Kotaku: the simpsons game

EA's Simpsons Win Golden Trailer Award

Mike Fahey — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:00:00 MDT

With Halo 3's "Believe" ad campaign winning advertising awards left and right, it's time for EA to step up to the award podium, or at least EA's trailer producers, Hammer Creative. They've just been awarded the "Best Video Game Trailer" award at the 9th Annual Golden Trailer Awards for their The Simpsons Game: Medal of Homer trailer. A spoof of EA's own Medal of Honor series, the ad features Bart and Homer invading Franchise, belching, and scratching their asses...truly the hallmarks of a truly great trailer, ever since Humphrey Bogart garlic-burped in Ingrid Bergman's face in the classic Casablanca teaser. Hammer Creative is no stranger to the Golden Trailer Awards, having won last year for the trailer to Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent and the year before for The Godfather: The Game. Hit the jump to see the award-winning clip in all its pristine glory.

GOLDEN TRAILER AWARDS HONOR THE YEAR'S BEST TRAILERS IN NINTH ANNUAL AWARDS SHOW
Hammer Creative Takes Home "Best Video Game Trailer" Award

MAY 12, 2008, LOS ANGELES: Hammer Creative has been honored with the award for the year's "Best Video Game Trailer" at the 9th Annual Golden Trailer Awards for their THE SIMPSONSTM GAME: MEDAL OF HOMER (Electronic Arts) trailer. This win marks the third year in a row that Hammer Creative has garnered this prestigious recognition, and is preceded by Best Video Game Trailer awards for THE GODFATHER: THE GAME (2006) and TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL: DOUBLE AGENT (2007). "It's a real tribute to our video game team, led by Scott Hayman and Jim Botko, that we have had such consistent, long term creative success in the video game arena," commented Hammer Creative founder Mark Pierce. "EA has been a terrific partner and we look forward to our continued relationship with them."

Week in Games: Silent Hill Origins Edition

fdemarco — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 18:00:00 MST

The flood of amazing game titles seems to have ebbed a bit this week which my beleaguered bank account is most thankful for. Silent Hill: Origins will be my purchase this week as I try to plow through the last two week's worth of purchases. Anything on the list catch your eye?

Silent Hill: Origins (PSP)
Take a prequel visit to creepy Silent Hill and see how it got so creepy.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (X360, PC, PS3, DS)
World War II is finally over.

Empire Earth III (PC)
take your empire from humble beginnings to outer space.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (WII)
A dubious pairing. But who will win?

Gears of War (PC)
Marcus Fenix and his scarred legions arrive on the PC.

The Simpsons Game (PSP)
D'oh! Just a week behind.

Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War (X360, PS3)
Think Dynasty Warriors in medieval Europe.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (WII, X360, PS3, DS)
Relive Star Wars through the blocky world of Legos.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (WII)
Charge of the Dawn Brigade.

F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate (PC)
I fear another expansion is in the works.

F.E.A.R. Files (X360)
Both F.E.A.R expansion packs in one fancy package

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance (PC)
If the original wasn't enough for you.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker (DS)
Hunt for monsters and make them do your bidding.

Bee Movie Game (WII)
Ok, let's be honest. Does anyone really care?

New Simpsons Trailer is Japanese for Fun Fun

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:00:41 MDT

Picking up where the apparently banned The Simpsons episode "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" leaves off, the above trailer lampoons all things Japanese. This time around, it's games like Katamari and Pokémon. Mr, Sparkle for added big super happy fun fun!

New Simpson Game Trailer [TV in Japan]

The Simpsons Game Launch Party

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:20:57 MDT

It may not feature fabulously/obscenely chesty model Keeley Hazel, as the London launch event did, but tomorrow night, southern Californians will be treated to a kick-off party for EA's The Simpsons Game at Universal CityWalk and Hard Rock Café. No, Ms. Hazel's gargantuan rack won't be in attendance, but The Simpsons creator Matt Groening's respectable man-teats will be. He'll also be joined by unnamed writers from the television show and mysterious Fox celebrities.

The whole thing kicks off tomorrow night at 8 PM, with a "surprise unveiling" at 9:15 (again, no Keeley). The usual snacks, drinks, giveaways and general fun will be dished out by the folks from EA and Fox, so make sure you show up on time. To pass the time between now and tomorrow night's early access to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game, we certainly don't suggest at-work Google Image Searches for the above Briton. It's not worth throwing your career away for.

