Sleeves make everything better. So does Disney. And keyblades. And punch. Man, we love punch.

Thanks ZeroGinc for the tip!

First Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, now this. I don't know if Tim Burton needs to find some new actors who will put up with him, or if he just needs to leave my childhood alone completely. Batman was great. The Nightmare Before Christmas is still a classic, as long as you avoid Hot Topic around Christmas time. Hell, I even enjoy Edward Scissorhands, as it hearkens back to a time when Johnny Depp's face and ridiculous makeup were just getting to know each other. Now it's just getting old, and tired.

You know what I'd like? A game or movie called Alice in Wonderland where the posters and box art have ALICE on the cover. I'm going to stop before my head explodes.

I'm not sure how it works in other countries, but here in the U.S., comic book fans have received Pavlovian conditioning that starts them drooling once the clock rolls over from Tuesday to Wednesday. Wednesday is when the new comic books arrive, making it a fitting day for Sony to launch its digital comics service for the PSP. Of course there's still no sign of DC Comics, but Marvel and Disney fans are sure to be pleased.

I've been a Marvel reader for most of my life, but with Green Lantern Blackest Night event going on and my recent love affair with Vertigo's Fables series, I'm not sure I'll be putting down my DC books long enough to purchase digital Marvel comics anytime soon.

The comic store goes live at 5PM GMT in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. North America will get it when they get it - which is noon West Coast time, according to the PlayStation Comics Twitter.

Digital Comics Service Launches Today [PlayStation Blog Europe]

Microsoft generally isn't the habit of laying out several weeks worth of Xbox Live releases in one fell swoop, so we can assume that the company is going out of town for the holidays, and this is the note they are leaving on the really big fridge, containing all we need to know about the coming weeks.

First off, today sees the addition of holiday gear and tokidoki wear on the Avatar Marketplace, with tons of new items to spend your discretionary Microsoft points on. Be sure to save some for Christmas Eve, however, when Disney Classics wear shows up, filling your friends list with pretty princesses.

The Xbox Live Deal of the Week program continues throughout the month, starting with the Lips: Coldplay Track Pack (200 Microsoft points) next week, followed by Shadow Complex (800 points) and The Maw (400 points).

The Games on Demand service expands by several titles this month, with Crackdown and Disney's Bolt already available, and Viva Piñata: Party Animals, Lost Planet Colonies Edition and Devil May Cry 4, and Gears of War coming over the next three weeks.

*pause for breath*

Xbox Live Arcade gets two new additions over the course of the next two weeks, with Alien Breed Evolution Episode 1 dropping on the 16th (800 points) and the Trails HD Big Pack adding 35 new racing and skill tracks to the game on the 23rd.

On top of all that, December 18th through the 31st, Microsoft will be holding one-day sales on select Xbox Live Marketplace items, including games, movies, add-ons, and themes, counting down to the New Year with savings, as is tradition.

As for me, I'm driving to Florida to hang out with my girlfriend's mother and grandmother. Not really all that interesting, but since we were sharing.

Not that that's a bad thing. Explosions and cars look like they're going to go together just fine.

Here's how: the storyline for Epic Mickey revolves around a conflict between Mickey and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an obscure character Walt Disney came up with in the 20s. Anyway, Disney didn't hold the rights to Oswald's character; NBC Universal did.

But the character was important to the game, which may play a very important role in a reboot for the ageing character. So in 2006 (the game's been kicked arond since 2004), NBC and Disney struck a deal: Disney got the rights to Oswald back, while Al Michaels (who was angling for a departure anyways) would leave the Disney-owned ESPN and go work for NBC instead.

You ever heard of a stranger video game business deal? We haven't.

Disney Will Make Over Mickey. Why? To Make Us Like Him. [New York Times]

This looks to be the same Prince of Persia trailer that AJ last week, with the two lines from Ben Kingsley, Jake Gyllenhaal leaping about and Gemma Arterton talking up a sandstorm about the Dagger of Time and its effects. Speaking of effects, they look spectacular, but any kids with a computer can make good special effects these days. The plot is what matters here, and we still have no idea how that's going to play out. Those of you who go to movies just to see men leaping, however, are sure to be pleased.

Thanks to Sl0th for pointing us towards the trailer!

