Game Update

Electronic Arts and Marvel have teamed up to produce a new vidgame title set for fall release called "Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Impacts."

The fighter game will pit Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, Wolverine, The Thing and Elektra against EA’s  alien scientist Niles Van Roekel, who is out to create a new super army of vicious warriors. The game will feature game and character designs from comicbook artist Jae Lee and Paul Catling, who designed concepts and characters for a slew of Hollywood pics including “Spider-Man 2,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” and “Alien vs. Predator.” Marvel will produce a six-issue comicbook series that will introduce the new characters starting in May. The game is set for September release on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube and PSP.

This comes just after Marvel suffered a setback in its case against NC Soft and Cryptic Studios, makers of the PC game “City of Heroes.” Marvel alleges in its suit that the game’s ability to create superhero characters that resemble its comicbook stars infringed on its copyright. But last week, a judge dismissed many of Marvel’s exhibits and claims on the grounds that the infringing characters submitted were created by Marvel and not by users of the game. Marvel says it still has confidence in its case.

Not surprisingly, Marvel will not be publishing the upcoming comicbook based on the game; that job falls to Blue King Studios.