NYCC this year saw the debut of one of the most nostalgia filled MMO gameplay trailers since Star Wars: The Old Republic. Though we can’t show you the trailer we can tell you about what we saw and what information we were able to get about the game. Transformers Universe is being developed by Jagex, the makers of the free to play fantasy MMO Runescape. Jagex promises an experience meant to appeal both to the masses as well as the Transformers hardcore fan.

Transformers Universe will be a browser based MMO for both the PC and Mac which means no downloads are necessary. It will take place using real world looking cars on a diverse landscape and will be a planet-based experience. So what does that mean? Don’t expect boats or planes just yet for this game. PR people were very careful to only mention driving and not piloting. It may be possible that they may exist in the future but the character creator screen we saw only gave options for cars, trucks and motorcycles thus far.

We have also been promised that Transformers Universe will be a constantly evolving world with huge character customization options. This means that when players pick their side as either Autobot or Decepticon, they will have a massive level of creative control over their character and that the world around them won’t be static. Areas, characters and missions will change and allow for new gameplay experiences instead of repetitive gameplay. Additionally, players will be granted the ability to play alongside iconic characters like Optimus Prime. Similar to the vein of DC Universe Online, players will fight with or against some of the recognizable faces from the Transformers Universe, helping make that individual’s story feel bigger and more important.

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At New York Comic Con, we got a special media only peek at live gameplay of Max Payne 3. For those who may be too young, the original Max Payne came out in July of 2001 for the PC with XBox and PlayStation 2 releases to follow in what Rockstar claims as “the birth of the cinematic action shooter”. Max Payne introduced the concept of bullet time into games, which has been copied innumerable times since, especially in titles like John Woo’s Stranglehold, where players were able to slow down time and carefully aim and place each bullet they fired as opposed to the mad run and gun fury in most first or third person shooters. Precision was key.

Max Payne also took a Noir approach to its storytelling which helped set it apart from the games at the time which focused more on being more like big summer blockbusters than gritty crime dramas. Max Payne would eventually spawn both a sequel and a motion picture release starring Mark Walberg.

When we got to see Max Payne 3 in action, the first noticeable improvement is the full facial animations of the characters. Max no longer has the eternal look of pain frozen into his face. Instead, he has a fully animated set of emotions ranging from angst to utter despair. Just because it’s a new game, don’t expect a new demeanor for Max.

Also changed is the graphic novel style storytelling. In the first two games, cut scenes played out like reading panels from a comic book with static images with caption boxes over them while Max’s voice over told the story. Now, everything plays out in engine in full animated glory for the players as they traverse through levels. There will be Hollywood style camera cuts as well as on screen captions of what Max is saying but the game plays much more like a high quality motion comic during these cut scenes rather than flipping through a book.

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This week we kick off a brand new podcast here at The Flickcast. This one revolves around the world of gaming and features our video game guru John Carle and co-host Jonathan “Wall-E” Weilbaecher who will talk about all things newsworthy in the video game world.

This week, John and Wall-E talk about September’s video game sales as well as the upcoming Warner Bros. lineup including a new Lego Batman. In their topic of the week, the new dynamic duo of the Flickcast introduce themselves and their gaming preferences and continue the age old (five year) debate of XBox 360 vs. PlayStation 3.

And in their Now Playing lists, the two talk Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as well as the titles John had the opportunity to check out last weekend at New York Comic Con from Activision and Capcom.

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 or via email.

New York Comic Con was a huge showcase for the folks at Activision. In addition to the Spider-Man photo booth where people could green screen themselves webslinging through the city, the other side of the Activision booth had part of a full size helicopter people could pose next to. Why a helicopter you ask? Well, remember that question asked about “What is cooler than drop kicking a helicopter?” that was posed for a little game called Prototype? One of the showcase pieces given its first hands on to the public was Prototype 2 on the XBox 360.

During our playthrough we played both a story mission and a challenge mission of the game. Much like the original Prototype, Prototype 2 has impressive visuals and fantastic animation. One thing that quickly stood out though is the change in the field of view.

