The first South Park video game, the aptly titled South Park, came out on Nintendo 64 in 1998. The first-person shooter was not well received, by both fans, who complained about the poor graphics and frustrating gameplay, and creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. They had little to do with the game, and decided, “We’re never going to do that again,” according to Stone. But they quickly changed their minds, and there have been numerous South Park video games since, including 2014’s impressive South Park: The Stick of Truth, the first part of “The Stick Truth” saga. Part two, the fart-filled South Park: The Fractured but Whole, comes out later this year (you can watch the trailer here).
Speaking at E3 2016, Parker said, “We’re gamers, and gaming is such a big part of South Park. That’s why we treat this seriously. We treat this like a movie. We could have done a movie, instead of this, but we chose to do it as a game instead.” When prodded by Entertainment Weekly what “we could have…” meant, he added, “I don’t know if we would’ve made a superhero movie, necessarily. Just time-wise, if we were going to do another big thing, we could’ve said, ‘Let’s make that other big thing a South Park movie.’”
As for the future of South Park:
Stone: I think we’ll probably do semi-serialization for the rest of it. Cat’s out of the bag. We can’t go back. If it’s the right thing for the end of the story, we let some things hang.
Parker: We also know that this [he points at the video game] might be the future of South Park. This might be where things are going.
Stone: I think in 20 years, 10 years, people will be playing more. That convergence of entertainment, whether it’s VR or a more immersive thing. The more you get in it, the more you watch Pew Die Pie, and people watch Pew Die Pie play, and you watch E-sports. You watch young people, and the way they engage with something – sh*t, maybe that is the future of South Park. (Via)
Soon, we’ll all be slurping Ramen noodles and pooping into pans.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
