Marvel to Skindex: Fuck You.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Link.

Basically, Marvel sent a cease-and-desist letter to the guy running the Skindex, which was a great place to grab some Marvel, DC and original skins for the game Freedom Force.

This sucks mostly because Marvel has never given their properties to a game anywhere near as good as Freedom Force. The best Marvel Comics game ever is probably Spider-Man for the PS and Dreamcast (definitely don't confuse this one with Spider-Man: The Movie, which was terrible)... and that game is nowhere near as good as Freedom Force. FF at least allowed hundreds of thousands of gamers to see a decent game with the Thing and Iron Fist and so forth before they died of old age.

There's a new MMORPG featuring Marvel characters in the works, and there's plenty of bad Marvel games in the pipeline as well. We'll continue to see shitty game after shitty game churned out to market. Additionally, they've managed to piss off all their fans that did skinning with the over-the-top text in their cease and desist letter, so if Freedom Force II comes out someday, I hope that existing skins work with it, because it's going to be slim pickings otherwise.

It's really too bad that the law is on their side, since the software they're involved with is so universally crappy. Oh, well. Anyway, props to the Skindex guy -- he did great work and had a great run.

[Worm]

I seriously think I should start violating copyright laws as a matter of principle. What is this horseshit?

I mean you've got a cool guy drawing cool comics doing what he thinks is worthwhile then *BOOM* he is a corporation a bunch of boards, lawyers, and bullshit protecting their intellectual property like a dog marking his fucking territory. What is next? Mugging some six year old who got a Marvel drawing book for Christmas?

So, if I made a Xena skin for The Sims that would somehow be different from drawing a picture of Xena? They seem to be getting out of line here.

[Jack Straw]

I thought the newest Spiderman game was pretty good - much better than a lot of the comic book franchise garbage games that constantly come out.

[Roody_Yogurt]

I would be curious to see what the new one is like once you get away from the plot of the movie, but playing through that first section really sucks the will out of me.

[Debaser]

Still, nice of Marvel to wait until long after the game's peak popularity has passed, as well as after the skins they want taken down have been dissemminated all over the internet. That way, while Marvel Comics still gets to look like fan-hating douchebags, but not prevent this supposed theft of their intellectual property in any way at all.

Hay, wait... did I say "nice"? I, of course, meant "really fucking stupid".

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I would be curious to see what the new one is like once you get away from the plot of the movie, but playing through that first section really sucks the will out of me.

Exactly. I understand that Spider-Man spent a good chunk of the flick in that made-up costume, because all actors are paranoid about having their eyes seen on film. It's stupid... it's retarded... and if they REALLY cared about it, they could have had William Dafoe wear not armor but something more like the comic character that showed his face...

But for the game? Hey, guys: FUCK OFF. Do the guys at Activision have any idea how difficult they made it to try to play their fucking game? Anyone watching you play a Spider-Man game... that's bad enough. But now, a Spider-Man game where you are in sneakers, jeanes and a ski mask? Yeah, I know it was in the movie. Yaaay! But don't make me into a more terrible recluse than I already am. I shouldn't have to close the door to my bedroom to stop family members from seeing how I am destroying myself, playing a Spider-Man game with no real Spider-Man in it.

[Jack Straw]

Huh? Granted I only played the very beginning (effect of mod chip, 96% of games fall into this category) but he had his normal costume...

[Jack Straw]

I couldn't even find what the hell you guys are on about.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

OK, wait.

Here are the Spider-Man games of the last few years that I am aware of:

The Amazing Spider-Man (PC, 1990 or so): Spider-Man is literally no more than 20 pixels tall, and solves puzzles. OK.

Separation Anxiety (PC 1995 or so): Side scroller. It fucking sucked.

Spider Man & The Sinister Six (PC, 1995 or so): I think this was a learning tool or some Reader Rabbit clone or something. I actually have a copy of this due to my boss at EB getting it for free at E3 and passing the "savings" onto me.

Spider-Man (PS, Dreamcast, PC... I think PC, anyway): Good, except there is one level where he is crawling up a burning building or one that is getting shelled or something and that level SUCKED.

Spider-Man: Electro's Revenge (PS, I think, maybe PS2, and I am only 90% sure that's the title) more of the above.

Spider-Man: The Movie (PS2, PC, X-box) This is the one that I was referring to, and the one that I think Roody was referring to. You start off playing as Peter when he had his first, homemade costume. I thought it sucked, plus, it locked up on me constantly. If I remember right, the Shocker is in this one.

That would seem to be the one whose screenshots you've linked. Maybe it got better as the game went on.

[Jack Straw]

That Venom game for Genesis was pretty dope, as I remember.

Maybe the PC version was different? I don't recall seeing anything like that in my short stint with the Xbox version.

[Roody_Yogurt]

I don't remember the homemade costume specifically in the X-Box version, either, but it might have been there in the training level. I'm not sure.

I admit that I would have probably liked the game better if I had beaten the guy who killed your uncle when I rented the game, but since I never got far enough into the game to see the stuff not from the movie, I was disappointed and that's why I liked the Spider-Man game before it, since it's throwing stuff from all over the comic books at you all the time.