Slashdot Mirror
Marvel Focuses On Games, Trails New Titles
Thanks to Gamesindustry.biz for its article discussing Marvel's renewed focus on videogames based on their properties, with the announcement of "a new division [that] will oversee the creation of all games based on Marvel licenses", ensuring quality control. These products will still be licensed out to external developers/publishers, however, and the announcement press release lists previous and future titles, including Spider-Man II, X-Men Legends, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man from Activision, The Punisher from THQ, and The Hulk II from Vivendi. The GI.biz article also notes: "One of the most exciting products in the pipeline for the company... [is another] Vivendi title - a massively multiplayer game featuring a wide range of different elements from the 'Marvel Universe', which encompasses the entire spectrum of the company's franchises" - this MMO title will doubtless be compared to Cryptic/NCSoft's unlicensed, currently Beta-testing City Of Heroes. What as yet unused Marvel property do you think would make the best videogame?
Marvel could do very well with it's properties but the problem is they've not really utilized them effectively.
You could make a metroid prime-like version of spiderman for example. You go through his early history and as you do so, you unlock his powers or learn to use them better (Start as normal, get spider reflexes (high jump, good dodge), web (grapple technique), etc).
The fantastic 4 could do something like secret of mana, where there's computer (or co-op multiplayer) control for the other characters.
The problem with the Marvel games is that they go with a frequently used formula (sort of like romantic comedies or action flicks in Hollywood) and fail to capitalize on their singular stregnth as marvel games -- the ability to have a storyline and likeable characters.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
- All sorts of phatty magickal powers
- Travel through time, space, and the infinite multiverse
- Battle on the astral plane
- Cool powerups (Eye of Agamotto, Wand of Watoomb)
- Tons of side quests and backstory elements, drawn from the comics, to explain the presence of various items and enemies
- Awesome boss fights, requiring one to wield the overwhelming might of their phenomenal cosmic power
I mean, Marvel has tons of untapped franchies (Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer, S.H.I.E.L.D.), but my personal preference for first on the list would be Dr. Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, Sorceror Supreme.I think that Marvel has exploited its proerties as much as they possibly can. Of course, since Marvel appeals to a young audience, there is constantly new people to take money from... people who wont learn of the constant re-use of these properties until later in life.
It's pretty much a given that Marvel isnt interested in their unused properties. The properties that are out there are working well, are selling, and will continue to appeal to a broad slice of their target audience. The Hulk, Spiderman, X-Men... all winners! Even the Fantastic Four is getting a new shot, although the only success I ever saw for them outside of the comics was in the Fox cartoon in the 90s. Marvel has been exploiting their comic characters on TV since the 60s (or earlier?), and with video games since the 80s. They're certainly not going to take a break now that they've broken into the mainstream with hit movies.
Fortunately for Marvel, they've a huge universe of characters and stories to draw from. This doesnt make them any more special than anyone else who wants to licence a story to make a game, mind you... but for the Marvel fans, rest assured that no matter who your favorite character may be, he or she will end up costing you even more money in the form of a new video game.
Want an inside scoop?
Well, VU had an AMAZING demo of marvel online worked up by a proven MMO developer. The design would have called for all sorts of nifty features including unique sub-areas, zones of influence, and the ability to play as just about any sort of character (not just hero/villian!) within the marvel universe.
Alas, due to some extremely shady politics in the upper levels of the company, the project was pulled, the entire production staff was let go, and the developer was left hanging (after putting mucho deneiro and time in to the project).
This had NOTHING to do with the quality of the project as anyone who saw the tech demo could attest.
I wouldn't hold my breath for this one folks.
Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Thor, and the lesser known ones from the psychedilc 70's like the Inhumans, Captain Marvel, and Warlock. Yeah, it's showing my age a bit, but those sort of weird, slightly funny, slightly hippy-twilight zone-philosophical stories featuring a quick trip through some dread dimension would be perfect for games. The plot is simple and the characters flat enough to actually play a game with, yet personal and fantastic enough to be original and involving. The eye candy factor for The Power Cosmic or whatnot, and the bizarre worlds and foes (the planet Eon? Dormammu?), could be pretty cool.
Dang, now I wish I still had some of those comics around right now.
I'm surprised that no one thus far has mentioned they'd like to see the stories panned out in a Freedom Force-type game. It'd fit perfectly, since it's a great engine for storytelling/adventuring. It worked (and sold) great with it's own original heroes. Think of how well it would do with Marvel heroes.
It's like sex, except I'm having it!
Many of us are thinking back beyond what's currently popular and making the biggest headlines. I don't doubt you that a good game based on some of the lesser-known properties, like Silver Surfer, Thor, or Dr. Doom (who would make an interesting game "protagonist", if you think about it), would be well-received by fans both old and new. But here's how I see things.
My sister-- just two years younger than me, and I'm going on 25-- is big into comics of late. Marvel especially, and the "X-Men Evolution" series currently airing on Kids WB in particular. I picked up the hard-bound "Ultimate X-Men vol. 1" for her for Christmas, and she was thrilled. So was I-- complain all you want, but the series is damn good. As I was reading it, though, I took a look at the production notes, as they were. The writers and artists felt that having thirty years of backstory-- some of it contradictory, some of it ludicrous, and some of it just plain factually wrong-- was starting to wear down the appeal of the X-Men franchise. The ensemble was bringing in new fans, but these fans-- some of whom had never picked up a comic book in their entire lives-- were quickly turned off because they just plain didn't have a clue what was going on, what all the characters were referencing.
Marvel had tried putting new life into its series before-- the "What-Ifs" are the only thing I can remember as being mentioned int he notes, but I'm sure someone will come to my memory's aid (ha ha). Those hadn't turned out as well as they'd expected. So the writers basically said, "dump it all, let's just start over."
And wouldn't you know it, but it works. The familiar stories are there-- X-Men versus the Sentinels, Magneto's big thing, the Savage Land-- they're just told in a different, new, and damn spiffy way. It might not sound like it would be a big seller-- but combined with the media blitz Marvel's been going through, the series has proven pretty successful.
So build on that.
Based on the success of the "Ultimate" series (an "Ultimate Spider-Man" is also out), it would be kind of logical to use that material to make a good adventure game or even an RPG. You just know that BioWare's been contacted at least once-- look what they did for Star Wars; don't you think they could handle something like KOTOR, but with the X-Men theme? You might not get the old, die-hard, "I'll never let go of 300 back issues worth of story" fans, but you will get newer, fresher blood. And you can stretch that out for a good three, four games as the story arcs evolve and progress.
Might be worth a look, from a gamer's standpoint, too. But then again, maybe that's just the wild ramblings of a young pup who never got to read X-Men until he was in college.
"Why Subscribe?" Good question...