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American McGee Gives Gamers Free Grimm
Posted by Brian Crecente at 6:00 AM on July 3, 2008
Once Upon A Time, American McGee decided to create an episodic game based on fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Beauty and the Beast with a dark twist.
Better still, McGee decided that those episodes, their are eight in the first volume, will be free to play for the first 24 hours of release. The best is that the very first episode, A Boy Learns What Fear Is, will be permanently free when it hits on July 31.
Those who want to play the rest of the games episodes at their leisure will have to sign up for the GameTap Gold service. Not a bad idea. It certainly shows just how much faith GameTap has in the game.
Hit the jump for the break down of episodes and scans from the press release story book that GameTap sent along today. Be warned, it ends with everyone dying!
July 31: A Boy Learns What Fear Is
Aug 7: Little Red Riding Hood
Aug 14: The Fisherman and His Wife
Aug 21: Puss in Boots
Aug 28: The Girl Without Hands
Sept 4: Godfather Death
Sept 11: The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs
Sept 18: Beauty and the Beast
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
Anthony
Posted July 3, 2008 11:41 AM
Nothing has come anywhere near the quality of Alice. "Bad Day in LA" was just poorly executed. I sure hope this game will live up to his name.
J
Posted July 3, 2008 5:26 PM
I'd be right in saying that we Aussies don't have access to Game Tap, wouldn't I?
Snake726
Posted 7:24 AM 3/7/08
Very smart, now I'll actually try it.
Snake726
Maestar
Posted 7:13 AM 3/7/08
I loved American McGee's Alice, definitely going to be check this out!
Maestar
fuchikoma
Posted 7:03 AM 3/7/08
A fun sounding fairly new/unexplored idea from a once renowned artist, for free.
I don't see how I could reasonably refuse it other than some excuse about not enough time - but since that's due to other games, I'll have to pick this one up and give it a spin.
fuchikoma
DPB
Posted 7:01 AM 3/7/08
Awesome sounding game. I really can't get over that guys name though. He gave up his citizenship and lives in China... with the name American McGee.
DPB
Strangelove
Posted 6:57 AM 3/7/08
I hope the execution lives up to the great idea.
Strangelove
exobyte0
Posted 6:54 AM 3/7/08
Almost cheap enough for me to consdier trying.
exobyte0
StupidDufus
Posted 6:49 AM 3/7/08
I can't tell from the post. Is the official title American McGee's Grimm? Just curious.
StupidDufus
ShaggE
Posted 6:45 AM 3/7/08
I'm excited for this, since I liked Alice. But, the art style is meh. Looks like horror for the Cartoon Network crowd.
ShaggE
Candlejack
Posted 6:43 AM 3/7/08
@Spenze: Tell me about it. I love Dungeon Keeper. I played the first one back when I was a kid as long as I could and when I first touched Dungeon Keeper 2 it was like everything I ever wanted a game to be. 3 could have been so great if they kept what they were going for and involved the "upper" world...what a shame about that franchise.
Candlejack
budash2
Posted 6:38 AM 3/7/08
Gametap Gold it is. At least for however long it takes me to play through those. Unless of course they suck. But yeah.
budash2
otakufaith
Posted 6:28 AM 3/7/08
Grammatical error noted at "Better still, McGee decided that those episodes, THEIR are eight in the first volume..."
That should be there not their. C'mon Kotaku!
otakufaith
Darkest Daze
Posted 6:25 AM 3/7/08
Yay! It's going to be on Gametap..that program that doesn't work on Vista x64 and they refuse to support.
Why is it I can play games from 15+ years ago on this OS, but I can't play a game through their service that just came out? In fact, I can't play games from their service, that run fine natively on my system.
Darkest Daze
pandafresh
Posted 6:24 AM 3/7/08
remember when making fairy tales with a darker twist was an original and unique idea?
yeah neither do i....
pandafresh
Spenze
Posted 6:24 AM 3/7/08
@Candlejack: I think we have the same taste in games.
I want more dungeon keeper as well, such a fun game.
