Of all the comic book characters out there, the X-Men are among the most popular. Maybe it’s the fact that they have so many unique and cool powers or that their struggle for equality resonates with readers. Or maybe it’s just that they kick a lot of ass.

Whatever the reason for their popularity, the X-Men are here to stay. So, to further that popularity, we bring you a preview for Marvel’s upcoming comic Chaos War: X-Men #1.

This one comes from the creative team of Chris Claremont, Louise Simonson, and Doug Braithwaite and tells the story of The Chaos King who has drafted the newly resurrected Thunderbird, Banshee, Stepford Cuckoos and many more into his war against reality. Will these former friends be able to help The Chaos King win the war?

Every mutant left alive has no choice but to fight to try and prevent this. Sounds cool to me.

Find out what happens when Chaos War: X-Men #1 hits store shelves on December 29. Until then, check out a preview of the book after the break.

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I’m playing it. You’re playing it. Millions and millions of other people are playing it. More to the point, millions and millions of people are buying it . . . and in record numbers. As we told you before, Call of Duty: Black Ops sold very well, to put it mildly, in its first day of release.

Now, the game has broken another record and made over $650 Million in just five days. I’ll let that number sink in for a minute. This amount of sales breaks the previous record of $550 Million in five days set last year by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Also a great game but now, just second best.

“Call of Duty has become the first entertainment property in history to set five-day launch records for two consecutive years across all forms of entertainment,” said Activision Blizzard CEO, Robert Kotick in the release. ”The title’s success illustrates the mass appeal of interactive entertainment as millions of consumers are choosing to play Call of Duty: Black Ops at unprecedented levels rather than engage in other forms of media.”

For more on this announcement, click through for the full press release.

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Yes, we know it’s Thursday already and that comics come out on Wednesday. However, that doesn’t mean that all of you have already gone out and purchased your comics for this week. We might still have a few stragglers. If so, this week’s “On Sale” is for you.

Of the comics out this week we’re particularly interested in Avengers #7, Osborn #1, Superior #2 and X-Men #5. Also, we’ve got some cover art for you after the jump so be sure and check that out too.

Comics On-Sale:
AVENGERS #7
AVENGERS #7 BLANK COVER VARIANT
AVENGERS #7 DJURDJEVIC GATEFOLD VARIANT
AVENGERS #7 MCGUINNESS VARIANT
AVENGERS #7 TRON VARIANT
CHAOS WAR: CHAOS KING #1 (CW)
CHAOS WAR: DEAD AVENGERS #1 (CW)
DAKEN: DARK WOLVERINE #3
DEADPOOL CORPS #8
DEADPOOL MAX #2
HEROIC AGE: VILLAINS #1
HULK #27
IRON MAN: RAPTURE #2
MARVEL SUPER ACTION #1
OSBORN #1 (BIG)
OSBORN #1 GOBLIN VARIANT (BIG)

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As if yesterday wasn’t a big enough day for trailers, between Green Lantern, Your Highness, and Red Riding Hood, but it looks like the best was yet to come, as the first trailer for Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens, starring both Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, hits the web.

Based on the 2006 graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, the story is both classic and awesome. Here’s the official synopsis.

1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger (Craig) with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford).

It’s a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation.

As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he’s been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents–townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors–all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.

Check out the full trailer after the jump and check out Cowboys & Aliens in theaters on July 29th.

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We’ve seen a lot of mock-up PSPs in the past. Whether they were imitation PSPGos, PSP Phones, or PSP2s, these were either very good, or very bad, models of the gaming system we all know and like.
However, the supposed PSP2 pictures that have recently leaked onto the internet don’t look like mock-ups.

Perhaps that’s due to the crappy image quality, but it’s definite these weren’t thrown together on Photoshop by a fanboy. From what we can see, this PSP slides like the PSPGo, but looks much bigger. It’s also got two analog sticks, a microphone, touchpad, and camera.

We’re unsure whether this model will ever see the light of day, as Sony has stated they’ve designed several different variations of the PSP2, but it’s definitely interesting to see what they’ve been thinking about for the device.

According to Kotaku‘s report, the images have been confirmed by a development source. You can make your own conclusions after the jump.

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Things keep getting weirder and weirder with the casting of Marc Webb’s upcoming Spider-Man reboot, referred to around the Flickcast offices as (500) Days of Spider-Man. A few weeks back, we brought you some interesting news as Martin Sheen was cast as Peter Parker’s uncle, Ben Parker. Then news came through that Sally Field was in talks to play Aunt May. Weird enough news on it’s own.

Now, word is coming through from Heat Vision that famed comedian and bad ass fictional firefighter Denis Leary is in negotiations to play George Stacy, father of Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy.

In comic lore, New York City Police Captain Stacy perishes in a fight with Spidey and Doctor Octopus, which forces Gwen to hate Spider-Man. Since Gewn is the main love interest of the film, this will more than likely become the conflict in the middle.

The rest of the cast is filled out with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Rhys Ifans as The Lizard. Spider-Man is set to start shooting beginning next year.

November 2nd marked an important day in video games, the return of James Bond to video games, not just with Goldeneye but the newest edition and 24th Bond game made with James Bond 007: Blood Stone. With Goldeneye on its way, Blood Stone fell under the radar for most approaching its release. Unfortunately compared to its Wii counterpart, Blood Stone falls somewhat short of expectations and falls into the territory of being an average third person cover based shooter.

Gameplay:

James Bond 007: Blood Stone’s action consists of two main gameplay types. The first and most widely used is the third person shooter. Players use a basic cover mechanic to pop out from behind walls and bunkers to take out oncoming foes. The shooting is fairly accurate and the autolock often aims are opponents bodies making players use some degree of twitch skill to move in to a head shot. Unfortunately, these head shots don’t always register as well as they should, even with the most accurate of guns.

