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The Ultimate Alliance forms again in 2009
Fans of the latest Marvel dungeon crawler, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, know that a sequel to your beloved game is inbound, however it's going to take a bit longer than you might like. You see, the sequel to the first game isn't going to be on shelves until next year. Here, cry on our shoulder. Go ahead, let it all out!Our cruel overlords at Joystiq seem to think that the new Spider-Man: Web of Shadows game could have something to do with the delay. As for us, well, we're not complaining if the time is put to good use. The first game was a boatload of fun, so we hope the sequel is just as good, if not better.[Via Joystiq]
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 pushed to 2009 ... or not [update]
Update: It looks like Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 won't be delayed after all. UGO's original report misconstrued a statement on the conflicting launches of Activision's two Marvel properties. Both Ultimate Alliance 2 and Spider-man: Web of Shadows are still scheduled for release in 2008.Original: Despite Activision's early claims of mass-Marvel action in 2008, it appears that the sequel to Marvel Ultimate Alliance won't be hitting shelves this year, after all. The delay is possibly an attempt to avoid dividing sales between the title and Spider-man: Web of Shadows, which is due out this fall.Reporting from the NYC Comic-Con, UGO Gamesblog spoke with an Activision representative, who stated that the action RPG sequel will not be seeing a release in 2008. The original game (pictured above) was released in 2006 to largely favorable reviews.
Shipping this week: finish the wait edition
Well, kiddies, here we are. While a select few have managed to snag a copy early, the vast majority of gamers will be picking up their copy of Halo 3 this week. A good number of those gamers will be standing in line tonight at midnight (including us) to get it as soon as humanly possible. Yes, Halo fans will finally get their sweet, sweet nectar, while the Halo haters will finally get some respite from the terrible beast. We'd love to tell you that this means the end of non-stop Halo coverage on X3F, but don't count on it.But enough Halo 3! After all, it's not the only game coming out this week. Why, just look at all these other fine games: CSI Hard Evidence Hot Wheels Beat That World Series of Poker: Battle Marvel Ultimate Alliance Enhanced: Platinum Hits Seriously though. If you're waiting in line for Halo 3 tonight, make sure that when you finally get to the checkout counter you ask for a copy of Hot Wheels Beat That. Take note of the confounded look on the employee's face when you ask, and treasure it. Remember, it's the little things in life that matter the most.
Shipping this week: Arrrrggghhh! edition
The thin gaming trickle of spring continues this week with yet another movie tie-in (last week we got Shrek the Third). This week we get the Depp-tastic Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. We're generally leery of any movie tie-ins, especially those that launch simultaneously with the associated film (the third Pirates movie also opens this week), and this time is no different. While the screens and movies we've seen of the game show off decent character models and some very nice animation, they also show off what appears to be generally ho-hum gameplay. We'll just have to wait and see if the game, ahem, holds water.On a more positive note for lovers of Japanese games, the Ubisoft localization of Senko no Ronde, retitled WarTech: Senko no Ronde, also debuts this week. Apparently Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Gold failed to properly hit the shelves last week, as it is listed again this week. For an ultimate alliance, they sure have trouble getting their act together.%Gallery-3339%[Via Joystiq]
Shipping this week: big green ogre edition
It looks like the spring game doldrums have arisen once again. Having been blessed with the arrival of Command & Conquer 3 last week, we are now faced with the onslaught of a large ogre, his boot-wearing cat, and his talking ass. Not to be pessimistic, but we've sampled the demo of Shrek the Third and we think we'll pass. However, if you've yet to sample the goodness of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, you can now pick up the special Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Gold Edition. Basically, the gold edition gives you access to all the super heroes and villains recently made available through downloadable content. You'll also get 250 more available achievement points, and all of it for the standard price of $59.99. Not too shabby if you haven't played it yet.Now, we'd love to get excited by these fabulous new games, but we've got a certain beta to play.
