An American in Shanghai: A Grimm tale

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Once upon a time, there was a game developer named American McGee. He started his career at id Software, the shop that made ‘Doom’ and ‘Quake’ games. He then joined Electronic Arts, where he made a name for himself, quite literally, with ‘American McGee’s Alice,’ a game with a dark twist on the classic ‘Alice in Wonderland’ story. After a brief stint on his own in Los Angeles, McGee got a case of itchy feet and shimmered off to Asia, where he promptly fell off the game industry map. Until now.

McGee spoke with us from his Shanghai office about his upcoming project, ‘American McGee’s Grimm.’ (When you’re saddled with a name like that, you’re bound to run into marketers who can’t resist slapping it on the title of every game you work on.)

Funded by Turner Broadcasting Systems Inc.’s GameTap online game service and set for release in July, ‘Grimm’ is part game, part online episodic animated show. Each of the 24 episodes will start out with a shiny, happy version of a classic fairy tale. Then players get a chance to trounce through the scenes of the story, painting mayhem and chaos with a virtual paintbrush. Once done, the player is treated to the scary version where, for example, Cinderella’s stepsisters get their eyes plucked out. Decades ago, before the Disneyfication of kids’ entertainment, fairy tales were far darker because they were meant to be taken as cautionary tales for potentially wayward children.

‘What we have today no longer teaches us a lesson because it’s had its teeth taken out,’ McGee said. ‘In the original versions, people didn’t always live happily ever after.’

The End.

-- Alex Pham