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Marvel Heroes whips up Avengers movie costumes
If you haven't seen this summer's Avengers movie, you totally should, and if you have, then you might be interested to hear that the upcoming Marvel Heroes is embracing the blockbuster's wardrobe. The superhero MMO will be including the film versions of Thor's, Iron Man's, Black Widow's, Hawkeye's, Hulk's, and Captain America's costumes. The game's devs assured players that the costumes won't just be for eye candy alone but "will also tie in key game systems in fun and unique ways." Marvel Heroes will offer many costume variants based on both the comics and the films, although the devs say that covering all of them might be a task that only a true superhero could accomplish. "Some of those experimental looks didn't exactly stand the test of time," the announcement explains.
If The Avengers ever has a video game tie-in, we hope it's not like this
We're warring with ourselves over the lack of a movie tie-in game for The Avengers, much like Tony Stark and Steve Rogers fight with each other in the beginning of the Avengers initiative, each representing opposing yet valid spectrums of morality, society and technology. And that's the problem – The Avengers movie is so good that we can relate everything in our daily lives back to the most faint of plot points and imagined superhero thought processes. It's also the reason we're disappointed that there's no Avengers video game.But movie games are always terrible, right? It probably would have been rushed, stilted and dumbed-down for a (much) wider audience.Actually, Steve, it probably would have been fantastic, as this pre-alpha footage from a canceled THQ game demonstrates.Well, Tony, that could merely be programmers editing the computer-generated graphics with software and codes to make the game appear better than it actually is.Steve, stop quoting Bruce. You sound like a man who's been frozen for 70 years. Oh wait.Shut up. At least the humorous video at the top of this page isn't real.For once, Cap, we agree on something. And there's always this potential Ubisoft title, Avengers: Battle for Earth. But it's not called Avengers: Iron Man is Obviously the Best, so I'm ignoring that one too. Cheers....Cheers.
NTT, Sharp, Gainax make a Japan-only Neon Genesis Evangelion phone, get your plane tickets now
If someone offered you the chance to buy a Neon Genesis Evangelion NERV-branded phone, you'd jump at it right? After all, there's nothing better than pretending you live under constant threat of alien attack, or that the teenage clone of your dead mother could turn into a giant and... moving on. Sharp, NTT DoCoMo and Gainax teamed up to produce this SH-O6D with a custom case, new hardware buttons and a (as yet unfinished) skinned version of Gingerbread that resembles the readouts you're likely to see in the depths of Tokyo-3. See America? This is how you appeal to fans, by making the tiniest amount of extra effort, rather than just slapping a logo on the bottom of whatever regular handset you're selling.
Funcom talks inspiration and AoC's massive Savage Coast of Turan adventure pack
Age of Conan faithful, enjoy yourselves. There's simply never been a better time to be a fan of the great barbarian and Funcom's blood-drenched MMORPG based on his Hyborian stomping grounds. The year has already seen the fantasy title adopt a free-to-play business model and push out a ton of new content, and that's really the tip of the proverbial iceberg. With the new Conan film reboot arriving in theaters this month, Funcom is gearing up to launch a huge amount of tie-in content. Dubbed The Savage Coast of Turan, the upcoming adventure pack adds a large outdoor playfield and over 50 new quests to the gameworld, not to mention two solo instances, a team instance, a new raid, and plenty of new gear. Join us after the cut as we present Funcom's internally produced look at the inspiration behind all the new content, and stay tuned to Massively this weekend for some exclusive Savage Coast news as well as an Anvil of Crom interview with game director Craig Morrison.
Age of Conan: Unchained conquers 300,000 new players, doubles revenue in a month
The secret is out and the jig is up: MMO studios have solid evidence that adding a free-to-play option on top of a subscription model is the way to bring in hordes of new players. Age of Conan: Unchained proved this today as Funcom announced the addition of over 300,000 players to its bloody family in the first month of service. Apparently the servers are packed full and Funcom is raking in the moolah, too. The studio announced that servers have quadrupled activity during this time period, and revenues have more then doubled. This is certainly good news for the 2008 title, which is now being supported by a mix of subscription and cash shop options. Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas is pleased as (a) punch: "The launch of the hybrid business model has been very successful so far. The activity levels on the servers are booming with a fourfold increase in players during July, we more than doubled the revenue generated from the game, and we have experienced a positive development in subscriber numbers. This definitely gives us great hope for the game's future." Age of Conan is set to release a movie tie-in update later this month called Savage Coast of Turan to take advantage of the Conan the Barbarian movie coming to theaters on the 18th.
Angry Birds ties into Super Bowl ad with secret level hint
During the Super Bowl game last night, you may have seen an ad for a soon-to-be-released animated feature called Rio. Cleverly tied into that advertisement was a way to get access to a secret level in that special app installed on just about every iPhone, iPad, Mac and iPod touch in the universe: Angry Birds. If you happened to be watching closely about 26 seconds into the 32 second ad, you would have seen the infamous red bird, a golden egg and the numbers 13-12 on a wall behind a couple of characters from the movie. According to ex-TUAW blogger and current Mashable writer Christina Warren (Hi, C-Mac!), to uncover a special golden egg, you need to go to level 13-12, shoot a white bird backwards and then drop an egg (I am not making this up). Performing this arcane ritual will reward the patient Angry Birds player with a football-shaped golden egg. Completing the game level gives you the opportunity to enter a contest to attend the Rio premiere. Let's make sure it's an Apple fan (and hopefully a TUAW reader) who is walking the red carpet the night of the premiere. Rovio, the publisher of Angry Birds, will also be delivering a special Rio version of the game when the film is released on March 22, 2011. Check out the ad video on the next page if you think that we may have Photoshopped the image seen at the top of this post.
