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Lots of huge video game news this year at Comic Con, and for me personally, the most exciting, but at the same time the most frightening, news was the teaser poster for the video game tie-in to next year’s Green Lantern movie.

Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters. If you look in the side of the ring you can catch a glimpse of the Manhunters themselves. As a Green Lantern fan I’m absolutely ecstatic about finally getting a GL game, but I’m terrified at the idea of a Green Lantern movie game. The title of the game suggests that it will have its own unique story, differing from the main plot of the film, similar to Superman Returns or Iron Man 2, which I like, but what I don’t like is putting any game in the same category as Superman Returns or Iron Man 2. Those two games are perfect examples of sloppy boring movie games, and my biggest fear is that Rise of the Manhunters will become “Green Lantern Returns” with the same lame and repetitive beat ’em up and racing missions. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has all the opportunity in the world to make this game awesome, but I just wish I had faith in them to do that. I guess not every superhero game can be like Batman Arkham Asylum, right?

For DC games with zero ties to any film, things are looking absolutely amazing. A six minute cinematic trailer for DC Universe Online debuted at Comic Con and holy freakin’ jeez, this thing blew me away. If you haven’t seen it, watch it here RIGHT NOW! DC fan or not, if you love awesome superhero action and drama, this is a must see. It’s like a nasty naughty video for my perverted little inner fanboy. The trailer seems to set up the story for DCUO, and if the gameplay didn’t look awesome enough already, the story looks to be solid and interesting, if a little too familiar or over used. I won’t spoil the details for you. WATCH THE TRAILER! Also, it’s great to hear Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill back in their roles as Batman and the Joker. Too bad they couldn’t get Clancy Brown and Tim Daly for Lex Luthor and Superman. WATCH IT!

Green Lantern wasn’t the only movie based video game talked about at Comic Con. A teaser trailer for Sega’s Thor game tie-in was shown (see it here), and while the two seconds of in-game modeling we saw looked kinda cool, I have absolutely no faith in this game even being decent, especially after Sega’s last two Iron Man games.

But in some more positive Thor news, Thor and Amaterasu from Capcom’s game Okami were the next two playable characters for Marvel vs. Capcom 3. You can see trailers for both characters here. It’s great to see Thor in the game, especially since he was left out of the last two version of the game, and Amaterasu is a given with all of Capcom’s new blood surfacing in great games over the last ten years.

Speaking of the MvC3 roster, an interesting rumor has surfaced. Apparently, a user of a French gaming site saved some source code from Capcom’s Japanese site, which revealed the game’s entire roster of playable characters. While there is a huge chance that this is completely fake, and I don’t like to invest much in internet rumors, it’s still fun to speculate.

Marvel
Spider-Man
Wolverine
Captain America
Thor
Hulk
Deadpool
Iron Man
War Machine
Elektra
Mr. Fantastic
Dr. Doom
Super Skrull
She Hulk
X-23
Magneto
Emma Frost
Taskmaster
Juggernaut
Shuma-Gorath

Capcom
Ryu
Mike Haggar
Chuck
Spencer
Dante
Chris Redfield
Morrigan
Arthur
Amaterasu
Albert Wesker
Zero
Chun-li
Viewtiful Joe
Trish
Tron Bonne
Hsien-Ko
Akuma
Felicia

Anyone else super excited about Mr. Fantastic? Or am I the only one?

As promised, the fourth Spider-Man universe for Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions was revealed, and I could not be more disappointed. As I feared, the fourth Spider-Man is Ultimate Spider-Man. So, to me, with the exception of few differences, we’re basically getting two of the same Spider-Man. The Noir and 2099 Spidys are significantly different and unique and great additions, but Ultimate Spidy? What’s really setting him apart from 616 Spider-Man? Well, voice actors for one thing, and probably the only exciting part about Ultimate Spider-Man in Shattered Dimensions. Neil Patrick Harris will be providing the voice work for Ultimate Web Head, and that’s the only thing about the Bendis Spider-Man I’m happy with right now.

On a lighter Shatter Dimensions note, Activision released two videos featuring the Juggernaut and the 2099 version of Scorpion. They’re pretty cool. See them here. Also, depending on where you plan on pre-ordering Shattered Dimensions, you’ll be getting a special code for unlockable costumes. Scarlet Spider-Man, Negative Zone Spider-Man, Armored Spidy, and Mangaverse Spidy are all potentially playable.

Strangely, once again there has been no word on the next Batman Arkham Asylum game. Absent from E3 last month, I was sure Arkham Asylum 2 would show up in some fashion at Comic Con, but I was wrong. I think anyone still hoping for that November 2010 release date can stop holding their breath, because it would seem like we’re not getting another Batman for quite a while. I’m just curious what the hold up is for WBIE to at least show us a new trailer or a bit of gameplay. I mean, as bad as I want the game, I want them to take as long as they need to make it perfect, but surely enough progress has been made to show us something, right? The first trailer debuted at last year’s Spike TV Scream Awards, so perhaps we’ll get another taste at this year’s Scream Awards.

Regardless, it was a good Comic Con for games. Lots of great stuff for comics fans to look forward to over the next year. Here’s to San Diego Comic Con 2011, where we’ll see a preview for the Marvel Ultimate Alliance rip-off that will serve as the Avengers movie tie-in game!

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Andrew Hurst
andrewhurst@comicattack.net