alice-in-wonderland posts

Alice: The Madness Returns is still a while from release, but that doesn't keep the developers from giving us little teaser trailer snippets. In this case, it's purely cinematic, but it acts as a good introduction to American McGee's Alice universe. Taking place somewhere in London (at least, we think it's London), the trailer has Alice distracted by the ghosts of her parents before being pulled into a puppeteer machine by horrific burning tendrils. The cinematic is not the best we've ever seen, but it's not bad, and it exudes an air of genuine creepiness.

Over a year ago Electronic Arts announced plans to work with designer American McGee again on a new installment of his reinterpretation of Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland. Today EA announced that the game has an official title, Alice Madness Begins.

The game is still set for release sometime in 2011 the third person action game from McGee's development studio Spicy Horse takes place 10 years after the events of the original American McGee's Alice. Alice has been put in an insane asylum following the death of her family in a fire. But what really did kill her family? That's what Alice has to find out as she journeys yet again in a warped version of Wonderland.

As part of their San Diego Comic-Con events, Disney Interactive has announced plans to release a game based on the forthcoming Tim Burton directed version of Alice in Wonderland. The title, due out in early 2010, will be released at the same time as the movie which will feature Johnny Depp in a role he was apparently born to play, the Mad Hatter.

Developed by France-based Etranges Libellules, the game has the player controlling Alice through Tim Burton's version of Wonderland (actually set several years after the events of Lewis Carroll's original book). The game will also feature players controlling other characters like the Mad Hatter that can help Alice solve puzzles and evade traps. For example the Mad Hatter can " . . . take advantage of optical illusions to open up places in the world the player alone would not have noticed,"