If you didn’t catch it during the Spike VGAs — or you just want to see it again — Hero HQ has posted the trailer that debuted for The Amazing Spider-Man:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Spider-Man versus the robopocalypse? This could be interesting…and it definitely doesn’t look like the Beenox‘s previous two Spidey titles. We’ll see what they’re up to this summer.

I'm sure he has a clever quip for a situation like this.

It was sort of a strange debut: A giant banner at New York Comic-Con, followed by Beenox speaking on a Marvel games panel, meant the game tie-in for next summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man was no secret at all…yet it had not been officially announced.

Well, today, it was. And you’ll get your first look at the game this Saturday night during the Spike VGA awards, as an exclusive trailer will debut during the show. Here is the teaser for that:

Click here to view the embedded video.

In addition to noting that the game is an epilogue to the film, the press release promises “the return of free-roaming web-slinging all over the city and evolutionary improvements to navigation and combat,” which should make fans happy.

Twas the weeks before Christmas, and Dan had some shirts
And then he could not find a good rhyme for “shirts.”

Well, that didn’t last very long, but this prize package will. It’s time to make some space in my t-shirt closet, and I have an appropriate 12 shirts of Christmas (or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate, but this is one that has a song with the number 12 in it). Some of these shirts are the last of their kind – the only one left in the prize stash. But all of them are going to one lucky XL-wearing winner. Take a look: 

Clockwise: COD Black Ops Zombies, Transformers, Survival: Shadows of Katmai, DJ Hero 2

Black is the new black! Clockwise: Tony Hawk Shred, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Guitar Hero, GoldenEye 007

Feeling gray? DJ Hero 2 alternate design, plus a COD Zombie Labs shirt signed by M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold

Classy Black Ops golf shirt is classy.

And finally, a really keen military-style Prototype 2 sweater

Everything is size XL, though some of them are “athletic cut” (read: “skinny hipster”) so they may run a little smaller. Either way, one person’s getting a TON of shirts and I hope the winner thoroughly enjoys them. That winner could be you if you fill out the form below before the end of Tuesday, December 13 and I’ll pick a winner the following day. The usual questions are answered in the usual FAQ, but a reminder that it’s one entry per person, please. Good luck and happy holidays!

UPDATE 12/14: Chris Poirier of Greenfield, Massachusetts is getting seven pounds of shirts next week. If he asks you for help doing laundry, now you’ll know why.

The all-new, all-free Arena Mode is just a few Likes away.

That is, a new free unlockable mode is coming if you want it. HeroHQ has the dirt on a new arena mode hidden within Spider-Man: Edge of Time, and they’re going to unlock it for everyone…once the Hero HQ Facebook group reaches 200,000 Likes. They’re not far off — they’ve topped 170K — but once they hit the milestone, that’s free content for everybody who has or will have the game. Hot damn. Do your part, won’t you?

If you picked up Spider-Man: Edge of Time, you probably noticed all the unlockable costumes in the menu, and maybe you got a bunch of them automatically via your Shattered Dimensions save game. HeroHQ has revealed even more unlockable costumes on its website in the weeks since the game has launched — one based on a What If? storyline from 2008, another What If? from 2006, and one really cool outfit from Peter’s future as seen in 2003.  This is the kind of stuff that I figure the fans will love. All you need to do to get them is check out those links — HeroHQ is offering them exclusively.

I don’t know if there are any more coming, but I’d start checking HeroHQ regularly just in case.

I was a little surprised to walk into the Activision booth at New York Comic Con and see a giant banner for the Amazing Spider-Man game — considering it hadn’t been announced with any sort of official press release. But sure enough, Gerard Lehainy from Beenox and Doug Heder from Activision appeared on Saturday’s Marvel games panel to shed a little light on what the game will actually be.