Marvel UA DLC now available
Major Nelson gave word that the Hero and Villian packs are finally available on Xbox Live Marketplace. You can buy the Hero or Villian packs individually for 500 MS Points a piece, or if you're a thrifty fanboy, can get both packs for 800 MS Points. Also available is a trailer for the packs so people can have a look at the content before they buy it. So, now that the wait is finally over, are you going to pick any of these packs up? If so, which ones, and does it have to do with the added Achievements?
New Marvel: UA content still MIA
After waiting around all day staring at the Xbox Live Marketplace (what a living), the new content for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance still hasn't arrived. Naturally, we're a little confused, as a trailer was released on Marketplace just to let us know that the content would arrive April 10th (i.e. yesterday). The trailer has now been pulled, and the official Marvel: Ultimate Alliance website says nothing of the content beyond the original announcement that was made last month. Of course, it's possible the content failed the certification process, in which case fans could be waiting a while to get their hands on the new heroes and villains. Was anyone out there looking forward to this new DLC? Update: The sheer magnitude of all the super villainy contained in this post created a time vacuum, thus shoving the post backwards in time an entire day. The evil has since been rectified and the post returned to its proper time.
New Marvel Ultimate Alliance Content available for 360
Our only regret is that we can't spam the words "Gene splice!" over and over and over again and call it news. Activision delivered new characters for Marvel Ultimate Alliance to the Marketplace today and, as previously mentioned, they are available in three different packages.Split between heroes and villains, 500 Microsoft Points can net you a pack of either (Behold!) Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Hawkeye and The Incredible Hulk, or Venom, Magneto, Sabertooth and Doctor Doom. Alternatively, you can get all 8 new characters together for 800 Microsoft Points. Hey, isn't Hulk sporting something ridiculous like a 200 power rating these days in Marvel? Dude can lift entire mountains and now you have to level him up to smash some tiny robots? So not cool.[Update - Hey, where's the beef? And by beef we mean hot, new character action! Our bake sale buddies at Xbox360Fanboy are on the case of the missing content.]
Screens of new Marvel UA heroes and villains
TeamXbox has unearthed a few screenshots of the upcoming downloadable content (DLC as the kids call it) for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. The screens include some shots of Venom, Magneto, the Hulk, Dr. Doom, Hawkeye, Cyclops, and Sabretooth. Not pictured, unfortunately, is Nightcrawler. The new content will be available sometime this month at several price points. The Villain pack or the Hero pack will be available for 500 points each, or you can pick the heroes and villains in a single pack for 800 points. In addition to the new heroes and villains, the DLC will come with new achievements as well.Of course, the question is, are new characters and achievements worth 800 points?Update: Cyclops and Hawkeye are in the shots. We missed them because we were too busy staring at the Hulk.[Thanks, DjDATZ]
New Marvel UA DLC + Achievements in April
In the coming month, Marvel Ultimate Alliance will have two new character packs featuring 8 new playable heroes and villians. The Good Guys™ are comprised of Hawkeye, The Incredible Hulk, Nightcrawler and Cyclops, and the Baddies™ include Dr. Doom, Magneto, Sabretooth, and our personal favorite, Venom. Individually, the packs will run you 500 MS points, but you can nab both for 800, saving you $2.50 USD, or $3.20 CAN. On top of the new content, their will be additional Achievements available, most likely to coincide with the new characters. Once they are unveiled, we'll give you the details. So, would you pay up to play as these characters in Marvel UA?
New Marvel: Ultimate Alliance content soon
It looks like the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance content that was announced last month is nearing completion. The news comes from GameDaily.biz, though it seems the original article has been removed. Luckily, Evil Avatar has captured the important bits. The content pack is set to bring 8 different heroes and villains to the game, including Hawkeye, Magneto, the Incredible Hulk, Nightcrawler, Sabretooth, Doctor Doom (!), Cyclops, and Venom (!!). The Hero Pack and Villain Pack will set you back 500 points each, or you could grab all 8 in one pack for a cool 800. Individual gamer pictures will also be available for 80 points each. No release date has been confirmed.Are you willing to drop the MS Points to breathe new life into Marvel?Update: As awesome as Magneto is, he doesn't deserve to be listed twice. Added Nightcrawler, who richly deserves to be there.
