x-men
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Everquest movie is inc, Avid Arad producing
The Warcraft movie is going to have some competition-- Everquest is also going to be the target of a movie property, and word is going around that it'll be produced by Avi Arad, former Marvel Comics head and the man behind Spider-man and X-men.Michael Gordon is supposedly writing the screenplay-- he was one of three writers who worked on 300 ("This is Norrath!!"), and unfortunately doesn't have that much more to his name yet. Apparently he did the original pitch, though, so maybe he's a player, and word is that the story will feature actual characters from the game itself.I don't want to ruin your day or anything, EQ fans, but I wouldn't hold your breath on this one. I'd love to see a movie starring Erudites and Iksar as much as the next guy, but right now this is looking more like Alone in the Dark than Silent Hill.
Stan Lee: games trump movies
As significant as Hollywood has been in reviving the Marvel brand, Stan Lee believes video games can have an even bigger impact on the growth of the comic book label. "Video games are more exciting, more colorful and more complex than motion pictures," says Lee, ""In a movie, you just sit and watch. [In a game] you're not only seeing the story but you're participating in the story."Despite Lee's enthusiasm for the games medium, he admits he doesn't have the time or the skill to play video games. Lee is certainly not alone, which explains why Marvel movies have grossed billions of dollars, while the games have managed only hundreds of millions in sales (hardly insignificant, but nonetheless paled by the film industry's results). Still, Lee remains optimistic about the future dominance of Marvel games, hoping to become more involved with game makers' efforts by contributing to the content and narration of future titles.
X-Men: The Last Stand due on Blu-ray November 14th
There has been considerable speculation over when Twentieth Century Fox would put out one of its biggest recent titles on the Blu-ray format and it has finally answered that question. X-Men: The Last Stand is set for release November 14th, specifically timed to be on store shelves for the release of the PlayStation 3 November 17th. Carrying an MSRP of $39.98, the film is authored in standard HDMV using MPEG-4 AVC compression and includes such extras as a 6.1 DTS ES HD Lossless Master Audio soundtrack, two commentary tracks, twelve deleted scenes and a Marvel Trivia Track enabling pop=up bits of information and comic panels referencing different information about the characters during the movie. Did we mention that all of the extras are high definition? With X-Men debuting at the same time as Fox's previously announced first round of Blu-ray releases Fox has been very clear that its Blu-ray strategy is centered entirely around Sony's console, with or without $100 HDMI cables gamers can look forward to some excellent releases that week.
Joystiq hands-on: Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
After previewing Call of Duty 3 and seeing the trailer for Flags of our Fathers for the umpteenth time, we wanted a diversion from the battlefields. Returning to Activision in search of something that would allow us to shed our daily mundane identities and to become heroes that weren't dressed in fatigues, we encountered our friend the receptionist again, still holding a grudge from our earlier victory. She led us into a dark room that had the villainous look of a secret lair. We had entered the realm of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.The green glow of Xbox 360 rings of light around the room looked like laser-activated booby traps, but we managed to evade them and press on. After a short briefing we were off to hand pick our four fellow heroes. You pick from tons of playable characters, although some of them are unlocked as you explore areas and find more heroes. Putting The Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch on our team got us a Fantastic Four bonus (it was a no-brainer, we admit it), but we couldn't figure out any of the other combinations. We spied Deadpool and Spider-Woman on the Wii version -- which are probably the two unique characters that only the next-gen systems will be serving up. There is an extremely Nick Fury-esque shoulder holster on one of the silhouetted locked characters, and our fingers are itching to play the cigar-chomping, insult-hurling leader of the Howling Commandos.
Konami pits DS against PSP
This winter, Konami is hedging their bets by releasing a flurry of games on both the PSP and the DS. The upcoming titles Marvel Trading Card Game (trading cards for a handheld? really?) and Xiaolin Showdown will be released for the competing platforms, and Konami is also debuting a pair of games based on the animated series Winx Club. But their real winner, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, is exclusive to the Nintendo DS -- and a good thing, since it makes heavy use of the Nintendo handheld's touchscreen. Anyone wanna guess which console's games will win in this deathmatch? Where did we leave those sales figures ....
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.
Xbox gets X-tra X-Men product placement
You didn't have to be a telepathic mutant to predict that X-men: The Official Game would be a half-assed, Hollywood cash-in, similar in artistic merit to the cinematic rush-job it seeks to cross-promote. Those who broke down and paid money to see Halle Berry void her Oscar over the weekend may have noticed that the under-developed power-sucking character was playing an Xbox 360 to pass the time in his cell. I couldn't tell what game, though thankfully it wasn't the current king of obnoxious in-game advertising, Fight Night Round 3. Hard to believe the suits who sold this film franchise down the river, then insulted us with a crappy game, would miss the opportunity for a rare tri-level Burger King product placement.
Dell's XPS goes $10k (again) and X-Men
Looks like Dell wasn't too displeased with the result of that limited run $10,000 XPS 600 Renegade series of theirs, since they're busting that move again with their new XPS: X-Men box based on the new system they were showing off at E3. It's just too bad you can't buy it though, since they're giving away the apparently one-of-a-kind quad NVIDIA carded and Intel Pentium 965 Extreme Edition equipped machine as a tie-in with this month's launch of that new X-Men movie. Ah well, you'll get yours built to order soon enough, but you're going to have to pay for it your damn self.
