COMIC-CONS VIDEO GAME DEETS!


Newly picked and fresh off their E3 convention in June, video-game makers are setting their sights on new audiences as they arrive at the Comic-Con convention which opened two days ago on Thursday in San Dee-yay-go, California.

This time, game wizards, makers and developers are homing in specifically on games that have a comic character tie-in.

Two head honcho's of Comic Con, "DC Universe Online" (Sony) and "Marvel vs. Capcom 3" (Capcom) have direct relationships to the superheroes and villains from the comic book world. After all, readers of those publications also play their video games. Nintendo doesn't attend Comic-Con every year, but when it has a game that might appeal to the comic world, the company shows up big time in which in this case they did!

Marc Franklin, director of public relations for Nintendo of America, said hands-on demonstrations of two brand new games -- "Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies" and "Metroid: Other M" -- will be featured at the convention.

"We have been seeing these kinds of trade shows attract a broader, more diverse audience," Franklin said. "Which fits right in with Nintendo's goal to expand the world of video games to new audiences."
Eric Levine, Sony's manager of product public relations, agreed. Comic-con has not been the same from the past years where it is just focused on comics alone. "Comic-con is not just comics anymore."

Here are some some  game titles looking to find their place on the "cool scale" at Comic-Con, which runs through till Sunday:


• "Halo Reach" (Bungie/Microsoft) -- The end of the legendary series is coming, and Microsoft will be showing off new material and revealing details about the final game between humanity and the alien Covenant.


• "Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters" (Warner Bro. Interactive) -- "Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters' gives players the chance to experience the world of the Green Lantern mythology in an interactive way, going beyond the events of the film and comic books.



• "The Force Unleashed 2" (LucasArts) -- This title is set six months after the events of the first game and a year before "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" takes place. Starkiller, Darth Vader's secret apprentice, returns as the protagonist to use new Force powers against stronger enemies.


• "Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions" (Activision) -- Everyone's favorite wall-crawler is making a return -- across time and space in a story written by "The Amazing Spider-Man" comic writer Dan Slott.



• "Thor" (Sega) --"Fans can catch glimpses of the fiery Muspelheim and its ruler Surtur, the icy Niflheim, and the Vanir's homeland Vanaheim. There's also multiple shots of the city of Asgard, which could shed further light on the look of Thor's homeland from the upcoming film."


• "Pro Evolution Soccer 2011" (Konami) -- This sports title hopes to piggyback off World Cup euphoria and ride the wave through Comic-Con. The soccer game will feature leagues from all over the world and include Argentina star Lionel Messi on its cover.


• "Assassin's Creed Brotherhood" (UbiSoft) -- The follow-up to the immensely popular "Assassin's Creed" game will be on display. But in a twist, the game publisher will be showing off the first issue of a three-part comic book miniseries based on the franchise.

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LIMBO, LIMBO ROCK?

As part of its Summer of Arcade, Microsoft and Xbox Live are making available  $15 (1200 Microsoft Points) games for players to try out – the first of the line-up that came out this week is LIMBO, from indie  game studio Playdead. The game received several awards including “Best Downloadable Game” at the E3 show last month, and also has won awards for Excellence in Visual Art and Technical Excellence at the 12th annual Independent Games Festival.

It’s easy to see why Playdead studios won these awards – LIMBO is visually beautiful , presenting its action in three grayscale platforms black, white and grey – the absence of color helps build the mood of the game.


The plot is as simple as it can be: you control a boy who wakes up in the woods, and you have to find your sister. You may or may not be "in" Limbo, but wherever you are, you face danger, in the form of traps, spiders, spikes, bear traps, deep water (genericly, the boy can't swim) and falling from large heights.

VGH's John will be releasing a review for you guys soon so keep an eye on that but from the sound of it, he is very pleased with the game. Check back for that review, to see if it's worth your hard earned Microsoft Points.


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STARCRAFT II TRAILER RELEASE



Interest over Starcraft 2 is quickly picking up across the Web as the game is set to release next week. Blizzard released one heck of a trailer for the game and its truly epic. The company also clarifies misconceptions of development costs for the game.

The story of Starcraft can be difficult to follow if the last time you touched the game was a decade ago. However, watching the latest trailer for Starcraft 2 should bring back some memories, especially that of Kerrigan.




The game received some mainstream media attention when a publication reported that Blizzard spent $100 million to develop Starcraft 2. According to The Wall Street Journal, Blizzard reached out to correct this mix-up.
According to Blizzard, the company did not spend that much to make the game. Apparently Blizzard’s other popular game, World of Warcraft did in fact cost over $100 million to make. It does make some sense as MMORPGs are usually expensive. Unfortunately, Blizzard refuses to answer questions about additional modifications.




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