Another potential EWJ game

Interplay's web site is now up!
*clicky*

There are a few concept sketches of Jim in the flash bit at the top of the page.

I didn't know we'd be getting peeks at concept art so soon. I think I'll probably sign up to the forums later and offer up my support.

A Michael Nicholson posted some concept of art for "Earthworm Jim Prototype." And he's not just some guy doing fan art. I googled around to find out that he works for Blizzard and has been in the game industry for several years.

You can see the pictures HERE.

This is still unofficial. Someone found it and posted on the Tennapel forums, but Doug TenNapel hasn't commented on it yet.

I think the pictures look pretty nice. I'd like to see an EWJ game in this style.

Whoa, big bump, and bad news (not like you all didn't see it coming...)

Even though EWJ remakes are being spewed out of every nook and cranny lately, EWJ4 seems to have been forgotten, it was never in development, and probably never will be. Interplay messed up again. This likely also means no new cartoon series or film.

Source
This is also reflected by some comments from members on TenNapel's own forum. Very upsetting it seems like EWJ's future is still empty...

I know TAG isn't really active here anymore but I hope he finds out soon D:

( Edited 04.05.2010 13:32 by SuperLink )

Consider me found out.

I'm just glad it hasn't been definitively canceled yet. Like I said in the news story, you have to be cautiously optimistic about the future of EWJ.

And by the way, I do lurk around the forums a bit, I just don't post much anymore. Feel comfortable knowing that I'm watching you all the time.

( Edited 06.05.2010 04:50 by TAG )

TAG said:
Consider me found out.

I'm just glad it hasn't been definitively canceled yet. Like I said in the news story, you have to be cautiously optimistic about the future of EWJ.

Feel comfortable knowing that I'm watching you all the time.

SuperLink said:
Don't you ever feel a little pessimistic after over 10 years with no new EWJ game? I really hope that changes soon.

I think I'm pessimistic by nature. I won't be surprised if nothing new materializes about EWJ. Yeah, I'll be a little disappointed. If they do finally release a good EWJ game, though, I will jump through whatever roof I'm standing under. That includes the atmosphere.

I think there should be a new EWJ game after the disgraceful 3D game for N64. Even though there is a HD remake of the first game, I really think a sequal of the 3rd game. But if there is one it should be on the 3DS. But only time will tell.

there needs to be a new ewj game, the dsi releace isnt good enough, it moves far to fast.

So...

Finally some good news Yes it's not exactly EWJ4, but this still sounds brilliant.

- Lovely HD graphics and animation
- 4 Player CoOp Mode with new stages
- New stages and bosses

How is this not the most awesome thing to come out of the EWJ series since EWJ2?

Oh, also, it's out next week on XBLA.
Depending on how god damn excited I am for it, I may or may not wait for the PSN version. It's also coming out on Wiiware later on.

Doug TenNapel doesn't seem to happy about it all. These are quotes from a thread about it on his forum (*link*).

I've never seen these characters before in my life, and I wouldn't approve them. It feels like EWJ 3D all over again. There's no need for them to do this.

HAHHAHAHA! Look at those hideous Jims! At least the obviously bad art will give true Jim fans something to laugh at. We finally have the HD resolution to get a good look at Jim and he looks like this?! Put it back! Go back to 16 bit!

That four player mode does look fun.

I have no idea what's going on with this game. It's weird, but I'm kind of used to Jim looking and acting not-Jim for most of his life since EWJ2. What bugs me is that it doesn't cost more money to make these things look right, it just takes humility for a production to admit that they might need some help.

I'm still hoping Interplay will do a legit, new, next generation Jim game we've talked about. It's financially tough out in the gaming world right now. Companies like EA are laying off people and studios are shutting down everywhere.

It's more JINO. Jim In Name Only. If people wonder why Jim is one of the characters I'm less enthusiastic about it's for this exact reason... something I made now has these growths all over it that are part of the Jim canon that I nor any original member of the team made. They didn't even submit it to say "Do you like this?"