Dell gaming preview: X3 special edition XPS
What's shiny, expensive and way too geeky for the masses? A special edition gaming desktop from Dell which is boasting a fancy facade that X3 enthusiasts will appreciate, that's what. Only one of these exists in the whole world (the thing pictured is just prototype, surprise!) and they want to give it away to one lucky gamer.Starting tomorrow, you can enter in the sweepstakes for their XPS X-Men: The Last Stand Collector's Edition rig. You'll need to check out their E3 site, but it won't be live until tomorrow. Good luck to anyone desperate interested enough to enter!
X-Men Legends II PC demo
Oh my stars and garters! Activision's X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse has been out for over a month, but PC gamers unsure about unleashing their latent mutant powers can give it a test drive with Raven's new downloadable demo. The 336 MB freebie includes the introduction movie, a tutorial, and two maps from the beginning levels. Download the demo now, bub!
X-Men Legends II review round-up
The second entry in Activision's mutant-themed RPG series, X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, has been out for a few weeks now and here's a look at what the industry pundits are saying. So who do you prefer to play as: X-Men or Brotherhood? Gamespy (90) TeamXbox (89) Next Level Gaming (88) ConsoleGold (87) Game Chronicles (85) IGN (85) Gamespot (81) [via Metacritic]
New X-Men Legends 2 screenies
The first X-Men Legends game can, for the most part, be summed up like this. Run around punching things. Find other X-Men. Run around punching more things. Find more X-Men. It wasn't an unpleasant experience. In fact, horrible camera view aside, it was quite fun. if you're a fan of the latex clad mutants. Well, here comes more of the same. Can't remember for the life of me if the first one had a skirmish mode, but then I never tried the multiplayer component at all. Regardless, the sequel has 2-4 player co-op, and 2-6 player skirmish. Sweet! It's due in the fall. If only they could get the X3 movie out that quick...
X-Men: Legends now available for the handset you love to not quite love
The Ngage continues to show life with the announcement of X-Men: Legends. The game should be in stores soon (if it's not already) and it looks like it may be worth picking up. Once again, an Ngage title pulls in a respectable score of 81% on one of the most influential sites out there, Gamespot. It's important for you Doubting Thomases to keep in mind that the device didn't have a title that broke an 80 until recently. The recent flood of games (if you can call it a flood) has consistently impressed reviewers. Does this mean the Ngage is suddenly worth having? Probably not for most of us. But it is offering exclusive titles that you can't find on any other handheld, including SSX: Out of Bounds, One, The Elder Scrolls: Travels and now X-Men: Legends. If those products get you going, then come on in. The water is getting warmer.
X-Men Legends continues...
Just a month after the release of X-Men Legends, Activision has confirmed a sequel is underway. There aren't many details yet, including a title or release date, but we do know that Raven Software will be in charge of development again. We'll keep you posted with future updates.
X-Men: Legends lets you join the team
The X-Men deserve the best writers, artists, movies, cartoons and games. They've enjoyed the best of all these, save one. The games one. Sure, there have been some decent fighters with our favorite mutants, but for the most part the gaming potential of the team has never been realized. Hopefully, that's about to change. The reviews are coming in for X-Men: Legends and they look promising. Tom's Hardware is certifiably nuts about it, and give us this classic line: "After entering all of that data into the gaming calculator, this is what it spit back out: X + Men(Legends) = (Bu)Y + iT. That's not just my opinion... it was a scientific calculator. You can't argue with science." If the teamplay dynamic is captured as well as the review says it is, then I may not be reading X-Men for the next couple of months. I mean, why read it when you can be it?
X-Men Legends... legendary or lackluster?
The X-Men remains one of the most promising franchises for videogame adaptation. With a seemingly unlimited universe of unique characters blessed with equally unique mutant powers, all tied together in a soap opera-like drama, it's a developers dream. However, it's no secret that the majority of X-Men games are-simply put-terrible. So when Raven Software announced it was developing an RPG based on the X-Men we pretty much threw hope out the door. But as more and more details emerged, we became pleasantly surprised with the ways in which the title was shaping up. Now, X-Men Legends is at our doorsteps, and X-fans may finally get what they've been dreaming of for so long. Head over to IGN to peep the first official review.
X-Men Legends gets busted wide open
Recently, IGN got to spend some quality time with Raven Software's upcoming action RPG, X-Men Legends. Now we're all well aware of the X-Men's sordid past when it comes to videogame appearances, and at first glance, Legends may appear a bit suspect, but as Hilary Goldstein of IGN assures us, "[this is] an X-Men game to get excited about." In all, there are 15 playable X-Men, of which you (and up to three others) choose a team of four to battle it out in real-time across "immense" levels. Not to mention, Men of Action (a small team of comic book writers) is in charge of the story, so expect them to do the characters justice (even though the game takes place in its own X-Men 'universe')-there's also some classic elements thrown in for all you X-history buffs, including costumes, comics, and even playable levels. All in all, Legends is shaping up to be another promising edition in the action RPG genre, with plenty of autheticity to satify the loyal fans.
X-Men: Legends gets some IGN loving
X-Men: Legends is a comic book game with good buzz. A rare beast, we know. Comic games can generate excitement, but hands-on previews are rare; probably because the developer doesn't have much faith in the game. But when the next installment in the X-Men series was shown at the San Diego Comic Convention this year, there were crowds of people waiting for a moment at the controls. The game is coming along nicely, according to this preview on IGN. It mixes fighting action with RPG, and its focus on team gameplay is a necessary touch in an X-Men game. The look of the title is cartoonish, but not overkill. The X-Men deserve an excellent title. Hopefully, this is the one we've been waiting for.
