Episode 11 - Our Psychonautical E3

Hello Psychobackers!

It’s been a couple of weeks since we returned from E3, but only now do we feel recovered; rejuvenated by a long weekend of BBQs and fireworks. It was one hell-of-a show though, possibly our busiest ever, and certainly the first time we ever had our own booth on the showfloor, which made it all the more exciting!

With E3 being just down the road from us (albeit a rather long road) quite a few of the Psychonauts team were able to head on down to help out. But even with all the extra help, between press conferences, streams, booth demos and press appointments, we were still working flat out!

Naturally 2 Player Productions were in tow, always filming us, all the time, which means they were able to capture our adventures and put together this E3 update for you all. Stay tuned after the show for some bonus videos and things!

As you just saw, E3 kicked off with us sneaking into the Microsoft press briefing to adorn Phil Spencer in a Psychonauts shirt. We then snuck past Keanu to announce that we would be joining Xbox Game Studios, and that Psychonauts 2 would be published by Microsoft (instead of Starbreeze) as a first party title. Now, before anyone panics! We have confirmed that we will be able to honor Psychonauts 2 for every platform that we have already promised here, and that includes bringing the game to PlayStation 4!

There really shouldn’t be too many other noticeable changes for you at all, at least not for a while...with one notable exception: We’re now targeting next year for release. We know it’s always disappointing when you have to wait a bit longer, but we also know that you are an amazing, supportive bunch, who - just like us - want the game to be as good as possible. So we’re hopeful you’ll understand! <3

Anyway, back at the E3 press briefing, we topped off our announcement by showing the FIRST EVER segment of gameplay from Psychonauts 2!

Our creepy-teethy-mouthy level (which won us Best Teeth of E3 from Shacknews) appeared quite a few times in various forms throughout the week, from a teaser trailer (below) to a full level playthrough which we showed mainly at our booth to both press and fans.

If you hunt around on the internet for all the various E3 stream appearances we were on, you’ll be able to see a lengthier playthrough of the level that this trailer was made from, but most notably Tim and Greg played some of it on stage with our old pal Jack Black.

This live chat, in conjunction with E3 Coliseum, also featured some bonus content from 2 Player Productions that teases the Psychonauts 2 character Jack is going to voice, along with the song he’ll be singing in the game, and you can watch the whole thing courtesy of a little video hosting site we like to call Youtube.

Meanwhile over on the showfloor, right at the very back behind Fortnight...no...yeah, behind that strange VR game too…keep going, yes there we are, by the Video Game Museum! The first ever Double Fine E3 booth in all its glory, enveloped in our shiny new key art from Nathan “Bagel” Stapley!

The main purpose of our booth was to show the demo to press and fans alike, and we themed our theater room to feel like you were inside Doctor Loboto’s teeth-filled mind. Our trusty crew from Double Fine was on hand to demo the game, or sell the odd shirt, and we made sure everyone left the theater with a big smile…by handing them a themed bamboo toothbrush.

We whammed some behind the scenes shots up onto our Instagram, check that out for some fun piccies of the toothbrush, and some other bits and bobs.

By the end of the show we were ready to drop, so we escaped back to our rental house and hosted a pool party, a perfect way to end a wonderful week.

We had a very RAD E3

Not everything we were doing at E3 was about Psychonauts 2, because we also have another game coming out real soon, and it is RAD!

It’s from Lee Petty, the project lead who brought you Stacking and Headlander, games which we know you all love to bits, and here's a new one: It’s a 3D action rogue-like set in a post-post-apocalyptic world, where humanity has faced Armageddon not once, but twice. The fate of the world depends on you, your trusty bat, and whatever strange new abilities you gain as the world around you ravages your body — twisting and mutating you into something far less than human, but far more powerful.

RAD is coming to PC and all consoles on August 20th, check out the E3 trailer below. You can pre-order the game now to get some special bonus loots, so we think you should! ;)