I’ve recently fallen in love with The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, so I was excited at Nintendo’s Big Apple Comic Con booth to have the chance to try the sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, due out for the Nintendo DS later this year.

Animated in the same style as Phantom Hourglass and the Gamecube classic The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Spirit Tracks plays very much the same. Players control Link by dragging the stylus across the screen in the direction you want him to move. Attacking and other actions are also done using the stylus. While I had hoped they would have worked in the use of the directional pad to control Link in this game, it’s understandable that they’d want to keep the mechanics the same for returning players.

What is very different about Spirit Tracks is the ability to control a Phantom, one of the enemies in Phantom Hourglass. The Phantom can do a lot that Link cannot, such as walking through fire or across a pit of lava. Controlling the Phantom was as easy as tapping the Phantom, and then drawing a line in the path that you wanted him to go. This was a little frustrating when trying to get the Phantom to turn corners, because if the line was drawn too close to the wall he’d get stuck.

Even more frustrating was the fact that if the Phantom had to go ahead of Link to clear the way, Link wouldn’t just follow after him, you have to direct him over to the Phantom. It wasn’t difficult, mostly just time consuming. However, the addition of the Phantom added a lot to my experience and made Spirit Tracks feel like its own game, rather than just a straight sequel to Phantom Hourglass.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will be available for Nintendo DS on December 7th.

Marvel’s chief fanboy, Joe Quesada, was at this year’s Big Apple Comic-Con to talk about what’s going on in the Marvel universe.  With the recent accusation of Marvel by Disney it’s hard to deny the company’s success. So, just how does Marvel continue to compete against DC it’s competitors?  According to Quesada, “The way we differentiate ourselves is by not sucking.”

Yes, you read that correctly. Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief claims “not sucking” is a sound business strategy. Okay, I can’t argue that point. From a business perspective not sucking, or at the very least sucking less then your competition, should be somewhere in the business plan and/or mission statement.

Unfortunately for Quesada, someone at Marvel hasn’t read said business plan.  If they had we, the fans, would not have been forced to endure Ghost Rider, either Fantastic Four film or the trilogy of reboots that was The Punisher, The Punisher and The Punisher: War Zone.  Quesada should probably send out a memo to the staff regarding his suck less initiative just as a reminder.

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This past weekend at Big Apple Comic Con, we got a chance to talk to Dollhouse’s Miracle Laurie about her role in the show, and where things may be headed. Last season, her character November went through quite a transformation, and was left this season “released” by the Dollhouse.

Miracle went from a little-known actress to a resident in the Whedonverse practically overnight. She also mentions in the interview how she was originally up for a role on Firefly a few years back.

We were able to talk about most things Doll‘, including where her character will be going this season now that she’s “free”, her thoughts on working with mastermind Joss Whedon, and even some about her Ukulele cover band, “Uke Box Hero”.

Check out the full interview after the jump. Be sure to keep it here for some more great Big Apple Con interviews with other cast members of shows like Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, and more!

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This past weekend at Big Apple Comic Con, we had the opportunity to get some exclusive hands on time with the upcoming THQ release Darksiders. Our very own Matt Raub also got the chance to sit down and talk with its creative director Joe Madureira of Battle Chasers fame to talk about the game. That interview will be up soon.

Darksiders tells the story of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Like his other three cohorts, Death, Strife and Fury, he’d help bring upon the End of Days when the time was right. But something went wrong and someone set events in to motion for the end of the world too soon and War was blamed for it. Now, a hundred years later, War comes back to earth to try and set things right in a literal post-Apocalyptic world where he hacks his way through both angels and demons to try and find out what went wrong.

Starting off with just his sword in hand, War cuts his way through demons very much in style similar to God of War. War, being the master of weaponry, is also able to pick up non-traditional weapons to the original Apocalyptic mythos when he is able to wield an assortment of guns as well. As his attacks pile up, War also gains access to the power of his Wrath meter which allows him to unleash stronger attacks and various powers that he regains through the progress of the game.

The game’s action takes place in underground areas filled with puzzles as well as topside of a free roam world. Joe Mad has compared the style of gameplay to that of the Legend of Zelda series. When wandering through the demo levels, the game was easy to pick up and play with intuitive controls and easy to navigate areas.

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This past weekend marked the very first year for Wizard World’s Big Apple Comic Con. Though some may be confused, this show has nothing to do with New York Comic Con, nor the legendary San Diego Comic-Con. This is a new brand established by Wizard, which has been making waves across the country in places like Boston, Anaheim, and Chicago.

This past weekend was quite interesting in terms of turn-out for a first year show. Friday was OK, but Saturday and Sunday had a fair share of fanboys and fangirls roaming the con floor. You can always tell how good a con is by the amount of costumed heroes and heroines, and you can see for yourself after the jump, that they all came out of the woodwork for the show.

There wasn’t much to be said about programming. There were maybe a dozen panels over the three day period, most of which were just Q&A’s with names like Jim Lee, Joe Quesada, or William Shatner. There was also a fair amount of celebrity presence at the show, at least more than other NYC shows. Many names like Michael Hogan of Battlestar Galactica, Miracle Laurie of Dollhouse and even Billy Dee Williams were in attendance, and we even got a few one-on-one interviews with them to bring you later on.

For now, check out a photo recap of this weekend after the jump.

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This weekend marks the beginning of Wizard’s very first Big Apple Comic Convention happening in Midtown Manhattan, and though the weather may not be as nice, that hasn’t stopped fanboys and fangirls from donning their tights and making their way through the harsh city cold.

The Flickcast will be covering the show all weekend long, with interviews and breaking news as it comes to us, but we thought we’d start it off with a few simple preview pics of the show itself.

Tickets are still available, so if you’re in the New York area, be sure to stop by Pier 94 (55th and 12th) all weekend long to get a peek at what could be NYC’s next big comic convention! Check out our first bunch of pics from today’s show after the jump!

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