legend feature, although whether or not it’s identical to the US version isn’t known at this time. Any good magazine shop should have it in stock now, so go get yourself sorted!

Update #2

[January 16th, 2009 at 8:52pm GMT+0] Scans of both the US and UK Official Xbox Magazine articles are now available in the Assorted Images section, courtesy of the most excellent Chris Capel and Jaap Jansen.

A cursory look indicates that the actual content of the two articles is identical, although the layout is very different in each — I’d personally say the UK edition has the edge and is probably the preferable one to read. Of course, both have their own images, captions, and minor asides.

Telescope-eyed Chris points out the following little nuggets revealed in the article:

• Eddie may have the ability to change his shirt, evidenced by the fact that he’s wearing different shirts in various screenshots
• The Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitars will not be compatible with Brutal Legend
• Plenty of new concept art

Jaap has noted in this post’s comments that some lines at the bottom of the US scans weren’t successfully included in the images, so be sure to read his comment to see what they were (some are exclusive to the US article).

Brutal Legend at Game Developers Conference 2009

Anyone who’s followed the annual Game Developers Conference knows that it’s always an extremely interesting event, full of in-depth talks and demonstrations of the most cutting-edge game development techniques.

It was at GDC that Spore had its famous first demonstration, which set the industry alight with excitement. And it’ll be at GDC that more of Brutal Legend is unveiled, setting the industry alight with awesomeness.

Lee Petty, art director of Double Fine, will be holding a one-hour lecture about the art of Brutal Legend, going in detail into the process of how the company takes something from an initial idea to a full-blown piece of work. To quote the official description:

Details on how Double Fine met the challenge of creating a unique, stylized look while also delivering a “AAA looking” game on the current generation of consoles are revealed. Creating the art for Brütal Legend was particularly challenging, as the game features a tightly constructed, story-driven single player campaign, a free-roaming open world environment of epic proportions, and a rich multiplayer game.

A number of sites including the superb Mojo have picked up on the mention of ‘multiplayer’ in this quote, confirming that multiplayer has indeed made the cut after all the publisher problems — although there’re no details concerning how it’ll be implemented. I’m kind of thinking co-op will be a feature, seeing as people seem to love the concept of playing a story-driven game socially nowadays (on consoles, at least).

According to Develop there’ll also be a second Brutal Legend talk hosted by Double Fine’s lead simulation programmer Paul Du Bois, entitled ‘Robotic Testing to the Rescue’. This will be about the “automated testing framework” Double Fine is using for the development of Brutal Legend, and is probably less exciting than the other talk (Sorry Paul!).

Gameplay video now available for download

Well, the gameplay footage was shown as promised last night. Looks like the game is shaping up very nicely! You can grab the one-minute video from the trailers and commercials section, which features snippets of gameplay and in-game cutscenes.

Worth watching just as much as the trailer is the fantastic introduction by Jack Black, which I think can be summarised best with the following quote from Idle Thumbs’ Marek Bronstring:

“I can’t believe I just saw Jack Black yell TIM FREAKING SCHAFER TIM FREAKING SCHAFER and Tim being brought onto stage in a chariot, and then Brutal Legend getting plugged to the max. I love it.”

Yes, it really was that awesome — and he didn’t even mention the flamethrower! I was pretty taken aback by how OTT the whole introduction was; most appropriate for a game as brutal as this. For now I’ve only been able to find a low-quality recording of the introduction, so if you know of a better version please leave a comment or get in touch (it can be hosted here if it’s on your computer).

I’ll be sure to update the trailers and commercials section with the usual Flash version and such later today, as well as furnish the screenshots section with the new material; I’ll also be putting the introduction video up as soon as I can find a decent-quality version. Keep an eye on those sections during the next day or so!