Xbox 360 gets a limited edition orange Tron controller, because wired gamers need love too
In most circumstances, we'd argue a self-illuminating controller crisscrossed by bright bands of orange is a couple of notches over the top, but when it's Tron you're talking about, it all makes sense. This latest peripheral for the 360 is up for pre-order now at $39.99 and comes prepackaged with the smugness of knowing that each one sold will be part of a very limited 250-unit production run. It's officially licensed by Microsoft and arriving at snowy doorsteps some time later this month. A less exclusive blue brother should be joining it soon as well, in case the current hue's not quite to your liking.
Razer Tron Mouse leaves light trails in our hearts (video)
We don't really expect that the actual Tron movie will be any good, but boy, its officially endorsed accessories aren't looking half bad. The $100 laser mouse from Razer has snuck out for a quick pre-release video demo where we get to see it tracking gloriously on an accompanying "precision" mousepad. There's hardly much to be learnt about the mouse's ergonomics or 5600dpi accuracy, but it does glow with that mighty inviting shade of blue (cyan?) and the mousepad reacts to the laser's illumination by leaving dreamy light trails after your movements. It's cyber-poetry in motion, available after the break.
Nokia Star Trek Communicator is simply awesome, sadly just a prototype (video)
Nokia had a little product placement going on in the latest Star Trek movie, you know that already. But did you also know that those crazy Finns made a few never-released prototypes for a most bodacious tie-in handset? That "Starfleet Communicator" above is said to be one of only 14 units built by Nokia, intended to simulate the iconic voice comms devices of the original TV series. Hardware-wise, it's based on the somewhat less exciting N76 and comes with an external LCD and a trifecta of lights on its front, both protected by a big and heavy brass grill. It's a fully functioning phone, too, replete with preinstalled chirps when flipping it open. Check it out on video after the break! [Thanks, Randall]
Twilight-customized LG GD510 set to Eclipse all other phones in France
Think Apple and Android fans are hardcore? Those guys are mere lightweights compared to Twilight fanatics, who'll soon have a phone to call their own too. Coming with eight tie-in wallpapers and that embellished back cover, this version of the GD510 -- a thoroughly unexciting featurephone with ambitions above its 3-inch, resistive touchscreen station -- has just become available over in France, for free on contracts with Orange or in exchange for €199 ($238). As a bonus temptation, LG is also throwing in a free copy of Twilight: New Moon, though we doubt anyone buying this phone will have seen that movie less than a dozen times.
Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel game tie-in coming in early December
If there's one wonderful thing we can say about movie game trailers, it's that they keep us on top of what's happening with the kids these days. Take for instance Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel -- we didn't even know there was a second film coming out! What we can glean from the trailer above is that there will be some form of illicit chipmunk love affair angle to the film that will play into the game's story. Also, it may or may not be music-rhythm game of some form. As you can imagine, we were so entranced by the slurry of colors and sounds that it was hard to discern any clear information. We did discover, however, that the game will be coming to the Nintendo Wii and DS on December 1.
James Cameron's Avatar launches for everything Dec. 1
Ubisoft's website lists James Cameron's Avatar as launching across all platforms -- Xbox 360, PS3, PC, DS, Wii, PSP, Wifi-enabled Toilets and Toasters that also cook hot dogs -- for December 1. As we're often skeptical with what we read on the Internet, we decided to find out if the listing was accurate. According to Ubisoft, the game will indeed launch in North America on December 1. The date thrusts gamers into the Avatar universe more than two weeks before the film hits theaters on December 16. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players -- with the proper set up -- will also be able to experience the game in 3D. Whether or not James Cameron will record what seems like an hours-long video introduction outlining every detail of the game and movie experience to accompany the launch is unclear. %Gallery-70590%
Watchmen MMO coming out for the iPhone
I love massively multiplayer online games, I love my iPhone, and I love Watchmen, the genre-defining graphic novel series of the late '80s (of which, I'll brag, I have a whole set of first edition copies) that's very soon to be the first movie blockbuster of 2009. That's why the news, over at our sister site Massively, that all of my loves were coming together in what's meant to be a Watchmen-branded MMO game for the iPhone made my day.Watchmen: Justice is Coming will have 3D environments, customizable avatars, and thousands of players interacting in the game at the same time. Massively's got some video from G4 showing off the app, put together by the apparent newcomers Last Legion Games. Unfortunately, while the concept is lofty (they've got a long-term vision for improving the game based on player feedback), the gameplay itself looks like clunky adware -- the kind you might expect from Warner Bros. and the iPhone deals they've come up with so far.So we're reserving judgment on this one until we can give it a try, and fortunately we won't have to wait long -- the devs say they've lined up the game for release later this week, right along with the movie. That timing doesn't impress us either -- usually, when a game and movie release simultaneously, one's been hurried to make the deadline, and trust us, it usually isn't the movie. It's Watchmen on the iPhone, so it's hit two of three bases with us already. But it'll need to bring a good game, too, if Last Legion is hoping for a home run.
