G.I. JOE Video Game Coming in August

— -- A real American hero, G.I. JOE is there...and shortly on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, plus the gamut of handheld and mobile devices. That's the latest from Electronic Arts, which says it's planning to publish the official movie tie-in game to Paramount's live-action G.I. JOE: The Rise of COBRA film late this summer.

The game's said to feature an exclusive story that takes up where Paramount's film leaves off, "allowing players to re-create and re-live the greatest moments from the film, cartoon series and action figure toy line."

Greatest cartoon moments, let's see... Like these?

[Shipwreck and Snake Eyes are sneaking around a Cobra base]

Shipwreck: Let's reconnoiter, Snake Eyes, and try not to attract attention. Sure. Who'd notice a wet sailor with a parrot and a silent, masked man with a timber wolf? I think we're in major trouble!

...and

Flint: Remember, a Cobra is a snake and snake is sneak spelled sideways!

...and

[Talking about Sgt. Slaughter]

Cobra Commander: That man has the constitutionality of a vending machine.

The game's set to feature 12 G.I. JOE characters with distinctive abilities and weapons, though I don't see how they're planning to top stuff like the old thermal-activated color-changing breastplate on the original Zartan action figure.

And yes, they're apparently planning a single-screen co-op mode, so you and a pal can properly squabble over who gets to play Snake Eyes.

So now you know. And as they say, "knowing is half the battle."

Matt Peckham still has the original Skystriker XP-14F (released in 1983). He occasionally takes it for a spin at twitter.com/game_on.