Tag: Comic Con »

Marvel and Kabam have joined forces to create Contest of Champions: a fighting game based on the Marvel Universe that sets players against the Collector, who has trapped heroes in crystals. And so, players must beat the Collector's team to gather crystals and unlock heroes to form their own super-powered team.

During New York Comic-Con I had the pleasure of sitting down with Cuz Parry (the game's Creative Director) and Writer Sam Humphries to discuss their new creation.

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148Apps: Contest of Champions looks like a fantastic fighting game. Could you give us an overview of the story?
Sam Humphries (SH): The comics and the cartoon are very good angles on the Collector. He's a little badass, very mighty, and inscrutable. His motivations are not always understandable. That's been a lot of fun to play with because since day one Kabam has been very adamant in keeping the priority on the story and not just make a game to button mash and curse. They wanted to entice players with a really strong story with escalating stakes, reveals, mysteries, twists and turns, cliff hangers, and all that kinda stuff. So having someone like the Collector, we asked "What are his motivations?" "Why is he doing this?" That's an important mystery that we build over time, and as we pull all the layers back what we've come up with is something that, story-wise, stands up against a Marvel Comic, Marvel Movie, and Marvel TV show.

Cuz Parry (CP): In the Marvel Gaming universe there's this substance called Iso-8. That's the resource that basically everybody uses in all the marvel games, such as in Ultimate Spiderman you use it to level-up your characters. We're telling the story where there is this big, powerful weapon: the Iso-Sphere. We go to the source of the Iso-8 and the mystery behind it.

SH: What we find out about the Iso-Sphere and Iso-8 is that they are directly tied to the battle realm where you play the game, and to what the Collector's doing and why he's doing it. Also, maybe there's someone behind the the Collector pulling his strings and making this happen.

Over the weekend, during the Marvel Games Panel at Comic-Con, plenty has been revealed about the near future for Marvel Puzzle Quest.

The frequently updated Match-3 puzzle game is set to enjoy the delights of Deadpool come August 1, with a new episode titled 'Deadpool vs. Marvel Puzzle Quest.' Upon conclusion of the episode, players will be able to add him to their roster.

As well as that, tomorrow (7/29) there'll be a significant new gameplay feature in the form of Team-Up, allowing you to bring in heroes that aren't in your roster. It's hoped that the feature will add more tactical flexibility for players.

Marvel Puzzle Quest is available now from the App Store for free, and it's excellent fun.

Why don't we live in a world where seeing Batman walking down the street is normal? Such a shame.

On This Episode:

Carter recaps the mobile gaming offerings at SDCC 2011.

Carter speaks to Jonathan Hunt of GameSalad about their game programming product, and gets a demo of what can be instantly produced using the software.

Carter speaks to David Hedgecock of Ape Entertainment about the upcoming Cut the Rope comic, and how the franchise will translate into this new medium.

Who We Are:

Host: Carter Dotson

Guest: Jonathan Hunt, GameSalad

Guest: David Hedgecock, Ape Entertainment

Contact The Show: Email | Twitter

Music:

"Beatnes7 (Theme to The Portable Podcast)" by The Eternal - Download on iTunes here:

"Nanocarp" by The Eternal

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Listen on WRGT Radio every Friday at 4pm Central

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Apps Mentioned in this Episode:

In celebration of Comic Con, the comic book convention which is currently running in San Diego, Capcom has announced a price reduction for five of its most popular iPhone titles.

The apps below are all now available for $0.99 for a "limited time" which, if we were to guess, will run until the end of the Comic Con convention which is this Sunday (25th). There are some big hitters in the list, including 1942: First Strike and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 2010 which should keep you entertained for a good while. So if you have a few bucks to spare you could kit out your iPhone with some great games to enjoy this weekend and beyond.