Week in Games: Spooky Halloween Edition

fdemarco — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:00:00 MDT

Here we are again at another week full of games that threaten to drain my bank account. I haven't even gotten through last week's "must have" list and here comes Manhunt 2, GH III, The Simpsons Game, Hellgate: London, Dementium: The Ward. My Christmas wish list grows longer with each passing day while my time to play games grows ever shorter. What's a poor gamer to do?

Manhunt 2 (WII, PS2, PSP)
At long last it finally arrives, castrated but no worse for the wear.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (X360, WII, PS3, PS2)
Barracuda, here I come!

The Simpsons Game (X360, PS2, DS, WII, PS3)
One Simpsons game to rule them all.

The Witcher (PC)
It's witchcraft, wicked witchcraft...

Hellgate: London (PC)
Welcome to the 'ell 'ole.

Culpa Innata (PC)
What life will be like 40 years from now. I can't wait to see if it's accurate.

Dementium: The Ward (DS)
GameCock rolls out the monsters.

TimeShift (PC, X360)
The clothes make the man.

Battalion Wars 2 (WII)
Who knew war could be so cute.

Tabula Rasa (PC)
Richard Garriot's futuristic MMO finally arrives.

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP)
YOU are the Overlord. Or at least you will be if you win.

Virtua Fighter 5 (X360)
Beat down in HD.

Dear EA, We're Suing Your Ass

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:30:24 MDT

Looks like someone at the EA marketing department thought they'd have a laugh and swipe the hard work of Gawker Media's crack design team. Sorry, EA, but we have a patent (pending) on viciously nauseating color schemes. You'll be hearing from our lawyers. We're obviously willing to settle for nine complimentary copies of The Simpsons Game, including one for the Kotaku archives, but might play hardball for a tenth.

Seriously, not funny. We're all smoldering with generic rage right now. And by smoldering with generic rage, I mean giddy and thrilled that someone at EA added us to The Simpsons Game parody target list.

Moetaku [EA - thanks, Nathan!]

Super Mario Galaxies Videos

Mark Wilson — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:00:51 MDT

Here are two SHORT but interesting clips from the upcoming Super Mario Galaxies. The first is a dramatic boss reveal. And the second gives us a quick look at wielding firepower through the Wiimote. It's the first time in a long time that simple Wiimote gestures have looked fun to me at all. Maybe it's just the huge explosions finding their way into Mario sound design.

Super Mario gameplay [gametrailers]

PGR4 and F.E.A.R. Files Demos Hit Live

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:40:06 MDT

Xbox 360 owners are swimming in demos this week. Following up on yesterday's release of The Simpsons Game and Conan demos, the Marketplace welcomes two newcomers, Project Gotham Racing 4 and F.E.A.R. Files: Extraction Point, the latter of which I really enjoy typing. PGR4 is fortunately available worldwide and weighs in at 1.27 GB, so clean your internet pipes for maximum downloadiness. The demo features three cars, two bikes, and two tracks. That's value.

The other demo, which I simply cannot be bothered to type out again, comes in at a more trim 584.87 MB, but thumbs its figurative nose at anyone not in Canada and the U.S. Sorry, rest of the world. You're going to have to settle for PGR4.

Conan and The Simpsons Dueling Demos

Mike Fahey — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:40:35 MDT

Two new demos are ready for your downloading pleasure on an Xbox 360 near you this morning. First we have Nihilistic's Conan, not to be confused with the Funcom MMO Age of Conan, a single-player game that puts you in the furry boots of fantasy's greatest barbarian as he struggles against an elusive evil power, using weapons, wrestling moves, and magic for some god awful reason. If 483 MB of blood and gore aren't your thing, try 442 MB of fun and frivolity as Homer and Bart team up to take down Lard Lad in The Simpsons Game demo, sure to be chock-full of hilarious sound bytes that quickly become annoying after the third or fourth repeat. Just guessing there, mind you, as the demo is still slowly making it's way over the intertubes to my game box, and the PS3 kids seemed to like it when they got it last week, so who knows? Go forth and judge for yourself.

Rockstar: Waaahhhhh!! (hypocritical sniffle)

Mark Wilson — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:56:00 MDT

The Simpsons, who doesn't love The Simpsons? Apparently Rockstar. Or at least that's EA's story since Rockstar has demanded that content be pulled from their new Simpsons game. Lead Designer Greg Rizzer elaborates further:

I was always under the impression that when you do parody, it's a sign of respect... If we make fun of Grand Theft Auto, we're not going to hurt the sales of Grand Theft Auto... But yeah, we've definitely had some reactions - we've had to pull stuff from the game.

