Spider-man
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Revenge of Shinobi's Spider-Man cleverly disguised
We were delighted to hear that The Revenge of Shinobi would be coming out on the Virtual Console in Europe, though we were very curious about how Sega would get around the inclusion of Spider-Man, for whom the company once had Marvel's permission. As Nintendo Life reveals, Sega solved the copyright issue the way many of us solve chili issues: with a thick coat of Pepto-Bismol. The Spider-Man boss is now solid pink! Other pop-culture-based bosses had already been altered in previous cartridge releases to be a bit more legally distinct -- for example, Batman became more of a bat monster.
What do you expect from a WoW movie?
Blizzard announced the Warcraft movie in 2006, after a long and arduous search for a proper production outfit that shared their vision. This search ended with Legendary pictures getting the deal - and while the studio doesn't have spotless track record (Lady in the Water, I'm looking at you...), I think they've hit more home runs than strike outs, particularly with properties that resonate strongly with us geeks and fanboys. Whether or not you agree with their vision, it's safe to say the guys behind Legendary respect their source material a great deal - from the visually stunning 300, the somber and severe The Dark Knight, and the un-movie-able Watchmen. I even really liked Bryan Singer's reverent and messianic take on big blue in Superman Returns.Now, after a drought of news regarding the film, Harry Knowles broke the news about Spider-Man and Drag Me to Hell director Sam Raimi landing the job of helming the Warcraft flick. Variety soon reported that Charles Roven, who produced The Dark Knight, was also joining the mix. Although a lot of things can still change from now until we see Azeroth on the silver screen (directorial musical chairs isn't uncommon in Hollywood), a lot of us at WoW.com were pretty stoked to hear Raimi being selected for the job. I mean, at least it's not Uwe Boll.
Blockbuster selling high-end PS3 bundles
We were sent a tip regarding a new PS3 bundle that Blockbuster was supposedly selling, so we headed on down to our local chain to snoop around. What we found was the above image showing off a PS3 bundle consisting of a 40gb console, Transformers: The Game, Spider-Man 3 Blu-ray, PS3 remote, HDMI cable, and a 12-week rental card (which allows you to rent one movie each week), all for $359.99. What makes this such an odd story, however, is that this bundle isn't offered at every Blockbuster store.We called another nearby chain and quizzed an employee on his store's bundle. He said that particular store offered a 80gb console, with Transformers: The Game, Click Blu-ray, PS3 remote, HMDI cable, and a 12-week rental card, all for $499.99. So, it would seem that each store has a bit of leeway with its bundle package. If you're in the market for a PS3 and thinking Blockbuster, give them a call before you head down. Both stores we talked to were all sold out.
Activision announces megaton surprises for 2010: 007, Tony Hawk, Call of Duty
Activision, as the bastion of original IP development, announced a number of megaton titles in development for 2010. Names dropped at its investor's call include new additions to its venerable lineup of franchises: 007, Tony Hawk, Spider-man, Transformers and Shrek.Those hungry for innovation will be able to look forward to a new original action IP from the company. In addition, Activision plans on expanding the Call of Duty franchise to new genres. Call of Duty Kart? Call of Duty Party? Call of Duty Hero: Metallica? We're psyched.
