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Games Entertainment

Wallace and Gromit Game Preview 97

Posted by Hemos from the not-even-wensleydale dept.
MBCook writes "Gamers.com has a preview of the game based on the upcoming movie (due in 2005). The preview includes 10 screenshots and some descriptions of game play. The game is expected to be released by the end of the year for the PS2 and the X-Box. The player controls Gromit in an attempt to stop Feathers McGraw from using the inhabitants of the local zoo in his jewel smuggling operations. With levels, like in Sly Cooper, that are designed to be more than a 2D platformer on rails, this looks like a game to look forward to." I've got patent pending on that!
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Wallace and Gromit Game Preview More

Wallace and Gromit Game Preview

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  • Mmmmm (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Porridge today Grommit, Tuesday!

  • Huh? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The game, which is based on the movie, is coming out the end of 2003, but the movie isn't being released until 2005? Does it really take that long to do those stop animation films?

    • Re:Huh? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 21, 2003 @09:19AM (#5564082)
      In a word, yes. Actually doing the stop animation is time-consuming enough, but the amount of time required to make all the models is tremendous. Think whole years of work for a couple of good stop-animation models. So if this movie takes alot of time to make, do not be surprised.

    • Re:Huh? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Dr.Enormous ( 651727 )
      Consider a live movie: you get the actors in place for a shot, and then they do it while the camera rolls.

      Now stop motion: You get the "actors" in place for the shot, then you take a frame or three, then move them a little, then another couple frames, then move them a little. And consider that each frame--even if it gets used--is a small fraction of a second. If you want to do it well, it takes time.
    • I have heard that when working along at a good pace, it is possible to create up to around 3 to 5 seconds of stop motion film in a day.

      Now when you think about how long a typical film is...

    • Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)

      by why-is-it ( 318134 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @10:52AM (#5564621) Homepage Journal
      The game, which is based on the movie, is coming out the end of 2003, but the movie isn't being released until 2005? Does it really take that long to do those stop animation films?

      Abolutely! In one of the interviews on the Chicken Run DVD (also by Nick Park / Aardman) it took over 18 months to film the sequence that took place inside the chiken pie making machine, and that segment was only a few minutes long.

      Typically, the amount of footage an animator can generate in a day is measured in seconds...
      • I heard once that a second a week is pretty good. Don't know how true that is but it sounds right.

        • Re:Huh? (Score:2)

          by tsa ( 15680 )
          A 90 min. film would then take 90*60 = 5400 weeks to make. By the time you are at the end of the movie you cannot use the frames you shot in the very beginning any more because:
          a) you are dead
          b) the film has rotted away
          c) in case you recorded digitally: the equipment you used back then is not available anymore and you have to reverse-engineer it, which of course is illegal because of the DMCA :-)

    • The game, which is based on the movie, is coming out the end of 2003, but the movie isn't being released until 2005? Does it really take that long to do those stop animation films?

      As the others have pointed out, this is entirely believable. What really gives me pause to think is that Hollywood was actually interested in such a long-term project! Does anyone know how long it takes to make a traditional animated film? A computer-animated film? How about a live action film? I would guess that in these

      • Re:Surprised Hollywood green-lighted long-term pro (Score:5, Interesting)

        by j-b0y ( 449975 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @01:35PM (#5566191)

        I guess there's a few reasons why Hollywood would want to do this a Wallace and Gromit film:

        • Cheap. The fixed cost is pretty low, and the keeping the animators supplied with clay and film is a lot less expensive than top-earning actors/actresses, huge sfx sequences, expensive sound sets and location shooting.
        • No egos. Nick Park is is one of the most self-effacing multi-Oscar winners you can find. Peter Sallis is not going to throw a fit because his trailer only has one jacuzzi.
        • Infinite Merchandising. The BBC has been (for a state-run organisation) extremely effective at the merchandising thing. And the merchandising opportunities are directly proportional to the imagination of the creators

        I was worried about Chicken Run, as I thought the combination of Mel Gibson and Disney was going to overwhelm the charm and subtlety (and, let's face it, Englishness) of Aardvark's films. As it turned out, Gibson seemed to understand and was completely cool with the Aardvark style; Disney knew when to butt out. Brownie points all round.