To all who are reading this, you can blame anybody BUT the dev team. They're just doing their jobs. Nobody needs to demonize the game or anything since everyone's trying to do their best. But that cat on a keyboard belongs in MEDAL OF HONOR before it belongs in EWJ. I could have told them that but nobody asked.

The thread was about a contest in America where five people were selected to go to Gameloft Studios (the people making EWJ HD) in New York City. A person who won made the thread and was talking about the trip. He described it as being very scripted. More importantly, he said that the people at Gameloft were unaware that Tommy Tallarico did the music for the original games. In fact, they didn't know who he was! I don't expect everyone hear to know him, but in the game industry Tommy Tallarico is huge! Just read the article about him on Wikipedia! He created
Video Games Live, he's a board member of the GDC, he founded the Game Audio Network Guild, and he's just been involved in a ton of games (250+ according to Wikipedia).

This was all from some post on an internet forum, so take it for what it's worth.

I'm divided. Part of me wants to boycott the game because it's another mockery of the EWJ franchise. Part of me wants to buy the game to support the EWJ name, just to show it's popular and profitable (in hopes that a real EWJ game will be made). But that may just lead into another mockery. Plus, that's about $10 for a game I expect to dislike

Why do you expect it dislike it? It is a shame that TenNapel doesn't like it... I didn't expect that kind of thing to happen at all, but it's EWJ1, HDified. The extra stages may or may not be good, but we'll see.

I think it'll still be good. Plus I want to support the series incase there's a chance of another true game ever being made D:
But at the same time I don't want to support a product that TenNapel has expressed a dislike on, when he created the IP :/

( Edited 03.06.2010 00:38 by SuperLink )

I'm not too bothered about the HDremake. I got the original on the Virtual Console and will get the second game on the VC also once I've completed the first one.

Love both games.

Not sure if want...

( Edited 04.06.2010 10:38 by SuperLink )

SuperLink said:
Dear god, taking a closer look, they're disgusting. Inconsistent, ugly, downright bad.

Not sure if want...

Those pictures are what TenNapel was referring to when he said "look at those hideous Jims!"

Just for curiosity's sake, did you get those off of the TenNapel forums? That's where I've seen them.

SuperLink said:

Does anyone else think 2nd from top left looks a lot like an upside down semi-errect penis with eyes on its balls?

Just an observation...

TAG said:
Those pictures are what TenNapel was referring to when he said "look at those hideous Jims!"

Just for curiosity's sake, did you get those off of the TenNapel forums? That's where I've seen them.

TheStratMan said:
Does anyone else think 2nd from top left looks a lot like an upside down semi-errect penis with eyes on its balls?

Just an observation...

Yeah, not sure what to make of this. The jet-pack granny, the keyboard cat, and the claw thing look out of place. Maybe it's because I'm hugely familiar with this game that they seem so, I don't know.

The actual art itself seems off, as well. Sort of like how the art in *inhale* Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix looked off.

I'll probably just stick with my MD and SNES carts of the first two games. To my eyes they look better, anyway

SuperLink said: I actually got them when they were posted on Sonic Stadium forums, for some reason I didn't check out TenNapel's forum even though you posted the link D:. Derp.

So it's beginning to make its rounds of the internet already

If this game bombs, hopefully Interplay will get the hint and let TenNapel and company make a good Earthworm Jim game! (Or whoever gets the EWJ license after Interplay tanks...again)

( Edited 06.06.2010 07:14 by TAG )

I bought Earthworm Jim HD. It's not as good as the original, but it does do some things right.
I've only played the first level and a bonus level (been really busy), but here's my impressions so far:

Cons:
Graphically, the levels and some enemies don't look great. They seem like they're from a polished internet flash game, not an Xbox 360 game. But they're perfectly tolerable.