Crapgadget: Tacky USB knicknacks edition
When the fine folks of the USB Implementers Forum put together the specs for USB 2.0 some nine odd years ago, they certainly never dreamed that this technology would be the standard connectivity option for the tacky knickknacks of the 21st century. We know you won't be lining your mantelpiece with any of these things (the space being reserved for your Franklin Mint collector plates depicting the cast of Gone With The Wind) but maybe your cube could use some gussying up? We have 2GB thumb drives for you that almost-not-really pass themselves off as cat's ears, a USB hub that comes with "chocolate" balls of dubious provenance, a hub that might look at home next to your skull bong, and lastly, a USB powered fan with a fetching Spider-Man motif. Do any of these sound good to you? We didn't think so. But feel free to hop on past the break for a good laugh.Read - USB Chocolate 3-Port Hub Read - USB Memory Cat Ears Read - Wacky Skull and Potato Polyresin USB HubsRead - USB Spider-Man Fan
Report: Activision putting Radical to work on Spider-Man, High Moon on Transformers
It's true! Ultra publisher Activision Blizzard is planning to release more games based on the lucrative Transformers and Spider-Man franchises. According to The Cut Scene's Ben Fritz, the powerhouse has already chosen which of its owned developers will sit next to the conveyor belt for upcoming (and currently unannounced) titles. Fritz and his sources suggest that High Moon Studios, developer of last year's The Bourne ConspiraQTE, will deliver a new Transformers game in 2010. Activision likely hopes to turn the robots in disguise into an annual franchise, even without an accompanying film for fans to despise. Likewise, with a Spider-Man 4 film nowhere in sight (we'll ask Spider-Man 3's CSI butler to get on the case), you can expect to see a new, unattached arachnid adventure crawling out of Radical Entertainment -- currently finishing the superheroic Prototype -- sometime in the future.Things you're unlikely to see sometime in the future: giant robots and agile superheroes losing their appeal.
DS releases for the week of October 20th
There are a lot of games out this week. In fact, it makes other heavy weeks look absolutely empty, and yet, this blogger only has eyes for one game. In the shadow of Castlevania, there is so little room for anything else. Luckily, even with such a big list, there aren't a lot of contenders even trying for the spotlight. Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?: Make the Grade Back at the Barnyard: Slop Bucket Games Backyard Football 2009 Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia Dancing With the Stars: We Dance! Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell Ener-G: Dance Squad Ener-G: Gym Rockets Ener-G: Horse Rider High School Musical 3: Senior Year The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon Lovely Lisa Master of the Monster Lair Mechanic Master My Baby Girl The Naked Brothers Band: The Video Game Pass the Pigs Smart Girls: Party Game Spider-Man: Web of Shadows SpongeBob Squarepants: Nicktoons Globs of Doom Tornado TouchMaster 2 Transformers: Animated What's Cooking with Jamie Oliver
Shipping this week: indecision edition
Oh boy. Not only are there eight new games hitting the Xbox 360 this weeks (and Portal on XBLA, lest we forget), but several of them look to be good games. Heavy hitters like Far Cry 2 and Fable II undoubtedly top the list, but there are some other big names in there as well. Check 'em out: Fable 2 Midnight Club: Los Angeles Far Cry 2 Disney Sing It Spider-Man: Web of Shadows The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon Dance Dance Revolution: Universe 3 Legendary Now, the question is are there any "must have" games on this list for you, or are you strategically withholding your funds for something else?[Via Joystiq]
WoW Moviewatch: Drop of Blood: The Collection Pt. 1
Drop of Blood: The Collection Pt. 1 is a twin set of parodies and it's the first machinima by a 15-year-old kid named Morten from Denmark. He's remade the openings of the old Spider-Man and Scooby-Doo cartoons set in Azeroth, including setting them to music of The Simpsons take-off for the former and the original music for the latter. (Apparently he's a student of ancient television history?) It's quite silly and fun; it will make anyone who used to watch those old shows smile. Let's help out Morten by giving him a few pointers. (Constructive criticism for a new guy on the block, please? I know you guys can do it!) Some of the action is tied to the music very well. The Spider-Pig pops in to "scare" us right on cue with the music. On the other hand, when he leaps through the trees, there was an opportunity to hit the last "Look out!" with the pig zooming off screen, but instead he flies away too slowly. Also, even on the high quality version on Youtube the title fonts look a bit blurry. It could be poor font choice multiplied by Internet sizing, but it's something to watch out for when you make movies to be viewed online. On the last tilt up to the top of the mountain with Spider-Pig looking over the valley takes too long. Instead, I'd consider using a faster tilt with push into the pig at the very end of the scene. The main issue I have with the Scooby-Doo parody is that we never see a WoW version of Scooby! Rut-ro! I think Scooby would be a Shaman in Ghost Wolf form, but maybe that's not goofy enough. Any other ideas?[Via The WoW Portal]If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
Number Six to voice Black Cat in Web of Shadows
This is what Ricky Gervais calls the olds. It is news ... it just ain't news today! On Friday, Canadian actress Tricia Helfer was announced as the voice of Black Cat in the upcoming game, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows from Activison. Helfer is famously known as the gorgeous Cylon Number Six in the Sci-Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica. Casting Helfer as the agile (and somewhat reformed) cat burglar works well as it isn't the first time the actress has taken on the role. The gorgeous actress previously took on the voice of Black Cat as a guest character in the CW 'toon The Spectacular Spider-Man back in May 2008. Did we mention, gorgeous.
