Author: Karl Cramer

Marvel Interactive on Iron Man and Hulk: New Deal For Comic Book Videogames?

Marvel Interactive on Iron Man and Hulk: New Deal For Comic Book Videogames?

  • News
  • April 24, 2008

Comic book and videogame fanboys freaked out a little recently when the news broke that Sega would be handling Marvel’s movie-based games. After years of bad Marvel Comics videogames, Activision turned out solid hits that satisfied the mainstream and comic fans alike, such as Spider-Man and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. While the Activision partnership continues, the New York Comic Con panel Marvel – Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk: Making the Video Games emphasized that Marvel themselves were taking a greater hand in game creation.

Justin Lambros, VP of Marvel Interactive, operates out of the same West Coast office as Marvel Studios. The philosophy is that his division can oversee the partners, and with their studio ties they can improve the process by increasing development times, granting access to movie assets earlier, speeding approvals and allow for movie talent participation. They can also relate to the studios what the limitations are of the current systems.

It’s an interesting idea that brings to mind the ’90s buzzword "synergy," but in this case it seems to be making good on its promises. As mentioned in earlier articles, the Iron Man movie-based game producers were granted access to the CGI models for the armor much earlier then usual. Iron Man game director Jeffrey Tseng said that meeting the cast while doing the voices made a difference.

"Robert Downey gave us insights into the character," said Tseng — something they wouldn’t have received with sound-alike voice actors. Also, the action figures for the Iron Man and Incredible Hulk movies will feature characters only seen in the videogame adaptation.

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NYCC: Rebooting ‘ReBoot’ with Gavin Blair and Dan DiDio

NYCC: Rebooting ‘ReBoot’ with Gavin Blair and Dan DiDio

  • News
  • April 24, 2008

There was no shortage of confused, then surprised, faces in the long line for Sunday’s "ReBoot Panel with Gavin Blair and Dan DiDio" at New York Comic Con. Attendees were at first incredulous that the line was so long, then happy to discover so many fellow fans of the late-’90s animated television series.

Even the creators of the series were surprised.

"Oh, my god! Can you believe this?" exclaimed Dan DiDio as he approached his fellow ReBoot creator Gavin Blair.

"I am blown away by the turnout," explained Blair. "I recognize a quarter of these people from coming by the booth. But the rest is like, ‘Oh my god, where did you come from?’ What’s blowing me away about this con and the Toronto con I was at in August is the age range of the people coming up to me."

"I got little kids, their parents and I got their grandparents coming up to me about how much they love the show," continued Blair. "We wrote the bright, colorful, wacky graphics for the kids and we put the grown-up jokes for the adults. Now the kids are grown-up saying ‘Hey, now I get those jokes.’"

Booked in one of the smaller panel rooms, the event filled to capacity with people sitting in the aisles. The panel was organized to promote The Art of ReBoot hardcover book and the initiative to re-launch the series as a theatrical movie. Panelists included supervising animator Gavin Blair, story editor Dan DiDio (now Executive Editor at DC Comics), character modeler (and producer of the hardcover) Jim Su and Paul Gertz of Rainmaker Entertainment.

Blair and DiDio quickly became the focus of the panel as they reminisced about the groundbreaking CGI animated series that imagined what electronic life was like inside a computer. In the series, Bob the Guardian and his friends defended the system from viruses, hackers and troublesome games. Since the show is no longer on the air, the tone was unrestrained and the panelists were frank about their memories of the series.

As DiDio explained, he wasn’t originally one of the creators of the series. He was the series liason for the ABC network.

"The first show I was assigned was ReBoot," said DiDio. "You’re looking at the first computer-animated television series ever. Nobody knows what’s going on. Nobody knows how it’s being done."

Blair then explained that, as they showed DiDio around the Mainframe Entertainment production studios, they had the same staffers sit in different rooms so he would think the operation was bigger than it actually was.

"I completely fell for it all," laughed DiDio.

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NYCC News: ‘Call of Duty’ Trading Card Game?

NYCC News: ‘Call of Duty’ Trading Card Game?

