It didn’t take long for Activision to launch a game from the explosive movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In fact, it is now available globally. Developed by critically acclaimed studio Raven Software, the game allows players to harness Wolverine’s brute strength, regenerative mutant abilities, and indestructible adamantium claws as they battle powerful forces and uncover the mysteries behind his origin.

Inspired by the feature film from Twentieth Century Fox released in theaters everywhere on the same date, the X-Men Origins: Wolverine video game also features the voices of some of the film’s leading men: Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth) and will.i.am (John Wraith).

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine features the most authentic Wolverine experience ever in a video game,” said Rob Kostich, vice president of global brand management, Activision Publishing, Inc. “The game captures the uncaged nature of Wolverine and allows players to uncover an incredible storyline that will appeal to comic book and gaming enthusiasts, as well as fans of the action-packed feature film.”

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is an epic action-adventure game featuring a true-to-character Wolverine gameplay experience that takes gamers through and beyond the movie’s storyline. Set in a variety of vivid real-world locales, the title challenges players to hone their animal instinct as they uncover hidden dangers, hunt and defeat enemies, and take on seemingly insurmountable situations while discovering the truth about Wolverine’s tragic past.

With razor-sharp adamantium claws unsheathed, the future X-Man enacts lightning-quick combat, evasive maneuvers, in-depth combo attacks, and an array of brutal finishing moves. Wolverine doesn’t just deliver massive damage, either – he also takes it, thanks to his mutant regenerative power that heals him in real time right before the player’s eyes.

(Source) Press

The developers of X-Men Origins: Wolverine discuss their work and passion they have for the game. A look into the development of the game is quite interesting, and the game seems to be shaping very nicely.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine will be hitting the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, and PlayStation Portable on May 1st, which will coincide with the movie release.

Perhaps the single most schizophrenic game on the shelves right now is Spider Man: Web of Shadows.  Featuring fully THREE different versions compatible with seven different hardware platforms, it’s amazing that so many versions of one game can exist.  For the sake of our coverage today, we’ll be handling the Xbox 360 version, which also saw releases on the Wii, the PS3, and the PC.

Spidey’s got a lot on his plate this go-round, with Luke Cage needing help with New York’s gang problem, the Kingpin running amok with a collection of supervillains, including parts of the vaunted Sinister Six like Vulture, Electro and Rhino, and of course, Spidey’s worst nightmare Venom working on conquering the planet with a collective of symbiotes peeled off his own superstructure.  Worse, the Venom symbiotes are going to start attaching themselves to various locals, including some superheroes.  Man, you’ve never seen freaky until you’ve seen Wolverine in a symbiote-black suit.

Let me start off by saying that this is possibly the most fun I’ve had playing a Spider Man game yet.  It’s set up in kind of a sandbox format, so you’ll have a lot of room to webswing around to get from place to place and mission to mission.  I have never had so much fun with the web swinging component of a Spider Man game.  And the combat is also a pretty new and interesting step—you’ll actually be able to upgrade your attacks using experience points, allowing you to do all sorts of strange and highly effective attacks.  In fact, there’s one great sequence where you’ll fight the Vulture by webswinging from flying henchman to flying henchman until you can get in web range of the Vulture himself, and then take him on in mid-air.

However, there’s a down side to all this—the lock-on mode isn’t exactly always there, and has an annoying tendency to just suddenly decide not to lock on any more.  And the difficulty can be somewhat unbalanced at times.  I remember my first bout with Venom—there would actually be moments where I couldn’t land a punch on ANYTHING in the area because there would be so many enemies simultaneously trying to pound me that I couldn’t stay on my feet.  I tried every trick I had in my repertoire, which I admit was rather extensive by that point, and it still didn’t work for several tries. That, as far as I’m concerned, qualifies for a second look in the whole difficulty department.

It’s hard to hate Spider Man: Web of Shadows because it’s easily the best game in the whole series…but then, that’s not really saying much.  Has there been a good Spider Man game yet?  I can’t think of one offhand, frankly.

I loved swinging from place to place on my weblines, humming one of the various Spider Man theme songs that have cropped up from sheer joy.  It didn’t matter—I could climb the highest buildings, or I could swing only feet above the streets of a surprisingly extensive New York City.  I pummeled thugs and broke up gangs and took on all the biggest names in the Spider Man universe.  And though some parts were better than others, I still had a lot of fun.

And at the end of the day, isn’t that the point?

Well I know I almost fell off my chair when I checked out the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine website. But really Wolverine is it fair that you’re getting all the attention? I mean the movie should be coming and the game too. What will the other X-Men say? Coincidentally I always preferred Wolverine from the bunch but that doesn’t necessarily mean I also like the idea of having a movie centered around him.

Moving on to more important business, if you start slashing that title you will notice the counter on top. What’s the purpose of that counter you ask? Good question! According to the press release, the Raven team will make some sort of announcement when they the number up there is high enough. Should I read between the lines there? Did they finish the game or not? Is it going to be released soon? What about that movie?

So anyway, which X-Men character would you like to be? Check the site here and the picture above for some Wolverine previews.

Having revealed the game, Activision today announced the platforms for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, disclosing that, as expected, the movie tie-in will be released on almost every imaginable console and handheld.

The game is due out alongside the movie in May 2009 on PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS and PSP. It is being developed by Raven Software – Marvel: Ultimate Alliance veterans – and Amaze Entertainment. Though it wasn’t mentioned which studio is handling which platforms, but considering Amaze’s history, it can be concluded that they are working on the handheld editions.