If you want to see it for yourself, sit tight – it runs with the premier of 2012 on November 13. Also I'm sure it'll hit the interwebs well before then. If you want to know how I felt about what I saw, read on. But know that I still haven't forgiven Ben Kingsley for BloodRayne.

Now I realize that once you've played Gandhi on the silver screen (and won an Oscar for it), everything else must pale in comparison. But seriously, Sir Kingsley, would it have killed you to show up for fencing lessons in preparation for filming BloodRayne? Just because the director sucks doesn't mean you have to.

As it turns out, Sir Kingsley only has two lines in the trailer (which is still twice as much as what comic relief character Alfred Molina gets) – so I can't judge his performance based entirely on that. The majority of the trailer is Jake Gyllenhaal leaping off of things while Gemma Arterton narrates in a quasi-mystical voice about the Dagger of Time and its powers.

Like all action trailers, there's a lot of quick cutting between unrelated sequences. Someone opens a door, the Prince looks around like he's confused and the Princess – called Tamina, not Farah – walks around looking pretty and exchanges PG-rated flirts with the Prince. Some dudes in black robes show up, looking like they just walked off the set of The Scorpion King and there's a lot of sand and gold stuff.

An interesting scene I noticed being repeated was a glowing fiery vortex within the Dagger of Time. You can see it in the trailer when the Prince activates it during a fight to rewind time. You see it again at the end of the trailer only somehow the Prince and some other person appear to be inside the Dagger, swirling around the vortex. Seems like a climactic boss fight to me. Also a temple-looking place collapses – it's all very Indiana Jones.

Speaking of which, someone pointed out to me the irony in having Alfred Molina play a comic relief character in an Indiana Jones-esque film. I'd completely forgotten that he's the guy in Raiders of the Lost Ark with the famous line "Throw me idol, I'll throw you the whip." How about that.

After the screening of the trailer, we were given a little bit of Q&A time with Jordan Mechner – but you'll have to sit tight for that as well.

Be honest – how many of you are going to go see the film 2012 just so you can watch the Prince of Persia trailer on the big screen? I totally did that with Scooby-Doo for a Harry Potter trailer and again with some other terrible film for a Two Towers trailer.

Image Cred
Image Cred

Instead the reinvention of Disney's animated world will strive to both entice children and enlighten adult with a meaty, moralistic story, famed game designer Warren Spector told Kotaku today.

In Disney Epic Mickey, gamers take on the role of an edgier Mickey Mouse, using the Wii remote to wield magical paint and thinner to reshape the around them. Mickey uses these abilities as he fights his way through a cartoon wasteland in what Disney describes as an "adventure-platforming game with light role-playing elements."

Spector says that the game won't support the Wii Remote's MotionPlus technology because the technology became available to developers too late to the studio.

"We played with it and I think that it would be a great fit for our core mechanic, but the best I can say is that in the future we'd love to do more with it," he said.

In the game's fiction Yen Sid, the sorcerer first seen in 1940's Fantasia during The Sorcerer's Apprentice, creates a Cartoon Wasteland for Disney's forgotten and retired creations. The first inhabitant of this wasteland is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney's first cartoon star created in 1927.

As the years pass Oswald starts to resent Mickey's growing fame. When Disney's mouse accidentally warps Oswald's Cartoon Wasteland by spilling paint thinner on it, Mickey is drawn into the warped world.

"Having Warren combine creativity and innovation with one of the world's most famous characters takes Mickey back to his creative roots and allows fans to deepen their engagement with him as a character – especially in video games," said Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager of Disney Interactive Studios.

Spector says that he was drawn to the idea of working on this tale of Disney fiction both because it was a chance to "mess around with one of the world's most recognizable icons" and a chance to tell a story that is interesting to both children and adults.

"We are telling a story in this game that is more sophisticated than save the princess or you are the last space marine on Earth," Spector said. "I think what you will find is that there is some commentary about consumerism and what is truly important in life.

"If I went much further than that it would be the height of pretension."

But, Spector admits, there are some allusions in the game to T.S. Elliots' modernist and deeply influential poem The Waste Land.

In the Waste Land a hero is drawn to a kingdom made sterile by the wounding of its king. To restore the king and the land, the hero must go on a quest. The concept of the poem draws on prevalent proto-themes like the Grail legend.

