American McGee reveals new project

Bonkers game designer American McGee has announced his Spicy Horse studio is working on a new game. A "world-class" game, if you're asking.

The revelation came by way of his blog, where he's advertising for staff to help him make the title.

"So it is with a mixture of pride and awe that I get to 'announce' our 2nd project," said McGee - no, not Debbie. "At the moment this is purely for recruiting purposes - an official announcement will come when the time is right.

"What I can say about the project is this: 'UE3-based, big publisher, multi-platform, twisted tale project' - pre-production is starting soon. This is going to be a world-class product, and we're hoping to attract world-class talent to the team."

If he doesn't say so himself. But who is he? Just a man with a funny name? No, no. He worked for id Software years ago and made Quake and things, before creating a twisted version of Alice in Wonderland for EA.

Not only was this probably his best game to date, featuring highly stylised visuals and a superb demented setting, but it falls in the "twisted tale" genre he is touting for the new project.

Most recently American McGee released Bad Day L.A., a cartoon-inspired third-person action game where you run around as a crude homeless chap solving all sorts of disasters like plane crashes and fires. Despite its comical potential it failed to deliver, receiving a critical panning and low scores.

His first project at Spicy Horse is Grimm, a 24-part series based on the fabulous Grimm Fairy Tales, where birds peck out eyes and gruesome things like that. Clearly has a taste for the dark side.

It's due to be aired on US digital distribution site GameTap this spring. No word on a European release just yet.