Epic Mickey 2 - Exploring Disney Gulch

As the November 28 release of Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power Two draws ever closer, Disney’s Junction Point Studios is finally letting the lid off of Mickey and Oswald’s next escapade. I recently got the chance to try out an early version of the game, painting and thinning my way through a portion of the Disney Gulch area. So far Epic Mickey 2 seems to be similar in tone and mechanics to the Wii original - albeit with a few additions and some upgraded graphics.

The main draw of Epic 2 is that player choice will have a significant effect on the surrounding world - far more so than the original. For instance, whether you decide to paint a saloon back to life or use your paint thinner to erase it from existence informs how the characters in that area react to you. This will theoretically have a butterfly effect on various aspects of the story, as well as inform which secrets you can find and which are gone for good.

In this way all your choices - whether you rely on paint or thinner more, who you befriend, how you go about your adventure and so on - affects the overall outcome of the game, so much so that I was told it would take a player three full playthroughs to find and accomplish everything Epic Mickey 2 has to offer. That's a lot of Mickey.

Another key aspect of Epic 2 is teamwork. The game features drop-in, drop-out co-op play for two players, where one takes the lead as Mickey with his paintbrush while the other chips in as Oswald with his floppy propeller ears. While much of the quest can be completed solo, I was told that certain areas and items can only be reached with the cooperation of two players - so start hitting up your Disney-loving buddies if you intend to 100% this one.

The particular journey I completed with a fellow player involved collecting a few batteries to power a train, then taking that train to an area where we had to jump across a series of crazy platforms to progress the story. As another testament to how your actions have a meaningful effect on the world, the more batteries you collect the easier this segment of the game is. Don’t collect any, and you’re in for a severely tricky bit of platforming - collect them all, and various mechanical doodads make the endeavor much, much easier. It’s great that the game will give you the freedom to skip certain tasks and face the consequences if you so choose - and I hope the rest of the game features similar scenarios.

It must be bizarre seeing your own face on a watch.

As mentioned, the area I played was called Disney Gulch, Wasteland’s equivalent to Disneyland’s western-themed Frontierland. While the main area features a stereotypical old west setting (a saloon, plenty of desert, craggy rocks, cacti, etc.), the outskirts are positively littered with Disney memorabilia. Clocks, watches, statues, umbrellas - it’s like a Dalí painting on Disney acid come to life.

This sequel to the Wii original will be coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the coming months (PC and Wii versions are confirmed, though no launch information has yet been provided). A 3DS entry in the franchise is also in the works - check out my preview of Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion if you haven’t already. If both of these games pan out, this holiday should prove an exciting one for fans of the mouse.

For all things Epic, be sure to keep it here on IGN.

Audrey Drake is an Associate Editor at IGN and a proud member of the IGN Nintendo team. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can follow her wild adventures on her IGN blog and Twitter. Game on!

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Disney Drops Selick's Stop-Motion Project

Disney shut down development on Henry Selick's (Coraline) untitled stop-motion feature, pulling the plug on what would have been an October 4, 2013 release.

Variety reports that Selick will now begin shopping the property to other studios. Insiders claim the project wasn't where it needed to be to meet its release date, prompting the studio's decision.

However, this has not yet had any affect on the Selick's other Disney project, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

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Before Watchmen: Rorschach #1 Review

Poll a group of Watchmen fans on who their favorite character is, and chances are the majority will answer "Rorschach." There's something endlessly appealing about the dark, twisted vigilante who sets out to solve the world's ills with his fists. No doubt many writers would have jumped at the chance to pen the further adventures of Rorschach, but DC opted for the writer perhaps best suited for his bloody, grimy, nihilistic world -- Brian Azzarello. Unsurprisingly, Azzarello quickly and comfortably settles in with the character in Before Watchmen: Rorschach #1.

Too many of the Before Watchmen books are guilty of retreading material we've already seen in the original series. But not unlike his Comedian series, Azzarello instead opts to explore an unknown period in Rorschach's career. Issue #1 picks up in 1977 and introduces a serial killer known as The Bard with a penchant for carving messages into the corpses of his victims. A perfect candidate for Rorschach's brand of justice, in other words.

If you're hoping for Azzarello to provide a radically new take on the lead character or further mine his psychological depths, you may be a little disappointed in this issue. It isn't overly creative or ambitious. That said, it is well executed and very faithful to the tone of Rorschach's scenes in the original series. Azzarello captures Kovacs' harsh, disjointed voice well in both his dialogue and the obligatory "Rorschach's Journal" narration. The narration is slightly more verbose than what we saw in the original series, but perhaps that's for the best. 20 pages of sentence fragments could easily grow tiresome.

