The sheer scale of NYCC 2016 blew my mind. It dwarfs even the biggest UK con I’ve been to. Thankfully I had the wherewithal to find the panel room ahead of time so I could spend an hour or so queuing at the Marvel booth to get some sweet exclusives. You see, Marvel is my thing. My jam. So I was very excited to get that scoop on any new Marvel video game news.
Once settled in the panel room I eagerly ate up everything they had to offer, but something was off. Hosted as it was by Marvel’s own Ryan Penagos (a.k.a. Agent M), Executive Producer of Marvel Games Mike Jones had been listed as being on the panel but was absent. In his place they had Reilly Brown and J.L. Mast talking about Marvel’s digital Infinite comics; digital comics with partially interactive panels navigated by swiping. It was a fine presentation but felt kind of lost of this gathering of Marvel fans who almost undoubtedly knew what Infinite Comics already are. They talked up their Marvel Unlimited digital subscription service, a digital library of tens of thousands of Marvel back issues, which I have no problems with as I myself am a subscriber and I think it’s the best thing since sliced bread.
They talked at length about Marvel’s video series, from the admittedly hilarious stop motion 'Marvel’s What The?' and Marvel news show 'Twhip!' showing clips from both. But when they finally got to the game portion of the panel, Mike Jones’ absence suddenly seemed like an omen that I should have tempered my expectations.
Creative Director of Marvel Games Bill Rosemann was present to reveal that across all of Marvel’s various mobile and PC games, Doctor Strange character expansions would be added to tie into the film’s release. We were shown key art of the good Doctor and clips of how certain characters, Baron Mordo and Dr. Voodoo to be precise, fought in their Contest of Champions game. The guy in front of me eagerly snapped pictures of this as I guess this was his jam. Me? I’ve never played a Marvel mobile game. Not because they’re not great, they do look great but I just don’t play games like that. I was here for video game news, both by assignment and because since its announcement this summer, I’ve been desperate for any news of the PS4 exclusive Spider-Man game. But that was it. The panel was over and wrapped up with a few fan questions. Now I like Bill Rosemann. I foresee the man becoming the Kevin Fiege of the Marvel video game world and he came across as the kind of uber Marvel nerd I could chat with for hours. Unfortunately, it was only when an uninformed fan asked whether Marvel would return to console gaming that he reiterated the Spider-Man PS4 announcement. No release date, no new footage, no new art.
I’m really not a fan of the sense of entitlement some fans have and the contempt they show towards creators if that sense isn’t met, especially with how rife it is in video gaming culture. I understand that there was no Spider-Man game news because there was simply no news. If there was something to show us that Marvel thought would help build hype towards the game, then they would have presented it, but I feel it was a shame, a real wasted opportunity. I’m still 100-percent behind Marvel and their efforts of master all digital platforms, but I feel maybe I was a little too green to expect a huge scoop in my first panel cover for DailySuperHero.com. Still, it was a hell of an experience to be there with all my fellow Marvelites celebrating all-things (digitally) Marvel. And serious, check out Marvel Unlimited.
They’re not paying me to say that I swear, it’s too good not to at least try it out for a month for free. DC, you really need to catch up on this.
Written by Nick Whitney, on location at NYCC 2016 -- Click here to read Nick's posts
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