Sunday’s panels are not known for their huge stars or their impressive announcements, but they do still deliver the goods: news. Marvel: The Next Generation of Marvel Video Games: Ultimate Alliance 2, Super Hero Squad, and Iron Man 2 was the name of the panel, and writers Matt Fraction, Mark Hoffmeier, and Evan Skolnik were joined by the games’ developers Kyle Brink, Chris Baker, TQ Jefferson, and Lenny Brown, Dan Tanguay to reveal the latest news about Marvel in Games.
Ultimate Alliance 2 looked amazing, despite the technical difficulties with the video. A lot of work and attention has been paid in really stepping up the level of detail of the characters and the settings. The story of the game centers around the Civil War series of Marvel, in which the United States wants to register all super heroes, considering them a weapon of mass destruction. Some characters agree with the registration, and some are definitely against it. The player will be caught up in a storyline that weaves in and out of the Civil War between the two different sides.
Super Hero Squad, based on the Hasbro line of toys for kids, was adorable. I don’t know if it will be as successful as the more hardcore games, but it looks very much like a Wii game normally does: large heads, comedic cuteness, bright colors. It does seem like a nice group game, and everyone knows how well those cute family games do on the Wii.
Iron Man 2 looks better than Iron Man. Sega has stressed that they’ve listened to our comments and complaints. They are promising a great sequel to the previous game. The shots were exciting and loud and lots of stuff blew up, so yay.
An interesting thing in this panel was the willingness of the members to listen to the opinion of the fans. There was a whole slideshow describing the respect they pay to consumers and where we could send our concerns. Most of the panelists even set up twitters so that people could contact them directly to voice an opinion or ask a question. I think the sense of openness to the public really helps put the fans at ease, knowing that that some of their favorite characters are under the control of people who genuinely don’t want to screw them up.
