By Jim Rossignol on November 2nd, 2009 at 10:24 am.
EDIT: Turns out the trailer is fan-made, and not official in any way. Which is kind of a shame, because it’s awesome.
The new Alice game, which will be called Return Of American McGee’s Alice, is miles off, being set for release in 2011. It is being developed by Shanghai studio, Spicy Horse. There’s not much more to go on at present, other than the teaser site, and a brilliantly creepy teaser trailer, posted below.
02/11/2009 at 10:28 GibletHead2000 says:
That trailer looks really good, and I hope they get the game right this time… I enjoyed the first one, and played it all the way though. The art, weirdness, and Alice-ness of it were really good. It’s just a shame that the gameplay sucked.
02/11/2009 at 10:42 Azazel says:
Tom Clancy’s: American McGee’s American McGee Simulator
02/11/2009 at 11:14 BooleanBob says:
Apparently Sid Meier was an executive producer, but they couldn’t fit his name on the box..
02/11/2009 at 12:55 LEEDER KRENNON says:
i still don’t get why this guy gets his name in the title. sid meier – sure, geoff crammond – of course, bit american cocking mcgee? i do understand why they leave the cocking off though.
02/11/2009 at 13:46 diebroken says:
As we all know (?) American McGee was part of id Software, and this sort of thing happens when known people in the industry/sector start their own projects, like John Romero’s Daikatana (or was that Tom Hall’s PR? Like the infamous ‘Bitch’ ad…)
02/11/2009 at 21:57 leeder krenon says:
to be honest i didn’t know that. that era of gaming somehow passed me by.
02/11/2009 at 11:08 Ybfelix says:
When I was young the title of this game messed with my head until I realized much later American is the guy’s name
02/11/2009 at 11:20 nihohit says:
Oh, let Chris Verena do the soundtrack again!
03/11/2009 at 12:48 Bluepixie says:
True that!
02/11/2009 at 11:21 Jae Armstrong says:
That trailer is all kinds of superawesome. Claymation ftw.
The name: I read somewhere that that wasn’t actually McGee’s idea; the publishers thought plain old “Alice” didn’t have enough syllables to sell well or somesuch nonsense.
02/11/2009 at 11:43 matte_k says:
Looks interesting, really liked the first one so we’ll see how this plays out before judgement is passed I think :D
Also, I can’t help but think of the Mcgee in Vampire:The Masquerade Bloodlines whenever I see American McGee now-that whole sequence with the crazy prosthetics addict…
02/11/2009 at 11:51 Stense says:
I was a big fan girl of the first one, so very much looking forward to this next one. Creepy trailer looks great and nice to hear the old music again. I’m with Nihohit, Verena’s soundtrack for the first was wonderful stuff, heres hoping he returns with Mr McGee for the sequel.
02/11/2009 at 11:54 The Colonel says:
When is a croquet mallet not a croquet mallet….?
02/11/2009 at 11:57 RogB says:
It annoys me no end that this guy has his name across the box as if hes some sort of legend or visionary. Whether its his idea or marketing I dont care, its just -sad-, he hasnt earned it in the slightest.
Still, i’m all for angsty goth alice’s.. didnt play much of the first though. Liked the style but it didnt quite have the trousers.
02/11/2009 at 13:16 mandrill says:
as to the name on the box thing. I’m with PetitPiteux. Michealangelo did not paint the Ceiling all on his own, but he directed the overall vision of the peice. Same with Warhol and Hirst. I personally see it as being one person willing to take on the mantle of being ‘the artist’ and losing a peice of their humanity, becoming a brand rather than a person. (This doesn’t apply to Tom Clancy, who I believe is just a pseudonym for an intelligent military supercomputer with a sideline in mediocre, hyper-real, espionage thrillers)
02/11/2009 at 14:15 qrter says:
Yikes, you mentioned Damien Hirst in your argument. Hence your argument has imploded and instantly become nullified! ;)
02/11/2009 at 15:54 phuzz says:
@qrter: So mentioning Damien Hirst == the new Godwin’s Law?
Does this mean we can look forward to a rash of games where we try and stop the Hirst occupation of Europe? And easter egg multiplayer modes where we fight unstoppable waves of zombified Damiens?
and back on topic: SQUEEEEEEE!
02/11/2009 at 12:13 Psychopomp says:
Man, I hope they do the game in some sort of pseudo-claymation style
I am braced for hope dashing :(
02/11/2009 at 12:19 Tang says:
+1 to the Chris Vrenna sountrack.
02/11/2009 at 12:48 Bobsy says:
Brrr.
02/11/2009 at 12:58 DrGonzo says:
He did work on both Doom games and Quake 1 and 2, that’s pretty impressive.
02/11/2009 at 12:59 DrGonzo says:
Argh! That was meant to be @RogB, I seem to have problems with the reply button. Though that could well be my stupidity rather than a technical issue.