The player model for James Heller is smaller on the screen which allows players to see furher into the distance, more of what is in front of him and more importantly, more of what is on the side and behind him. This quickly changes up the gameplay as a player can relax a little more without the constant fear from the original of a rocket launcher off screen delivering a killing blow from out of nowhere.

The combat of Prototype 2 seems fairly consistent to the first meaning it is both brutal and fun. This game gives new meaning to collateral damage as players may be aiming at the Blackwatch soldiers but end up tearing through hordes of innocent New Yorkers in the process. Some of the classic powers return as well as updates on the tendrils which in effect turns a target into a magnet for every destructible item close by to come flying at it as seen in the game’s most recent trailer.

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What is the one thing that has been missing from both the recent Transformers game reboot with War for Cybertron and the Michael Bay film franchise? Ponder that for a moment.

Last summer kicked off with Transformers: War for Cybertron, a return to the much heralded Transformers original G1 continuity. And we all know that for purists of a series, continuity is everything. Players got to take on the roles of both the Autobots and Decepticons as their civil war ripped all of Cybertron apart. The rise of Optimus Prime and the decent of Starscream were both key story elements as well as the Autobots being brought down to their weakest moments before the story ended in somewhat of a cliffhanger of the fate of the world.

This summer, High Moon Studios had to step back from the series and put out the Transformers: Dark of the Moon tie-in game, which while good for movie game standards, it was no War for Cybertron. Thankfully, the folks at Activision and High Moon Studios have heard the cry of Transformer fanboys world wide and are continuing with the story we have been hungering for over the past year.

At New York Comic Con, Activision released the first trailer for the game with only this statement:

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At New York Comic Con, we were able to get a booth tour from Capcom which got us some hands on time with three of their much anticipated titles. The first of which was the upcoming rerelease of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Back at Comic Con in San Diego, after announcing the first set of new characters being added to the game, there was a massive leak which revealed the full roster. Now, Capcom has gone official with all but a few of these characters and had them available for us to play as at the Con.

We demoed the game on a traditional controller for the XBox 360. As there was an all day tournament going on, the wait for even press to play using the fight sticks was outrageous and considering most households would use a regular controller anyway, we felt like this would give us a good idea of what to expect from the game. Focusing our teams on the newer characters, we had to learn on the fly just what kind of play styles to use with them.

Vergil was the most reminiscent of Dante from the original Marvel vs. Capcom 3 focusing on using his sword for a majority of his attacks. Firebrand from Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins ended up being surprisingly fun to play with as we didn’t really have any idea what to expect from him. Nova and Ghost Rider felt like the badasses we expected them to be but sadly Rocket Raccoon was not an option for us yet.

The most surprisingly fun character was Phoenix Wright. The best character comparison we could make was him being like Dan from Street Fighter. His attacks may look horribly wimpy as he throws paperwork at opponents but he is perfect for luring opponents into a false sense of security.

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As always, one of our favorite parts of any convention is the sights and NYCC was full of them this year so we had to share them with the Flickcast audience. The level of dedication by the men and women who attend the con every year is staggering.

Some are picture perfect renditions that rival movie quality costumes like the Anakin Skywalker we saw wandering the floor. Others come from careful collection of legitimate television costumes and props like the classic Power Rangers Green Ranger. Still others take their own imagination and run wild with custom Mandalorian battle armor for both human and giant chicken alike to life sized Castle Crashers.

One of the things this gallery sadly doesn’t do justice is give an idea on just how huge NYCC was this year. Though it is yet to overtake the surrounding neighborhood like SDCC does, the New York Comic Con feels every bit as big and as important as its west coast counterpart.

The entire Javitts Center was filled with every major comic company to movie studios and video game publishers in every corner. This year the Flickcast was only able to spend a day on the Con floor but if things keep looking up for NYCC, we may have to tackle this show the same way we do San Diego Comic Con or E3.

Take a look below to get just a glimpse of the many sights at this year’s convention. See you next year New York!

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You may know him best as Malcolm, you know from the middle. Or maybe even a few of our readers will remember him as Agent Cody Banks. But now, Frankie Muniz is taking on a new role on the silver screen as the Pizza Man. And he isn’t just your every day delivery man, he has super powers.

