One of the most anticipated games of the summer is Deadpool, the third-person action-shooter fourth-wall-breaker from Activision and High Moon Studios. And today we’ve got some information about the pre-order bonuses you can get if you decide you want to put some money down before it hits the shelves on June 25 for a mere $49.99 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (and $39.99 on PC).

If you pre-order from GameStop or EBGames, you’ll get the “Merc with a Map Pack” DLC, which offers up two new maps to challenge mode, plus a couple different costumes. You’ll also get digital wallpaper (I guess that’s…good), and a midnight launch party at the GameStop that has the most pre-orders. I have to say—that is not something I was expecting, but there you go. Pre-ordering from Amazon offers up a $5 credit toward Marvel graphic novels, plus the digital wallpaper.

I gotta say—this is not an impressive spread as far as pre-orders are concerned. Some extra DLC maps is nice, but overall, this is kind of not so amazing. What about some free digital comics? An action figure? A t-shirt? It’s not like there’s a shortage of Deadpool junk that could be given to entice gamers. I’m also a little surprised at the relatively low MSRP…I wonder how this game’s going to turn out.

Ah, well…the screenshots still look pretty cool. Your thoughts?

Publisher Activision has laid off a portion of High Moon Studios, specifically the team behind the development of the upcoming Deadpool game, following the game’s completion. Over “40 full-time employees” were affected by the employment changes, according to an Activision statement released to Kotaku.

“We are offering those employees who are impacted outplacement counseling services,” said a representative from Activision to Kotaku yesterday.

“With the completion of development on Deadpool, we are taking a reduction in staff at High Moon Studios to better align our development talent against our slate.”

In addition to the layoffs at High Moon, publisher Square Enix, having wrapped up work on the recently-released and oft-debated Tomb Raider reboot, was hit with layoffs in its PR department (specifically in the Los Angeles, California office). Square Enix representatives would not clarify the full extent of the layoffs, but did say its effect was “top to bottom.”

“We can confirm that Square Enix’s Los Angeles office has eliminated a number of positions as part of the corporate restructuring announced last week,” Square Enix senior director of public relations Reilly Brennan wrote in a note to Polygon.

“This is an unfortunate situation and we are offering assistance and severance packages to any employees affected by this, we want to thank them for their hard work and sincerely wish them well in the future.”

This news follows both a round of similar layoffs last December during another restructuring, and the previously announced “extraordinary loss” by the company due to what they believe is slow console sales in North America and Europe. Even though, you know, Tomb Raider was considered the best-selling release in the franchise.

Oh, and their President and CEO, Yoichi Wada recently resigned too. It’s not been a hot few months for the folks at Square, and certainly not for the folks who were just let go from it.

I hate when we have days where we can’t make jokes for you folks.

[Source(s): Kotaku, Polygon]

Comic book fans have been having a pretty decent time with video game adaptations lately, between the Arkham games, Activision’s decent Amazing Spider-Man tie-in, and the past and future LEGO super-hero games. That’s why interest in Activision and High Moon Studios’ forthcoming Deadpool game is pretty high: Deadpool’s a weird, fan-favorite character who is sometimes aware of his own status as a fictional character, and High Moon makes some pretty solid games.

While it’s been confirmed for 2013, according to a post on Joystiq today, it seems as though the game’s release window got a little more focused. The post cites fan-site Deadpool Bugle for spotting recent comic book ads that mark the game as coming out this summer. While there’s no strict confirmation from Activision on this point just yet, but it seems like a pretty good bet.

I’m looking forward to this game, for sure. I’ve been a fan of Deadpool for a long time, since way back in the late ‘90s when Joe Kelley was writing his series. Anyone who’s read that run knows that Deadpool #13—where he goes back in time and starts screwing around in an old issue of Amazing Spider-Man—is one of the best comics from that period. It’s probably one of my favorite comics ever…so do yourselves a favor and check it out if you can, somehow.

Via Joystiq and Deadpool Bugle

Want to see five new screens from High Moon’s forthcoming Deadpool game? Yes. Yes you do.

This is them. And by “this,” I mean “these.” So there’s that.

No set release date yet, though we know it’ll be out sometime this year from Activision and High Moon Studios, with Nolan North providing the voice of the Merc with a Mouth. Hopefully we’ll hear more about this one soon, since I know our readers are definitely Deadpool-crazy. And frankly, I’m eager to see what kind of interesting gameplay can come from a character whose whole schtick relies on the breaking of the fourth wall. I’m INTERESTED.

