Crash Bandicoot: The Thread

[RidersDX]

Interesting video. There's alot to get mad about from what the intern has said, but at least it looks like a Crash game might be out in the near future. I really hope they don't just declare the series dead, at least sell it to some other publisher.

[Chili Dawg]

If that shit is real, that intern can kiss his chances of ever getting a job again goodbye...

[RK64]

What that intern said about Naughty Dog really surprised me; I know they are currently unable to make a character-based platformer again, as they scraped the Jak 4 they were making due to it not being true to the Jak series, but they could have handed off there blessings of the Crash series to another developer, like how Sucker Punch did with Sanzaru after being really impressed with the Sly prototype.

 

I would think Sony would be fiercely fighting with both Activison and Naughty Dog to get a PS Exclusive Crash game afloat, as that would be a killer exclusive to have on the PS4/Vita/PS3. Sony is getting exclusive content for Destiny from Activision and they did fund the Vita Call of Duty as crap as that was, so I'm surprised that Sony isn't willing to fund a exclusive Crash game for Activision under the conditions of it being a PS-only tittle. But with the lessing of the Crash series being very expensive (as the intern pointed out), that might be the reason that's not the case.

 

Ether way, its good we got some flat out answers about the future of the Crash series and the hope of a new tittle within the next two years; it Vicarious Visions or Toys for Bob (they aren't making this years Skylanders, and posters of a revamped Crash are in there offices from pics online) are making it, at least that possible game will be solid .

If that shit is real, that intern can kiss his chances of ever getting a job again goodbye...

 

The intern really spilled the beans there; didn't hold back with his experiences at Activision, further showing the company under a negative light then it already is as the COD Company .

[Guest]

Fake or not, I want people to carefully listen to what the intern says, its interesting, because I don't want to remove the video just because it debunked, bcause I want to warn about people who believe it.

[Guest]

Based on opinions and research, i declare that Jerm Crash video info is fake because of someone called Kevrockfilms

[Chili Dawg]

Okay, I actually got to watching the whole video now, yeah, phony as fuck.

[iDEATH]

Yeah, pretty sure it's fake, guy just knows far too much insider info that we've never even heard a hint of....surely if half of this stuff was true we'd have had some scrap of info about it before now.

[CrashRatchetFan]

Hello folks of the Sonic the Hedgehog community!

 

My name is CrashRatchetFan! As the name implies, I'm a huge fan of the Crash Bandicoot (all of them actually) and Ratchet and Clank games. I also played a couple of Sonic games like Colors which I enjoy! I'm actually a member of the CM Forums which is dedicated to the Crash community; on the forums, I've helped find unseen stuff, hidden goodies and conducted the interview with Crash artist Joe Pearson (the man basically behind everything related to Crash).

 

What my co-member Motwera posted is nothing but a pile of phoniness from an arrogant Youtuber named KevRockFilms, getting everyone's hopes up for nothing.

 

If you really want to know the state of Crash's future, I strongly suggest you take a look at this video featuring One of Swords, one of Activision's Community Managers (BEWARE the rambunctious comments):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_o8Hw5uPO4&list=TLmzfO6RB2Phmf5WDPppOEnUJVaj6uaxJt

 

To put it bluntly, Activision simply doesn't have any plans for the franchise as of now. My good friend JumpButton (behind the fan game Crystal's Wrath) pointed out,

 

After the whole Half-Life 3 trademark fiasco, I took a look at the EU marks for Crash. 

5 months until the European trademarks for "Crash Bandicoot" and "Crash" expire. Activision was notified in August of the upcoming expiry and so far hasn't responded.

The American trademarks still have several years left on them though. The fact that they're getting close to letting the Euro trademarks lapse probably indicates much to OoS' video's point -- that Activision simply doesn't have any plans for using the franchise 

right now

 

I hope to come here more often to enjoy the stay!

Edited October 14, 2013 by CrashRatchetFan

[Your Vest Friend]

Beware the rambunctious comments? Ratchet, of all the forums I've been on, this is the only forum that comes close to CM in terms of liberal use of rambunctious comments.

Anyway, this comes as pretty much zero surprise to me. I just have to wonder why the franchise is still so expensive.

