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Captain America Xbox 360 mod inspired by The Avengers assembled, photographed

David Hinkle — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 23:59:00 EST

The Avengers-inspired Captain America Xbox 360 S mod above was created by Zachariah Cruse, a self-professed fan of the Cap. The design itself looks simple, yet elegant. It's also really shiny.

Cruse put in a blue LED for the power button, mounted a shield on the side and adorned the opposite side with the famous A and wings that rest upon the brow of Captain America's mask. Sadly, Cruse doesn't go into much detail in his blog post on how intricate this mod really is - does the shield detach? Is the shield custom made or store-bought? Can we wear the shield as a hat? We have important questions that need answers!

Captain America Xbox 360 mod inspired by The Avengers assembled, photographed originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 10 Dec 2012 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth demo assembles on Xbox Live

David Hinkle — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EST

Ubisoft's Kinect-powered Hulk smash simulator Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth now has a free demo up on Xbox Live for Gold subscribers. The demo transports players to The Savage Land where they'll square off against Captain America Skrull and Magneto.

Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth launches on Xbox 360 on November 9 and will launch on the Wii U some time during the console's launch window, which runs up until March.

Gallery: Avengers: Battle for Earth (Demo)

Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth demo assembles on Xbox Live originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Avengers, Assemble! And Provide Commentary on Games!

Ludwig Kietzmann — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:15:00 EST

You're reading Reaction Time, a weekly column that claims to examine recent events, games and trends in the industry, but is really just looking for an excuse to use the word "zeitgeist." It debuts on Fridays in Engadget's digital magazine, Distro.

The world of popular culture was left awestruck last week after colliding with The Avengers, an extravagant, unavoidable glitter ball of an asteroid. The simultaneous sequel to five popular movies, The Avengers accrues a crew of incredible superheroes, including one that already claimed "incredible" as a capitalized adjective in his name.

You've got the irradiated scientist who grows out of his pants and into a green behemoth, a demigod who wields mythical hammers and perfect strands of L'Oréal hair with equal aplomb, a pouting assassin, a smart-ass billionaire encased in weaponized toasters, a guy with a bow, and Captain America, the patriotic straight arrow who might as well sit in the quiver of that other guy. The best part of the film is seeing how they all get along.

They do eventually, of course, because it's an entertaining arc and because together they have to navigate a spectacular gauntlet of alien invasion, non-depletable cosmic power sources and lots of other things that cost a fortune to render and/or blow up. There's an inescapable wave of critical condescension toward the audience whenever they sign up for unrealistic, "dumb" thrills en masse, but the reality is that certain movies - just like games - can't exist unless they spend their money in the right places. The Avengers, which essentially sneaks in a witty geek comedy when nobody's looking, has dollars whizzing by on the screen every second. Also, every dollar is on fire.

Continue reading Avengers, Assemble! And Provide Commentary on Games!

Avengers, Assemble! And Provide Commentary on Games! originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 May 2012 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth on Kinect and Wii U from Ubisoft

JC Fletcher — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:10:00 EST

Ubisoft and Marvel are partnering on an Avengers game for ... Kinect and Wii U? It's an unlikely pairing - the controller-free format and the format with a giant controller and an extraneous screen; but for a franchise that pairs a half-naked monster man with an armored plutocrat, perhaps it's appropriate.

Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth is in the works at Ubisoft Quebec, and will allow players to use motion controls to fight off the alien Skrull. "The idea that we're making a motion-control version of 'The Avengers' is a unique proposition if you compare that to superhero games of the past," said Ubisoft marketing VP Tony Key, as reported by the Washington Post. "This is the perfect type of game for that because these characters are very action oriented. They're always fighting and throwing things." Those rowdy kids.

As suggested by the Skrull invasion storyline, the game deviates from the movie, instead drawing from the "Secret Invasion" comic crossover event, which featured Skrulls posing as Earth superheroes.

Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth on Kinect and Wii U from Ubisoft originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 10 May 2012 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If The Avengers ever has a video game tie-in, we hope it's not like this

Jessica Conditt — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:30:00 EST

We're warring with ourselves over the lack of a movie tie-in game for The Avengers, much like Tony Stark and Steve Rogers fight with each other in the beginning of the Avengers initiative, each representing opposing yet valid spectrums of morality, society and technology. And that's the problem - The Avengers movie is so good that we can relate everything in our daily lives back to the most faint of plot points and imagined superhero thought processes. It's also the reason we're disappointed that there's no Avengers video game.

But movie games are always terrible, right? It probably would have been rushed, stilted and dumbed-down for a (much) wider audience.

Actually, Steve, it probably would have been fantastic, as this pre-alpha footage from a canceled THQ game demonstrates.

Well, Tony, that could merely be programmers editing the computer-generated graphics with software and codes to make the game appear better than it actually is.

Steve, stop quoting Bruce. You sound like a man who's been frozen for 70 years. Oh wait.

Shut up. At least the humorous video at the top of this page isn't real.

For once, Cap, we agree on something. And there's always this potential Ubisoft title, Avengers: Battle for Earth. But it's not called Avengers: Iron Man is Obviously the Best, so I'm ignoring that one too. Cheers.

...Cheers.

If The Avengers ever has a video game tie-in, we hope it's not like this originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 06 May 2012 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Domain registered for 'Avengers: Battle for Earth,' all signs point to Ubisoft

Jordan Mallory — Sat, 05 May 2012 11:30:00 EST

Look, we're gonna level with you: We need more of Joss Whedon's The Avengers in our lives. We need more Captain America suspenders, more Sammy-J eye patch and more Scar-Jo everything. That new Pinball FX 2 table kinda helps, but its not really the explosive licensed tie-in gaming experience our bodies are craving.

There is hope, however, as a domain for Avengers: Battle for Earth has been registered by Marvel (via brand protection company MarkMonitor) and is currently parked on a Ubisoft server, according to whois data unearthed by the URL sleuths at Fusible.

As there have been no official announcements of any sort, the chances of Avengers: Battle for Earth being a super high-octane movie tie-in blockbuster are just as good as it being some sort of social farming/drawing/word search cash in for iOS and/or Facebook. We're keeping our fingers crossed for the first option, but at this point we'll take what we can get.

Domain registered for 'Avengers: Battle for Earth,' all signs point to Ubisoft originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 05 May 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Avengers game in limbo as Marvel mulls over licensing

Ludwig Kietzmann — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:10:00 EST

Speaking to Gamespot, Marvel has confirmed that the video game rights to "The Avengers" IP have reverted back to the company, enabling it to explore "potential publishing and licensing opportunities."

Marvel's film division is on the verge of successfully concluding a multi-year plan to bring its greatest heroes, The Avengers, together in a blockbuster outing. Directed by Joss Whedon and scheduled to smash cinemas in May 2012, The Avengers is preceded and supported by films centered on each of the team's most prominent individuals. And alongside each of those films has been a tie-in game. Marvel's film strategy and culmination was mirrored by game publishers with Thor, Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America games -- right until The Avengers climax was canceled behind the scenes.

Presumed to be in the hands of THQ's now-shuttered Australian studio (one of many victims in THQ's shift away from licensed titles), The Avengers looked to be a first-person action game starring an irradiated scientist, a cocky technologist, a norse god, a temporally misplaced super soldier and some guy with a bow. Whether that blueprint will survive or transfer to a new publisher is a question that won't be answered fully until Marvel confirms a new licensor.

With the movie due in 2012 and the marketing guys insisting on synergy, there's very little time to start over and develop a quality game -- so, probably plenty of time to develop an average licensed game.

(With an apologetic nod to the decent Captain America: Super Soldier.)

The Avengers game in limbo as Marvel mulls over licensing originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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