Gaming Nexus: "Sony is getting their first ever episodic game in the form of Rat Race from Super-Ego Games. The game will have you taking the role of Tina Brooks, a brand manager at BiggCo, a ginormous consumer products company and the game will have you struggling to deal with your co-workers as you try to work your way up the company ladder. It sounds a bit like an interactive version of The Office I guess we'll find out more about the game when it hits this Winter. Personally I'm interested to see if they'll be able to keep pace with other episodic content like the Sam and Max games or if we're going to get an episode a year like a certain other company that rhymes with Shalve".
TrueGameHeadz writes:
"It's not often that a game comes back from being canceled, but it looks like that's exactly what's happened for the episodic comedy game "Rat Race." The game, which was announced in late 2007, quietly faded into obscurity when the president of Sony's Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, was quoted as saying it was canceled at last year's E3. However, "Rat Race," which is being developed by Super-Ego Games, may be about to come back to life. Last week I spoke with Bo Lasater, one of Super-Ego's co-founders, and asked him whether or not "Rat Race" was dead, and he responded with, "Is Rat Race dead? No, it is not dead. Is it 100% alive? Maybe the patient is coming out of a coma."
So, if one of Sony's studio presidents declares your game dead, and you say it's just in a coma… where do things really stand? In terms of "Rat Race"'s future, things look pretty good, so much..."
Looks rubbish.
Even if it manages to work for an American audience, it will be lost on 90% of the world most likely. Comedy is like that - and a videogame effort is unlikely to become a phenomenon around the world. If you look at the trailer... well let's just say the reason you laugh is not because it's funny.
French website Gamekult writes:
"Ironically, Sony confirmed during the E3 the cancellation of Rat Race, a PlayStation Network project announced last October. If the concept of a humoristic game in several episodes had attracted Sony Worldwide Studios, its President Shuhei Yoshida confirmed that problems of development had pushed its destiny."
I didn't find any of it funny, either. Maybe it was because it was american-style humour, but probably mostly because it hit the uncanny valley slap bang in the middle.
THANK GOODNESS!
thats all I can say. I'm glad Sony seem to be keeping a better eye then usual on quality. Let's hoping their money and efforts are being used well, and that they'll announce the continuation of Getaway and Eight Days soon.
When 'graphics got better, games got less funny,' says stand-up comic Victor Varnado, who wrote and did voices for the game.
There aren't many comedy games these days. There used to be more, a slew of joke-filled adventures such as The Secret of Monkey Island and Grim Fandango. In Varnado's view, some of the very things that games have gotten better at - visuals and interactivity - have lessened the need for developers to keep players engaged with humor. Those adventure games were popular in their day, but technology improved. "As soon as they got to the point where graphics got better, games got less funny," he said. Better gameplay also removed any outright need for a game to be funny. "If you looked at early games, they had very few game mechanics. Look at [1983's interactive cartoon/game] 'Dragon's Lair.' Not many gameplay mechanics, but it's great to look at and the comedy is funny."
Rat Race is an attempt to solve all this, taking a somewhat different path from the last significant game comedy attempt, the revived "Sam & Max" series.
Grim Fandango, Monkey island series, Full Throttle, Sam & max, The discworld game (Which was imho a great adaptation of the book series by one of my favorite authors) and many others.... Great games. This will be a must buy since he quoted those and I loved them all. hope this causes a good revival of classic PC games that is needed.