  • News
  • April 19, 2008

Activision’s Call of Duty videogame series is, right now, the most popular game series on the market with Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat. What’s made the military shooter the #1 played online game for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC is the frantic, multiplayer action.

At the New York Comic Con, Upper Deck is introducing a trading card game based on it. But in a unique twist, they’re trying to capture the adrenaline pumping action of the game by adding a real time mechanic. In most card games, you make a move and wait for your opponent to take his turn. No more. You don’t wait. You keep laying strategic cards. If you snooze, you lose. That actually sounds pretty cool. We’d like to see that in action. We’d also like to pity the poor tournament judges.

Check out the official site at CODcardgame.com. Dismissed!

 

NYCC News: ‘Halo’ Bible In the Works – Movie in the Making?

NYCC News: ‘Halo’ Bible In the Works – Movie in the Making?

  • News
  • April 19, 2008

Just goes to show you never know where you can expect to get news from. While attending the New York Comic Con panel about the X-O Manowar: Birth hardcover, ex-Valiant Comics editor and current Valiant Entertainment consultant Jeff Gomez revealed that his company, Starlight Runner Entertainment, has been commissioned by Microsoft to create a bible for the Halo videogame universe.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, "bibles" are used by media companies as any reference outline for writers, producers and licensees. Usually in the production of television and movies.

NYCC News: ‘Marvel: Ultimate Battles’ Collectible Card Game Premiered

NYCC News: ‘Marvel: Ultimate Battles’ Collectible Card Game Premiered

  • News
  • April 19, 2008

In years past, I wanted to get a Green Lantern T-shirt that Upper Deck was giving away at a convention. In order to get it, I had to sit though a 15-minute class that explained the rules of their DC Vs. and Marvel Vs. collectible card games. Even with my nerd fashion prize in sight, I have to admit I started feeling antsy and my eyes glazed over a little bit.

It’s with that in mind that Upper Deck has officially announced their new Marvel: Ultimate Battles card game. This CCG was designed to be easier to learn with a more mass audience appeal.

ComicMix Translation: While the depth of the Marvel Vs. card game was great for you Magic: The Gathering types, it left kids in the dust. To keep them from going to back to Pokemon (nobody wants to revisit that craze again), Upper Deck has made a seperate series that’s a lot more casual. And expect lots of Iron Man and Hulk cards in this series to tie-in with the movies this summer.

 

NYCC: Vertigo ‘Welcome to the Edge’ Panel – Getting Bullish on Grant Morrison and Seaguy

NYCC: Vertigo ‘Welcome to the Edge’ Panel – Getting Bullish on Grant Morrison and Seaguy

  • News
  • April 19, 2008

When you attend some of these publisher panels, you’re usually shown a few slides and given a brief description of upcoming titles — kind of like someone reading the Diamond Previews catalog out loud. So, instead of just parroting the entire affair, I’ve assembled an account of what you need to know  about Friday’s "Vertigo: Welcome to the Edge" panel at New York Comic Con.

Before we get started, I just want to note that the room was surprisingly packed. Being a fan of the Vertigo Comics imprint, I’ve attended a few of these over the years and they’re usually well attended, but not crowded. Maybe this one is the exception because New York is the home of literati?

Here are my notes from the panel:

Karen Berger, Executive Editor of Vertigo Comics, takes the stage. Instead of introducing the panelists in order, she starts with Grant Morrison in the middle. The benefits of being a comic book rock star, eh? Introductions follow with Amy Hadley, G. Willow Wilson, Joshua Dysart, Jason Aaron, Brian Wood, Brian Azzarello (big applause, even a few yells), David Tischman and Russ Braun. Mark Buckingham arrives just in time and gets a big reaction out of the audience.

House of Mystery – Berger explains that this project will not be an anthology. It’s about a waitress stuck in a mysterious house with strangers who tell their stories, illustrated by a different artist every month. So basically it is an anthology — with a framing device. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…

Madame Xanadu – The mystic DC character finally receives an origin. Since she’s nigh immortal, her stages of life take decades. Puberty must’ve been hell. [Sidenote: This news was responsible for Olivia Newton-John’s "Xanadu" getting stuck in everyone’s head later at the ComicMix HQ.

