Microsoft and Marvel deal

Microsoft plans to create a game where they can choose characters from Marvel's range of super heroes such as Spider Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men among others - or become a villain.

Last month, Sony struck a deal to make a game based on characters from Time Warner's DC Comics unit, Marvel's nemesis reports New York Times.

Microsoft plans to release its new game console, the Xbox 360, later this year, and Sony plans to release its new PlayStation 3 in 2006. Each new console will be able to support advanced multiplayer games.

'Marvel has created some of the most iconic and exciting characters and stories in the past century. We're thrilled to bring this universe to interactive entertainment,' said Peter Moore, Microsoft's corporate VP of Worldwide Marketing and Publishing for Xbox.

Tim Rothwell, president of Marvel's consumer media group, said his company and Microsoft hoped to release their new game in 2008.