Edited October 14, 2013 by VEDJ-F

[Guest]

Charles Z:

Crash Bandicoot 1 - Iguana:

Dated from March 1995 these sketches were part of the early development of the Crash Bandicoot franchise when it was still originally Willy the Wombat. We were in a phase of developing additional secondary characters. I was thinking distinct personality but Naughty Dog wanted straight out simple creatures representative of what we'd see in nature for the most part. This was what I came up with for an iguana. Initially starting out as a punk biker thug and then winding up as a straight forward animal. I don't think this has been published before. Something for the Crash historians.

Link to article.

Crash Bandicoot 1 - Warthogs:

Dated from March 1995 these sketches were part of the early development of the Crash Bandicoot franchise when it was still originally Willy the Someone asked recently about the warthog characters that appear in the first Crash game in 1996. I dug up some images from the development of the warthog.

In the beginning he was conceived as a sumo wrestler. Naughty Dog decided they didn't want this guy and other incidental characters to emerge as full personalities. Instead they opted for simple versions of what the animal would look like in real life. These drawings are dated March 1995 back when Crash was a wombat named Willy.

Link to article.

Pictures (Samples, more images at the full articles linked above):

[FourCartridge]

As per Paradox's request:

 

Activision have removed all reference to Crash Bandicoot:

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/1r5qo4/the_official_crash_bandicoot_website_owned_and/

[Swiss]

I'm so excited for this it's unreal! If (the tiny chance of) it turns out to be a huge charade then I'll be so sad. 

[TCB]

If there's the slightest shred of legitimacy of a new Crash title on PS4...

 

 

I'll remain dangerously curious though...yeah...

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

The timeline:

• First, it started with Crash Bandicoot being created by Naughty Dog in the 90s. It becomes one of the biggest game franchises in PlayStation history.

• The series is later owned by a variety of different publishers and developers, releasing games with generally mediocre reviews on multiple platforms, including mobile devices. The series sits dormant for several years, owned by Activision.

• The last console-based Crash Bandicoot title was Crash: Mind Over Mutant, released by Radical Games and distributed by Activision in 2008 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Wii. Another game was released later, albeit for mobile platforms, in the form of Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2, released for iOS in May 2010, developed by Polar Bit and published by Activision.

• After acquisition by Activision, several Crash Bandicoot titles were cancelled in 2010, including a Crash Team Racing title by High Impact Games, another title by Radical Games, and yet another title by Renegade Kid for Nintendo DS — none of them were released, all of them had Activision as their publisher.

• Stephen Totilo of Kotaku spoke with Activision president Eric Hirshberg in the fall of 2011, writing that Crash has "fallen off the map, and he's probably not going to come back as a Skylander [as Spyro did]." Hirshberg was quoted as saying, "I love Crash Bandicoot... and I would love to find a way to bring him back, if we could."

• A year later in the fall of 2012, fans questioned why the Crash Bandicoot character did not appear in the PS3 title PlayStation All-Stars. Activision's support team said in a tweet that they were hopeful to see the character make an appearance. An exchange with Sony Santa Monica the month prior indicated the character's appearance was not possible. Crash never made an appearance in the game.

• The spring of 2013 sees the announcement of the PlayStation 4, and it is revealed that heading development of the PS4 is Mark Cerny, former producer and developer on the original Crash Bandicoot series, Spyro series, and Jak & Daxter. He promises that "the PlayStation 4 will recapture gaming's glory days," and create "a renaissance of gaming."

• Andy Gavin, co-creator of Crash Bandicoot, is quoted in an interview from May 2013 as saying that, "Crash needs a total reboot. There’s an opportunity to reset the history, and go back to his creation story and the original conflict with Cortex. In that context, you could reprise classic Crash 1 and 2’s settings and villains. It would make sense to use a more modern, free-roaming style. I would concentrate on Looney Tunes-esque animation and really addictive action. That’s what we did with the original Crash, and there’s no reason it couldn’t be done today. Given [Activision's] Crash games, people forget that he was once cool. [Naughty Dog's] Crash had a certain whimsical edge to him. Sure, it was goofy – but it wasn’t dumb."

• During a conference call in August 2013, in regards to a question asked about Crash Bandicoot's cancellation, an Activision representative actually indicated that the franchise was no longer owned by Activision and was, in fact, returned to Sony. A tweet from Activision's support team, however, said otherwise.

