Tag Archives: kotaku

Shanghai, Spicy Horse

American in China

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Spicy Horse Logo

The Spicy Horse Logo

Brian Ashcroft from Kotaku has presented a really great interview with me and a few others from Spicy Horse. It details the history of my move to China, the formation of Spicy Horse, and our vision of the future of games in China. From the article,

It was 2007, and China was buzzing — with optimism and energy. “Chinese contemporary society is like a whirlwind,” says McGee’s business partner and art director, Ken Wong. “It seems to have changed in 10 years as much as America has in the past 40.” McGee and Wong, started boutique studio dubbed “Spicy Horse” or “Ma La Ma” in Chinese. Initially, they worked out of their homes on an island off the Hong Kong coast. “We moved into some really low-rent warehouse space in Shanghai upon our initial landing in the mainland,” says McGee. “From there we moved a few more times, ever growing the company, taking on more people, and evolving the culture.”

Be sure to check out the full article.

Many thanks to Brian for crafting such a cool article. And thanks to Kotaku readers for supporting interesting interviews like this 🙂

General, Grimm

Kotaku: Grimm’s “Clever, fun, twisted”

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Butcher Portrait

Butchered? Not this piggy!!

Being avid readers of Kotaku and well aware of their tendency towards critical butchering, it was with bated breath and whisp’ring humbleness we awaited their hands on preview of Grimm Episode 1. Well, the preview is in… and the response is… GOOD!

Here’s a snippet from the article:

Grimm has a great, simple graphical style but don’t let that make you think it’s a game for kids. This is a very twisted world and the game will have an M rating. The humor is quite black and may have some players scratching their heads but those of you with a sick sense of humor will absolutely love it. The keyboard and mouse controls are simple and easy to use but if you tend towards the controller, you can use any USB controller at your disposal (including the 360’s). Each episode is short and can be completed straight through in about 30 minutes, but there are plenty of reasons to go back and replay the levels including secret items, power-ups, beating your time and the simple pleasure of seeing everything turn scary.

I’m glad to see Grimm continuing to receive praise in previews. The development team here in Shanghai is also quite happy – deservedly so. They’ve put an amazing amount of creativity and passion into the project, and it shows. Grimm production has been a lot of fun, and made all the better by the fact that the game is finding a happy audience.

Read the full Kotaku article here.

I’m just happy our piggy Grimm didn’t get the chop!

GameTap, Grimm

2404 – Grimm Interview

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StadiumSeat

Fans of Grimm?

Recently I did an interview with Gareth Von Kallenbach over at “2404 – PC Gaming”. We talked about Grimm’s game play, challenges faced during development, and the episodic model production and distribution model. Here’s an excerpt:

1. What is the background and setting for the Grimm and how is it similar and different from Alice?

The backgrounds and settings in Grimm vary from episode to episode. Each new episode is based on a different fairy tale – presented by the main character “Grimm”. In every episode he presents a puppet theater of the current-day “light” version of the tale. He then invites you to help him return the tale to a form closer to the original – darker, meaner, and more informative. When finished he presents the “fixed” version in another puppet theater.

You can read the full interview over on 2404.

So far it seems that wherever he goes Grimm is finding fans. The preview response to Episode 1 was positive across the board. Of course Kotaku hasn’t seen it yet – God knows what sort of punishment they’ll dish out! A little over 30 days before Episode 1 goes lives. Stay tuned for more previews, interviews, and interesting bits of content in the coming weeks.