Take a bunch of women in their late forties to mid-fifties and show them graphic images of violence and mutilation from the upcoming Dead Space 2 (which comes out tomorrow, January 25th) and record their reactions ranging from utter terror to complete revulsion. Then make sure to tell people just how violent your game is over some not so violent in game videos. Slap a “M for Mature” tag on it and there you have your ad campaign with the tag line, “Your Mom Hates This.”

Give me a break. There are so many problems with this campaign that is insulting to the gaming community as well as general consumers. Let’s break this down in a logical manner, even though obviously the advertising agency didn’t.

Dead Space 2 is a rated M game, meaning it should only be targeting players over the age of 18. But, the message of “Your mom hates this” is something that marketers would gear towards a younger self righteous and rebellious person in their early teens. By the age of 18, most people have evolved in to at least somewhat freethinking individuals who make decisions based more on personal preference than just trying to do something to tick their mom off.

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*** Note – The following Rock Band 3 review does not formally review the Keyboard, the Pro Guitar peripherals or Pro Mode since they were not available to us at the time of the review. This has been reflected in the review score.***

Harmonix began taking the music genre by storm with their work on the initial Guitar Hero. After parting ways from Activision, they took the game to the next level by making drums and vocals the new standard.

They also came up with the idea of the Rock Band franchise as a platform rather than an annualized release like Guitar Hero has taken (Guitar Hero being on their sixth consecutive yearly release with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock) After two years since Rock Band 2, Harmonix looked to step up their game by adding an additional instrument in the keyboard to the band mix as well as a Pro mode to help players learn how to play guitar, drums and keyboard using music in the game.

They also took concepts from other spinoff titles such as Rock Band: Green Day like vocal harmonies and brought them to the fold as well.

Gameplay:

Not much has changed for Rock Band 3 for the standard band format. Two guitars and a drum set each have a cascading highway of notes down the screen as the vocals scroll across the top.

There is now of course the substitution of a new instrument in the keyboard which can even be used to play the guitar parts of older Rock Band music that hasn’t gotten the keyboard face lift.

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Back at Comic-Con, we got the chance to play some hands on with the 2010 reboot of Medal of Honor multiplayer Beta which went live for those who had signed up for it on July 20th. The Beta is exclusive to the PC and PlayStation 3. The multiplayer for Medal of Honor is being developed by EA Digital Illusions CE while the single player campaign is coming to us from Danger Close. The single player campaign will follow a group of Tier One Operators (the top .01% most elite in the US Armed Forces) in the early parts of the war with Afghanistan.

The first thing that stood out to us during the demo was the use of the AMD technology Ifinity which allows players to use a three monitor setup to play the game in super wide screen. The game looks so great that this is definitely the way the game was meant to be experienced. To its credit because this will be the game it is most likely compared to, Medal of Honor is a more visually impressive experience than the latest iteration of the Call of Duty franchise. The levels look more realistic with an insane level of detail in them. The lighting also makes everything pop out to you just a little more as well.

The control of Medal of Honor is top notch. In the first person genre, control is everything and Medal of Honor hits it perfectly. As expected from a veteran franchise that has had time to refine its control and move with the trends without being forced to put out a yearly iteration, Medal of Honor feels like a fresh game when playing it even though most of what is seen in the multiplayer has been done before. After our hands on time with it, it is a game we know we want to spend some more time with in the near future.

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It shouldn’t come as any surprise that a game like EA’s Mass Effect will be coming to the big screen. After all, the game is hugely successful and has spawned a sequel that has taken the gaming world by storm.

And now, according to reports, Legendary Pictures has picked up rights to Mass Effect and will develop it into a potential franchise. I Am Legend and Thor writer Mark Protosevich is currently in negotiations to handle adapting the game for the big screen.

Just in case you don’t play video games or haven’t, for some reason, heard of Mass Effect, the game debuted in 2008 and is a sci-fi action game set in the year 2183, focusing on a human soldier and his starship, the SSV Normandy. It features alien races, combat and technology which spans the galaxy offering a great deal of diverse situations and role play. In short, its a pretty darn fun game and would probably make a great movie.

Seeing as how this film is in the early stages and these kinds of movies tend to take a long time to make it to the screen, especially if you want to do it right, expect to see us bringing you more info on Mass Effect the movie over the next year at least. Until then, go back and play the game again and imagine what could be.

To help you, take a look at the Mass Effect 2 trailer after the jump.

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Dead Space came out in late 2008 to both critical adulation and strong sales. There was no doubt a sequel would be in the works for this third person horror shooter. But how do you keep a story going where the player is the sole survivor of his infested ship?

Nintendo Wii took the path of a on-rail shooter prequel Dead Space: Extraction. Though a critical darling, sales were dismal. Now, Dead Space 2 readies itself for store shelves with the next chapter of Issac Clark’s survival. As with most sequels, Issac is expected to encounter a host of new baddies.

EA has taken an interesting path in revealing these new “necromorphs.” For more than a week, a zoomed in image has slowly been revealed over the game’s Facebook page. Now, finally fully revealed, we have been given a glimpse at a delightful fellow named “the puker”.

Possibly a lovechild of an original Dead Space necromorph and the Boomer from Left 4 Dead, the Puker already looks like a villain we are not looking forward to running into in the cramped hallways of a barge floating through space. But as long as he doesn’t send the Horde after us, we think we will be able to manage. T

ake a look after the break and let us know what you think. Dead Space 2 is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2011.

