Exclusive: Minor Booyah: One Good Thing about the G.I. Joe Game & Movie

One of the things I’ve been pretty concerned about as I write my book, “The Game Changers,” is how popular culture has influenced videogames over time.

Along those lines, the movie industry and the game industry have not only been strange bedfellows over the years. They’ve been angry, mocking bedfellows. How bad? Probably like the last days of Kate and Jon. (”Please don’t squoosh the cereal in your anger!”) Probably like the long bouts of arguments in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (”If you start in about this other business, Martha, I warrrrrnnn you!”)

But now, you can see that the blockbuster movie is influenced more and more by games (despite crappy movie games, which will always be with us — remember Coraline). Look at the action in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” for instance. Looks like someone watched (or maybe even played) Burnout for inspiration.

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen DLC on the way

 Some fresh content is coming to Activision’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - assuming that you are still playing it and enjoying it (i’m sure some of you are). The downloadable content pack developed by Luxoflux is being worked on as I type this that will launch later this summer.

Set to launch later this summer for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, the DLC offering is apparently being designed to appeal to fans of both the original Transformers animated series and the films starring Steven Spielberg’s lover Shia LaBeouf (he may be dreamy to some of you, but in my opinion he’s not that great of an actor - go argue about it wherever girls argue about Hollywood heartthrobs).

The DLC pack will contain over ten new multiplayer characters including fan favorites such as G1 Starscream and movie favorites like Sideswipe, three new multiplayer maps, mew playble characters for both the Autobot and Decepticon single player campaigns, a new expert difficulty mode with a set of new leaderboards and new Achievements and Trophies to earn.

Look for it sometime this summer.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in stores

The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen game for consoles and PC lets players take on the role of their favorite TRANSFORMERS, picking from a range of playable characters - each with their own distinct abilities and weaponry. Set in environments across the globe such as Cairo and Shanghai, the game allows players to switch between vehicle and robot modes as they drive, fly, fight and blast their way through the single player game or online against friends in all-new multiplayer modes.

Also available today are unique Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen games for Wii and PlayStation 2, as well as two distinct versions for Nintendo DS, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: AUTOBOTS and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: DECEPTICONS.

I sincerely pray these new games are not as mediocre as the last Transformers games Activision published.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen from Activision Publishing is available now at retail stores nationwide. Developed by Luxoflux under license from Hasbro, and based on the latest feature film from DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen game allows players to become their favorite AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS and engage in massive single and online multiplayer battles as they fight to protect or annihilate all of mankind.
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This week at retail: June 22 - 27, 2009

This week will see some interesting releases across multiple platforms including Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Overlord II, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor and more. Full list below:

June 22, 2009:
Fight Night Round 4 - PSP

June 23, 2009:
Fight Night Round 4 - X360, PS3

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Autobots/Decepticons - DS

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Wii, X360, PS3, PS2, PSP, PC

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor - DS

Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires - X360, PS3

The Conduit - Wii

Spore Galactic Adventures - PC

Overlord Minions - DS

Overlord: Dark Legend - Wii

Overlord II - PS3, X360, PC

Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil - Wii

Dawn of Discovery - Wii

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories / Vice City Stories - PS2

Fashion Week Junior Designer - DS

Discovery Kids: Parrot Pals - DS

Games Around The Globe - Wii

My Healthy Cooking Coach - DS

Classic Word Games - DS

Little League World Series Baseball 2009 - Wii

PANGYA: Fantasy Golf - PSP

Fuel - PC

June 26, 2009:
Dragon Hunters - DS

Pop Town - DS

June 27, 2009:
Cursed Mountain - Wii

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Voice Talent Joins Game

Activision Publishing sent out a note this morning that it has signed the Transformers movie talent to reprise their roles for the upcoming video game, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, including the film’s leads Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox, who will reprise their starring roles in the game, and fan favorites Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, the voices of OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON from the original animated The game will feature the talents of Mark Ryan (Bumblebee), Jess Harnell (Ironhide), Charles Adler (Starscream) and Robert Foxworth (Ratchet). Of course, we hope that Activision’s newest Transformers game based on the films is at least a little less mediocre than the last series of games.

The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game is based on the upcoming live-action feature film from DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures in association with Hasbro, which opens nationwide on June 24, 2009. The Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game is currently in development by Luxoflux for the Xbox 360 and the PS3; the Windows PC version is being developed by Beenox Studios, the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions are being developed by Krome Studios; AUTOBOT and DECEPTICON-specific Nintendo DS versions are being developed by Vicarious Visions; and the PSP version is being developed by Savage Entertainment.