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NYCC News: The Scoop on the ‘Iron Man’ Videogame

NYCC News: The Scoop on the ‘Iron Man’ Videogame

  • News
  • April 19, 2008

To coincide with the start of the New York Comic Con, Sega released the demo for the Iron Man movie videogame over Xbox LIVE. Marvel had the demo running at their booth. Watching the attendee reaction was Michael McHale, Senior Producer for the game. He took some time out to give us some new info.

When asked about the long list of videogames based on movies that fail to live up to the hype, he simply responded, "I don’t think anybody sets out to make a bad game."

To prevent the curse of bad movie-based games, Sega took advantage of the fact that Marvel was producing Iron Man themselves and got access to the materials earlier to allow for a longer development cycle than is usual for licensed games. For instance, early on they got the suit CGI models Industrial Light and Magic created for the movie — so the suits in the game are the same ones in the film.

The challenge for the game was, since Iron Man is pretty versitile, they had to make huge maps for him to fly around in but make them detailed enough so when he hovered or landed it still looked decent.

"You get to take on the mission objectives in any order you want," said McHale. And his abilities also make the game unique. Asked what games it compared to, McHale briefly mentioned the Superman Returns game, but the speed reminded him more of the Ace Combat jetfighter series. "I don’t think there’s another game like it to be honest."

"We definitely go beyond the film," he continued. "About 30-percent of the content is based on the film. The rest is drawn from the Marvel Universe. You battle aganst guys like Titanium Man, Whiplash and other famous villains. We’ve got factions like A.I.M. and the Maggia involved. Lots of fun things drawn from the comic books."

‘Spider-Man: Web of Shadows’ Leaked, Then Confirmed

‘Spider-Man: Web of Shadows’ Leaked, Then Confirmed

  • News
  • April 17, 2008

Oopsey! Activision was probably waiting for their New York Comic Con panel this weekend to announce this, but retailer Gamestop accidentally released some advertising materials for a new Spider-Man videogame called Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. The ad listed a website (currently inactive) for customers to vote on what promo they would like if they pre-order the game.

At first, not much was known about the game. The rumor mill had been gossiping for a while about a game called Spider-Man: Red Vs. Black. But then IGN got confirmation from Activision on what the game was about. A free-roaming game with a emphasis on vertical combat — that means "swinging web fights" to the rest of us. It will be released for pretty much any system that games are still being made for. They even released a trailer shown below.

Stay tuned to ComicMix this weekend where we’ll be sure to followup with Activision… and to see if Spidey could battle Video-Man, the arcade monster Electro created in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

 

 

‘Prototype’ Videogame Morphs Into New DC/Wildstorm Comic

‘Prototype’ Videogame Morphs Into New DC/Wildstorm Comic

  • News
  • April 17, 2008

DC Comics/Wildstorm recently announced that they’ll be publishing a comic book based on the upcoming Prototype videogame from Sierra Entertainment.

From the press release:

PROTOTYPE puts gamers in control of Alex Mercer – a genetically mutated shape-shifter with no memory of his past hell-bent on solving the mystery of his existence – as he tears through a densely populated New York City moving with Parkour-style fluidity and consuming anybody that gets in his way…assuming their physical identity, memories and abilities. Fueled by a three way war between Alex, the military and its elite Blackwatch division, and a viral outbreak known as the Infected, players will venture deep into a dark conspiracy 40 years in the making.

What the press release doesn’t go into is that this game has a great comic book pedigree. It’s being developed by Radical Entertainment, the makers of The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, one of the best superhero games ever made. In that game, players were given free reign to smash anything, bound across the city at will, fight the army or even throw civilians around for no good reason whatsoever.

With Prototype, Radical Entertainment looks to have taken everything they did with Hulk and expanded on it. Different powers, different story (sorta shady goverment types messing with superpowered guy who’s not 100-percent mentally stable), and more realistic graphics, thanks to the power of PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

My only complaint? The character has one of the worst outfits in modern games: a hoodie. Yup, he looks like every other wannabe thug. One look at this amazing trailer for the game, though, makes me forget all that.

 

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