And while Spector, who started his career as an academic, admits that he's aware of the potential connection, he doesn't want people to draw too many connections.

"You have to throw in literary references every once in awhile," he said.

What seems to have influenced Spector more is a children's book author who deals with heady ideas like theology, philosophy and John Milton's Paradise Lost.

"What Philip Pullman does is inspiration in everything I want to do,"he said. "You can make something that appeals to kids but is interesting to adults as well.

In December 2007, Spector wrote on his blog about how much he would love to create a game based on Pullman's Golden Compass. At the time he was already in the midst of working on Disney Epic Mickey, he said.

"I had my first discussion with Disney in September 2005, then boring business stuff happened and then we did concept art and then we separated for awhile and came back together," he said.

In September 2007 Disney acquired Spector's studio, Junction Point Studios, which was well into game concept work.

I asked Spector if creating a game based on such a beloved and widely known character had satisfied the itch he expressed in his blog about Golden Compass.

"To some extent it did," he said. "But if you ever stop itching it's time to retire.

"I think getting the opportunity to play in the playground that Disney offers, that is what this opportunity is really about for me."

"When you say you're messing with Mickey Mouse people's eyes really light up."

While Spector's vision of Mickey seems to be darker than the character's most recognizable appearances, there are still lines the game won't be crossing.

"There are lines, lines you don't want to cross," he said. "When you talk about Mickey Mouse, people are like 'Give him a gun, give him a knife,'" he said. "I don't want to do that. Why would you want to do that?

"There are lines you don't cross. I discovered there are lines that (Mickey Mouse) used to cross that are now uncrossable. He did some pretty crazy stuff, but nowadays times have changed."

What Mickey will be doing in the game is allowing gamers to make moral decisions about how to change the world around them with paint and thinner. Those decisions will have consequences that affect the environment, interactions with other characters, and even Mickey's appearance and abilities.

"The core of this game is the idea of choice and consequence, and how that defines both the character and the player," Spector wrote in a prepared statement. "By putting the mischievous Mickey in an unfamiliar place and asking him to make choices – to help other cartoon characters or choose his own path – the game forces players to deal with the consequences of their actions. Ultimately, players must ask themselves, ‘What kind of hero am I?' Each player will come up with a different answer."

The initial concept for the Wii-exclusive game was born at Disney Interactive Studios' Think Tank, Spector told Kotaku.

"The idea of a wasteland with lost characters, Oswald's return, the Phantom Blog, that stuff existed, that core was there when they pitched it to me," Spector said. "They were all sitting there showing me this stuff in Power Point saying 'You don't have to do all of this, you can ignore it' and I thought 'Why would I ignore this, it's fantastic.'"

While the heart of the idea came from the Think Tank, the way the game and its look evolved is all Spector and his team.

The team spent huge amounts of time in Disney's many vast archives, pulling concept art and files.

"I'm a research junkie," Spector said. "I started out as an academic and film historian so I had shelves and shelves and shelves of books and articles. I came into this with a good background. But Disney has amazing resources. I spent a bunch of time out there digging through files."

During one of his earliest visits Spector was shocked to have one of the archivists apologize for having only scanned 90,000 images so far.

"Honestly, you could spend days digging through the stuff we dug out of the archives."

One thing that surprisingly didn't inspire Disney Epic Mickey was Square-Enix' hugely popular role-playing game Kingdom Hearts.

"I played the Kingdom Hearts games, but they weren't much of an inspiration," Spector said. "They treated the Disney characters much more conventionally than I wanted to.

"They are not reintroducing or reimagining as much as they are offering these characters as folks you are going to interact with in a new medium."

Spector was coy about how much inspiration the game developers are drawing from the Disney theme parks.

"You might sort of, kind of recognize some scenes," he said. "I don't want to give too much away."

The designer, best known for making games like Deus Ex and Thief, said that he wasn't worried about moving from typically adult-themed games to one that may be viewed as being more for children or families.

"When this opportunity arose I had to decide, do I want to keep working on this original stuff I've been doing or do I want to mess around with one of the world's most recognizable icons," he said. "The opportunity to work with something this recognizable and profound comes around once in a lifetime. The decision was pretty straight forward.

"I'm not making a game for kids, I'm making a game gamers will be happy with."