To be fair, they did not shed much light, but what they did reveal will probably make gaming fans very happy. The game’s plot will take place after the events of the film (so it won’t just be retelling the movie story) and a major part of the new game will involve swinging through New York City — something fans have been hoping for since Treyarch’s Spider-Man 2, and something that Gerard said its “free-roaming emotion” left an impression on him when he played it. The whole team, he said, is eager to tap into that.

What’s more, new technology is being incorporated to increase the feeling of immersion for the player, but it’s not entirely clear what that technology is.

Not much else was revealed, though a teaser trailer was shown – and the crowd liked it so much they showed it twice.  When it appears online — if! — I will post it on the site.

In non-Activision game news, Zen Studios revealed a great-looking X-Men table as part of their Marvel Pinball series, and Capcom’s Ultimate MvC3 lets you play as Galactus. Oh. My. God. It’s gonna be a good year for Marvel games.

That's good eats!

New York Comic Con gets underway this weekend. I am extremely happy to be able to attend because I am extremely nostalgic for the years I lived in Brooklyn and worked in Manhattan (back when I was covering Sony’s soon-to-be-released PlayStation console, which would challenge Sega’s Saturn for market dominance). New York still feels like home to me so it will be great to get back to where I once belonged.

Activision has its own area on the show floor — Booth 738, directly across from our friends at Marvel, so you will not be able to miss us. Please note that Nintendo, Capcom, Microsoft, Bioware, Ubisoft, Rockstar, THQ, IGN, Turtle Beach, and other gaming industry folks will be there as well, so for gamers, it’s worth the trip to Javits.

Among the cool things you can find if you drop by the Activision booth:

• The first hands-on playable version of Prototype 2 — different from what you’ve seen at PAX or Gamescom!
• The first trailer for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
• Hands-on time with GoldenEye 007: Reloaded
• And of course, hands-on time with X-Men Destiny and Spider-Man: Edge of Time
  
  

UPDATE: There is a Marvel games panel on Saturday, and Activision will be a part of it:

MARVEL INTERACTIVE: Marvel Video Games
Saturday, October 15
1:15 pm – 2:15 pm
Location: 1A22
Learn all about an amazing newly announced Marvel game for 2012 from Activision, plus Spider-Man: Edge of Time, X-Men Destiny, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, the Marvel Universe MMO, Marvel Pinball, Super Hero Squad Online, Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat (using THQ’s uDraw peripheral), and Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet for Nintendo 3DS. This includes exciting new details about the future of other Marvel games via exclusive trailers, surprise reveals, and Q&A with the game creators from some of the industry’s top publishers.

UPDATE 2: There is also a Prototype 2 giveaway this weekend for folks who cannot attend the show.

I would have brought One of Swords buttons but it appears I gave them all out at SDCC. Sorry. See you at Javits this weekend!

At Activision, everybody works hard, so it’s nice to stop and play hard too. Since both X-Men Destiny and Spider-Man: Edge of Time both came out recently — and GoldenEye 007: Reloaded is right around the corner — there was a little social event Thursday afternoon with giveaways, gameplay, booze, and baked goods.

Nothing unites a company quite like free food.

I am still a little surprised that I live in a future where you can print logos on chocolate. The red velvet cupcakes went fast.

What were those little balls? Risotto? Mac & cheese? I ate, like, eight of them. They were good, whatever they were.

Gameplay stations, of course -- along with the signed banners from SDCC, on display for all to see.

Want a poster? Take two.

Not pictured: James Bond martinis (of course!), mini pizzas, and Blu-ray giveaways of Bond and X-Men flicks (depending on how you did in the trivia contest). I didn’t win, but after all those risotto thingies, at least I didn’t have to cook last night.

Spider-Man: Edge of Time launches on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, and 3DS today. Here’s a new trailer in honor of the occasion:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Congrats to developer Beenox on the big event!