And again, while Azzarello doesn't reinvent the wheel, his script does show some thematic ambition as it explores Rorschach's troubled past, his relationship with his mother, and his insistence on living among the scum and filth of a city he professes to hate so much. We know by now why Rorschach does what he does, but that doesn't mean there isn't compelling material to be had in attacking the character from a slightly new angle and in a new time period. My only real complaint about the first issue's script is that it feels a little brief. Rorschach barely embarks on his manhunt before running into a wall and regrouping for issue #2. With the series being only four issues long, I was hoping for a slightly meatier debut.

The series also has the distinction of reuniting Azzarello with artist Lee Bermejo. Unlike books like Luthor and Joker, Bermejo sticks entirely to his more cinematic, textured style rather than switching between styles. The downside to the hyper-realistic approach is that the storytelling flow isn't as strong as in some of the other Before Watchmen books. While Bermejo seems to make some adjustments to his style in terms of page layouts, in general the book is more about big, static images. On the plus side, Bermejo expertly captures the grit and general sense of hopelessness in this world. The book is almost pretty in its ugliness. In particular, Bermejo's depiction of the shadowy Bard and his victims really helps sell the danger of the villain in a way the sparse writing alone wouldn't have.

The lettering deserves special mention as well. Rob Leigh resurrects the old-school typewriter approach for Rorschach's captions. The intentional spelling errors and other mistakes go that extra little bit towards convincing the reader they're peering into an undiscovered portion of Rorschach's personal history. It's a shame the same effect couldn't be achieved with the lettering in the Crimson Corsair backup feature (which is as unremarkable this month as it's been since the beginning).

Before Watchmen: Rorschach delivers exactly what you'd expect when this creative team pairs up for this particular character. It doesn't break new storytelling ground, but it offers an enjoyable read that doesn't rely overly much on material we've read before. If any Before Watchmen book could be read and enjoyed with no knowledge of the original Watchmen, it's probably this one.

Jesse is a writer for IGN Comics and IGN Movies. He can't wait until he's old enough to feel ways about stuff. Follow Jesse on Twitter, or find him on IGN.

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Big Ant Boss Answers YOUR Rugby League Live 2 Questions

2010’s Rugby League Live, Big Ant Studios’ first attempt at the sport, sailed wide of the posts and fell flat with critics and fans alike. Nearly two years on the Melbourne-based developer is set to take another shot. We chatted to Big Ant founder and CEO Ross Symons about Rugby League Live 2 and what the team has done to hopefully send this one straight over the black dot.

IGN AU: What’s the first thing you decided to address from Rugby League Live in the development of Rugby League Live 2?

Ross Symons: The fans have made it clear that the first thing to be addressed for Rugby League Live 2 was to be the introduction of a deep Career mode, which of course Rugby League Live 2 has. At the end of the Career mode you can even save your created Career team and take them online to see who has created the best 10 year team.

IGN AU: We’ve had a lot of questions around this Career Mode forwarded to us by your fans; can you explain it to us in a little more detail? Will you be able to manage your Toyota Cup, NSW/QLD Cup and First Grade teams, promoting players, and buying players out of other teams’ lower grades as well as top grades? Are you going to be able to buy players from the other competitions?

RS: Rugby League Live 2 allows you to choose between NRL or Superleague teams for Career mode; players can be brought in from all teams including lower grades from Australia and the UK.  Within this mode you will be able to affiliate yourself with representative teams and play those games through the year.

IGN AU: Having two commentators seems like a good step towards getting the atmosphere right. How else has this area improved? Is the commentary any more organic? Are the crowds dynamic; will they, say, boo an away kicker prior to conversions? Are they louder at Origin matches?

RS: Having both Vossy (Andrew Voss) and Gus (Phil Gould) commentating really brings the feel of the game closer to that when watching on TV; the commentary and sound effects are tailored depending on the importance of each match and time on the clock.

The visuals have improved significantly from the original.

IGN AU: How about 40/20s: have they been fixed?

RS: We now have five difficulty levels in the game; the ability to do 40/20s will be dependant on the difficulty level in terms of what the defence will do to prevent 40/20s occurring.

IGN AU: There’s talk amongst fans that they want the forwards to have more impact on the game, so players can’t win by simply stacking their teams with wingers and fullbacks. Has this been improved?

RS: Stamina, tackle impacts and momentum in tackles will have a big part to play. Using forwards to take ground from the defence and sap energy is important, then using burst players to get the line breaks.

