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Rumors of a new Soldier of Fortune game have been confirmed by Activision. Speaking to GameSpot, the publisher said that the shooter is "being developed in Minnesota" and would be released on their Activision Value label.

You know who's not in Minnesota? Madison, Wisconsin-based Raven Software, who developed the previous two Soldier of Fortune titles. Former Raven employee Kenn Hoekstra posted on Blue's News forums that that there was a new developer. The only clue we have comes from an anonymous source via Firing Squad, who states that it will be developed by Cauldron, who previously created History Channel: Civil War FPS for Activision Value in 2006.

No other details are available, though all signs (especially that glowing, neon sign that says Activision Value) point to a disappointing, budget-priced revisit to a quality franchise.

Wolfenstein fans can again rejoice, because the franchise hasn't died just yet. Actually, you'll be happy to know that the next game in the series will be hitting the 360 later next year. In an interview with a Wisconsin new station, who were doing a story on video game development, Raven Software talked about what new tools they use for next gen development and hinted that Wolfenstein will be releasing sometime in 2008. Huge news? Not really, but the Wolfenstein dev team has kept quite mum about their little baby, so any news is rather exciting. Full article and Raven Software interview after the jump.

[Via Joystiq]

After waiting around all day staring at the Xbox Live Marketplace (what a living), the new content for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance still hasn't arrived. Naturally, we're a little confused, as a trailer was released on Marketplace just to let us know that the content would arrive April 10th (i.e. yesterday). The trailer has now been pulled, and the official Marvel: Ultimate Alliance website says nothing of the content beyond the original announcement that was made last month. Of course, it's possible the content failed the certification process, in which case fans could be waiting a while to get their hands on the new heroes and villains.

Was anyone out there looking forward to this new DLC?

Update: The sheer magnitude of all the super villainy contained in this post created a time vacuum, thus shoving the post backwards in time an entire day. The evil has since been rectified and the post returned to its proper time.

We're regular readers of Superhero Hype!, a fact rendered unsurprising given our unhealthy obsession with gravity-defying men and women in brightly colored garb. The site recently posted a drab interview with Matthew Paul, producer of the upcoming altruistic all-stars adventure, Marvel: Ulltimate Alliance. Little did we know that the article would contain such a high volume of fluff, reading it would be akin to getting smothered by a pillow in your sleep. Locking an Activision PR person in a room and having them read a press release aloud would likely have resulted in a more intriguing investigation into the game's features. Features like unbelievable, hyper-real graphics!

When queried about the game's graphics on next-generation systems, Mr. Paul points out the "life-like" textures on Captain America and The Thing, commenting that there are times when "you feel more like you're watching a blockbuster Super Hero movie as opposed to a video game because it looks so real." Right. Ignoring the fact that the official PS3 screenshot above flamboyantly contradicts such a claim (and such acclaim), it's unbelievable that the interview doesn't change course when it suddenly finds itself covering the "real" nature of comic book characters and movies. It looks so real it's like watching a movie? That must be the one directed by Hyper Boll -- we've seen it far too many times already.

Though the many Marvel characters duking it out in Ultimate Alliance frequently find themselves doing somersaults, hurling punches and generally super-spazzing out, it's not an accurate expectation for the players of the game to perform similar feats. Speaking at the recently concluded Comic-Con, Activision's Chris Palmisano commented that the Wii version of the game would not have major changes implemented to its control system.

"The basic game controls like the camera and the movement and stuff like that -- you can do that on the Wii with left side in most cases. Then there are standard combo moves, which you can also do with the Wii controller." After this rather vague statement (do combo moves with the controller, you say?!), Palmisano goes on to curtail the level of input you might have expected from a Wii game. "I don't know how many games you're going to see where people are jumping around -- our game is an RPG so it's really hard to require that much physical energy to play a game for 30 hours."

Though we have yet to think of any Wii game that actively requires you to jump around, we suspect the lack of physical energy required to play Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is tied into a lack of mental energy when attempting to explain why your game will have a bog-standard control scheme. This is an issue that will come up again and again: a multi-platform game that fails to take advantage of the Wii's controller risks not only being surpassed by graphically superior versions (why buy the Wii version?), but the rest of the games in the Wii lineup (why buy this game that doesn't use my system fully?). Of course, shoehorning a game into an inappropriate controller scheme is just as undesirable, as is certainly the case with an action RPG largely built upon repetition. We'd rather just press the A-button, thanks.

WorthPlaying has posted ten new screens from Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and there's an updated trailer and Nightcrawler vid over at GameTrailers. Due in October, Marvel's latest action-RPG includes a healthy sampling of playable characters, although I've yet to see Iron Man on any confirmed roster list. Hulk isn't mentioned either, but at least we know Bruce Banner will be one of the dozens of NPCs featured in the game, along with The Inhumans, Black Widow, Dr. Doom, and that big purple world devourer putting the squeeze on Spidey. Where's Silver Surfer when you need him?

It's nice that Activision is even bothering with Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, but come on. Look at it. Sure, if it's anything like X-Men Legends it will be a blast, but these screens are far from impressive. It wouldn't matter if the 360 version had the same price as the Xbox version, but do you really want to pay sixty bucks for this?

[Via OpenXBOX360]

WorthPlaying has uploaded 35 new screens from Activision's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, the action-RPG that will let you form your own superhero team using Stan Lee and Company's greatest creations. Nice shot, Cap!

See also: Marvel heroes unite for Ultimate Alliance

With the success of the X-Men Legends series, it was only a matter of time before Activision applied the popular hack and slash-RPG formula to the rest of the Marvel universe. We'll see the result at the end of the year when they release Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.

Like the Legends games, Alliance takes place in Marvel's Ultimate universe, and when it's clobberin' time, you and three of your fanboy buddies can engage in a little competitive co-op play. Experience points won't be shared, but will be granted on a per kill basis, and can be used to unlock new costumes, as well as upgrade powers. With Justice League Heroes due out around the same time, you can renew those Marvel vs. DC debates at your local comic shop.