Do you remember Mark Ecko’s Getting Up? Well, here’s a quick refresher if this game happened to have slipped your mind: you fight against a tyrannical government by spray-painting buildings. Once The Man runs out of turpentine, then he’ll feel the sting of the oppressed! Marc Ecko also collaborated with Microsoft to make some spectacularly hideous Halo clothing a while back.
Well, it turns out that public property and a decent sense of fashion weren’t all that Marc Ecko was interested in vandalizing. Somewhere along the line the clothing designer drew up a concept that adapted Shakespeare’s Macbeth into a video game. Apparently he would have converted the classic play into a hack and slash brawler where the main chunk of the game would be devoted to lopping people’s heads off.
You’ve got to admire the man’s guts, at least. He’s not afraid to do what he wants, even if it does turn him into a pariah of sorts. His response to the question of what people would think of a Macbeth game was “I don’t live my life afraid of what other people think,” adding “Our adaptation, I think, would have made it relevant to people who wouldn’t have otherwise known about this great story. It’s unfortunate, because a lot of people just don’t know Macbeth.”
Thankfully, his project had trouble getting up and never made it past the concept phase. I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief that this game was passed over, but who knows what the future holds? What do you guys think of this wacky premise? If you’re wondering, Marc is currently working on I Heart Geeks, a DS puzzle title.
Source: Destructoid
Whoa, we just finished reading MacBeth in English. haha
This Marc Ecko fellow is going to have alter the story of MacBeth rather significantly since the only battle scenes worthy of gameplay are maybe the prologue battle against the Norwegians, the pillaging of MacDuff’s castle (a No Russian-esque level at best), and the final duel between MacBeth and MacDuff. Not much material.
In general I don’t like video game visionaries who don’t make good games. Or good game movies. Their arrogance pisses me off, especially when they announce some massive undertaking that is actually pretty dumb or has low potential even though they hype it. Sort of a sadistic pet peeve of mine.
@ Cossack, I did Macbeth last year. What did you think of it?
Also, this could be like Assasin’s Creed where you play as the assassins Macbeth hires to assasinate Banquo, Macduff’s family + servants, etc. Also, good likening to the whole ‘No Russian’ idea.
@ Skuba: I loved Macky-B, and even watched the Kurosawa Akira version, The Throne of Blood.
I just don’t thing Shakespeare had action-packed combat that was video game-worthy in mind he was writing his plays. I have a feeling Marc Ecko meant to say a MacBeth-esque story, which would be cool. We’ll see whether the gameplay is good or not.
I played Getting Up. And I’ve got to say, it was a bit of a guilty pleasure. Although I didn’t finish the game, it was actually farily well made and pretty fun.
In terms of Shakespeare… No thanks. On any of his ‘intellectual property’. Definite no.
This sucks.
@ Cossack, I didn’t mind Macbeth too much, but the language was nigh-on impossible to comprehend! Also, if it was a Macbeth esque story then, yea it would make a lot more sense.
Marc Ecko would not know Macbeth if it fell out of the sky, landed on his face and started to wiggle
It would actually be perfect for him. Everyone talks incomprehensibly and they all wear gaudy clothes.