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Charles Cecil reveals his part in Disney’s A Christmas Carol remake on DS

Finally Scrooge makes his video game debut

Charles Cecil reveals his part in Disney’s A Christmas Carol remake on DS
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DS
| A Christmas Carol

Revolution Software's Charles Cecil is a very talented man.

Best known for his work on Broken Sword, Cecil recently shed light on his latest project, a video game adaptation of Robert Zemeckis's upcoming movie A Christmas Carol.

Develop caught up with the highly regarded games developer just before he took to the stage as part of a panel presenting the seminar ‘Re-inventing a gaming classic: Beneath a Steel Sky iPhone’ - part of BAFTA’s Access All Areas initiative.

“I was approached by Disney to design a game based on A Christmas Carol and it turned out to be really fun. I believe it's very important for games to be able to broaden their horizons. If we, the industry, can start embracing classic works of literature like Dickens, then that's really breaking down a barrier there.” Cecil explained.

He went on: "The approach I took was to place the player as the hand of fate, guiding a very willful protagonist down the road to redemption, and he doesn't want to down that road at all. Players have to interact with people and the environment to make that happen, and it tells the story in really different way.”

Not happy with merely designing the game, Cecil also revealed got his hands dirty in some of the voice narration. “Despite my protests, the Americans insisted that my voice be used for the final game. They simply said I had to."

However, dont get too excited just yet. If history has taught us anything, its that regardless of the medium the majority of previous video game adaptations don't manage to stay true to the feel of the original story.

Despite these obvious concerns, Cecil’s experience with smart adventure games means that if he is “very happy with it,” it’s unlikely to have Dickens turning in his grave.

A Christmas Carol the video game has been announced for release on DS November 3rd - the same date as the film.
Tom Love
Tom Love
Tom has recently migrated south for the winter after blagging his way through university. Living alone and diagnosed with an extreme case of post-study depression, Tom joins the Pocket Gamer staff in a futile attempt to become a functioning member of society.