Apparently there's a board game-type of mode in Birth By Sleep that breaks up the hack 'n' slash monotony many non-KH fans complain about. The first I've heard of it appears in this magazine scan dug up by fans. According the amatuer translation, the board game mode is called Command Mode and playing the mode rewards you with power ups for your Command attacks in regular gameplay. I can't tell if it's optional like a lot of Final Fantasy grind-reducing mechanisms, or mandatory like the $#&%ing Gummi Ships.

The fan translation goes on to suggest that Board Points control movement on the Command Board and you get them by rolling dice. Landing on event spaces triggers chance cards and special characters will somehow help you during the board game by jacking Board Points from your opponent.

Hm. Didn't Devil May Cry 4 have something like this...?

Oh, also, there's a new character that appears in the scanned page. His name is something like "Master Eraqus" in English and the scuttlebutt is that this is supposed to be "Square" backwards. You know, like Disney's "Yen Sid" character.

New Scan Shows off Apprentice's Master, Land of Departure, Command Board [Kingdom Hearts Insider]

358/2 Days tells the tale of Sora's Nobody Roxas from the time he first came into being up until he finds himself among friends at the beginning of the second PlayStation 2 Kingdom Hearts title. Roxas is a member of Organization XIII, undergoing missions to help the group restore Kingdom Hearts. Soon he begins learning more about himself and his friends, leading him to question the motives of the organization and ultimately guiding him on a path to becoming the boy we meet at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II.

It's the first Kingdom Hearts title for the Nintendo DS, and the first Kingdom Hearts title with multiplayer, but is it a game worthy of the name?

Loved
Behind The Scenes: A major factor in the success any prequel, or in this case, interquel, is how much it enhances the original titles. 358/2 Days takes a character with a large yet brief part in Kingdom Hearts II and fleshes him out in a way that gives you an entirely new appreciation for Kingdom Hearts II. Sure, the story doesn't always make perfect sense, and there are a few contradictions within the twisting plot, but the character development alone is enough to change the way you experience the second game in the series. I have to admit: I cried when Sora returned in KHII. After playing through this game, I can easily imagine my tiny black heart breaking.

The Panel Puzzle: I am completely in love with Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days' panel customization system. Basically you have a grid, and on that grid you can slot powers, abilities, items, weapons - everything you need to power up your character. If you need to level up, you slot a level up panel. Need to level up more? Slot an oddly-shaped level multiplier onto the board and your +1 level panels suddenly become +2 level panels. Every aspect of your character's skills are handled in this manner, and different missions call for different powers and abilities. Once you get several odd-shaped panel frames in your inventory it almost becomes a puzzle where you see what powers you can fit together for the highest level of effectiveness. This is exactly the sort of micro-management I love in an RPG.

Ready, Fight!: Combat in 358/2 Days took me by surprise. I was expecting something like a simplified version of the console games' fighting engine or a clumsy facsimile, but I was delighted to find a system that manages to give you all the functionality of those titles while being tailored specifically to take advantage of the Nintendo DS control scheme. Once you get the hang of assigning shortcuts, switching between magic, items, and abilities feels like a little less of a hassle than it did with its PlayStation 2 cousins. The addition of Limit Breaks you can unleash when your health gets too low is also very much appreciated.

So Much To Do: Between story missions, optional missions, challenge missions, and the Mission Mode itself, there is plenty to do in Kingdom Hearts 358/2. There are treasure chests to collect, high scores to beat, time attacks - just a whole slew of content. The mission-based format of the game also suits the Nintendo DS rather well, making this a perfect game to pick up when you have a spare moment, run through a few missions, and then put back down again. Between the content and the portability, this is easily a title I could see myself playing for weeks if not months...if I didn't have to review it.

Mission Mode: While I sadly did not have the opportunity to play through the Mission Mode with friends, it's easy to see how it would be a hell of a lot of fun just by playing through the missions in single-player mode. Mission Mode starts you off with your choice of Organization XIII members, allowing you to experience first-hand some of the unique weapons and abilities they possess. Up to four players can link up and play together, competing for points, or you can play through it on your own as I was forced to. Playing as key villains from Kingdom Hearts II is guilty pleasure enough to recommend the mode, and once you start unlocking old friends it gets even better.

