Bessie_Blue
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2009
- Messages
- 22
Not sure how to post images but here is the atricle link. Hope this video game makeover doesn't spread to far. They must have seen BigDaddyRog's images!
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/market-dispatches.aspx?post=1354334&_blg=1,1354334
Mickey Mouse gets a face-lift
Disney's updated character will have an edge in the new video game 'Epic Mickey.'
Posted by Elizabeth Strott on Thursday, November 5, 2009 12:21 PM
The innocent days of a smiling, lovable Mickey Mouse might soon be over.
After 80 years, Walt Disney (DIS) is giving everyone's favorite mouse a makeover -- and the new Mickey won't be quite as friendly and sweet.
Disney is introducing a more mischievous Mickey in "Epic Mickey," a new video game for the Nintendo (NTDOF) Wii game console.
Disney, which officially announced the new game and Mickey on Oct. 28, said the new three-dimensional Mickey "is an adventurous and rambunctious mouse" who is stuck in sorcerer Yen Sid's Cartoon Wasteland.
In the wasteland, Mickey has to face old, forgotten Disney characters like Oswald the Lucky Rabbit -- Walt Disney's first cartoon character, who debuted in 1927 -- and deal with their resentment after he dumped them as his popularity grew and he became Walt Disney's favorite. He also has to defeat the bad guy, the Phantom Blot, with a magic paintbrush.
"I want to bring (Mickey's) personality to the forefront, place him in a daunting world and connect his spirited character with video game players worldwide," said Warren Spector, creative director of game-development studio Junction Point, which gave Mickey his new video-game face and body. "Ultimately, each player decides for him- or herself what makes Mickey cool."
The move is an effort to expand Disney's brand beyond the family-friendly sector and comes after the media company said it received approval from China to build a theme park in Shanghai.
"This is a huge opportunity to create more relevancy for Mickey and pull him into the fastest-growing entertainment medium," Jim Wilson, the chief executive of Atari's North American business, told The New York Times. "If it's a good game, . . . people are going to buy it."
Video-game sales rose 1% in September, according to NPD Group, after six months of declines. Game software sales rose 5%, a smaller increase than analysts had expected.
Disney generated about $86 million in retail sales in the U.S. in the first nine months of the year, according to NPD data. Nintendo of America, which is the leading seller of games, made about $1 billion in sales.
Mickey was created by Walt Disney in 1928, when he first appeared in "Steamboat Willie." He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/market-dispatches.aspx?post=1354334&_blg=1,1354334
Mickey Mouse gets a face-lift
Disney's updated character will have an edge in the new video game 'Epic Mickey.'
Posted by Elizabeth Strott on Thursday, November 5, 2009 12:21 PM
The innocent days of a smiling, lovable Mickey Mouse might soon be over.
After 80 years, Walt Disney (DIS) is giving everyone's favorite mouse a makeover -- and the new Mickey won't be quite as friendly and sweet.
Disney is introducing a more mischievous Mickey in "Epic Mickey," a new video game for the Nintendo (NTDOF) Wii game console.
Disney, which officially announced the new game and Mickey on Oct. 28, said the new three-dimensional Mickey "is an adventurous and rambunctious mouse" who is stuck in sorcerer Yen Sid's Cartoon Wasteland.
In the wasteland, Mickey has to face old, forgotten Disney characters like Oswald the Lucky Rabbit -- Walt Disney's first cartoon character, who debuted in 1927 -- and deal with their resentment after he dumped them as his popularity grew and he became Walt Disney's favorite. He also has to defeat the bad guy, the Phantom Blot, with a magic paintbrush.
"I want to bring (Mickey's) personality to the forefront, place him in a daunting world and connect his spirited character with video game players worldwide," said Warren Spector, creative director of game-development studio Junction Point, which gave Mickey his new video-game face and body. "Ultimately, each player decides for him- or herself what makes Mickey cool."
The move is an effort to expand Disney's brand beyond the family-friendly sector and comes after the media company said it received approval from China to build a theme park in Shanghai.
"This is a huge opportunity to create more relevancy for Mickey and pull him into the fastest-growing entertainment medium," Jim Wilson, the chief executive of Atari's North American business, told The New York Times. "If it's a good game, . . . people are going to buy it."
Video-game sales rose 1% in September, according to NPD Group, after six months of declines. Game software sales rose 5%, a smaller increase than analysts had expected.
Disney generated about $86 million in retail sales in the U.S. in the first nine months of the year, according to NPD data. Nintendo of America, which is the leading seller of games, made about $1 billion in sales.
Mickey was created by Walt Disney in 1928, when he first appeared in "Steamboat Willie." He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978