    • Yes. Some have mentioned some reasons for this. I'll mention a one more.

      Warning: long rambling post follows.

      Like software development, animated filmmaking goes through a "pipeline", which is different for each animation medium. Also like software development, fixing problems earlier in the pipeline is much cheaper than fixing it later. So, for example, fixing an issue on the storyboards is going to be much cheaper than re-animating it.

      The specific problem with 3D puppet animation is that fixing probl

  • Patent Pending (Score:4, Funny)

    by telstar ( 236404 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @09:09AM (#5564046)
    "I've got patent pending on that!"
    • You, and Amazon...

  • Microsoft FUD!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by kruetz ( 642175 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @09:12AM (#5564061) Journal
    The penguin [Feathers McGraw] is EVIL! Is this mere coincidence, or Microsoft propaganda, given that the game will be available on the X-Box? In fact, I'm sure that Aardman Animation is really an off-shoot of MS, attempting to derive some sort of profit on the X-Box while at the same time sending subliminal messages to gamers across the world, convincing them that Penguins, Linux and OperSource is bad. Also, is it just coincidence the Gromit looks kinda like that dog that was one of the ill-fated MS Office Assistants from wayback? Smells kinda fishy to me...

    (Disclaimer: I'm heavily drunk and about to go to bed. It makes sense to me NOW, but so do a lot of other things which I won't mention...

    BTW, I hope it is Aardman Animation that I'm thinking of, or I'll get modded down for being factually incorrect... woah! Almost had myself fooled there!)

    • Grommit predates office dog! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 21, 2003 @09:35AM (#5564141)
      Wallace and Grommit offical site [aardman.com]

      better looking than the developers site which truly looks like the car mechanic's car [frontier.co.uk]

      The first wallace and grommit was "a grand day out" about an adventure they went on to get more cheese. Where is the biggest supply of cheese? Hence all the cheese jokes, dear moderators. This came out in 1991, so it is more likely that Microsoft stole the dog image from aardman than vice versa.

      My favourite penguin has always been Opus. And did not the original evil pengiun from Batman, predate Linux? Linux was also created in 1991 another coincidence?

      Like all things, some penguins are good and some are not.
      • the penguin was created by larry ewing
        http://old.lwn.net/Gallery/

        he used GIMP 0.54
        http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/notes.html

        which was released ca.1996
        http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/index.html?node14.htm l

        therefore it follows that feathers mcgraw predates the linux penguin. QED

    • I mean, "Wallace and Gromit... have to free 24 levels worth of imprisoned baby animals..." and yet no GameCube version?
    • Not really... I saw once a interview with the creator Nick Park talking about "the wrong trousers" where the evil penguin first appears. He said that a penguin was easy to make look mysterious and evil because it's so expressionless. Only glary, black, small eyes.

  • the 10 screenshots (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 21, 2003 @09:21AM (#5564092)

    Wow, they are low on polys. The terrain
    looks like a square-edge fest!
  • Game footage has been shown on UK TV on several occasions. I think it was also on the Daily Mail Wallace & Gromit DVD. The game looks like a standard 3D platformer. Though I have the pencil sharpener, I doubt I will be buying the game.

  • Cheese (Score:2, Funny)

    by SnuSnu ( 630537 )
    At long last, a game with realistically rendered Wensleydale!

  • Wensleydale (Score:3, Funny)

    by SnuSnu ( 630537 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @09:31AM (#5564126) Homepage
    At long last, a game guaranteed to feature realistically rendered cheese! Let the French rejoice!
    • Although there does appear to be a French connection, Wensleydale appears to be an English product. I could be wrong, though.