One Fine-Looking DS Title: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days features some of the best 3D graphics I've seen on the Nintendo DS. To the hardcore graphics whore it might not look like much, but the fluid movement of the characters and the amount of detail Square Enix managed to maintain without the game slowing down noticeably is quite impressive.

Hated
Camera Concerns: I spent far too much time being trapped in corners while being attacked by enemies that were off screen then I generally like to while playing through Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. I suppose it's the sort of issue you're bound to run into when you've got so many functions to map and so few buttons. To their credit, the developers did include a secondary control method that allows you to map the camera to the left and right shoulder buttons, but that method means you have to hit both shoulders to fire off shortcuts, which can lead to some confusion.

Recycled Assets: Maybe you have to be a big Kingdom Hearts fan for it to matter, but I was supremely disappointed when I fired up the game and heard Hikaru Utada's "Sanctuary" ("Passion" in Japan) was the opening theme. It set the tone for a game that recycles a great deal of the music and art from the console titles. It's not that the music and art are bad - I just would have liked a little more new material in the game.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is effectively the Kingdom Hearts version of Final Fantasy VII's Crisis Core. It features the same sort of mission-based gameplay, perfect for pick up and put down portable play; a protagonist that is relatively similar to the series' main character; and it tells a side story that, while not entirely necessary, serves to give players a more complete look at the story behind the games. Like Crisis Core, the game does take some gambles when it comes to core gameplay mechanics, but on the whole those gambles pay off, creating an experience that is at once fresh and familiar.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days presents a lost chapter in the Kingdom Hearts saga in a way that will leave Nintendo DS owners feeling completely satisfied, save the sudden craving for sea-salt ice cream.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was developed by Square Enix and h.a.n.d. and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS on September 29th. Retails for $39.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through single-player story on default difficulty. Tried each of the available characters in Mission Mode single-player.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Game Informer, as part of their epic Epic Mickey coverage, reconfirm that the game is a Wii "exclusive." Given that the game appears to feature a mechanic that's reliant on motion control, rumored to let Mickey Mouse paint and erase the environment, how could it possibly come to anything else?

Epic Mickey Coming Exclusively To Wii [Game Informer]

Disney's Epic Mickey is also the subject of the latest issue of GameInformer magazine, which should appear in subscribers' mailboxes starting next week.

The Wii game, said to be a Mickey Mouse platformer that involves the painting and erasing of levels, a struggle by Disney's lower caste of characters to dethrone the mouse.

Based on the cover art from the latest GI, it looks that, if anything, Spector and crew have managed to create something visually intriguing, with the rumored gameplay mechanics only slightly less interesting.

GI also has a video interview with Spector up, in which he talks about his love for things Mickey Mouse. It's light on actual Epic Mickey game details, but heavy on Spector face time.

Warren Spector & Mickey Mouse [GameInformer]

According to the report:

The first thing I wanted to know was, is there a Tron video game in the works? Because so far, I haven't heard anything.

Steven did confirm that yes, there IS a video game in the works by Disney Interactive. He said he wasn't sure if he should mention it or not, but he's confirming it anyway.

Lisberger, who was interviewed at yesterday's D23 Expo, had no further details as far as consoles, the type of game, or its release window.

I've emailed PR contacts for Disney Interactive Studios to see if they want to clarify, refute or confirm Lisberger's comment.

Confirmed! There Will Be A Tron: Legacy Video Game! [The Latino Review, thanks william b.]

Looks like LEGO isn't the only toy line getting a piece of the Prince next year, with McFarlane Toys getting ready to roll out an army of PoP figures in May 2010, when the major motion picture hits theaters. Fans will be able to choose between 4 inch shirtless Jakes, 6 inch deluxe shirtless Jakes, deluxe shirtless horse box sets, a movie play set, or a replica plastic Dagger of Time, perfect for rewinding your more heinous mistakes, such as when you use the word shirtless so much it becomes uncomfortable.

Check out the full line up listing below, and prepare to be merchandised at.

