UPDATED: Motion Controlled Avengers Game Announced for Wii U and Kinect

Last year, images and video of a canceled THQ game based on Marvel’s Avengers were leaking out all over the Interwebs. The game seemed to offer cooperative play, and took the form of something like a first-person-adventure game, where gamers took control of Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye (maybe), and Thor, and beat the crap out of Skrulls, shapeshifting aliens from the Marvel Universe. Shortly after all that material leaked, we learned that Marvel was looking for a new home for the game.

Now that the Avengers movie has raked in all of the world’s money (because it’s hella good), we’re suddenly bereft of a movie-tie-in game that, if it existed, would’ve sold a kajillion copies along with the movie’s runaway success (good job canceling that one, THQ). Enter Ubisoft, which has just announced Avengers: Battle for Earth, a motion-controlled game planned for the Kinect and the Wii U.

Er, what? Motion-controlled? Really? Why?

A Eurogamer post about the game explains that it’ll be based on the “Secret Invasion” comic crossover from a few years ago, in which the Skrulls (replaced by the Chitauri alien race in the movie, dontchaknow) have infiltrated Earth society and stage a “body-snatchers” type coup.

“We are excited to team up with Marvel Entertainment to bring some of the most iconic comic book characters from the Marvel line-up to life in motion-gaming,” Tony Key, head of Ubisoft US sales and marketing, is quoted as saying. “Fans of the Marvel universe and superhero games are going to love the extensive combinations of characters, motion-controlled moves and competitive gameplay.”

Andreea Enache-Thune from Marvel Games had this to say on the project:

“For the last few years, Marvel has positioned itself to deliver the absolute best in entertainment, be it in film, animation, comics or games. Partnering with Ubisoft is a big part of that ongoing movement. We are confident that Ubisoft’s talent matches Marvel’s own commitment to making the Avengers: Battle for Earth the best in the motion-controlled gaming category.”

No release date has been given yet, but the post notes that it probably won’t be out at least until the Wii U makes its appearance on shelves. We’ll also apparently find out more at E3 in June.

Now, I’m behind this thing in theory. I like most comic book-based games from a theoretical standpoint, and am always disappointed when they eventually don’t live up to my expectations. But I can say right off the bat that my expectations this time around are already pretty low. Motion-controlled? Really? I have the distinct impression this thing will not be very good, mostly because there hasn’t been a really good motion controlled game yet—at least none that I can think of. But Ubisoft does make some pretty good games…maybe they’ll surprise me…

UPDATE

Just in case you missed it (since the video was quickly pulled down when it first leaked last year), someone was kind enough to re-post the footage from THQ’s canceled Avengers game. Check it out (and thanks to Landon for pointing this out to me):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=t7DkxCHp7Po

Looks pretty cool…let’s hope that Ubisoft makes something even cooler.

Via Eurogamer