So, would you rather watch a Uwe Boll movie or a low-budget fan-made movie? I'd go for the latter any day, if you ask me! Check out this trailer for a fan-made live-action movie for Mega Man. Pretty impressive, actually - considering it's got a budget of, like say, just as much as two hundred Happy Meals would cost.

Movie director Michael Bay, known for the recent successes of The Transformers and Bad Boys II, has been very vocal when it comes to the on-going format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray. 

His latest "theory" about this is nothing short of controversial. According to him, Microsoft is not really for the HD DVD format. Bay reasoned the current format war is nothing but a diversion to create confusion among consumers. More on this after the jump!

Activision has announced that Traveller's Tales' Transformers: The Game (DS, PC, PSP, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) has finally rolled out to retail stores nationwide. The game's release has been timed to coincide with the theatrical release of the Transformers live-action film.

"Transformers: The Game lets you choose your side – Autobots or Decepticons – to either protect or destroy Earth," said Will Kassoy, senior vice president of global brand management, Activision, Inc.

"The game features fully destructible environments, an army of playable characters, split second changes from robot to vehicle form and a storyline that goes beyond the film to include some elements from the property’s long history that will also appeal to Generation 1 fans."

The new Transformers movie is so close we could almost smell it. Many fans who followed the series during the 1980's have bow grown up, but the inner child is as strong as ever and nobody who ever watched the cartoons should ever miss the impending spectacle that is the movie. The game tie-in, aptly called Transformers: The Game, has been looked at with doubt by a lot of fans lately.

Call it the stigma of movies with game tie-ins that never live up to the hype. Publisher Activision and developer Traveller's Tales, however, plan to break that cycle by giving fans exactly what they want: mayhem and next-gen graphics. With a framework in mind, they embarked on an ambitious project.

There were three main considerations at the core of development. First is scale - the robots have to move and interact with the environments in accordance with their sizes. Second is destruction, which we will see a lot of in both the movie and the game. Pure mindless fun is always good and the devs know that. Third is transformation: It's not enough to come up with a digitally remastered version of the bizarre but addictive sound the Transformers make when they change forms. The developers recognize that metamorphosis will be scrutinized so they threw in everything they have to put in as much eye candy to the sequences as possible.

One of the developers even said that he found transforming so aesthetically fulfilling that he wanted to transform again and again just to see the animation. We hope the transformations don't look that good or it might make players everywhere transform in tight situations and get killed in the process. In any case, we're all very excited about this project and we do hope it lives up to the expectations of everyone waiting intently for its release.

In an interview with Game Daily, Activision's Daniel Suarez, executive producer of Transformers: The Game (for the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DS, PSP, Wii), gave some details as to what people could expect from another movie to game adaptation, especially from one movie that is anticipated to be a big hit come July.

However skeptical many gamers may be of another Activision movie-licensed game, Suarez reassured gamers and fans of the franchise that Hollywood now understands how the game development process works and no longer just sees a game as another licensed consumer product to bring in the big bucks.

Having worked at both Vivendi and Disney Interactive, Suarez believes he has seen Tinsel Town's perspective of the video game change for the better. He added:

Video games are no longer considered another licensed consumer product like a coffee cup or beach towel like they were about 10 years ago. Film makers, studio executives and nearly everyone involved in the production, marketing and promotion of a film are now gamers or have kids who are gamers.

So in essence, the movie makers would love their children to enjoy the fruits of their movie work, especially over video games. Often trying to meet at a point beneficial to both the movie and the game, the game developers and the movie producers closely collaborate to meet the objectives of the developers in making a perceptively great game - hopefully just as great as the movie.

Technology especially helped Hasbro, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount, and Bay Films share assets in the film and integrate them as authentically as possible in the game. In fact, Activision already made efforts to bring G1 into the modern mix, after announcing the sign up of the original voice cast of the animated series for Transformers: The Game.

But if Spider-Man 3: The Game was any indication opposing Suarez's opinion, well, we won't be surprised if the game isn't more than what the eye already sees.

Activision may have officially announced the signing up of Peter Cullen and Frank Welker to offer their voice talents of the game, but fans of Generation One (G1) of the lovable "Transformers" can rest assured that even the original voice actors of the many memorable bots of the 80s cartoon series will also provide their voices to Transformers: The Game.

Coming from an official press release just made available lately, the news is that Activision also signed up voice talents from the original animated series to create a game that speaks to both modern day and G1 fans. Activision has not called out any names in particular, but The Hollywood Reporter has caught Activision in meeting with G1 voice actors Keith David and Mark Ryan to reprise the voices of Barricade and Iron Hide, respectively.

Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox will join up with Cullen and Welker to fill in the dialogue of their respective characters in the movie for the game adaptation headed to the PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, PSP, DS and the PC. To keep authenticity to the maximum, Activision even had Flint Dille, the writer of the cartoon series, pen the story of the game, which is under development by developer studios Vicarious Visions and Traveller's Tales.

 

Speaking to the FiringSquad, Traveller's Tales' Callum Godfrey, producer of Transformers: The Game, revealed several details about their upcoming videogame version of the silver screen adaptation.

Okay, first up, game mode details. Godfrey says that the game runs two campaigns, one for Autobots and one for Decepticons. He adds that while the Autobots campaign follows the movie story closely, the Decepticons campaign is a bit altered.

He adds that the missions are themed for each campaign, so expect to do a lot of protecting when playing Autobots. The stage design of each mission also factor in the fact that you can transform into vehicles, so expect to do some driving around.

There will be 9 playable characters including Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Barricade, and Blackout, among others. As far as the weapons the characters will be using, Godfrey says that it will be similar to the movie.

When it comes to using the weapons, Godfrey notes that they have a targeting system that should allow gamers to switch quickly from one target to the next. They use the same targeting system for melee and ranged combat.

As we've previously reported, the game features the voices of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Frank Welker as Megatron, so that's a nice nod to the franchise's history. Godfrey himself says that the inclusion of the voice actors makes them happy about their project.

Sadly, the game does not support online multiplayer .

Transformers: The Game should be available this June for North America, and this coming Summer for the EU region. It is set to come out for the PS3, the Xbox 360, the Wii, the PS2, and the PC.

Optimus Prime and Megatron are all set for a happy reunion for the multiplatformer game version of the classic 80s cartoon, Transformers. The voice actors, that is.

Yep, it's been confirmed. Prime voice actors Peter Cullen and Frank Welker have given their nods to reprise their roles as Autobots leader, Optimus Prime, and Decepticons head bot, Megatron for Transformers: The Game. And it was a very smart decision to make on the part of Activision, indeed. Says Activision's production head Laird Malamed, "As Transformers fans, we knew the importance of having the well-known voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron in the game."

Transformers: The Game is set to head out to retail stores this summer, with Traveller's Tales doing the work for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, and PC version. Meanwhile, Savage Entertainment is working at the helm for the PlayStation Portable version, and Vicarious Visions is responsible for the development of the DS versions.

So, while those companies are still busy tuning up them bots for Transformers: The Game, why don't you go check out this clip from the original Transformers series, where Optimus Prime and Megatron engages in a heated up battle? With the 80's rock music having that cheesy signature 80s lead guitar riffs playing in the background, this is sure to be one big blast from the past.

 

There's a new interview about the Transformers game, courtesy of Superhero Hype, and they've got the goods on the games' features, confirming some of the earlier information we had regarding the game and adding some new info on top as well.

For the most part, one of the new bits of information we've heard is that this game will start off with nine playable Transformers, which are probably the staples from the movie. You can unlock a host of other characters through play, and though we've mentioned a maximum of 20 characters previously, there may be more or less depending on what their production team manages to cook up. These characters are all supposed to have their own individual movesets, so don't expect Bumblebee to play like Megatron, because Bumblebee certainly doesn't have the same brawling capabilities of the leader-type bots.

More importantly, they also note additional details  on the questing system set up for Activision and Hasbro's new baby. Daniel Suarez, Activision's executive producer, notes that there'll be two different storylines depending on the type of bot you bring to battle:

If the player decides to be the good guy, then their adventure will focus on the key plot points of the film where they come to Earth and are pitted against the Decepticons.

On the flipside, if the player decides to be evil and picks the Decepticons, the game story is uniquely different and answers the question, "What if the Decepticons win?" All the events in the Decepticons campaign never occur in the film and were created specifically for the game.

All in all, there's no reason to complain. Any game that lets you play a maniacal Decepticon hell-bent on blowing things up and ruling mankind deserves a healthy vote of confidence from gamers. Oh, and there's Megatron too.

 

It looks like Activision is really building up the hype over Transformers: The Game. They have released one (yes, one) screen of the movie tie-in. We don't usually cover single-screened updates but such is the anticipation for this 80s icon that we can't possibly ignore the teeniest bit of news about it (that or we're just goaded by the voice of ultimate Transformers geekdom).

The movie will hit the silver screen this July, though there hasn't been any announcements regarding the game's release. Check out the solitary screen, can you tell which Autobot it is? (insert Jeopardy theme here.) It's Bumblebee. Remember that VW Bug? Yeah, that Volkswagen Beetle. He's been upgraded into a Chevrolet Camaro in the live action movie.

Activision hints on more Transformers: The Movie info and possibly a proper unveiling. Stay tuned.