As we get closer to the August 21 release of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, I get more and more interested in what Activision and High Moon Studios have in store for us. In the above-trailer, we get a lot of really cool looking in-game action, not to mention a brief sample of the “build your own Transformer” character creation tool. I didn’t know you could do that! Seems like a pretty great feature that really has me intrigued.

I guess one of the reasons why that’s easier to do in this title than, say, a Transformers game set on Earth, is the fact that the vehicles they transform into are basically, you know, weird alien things. I’d be down with making an Autobot that turns into my Honda Civic, but somehow I doubt they’ll be able to do that in this game.

Anyway, between that feature, the gameplay footage I’ve seen, and all the good buzz High Moon’s been generating with the recent announcement of their Deadpool game, I have some high expectations for this one. Fingers crossed that it won’t stink.

Over on Activision’s One of Swords blog, the news broke that Daniel Way is working on the new Deadpool game for High Moon Studios. For those not in the know, Daniel Way is the current writer on the character’s comic book for Marvel. While I haven’t read any of Way’s work on Deadpool, he’s been on the book for a long, long time, and the fans seem to dig it.

My own personal experience with Deadpool began way back in the ‘90s, when Joe Kelly started working on the character’s first solo ongoing series, and transformed him into a C-list Spider-Man knock-off X-Men villain into an ever-present star at the House of Ideas. I’m a fan of the character, to be sure, and it’s only my desire to pinch pennies that keeps me from picking up the current series.

But I’m definitely interested in the game, especially now that we know it’s being written by someone who’s got an established track record. Deadpool is known for his humor, and if they can get that down, we may be able to rely on High Moon to get the rest—you know, the game itself—just right.

One of Swords via Joystiq

Among the plethora of announcements made at Comic-Con this weekend, likely the most surprising one of them all was a Deadpool game in the works by Transformers: War for Cybertron developer High Moon Studios.

The game is being published through Activision (as was expected) and is slated for release sometime in 2013. We’re not entirely sure as to the genre being explored in Deadpool (it screams action/platformer/shooter), but it definitely looks just as silly as we remember Deadpool to be – that being very, very much so.

We do have some gameplay of the game, courtesy of a trailer hosted by Game Informer. Caution: boob references are aplenty.

Also of note: If you couldn’t tell, Nathan Drake Nolan North is doing the voice work for Deadpool. Good to see he’s still doing…stuff.

Check out this trailer for August 28’s Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. We’ve got the game’s director, Matt Tieger, going into detail about how his team at developer High Moon Studios set about coming up with a new, definitive origin for the Dinobots, led by T-Rex Grimlock.

While I’m pretty sure that coming up with a logical origin for a bunch of alien robots who turn into dinosaurs isn’t really all that important in the grand scheme of things, Tieger makes a convincing case for what they’ve decided on. I must say, I’m interested.

Your thoughts?

The new Transformers: Fall of Cybertron game looks like it’ll be full of transforming-robot fun. I’m not sure whether or not the game will actually be, you know, any good or whatever, but I can safely say that I’ve got my eye on it. Transformers are dumb—but I love them anyway, since I was a kid when they were all popular and whatnot. I even got to interview Peter “Optimus Prime” Cullen for a magazine article I wrote one time! He was a swell guy.

Anyway, the game takes place on the robots’ homeword of Cybertron, and is set before the warring Autobots and Decepticons leave their planet for earth. In fact, the game will also allow gamers to create and customize their own Transformer. VERY COOL.

And now, without any further delay, here are a butt-load of screens from the game, which is set to launch on August 28/31 (North America/Europe) for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Activision blew minds today by announcing Transformers: Dark of the Moon, a game that should feature flying pigs and The Wizard of Oz but probably just has some robots in it. The released teaser is amusingly self-serious for a property that includes a boombox and cassette tape that turn into bipedal robots.

The game is being developed by High Moon Studios, the same folk that made War for Cybertron last year. Aside from acting as a prologue to the upcoming film, the game will also feature STEALTH FORCE, which means there’s now a third form you can morph into that combines vehicle and robot guns. Innovation!

And now, here are some pictures of robots. What did you expect?