Far Cry 2 and Web of Shadows achievements
Achievement lovers gather 'round, we have some freshly new achievements to share that are solely related to Far Cry 2 and Spider-man: Web of Shadows. Intrigued? If so, you can click your way to the complete list of achievements via the links below, but be warned. The Spider-man achievements are yawn inducing and Far Cry 2's are, well, aren't all that bad. The Mapper achievement and its mention of "validation" makes us raise an eyebrow or two. Source - Far Cry 2 achievementsSource - Spider-man: Web of Shadows achievements
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows out Oct. 21, pre-order bonus at Best Buy
Click for high-res image First we'd like to point your attention to this lovely new screenshot of everyone's favorite insect-like hero, Spider-Man. Unfortunately for him, his spidey senses must not be tingling properly because it sure didn't help him get out of the maw of a Venom-wannabe symbiote. This is the sort of picture that good old J Jonah Jameson would pay good money for. You know who else would be paying good money? You -- well, that is if you're North American and are planning to pick up the title this October 21st. If you're planning on pre-ordering, best do it at Best Buy. You'll be getting an art book for your troubles. Check out the art book cover and more screenshots in our gallery below.%Gallery-28337%
DS Fanboy Interview: Griptonite's J.C. Connors on Spore Creatures and more
Spore has been much more than a game over the years - years! -- that we've been talking about it, and it's tough to produce a companion piece in the shadow of such an epic project. From the reception of Spore and the DS crony, it's sadly clear the two were destined to sink or swim together. But Spore Creatures deserves its own time in the sun, despite what you may have heard; for a handheld title, it's certainly ambitious, and the amazing development team at Griptonite Games has done more with less. Griptonite Games has worn several nametags in the past few years. When last we spoke with them, they were Amaze Entertainment, and their own identity as Griptonite was shelved. Now, Amaze is a part of Foundation 9 and the Griptonite name has been dusted off. In all the chaos of nomenclature, one thing has remained a constant: this little corner of the development world has been responsible for some real gems. We recently sat down with studio head J.C. Connors to discuss Spore Creatures, our Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (GBA) withdrawals, and the unexpected excellence of Disney Friends (yeah, man, Disney Friends).DS Fanboy: Spore Creatures is an interesting companion to the main title. What can you tell us about the best aspects of the DS game?J.C. Connors: Hands down, the creature creator. It's one of the coolest features ever seen on the DS. Gallery: Spore Creatures #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } NEXT >>
GC 2008: Prince of Persia learns new move, is basically Spider-Man
"Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia ... does whatever a Prince of Persia can." Oh wait – that's the Spider-Man song. Well, it's easy to get the two characters confused, what with news out of Leipzig by way of Eurogamer that his royal majesty, the Prince of Persia, can add running along ceilings to his move repertoire.Using this new "roof run" move, he can scamper along, grabbing hanging objects in order to keep the momentum going. According to level designer Michael MacIntyre, "When you come in contact with the ceiling you jump, you do the run, and then you have to hit the glove button to grab any element on the roof in order to keep going. So there's a rhythm to it," adding, "With this new move, our level designers had all the tools they needed to create acrobatic sequences that can use pretty much every surface in the game." Every surface? We're pretty sure there's some nasty black goo you can't touch without, you know, dying. At least that's what the video walkthrough we posted yesterday seems to show.