STANDARD ACTION FIGURES (4-inch)

(Approximate Retail Price $7.99; Available May 2010)

With more than 12 points of articulation and character specific accessories, kids will have hours of fun recreating and playing out their favorite movie scenes. All figures fit with horse boxed sets and play sets (sold separately). The line includes two figures of Prince Dastan, a Warrior Dastan and a Desert Dastan, Zolm (Lead Hassansin), Ghazab (Double Bladed Halberd Hassansin) and Setam (Human Porcupine Hassansin)

DELUXE ACTION FIGURES (6-inch)

(Approximate retail price $9.99; Available May 2010)

Bringing to life the movie heroes and villains in this line, each figure is fully articulated and includes incredible costuming details and spring-loaded play action highlighting their unique weapons and accessories from the feature film. The 6-inch action figure line includes: two figure of Prince Dastan, a Warrior Dastan and a Desert Dastan, Zolm (Lead Hassansin), Ghazab (Double Bladed Halberd Hassansin)

HORSE BOXED SETS

(Approximate Retail Price $14.99; Available May 2010)

Your imagination leads the way for recreating favorite scenes with the 4-inch Horse Boxed Sets. Engage in battle with the adventurous Prince Dastan and his archenemies, the Hassansins. Each boxed sets includes a highly detailed battle horse with ornate exotic accessories and 4-inch articulated movie figure. Boxed Set line includes two sets: Prince Dastan with Aksh and Zolm (Lead Hassansin) with Akvan

MOVIE PLAY SET

(Approximate Retail Price $19.99; Available May 2010)

Bring home the fantastical world of "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" with McFarlane Toys highly detailed Alamut Gate Play Set. The set depicts a key action sequence from the feature film and contains unique play action features including a spring loaded rock launcher, secret compartments, hidden traps, slides and working cranks. The Alamut Gate play set includes a 4-inch action figure.

THE DAGGER OF TIME COLLECTIBLE

(Approximate Retail Price $9.99; Available May 2010)

The Dagger of Time is a powerful weapon, capable of allowing its owner to harness the power of the Sands of Time, and manipulate time itself. Your mission is to safeguard the ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time. Designed to appeal to collectors, the 10-inch Dagger of Time is sculpted in the exact size and ornate likeness of the movie weapon and features a jeweled handle that lights-up with a high power L.E.D., disappearing sand and soft vinyl blade.

Marvel Kingdom Hearts
Yeah, this one is easy. So easy that Kotakuite Goldenhearted already had the image above created before I even saved this article in my text editor. If Disney characters plus Final Fantasy character equals an awesome video game, just imagine what would happen if you thrown in Wolverine and Spider-Man - total freaking chaos. Realistically speaking, this is not a good idea for a game. This is, 'Oh, we have access to new characters, let's throw them in here.' Still, makes for a rather lovely mocked-up screenshot.

Marvel VS. Disney
Whenever you have two diverse sets of beloved characters, your first instinct is to throw them into a fighting arena and watch them kill each other. It's a universal truth, in effect ever since ancient Romans found themselves with a surplus of both lions and Christians. This is probably a title that will have to reside only in our collective imagination, as I cannot see Disney allowing anyone to create a game that involves punching Mickey Mouse. It's probably much better off in our heads anyway.

Marvel Disney WHAT IF... Downloadable Games
Owen was actually teasing me earlier with instant messages suggesting new stories for Marvel's WHAT IF... series of alternative reality comics, but after the first few it struck me as an extremely good idea...and not just from a Disney standpoint. Marvel's WHAT IF... series would make for an amazing downloadable game franchise. Add in Mickey and friends, and you've got pure gold. Here are a few of Owen's ideas:

WHAT IF ... Hannah Montana joined The Defenders?
WHAT IF ... Howard the Duck and Donald Duck Joined Forces?
WHAT IF ... Daredevil was trained by Darkwing Duck instead of Stick?

We could do this for hours. Days even.

image

Disney Characters Dressed as Marvel Superheroes in Let's Make a Billion Dollars Adventure Who needs the adorably super-deformed Marvel Super Hero Squad, when you can have Mickey Mouse dressed as Wolverine? You could take this concept, throw any old game around it, and sell millions of copy. Marvel Disney Heroes Kart Racing? Sold. Marvel Disney Heroes Table Tennis? I'll buy two copies. Donald Duck just stands around looking vaguely like Bruce Banner? Game of the Year. image

Ice Man / Walt Disney Marvel Team-Up
The rumors were true! Walt Disney World is incased in an icy prison, and it's up to X-Men founding member Iceman and the cryogenically-mutated Walt Disney to take down the evil forces of...does it really matter what evil forces they are fighting? Bobby Drake and Walt could pretty much kick anyone's ass, so feel free to insert your own evil force into the blank space there. Try to make it something hot, so we can make full use of the fire/ice puns at Disney's disposal.

