Ben-Dutka"South Park" has always pushed the boundaries, so don't expect the upcoming game to pull any punches whatsoever.
In speaking to Game Informer , Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart said the development team understands the primary goal: above all else, this RPG needs to be "South Park" to the core.
That includes having "a lot of swearing" and "a lot of children dying," and Urquhart is actually a bit leery of how the ESRB is going to respond. Still, the team won't restrict themselves during the creation process; they'll deal with controversial content hurdles when they come to them. Said Urquhart:
"I'll be honest, we're not exactly sure how the ESRB is going to react to a lot of these things. The first thing is we're not going to worry about it. The first thing is this needs to be South Park. If we have problems, then we'll deal with them. The goal is, let's not restrict ourselves right now. Let's make it South Park, make it nuts, then, as they say, cross that bridge when we come to it."
The cool part is that creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone came to Obsidian first. Urquhart says this usually isn't how it works; typically, the publisher that holds the licensing rights to a particular franchise comes to a developer and asks them to make a game. In this particular case, it was the "license holders themselves."
"With South Park it's very different because it's Matt and Trey. It is Crispy, who was the art director on the show for ten years. It's talking to the guys that actually do it and still do it every day. I mean, they're still making the show after 15 years. I think it's going to make it really interesting for us making a South Park game – it's not a re-imagining of stuff that already exists… it's like this is yet another extension to everything that is South Park because it's coming directly from Matt and Trey."
Come on, you have to admit…this one has lots of promise. Obsidian can be hit or miss but with all the original "South Park" talent involved, you just have to like the game's chances.