Claremont cowrites X-Men game

When X-Men first hit theaters in 2000, it gained acclaim for remaining faithful to the tone of the comic series, if not always the actual events. Activision hopes that same formula will yield similar success for its upcoming multiplatform X-Men: The Official Game.

In order to capture the tone of both the comics and the film, Activision enlisted renowned X-Men scribe Chris Claremont to cowrite the game with Zak Penn, who cowrote both X2 and this summer's X-Men: The Last Stand. Claremont handled the writing on the Uncanny X-Men comic for 16 straight years, a run that included classic story arcs like the "Dark Phoenix Saga," from which much of the film trilogy's main subplots are derived. Joining Claremont and Penn on the title is Chance Thomas, a game composer whose work has appeared in the King Kong, Lord of the Rings, and Unreal games.

The PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Xbox 360 editions of X-Men: The Official Game are being developed by Z-Axis, with Hypnos Entertainment handling the GameCube version. As far as the handhelds go, Amaze Entertainment is working on the DS game, while WayForward Technologies tackles the project for the Game Boy Advance. Finally, Beenox Studios is developing the game on the PC.

The PC and console editions of the game are rated T for Teen and the portable versions received an E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. X-Men: The Official Game is scheduled to arrive at retail May 16.