Also, I just got my copy and I can confirm a fun perk that Hero HQ has been teasing all week long. Back at SDCC, Beenox revealed on the Marvel games panel that the appearance of a save file from Shattered Dimensions would unlock alternate suits in Edge of Time on PS3 and 360. I just tested that out and it works — Flipside, Iron Spider, Spider-Armor, and Cosmic Spider-Man are all unlocked from the get-go for 2099, and Amazing’s alternates include Cosmic, Bombastic Bag-Man, Secret Wars, and even the controversial Scarlet Spider. (You can see nice renders of all those outfits, as well as a few more, in Hero HQ’s recent news blog posts.) And of course, there are a ton more new alternate outfits that you will unlock by playing the game itself, including the new Ultimate outfit.

So get to it, web-heads. Happy launch day!

That PC giveaway turned out pretty well, so I decided to go on a hunt for DS titles to give away as a bundle…and wow, I found a lot. For instance, if you like Marvel superheroes, I have four games for your handheld library — including the brand-spankin’-new X-Men Destiny and Spider-Man: Edge of Time:

Did you miss X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions on DS? Not any more you didn't.

If you like Transformers, here’s the recent Dark of the Moon Autobots campaign, the Decepticon version of Revenge of the Fallen, and both halves of the War for Cybertron saga:

One shall stand, and four shall fall into your collection.

And if you like…um, games that have the Activision logo on them but no other relation to each other, I have an awkward segue and four more games:

Soliders, spies, gamblers and ogres...nice company to keep.

Want them? Sure you do. Fill out the form below no later than Monday October 10th, and I’ll pick one winner at random from all the entries on Tuesday the 11th. Then you just wait for 12 games to arrive on your doorstep. A few extra details are here, but otherwise, good luck!

UPDATE 10/11: Congrats to Aaron Staebell of O’Fallon, Missouri — a dozen DS games are headed your way!

Time for another round of the Internet Gossip Game. News stories like this and this are trumpeting an “official statement” by Activision on a Spider-Man: Edge of Time Facebook page. When asked if the game would appear on OnLive, the “official response” was “We do not consider OnLive a platform for our game to appear on. We would rather focus on mainstream consoles and legitimate gamers. Thank you.”

Dammmn! Wicked burn! Trouble is, it’s a web of lies. (See what I did there? Because it’s Spider-Man. Web. Heh.) The quoted comment did not come from an official page or an official Activision representative. It was some fan running their own Facebook page and pretending to be the real deal. Fact check fail.

Here’s a few reasons why skepticism should be your first reaction:

1) The grammar is atrocious. “For our game to appear on”? C’mon.

2) Every Marvel gamer knows that Activision’s official portal for real info is Hero HQ. There is a Hero HQ outpost on Facebook as well as Twitter. Hero HQ has been around for several years now; it’s a well-established source and there’s no reason to send the audience to two pages at once. Why go anywhere else? (Except OneOfSwords.com, your friendly neighborhood source for information lifted from responsibly credited to HeroHQ.)

3) Even if Activision games are not currently available via OnLive, this industry moves pretty fast;  if you were Activision, would it make sense to openly dismiss a potential business partner? That’s just stupid.

Still, to be clear, the gang at HeroHQ had to post a note on Facebook, reminding people that they are the real deal and the comments that got people so fired up were bogus in the first place.

The internet is a business, and the quest for traffic sometimes trumps the quest for truth, so I beg you to keep your wits about you as you hear “news” — if it sounds ridiculous, maybe it is.  As always, I remain your humble servant in factual accuracy. Thanks for stopping by.

I liked the 3D screenshots from Shattered Dimensions, so I’m happy to see the 3D screenshot return for Spider-Man: Edge of Time. Give it a peek if you haven’t seen it; I think the folks at HeroHQ got a glimpse of it first, over the weekend. Spider-Man: Edge of Time ships tomorrow.