      Link [wensleydale.co.uk]

      • I could be wrong, though.

        No, Wensleydale is an English product and can only be manufactured in Wensleydale, Yorkshire. This is due to some sort of advertising law or something and aplies to most cheeses in the UK (which use place names) except for Chedder and Red Leiecter I think?.

  • Is the GameCube really that abysmal that it can't handle a platform game?

    On the other hand... Animal Crossing, new Zelda, pre-rendered shadows in Mario Party, hmmm....

    • Re:No GameCube version? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by iainl ( 136759 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @09:50AM (#5564206)
      "Is the GameCube really that abysmal that it can't handle a platform game?"

      Probably more like "Does the XBox not have anything to compete with our new platformer?"

      The GameCube has Sunshine, and Wario (plus rumours of Mario 128) on its way. The PS2 has Jak 'n' Daxter (considered by some to be better than Sunshine, even). The XBox has Blinx. I know where I'd release my platform title...

      • Re:No GameCube version? (Score:3, Informative)

        by 13Echo ( 209846 )
        There are even more platformers on the Gamecube than that. The Sonic games have been/are ported. The Harry Potter game is loads of fun. Luigi's Mansion was a Launch title. A Kirby game is on the way. A Pitfall game is in the works.

        I'm willing to bet that it has more platformers than even the PS2.
      • As long as I'm here, I just want to point out that Jak 'n' Daxter is not the original for all these "knockoffs", like Vexx. The original 3D platform game is, I think, Super Mario 64.

        Good point, though.
        • Sorry if I gave the impression I thought that; I merely didn't mention the mighty M64 (still the greatest game ever released) because the 64 isn't a current system. Technically, there was a bizarre launch title on the Playstation that was a first-person platformer, though it was so uncontrollable that no-one remembers it (something about a rabbit, if memory serves). Of course, if you want to get really clever, its all just Knight Lore or Ant Attack with a fancy camera in any case. :-)

          After all, I didn't me
    • What's funny is that the PS2 already has a huge assortment of platformers to its library. Nintendo, of course, has the golden series, Mario. A developer making a great platformer for the Xbox could potentially clean house with less competition. And since Zelda is coming out in a week, I am guessing comapanies might be holding back their GC products so they do not compete with the game that has gotten more presales than even Vice City ever did (food for thought: The Wind Wakers has presold 560,000+ units
      • That number's a bit skewed though -- all of the preorders were $15 copies of the OoT disc. Most of the copies of The Wind Waker haven't been paid for yet, and it's not inconceivable that any number of those preorders won't get bought.

        Not saying it won't be a best-seller or that it's not worthy of it; it's just not what you'd call a typical preorder situation since the "preorder" entailed buying a $15 game, which a lot of people probably did regardless of their intent to actually procure TWW.

  • destructive (Score:4, Funny)

    by Boromir son of Faram ( 645464 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @09:34AM (#5564139) Homepage
    I was shocked and disappointed to hear that the Wallace and Gromit cartoons will be hitting both the silver screen and the console in the next few years. That the cartoons seemed to have fallen out of favor was some consolation for their initial popularity.

    The Wallace and Gromit shorts promote a world-view centered around materialism and hedonism. The characters are motivated by idle pleasure and selfishness, and the absurdity and pessimism of their "adventures" encourage existential angst in young, impressionable minds.

    That there has been no public outcry against these cartoons, and rather they seem to be enjoying a resurgance in popularity, speaks to the moral bankruptcy of contemporary Western society.
  • I really hate it when they release games I really liked the prewiews on only for consoles.
  • I notice that in the screen shots of, (for example), the tractor, the wheels are not round but rather a 13-sided semi-circle shaped object.

    Is it still too computationally expensive to draw a proper 3D circle in a game like this using todays hardware?

    I realise a "true" circle is probably impossible/impractical, but even a 50-sided circle would probably be enough to fool the eye. Or would this have such a negative effective on FPS that it wouldn't be worth it?

