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Shell head and Stretcho highlight new Alliance trailers
In less than three weeks, Activision will begin shipping Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and there's been a steady stream of trailer updates over the past month. Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic are the latest attractions, and although these heroes are both geniuses, they have their flaws -- one has a drinking problem, and the other spends too many hours in the lab. If you ask me, Reed Richards' greatest accomplishment is bagging Sue Storm, so you have to wonder where this guy's priorities are. Which four heroes will you be using for your Ultimate team?
Marvel Universe Online trailer update
Marvel Universe Online caught the attention of many true believers at X06, and now the MMO's trailer is available on the web. Microsoft and Cryptic Studios haven't included any gameplay sequences, but the extended CGI clip teases us with the usual suspects from the House of Ideas. Everyone seems to be grabbing a piece of the Marvel pie these days, with Activision handling the Spider-Man, X-Men Legends and Ultimate Alliance games, and EA attempting to rebound from the dreadful Nemesis fighter. Read more about how Marvel and City of Heroes developer Cryptic decided to play nice in the IP sandbox.
Wii game testers wanted: must have flailing arms
An article on MTV News delves into the process of creating and testing gestures for the Wii version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (the one without hyper-realistic graphics) and highlights how videogame testing is affected by Nintendo's unique approach to gaming. Unlike traditional games that might pose challenging requirements such as pressing the A-button to jump or the X-button to attack, Wii games may ask players to perform more elaborate motions. The wide range of movement detected by the controller means that the gestures used in gameplay require a lot fine-tuning, lest your arm's attack thrust becomes misinterpreted and your character instead chooses to hug the mutant abomination attacking your party. Associate designer on the project, Mike Chrzanowski, points out that the game initially started with over 20 different gestures but was eventually simplified to include only five. With players constantly shooting webbing and tossing patriotic shields about, it was vital that the game could successfully recognize and distinguish between the various gestures. Tasking testers with repeating various swipes and stabs, the Vicarious Visions team carefully monitored the motions that resulted and how different players interpreted and reacted to the on-screen instructions. After countless coding and tweaking, they claim to have constructed an interface that is 97 percent reliable. While Marvel: Ultimate Alliance doesn't make the most extensive use of the Wii's controls, it does illustrate how game testing and control mechanics need to be adapted for the platform. It remains to be seen whether or not other developers will go through as much trouble as Vicarious Visions did to differentiate between specific arm motions and mindless flailing (there will likely be several games that count on the latter). More interesting is the recurring issue of shoehorning game actions into motion-sensitive controls. There's a fine line between taking advantage of a platform's capabilities and tacking on new mechanics. After all, is it really better that you twist your wrist in order to open a door as opposed to merely pressing a button? [Via Game|Life]
Interview indulges Marvel: Ultimate Hype
We're regular readers of Superhero Hype!, a fact rendered unsurprising given our unhealthy obsession with gravity-defying men and women in brightly colored garb. The site recently posted a drab interview with Matthew Paul, producer of the upcoming altruistic all-stars adventure, Marvel: Ulltimate Alliance. Little did we know that the article would contain such a high volume of fluff, reading it would be akin to getting smothered by a pillow in your sleep. Locking an Activision PR person in a room and having them read a press release aloud would likely have resulted in a more intriguing investigation into the game's features. Features like unbelievable, hyper-real graphics!When queried about the game's graphics on next-generation systems, Mr. Paul points out the "life-like" textures on Captain America and The Thing, commenting that there are times when "you feel more like you're watching a blockbuster Super Hero movie as opposed to a video game because it looks so real." Right. Ignoring the fact that the official PS3 screenshot above flamboyantly contradicts such a claim (and such acclaim), it's unbelievable that the interview doesn't change course when it suddenly finds itself covering the "real" nature of comic book characters and movies. It looks so real it's like watching a movie? That must be the one directed by Hyper Boll -- we've seen it far too many times already.
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.
New Marvel Ultimate Alliance media
WorthPlaying has posted ten new screens from Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and there's an updated trailer and Nightcrawler vid over at GameTrailers. Due in October, Marvel's latest action-RPG includes a healthy sampling of playable characters, although I've yet to see Iron Man on any confirmed roster list. Hulk isn't mentioned either, but at least we know Bruce Banner will be one of the dozens of NPCs featured in the game, along with The Inhumans, Black Widow, Dr. Doom, and that big purple world devourer putting the squeeze on Spidey. Where's Silver Surfer when you need him?
Ultimate Alliance new screens
WorthPlaying has uploaded 35 new screens from Activision's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, the action-RPG that will let you form your own superhero team using Stan Lee and Company's greatest creations. Nice shot, Cap!See also: Marvel heroes unite for Ultimate Alliance
Marvel heroes unite for Ultimate Alliance
With the success of the X-Men Legends series, it was only a matter of time before Activision applied the popular hack and slash-RPG formula to the rest of the Marvel universe. We'll see the result at the end of the year when they release Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Like the Legends games, Alliance takes place in Marvel's Ultimate universe, and when it's clobberin' time, you and three of your fanboy buddies can engage in a little competitive co-op play. Experience points won't be shared, but will be granted on a per kill basis, and can be used to unlock new costumes, as well as upgrade powers. With Justice League Heroes due out around the same time, you can renew those Marvel vs. DC debates at your local comic shop.
