In his earliest days, Mickey was a prankster, hero, ass-kicker, ghostbuster, cowboy and treasure hunter. Sometimes he packed a gun. The point is, he was a rounded character back then, equal parts sweet and sour. This is a return to form, not a reboot.  And, as ever, buzzfeed provides us with the Drudge Report headline and image. It’s tiring, guys. Do you not have the hipster version of an editor there?

wait wait, you’re ALL jumping the gun. Think logically here, the most IMPORTANT thing to remember is that ALL DISNEY VIDEO GAMES SUCK AZZ

The interesting thing about the game that Game Informer picked up on but I don’t see here is that it marks the return of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to Disney. The character is a Walt creation that predates Mickey but was taken away from him by owners Universal. In order to get him back to the Disney fold, partially for use in this game(he’s a major character in it), Disney released Al Michaels from his ABC/ESPN contract so he could be signed by NBC Universal to broadcast with John Madden again. Al Michaels essentially got traded for a cartoon character so he could be used in a video game. To me that’s a lot more notable than a sinister-looking Mickey Mouse screenshot.

Matt,
for me, this is strike two for you on jumping the gun. Tsk tsk.
The game itself has an interesting concept. Getting to see a lot of the old disney characters that were drowned out by the newer characters. I wonder how much of Mickey’s brother they’re going to show in this.

It’s a good thing you actually did some research before before posting this and based your entire opinion on that one horrible and early screenshot. Go look at some of the concept art for this game. It’s going to be amazing, and it has nothing to do with Mickey being a “corporate symbol” or making him “meaner”.

The director of the game, Warren Spector, is actually a bit of a cartoon historian and pretty passionate about Mickey Mouse. All he’s done is allowed players to play Mickey as a rascal, as he originally was portrayed, as opposed to the completely heroic and sweet version(which, as Joe mentioned, is also an option). He’s not going to actually be evil. Just a bit more Donald-Ducky. Kinda a dick, but a good guy dick. And even then, only if the player decides to play him like that.

dumb—they just want to sell more junk

Tom is correct, the art direction is closer to a “Steamboat Willie” Mickey. If the player decides to be a dick, then Mickey gets evil. You could be a good guy too, or remain neutral. Way to jump the gun and spread the lies Matt.

Actually, he’s just going back to what he was like in the early days, before he had a personality lobotomy and became a bland corporate symbol and nothing else.