Phill: Hello ladies and gents, and welcome to another week of News/Talk, a weekly feature where another MediaKick writer and I discuss a couple of the biggest news of the week. Joining me this week, once again, is Dave Irwin, who was so lovely last week I decided to have him on again. Say hello Dave!

Dave: Hey y’all, thanks for stopping by!

Phill: On this week’s agenda is, predictably, Double Fine’s Kickstarter project, Double Fine Adventure, and Square Enix’s re-reveal of True Crime: Hong Kong, now called Sleeping Dogs.

Phill: So, first up, lets talk about Tim Schafer and co. How chuffed must they be? For those of you who don’t know, Double Fine, developers of games like Costume Quest, Stacking, Iron Brigade and Brutal Legend, have launched a Kickstarter project, with the aim to fund a new adventure game for PC. Despite asking for $400,000, to be attained in 34 days, the project gained over $1 million within its first 24 hours, an amazing feat. Dave, how awesome is this?

Dave: It is so awesome that words could potentially not describe how awesome it is! As one of the now close to 45,000 backers of this Kickstarter project, I am psyched that this will most certainly come into fruition and has raised a shade over $1.5m! I have kept an eye on the pace now and it has slowed down dramatically since a couple of days ago.

But as Tim Schafer said, the average budget of a standard Xbox Live Arcade game is around that figure, so I’m sure this would be a manageable budget.

Phill: Indeed! Although I haven’t backed it yet (I have Vita games to buy next week after all!), I do plan on slapping down for the $30 tier. Our editor Davs wrote a great editorial during the week, which you should all read, and, as he points out, this won’t mean that every major developer flocks to crowd sourced funding and get rid of publishers, but it could lead to more independently funded games like this, and that is an exiting prospect. Is this something you’d like to see more of, Dave?

Dave: Certainly. I’m all for cutting out the middle man if it means ambitious projects such as bringing back not only adventure games into the mainstream thought, but also the likes of Ron Gilbert working with the more than capable team at Double Fine on this game is a hugely appealing prospect!

I absolutely loved the Monkey Island series and its brand of humour. It was quirky and unlike anything other publishers were producing back in the era. Many will also see Day of the Tentacle become one of the most fondly remembered takes on the adventure game genre.

But my absolute favourite? Schafer’s own Grim Fandango. With its own take on the afterlife based loosely on Mayan traditions and Mexican ways, this was a true journey of redemption that should never be missed. In fact, I happen to plan to expand on why this is so good a little later this week.

Phill: A sneak peek at this week’s R/R/R Files, then?

Dave: Perhaps, but back to my point. These were projects that diminished because not only did LucasArts want to exploit the Star Wars franchise over their smart adventure games, but publishers themselves saw that they weren’t profitable and stopped making them. It is only with TellTale games’ recent efforts over the past few years that adventure games have found a new life in episodic form.

While this project has kindled some flames for a return to a classic genre, there is also the prospect of the next Notch appearing. As Davs rightly points out, Kickstarter is a great way for independent developers to get funding by pitching to the public. Its all-or-nothing strategy is fairly risk free for the pledgers, and the incentives are a great thing. While I’ve only donated $15 to the cause so far, I’m tempted to improve that if funds allow me.

Phill: Agreed, Dave!

Phill: Now, lets move on to Sleeping Dogs. Originally True Crime: Hong Kong, it was cancelled by Activision due to slow progress and a lack of quality, with Activision saying it simply wasn’t going to be good enough. Square Enix picked it up and allowed United Front Games to keep developing it, and now this week has re-revelaed it, under the new title of Sleeping Dogs. It’s expected to come out this year.

I must say, I was pretty impressed by the live action trailer, but that was more because of how cool the trailer itself was, rather than anything to do with the game. The screenshots look interesting, but I have the same feeling that Hirshberg did. I still don’t think this will be good enough to crack into the open world market, especially in a year the could very well feature Grand Theft Auto V. What’s your opinion on Sleeping Dogs, Dave?

Dave: I was never really a fan of True Crime as a franchise, though in all honesty it just never clicked with me. When True Crime: Hong Kong was announced to have been scrapped, it sounded like it was a coup-de-grace.

So now it’s back, only with Square Enix publishing it and under a new name? Ugh…

Don’t get me wrong, the live action trailer is flashy and the screenshots are certainly interesting, but I’ve never been a huge fan of flogging a dead horse and this is what it seems like.

Phill: For me, True Crime was always the “it’s OK but not quite good” open world series, when I played it on PS2. As for True Crime: Hong Kong, it was always the setting that intrigued me and not much else, so I do agree with you to a certain extent. That being said however, there is clearly a reason Square picked it up. It must have some potential, because Square isn’t really a company known for this sort of thing.

Dave: We know that Square-Enix are the kind for gambling on projects and that is certainly a healthy thing. In honesty, I’m in two minds when it comes to this. The idea is pretty good and is worth looking into (though not in a Kickstarter way), but I don’t see it working out.

Phill: Indeed. Whether Sleeping Dogs turns out to be good or not remains to be seen, but I just have the feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of “Should have let Sleeping Dogs lie” review strap lines come release.

Dave: Oh lord help us.

Phill: Haha!

And with that, we’ll finish up for this week. Thanks Dave for popping along again, and I’m sure we’ll have you back in the next few weeks.

Dave: Glad to do it, any time.

Phill: Bye!