Holmes, Cthulhu - Two Great Tastes Now Combined!
Hope he doesn't mind, but Gamasutra Podcast exec. producer and genial host Tom Kim sent out a funny email the other day about one of my fave subjects, Cthulhu (who is making a comeback nowadays, let's not forget!), so I pass it on.
Tom writes: "Following up on my posting on the Evil Avatar forums regarding IKEA's takeover by The Great Old Ones, here's an article from WorthPlaying.com about an upcoming Sherlock Holmes versus Cthulhu PC adventure game... A 3D graphic adventure out of Germany featuring two, shall we say, less than mainstream intellectual properties? Once again, the only explanation I have is that the ultimate incarnation of cosmic madness, the Dread Lord Cthulhu must have had a hand, er, claw, er, tentacle in."
Looks like Adventure Gamers has some good info on the title, which is called 'Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened', and "...will take players through London, a psychiatric hospital in Switzerland, various stops in the United States, and Scotland." There's even a German-language playable demo linked on the Adventure Gamers page, if you're tempted.
(Isn't Lovecraft-related IP still in copyright, btw? Obviously, Holmes isn't, which is why developer Frogwares, big PD IP fans, are doing it.)
Comments
Uh, Neil Gaiman has made his Cthulhu-slash-Holmes short story A Study in Emerald available as a free pdf.
not that kinda slash.
Posted by: ryan in exile | December 19, 2006 10:24 PM
There will be an english-language version of this early next year, btw. I'm not a big fan of Frogwares' previous games, but it looks interesting.
Posted by: fluffy bunny | December 20, 2006 12:27 AM
Gaiman's Study in Emerald also appears in the new anthology Fragile Things. In the introduction for the book Neil wrote that the story was originally written for a collection of Holmes-Cthulhu-stories, so it seems that the phenomenon is a bit larger one.
Posted by: Arto | December 20, 2006 12:37 AM
Could somebody please post a link to Mr. Gaiman's pdf then?
No?
Cthulhu 'll get you...
Posted by: gnome | December 20, 2006 7:50 AM
The Lovecraft IP is quite complicated. A large part of the problem is that Lovecraft's works before 1923 are public domain and precede modern copyright acts by over half a century. Add to that the there have been power struggles for his estate that may or may not have had copyrights maintained properly, and things get even more complicated.
It's possible that Arkham House might still own legit copyrights over the Mythos, but even seasoned scholars aren't completely sure.
I tend to think Lovecraft wanted his work to be public domain, anyway. Sure beats the hell out of more restrictive IPs like Star Wars.
Posted by: xpaladin | December 20, 2006 8:09 AM
@ gnome
Enjoy --> http://www.neilgaiman.com/exclusive/shortstories
Posted by: Slinka | December 20, 2006 8:33 AM
Slinka... I just can't thank you enough... Thanks though, even if not in adequate quantities :))
Posted by: gnome | December 20, 2006 8:49 AM