Electronic Arts Announces The Simpsons Game

After teasing the game with a Grand Theft Auto-esque countdown site, Electronic Arts has officially announced that it will be releasing a Simpsons game this fall for the PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii and DS. The game is being created in partnership with Simpsons TV show writers for what EA is calling a "hilarious, sprawling, and mind-busting storyline," featuring the full cast of series voice actors. EA first acquired the license to create Simpsons titles in late 2005. Though little else has yet been officially revealed, EA promises the Simpsons family will be granted "exciting, all-new powers to save the world from rising chaos" as they journey through Springfield and beyond, take on villains and fight through parodies of a number of popular games. Consumer site Gamespot was granted an early look at the game and reported that the plot involved the family realizing they are "trapped inside a videogame" and "envisioning new powers for themselves" including Homer transforming himself into a Katamari-like 'Homerball' by engorging on food power-ups and Bart taking on the role of a caped Bartman. According to Gamespot, game characters will be cel-shaded but rendered as flat to appear even more cartoon-like, and the game will also apparently feature drop-in/drop-out two player action similar to Konami's original Simpsons arcade game. To drive home the gaming-world referential humor, the debut of the title, which coincided with the announcement of the TV show's 400th episode, featured a number of promotional parody posters, showing Bartman Begins, Medal of Homer, NeverQuest, and Grand Theft Scratchy. Said executive producer Scot Amos, “Our goal in developing The Simpsons Game is to create the most original game ever, which is a lofty goal and only possible given the close collaboration with ‘The Simpsons’ creative team. We’re also especially proud of the game’s warm visual feel, which captures – for the first time ever in a game – the look of the TV show.” The game is expected to debut this fall cross-platform. EA executives said yesterday in a conference call that the title was currently planned to generally coincide with the DVD, rather than theater, release of the film.