At X06 Microsoft and Marvel Entertainment confirmed that Cryptic Studios is the studio behind Marvel Universe Online, the upcoming Marvel-themed MMO, exclusive to Windows Vista and Xbox 360.

Cryptic Studios is known for their work on City of Heroes and City of Villains. They will be bringing the Marvel MMO to both platforms simultaneously, letting users from either platform to play alongside one another. No release date for the project was mentioned.

The first batch of X06 screenshots:

BioShock

Alone in the Dark

Kane & Lynch: Two Dead Men

Rainbow Six Vegas

The Darkness

Quoting SCi Entertainment CEO Jane Cavanagh, Tomb Raider Chronicles reports that Crystal Dynamics is hard at work on a new Tomb Raider game set for release in 2008. Responsible for the fabulously fantastic Tomb Raider: Legend, Crystal Dynamics is working on “new versions of Tomb Raider (including a PS3 version);” it is also working on a completely new franchise.

Can’t wait till 2008 for more Lara Croft goodness? SCi is set to release a special Tomb Raider 10th Anniversary Edition game in the second half of its 2007 financial year. It is also going to release Tomb Raider: Legend on Gamecube, DS and GBA.

Taking notes from EA’s Army of Two and Io Interactive’s Kane & Lynch, Eidos Interactive announced its own two player co-op game: Crossfire. Exclusive to PC and Xbox 360, the game will have players take control of military operatives who do the dirty work for the United States.

When the US government needs intelligence but wants no association with an operation, deniable operatives are dispatched. Responsible for covert paramilitary actions, the Special Activities Division is a division of the Central Intelligence Agency’s former Directorate of Operations, now the National Clandestine Service. Members of the unit must bear no identity; no objects, papers or clothing that could associate them in any way with their employees, CROSSFIRE draws its inspiration from this group of highly skilled individuals.

An innovative new two player co-op FPS from award-winning developers, Pivotal Games, CROSSFIRE is set in today’s delicately balanced political climate, focusing on two covert field operatives, experts in weapons and military tactics. CROSSFIRE allows players the freedom to switch seamlessly, at any point, between these two operatives to lay down cover fire, explore different paths through levels, create a distraction or pin down the enemy under crossfire. The intuitive command system encourages the player to focus 100% on action, without a moment to catch their breath. Featuring full destructible environments and Hollywood-esque explosive moments, the game takes place in politically sensitive areas across South America, Africa and Siberia.

Crossfire is set to accidentally kill the Xbox 360 sometime next year.

Confirming rumors that the game will rock on next-gen consoles, RedOctane officially announced that Guitar Hero II will also be headbanging on Xbox 360.

X06 attendees got the chance to experience an early version of the game for Xbox 360, as well as the X-Plorer controller (pictured). Besides enhanced graphics, Guitar Hero II on the next-gen console will feature micro-transactions, letting users buy and download songs via Xbox Live Marketplace.

No release date was disclosed for the title, though the PS2 version hits stores November 7.

Increasing Unreal Engine 3’s popularity even further, Vogster Entertainment announced that it has licensed the game engine to develop next-gen MMOG Crimecraft. Well, what exactly is Crimecraft? “It [Crimecraft] is going to shake the global video game industry with its innovative features and characters actions,” says Arseniy Nazarenko, the game’s producer. “Vogster has set upon an ambitious game-development course and are preparing to launch Crimecraft, our own unique and exciting MMO game, in 2008.”

There you have it! Oh yeah, the game is multiplatform, too.

Bitmap Brothers fans can look forward to playing Speedball 2 and The Chaos Engine again! Word comes from Frogster Interactive that the publisher has secured the worldwide PC rights to the aforementioned titles and will be releasing them sometime next year.

The futuristic sports game series Speedball was first released in 1988 on the Amiga and was an instant triumph. Versions for almost every relevant system and highly successful sequels followed. The series got many awards, amongst others 1989 “Game of the Year” from The Golden Joysticks and “Best Original Game” from In-Din Arcade.

Action-shooter The Chaos Engine celebrated a similarly successful première in 1993. The Chaos Engine received numerous awards including the SEGA Award 1994 for “Best Action Game” and the Power Play Award for “Multi-player Game of the Year”.

If snowboarding and aliens sound very odd to you, that’s because IT IS. Bongfish has announced Stoked Rider: Alaska Alien, the next installment in its snowboarding series… this time with extraterrestrials!

Equip your alien rider and drop him at the highest peaks of tremendous mountains. Wherever you want. Explore a never seen before terrain inspired by Alaska’s impressive summits or match online with your friends and players from around the globe. New equipment doesn’t only look good, it really makes you better. And you will get better yourself. Those times, where you can start a run, grab a cup of coffee and the rider reaches the bottom of the valley by himself, are over. Snowboard gaming is about the gamer. STOKED RIDER: Alien Alaska will challenge YOU.

