Gameinfowire.com has screenshots from the Wanted video game, due later this year from Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

The third-person action game, which picks up where the movie leaves off, features moves like “curving bullets” and “Assassin Time.”

Mike Schramm at Joystiq got the chance to play a little bit of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe during the big E3 event this week:

The game looks really nice so far, but “so far” is the operative phrase there — the game is far from done. There are only six fighters in the game we played: Flash, Superman and Batman represent the comic book side, while Scorpion, Sub-zero, and Sonya are in from the MK series. Catwoman, Sheng Tsung, Captain Marvel, and Liu Kang have been announced as well, but Lebaron told us that Midway probably won’t have your favorite character Zatanna in the game — he says they’re sticking pretty mainstream with their character choices for now. And unfortunately, they don’t have full access to the DC Universe. “We can’t do Bizarro as an alternate costume to Superman,” he said as an example, “there are licensing things to deal with.” But the benefit there is that by sticking to the mainstream DC superheroes, they can make sure to get all the standard moves in there, and a few more.

Character shots for Catwoman, Flash, Sonya Blade and Sheng Tsung can be found after the jump.

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I should have done one of these yesterday, but I didn’t and now I’m paying for it. So this one is going to be extra long. In this addition: a Pop Candy meet-up, Entertainment Weekly’s awesome panel schedule, Dark Horse signing schedule with extra Whedon, Electronic Arts, 007, Michael Golden, the BBC, free WiFi, Knight Rider and much more!

As always, you can send me your con activities any time between now and when it starts, and I’ll post them here.

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The Comic-Con website says the show will offer free WiFi this year, sponsored by the movie Eagle Eye:

Free Wi-Fi at Comic-Con!
Dreamworks Pictures’ Eagle Eye, starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan, is proud to be the official sponsor of Comic-Con Free Wi-Fi. Be sure to see Eagle Eye, in theaters September 26th.

Free Wi-Fi is available in all areas of the Convention Center except the Exhibit Hall.

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Whitney Matheson at USA Today’s Pop Candy blog is hosting a meetup in San Diego on the Saturday of the con. You can find more details on the meetup — as well as the really sweet promotional artwork Keith Simmons painted (pictured above — over on Pop Candy.

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So why was there no video game to tie in with the release of the Wanted film? Dunno if there’s a good answer to that question, beside “It just wasn’t ready yet.” Per a press release today, Universal does have a game in production — and have since early 2007 — that’s due later this year.

You can check out the complete release after the jump.

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E3, the big video game show, is going on in L.A. this week (which is why we’ve had new trailers over the last few days). Here’s a quick rundown of news and tidbits from the show:

– Joystiq has a report up from the Activision panel at E3, which included licensed games for Wolverine:Origins, Quantum of Solace and the next Transformers movie, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and the second Ultimate Alliances game, Fusion:

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Fusion. The “fusion” is a mixture of character’s powers for even better powers. Cue trailer. Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-man. “An astonishing number of powers.” Iron Man starts to combine his laser beams with the Invisible Woman’s forcefield. But we don’t see what happens next … and it’s going to kill us not to know.

– ComicMix covers the premiere of DC Universe Online. Jim Lee attended and spoke about his love for video games:

“When I was a kid, my parents wanted me to become a doctor and follow in my father’s footsteps. Meanwhile, I wanted to read comic books, and even started my own comic book line. As far as my other obsession? I remain an avid gamer today. Hooked on MMOs and even started playing Everquest on launch day. I was the first Paladin to get Fire Avenger.”

– MTV reports on Sony’s God of War III announcement. (Wohoo!)

– And speaking of Sony, they also announced a Playstation 2 bundle that would include Lego Batman and the New Frontier DVD. And even though the PS3 is out, they still plan to release 130 games in 2008.

You can find video of the Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony press conferences, as well as a whole lot more content, on the official E3 website.

Like the Ultimate Alliance 2 trailer I posted earlier, this is coming out of the big E3 video game show in New York Los Angeles. Unlike the Ultimate Alliance trailer, this has a lot more to it …

With trailers and gee-gaws galore. Here’s what the press release had to say:

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is pleased to announce the launch of the official LEGO Batman: The Videogame website and the brand new game trailer!

The LEGO Batman: The Videogame website is a portal to the heart of Gotham City. Choose your side — Hero or Villain — as you explore the streets of Gotham and uncover the city’s secrets. Visitors will find a collection of screenshots and videos, as well information on many of Gotham’s notorious criminals and brave heroes. Dig a little further and you will find all-new and exclusive downloads, such as customizable wallpapers, desktop widgets and screensavers.

We’re just a little more than a week away from the San Diego Comic-Con. Last night the meters measuring how many badges they had left were getting dangerously close to being sold out, so I imagine they’ll be gone soon.

Also, the official signing schedule is up … these are the signings that the con arranges and puts in the special autograph area, so it doesn’t include all the signings they’ll be having at booths on the floor.

If you’re a creator, publisher, company or any other entity that’s exhibiting at the San Diego Comic-Con, there’s still time to send in your update. I’ll likely be doing these reports right up until the show starts. So send’em on over.