He also adds that during Leipzig Games Convention, EA had to pull a GTA parody poster (Grand Theft Scratchy) from the floor due to a Rockstar-sourced complaint.

Rizzer elaborated that it was probably a lawyer who's been the source of said conflicts, but that's no excuse in our book. Parody has long offered legal solace to those stretching the bounds of freedom of speech and social commentary, even in the light of potential profits—just imagine this classic SNL vid without such protection. EA's response to self-censor has very likely been the result of playing nice to save legal costs and headaches as opposed to actual IP infringement.

With as often as Rockstar (justifiably) whines about freedom of artistic expression, we're ashamed of their double standard. Seriously. We're shaking our finger and everything.

EA upsets games companies with The Simpsons [cvg] [image]

The Simpson's Magical Powers

Mike Fahey — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:30:13 MDT

Electronic Arts has released a plethora of new screenshots of The Simpsons Game for the Xbox 360, showing off some of the special powers America's most beloved family will be using as they navigate the various dangers of the world of Springfield and beyond. So far I think Lisa has the coolest power. When I was a kid and my friends would have the, "What superpower would you have?" discussion, I was always in the stunning dolphins with a saxophone camp.

The Simpsons Game: Grand Theft Scratchy

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:40:16 MDT

The Simpsons Game might be the best selling Simpsons game of all time—that is, if EA keeps pumping out marketing gold like this Rockstar Games inspired clip. I may justifiably hate The Scorpions like they were responsible for the murder of my family, but even I reflexively fist pumped to this new The Simpsons Game spot. Sure, the game may turn into a derivative putrid stew, but can you deny the power of this clip?

Marge Attacks in The Simpson Game

Brian Crecente — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 14:00:30 MDT

In this latest Simpsons Game clip we get a look at Marge's special attacks. I suspect that the game is going to be much better than the movie, but that wouldn't be too hard to do.

The Simpsons Game Co-op Hands On Impressions

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:30:53 MDT

We sat down with EA's The Simpsons Game at Games Convention, rumps firmly stuffed into the Fatboy beanbags at Microsoft's Xbox 360 beach booth for a bit of split-screen multiplayer with Bart and Lisa. Our co-op adventure took us through a Lisa appropriate themed area, a redwood forest being slashed by a menacing lumber company, complete with foresters armed with back-mounted wood chipper guns.

I, as Bart (and Bartman), and Crecente, as Lisa, helped each other overcome obstacles and take down a mechanized lumber processing monster by using our special powers. Bart, armed with an electrified slingshot, took out most of the overall-clad bad guys (which happen to infinitely spawn from a port-a-potty, by the way). Lisa was given puzzle solving duties, using her Buddha palm powers to lift great tree trunks, arrange buzzsaws wedged in trees, and work out pipe puzzles with her all powerful mystical grip. Crecente looked like he was having an easy go of it, while I spent my time platforming, picking up bonus Krusty Koupons and wiping out angry workers.

The platforming aspects is where I felt The Simpsons Game fell a little short. Trying to jump tree to tree with Bartman was not as simple as it should have been. Controller response wasn't nearly tight enough for my needs, resulting in many missed landings and ultimately frustration. Crecente didn't bitch about it as much as I did, a fact he continually chalked up to just being so damn good.

The Simpsons Game's wonky camera wasn't helping matters, though. At one point, I simply had to jump from a ledge and restart my upward progress from scratch because I was unable to see the next platform. This may have been more evidently problematic because of the split-screen nature of our co-op play.

Where the game absolutely delivers is in its excellent use of the license and well executed implementation of Simpsons humor. The game is packed with jokes of the highest Simpsons caliber quality, combining the cartoon's best characters used perfectly with the best gaming cliches.

In fact, when the Comic Book Guy popped up in the middle of the action to inform us that we'd unlocked another video game cliche, I couldn't help but giggle. When Lisa was forced to play a game of Frogger by jumping her way across a river filled with logs and three-eyed alligators, I nearly lost it.

Graphically, the game is near perfect. The development team at EA has captured the cel-shaded look of the show to great effect, giving objects perfectly toned shadows. We never experienced any unusual looking line work on the characters or environment. The only minor visual niggle was a cutscene featuring a weird looking Lenny and Carl trapped on a conveyor belt at the giant lumber plant.

That Simpsons staffers are deeply involved in the game's production clearly shows. This may be the best Simpsons (period) game (period) ever. Period. Hopefully, the guys at EA are already addressing some of the gameplay quibbles we experienced at Games Convention and will deliver on an amazing, hilarious adventure game.