The PC is host to every kind of game I can think of: strategy, action, shooter, driving, role-playing, you name it. Hey, I have no idea what you like. Maybe you’re the kind of person who likes playing as your favorite comic book and movie heroes:

Perhaps you fancy yourself a suave spy…or a bloodsucking freak:

Could be that you’re looking for the kind of games that your kids can enjoy as much (if not more) than you will:

Maybe you’re more the exact opposite, looking for an M-rated gorefest:

Well, I don’t care. And by “I don’t care,” I mean, whatever you are into, the odds are good that you will like something shown above, because all 12 of those games are going to one lucky winner next week. Just get your entry form in by the end of Monday, September 26, and I will pick the winner Tuesday the 27th. And then you just have to make some room on our hard drive! The usual info in the FAQ applies so give it a peek. Best of luck!

UPDATE 9/27: Congratulations to Bradley Brock of Gainesville Florida, who says he is a mutant superhero robot. Of course he is.

You may have spotted some of the Spider-Man: Edge of Time PS3 & Xbox 360 pre-order bonus outfits in weeks past; now you get a good look at all them on video.

If you want the four Identity Crisis outfits, head to GameStop:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you dig Spidey’s new Future Foundation look, Amazon has you covered:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And if you like the neon-glow Big Time costume best, your best bet is Best Buy:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Decisions, decisions. You still have a little time to choose; the game ships October 4, 2011.

That's not who you think it is.

In case you’re a bit behind on your Marvel lore: Peter Parker has passed on in the Ultimate universe, and Miles Morales is taking up the mantle. That’s his costume above, as seen in Spider-Man: Edge of Time. And thanks to the magic of unlockables, Peter Parker will be able to wear Miles’ outfit in the game when it comes out later this month. There are some gigantic screens at HeroHQ.

Developer Beenox is not revealing exactly how you access the costume, but that’s a real screen and it’s really  in the game. Have fun finding it in just about three weeks.

The home for Activision’s Marvel games just got redesigned, and I like it.

Just in time for the releases of both X-Men Destiny (Sept 27) and Spider-Man: Edge of Time (Oct 4).

While the world waits for the beginning of Call of Duty XP, I got a chance to hang out with — and record — Kevin Umbricht, the associate producer of Spider-Man: Edge of Time. We talk about PAX, skiing, XBLA, prime numbers, and Intellivision, among many other things. Then we move on to Hugh’s shocking revelation, Dan’s new old toy, the latest object of Kat’s tech lust, and various PC games of yesteryear. It doesn’t sound like it would fill 80 minutes, but it totally does.

Get the podcast on iTunes
Get the podcast on Zune Marketplace
Get the podcast on your own with RSS Feedburner
Or use the links below to listen in the browser or download direct.

More info after the jump…

Special Guest: Kevin Umbricht, Associate Producer, Spider-Man: Edge of Time

Co-host: Hugh Sterbakov, screenwriter, comic creator, and Emmy-nominated writer/toy wrangler for Robot Chicken
Co-host: Katrin Auch, graphic designer, bassist, photographer, light gun enthusiast, videographer, worgen mage, and inventor of Headshotmas

Soundtrack: Yameen - available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and all online music stores

Relevant show links:

• Call of Duty XP
• Hugh on Twitter
• Hugh’s charity raffle
• Dan’s modded 2600
• Jude’s arcade blog
• The Wacom Inkling
• Enter your own question for Stick It To The Dan (or Hugh Don’t Know Jack)

As we get ever closer to Spider-Man: Edge of Time‘s release, GameTrailers has not one but two videos with the voice(s) of Spider-Man — Josh Keaton and Christopher Daniel Barnes.

So cool to see them playing off of each other, reading their lines in the same room — I really expect this will make an audible difference. And not to name-drop too hard, but I got to meet both of them over the course of the last year and they are both a) gamers and b) super nice guys.

GameTrailers has another nice Spider-Man: Edge of Time video up today, this time going behind the scenes with Katee Sackhoff, who plays Black Cat in the game.