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Mattel will have several folks signing at their booth during the convention, including Keith Giffen, who will be signing the exclusive Lobo figure they’ll have at the show:

–Four Horsemen (Jim Preziosi, Eric “Cornboy” Mayse, Eric Treadaway and Chris Dahlberg) - Famous action figure sculptors, responsible for Mattel’s DC Universe Classics and Masters of the Universe action figures (Thursday – Saturday, 1 p.m.)
–Keith Giffen - Appearing courtesy of DC Comics, creator of “Lobo” (Thursday and Friday, 2 p.m.)
–Frank Varela – Mattel Graphic/Concept artist (Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m.)
–Emiliano Santalucia - Cover artist on the recent Masters of the Universe animated series (Thursday and Saturday, 3 p.m.)
–Brandt Peters and Kathie Olivias - Husband/Wife team, VW Bus Artists (Friday, 3 p.m.)
–Greg Smikins - VW Bus Artist (Saturday, 2 p.m.)
–Mattel Executives - Available for interviews regarding Hot Wheels® and much more (throughout show)

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Via joystiq come several new screen shots from the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe game … which will include Catwoman, as shown above.

EW.com had the first glimpse last week of Poison Ivy and Bruce Wayne from the upcoming LEGO Batman: The Video Game, but now Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has released screenshots of both characters. GayGamer has more.

The game is set to debut in September.

If you were to ask me who my favorite critic of the moment was, I’d probably answer Yahtzee Crowshaw, the snarky, rapid-fire voice and wacom tablet behind Zero Punctuation, a weekly animated video that viciously dissects various video games.

This being a comic book blog, I haven’t had much opportunity or cause to link to any of Yahtzee’s hilariously insightful videos. Now I finally do, as he takes to task the “plague” of gaming Webcomics that currently sprawl across the Internet. Merriment at the expense of others ensues.

Just the other day Kevin gave an update on DC Universe Online, and now the game has its own MySpace page with screenshots and this video, which offers a look at Jim Lee’s concept art for the game:

DCUO Concept Art - First Look DCUO Concept Art

EW.com has first-look video of two new characters from the highly anticipated LEGO Batman: The Video Game: Poison Ivy and … some really fast guy with a briefcase.

The game is set to debut in September.

Sony Online Entertainment’s anticipated DC Universe Online will be a blend of traditional MMO and first-person action console games.

Some of the details are revealed in the current issue of U.K.’s Edge magazine, and summarized by Eurogamer.

While you won’t be able to play Superman or Wonder Woman, you may fight alongside them — or against them — as you create your own superhero or supervillain. Metropolis and Gotham City will be the two large shared environments.

I’m not a gamer, but I found the most interesting tidbit to be this, from Executive Creative Director Jim Lee:

In the future, it’s possible we could see models, environments and costumes from the game turning up in other DC Comics properties, and there are plans for plot crossovers. “We can tie-in future DC tentpole events and translate the stories for the gaming world, and have them occur simultaneously,” said Lee. “The possibilities are numerous and very exciting.”

DC Universe Online is due out sometime next year.

(Via Kotaku)

Game designer David Jaffe posted an open letter to Marvel on his blog, asking them to start making their games more like their comics:

I LOVE Marvel Comics and I LOVE the promise of games based on Marvel Comics. But why can’t you guys make a game that feels like a comic? I don’t mean art style wise; I don’t mean like Comix Zone with panels and cliche stuff like that. I mean feels like a comic in a story based, narrative way: a game that shows off the OTHER aspect that makes Marvel Comics so special: The characters/story. It’s not JUST about the powers, you know. But your games are always ONLY about the powers.

The thing that made Stan and co’s comics so unique back in the 60’s is he was the first guy to say, “Hey, let’s treat these stories with some respect, let’s treat these characters with respect and in doing so, we’ll grow the audience well beyond 8 year old boys- who ONLY care about the powers”….and with that thinking, the entire medium of American comics was reinvented.

As a huge comic and game fan- and as a game designer as well- I really hope Marvel stops ONLY using the HOW TO MAKE A MARVEL GAME template that seems to demand: Open City, Hero Powers, Recycled Missions ad nauseam, and a few Unique things tossed in. And I hope they stop because this template- in most cases- goes against the very thing that makes the comics so special: story.

I think these screenshots have already popped up in various places around the web, but in any case, Midway sent over several screenshots from the upcoming game Mortal Kombat vs. the DC Universe … which has left a lot of fans scratching their heads or underwhelmed, as Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon noted in the Q&A with GameSpot I linked to earlier.

The images include four arenas and four “battle shots.” That’s Metropolis up top, with Hell, the Batcave and Gotham after the jump, followed by various characters beating the crap out of each other.

Boon and Jimmy Palmiotti, who is writing the story part of the game, will appear on a panel in San Diego to answer questions about the game.

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Gamespot has a Q&A up with Midway’s Ed Boon about the upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe game … which will feature fatalities and what he’s calling “brutalities”:

GS: Have you made any more headway on the fatality versus finishing moves?

EB: Yes we have. All of the MK characters and all of the DC villains will have fatalities. The DC heroes who don’t kill that often will have brutalities that will function just like fatalities but don’t actually kill the opponent.

He says the big E3 gaming convention will bring a look at four characters and two arenas.

Writing for The Escapist, comics creator and video-game journalist Kieron Gillen talks with Matt Fraction about how he and Ed Brubaker collaborated on The Immortal Iron Fist using Xbox Live:

It’s not at all uncommon. There’s a loose social group of Marvel writers who get together to play, gossip and insult each other. To Matt Fraction, a newcomer to mainstream comics living in the Midwest, this was a terribly attractive idea. “I know it was Ed who convinced me to get the Xbox,” explains Fraction. “Maybe it’s because I knew it was something some of the guys did. I know I blame Ed for it. And my own neurotic insecurity of not living in New York, to work for Marvel, feeling as if I needed some social engagement with them.” It became something more than just a way to chat, however. “It really did end up being super beneficial to Ed and my working procedure, as we really did break out a lot of Iron Fist to videogames,” says Fraction.

The “loose social group” also includes writers Brian Reed, Brian Michael Bendis and Rick Remender, and G4 employee Gerry Duggan.