Disney reveals Epic Mickey 2, a co-op musical

Disney and the Warren Spector-led studio Junction Point have revealed that they are working on a sequel to the 2010 platformer Epic Mickey. Unlike the original Wii-exclusive title, however, this new game will debut across all three major consoles, and in an unusual twist, will even serve as a full-fledged musical. The game, titled Disney Epic Mickey: The Power of Two, will add voiceovers and co-op to the series, and will feature songs written by Jim Dooley and Mike Himelstein, the composer and lyricist for the upcoming animated film Dorothy of Oz. "I'm such a geek about musicals," said Spector in an interview with the Associated Press. "I love the co-op and next-gen stuff, but for me, when a character breaks into song, which they do on a regular basis in this game, it's magic." Among those singing characters is Mickey's long-lost predecessor, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The character, who co-starred in the original title, has never spoken an actual word, but will speak for the first time ever in The Power of Two. Spector also explained that he hopes to fix some of the original title's most glaring issues -- namely, it's unruly camera control. He explained that his team has been working hard on fixing its previous errors ever since the original game debuted. "We've had a team working on the camera from literally the day we finished the first game," he said. "They'll be working on it until the day we ship the second game. [There have been] over 1,000 specific changes made to the camera. Our goal is that you will not have to touch the manual camera controls even once to play through the main story path of this game." The original Epic Mickey released to largely positive reviews, with critics praising the title for its celebration of Disney history and its unusual morality system. Others, however, said the title's repetitive content hindered the impact of its more exciting ideas. Disney Epic Mickey: The Power of Two does not yet have a target release window, but the title is due to launch on Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.