Video: symbiote Wolverine in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
We knew that Wolverine would make an appearance in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows since Activision released potential box art for the game. What we didn't know, is that Wolvy will be infected by the infamous symbiote at some point in the game, creating a clawed, Venom-like monster. Joystiq blogger (and feeble podcast producer) Justin McElroy notes that this already happened once in the comics, at which point the alien goo was immediately ejected by Woverine's mutant healing factor. We have some possibilities then. One, this is a special new breed of symbiote. Two, the developers at Shaba want an awesome Woverine monster and don't care about continuity.Whatever the answer is, we suggest you watch the (awesome) trailer after the break, in which Wolverine shows up near the end. Be sure to watch the whole video for a look at some great looking combat too.
See symbiote Wolverine in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
OK, so you can color us confused. The end of the stunningly rad Spider-Man: Web of Shadows trailer we've put right after the jump seems to end with a glimpse of an alien symbiote bonded with lovable gruffster Wolverine. But we could have sworn the last time that happened the symbiote was forced out by Logan's mutant healing factor. Are we alone here?OK, niggling continuity issues aside, if the combat is half as cool in Shaba's game as this video makes it look, we could finally be in for a game where we feel like the Webhead both when we're spinning webs any size and catching thieves just like flies. And we can't wait.
Cast your vote for Spider-Man box ... in the trash
It's Florida 2000 all over again: You show up to seizecontrol.com hoping to exercise your democratic right to vote for the lesser of two wacknesses and you exit having accomplished zilch. We're referring, of course, to Activision's new user-generated content marketing campaign for Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, which is currently giving the community the power to choose the game's box art. (The correct answer is "shake-to-make-it-snow globe holding" Spider-Man over "dude, check my dual-action sleeve tats" Spider-Man, btw.) Remember kids, always read the fine print: "Activision shall not be bound by the outcome of the community vote and Activision's decision(s) and selection(s) shall be final and binding." And here we thought our clicks still stood for something!
You decide the cover art for latest Spider-Man game
Taking a page out of the Call of Duty 4 manual of how to successfully launch a video game, Activision wants you to choose the cover art of the upcoming Spider-Man: Web of Shadows game. There are only two options to choose from and, as you can see above, the designs are similar but different in their own right. Currently, the design featuring Spider-Man with crossed "X" arms is in the lead, but we like the other design better. We don't know why we care, but we don't want that stupid crossed arms cover to win. So, even if you don't care about the game or the cover (sorta like us), still vote on the other design. Crossed arms are so lame, holding a city in the palm of your hand ... now that's l33t.
Jaffe: Marvel games need more narrative focus
We always think it's fun to imagine living in alternate realities, where some of our favorite game designers get hold of some of our favorite properties. So, we were interested to hear what David Jaffe had to say about the slew of Marvel comics games (specifically the ones featuring Spider-Man) that has been unleashed on the general populace (and continues to arrive). In short, Jaffe wants to see characters like Spidey put into a more story-driven game, rather than a giant, open world superhero playground that's solely focused on emulating the feel of having superpowers.He's got a good point, one that's an all too common theme in superhero stories: Superhero gets powers, superhero spends all his time enjoying the rush of having said powers, superhero's uncle dies. Is that what you want from us Activision? Do you want our uncles to die?
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows combat preview looks astonishing
We've had a love/hate relationship with past iterations of titles featuring our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, though one aspect of every title that we felt was never quite right was the manner in which the beloved web-slinger placed the beatdown upon unsuspecting thugs. Sure, certain games have had entertaining, intuitive combat systems, but none truly captured the way the arachnid protagonist whips up on baddies as he does on ink and paper.However, a recently released video from Shaba Games, developer of the upcoming Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, has boosted our spirits significantly, displaying the kind of aerial acrobatics and swift brawling we've always hoped to see in a Spidey title. Now, as long as they can avoid any glaring graphical issues or frequent cutscenes showing Peter Parker bawling his eyes out, Web of Shadows could be one of the better adaptations of the Spider-Man comics to ever hit the market.