“

We've implemented attributes for players that will take advantage of certain players "freakish" abilities, so tackle ability, fends, speed and accuracy of kick will all be noticeable.

IGN AU: Will marquee players actually make a difference? If we buy Tony Williams or Dave Taylor for our team, will they be noticeably harder to tackle? Will Billy Slater be quicker and more agile than other players? Can Benji Marshall kick 50m drop goals?

RS: We've implemented attributes for players that will take advantage of certain players "freakish" abilities, so tackle ability, fends, speed and accuracy of kick will all be noticeable.

IGN AU: There have been a lot of questions about passing, which wasn’t really highlighted in the debut trailer. In RLL players tended to lose all momentum when the receiving the ball from a pass. How has this been tweaked?

RS: We've got two types of passing now – flat and deep passes. These allow for passes that are safer but will have attackers at a slower pace while the flat passes are riskier but will have attackers bursting through onto the ball at full speed. The choice is for the players based on the situation.

Players accumulate mud in poor weather.

IGN AU: Could you also elaborate on the use of decoy runners and run around plays?

RS: Human and AI players alike have the potential to open up gaps in the defensive line by having offensive players on decoy runs and run arounds, essentially sucking defenders in where they may move to cover their opponent even if they do not have the ball.

IGN AU: Could you explain this new dynamic tackling system?

RS: The game allows for drag tackles to the sideline, and also leg and arm pin tackles. The players choices against different attackers may determine if they are able to offload or break tackles easier.

IGN AU: How has online improved?

RS: We believe we have a first for sports games online; every game mode in Rugby League Live 2 can be played online.  Competition, Casual and Career modes can all be played with friends.  Every game either online or offline will win badges and experience points for players which will go onto leaderboards. Every aspect of the game has been tailored to online use.

“

It is reasonable for gamers to expect Rugby League games to be up there with the best in the world, such as FIFA 13, however this is the second iteration of the game and FIFA has had more than 20 releases.

IGN AU: Do you think there’s a bit of misunderstanding amongst gamers who don’t quite grasp that it’s unrealistic for a game like Rugby League Live 2 to be on par with something like, say, FIFA 13?

RS: It is reasonable for gamers to expect Rugby League games to be up there with the best in the world, such as FIFA 13, however this is the second iteration of the game and FIFA has had more than 20 releases. So while I believe that we are on the right track and are approaching the bar being set by EA Sports and the like, local games and local companies need support so as to get the games to the same level of iteration.

IGN AU: Is technology like NaturalMotion’s euphoria engine out of reach for something like the Rugby League Live series? Because in a lot of ways the tackling in Backbreaker is superior to even Madden...

RS: Backbreaker was in development for many years and had a complicated history with Midway having hundreds of staff working on it before they went under and it was picked up by NaturalMotion themselves. Big Ant Studios has used NaturalMotion’s products in the past, and we evaluated euphoria and morpheme for Rugby League Live 2. However, whether it be Madden or Rugby League Live 2, technology like this to be evaluated on a time basis as well as a cost basis and it did not fit the timelines this time around.

And then they woke up.

IGN AU: Finally, can you shed some light on gambling and alcohol sponsors on jerseys? We’ve heard speculation it’s a ratings thing, but that just sounds like scuttlebutt; FIFA 13 has multiple clubs sponsored by Carlsberg and Chang and that’s rated G. Did the sponsors in question not sign off on inclusion, or did the NRL want them left out, for the same reason you wouldn’t see a VB logo on a kid’s NSW Blues jersey?

RS: This is more linked to the individual companies concerned not wishing to be seen to be promoting their adult products to a potentially younger than adult audience.

Rugby League Live 2 will be available later this year. An exact release date is yet to be announced.

Luke is Games Editor at IGN AU. You can chat to him about games, cars and the perils of parking one near Campbelltown Stadium for Monday Night Football here or find him and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.

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Diablo III -- How Blizzard is Improving Legendary Items

If there's one place the team at Blizzard knows it messed up with Diablo III's initial design, it's the Legendary items. These items should are fairly rare, but fans have long complained that they weren't powerful or useful enough to reflect how hard they are to acquire. In blog post on the Diablo III site, Senior Game Designer Andrew Chambers wrote that while most people's comments about Legendary items, "were fairly harsh...they were also dead-on accurate." Chambers maintains that since Diablo III's release that he and the team have been hard at work to resolve this issue, and we'll finally get to see the results with patch 1.0.4 (to read about changes outside of Legendary items, check out our previous 1.0.4 story).