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We’ve been fans of BioWare and EA’s Mass Effect game around here since its debut way back in 2008. Now, as things often do, the game has expanded into other areas like a comic book from Dark Horse Comics. Obviously, the game is pretty popular and has sold well and that success seems to have carried over into the comic world as well because according to Dark Horse’s official press release, the first issue of the comic has completely sold out.

The comic, called Mass Effect: Redemption, serves as a prequel for the new Mass Effect 2 game and tells the backstory for event that lead up to all the action in the game. Sound cool? It is. If you want to know more, check out all the following from the press release:

Just in time for the arrival of the hit series’ second issue, in stores today, Mass Effect: Redemption #1 will be reprinted to fill demand after selling out across the country.

Mass Effect: Redemption tells the exciting backstory that leads up to the events of Mass Effect 2, the recently released video game developed by the award-winning creative team at BioWare. The game’s lead writer, Mac Walters, takes up the pen to give fans exclusive insight into the events that unfolded between the conclusion of the original Mass Effect and the beginning of Mass Effect 2. Scripted by John Jackson Miller (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, The Invincible Iron Man) and drawn by Omar Francia (Star Wars: Legacy), this four-part series explores the exotic and dangerous future Milky Way of Mass Effect, revealing previously unseen locations, aliens, and enemies in this rich science-fiction landscape.

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Geeks don’t watch football. It’s a fact of life. But this may change for at least one night in the near future as fans of the upcoming title Dante’s Inferno will be tuning in Sunday for the big game when EA puts out its most expensive television ad ever.

Expected to be viewed by roughly 100 million fans, the Super Bowl has developed a reputation for some of the best, and worst, commercial debuts of the year. With the ever climbing price tag for commercial time during the Super Bowl, it is estimated that EA will be paying close to three million dollars for Dante’s Inferno to be shown amongst the center of the marketing universe for a mere thirty seconds.

Dante’s Inferno’s Super Bowl commercial, entitled “Hell Awaits…” will appear during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIV as a final push in the game’s already extensive marketing campaign. In preparation for the game’s February 9th release date, just two days after the Super Bowl, “Hell Awaits…” concludes a campaign that included Facebook apps, action figures, comic books and an animated DVD feature.

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Anybody who’s been to a theater in the past year or so knows that zombies are all the rave today. From Sony’s Zombieland bringing in nearly $65 million in a matter of weeks, to the sudden resurgence in the work of George A. Romero, zombies are neck-and-neck with vampires these days.

With that said, of course the craze is bound to hit the video game world, as it did in spades with last year’s Left 4 Dead. The game managed to cram every zombie movie scenario into a first-person shooter to make you feel like you were really fighting for your life against an army of the undead, as scary as that sounds. While there were some pretty haunting moments in the game, there really isn’t anything as cathartic as blowing up zombie heads.

Like clockwork, game developer Valve (along with EA Games) is releasing the sequel to the highly-praised game this year around the same time. The characters are all new, as are the settings, but the most important is the new storyline. Many games these days are more compelling than some films, and the newest trailer for the game only proves that further.

Check out the Zombie Survival Guide trailer after the jump, and be sure to race to the game stores on November 17th when the game gets a nationwide release.

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Here at the site you may have realized that, among other things, we’re really fond of video games. In fact, we try to feature as much gaming coverage as we can because we like it so much. So, with that in mind, we’ve got the first of today’s two new trailers for upcoming games to share with you.

This one is for the brand new Electronic Arts and Double Fine title Brutal Legend and features a look at the story of the game and gives you a lot of insight into just how fun this game is going to be. Plus, it features the game’s main character Eddie Riggs (voiced by Jack Black) “rocking out on his heavy metal revolution.”

In the game, Riggs “sets on an epic quest to build an army of rockers with only a broad axe, a big block V8 and his faithful guitar in hand. When an oppressed people request Eddie’s knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he’s ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal.” Awesome.

Brutal Legend hits store shelves on October 13th. In the meantime, click through to check out the brand new story trailer.

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We cover a lot of video games from publisher Activision here at The Flickcast. Of course, there’s also many other companies producing or distributing cool video games that we’re fans of. One such company is the powerhouse Electronic Arts. They make a lot of games and we try to play them all. They also produce games based on movies and one such game is the upcoming G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra, based on the movie of the same name.

I got a chance to take a look at the game and its trailer during the recent E3 event in Los Angeles. And now, thanks to the the magic of the Internets, I can bring that trailer to you right here. In the trailer you can see that the game tries to capture all the action, explosions, gunplay and spirit of the movie and, if this trailer is any indication, seems to do a pretty good job at it. Games based on movies have gotten a lot better lately and this one looks like its no exception.

The game hits store shelves on August 8 and the movie on August 7. Check out the trailer after the Jump.

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XBLA and PSN players of the world, pat yourselves on the back. Electronic Arts has officially sold more than 600,000 digital copies of Battlefield 1943, a record for both consoles.

The download only game, developed by DICE, was released on July 8 for an economical $15. The download included a map and a mode that could only be unlocked through the communal effort of everyone playing the game.

“We are honoured by the reception that the game has received so far,” says Gordon Van Dyke, producer on Battlefield 1943. “Watching and participating in this non-stop multiplayer action has been a real treat for us and we can’t believe how fast our fans reached 43 million kills. We can now truly say that we have set a new standard for what can be done in the downloadable games category and gamers recognize the endless value that Battlefield 1943 provides for just $15.”

The worldwide challenge to unlock the Coral Sea map began on Friday, July 10 at 19:43 CET. The Xbox LIVE community reached the goal of 43 million kills in an impressive five days, while the PlayStation community hit the mark in eight.

The full press release can be read here.