Sounds can be a little annoying (especially if you're like me and are comparing them to the original). Again, tolerable.

Bonus levels aren't great. But hey, they're bonus (and they are separate from the main game).

I've been told that some levels are actually missing. Big Bruty (from the PC game) and Who Turned Out the Lights are gone. However, some other levels are in the game. Intestinal Distress was on the Genesis (Megadrive) game, but not on the SNES version. It is in the HD game.

Pros:
After you beat a level, you unlock it. There's a level select. This is much nicer than having to play the game from the beginning or put in a cheat code.

Leaderboards can give you something to strive for even after you beat the game. There are also several difficulty settings and achievements to unlock.

Jim isn't that ugly in motion. The screen shots clearly point out art problems, but in motion they aren't as obvious.

The game's difficulty settings allow the game to be easier. There are arrows pointing where to go next and a hint before everyone boss (you can turn the hints off). The settings are: easy, normal, hard, and original (being the hardest).

You get avatar rewards (pretty quickly, too. I've only played two levels). I already have two (I don't know of there are more or not). One is a T-shirt for your little avatar guy with Jim's face on it. The other is the super suit. Let me say that again...
your avatar can wear Earthworm Jim's supersuit.
That's worth the price of the game

So yeah, go buy it. I bought it to hopefully encourage a future original Earthworm Jim game (done right). But the game isn't an awful slap in the face like EWJ 3D or Menace 2 the Galaxy or some of the poorly done ports.

And you get a super suit



( Edited 21.06.2010 19:30 by TAG )

You get a Supersuit? Damn, now I kinda want the 360 version...
I wanted the PS3 version because I don't like playing 2D platformers with an analogue stick.

I can't believe some stages have been removed >> what kind of remake is that. Surely it would put all stages from old games together on top of new ones.

Yet another bit of evidence to suggest the team really didn't do much research.

*sigh*

I found out why "Who Turned Out the Lights" is not in the new game. If you recall, that level looks like this:

This is what EWJ Rage, a member of the TenNapel forums claiming to have worked on quality assurance of the game, said:
[responding to a question about the missing level]

This is one's a bit amusing. Of course that's the first thing I asked the producer the first time I got to Level 5 ( apparently no one on the iPhone testing team even KNEW of the existence of the level, so no one even bothered to ask ), and his answer seemed to hint back to the fact that we never got the source materials for the game. So they got to this level that's set entirely in the dark, and they were like "we can't copy this over to our game, we don't even know the layout of the level", and instead of learning the layout and working on it, they outright dropped the level and figured the fans would be happy enough with 3 new bonus levels and multiplayer. .... [oops emoticon]

Also, some fanart was stolen from devianart. The left is the fanart, the right is from the game.

There's also a character taken from a major Hollywood movie put into the background at one point in the game. It's almost an inside joke. I have no moral problems with that (like I do with stealing fan art), but that's an awful business decision. If the big wigs in the movie business find out, they could sue them.
I'm not going to specify what character or anything here (for Gameloft's sake, I hope the movie people don't find out), but it's in the thread on the TenNapel forum that I linked to if you're curious. The whole thread is interesting with EWJ Rage's contributions (he starts posting at the end of page 7).



( Edited 24.06.2010 04:50 by TAG )

Pretty horrific theft, right there. Just makes the whole thing wreak of low production values, as well.

TAG said:

There's also a character taken from a major Hollywood movie put into the background at one point in the game. It's almost an inside joke. I have no moral problems with that (like I do with stealing fan art), but that's an awful business decision. If the big wigs in the movie business find out, they could sue them.
I'm not going to specify what character or anything here (for Gameloft's sake, I hope the movie people don't find out), but it's in the thread on the TenNapel forum that I linked to if you're curious.

Fuck Gameloft. Here's the other peace of infringement, folks. Bubbles from Disney's Finding Nemo has also been nicked and put into the game.