New content coming for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Fans of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance will take comfort in knowing that new downloadable content is on its way. Back when the game released those who pre-ordered received a special invitation to the VIP section of the Ultimate Alliance website. The VIP community has since come to an end, but not without a thank you from global brand manager Daniel Jhung. In his thank you to the community, Jhung hints at upcoming downloadable content saying that they are "working on the release of some truly awesome Xbox Live downloadable content for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, scheduled for later this Spring". There you have it Marvel fans, mysterious downloadable content in a few months straight from Mr. Jhung himself.[Thanks, Kid Pyrrhic]
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance ad
We welcome Nintendo's marketing blitz because it just means we get a lot of sweet video game footage disguised as ads. And we do like us some videos! But this ad for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance gets all the props for including Captain America's shield throw, since that's one of the first things we're all not-so-secretly dying to do. Check out the video, embedded as always after the jump.
Metareview - Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Joystiq has posted a metareview of Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The consensus: it's good. From the creators of X-men Legends, it's no surprise that the game is fun. Highlights include a revamped, simpler healing system, better villains than Justice League, good enemy AI, and overall great production values. Check out Joystiq for some quotes and links to prominent reviews. Anyone picked this up yet?
Releasing this week: it's back edition
It's been a while since we've done a weekly release list, but it's high time we brought it back. So here are the US Xbox 360 releases for this week.- Cars- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance- Phantasy Star UniverseIt's no secret that I'm into Phantasy Star, as the number of stories about it have gone up exponentially ever since I started here, but Marvel: Ultimate Alliance looks like it will be a lot of fun as well. These are the same people behind X-Men Legends after all. It will be interesting to see how well it's reviewed, especially in light of how poorly Justice League Heroes has done. Anybody out there plan on picking one of these up? By the way, if anyone knows a reliable source for European releases, let us know. We wouldn't want our friends across the pond to feel left out.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance trailer
Alright, perhaps I was too hasty in judging the Marvel Ultimate Alliance screenshots the other day. I know, I know, gameplay over graphics. Judging from the trailer, Marvel looks to be a pretty good time. It's also a lot prettier in motion, and it doesn't hurt that Activision seems to be cramming in every Marvel character except The Kitchen Sink (who's totally underrated). Seriously, playing as Doctor Strange? That's Cool with a capital C. Now if they could just squeeze Doctor Orpheus in there...
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance to feature unexciting controls
Though the many Marvel characters duking it out in Ultimate Alliance frequently find themselves doing somersaults, hurling punches and generally super-spazzing out, it's not an accurate expectation for the players of the game to perform similar feats. Speaking at the recently concluded Comic-Con, Activision's Chris Palmisano commented that the Wii version of the game would not have major changes implemented to its control system."The basic game controls like the camera and the movement and stuff like that -- you can do that on the Wii with left side in most cases. Then there are standard combo moves, which you can also do with the Wii controller." After this rather vague statement (do combo moves with the controller, you say?!), Palmisano goes on to curtail the level of input you might have expected from a Wii game. "I don't know how many games you're going to see where people are jumping around -- our game is an RPG so it's really hard to require that much physical energy to play a game for 30 hours." Though we have yet to think of any Wii game that actively requires you to jump around, we suspect the lack of physical energy required to play Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is tied into a lack of mental energy when attempting to explain why your game will have a bog-standard control scheme. This is an issue that will come up again and again: a multi-platform game that fails to take advantage of the Wii's controller risks not only being surpassed by graphically superior versions (why buy the Wii version?), but the rest of the games in the Wii lineup (why buy this game that doesn't use my system fully?). Of course, shoehorning a game into an inappropriate controller scheme is just as undesirable, as is certainly the case with an action RPG largely built upon repetition. We'd rather just press the A-button, thanks.
Ultimate Alliance, not so ultimate screens
It's nice that Activision is even bothering with Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, but come on. Look at it. Sure, if it's anything like X-Men Legends it will be a blast, but these screens are far from impressive. It wouldn't matter if the 360 version had the same price as the Xbox version, but do you really want to pay sixty bucks for this?[Via OpenXBOX360]
