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Poor Alice. Years pass and the pain of tragedy diminishes with time, but neither shame nor guilt nor madness ever leave us. And for Alice Liddell, once-bold Wonderland explorer, madness has returned with a vengeance.

American McGee’s Alice was under-appreciated; I appreciated it – at length, and reprise that appreciation with an expanded version of the same article for the upcoming Well Played 3.0 – but most people didn’t get it. Too many jumping puzzles, too difficult, too long, too packed with disturbing imagery deemed unsuitable for the world of Wonderland. The game sold okay but didn’t do well critically, and it took eleven years for EA to allow a sequel. Still led by American McGee, that Terry Gilliam of video games, Alice: Madness Returns is upon us.

Tapper Emeritus Old Rooster was first to announce Alice’s return, and I followed on with a rambling but love-laden panegyric to the underappreciated game. Now we have a trailer, a date, and a rawther minimalist new teaser site. Only two years remain to find out of American McGee still has his mojo, or if blunders like Bad Day L.A. and Grimm are all we can expect from him now. UPDATE: Aieee. It looks like that …

Sometimes the deepest ideas come from the shallowest places.

Has it really been nine years? My, we’ve missed you, Alice. One of my favorite games after the turn of this new century was American McGee’s Alice. His bizzare interpretation of the classic tale was colorful, inventive and frightening!  I still have a little Alice doll, with cat “friend,” sometimes used to scare the grandkids. One of the key lines from McGee’s Alice: “How do you know I’m mad?,” was felt by some to be …