South Park is Being Made Into a “Full-Scale RPG” by the Developers of Fallout: New Vegas
By Yannick LeJacq | December 1, 2011 | News | No comments | Share
Trey Parker and Matt Stone are working with THQ and Obsidian Entertainment to develop a videogame based on their acclaimed, controversial, and, for better or worse, generally disgusting Comedy Central show South Park, Game Informer has reported. The magazine announced the news in the form of a quick blurb alongside the reveal for its December cover story, which will offer more exclusive information about the game. While details are yet to be announced, it was confirmed that Parker and Stone will be writing and performing the game’s dialogue, as well as “overseeing the development” of what is tentatively titled South Park: The Game. There is additionally another South Park themed game currently in the works from Other Ocean Interactive for XBLA release titled South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge, which continues the saga of bullying and tear drinking between Scott Tenorman and Cartman first begun in the show’s fifth season with the episode “Scott Tenorman Must Die.”
Unlike the usual cash-in titles that spawn from popular movies and television shows, however, it’s emphasized that the new game is a ”full-scale RPG” set for release on XBox 360 and Playstation 3. Obsidian Entertainment is known for crafting intricate and fully realized RPG game worlds, most recently with the follow-up to Fallout 3 with their open-world Fallout: New Vegas and other acclaimed or legendary titles such as Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Dungeon Siege III. It is interesting to not that Obsidian often makes follow-ups or sequels to popular RPG franchises–Fallout was originally re-imagined by Bethesda, KOTOR and Neverwinter Nights were both created by Bioware, another successful developer of modern RPGs. South Park: The Game may prove to be one of Obsidian’s first major steps into developing its own unique IP.
Parker and Stone have often poked fun at popular game titles, and the fanaticism of gamers themselves in South Park. In an episode from the 12th season of the show, Cartman becomes so desperate to get his hands on the latest Nintendo console that he attempts to cryogenically freeze himself so he won’t have to deal with the impatience of the last two weeks before its release, inadvertently sending himself on a time-travelling adventure involving religious warfare and trash-talking otters. “Guitar Queer-o” spoofed the rapid ascent and graceless demise of rockstars by showing another character hopelessly devolve into obscurity through his abuse of another, made-up rhythm-action game, “Heroin Hero.” In another episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” the show’s creators actually collaborated with Blizzard entertainment to show the four main characters’ decline into morbid obesity and social obscurity as they fall prey to the popular and addictive MMORPG.
South Park’s creators have previously brought their talent to other areas of the entertainment industry in the form of films such as Orgazmo and Team America: World Police and, more recently, with their hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. But only once before has their brand ventured into videogame territory with the eponymous release for the Nintendo 64. The game was generally poorly received; IGN described it simply as “a bad game that’s not funny” when it was later ported to the Playstation console. With a more stalwart team of game developers at the helm this time around, however, hopes will surely be high.