I love it when she talks about “sexual tension that the children won’t get.” And hey, that’s the first time I’m hearing about clones…

GameTrailers scores another exclusive video of Spider-Man: Edge of Time today, featuring Val Kilmer musing on playing the game’s villain, Walker Sloan.

I dig the hat. And if you didn’t catch Kilmer’s appearance on the Activision panel at SDCC this year, Kat got some great shots of him goofing off with Peter David.

If you’re thinking of preordering Spider-Man: Edge of Time, here’s something else to think about: Amazon has its own preorder bonus that may or may not rival GameStop’s in your little webbed heart.

The preorder bonus is an unlockable costume taken straight from the pages of FF — aka the Future Foundation — the new incarnation of the Fantastic Four, wherein Reed Richards tries to give science a better name in the Marvel Universe. After more than 500 issues of Fantastic Four, it’s a pretty bold move for Marvel, and Spider-Man is right there in the thick of it. Preorder from Amazon and you’ll unlock the costume early.

Alt costumes based on story milestones or current continuity? You choose.

GameTrailers has a nice behind-the-scenes segment today with Laura Vandervoort, who plays Mary Jane in Spider-Man: Edge of Time.

Laura seemed to have a lot of fun on the Activision panel at SDCC this year. And it’s just a little snippet of her dialogue, but I like what I hear in the trailer.

IGN has a nice behind-the-scenes video today on Spider-Man: Edge of Time. It’s a good summary about what the game offers, and it never hurts if Stan Lee is one of the people explaining what you should expect:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The game will be out on a gaggle of platforms on October 4. Interested?

Hey, I want to run a quick poll to help my collect my thoughts. There are a lot of games coming out from Activision this year, and I am planning to cover…well, all of them. However, I want to make sure I’m offering up the most detail on the games that you, the visitors to this site, care the most about. I am leaving off the kid-focused, often-successful niche titles that you probably don’t care about, but listing the stuff that I think is most appealing to people who self-identify as “gamers.”

You can choose as many as you like from this alphabetical list:

Prototype 2 is in the mix because we know it’s coming out in April, but I have not included things like the Bungie project or whatever may show up next year for Transformers or Tony Hawk, or whatever, because they have not been announced or nailed down yet. When info becomes available, I’ll cover them, no problem — but I don’t expect news on anything that isn’t listed here before the end of the year. I’m really just trying to get a picture of how I should handle my editorial coverage through December. Thanks for the insight.

Remember a few months ago when Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk were iced for 2011 and True Crime Hong Kong went away and the internet said “Activision is screwed, all they have is Call of Duty and nothing else?” I look at this post and think, yeah, that was funny.

Before San Diego Comic-On 2011 kicked off, I was lucky to catch a few moments with Gerard Lehiany, creative director at Beenox, to discuss the current state of Spider-Man: Edge of Time, which is coming out for multiple platforms this fall. Hope you enjoy it! And I apologize for my hair.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Just a quick look at the swanky party Activision hosted the night before San Diego Comic-Con 2011 kicked off. It featured X-Men Destiny, Spider-Man: Edge of Time, Prototype 2, and the world premiere of GoldenEye 007 Reloaded.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I was able to get an audio recording of Saturday’s Activision panel, but GameSpot videotaped the whole thing and posted it for your viewing pleasure. Watch for Val Kilmer goofing off with Peter David, Katee Sackhoff meowing, and Stan Lee being Stan Lee. It’s over an hour long!