Even on the Agent (normal) difficulty, some foes who are not wearing protective headgear or are shot right in the face take multiple shots to bring down. In a realistic setting (i.e. not zombies, superheroes or space aliens), this definitely pulls a player out of the game as they wonder what adamantium skull must be taking this kind of punishment. While the pop in and out shooting can be fun for some time, it does begin to get slightly repetitive as the enemy AI doesn’t effectively use cover to draw the player into a vulnerable position.

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This week on The Flickcast your favorite hosts take on some new and recurring topics to entertain, inform and otherwise keep you interested. . . at least for a little while. Some of the topics covered today include the brand new Green Lantern trailer, more on The Walking Dead, Hulu Plus price drops, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows leaked footage, trailers for The Mechanic,  Red Riding Hood, Teen Wolf, Cowboys Vs. Aliens, Marvel’s Hulk TV series and more.

In addition, the boys also made new picks this week for your viewing, listening or reading pleasure. Matt picked the animated series Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes while Chris picked the first person shooter game Medal of Honor.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

First and foremost, it has finally been revealed that everyone will be getting their hands on Marvel vs. Capcom 3: The Fate of Two Worlds on February 15th, 2011 for the PlayStation 3 and XBox 360

In addition to the standard version of the game releasing, there will not surprisingly be a collector’s edition as well. The Marvel vs. Capcom 3: The Face of Two Worlds Special Edition will include:

• Steelbook case featuring exclusive art work
• Comic/Art book- A 12-page prologue comic, written by Marvel writer Frank Tieri, plus campaign art and a curated selection of fan art.
• 1-month Subscription to Marvel Digital Comics, providing unlimited online access to Marvel content
• 2 Playable DLC Characters – Shuma Gorath and Jill Valentine. Content is available 4 weeks post-launch.

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Spy films of the 1960′s have a reputation of getting terrible remakes. It happened with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman in 1998′s The Avengers. It happened with Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellan in last year’s The Prisoner. But that all may change, now that Steven Soderberg has expressed interest in taking on The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Here’s the official word from THR.

Steven Soderbergh is in early talks to take over directing duties on the long-in-development film The Man From U.N.C.L.E. at Warner Bros. Scott Z. Burns, who wrote Soderbergh’s The Informant and the director’s upcoming medical thriller Contagion, is negotiating to come aboard as writer.

The show was a basic serialized spy drama from 1964 starring Robert Vaughn, who found a strong career later in life on the hit BBC show Hustle. The plan is most likely to gear the film towards the action/comedy hybrid, which is what original screenwriter Max Borenstein was tasked to do.

Now that Scott Burns is taking on the script, you can expect to see elements of both The Bourne Ultimatum and The Informant–Burns’ previous films–to arise in this script. The only question remains: will we see Matt Damon as the titular Man?

As if the first trailer for Warner Bros’ Green Lantern wasn’t enough earlier today, we’re getting yet another cinematic treat in the form of the first trailer for Warner’s Red Riding Hood is now showing it’s face.

The film comes from Twilight and Thirteen director Catherine Hardwicke, and stars upcoming actress Amanda Seyfried, so you know there is a built in teen audience well before the trailer even hit. Here’s the official synopsis.

In “Red Riding Hood,” Seyfried plays Valerie, a beautiful young woman torn between two men. She is in love with a brooding outsider, Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry (Max Irons). Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter are planning to run away together when they learn that Valerie’s older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village.

For years, the people have maintained an uneasy truce with the beast, offering the creature a monthly animal sacrifice. But under a blood red moon, the wolf has upped the stakes by taking a human life. Hungry for revenge, the people call on famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon’s arrival brings unintended consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. As the death toll rises with each moon, Valerie begins to suspect that the werewolf could be someone she loves. As panic grips the town, Valerie discovers that she has a unique connection to the beast–one that inexorably draws them together, making her both suspect…and bait.

We already have our theory about the film based on the trailer. Check it out after the jump and weigh in. Red Riding Hood hits theaters on March 11th.

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In an announcement that’s not that surprising seeing as adoption of the premium service has been rather slow, Hulu has decided to drop the monthly price of its “Plus” service by $2. The new monthly bill for the service will now be $7.99, effective immediately.

According to Hulu: “The monthly price for Hulu Plus moving forward is just $7.99. Any current subscribers who joined during our preview period will receive a credit for the difference from the $9.99 preview price. This credit will automatically be applied to their next billing cycle.”

Good news. But wait, there’s more. The company also announced some cool promotions aimed, presumably, at generating new business. They are:

• One free week trials for all new subscribers. In addition, current subscribers who joined during the preview period will receive a credit for one week of Hulu Plus toward their next month’s subscription.
• Two free weeks of Hulu Plus for both current subscribers and friends they invite through our referral program. Subscribers can learn more by clicking on the “Referrals” tab on their Hulu profile page.
• 11 weeks ($20 worth) of free Hulu Plus with the purchase of a Sony BRAVIA connected TV or Blu-ray player through January 31, 2011.
• One free month of Hulu Plus with the purchase of a Roku device through December 15, 2010.

In addition , Hulu also announced that the service will be launching on Roku today and will be coming to “Internet-connected Vizio, LG Electronics, and Panasonic Blu-ray players and HDTVs; TiVo Premiere DVRs; the Xbox 360; and Western Digital’s WD TV Live Hub Media Center and WD TV Live Plus Network Media Player,” in the coming months.

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