Epic Mickey sequel coming, it's co-op ... and a musical

Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of 2 is coming to the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 and it will be a musical starring not just a controllable Mickey Mouse but an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit that can be played by a friend when it hits this fall, the Associated Press reports.

Developer Warren Spector tells the AP that he's hired voice actors to provide both dialog to the game and music. Jim Dooley and Mike Himelstein, the composer and lyricist who wrote the music for Dorothy of Oz, are creating the original songs for the game. It will be the first time that Oswald will speak since his creation in the 20s

Mickey will once again be armed with a magical paint brush and thinner, and the ability to create and destroy bits of the tapestry of the gamespace. Oswald will have a remote control that can command electricity, according to the story.

"It's drop-in, drop-out co-op," said Spector. "You can sit down at any time with a friend who is playing as Mickey, and you can take control of Oswald. If you're playing as a single player, Oswald will be there every second of the game. He's not just a multiplayer character. He's a helper, whether you're playing alone or with a friend or family member."

The game will once again strive to allow gamer's choices influence the outcome of the game, but this time around the choices will also impact the songs and music of the title.

Spector also tells the AP that he plans on fixing the game's camera placement, a complaint from the first game.

"We've had a team working on the camera from literally the day we finished the first game," said Spector. "They'll be working on it until the day we ship the second game. (There have been) over 1,000 specific changes made to the camera. Our goal is that you will not have to touch the manual camera controls even once to play through the main story path of this game."

The story returns Mickey back to the Wasteland where he may explore previously unseen areas.