RETAILBIZ: THE LAST AIRBENDER 32 MCV 16/07/10
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THQ’s movie tie-in The Last Airbender promises an exciting adventure experience for the younger player… by Dominic Sacco
THE LAST AIRBENDER isn’t just a new 3D action adventure film – it’s based on the hugely popular kids TV cartoon series of the same name. Originally airing on the Nickelodeon network in 2005, Avatar: The Last Airbender went on to win a range of awards including a primetime Emmy. Its success spawned two more seasons and a final two-hour episode – now a movie – is hitting the big screen.
For obvious reasons involving blue aliens and James Cameron, the word ‘avatar’ has been dropped from the name to leave The Last Airbender. Now THQ
is bringing a new Wii and DS video game to market ahead of the film’s release. A multiformat game based on the cartoon version of The Last Airbender hit shelves in 2007 and saw good sales. THQ, which has a partnership with Nickelodeon to produce games based on its TV IP, has already amassed over $1bn in revenue from these titles alone – equating to more than 50m games sold worldwide. This puts the new Last Airbender title in very good stead on the High Street, with a massive child audience already interested in the game as fans of the series. Comparisons can be made to Ben 10, another huge boys’ TV property which has translated well into the world of video games.
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The Last Airbenderis directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan, who has worked on blockbuster titles such as The Sixth Sense, Signsand The Happening. As the DS and Wii title is
based on the motion picture, this ensures the game of the film of the TV series also stands up as a quality piece of narrative entertainment in its own right. With a further two movies
based on the world of The Last Airbenderin production, this puts the video game and any potential future sequels into good light.
The storyline in The Last Airbender follows the lives of exiled prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko, and a young boy named Aang – a lone ‘avatar’ who has the power to manipulate all four elements – earth, fire, wind and water. Zuko embarks on a quest to capture Aang in order to regain his father’s honour, this resulting in an epic adventure.
FIGHTERS AND BENDERS The meaning of ‘airbender’ is also entirely innocent, we can assure you. Aang has the ability to produce fire from wind, or by bending the air – hence the title. As the last airbender on the planet,
Gamers have access to manipulate air and fire, creating destructive forces such as tornadoes and fire balls from thin air.
a range of challenges in the action adventure game.
Gamers can use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck to master their on-screen bending powers, while DS owners benefit from the stylus which allows easy-to-implement attacks and movements. They have access to manipulate air and fire, creating destructive forces such as tornadoes and fire balls from thin air. The Last Airbender is released for
Wii and DS on August 6th, one week before the film’s UK launch on August 13th.
RELEASED: AUGUST 6 FORMATS: WII, DS PUBLISHER: THQ DEVELOPER: THQ AUSTRALIA STUDIOS PRICE: £29.99 DISTRIBUTOR: ADVANTAGE CONTACT: 0121 506 9585
he soon becomes a wanted human and gets caught up in a battle to restore balance to his war-torn world. Aang also teams up with a water bender, Katara, and her
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brother Sokka, to fight his cause.
Players have the ability to control both Aang and Zuko, as well as the mysterious
masked marauder ‘The Blue Spirit’. They can partake in epic battles, hand-to-hand combat and
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