The first thing Chambers acknowledged is that the team didn't manage to make Legendary items unique enough. "A truly legendary item should have history behind it, something that you can imagine a powerful wizard imbuing with special magics from withi the depths of his musty library," wrote Chambers. Over 50 of the Legendary items will have custom effects when 1.0.4 is released, including powers that grant players monster affixes like shields and minions with fire chains. Some items like the Fire Walkers boots, which have a fire trail ability, are something the team hopes players will use to change how they play. Still other items have even crazier effects, such as the Skycutter, a sword that now has a chance to, "summon angelic assistance when attacking."

Chambers and the rest of the Diablo III team also hope that the revamped Legendary items will encourage more diverse builds. For instance they've added a spear that gives lots of bonuses to barbarians, increasing their thrown weapon damage. In Chambers' words,"Some people want to try out a ranged barb. We think that's awesome. Here you go." Also shown in the blog were new unique items that make a melee wizard more viable, as well as a special witch doctor off-hand that greatly reduces the cooldowns of various summoned creatures. Chambers acknowledges that these items may not result in, "the highest DPS stats in the game, but they can help you play your class in new and interesting ways."

Other changes coming to in 1.0.4 include more powerful stats for Legendary items and revamped "Ancestor" items. Ancestor items, also known as Legendary items carried over from previous Diablo games, have undergone changes, "to make sure they remain as true to their name as we could make them, and in some cases we've made them even better," wrote Chambers. Speaking about how powerful Legendary items will now be, Chambers provided an elaborate explanation:

We used to reduce the value of certain affixes on Legendary items because we were concerned that having fixed affixes would make them unbalanced. What it actually did was make those items kind of crappy. For example, if the item's level (ilvl) was 50, the first affix would always roll at 50, then the next would roll at 47, and the next would roll at 43. This was done to offset the power of fixed affixes in a random world, but we've learned it's not necessary, and Legendary items being powerful is OK. So lesson learned, we no longer reduce the value of any of the fixed affixes on Legendary items.  For example, if an ilvl 50 Legendary item had Strength as one of its fixed affixes, previously it may have rolled a range that you would have seen on a level 45 item, making it seem really underpowered, but now it will always roll within the range of a level 50 affix.

Legendary items will also now go as high as item level 63, "giving them access to the highest possible affix rolls that are in the game." Additionally, two-handed weapons are being reworked to be better.

It should be noted that these changes will only affect items collected or identified after patch 1.0.4, and that not all Legendary items are getting reworked if deemed good enough. Set items are also getting reworked stats and affixes, though set bonuses will not work between pre and post 1.0.4 items.

To read Chambers words for yourself, as well as check out a number of images that show how stats are changing, check out the official blog post.

Anthony Gallegos is an Editor on IGN's PC team. He enjoys scaring the crap out of himself with horror games and then releasing some steam in shooters like Blacklight and Tribes. You can follow him on Twitter and on IGN.

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Watch the Sizzle Reels for the Dead Daredevil Film

Director Joe Carnahan (The Grey) wanted to make a Daredevil movie for Fox, but the timing apparently just didn't work out. (For the full, bloody story on Daredevil's final days at Fox, go here.)

How Did Fox Lose Daredevil?

But now the helmer has unleashed two sizzle reels which he used to present his vision to the studio of what his film would've been. Comprised of footage from other movies and some comics art, these two short pieces are enough to make me mourn the loss of Carnahan's Daredevil. Watch:

But what do you guys think? Would Carnahan have been the man to do Daredevil right on the big screen? Comment below…

Talk to Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN and on Facebook.

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Kristen Stewart, Snow White Sequel Dropped

Universal has shelved its sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman and is instead considering moving forward with a solo spinoff film featuring Chris Hemsworth's Huntsman character. The first picture's star, Kristen Stewart, reportedly "will not be invited to return if the follow-up goes forward."

The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on the project. Snow White was released in June but is perhaps best known lately for the gossip that emerged regarding a romantic relationship between Stewart and the film's older, married director, Rupert Sanders. The news of Stewart being dropped from the studio's sequel plans is inevitably being connected to that tabloid story, though of course there's no confirmation that that's the reason for this decision. (It's not known whether or not Sanders will return for the sequel.)

Screenwriter David Koepp had been hired to write the Snow White sequel but is "being settled out of his rich contract." The studio is looking for a new scripter.

Meanwhile, Deadline reports that Universal has acquired the upcoming book 90 Church: The True Story of the Narcotics Squad From Hell for the director, so they're still in the Rupert Sanders business at least.

Talk to Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN and on Facebook.

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