Round Up: Be The Guitar Hero II Competition, Disney's Pirates Goes Mobile, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Today's round-up includes a new action RPG in development by Raven that takes a much broader look at Activision's Marvel license, news of RedOctane looking for independent musicians to submit music to be included in Guitar Hero II, and Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean for mobile phones, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts, Serious Games Source news, product news and Gamasutra job postings. - Following on from the success of X-Men Legends and X-Men Legends II:Rise of Apocalypse, Activision has announced that Raven Software is again adapting the Marvel license for a new action RPG for multiple platforms, including next-generation consoles. This time featuring characters from throughout the entire Marvel Universe canon, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance will feature over 140 characters, and allow players to control 20 Marvel Super Heroes including Spider-Man, Wolverine, Blade and Captain America. “Marvel: Ultimate Alliance delivers a new twist on action/RPGs where players’ actions and choices ultimately determine what happens to the Marvel universe,” said Will Kassoy, Vice President of Global Brand Management for Activision. “This coupled with the game’s enormous character roster will deliver an action-packed experience that comic book fans have been waiting for.” - RedOctane's Guitar Hero for the PlayStation 2 has ,since its release in late 2005, become one of the most popular console rhythm games on the market, thanks in part to its unique peripheral controller made to look like an electric guitar. With the sequel recently confirmed, RedOctane has announced the launch of its “Be a Guitar Hero II” competition, giving independent musicians the opportunity to have their song featured in the upcoming PS2 sequel. RedOctane will accept music entries through its community website from now until 11:59 p.m. PST on June 30, 2006. The grand prize winner will have their song featured in the top-secret track list in the game. Guitar Hero II will make its debut at E3 in May. - The mobile publishing arm of the Walt Disney Internet Group mDisney today announced that it will release Pirates of the Caribbean Multiplayer, a cross-carrier, real-time multiplayer game for mobile phones. The action adventure mobile multiplayer game is based on the popular movie franchise, and is slated to launch this summer, in conjunction with the theatrical release of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest worldwide on July 7, 2006. The game will permit up to 16 players to engage in individual game sessions. Players will be able to meet and chat, as well as form guilds of hundreds of players on the game’s server, which can accommodate tens of thousands of simultaneous players. Players can sign up to participate in the beta test on the game's website. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include a look at pinball tables of the mini variety, pestilence-laden video game print ads, and the distinct lack of owls in video games. - Also updated today: Serious Games Source news on new serious game funding for Destineer, and the launch of a new activism game called Darfur Is Dying, plus Gamasutra product news regarding LucasArts' upcoming Indiana Jones game utilizing NaturalMotion's Euphoria, as well as the latest Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from Blizzard, Factor 5, Kush Games, LucasArts, Sixteen Tons Entertainment, Visual Concepts Entertainment, and Vivendi Universal Games.