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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When they first seated the cast and crew of the new Adult Swim animated comedy Black Dynamite at my table, I don’t think they realized we were there for the roundtable discussion.  Spending the first 5 minutes of the interview talking about YouTube videos and their co-star J.B. Smooth spitting all over the recording mic, I honestly was just enjoying seeing them hang out.  Eventually, they realized I was there for the interview and we got down to business.

Among those at the table were executive producer Carl Jones, best known for producing The Boondocks on Adult Swim, co-executive producer Brian Ash, and cast members Kym Whitley and Michael Jai White, who you can check out  in Matt Raub’s video interview later.

Quick background:  the Black Dynamite animated series is actually a spin off of a 2009 blaxploitation spoof.  Starring a lot of the same cast including Michael Jai White and Byron Minns, the film premiered at Sundance that year.  Director Scott Sanders shot the movie on Super 16 film as a direct homage/satire of the cult genre from the 70s.  Here is where I would give a quick plot recap, but I will never word it better than the description found on the official website:

“When ‘The Man’ murders his brother, pumps heroin into local orphanages, and floods the ghetto with adulterated malt liquor, Black Dynamite is the one hero willing to fight all the way from the blood-soaked city streets to the hallowed halls of the Honkey House.”

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Last year when Activision and Eurocom announced a relaunch of the Nintendo 64 classic Goldeneye as a Wii exclusive, classic shooter fans who had moved on from the Nintendo consoles to the more powerful and better controlling XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 were up in arms. They were the people who cut their teeth on first person shooters for the first time on the N64. It wasn’t their fault Nintendo had moved on to gimmicky controls and sacrificed graphics in favor of “family gaming”.

This year, their prayers will be answered with an all new, built from the ground up version dubbed Goldeneye: 007 Reloaded coming to the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. What fans will get is a retelling of the classic Bond story with new graphics and new mechanics that control and look more like a Call of Duty title rather than the waggle and aiming layout of the Wii (although it will be PlayStation Move compatible).

During the Activision press event, we had the opportunity to see the walkthrough of one of the game’s early levels which not only looked gorgeous but had engaging gameplay and very entertaining stealth takedowns. We also got to hear about the various new MI 6 modes that have everything from Stealth to Defense missions resembling Horde mode from Gears of War.

Take a look below at our developer interview, the game’s announcement trailer and the first image gallery for Goldeneye: 007 Reloaded for the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. Stick to the Flickcast for more on this already much hyped and anticipated title as more develops.

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Tucker & Dale vs Evil is a comedy horror film about two hillbillies on their dream vacation to a cabin in the woods who get mistaken for kidnappers when they try to help out a girl that fell into the lake.  Completed in 2010, this film has had a tough time finding a distributor after it premiered at Sundance.

I sat down with the director, Eli Craig, to talk about his experience with this film.  The conversation started off light, with him telling me about the new trailer that was premiering that weekend at their panel in Hall H.

The Flickast: So are you having a good weekend?  Have you gotten to experience Comic Con at all?

EC: I haven’t.  I’ve just been doing these interviews.  But I do want to go check it out.  My 5 year-old son is in there somewhere running around with a chainsaw and a hillbilly costume.

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As rough as the world of professional wrestling may be at times, there is a lighter side to it. It’s not all steel chairs, piledrivers and stitches. This is where the WWE Divas come in. Here you have a group of amazingly beautiful and athletic women who put their bodies on the line and take risks the same ways that their male counterparts do. One of the great examples of a woman building herself into that role is the WWE’s Kelly Kelly.

Five years ago at the age of 19, Kelly Kelly debuted on ECW where she danced as an exhibitionist. And then she continued dancing as a part of Extreme Expose. Eventually, stories developed for Kelly that allowed her to begin an in ring career that didn’t involve dancing. In our interview with Kelly at Comic Con, she talks to us about the change in her career and achieving something that many quickly discounted as even being a possibility for her, holding a championship in the WWE.

Kelly also talks about her first Comic Con experience, gives a sneak peek behind the scenes of being a WWE Diva and her long road to the top. Kelly has also had success outside the ring this year as she was named to the Maxim Top 100 too, the only WWE Diva to receive that honor while still at the company.

