Everyone loves Ryan Reynolds Deadpool, don't they? The simple fact that he Shoryuken'd Kitty Pride in front of Logan (Snikt me! Snikt me!) wins instant cool points in my book. Here's a bit of treat for all you guys thinking in yellow boxes: a Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 trailer starring none other than the Merc with the Mouth himself. Yeah, fine, there are cameos of the other characters - Captain America, Iron Fist, Hulk - but whoooo caaaaares?! I'd have Deadpool Dragon Punch the lot of them if I had the choice!

It's already impressive for someone to get a Guinness World Record, but it's even more impressive to beat one's own Guinness record. And that's what Chris Chike did with his own record, as he scored even higher in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, PC, and PS2) in the recent Play N Trade National Guitar Hero Tournament. Read more in the full article!

As current top publisher, Activision kept a strong momentum at the Leipzig convention this week, announcing a trio of delights for gamers around the world. In addition to revealing the release dates of Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PlayStation 3, Windows PC on DVD, Xbox 360), the publisher also unveiled the international track list for Red Octane's Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii) and raised curtains on a new game for the James Bond franchise.

November 5 is the shipping date for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare toward Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 consoles and Windows PCs worldwide, while a Nintendo DS version was hinted to be coming soon. Guitar Hero fans in non-U.S. and UK-specific regions will receive a collection of tracks from artists all around the world, which include the following (and not necessarily limited to):

• Minus Celsius by Backyard Babies
• Hier Kommt Alex by Die Toten Hosen
• In the Belly of a Shark by Gallows
• I’m in the Band by The Hellacopters
• Avalancha by Heroes Del Silencio
• Take This Life by In Flames
• Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs
• Closer by Lacuna Coil
• Generation Rock by Revolverheld
• Mauvais Garcon by NAAST
• Radio Song by Superbus

And with the James Bond franchise in Activision's hands, the publisher has announced that a new 007 game is currently in development by Treyarch, Beenox, and Vicarious Visions for next-generation consoles, Windows PCs, and handhelds, respectively. No other details have been release as of press time, but keep your attention glued to this space for more developments.

Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (PS3)]
Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3)]
Buy: [Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC)]
Buy: [Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360)]

 

An opinion article written by none other than the co-founder and manager of New York-based Vicarious Visions (responsible for id's Doom 3 for Xbox), Karthik Bala and Guha Bala, stressed that the New York legislation on games were in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution.

"In fact, nine federal courts in the last six years have ruled that legislation in other states substantially similar to what is being proposed in New York violates free speech protections," they said. And each time, these proposed legislations were eventually held back and questioned in the end.

But the legislators and their proposal don't go down without a fight, which stems new concern on the necessary spending to defend the statutes of each legislation. Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' money, according to the developers, is used by the legislative bodies to continue pressing the proposal for approval.

"Several states and municipalities have been ordered to pay more than US$ 1.7 million to the video game industry for legal fees," they said. And they do believe that New York is still hard-pressed to recover from its economic losses. The state could not afford, said Bala, to enact the new proposal and then defend it against human rights violations.

The Jolly Green Giant is back. Nope, not the Hulk (Ultimate Alliance has him), but the "other" guy - Shrek's back again, and if you haven't seen the trailer yet, you might wanna check it out.

Activision's just announced the lineup of development studios that will be backing the game up as Shrek the Third makes its multi-platform launch in May - just enough time for you to see them movie version when it hits theatres this March.

Here's the developers:

• Shaba Games is handling the console release (Xbox 360, PS2, Wii).
• Vicarious Visions is handling the DS and GBA releases.
  
• Amaze Entertainment is handling the PSP release.
  
• Beenox is handling the PC release.
  

As for the game and movie's story: Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) have to stand in as rulers for the Far Far Away kingdom when its heir disappears.

For them to return to their swamp, Shrek, Donkey (Eddie Murphy), and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) must go on a journey to find the lost heir, all the while as Fiona defends the Far Far Away Kingdom from a coup d 'etat launched by Prince Charming (Rupert Everett).

If you do enough research, you'd find out that a lot of interpretations of the Thunder God Thor are quite the opposite of Marvel Ultimate Alliance's lean mean, take-no-prisoners-because-I'm-bad-ass-yet-cool-and-suave Thor. Take this as an example: Neil Gaiman's Thor was a big drunkard who's most famous for the lines: "Want to rub my hammer? it grows."

The Thor in the video below is no dolt. He's no buffoon. He's lean, mean, and can fly over his opponents and then smash them to bits with that electric hammer of his.

From the looks of this high-def character trailer, Raven Soft, Vicarious Vision, and Activision did a good job at taking advantage of the power of the seventh-gen. The glows and the light effects look nice, especially the light from the electric bolts the Thor uses to barbecue foes.

Check out the video below and see The Mighty Thor fry, fly, and smash. The game will also be out for the PSP, the PS3, and the Xbox 360.

Download [Marvel Ultimate Alliance Thor HD Video]

November 16, 2006 just feels like such a long wait, especially now that developers Raven Software and Vicarious Visions along with publisher Activision have released a bunch of high-definition character previews for their action-adventure role-playing game, Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The one we have available for download below is for our favourite wall-crawling, wisecracking, trash-talking, upside-down kissing, geek turned hero, Spidey!

The video features a few of his moves. Most notable is the one where he kicks an opponent into the air, suspends him from the ceiling via webbing, and then treats him the same way a boxer would a punching bag. Fun stuff, people. It also has a few snippets of cutscenes we might be seeing in the 7th gen versions of the game.

Almost makes you want to sing doesn't it?

Spider-man... Spider-man... Does whatever a spider can. Spins a web any size. Catches thieves just like flies. Look out, here comes the Spiderman. Is he strong? Listen bud, he's got radioactive blood. Can he swing from a thread ? Take a look overhead. Hey, there! There goes the Spider-man!

Watch the video, much coolness.

Download [Marvel Ultimate Alliance Spider-man HD Video]