Thor and Captain America game development continues

As part of this week’s financial results Marvel Entertainment confirmed that games based on the upcoming Thor and Captain America movies are in the works at Sega. While this is not particularly fresh news it does show that development - in whatever stage it is in at this points - continues to push forward. A formal announcement about the games was made in April of 2007 by Sega.

The Captain America game is tentatively set for release in July 2011, while the Thor game will be released at right around the same period in the summer. We’ll see.

Sega has not had the best track record with the Marvel license. See our Iron Man review for an example of this. I’ll give you a hint: it might be a blood bath.

Introducing EA Comics

Electronic Arts has signed a deal with IDW Publishing to expand two of its intellectual properties, Army of Two and Dragon Age, into comics under a new EA Comics imprint with IDW beginning in January. EA and IDW will launch monthly, ongoing series for both Army of Two and Dragon Age. Each issue will be published in print and distributed nationally at comic book outlets, with digital versions released for iPhone) and iPod Touch and other emerging digital platforms.

Under terms of the agreement, EA will fund and manage the creative aspect of the comic book series, while IDW will be responsible for printing and distribution. IDW is the leader in digital comic book distribution and the nation’s third largest comic book publisher overall.

Written by veteran comic book writer Peter Milligan (X-Men, Batman, Hellblazer), Army of Two is being published as a comic starting in January 2010. Chester Ocampo is the cover artist while the interior artist/penciler, Dexter Soy, is a newcomer on the comic scene.

Story details and the interior artist are expected to be announced shortly.

To today’s parents video games are the new Rock ‘n Roll

That’s how Stamford, CT., psychologist Eric Schleifer described them in a discussion with 50 parents about video games recently. This forum, called “Using Video Games to Your Advantage: A Parent’s Guide,” was co-sponsored by Wilton Parent Connection, the Wilton PTA Council, the Wilton Youth Council, and the Wilton Library.

The forum proved what kids already know and what kids our generation and every other generation before it endured: parents don’t always understand the culture kids are immersed in and its importance. In this generation parents don’t understand their kids’ fascination with games and, because of the media’s portrayal of them as being violent and catalyst for laziness and unhealthy behavior, often feel like video games are dangerous or at the very least, an unnecessary distraction. Schleifer compared gaming to rock music and comic books, both thought to be somehow evil or a waste of time by our parents and the parents of our parents.

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Marvel Super Hero Squad roster revealed

Here’s a story that fans of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and Spider-Man: Friend or Foe will want to pay attention to: the new game based on the new Marvel super hero inspired kids show, Marvel Super Hero Squad. THQ today announced that the full list of characters from its soon-to-be-released Marvel Super Hero Squad video game. The entire list has been revealed exclusively on Marvel.com. The roster includes such heroes as Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain America, Falcon, Ms. Marvel, The Thing, The Hulk, Nightcrawler, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Invisible Woman, Storm, and Thor. Bad guys include Doctor Doom, Sabertooth, Mole Man, Magneto, Crimson Dynamo, A.I.M. Agent, and Abomination. There are a total of 21 playable characters, with an additional 3 that are non-playable.

The Marvel Super Hero Squad video game, which is based on the kid friendly Marvel Super Hero Squad Show, premiered on Cartoon Network Saturday, Sept. 19.

Marvel Super Hero Squad will mark the first title in THQ’s licensing agreement with Marvel Entertainment, which is now owned by Disney. The game is currently being developed by Blue Tongue for Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2 and PSP. The game is scheduled to be available on October 20, 2009.

Warner Bros. forms DC Entertainment

Batman: Arkham Asylum has sold almost two million copies in less than a month, according to published reports. This kind of success with a DC comics-based game is one of several reasons that Warner Bros. is creating DC Entertainment, a brand new company dedicated to taking care of DC Comics properties. The new division will be headed up by Diane Nelson, the current president of Warner Premiere. Warner Bros. says that this new division will attempt to find the full potential of DC related products including games, films, television and other media.

Naturally this is a good idea given that Disney now owns Marvel Entertainment and will no doubt be doing its best to bring popular Marvel franchises to multiple fronts including TV, movies, comic books, and naturally video games.

DC Comics, NCsoft team up for limited edition Aion comic

NCsoft’s Aion, the next original massively multiplayer online game from the company responsible for Lineage, will come alive in a comic book being created by DC Comics. NCsoft and DC Comics announced “Aiva’s Story,” a limited edition comic book based on the world of Aion from renowned artist Neil Googe and writers David Noonan and Ricardo Sanchez. This one-time collectible will be made available free with purchase of Aion exclusively at GameStop stores in the United States, as well as Electronic Boutiques in Canada. Additionally, in celebration of this week’s Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, a limited number of copies will be made available free for show attendees in NCsoft’s Aion booth.

The comic tells the story of Aiva, a young Asmodian warrior who vows vengeance against the Elyos who killed her family during a raid. Aiva trains ceaselessly, hoping to become a Daeva and someday find her nemesis on the battlefields of the Abyss (where only Daevas can go). Her story unfolds in the limited run comic by NCsoft and DC’s Wildstorm Studios.

If you’ll be at PAX this week, stop by NCsoft’s Aion booth to learn more about the game and the comic.

Disney to acquire Marvel

The biggest story of the day, if not the month of August, is Disney Company’s announcement this morning that it has agreed to purchase Marvel Entertainment. While this will eventually have a serious impact on a whole series of entertainment properties (like several cartoon series currently running on Viacom’s Nickelodeon) the real important thing to watch is the games and entertainment sector and the contracts Marvel has with companies like Activision and THQ.

The agreement to buy Marvel Entertainment includes a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today. Under the terms of the agreement (based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009), Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40 percent of the total merger consideration. Based on that closing price, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer, will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties. While the boards of both companies have approved this transaction, the deal is still subject to the normal regulatory approval and customary closing conditions - and the approval of Marvel shareholders.

And on a related note, Evan Narcisse has some interesting thoughts on the deal in his latest blog post - check it out.