  • Sonic-alike? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by BShive ( 573771 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @09:54AM (#5564241) Homepage

    Just me, or does the seventh screenshot [gamers.com] look like a sonic game with the collected nuts being dropped like sonic's coins?

    Suprised that they're also publishing screenshots that have obvious glitches in em' too.

  • . . . not because of the Slashdot effect, but because of the SurfControl effect - my corporate filtering software is blocking access to the gamers.com domain.

    I just don't get it. Isn't it obvious that Wallace and Gromit are work-related?

  • Watch Wallace & Gromit clips online (Score:4, Informative)

    by Mr. Fusion ( 235351 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @10:12AM (#5564350)
    ./'ed already? Looks like Gromit needs to brush up on managing server loads. "It's the wrong

    While you're waiting for it to go back up, check out Wallace & Gromit's Crackling Contraptions [shockwave.com], especially if you've never seen any of the duo's shorts before. (Beware, AtomFilms only use the Windows Media Player format now.)

    Wallace and Gromit also have an official site [aardman.com], available from the Aardman Animation [aardman.com] site. -Mr. Fusion

  • Heh (Score:2, Funny)

    by Skreech ( 131543 )
    Cracking toast, Grommit!
  • The site seems to be /.ed. Will this be another game that caters to the lowest common denominator, or will it actually push the XBox? It seems there are a lot of games that are a disappointment on the XBox in so much as they're just simple PS2 ports.
  • I can't believe no-one's yet commented on this game being made by Frontier Developments. You know, David Braben and Co, the guys who brought us Frontier: Elite II and First Encounters. I can't be the only one with fond memories of touring the galaxy in my Cobra Mark III...

    Bit of change of pace for them, but I hope it makes a ton of money, if only so they can finance the development of Elite 4 (which is probably an even bigger piece of vapour-ware than Duke Nukem Forever.

    VVrath

  • Yes, for GameCube (Score:4, Informative)

    by BrerBear ( 8338 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @11:53AM (#5565140)
    I don't know why the gamers.com site seems to miss this point, but according to the BAM website for the game [bam4fun.com] it is also being published for the GameCube.

    It's also listed on Nintendo's master game list [nintendo.com] under "W".

  • Bam goes boom (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Let's hope that they get paid for making the game:

    Bam fucked over a load of companies in the companies in the UK by commisioning projects and then refusing to pay for them. The companies went bankrupt and didn't have enough money to sue Bam.

    http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?sect ion_name=pub&aid=204 [gamesindustry.biz]

    Let's also hope that Bam doesn't become bankrupt before the game ships - they've been losing cash ever since they started and are now running out of cash to run the company. It'd be slightly

  • Won't have that charm (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ianscot ( 591483 ) on Friday March 21, 2003 @01:32PM (#5566161)
    Wallace and Gromit is all about the claymation look, the pacing, and the cinematic feel of the whole thing. Judging by these screen shots, I'm not seeing any of that.

    Think of Feathers McGraw, the penguin, in the animated short -- he had no facial expression at all, but they made him sinister just by letting the camera linger an extra split second on that blank face, you know? How do you catch that feeling in a game? Cut scenes before you go to the standard-platform-jumper play? What-ever.

    Kind of sad. They'd make a better game by having Wallace build his whacked-out inventions to overcome various obstacles, wouldn't they?

  • ...i discovered Wemsleydale cheese and it is WONDERFUL! No wonder Wallace loves it so much. Especially the kind my peeps at the Wheatsville Co-op is Austin, Texas get - it has cranberries in it.

    Don't look for it until the middle of next week, though - I just ate the last one. It spoils quicker than most cheese so it is harder to keep in inventory.

    [burp]

    I wonder if a food co-op can get slashdotted? And I don't work for them, just enjoy them - just like High Criteria! Honest, I swear!

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