Take a look below to check out our full interview with Kelly Kelly and stick to the Flickcast for more still coming to you from this year’s Comic Con. The Con may be over, but our coverage keeps on coming!

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This past year has marked a pretty big time for shows on the BBC, as US network TV finally started paying attention to how good some of the programming was and decided to jump on the bandwagon. In some cases, such as Syfy’s Being Human, the network took the idea but none of the original folks that worked on it. That’s not what happened, however, with Torchwood.

Originally starting on a little BBC offshoot, the Doctor Who spinoff grew in popularity and has now been brought over to the States by STARZ in a whole new, updated version. The show while still stays in canon with the earlier version and keeps the show’s main stars John Barrowman and Eve Myles.

We got a chance to speak with Barrowman about playing his favorite superhero, Captain Jack Harkness, for so many years, as well as what it’s like bringing the show from the UK to the US.

Also, John mentioned that Captain Jack wasn’t the only hero he’s had the honor of trying out for. He’s been a huge Captain America fan for years, but back in 2004, he even auditioned to play the lead in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns before they inevitably went with Brandon Routh.

Check out what John Barrowman had to say about all these things and more in our interview after the jump. Catch Torchwood: Miracle Day airing Friday nights at 10/9C on STARZ.

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This year, Activision has taken the approach of “go big or go home” at Comic Con with big pushes on four of its upcoming titles set to come out over the next year. Two of these titles, Spider-Man: Edge of Time and X-Men: Destiny both being comic book properties, and the updated Goldeneye: 007 Reloaded are no brainers. The one however that seems to stand out the most is Protoype 2.

Prototype 2 is not what many would consider a traditional sequel. First off, players do not get the opportunity to play the second tale in the Alex Mercer / Blackgate saga as the original game’s protagonist. Instead, Radical has decided to give players the opportunity to take on the role of James Heller, a former soldier whose family has fallen victim to the events of the original Prototype that Mercer has infected with a unique version of the virus that gives him powers of his own and in essence creates a second Prototype.

In our interview below, check out to see what the developers themselves feel about the title’s new protagonist. Also, get a look at the thought process behind new characters being introduced to the game, the new moral compass of the game’s new lead and even gameplay changes such as enemy AI (and the overwhelming nuisance of players being killed by a rocket shot from off screen that they’d have no way to dodge).

Take a look below at both our interview and the first third of the new full trailer for Prototype 2, coming in 2012 to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

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Comic-Con in San Diego is great event that excites the senses like no other. The sights and sounds are unlike any others (and unfortunately, sometimes so are the smells). Those of us lucky enough to see Comic-Con in person would be remiss not to allow others the opportunities to see them as well.

From beautiful women in sexy costumes to guys decked out in full combat gear and gigantic booth displays and monstrously oversized robots, visually Comic-Con has everything. And you can’t forget the celebrities.

Where else in the world could someone see Hulk Hogan signing autographs and ten minutes later find Wonder Woman having a beer at the bar. (Wonder Woman wanted to make sure everyone knows she does not encourage underage drinking). We had some other great photo galleries during the show and now we’ve got a brand new one with a bit more epicness.

As always, we send out a special shout out to the fanboys and fangirls who spent hours of hard work creating some of the best costumes we have seen. Each year, people keep getting better and this year’s Con was proof again of that.

Take a peek below at more amazing pics from Comic-Con 2011 from San Diego.

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One of the very first booths I hit on the show floor this year was Bioware’s SWTOR – or Star Wars: The Old Republic – the company’s massively multi-player game set in the Star Wars universe. In development for the last five years, I was excited to learn there would finally be hands-on demos of the game both at the Con as well as off-site at the Hilton Gaslamp across the street.

To coincide with Comic-Con this year, Bioware announced pre-orders for the game on Thursday, which would allow players early access to the game as well as spiffy in-game bonuses. Given that the game’s release window is set for Holidays 2011, it made sense for the SWTOR team to leverage Comic-Con to start showing off their shiny new MMORPG.

After a roughly 45-minute wait, myself and a dozen other eager players were ushered into the booth and each seated at one of the high-end Alienware gaming rigs running SWTOR. We slipped on our headphones and were given 15-minutes on the clock to put the game through its paces. I decided to play a Sith Warrior, went through a brief intro and my character was jumped into a desert-like world ripe for the exploring.

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