Grateful Dead game in development, scheduled for August release

Terrapin Station, Cosmic Charlie, and Dark Star are on their way to videogame glory, as the Grateful Dead is planning its first foray into the electronic entertainment industry. But it's not necessarily a music/rhythm game... well, it's not. It's a minigame collection, apparently. Minigames and the Grateful Dead? It doesn't seem quite right to us, but sure.

The North Carolina-based Curious Sense has been tasked with making Dead Heads' dreams come true - the studio has nabbed the game rights to everything in the Grateful Dead archives. Literally everything.

From thousands of live concert recordings, more than 30 years' worth of archived photos and videos, and every single song and album cover the band ever produced.

"We can’t wait for everyone [to] check out the fun new toys we are building," said Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux.

Curious Sense already has some ideas as to what to include in the game. Company founder Adam Blumenthal wants to use clips from the 1977 Grateful Dead Movie in a pinball mini-game. Characters and imagery from the songs will be incorporated into other games.

"Think of the song 'Samson and Delilah.' Maybe we can make that into an Angry Birds kind of game," said Blumenthal. Cool, bro.

The game is tapped for an ambitious August release.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Jan 14, 2011

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