tron-legacy posts

In the next couple of months we will be bombarded with tons of tie-ins for the upcoming movie Tron Legacy. The long awaited sequel to Disney's Tron about living and playing inside a computer world is due out in mid-December (along with a prequel game, Tron Evolution).. But in November and December the Tron digital universe will invade another well known pop culture universe.

Marvel Comics, which was acquired by Disney about a year ago, will have Tron-inspired variant covers for 10 of its comic books that will ship to comic book shops in November and December. Yes, you will be able to see Tron-ified versions of Spider-Man, Wolverine and Iron Man, among other characters, on some of your favorite comics. Keep in mind that these are variant covers which means they won't actually tie into the storylines inside the comics. They will likely also be harder to get a hold of than the normal issues. Our sister site Comics Alliance has images of all 10 of the Tron variants along with issue numbers and release dates. It's not a full blast Marvel-Tron crossover but it's still pretty cool.

In 1982, Disney took a bold risk with the release of the movie Tron, a film set largely inside a fictional world in the computer and made largely with CGI. It was different and new and at the time the movie didn't get a huge box office reception. However the legacy of that movie, and of the arcade games it spawned, have influenced the world at large, and game and computer programmers in particular, for years to come.

While developer Monolith released Tron 2.0 in 2003 for PC owners as a sequel to the movie, Disney decided later to create a true movie sequel in Tron Legacy which is due in theaters on December 17. On December 7, Disney Interactive and developer Propaganda Games will release Tron Evolution for the PC and other platforms. This action-adventure game serves as a prequel to the new movie. Big Download got one of the game's designers Dan Bourdage to give us some more info on the game including some PC specific features.

Earlier this year we reported a sighting of an upcoming Tron graphic novel on Amazon.com. Now it looks like Marvel Comics will in fact be publishing the graphic novel as part of a two part mini-series that begins in October. Tron: The Betrayal is still going to be a prequel to the upcoming Disney movie Tron Legacy that's due in theaters in December.

Of course Tron Legacy, the sequel to a 1980's movie about a man sucked into a computer and forced to play games, is getting its own game tie-in, Tron Evolution. That game, which also serves as a prequel to Tron Legacy, is still due for release for the PC and other platforms later this fall.

Last month at E3, PC gaming peripheral maker Razer showed off the StarCraft II branded PC gaming mice and keyboards. Today at Comic-Con Razer announced that it would be making gaming PC products based on the upcoming movie Tron: Legacy, including a PC gaming mouse, a gaming keyboard and a mouse pad.

All three products will have that distinctive Tron blue color like the mouse you see above. The Tron Legacy PC mouse will have seven buttons, an ambidextrous design and a 5600dpi laser. The Tron Legacy gaming keyboard will have fully programmable keys and a detachable keypad that can be placed to the right or left of the main keyboard. Both the mouse and keyboard will have Tron-like "rez and de-rez" visual effects when you start up and shut down your PC. The Tron Legacy mouse pad will have a blue "Bioluminescent Tracking Glow Trail".

All of the products are due out in the fourth quarter of this year. The gaming keyboard will sell for $149.99, the mouse for $99.99 and the mouse pad will be sold with the mouse in a bundle for $129.99. You can check out images of the keyboard and mouse pad after the jump:

Comic books love the game industry now. Every time you turn around you see yet another game franchise get a new comic book mini-series or graphic novel. The latest discovery indicates that Disney will be releasing a new graphic novel based on the video game-based Tron franchise.

Amazon.com has a listing for the original graphic novel Tron The Betrayal to be released this October. The 128-page graphic novel is supposed to take place in between the original 1980's Tron movie and this December's new film Tron Legacy. Of course developer Propaganda Games and publisher Disney Interactive are doing their own prequel with Tron Evolution. In short be prepared to be bombarded with lots of Tron. We think there's an ointment for that.

A few days ago we reported that a countdown had begun for Space Paranoids Online, a web-based version of the game that was shown in the original Tron movie. Now that site has officially gone live. The game, which uses the Unity web game engine, puts you in a tank to shoot other enemy tanks and Recognizers.

The game, which is a promotion for the upcoming Tron movie sequel Tron Legacy, is quite fun as you pilot the tank in first person mode through a series of maze levels. Your tank has only a limited amount of shots before it has to recharge at several stations in the maze. Of course all the high scores of the game are for Flynn, the Jeff Bridges character in both movies.

Encom's classic arcade game Space Paranoids looks like its going to make a big comeback in the next few days. A new web site from the corporation is showing a countdown that will reach zero on Thursday. From the looks of it the game is Space Paranoids Online, the long awaited revival of the . . .

What's that? Isn't this game fictional? Well maybe it was when it was featured in the 1980's film Tron but on Thursday, it looks like you will be able to combat the Recognizers in this web based game. It's all part of a extensive viral campaign for the upcoming movie Tron Legacy which comes out in December. There's already a retail PC game based on the movie that's due out this fall, Tron Evolution, that was announced several months ago.

Old school sci-fi fans may be looking forward to the upcoming TRON: Legacy movie. Of course, where there's a movie based in a video game world, there's an actual game accompanying it. In comes TRON: Evolution, an action adventure game being developed to release before the movie. It looks like there's going to be strong collaboration between the movie and game development, but the game's plot will deal more with the TRON mythology and bridge events that occur between the two movies. The game is expected to release during the 2010 holiday season.

Download HD TRON: Evolution 'Virus' Trailer (90 MB)

The trailer debuted during the Video Game Awards Saturday night and this morning publisher Disney Interactive offered up more info on Tron Evolution, confirming that the action game title from developer Propaganda Games would indeed be heading to the PC in late 2009.

The game takes place in between the events of the classic 1980's film and the upcoming sequel Tron Legacy. The game's official press release hints that the new movie references events that are depicted in the game. We are promised both melee disk combat and light cycle racing in Tron Evolution. Tron Legacy's director Joseph Kosinski will "consult" on the game's development and actress Olivia Wilde will have her voice and likeness as the movie's character Quorra in the game as well.

During this evening's evening's Spike TV Video Game Awards, more info was revealed on the new upcoming Tron game. It now has an official title, Tron Evolution, and will be developed by Disney Interactive' s internal developer Propaganda Games (who last developed Turok and are also working on another upcoming Disney Interactive game, Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Dammed.

The game will be released in late 2010 around the time the upcoming movie Tron Legacy will be released to theaters. The movie's lead actress Olivia Wilde announced during the awards ceremony that she will be participating in some way with the game The trailer showed off some light cycle racing combined with some third person action gameplay.