02/11/2009 at 13:02 Joe Martin says:
Well, level design, yeah. Still, you don’t see “John Carmack’s Doom 4″ or “John Romero’s Daikatana” or “Levellord’s SiN: Episodes”. It’s just ego, which has since become expected ego.
02/11/2009 at 14:06 skyturnedred says:
Actually, you do see John Romero’s Daikatana.
02/11/2009 at 14:18 RogB says:
im not disputing that hes worked on good games before (though not really as a ‘head honcho’) but Im just confused as to what exactly we supposed to associate American Mcgee with? theres no consistency of visual style like you get with say, tim burton. Or a type of genre, like Sid Meier. All I generally think of is overblown ego and a lukewarm end result. Perhaps im having a crabby day.
02/11/2009 at 13:00 Gap Gen says:
Claymation: The new Cel Shading?
02/11/2009 at 13:05 PetitPiteux says:
miam miam…
and I for one am all for name-on-the-box. Because games-as-art takes somebody is in charge of the overall vision, not a comity. If putting names is a path toward that, so be it…
02/11/2009 at 13:05 TheBlackBandit says:
Yeah, that is… that is – a little disturbing.
02/11/2009 at 13:11 mandrill says:
My wife will be sooo happy. The original Alice was one of the few third person things she played through to the end (She’s more a point and click adventurer) and she was awfully dissapointed when Oz vanished.
02/11/2009 at 13:44 Chaz says:
Considering the last game to come out bearing his moniker didn’t fair so well, you’d asume they’d want to leave it off this time.
02/11/2009 at 14:07 Leeks! says:
Not Through the Extra-Creepy looking glass?? Or–ooh! American McGee’s Jan Svankmajer’s Lewis Caroll’s Alice.
02/11/2009 at 15:05 fuggles says:
Ooh….. loved the first Alice. Still have it although the manual and key code has been lost to time, which somewhat puts me at a loss. Happy to see that the cat is back, I wonder if some sort of retcon is afoot for when American decided to kill off EVERYTHING.
02/11/2009 at 15:59 Jeremy says:
You have to admit, if you’re going to put someone’s name on a game, “American McGee’s Alice” is much better than “Chad Thompson’s Alice”. I wish my name was American McGee.
02/11/2009 at 16:58 Chaz says:
You could change your name to English McWhizz.
02/11/2009 at 16:54 Shadrach says:
Wow, have many fond memories of the first game, so looking forward to it, but so far away… If its actually claymation then kudos to them!
02/11/2009 at 17:22 Sam says:
Surely “English Von Gosh”? Or possibly “British de la Golly”
02/11/2009 at 17:35 RogB says:
The Lovely Debbie McGee’s Alice
02/11/2009 at 17:53 Chaz says:
I was thinking gee whiz you see. But erm… yeah, I’ll get my coat then.
02/11/2009 at 18:58 Marshall says:
Agreed that claymation-as-videogame would kill (pun unintended, although…). When I first saw the Unreal 3 tech demo come out, where those Gears of War creeps crawl out of the sewer, I literally thought I was looking at stop motion photography.
Obviously, that feeling wore off when I saw that game with silky smooth framerates, but I’d like to think the technology to convincingly recreate claymation in-game is a thing of the here and now. It’s just a matter of how thoroughly the designers are willing to invest their efforts in that art design.
I think it could be brilliant, and I do hope that’s what they were hinting at with this trailer.
03/11/2009 at 12:53 Psychopomp says:
If only Clover studios were still around.
After Okami, I’d love to see their treatment of claymation.
They were such absolutely talented people. I think them closing down solidified my hatred of Brown Shooter.
02/11/2009 at 18:59 Marshall says:
Now if only we could get it in headache-free 3D. I’d shell out for that game (or at the very least, pool resources with my buds) to experience it, even if the gameplay was rotten.
02/11/2009 at 19:07 Pantsman says:
The knowledge that Lewis Carroll was probably a pedophile, and that the Alice of his stories was a real girl that he obsessed over, makes this vastly creepier.
02/11/2009 at 21:06 Solario says:
In Carroll’s defense (and it’s a pretty weak one), if he was a paedophile, evidence and studies suggest he was an abstinent one. Which is really the only kind of abstinence I support.
02/11/2009 at 22:06 Gutter says:
Yes, when I was playing the original Alice, I kept wondering if it would be revealed that Caroll had set her parents’ house on fire, causing not only her dementia, but the content of it.
It would’ve made a better story than McGee’s IMHO.
02/11/2009 at 19:35 Fox says:
Is that the same voice as in Korsakovia…?
03/11/2009 at 13:28 p00ka says:
You never finished the game, did you?
03/11/2009 at 15:12 Jimmster says:
I played through the original Alice two months ago and loved it. I thought the gameplay was rather good, if simple. But what really kept me going was the artwork and the music, the beautiful level-design for the most part, and the sheer gothic exuberance of it all. I think American McGee should assemble a strong concept team though, like Russian companies such as Ice-Pick, who culturally explore ideas in their games. American McGee is above all an exceptional level-designer but he would do well to ensure this is a collaborative concept piece.