Marvel's "Holiday Gift" to us

Poking around the Marvel site today and saw that for this Christmas, Microsoft is going to package Marvel Ultimate Alliance with new Xbox 360's.

The fan-favorite action-RPG that let's you form your own playable team from over 25 of Marvel's finest heroes (and villains, thanks to the Gold Edition!) will be included as a free bonus with Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Elite consoles! That's right folks, FREE!

Want Mr. Fantastic to fight alongside Dr. Doom? Spidey and Venom? We wouldn't go that far here at the House of Ideas, but "MUA" let's you go for it! So unless you want coal in your stockings, we suggest adding the spectacular new bundle to your wish list ASAP and you'll be Wall-crawlin' and Hulk-smashing faster than you can say "Gobble Gobble" (we know you just said "Gobble Gobble")!

The problem with this is at least two-fold. First, they advertise the Gold Edition, but it doesn't come with the Gold Edition. The Gold Edition was a scam anyhow. They added 4 new heroes and 4 new villains but didn't add anything to the game at all. No new achievements, no new levels, no new cut scenes. And it cost $60. Now you can download the characters over Xbox Live, but it's going to cost you 1600 Microsoft Points which will cost you about 20 bucks. Either way though, you aren't getting that this Christmas with your new Xbox 360. You are getting the original one, with fewer characters than this press release leads you to believe. That means no Dr. Doom, Venom or Incredible Hulk.

And secondly, if you are a "Marvel Gamer" as the headline suggests, why the hell has it taken you an entire year to buy this game? It was released last Thanksgiving. Now don't get me wrong, if you don't own this game and consider yourself a Marvel Gamer, and you don't own a 360 and you regularly have relatives who spend $400+ on you for Christmas, then this is for you. Otherwise, I don't see this doing well at all.

I loved Marvel Ultimate Alliance, it was the first game I got for my 360, and I played the shit out of it night and day, beat it three different ways (which is cool that you can do) and would recommend it to anyone who hasn't played it before, so don't think I am just being bitter here.

But you know what would be a better "Holiday Gift for Marvel Gamers"? How about more info on the Marvel MMORPG that is being made? How about another add-on pack for MUA? How about a movie property game that doesn't suck? How about a Howard the Duck game? See, there is a lot they could do, but they really half-assed it with this.

CG