Spenze
Lazz
Posted 6:23 AM 3/7/08
@Aggrotank:
Nice observation :)
Lazz
Aggrotank
Posted 6:19 AM 3/7/08
Top image: Current Diablo III graphics
Bottom image: What petitioners want Diablo III graphics to be.
Threadjacking aside, Grimm looks great, looking forward to this one.
Aggrotank
TheIrishNinja
Posted 6:17 AM 3/7/08
something something penny arcade...
TheIrishNinja
StormTec
Posted 6:16 AM 3/7/08
If it is distributed solely via GameTap, then I don't think it's as easy to pirate. GameTap is a portal not unlike Steam. To run a game you've downloaded via GameTap, you need to run the game from GameTap.
StormTec
malio
Posted 6:13 AM 3/7/08
This guy hasn't done anything worthwhile since Doom II ('Alice' was meh). This looks OK I guess, I might check it out if I hear good things about it.
malio
Candlejack
Posted 6:11 AM 3/7/08
@Spenze: I was gonna say that but it won't happen I bet :( It's as likely as Dungeon Keeper 3 if you ask me.
Candlejack
Spenze
Posted 6:07 AM 3/7/08
Make a sequel to, and/or remake of Alice already!
Spenze
Catalyst
Posted 6:07 AM 3/7/08
And through the magic of the internet (and those crazy Swedes and their "torrenting"), I am certain those games will be available for free waaaaaaaay longer than the first 48 hours.
Also, what is the business model behind this? Is it "free to play" for the first 24 hours, or is it "free to download?" How is this going to make any money? I'm not going to go out and buy the cow (Gametap) when I can get the milk (this game) for free (no money). I smell embedded advertising afoot!
Catalyst
SegevRaz
Posted 6:07 AM 3/7/08
Gotta love that nun turning into a bat-demon thing.
SegevRaz
HikariOblivion
Posted 6:06 AM 3/7/08
Very nice. ^^
HikariOblivion
shinigamixbl
Posted 6:03 AM 3/7/08
Cool, American McGee is great
shinigamixbl
Green-clad Gamer Dude
Posted 6:03 AM 3/7/08
Very cool indeed.
Green-clad Gamer Dude
Tyber_Zann
Posted 7:52 AM 3/7/08
@Darkest Daze: I love you so much. In the non-gayest way possible.
I'm always posting about Gametap's refusal to support Vista 64 as well. I remember back when I was a loyal, paying subscriber to GameTap, and had just built a new computer. I wondered why the hell it wasn't working right, and was literally beside myself when a CSR told me during live chat that they'd never support any 64-bit OS's.
I love GameTap so much, too. It introduced me to Beyond Good and Evil (which I am now going to buy for PS2 instead for the upcoming Game Club), among other wonderful games. Now this awesome stuff from McGee comes out and I just want to cry all over again. I'm getting penalized for having better technology. I'd love to throw money their way, but they want nothing of it. What a mutual loss.
Tyber_Zann
Darkest Daze
Posted 8:45 AM 3/7/08
@Tyber_Zann:
Yep...I installed it, and figured if it worked well, I'd subscribe...oh well, I'm still gaming, just not giving my money to them.
Darkest Daze
Scipher
Posted 8:13 PM 3/7/08
The best is that the very first episode, A Boy Learns What Fear Is, will be permanently free when it hits on July 31.
Sweet! I'll welcome the return of shareware with open arms.
Apogee? Wherefore art thou? ;-P
Scipher
Reetesh
Posted 11:18 PM 3/7/08
Can you please provide the link which I should be following to get the free download :S
Reetesh
Captain_Sarcastic
Posted 11:27 PM 3/7/08
I never understood the "fairy tales with dark twist" idea. Most fairy tales are dark to begin with, just over the years they've been toned down into funny children stories, rather then moral tales. Still game might be interesting past the redundant twist.
Captain_Sarcastic
cephun
Posted 1:19 PM 3/7/08
i hope there will be some kind of option to just buy them.
cephun
Walsher
Posted 6:21 AM 3/7/08
Why does everyone forget American McGee's last abortion BAD DAY LA?!
Walsher