Notch Volunteers to Fund Psychonauts Sequel - UPDATED

[GameMaNiAC]

Oh dear God, thank you for answering my prayers! Thank you!

 

[JenSeven]

This is great news.

Now what other game sequels should we ask Notch to fund?

I'm thinking of Tachyon: The Fringe 2 myself. A revival of the Space Flight/Fight Sims would be a good thing (also doesn't hurt if it was also voice acted by Bruce Campbell again).
Another Dungeon Keeper would be a very cool thing, I loved those games.
Grim Fandango 2 would also be seriously awesome!

Well, I'm sure many of you can name a few others that might spark an interest with Notch.

 

[duchaked]

ah heck I'd take a port of the original to digital downloads right now lol
who knows, that could help get in some extra cash maybe? and test how strong interest still is across the board

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

I applaud Notch for his interest in a follow-up to a cult favorite, even if he's only doing it to promote his own name. Well done, sir.

But, to be honest, I don't really want a Psychonauts 2. While I feel like Psychonauts deserves a sequel, I don't feel it needs one. I'd rather Notch fund some bold, new ideas instead.

 

[Whoracle]

They already made System Shock 3. It's called Bioshock.

They made a passable to good game that was a pale hommage to SystemShock, and called it BioShock.

OT: Yay! If I had his money, I'd probably try to do the same with Looking Glass Studios and the Thief / SShock franchises.

 

[TitanAtlas]

Goddamit. Apparently ive died and went to heaven....

 

[Ammutseba]

NO NO NO PLEASE DON'T!!!

 

[Deathlisk]

Notch just made it to my top 10 awesome people list.

 

[Aethren]

I'd rather he financed a true sequel to the Dungeon Keeper series. I believe Lionhead owns the I.P. now.

 

[LittleMikey]

I'd rather he financed a true sequel to the Dungeon Keeper series. I believe Lionhead owns the I.P. now.

Ooh! Yes! I'd pay to see that

 

[MonkeyPunch]

Man I really loved Psychonauts. I still don't get how it sold so little... maybe because of the art style? (which was excellent too, but slightly unconventional and maybe people thought it looked childish?)
In fact I really want to know why it performed so badly sales wise...

I'm actually a bit worried about a Psychonauts 2 because my expectations would be pretty high due to the original.

Would be cool if this happened.

 

[Susan Arendt]

This has nothing to do with the topic, but I feel it necessary to point it out: I know that news isn't always lightning fast at the Escapist, despite how much they try, but I love how the users are ahead by just a little bit. XD

What I'm talking about.

Anyway...

Some people wonder why I like Notch so much. This is why.

The community is almost always going to be faster than the news team because you're dealing with thousands of people in varying time zones trawling the web for gaming info, versus our small handful of newsies. The numbers are in the community's favor on that score. So, yes, odds are that the news will show up in the forum first. Some people choose to use that advantage to tip off the news guys and point them towards something the community should know about. And some decide to just be smug or rude.

Forum posters aren't bound by journalistic integrity... which adds to the time disparity I'd imagine

There's that, too.

Forum posters don't have to constantly remind themselves that X company is an it not a they.

Or worry about proper use of semicolons.

 

[tmande2nd]

Hell yeah.

 

[ResonanceGames]

They already made System Shock 3. It's called Bioshock.

I honestly don't know how to respond to this, except to just say nope. Not even close.

 

[The Great JT]

Minecraft creator + Psychonauts creator = THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER. YOU KNOW THAT WILL BE THE RESULT.

Notch, Tim, do the right thing.

 

[Semudara]

Never played the game nor saw any reason to, the whole premise simply did not click with me. Until Team Fortress 2 was explained to me I never saw the appeal. If someone is willing to open up my eyes as to what the general consensus of what makes the game good outside of a couple of sentences worshiping the game's awesomeness then who knows? Maybe I might pick it up some time.

It's a very quirky platformer/adventure game with a unique premise (a psychic camp, levels taking place inside the minds of various characters), great art direction, a decent story, and of course a solid if pretty weird sense of humor. I'd say it was one of the more memorable titles of the previous generation, and it's a lot of fun. I recommend checking it out.

Oh god yes.

I didn't get a chance to experience the original Psychonauts, so I'm sure not going to miss out on this game if it comes out.

Don't miss out on the original either! A few parts are a little clunky, but it really is a great game. Well worth the time and money.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

Hrm, thing is.. Psychonauts was not really a good game. Sure it had Schaffers quirky sense of humor and "I dug this out of Tim Burtons Closet, does it look good?" design esthetic, So as a visual work, sure, its good. As an interactive game, not so much.

I think Yahtzee said it best in his Psychonauts review when he described the fan vs. non-fan...

"Which group you'll fall into depends on whether you're the sort of misty-eyed, 'games are art,' hippie who can allow things like excellent storytelling and charming artistic direction excuse a few gameplay issues, or if you're the kind of twitching, ritalin-popping XBOX owner who falls into a narcaleptic coma when they go without killing something for 45 seconds."

Now, he is creating a greatly exaggerated (and possibly insulting) overgeneralization, but his underlying point is valid: Those who love Psychonauts (such as myself) tend to be those who focus on the context and aesthetics of a game, while those who are critical of Psychonauts tend to be those who focus on the gameplay.

I agree that, in terms of gameplay, Psychonauts is average. It's not great. But it's not bad either. Too Human had BAD gameplay; the gameplay of Psychonauts is adequete, functional, and still has its genuninely fun aspects.

However, in terms of aesthetics and context, Psychonauts has more personality than many human beings.

 

[FEichinger]

I watched that discussion on twitter just as it happened ... Was quite amazing to see an actually-quite-large project being funded right in front of you. In all honesty, I am quite certain they will pull this. Notch and Tim might turn out to be an awesome combination after all.
I personally did not play Psychonauts either, I have to admit. Nonetheless I find it to be rather appealing in terms of concept. A sequel would definitely do it well.