“So?” you ask, “Where and when can I get the game?”. We’re not telling you yet, because until now we couldn’t find a publisher for most regions (with notable exceptions). And that has not got anything to do with the quality of STOKED RIDER: Alaska Alien. We’re getting great feedback from everyone. Cooperate business just claims that snowboarding games don’t sell. We say: Rubbish! Our STOKED RIDER series was played by more than 600.000 players around the world over the last six years! One thing is sure: there will be a simultaneous world wide release via online distribution - and this will take place this winter season. Bongfish is taking a next generation approach here too.

Shrapnel Games and ProSIM announced Air Assault Task Force, a war game set for release by the end of this year. Details:

With its roots based in the ATF engine series of titles (Raging Tiger, The Star and the Crescent, The Falklands War: 1982, and of course ATF), Air Assault Task Force is a brand new engine that represents the next level of command-time simulations from ProSIM Company. As such it boasts an impressive array of features that will be pleasing to both veterans of the ATF series and newcomers.

New players will appreciate the intuitive UI using a “select-unit, select-order” control scheme. While common to your typical real-time clickfest, in the past the ATF games used a “select-order, select-unit” paradigm, that while more in tune with the simulation aspect, was slightly troublesome for some users. Now any level of gamer can jump into Air Assault Task Force and instantly feel at ease.

Also helping are the brand new graphics. Using the latest in DirectX the playing fields still retain all the realism that ProSIM is known for, but make information analysis much cleaner than previously. Players will instantly be able to assess the situation, and when combined with the simple change of how units are ordered, it creates a simulation whose learning curve gently slopes, instead of suddenly spiking.

Ubisoft has released three new screenshots for Assassin’s Creed for PS3 and Xbox 360. They also released the game’s storyline, so if you’re interested in that, click on more below.

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Although Sony is yet to price any of its games, statements made by executives have indicated that it will be in the same range as Xbox 360 games in North America. That seems to be the case in the Sony Style store: the online store lists seven PS3 games, all of which have been priced at $60.

It is not known whether these prices are final or not, but it can be expected that PS3 games will compete with Xbox 360 titles in terms of price.

PS3Land carries an exclusive interview with Dreamgazers, revealing Dreamers, their PS3-exclusive title. Here’s a bit from the extensive interrogation:

Dreamers is a game about a young man in his 20’s (Jorge) who suffers from a bizarre form of narcolepsy. He experiences sudden and uncontrollable attacks of deep sleep, sometimes accompanied by paralysis and hallucinations, which can occur at anytime and anywhere. More importantly, they cause him to dream…

Lately, these attacks have started to occur more often, appear to last longer and somehow have become harder to wake up from - unless he is able to find a way out of the dreams they bring. Afraid for his life, Jorge begins a quest to discover the reasons why his illness is getting worse, which is a race against not only the mystery of his predicament, but also a race against time before his next, and unavoidable - and quite possibly his last - deep sleep attack.

The game hopes to be an exhilarating adventure that has players race against time and face their own fears as they journey through a variety of levels spanning from dreams and nightmares, to vast beautiful mystical dream worlds and some real-life locations of beautiful Greece in which the game story is set.

The official Dreamers website is up, offering screenshots, concept art, as well as a couple of tech demos.

Following up on previous announcements that the Opera browser would be available for the Wii, the browser company confirmed that this will indeed be, but there is a catch: the browser will be freely downloadable until June 2007, after which users will have to cough up money to browse the web on their TV.

According to Opera, the Wii browser will support Flash and AJAX, as well as the full range of features present in the desktop PC version. Even mouse gestures will make their appearance, courtesy of the Wii’s motion-sensitive controller.

Microsoft and Rare have announced the 11 winning entries from the Kameo “Design Your Skin” contest that had gamers skin their favorite characters. All winning entries are now available on Xbox Live as fully playable downloadable content in the new “Design-A-Skin” pack. Some of the winning designs include the newly-created Ash with his Griffin-inspired design; Thermite, who now “literally carries the world on his back”; and Major Ruin in his new egg shell armor.

Coming from Kyoto-based Jupiter Corporation, the studio behind Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, is BVG’s first videogame based on an original IP: Spectrobes. An anime-inspired action-RPG, the game is on track for release on March 15, 2007 for the DS.

Faced with the daunting task of defeating the Krawl, a powerful force poised to destroy the galaxy, Rallen and Jeena must excavate, awaken and train Spectrobes, prehistoric creatures that have recently been discovered. Only by enlisting the help of these ancient beings will Rallen and Jeena be able to save the galaxy from certain demise. Players will progress through the game and complete their mission by training each Spectrobe, helping them to evolve and become more powerful. With highly customizable elements and powers, gamers can tailor unique Spectrobes to fit their playing style. Spectrobes, featuring the look and feel of Japanese anime and manga, will immerse players in its engaging story and fascinating characters.

The Spectrobes website will feature webisodes that will give interested gamers the chance to know more about the characters of the Spectrobes world. Six episodes are planned for release over the next six months, culminating in the launch of the game.