The room was filled for the Activision panel on Saturday morning at San Diego Comic-Con, and for good reason — there were lots of big names talking about some very big games. I was able to get an audio recording of the whole panel, which I’m happy to offer as a bonus podcast this week. Here’s who you’ll hear at various points throughout this conversation:

• Ryan Penagos, editorial director of Marvel.com and Agent_M on Twitter as the moderator
• Stan Lee, father of modern comics
• Peter David, writer of Spider-Man: Edge of Time
• Val Kilmer, voice actor for Walker Sloan, Spider-Man: Edge of Time
• Laura Vandervoort, voice actor for Mary Jane, Spider-Man: Edge of Time
• Katee Sackhoff, voice actor for Black Cat, Spider-Man: Edge of Time
• Scott Porter, voice actor for Adrian, X-Men Destiny
• Jamie Chung, voice actor for Aimi, X-Men Destiny
• Dee Brown, studio head at Beenox, developers of Spider-Man: Edge of Time
• Julian Spillane, project director, Silicon Knights, developers of X-Men Destiny
• TQ Jefferson, Marvel’s VP of Games Production
• Ricardo Torres, editor-in-chief, GameSpot

Kat and I only had a hotel room through Friday night, so we drove home last night, collapsed, and today she set about sifting through the rest of her San Diego Comic-Con photos. Saturday was a busy one, with multiple panels and multiple autograph sessions at the Activision booth. Here’s the record of our final day, which includes big celebrities, packed rooms, skin-tight henchwomen, cute kids, blondes, a guy who loves tacos, the prerequisite zombie, and a mythical creature baffled by modern technology:

When I tell you that the Activision panel packed the room, believe it!

Peter David is one of the most charismatic people I've met in comics. Beenox's Dee Brown and Silicon Knights' Julian Spillane seem to agree.

Marvel.com editor-in-chief Ryan Penagos -- aka Agent_M on Twitter -- hosted the panel and kept things moving.

Then again, when one of your panelists is Stan Lee, things move pretty quickly anyway.

Julian Spillane talks about X-Men Destiny with two of its voice-actor stars, Jamie Chung and Scott Porter.

After Peter David made a reference to Val Kilmer's lovely locks, Val -- who is playing Walker Sloane in Edge of Time -- stroked Peter's shiny head.

It's just as well that I don't remember exactly what caused this.

Laura Vandervoort (Mary Jane) & Katee Sackhoff (Black Cat)

Katee was asked how she portrayed Black Cat. So she showed us.

Scott Porter proved his fan cred several times -- and even took down a hater in the crowd. He's playing Adrian in X-Men Destiny.

Shortly after the Activision panel, Marvel's own gaming panel took place, featuring Marvel VP TQ Jefferson, Denis Dyack from Silicon Knights and Activision's Doug Heder talking about X-Men Destiny.

Start them young. I can think of worse female role models!

Missing a few issues? In addition to a few folks in Ghillie suits and Black Ops t-shirts, we spotted the run of Ghost comics for sale.

Back at the Activision booth, during their autograph session, Peter and Laura spot some nerds in the crowd.

Stan Lee signed the wall the day before, so Laura and Peter added their names as well.

Thwip! Spidey and several Activision staffers posed for a fun photo.

You might not be able to make it out, Scott Porter sported an old-school Storm t-shirt during his signing with Jamie Chung.

So many people stopped to take photos that security had to do some crowd control in the aisles. It got crazy.

Maybe the unicorn should have thought about how to use a digital camera before creating the outfit...

I love it when total strangers who happen to match are willing to pose for photos together in an instant.

"Here, hold this idol." I'm sure she's trustworthy, Indy.

Who says females can't fight in wars? Meet Lady Mandalore.

Weta had a booth featuring these incredible ray guns. Pricey but awesome!

Zombie Stormtrooper. Because zombies make everything better.

All good things must come to an end.

If you missed the first or second galleries, go check them out, and if you want to see any of the other coverage, just click here.

Wondering what Spider-Man: Edge of Time is all about? GameTrailers caught up with Beenox studio head Dee Brown at San Diego Comic-Con and asked him explain it personally.

Then they hit up Denis Dyack from X-Men Destiny developer Silicon Knights to discuss the latest mutant outing — the first non-movie X-Men game in six years.

The Facebook page for HeroHQ has been very active this week, as you can expect. Check there for more updates.