• A silhouette of Crash Bandicoot appears in the launch day trailer for the PS4 released in November 2013. The image depicts Crash, with an arrow, pointing to a gold diamond, similar to the logo for Sony Computer Entertainment (i.e. Crash returning to Sony).

• Also in November 2013, Kevin Pereira of DeathSquad podcast leaks info saying Sony is about to bring back one of their biggest exclusives. (Sony did bring back Uncharted at the launch event; could Crash have been put on the backburner for the VGAs at the last minute?)

• Rumors of Crash Bandicoot on PS4 continue into late 2013, as a source with Naughty Dog ties says the game "is definitely in production" and if Sony has re-acquired the rights to the franchise, it would be "one of the biggest, and well kept, secrets in the industry."

• In November 2013, new Crash Bandicoot game appears on Amazon France, known for listing games considerably early before their official announcement. The game appears to be a reboot of the series, and is listed as published by Sony and is exclusive to the PlayStation 4. The link is taken down shortly after publication. The incident, however, is suspected to be a hoax.

• And now, today: the official Crash Bandicoot website is taken down, and all references to Crash Bandicoot are removed from Activision's website. An archived version of Activision's original site can be found here.

 

[Winston]

I'd probably start crying immediately out of pure joy if this were announced.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Winston

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Sony must have taken notes after seeing a demand of Crash from Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale...

 

Not having Crash in that game is like not having Link in Smash Bros.

 

Now I hope Naughty Dog brings Crash back to life. Dayam, that would make PS4 unstoppable.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Ming Ming Hatsune

[Tani Coyote]

Oooo, we can only hope that Activision finally gave ownership back after how suckily they were handling it.

Let's keep Radical Entertainment and Activision far away from any future Crash releases, please. These are the people who redesigned Tiny to look like a bengal tiger, when he's a TASMANIAN Tiger, a completely different species that anyone who used a bit of inference (they're ALL Australian species) and research could find out.

This, with the ad, makes one wonder if a new Crash game could finally arrive... I shouldn't board the hype train on this but... it's REALLY hard not to. Crash could still be a great franchise if it had the proper finances and team behind it, and if Sony has taken it back, I can really see it returning to prominence.

Not having Crash in that game is like not having Link in Smash Bros.

Given Crash was pretty much Playstation's mascot (prior to the coming of PS2 where you had three mascots and not just one) for a while, I think it'd be more apt to say Mario not being in Smash Bros. It was just ludicrous.

We can be hopeful he's returning to more capable hands.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Ogilvie

[FourCartridge]

Somebody hold me. I'm freaking out in RL. XD

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

So it looks like anyway Activision no longer owns Crash Bandicoot... they basically removed EVERYTHING Crash on their website...

 

I can't WAIT for E3 2014...

[Blue Wisp]

If Sony got Crash Bandicoot again.

 

I'm so getting a PS4. 

 

eventually. 

 

when i have money

 

/poor EDIT: actually, not poor, more like /superfuckingexpensive

Edited November 21, 2013 by B. Orchid

[Dejimon11]

Given Crash was pretty much Playstation's mascot (prior to the coming of PS2 where you had three mascots and not just one) for a while, I think it'd be more apt to say Mario not being in Smash Bros. It was just ludicrous.

We can be hopeful he's returning to more capable hands.

 

Im convinced that the reason why crash(and spyro) werent in the game was because Activision were demanding too much money

[TheOcelot]

I will be crossing my fingers.

 

Would be nice to have new game either as a sequel to the PS1 trilogy, or similar to Twinsanity. None of that mind over mutant rubbish. I would even settle for a HD remake of the original trilogy.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

I think Activision is going to keep Spyro though no thanks to Skylanders... -.-

 

My heart is beating fast now (although this is way too early) CRASH MAYBE COMING BACK!

 

I just hope it goes to Naughty Dog instead of Sanzaru Games or another B developer D=

[Tori Himemiya]

I honestly hope this means another Crash game and not something to fuck us with. Crash is a great series no doubt.

And I just hope they don't do the same shit Microsoft did to Banjo and Kazooie. That would be another insult to everyone.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Suzaku Kururugi

[Teoskaven]

I will seriously explode in joy if this will actually result in Sony aquiring again the rights for Crash and making another game.

The only bitter angle of that delicious cake would be that it's sadly too late for having Crash in PSASBR.