You've probably gotten the idea by now, and that last one was a stretch of both the imagination and the boundaries of good taste, so we're going to turn this show over to you. When you wish upon a star, which Marvel/Disney crossover games do secretly yearn for?

Top image by Khary Randolph

"On the video game front, (Marvel) have some smart licensing agreements with some of the best video game manufacturers in the business," said Bob Iger, Disney's CEO. "While we have been steadily moving in the direction of video game integration, we don't rule out the blend of licensing and self-produced and distributed video games.

"As these licensing deals expire we have the luxury of considering what's best for the company and the products."

Earlier today, Disney announced that they were buying Marvel for $4 billion in cash and stock. The deal would give Disney ownership of Marvel's 5,000 characters. Currently both Activision and Sega publish games based on Marvel properties.

Under current deals with Marvel, Activision, Sega, Gazillion and THQ all have different licensing deals to make video games based on the comic company's characters.

Activision's deal with Marvel, which includes the Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Wolverine games, expires in 2017. Gazillion Entertainment's deal with Marvel, which includes several massively multiplayer online games, expires in 2019. Sega's deal with Marvel, which includes games based on Marvel movies, is described multi-year. The same is true of THQ's deal with Marvel, which includes video games based on Marvel's Super Hero Squad.

While video games are certainly an important part of Disney's acquisition of Marvel, there are plenty of other opportunities for both companies, including comics, toys and movies.

Speaking more generally Tom Staggs, Disney's senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, noted that Disney is well aware of Marvel's great potential and that Disney is looking into future potential characters that can be turned into other things, including movies and video games.

"As the current agreements in place sunset we will look to exploit the library of characters more broadly," Staggs said. "This is a big library of properties and we think there is real opportunity.We plan to evaluate where those opportunities are greatest and how we can leverage those across both Marvel and Disney."

Does that mean we're going to see future video games with Marvel and Disney characters in one title? I suspect not, with perhaps one major exception. But would involve getting Square Enix on board as well.

We have calls into all of the publishers with licensing contracts with Disney and will update as we hear back.

What games would you love or hate to see come out of this deal?

More than 5,000 iconic comic book characters will soon be in the hands of Disney, raising serious questions about the future of Marvel video game titles from Activision, Sega, THQ, and the upcoming MMO from Gazillion Entertainment. Under the terms of the agreement, Disney will pay Marvel shareholders $30 per share for their Marvel stock, plus .745 of a share of Disney stock for each share they own.

"This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories," said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney."

That's Disney's say on the matter, and here is Marvel's, from the official press release:

"Disney is the perfect home for Marvel's fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses," said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel's Chief Executive Officer. "This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney's tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world."

Both companies have approved the deal, though it still has to clear the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and various regulatory committees before it can be finalized. Once finalized, Marvel's Perlmutter will continue to oversee Marvel's properties, working with Disney to help integrate the two properties across multiple lines of business.

We're staying on top of the situation, with calls out to Disney, Marvel, Activision, THQ, and Sega for comment on what effects this move will have on Marvel-based video game properties.

Update: Disney discusses what this could mean for video games.

According to their sources, the game is indeed a Wii exclusive, and you will "paint your way through levels using the Wii Remote", doing things like drawing and erasing "whole parts of levels".

It'll be based around a story where Disney's lesser, forgotten characters rise up against Mickey, which would explain the emphasis on hot military action seen in the game's concept art.

Bear in mind we've yet to receive any kind of word on this game from Disney, so you may want to take it with a pinch of salt. Well, this info, at any rate; we're pretty sure the art is for real.

Epic Mickey details arise [CVG]

Headline kind of gives it away. The resume of another guy who's working on the game, Tony Pulham, says it's for the Wii. And since he's a concept designer, not a programmer or level artist, that makes it sound like there's only a Wii version.

Hopefully Nintendo's machine, and the team at Junction Point, can do that concept art justice.

[via Superannuation]