At NYCC, the world saw the debut trailer for Pizza Man starring Frankie Muniz alongside former professional wrestler Diamond Dallas Page who plays Pizza Man’s arch nemesis and other notable stars like Shelly Long and Corbin Bersen. Pizza Man is the tale of a kid who mistakenly falls into super powers and how he must deal with. Sort of like Spider-Man but with pepperoni.

Frankie talks with us about just what kind of super hero Pizza Man is, learns from us what the definition of a rogues gallery is and gives us some insight into Diamond Dallas Page’s villainous character. This family friendly super hero flick should be coming to theaters early next year.

Take a peek below at our full interview talking all things Pizza Man with Frankie Muniz below.

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Even though SDCC is already a month removed, we still have some games news still to cover. One of those stories is that of Payday: The Heist. Coming from Sony Online Entertainment, Payday: The Heist is a four player cooperative shooter inspired by the combination of the movie Heat, the most famous heist movie of all time, and the game Left 4 Dead, a stunning example of cooperative shooter gameplay.

This isn’t the first time Heat has played inspiration to the video game world. Anyone who got into Grand Theft Auto 4 will remember one of the best missions of the game comes from the bank robbery based off of Heat. Now, instead of a third person single player experience, gamers can team up with up to three friends to take down a bank and try to escape with their winnings a la Left 4 Dead, minus the zombies.

Players need to be conscious of everything from hostages which can be used as currency to revive killed teammates to security cameras which can be disabled in order to reduce the amount of intel available to SWAT and hostage extraction squads.

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Now that San Diego Comic-Con 2011 is far enough in the rear view mirror for us to safely say we had a good time and forget all the long days and blackout nights that took place, we are pretty happy with how this year turned out.

Between amazing interviews we had  with stars like  Felicia Day, Katee Sackhoff, Paul Scheer, the cast of Black Dynamite, Mark Hamill, John Barrowman, Eliza Dushku and many more, and the extensive coverage we got of the events going on at the show, we consider this year’s Comic-Con a big success.

As we’ve done in years past, we put together this highlight reel showcasing some of the great stuff we had at the show this year.

Big thanks to our newest team member Eric Medina who helped us out at the show and put together the reel below. Check it out and keep an eye out for more exclusive interviews and in-depth reviews coming straight to you!

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When DC Universe Online launched earlier this year, it was possible to recreate almost any character, classic or modern, that fans of comics have loved for decades. There was one group of heroes and villains though that was noticeably left out in terms of power sets though. The Lanterns. Green, Red, Yellow, Blue and all the others had no presence in DC Universe Online from the player community. Sure they could fight alongside Hal Jordan but without a power ring of their own where is the fun in that?

Coming at the end of summer, the Fight for the Light expansion comes to DC Universe Online allowing ring based power sets to create a new array of combat options. Boxing gloves, freight trains, fighter jets, machine guns and more all produced by little green rings will up the ante in DCUO.

At Comic-Con, Mark Anderson from Sony Online Entertainment spoke with The Flickcast about what we would see in this expansion. In addition to seeing sights like Coast City or the Science Cells on Oa, the expansion will also help wrap up the story with Brainiac and the anomalies of the power rings. Players will be given the role as Corps Reserve members to help explain why so many lanterns are running around in a single sector.

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Recently, we got the chance to get hands on with X-Men: Destiny for the first time. In our demo we got to check out the first level of the game where we had the opportunity to choose between the game’s three possible protagonists Aimi, Grant and Adrian. When a massive Purifier attack hits downtown San Francisco, the player must also decide on the spot which of the three power sets they would like to equip their character with.

The early level surprisingly has a lot of conversation within it as players meet members of both the X-Men and Brotherhood who are both fighting against the Purifiers. Because of the noise in the Activision event, we couldn’t really hear the dialogue at the time but the gist we got was that both sides were already actively beginning to recruit this new mutant to their side.

X-Men: Destiny plays much like a standard 3D street brawler with the added bonus of mutant powers. There are your basic light, heavy, special and grab attacks along with blocking and dodging mechanics as expected. The gameplay itself was fun but the story possibilities are definitely the most intriguing part for us.

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