The Flickcast’s gaming division loves retro. Not one of us hasn’t broken out their old NES, blown into a cartridge, and booted up the original Super Mario Bros. even though it came out decades ago. So when we heard one of our Capcom classic favorites from the Super Nintendo and arcade era was making a return to XBox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network, of course we were excited.

Set for April 14th on XBox Live Arcade and a day later on the PlayStation Network, Final Fight: Double Impact brings back the classic side-scroller beat ‘em up goodiness of both Final Fight and Magic Sword. In Final Fight, players take the role of either Cody, Guy or the most jacked mayor ever, Haggar, as they try to save Haggar’s daughter from Mad Gear and his goons. With six levels of Metro City to explore, players will get the chance to see Cody and Guy before they appear in the upcoming Super Street Fighter IV release.

In Magic Sword, players take on the role of “The Brave One” who must defeated the evil forces of a mystical tower and rid the world of its evil lord Drokman. But The Brave One isn’t alone as he has eight companions of unique skill sets who will aid him in his journey.

Both games will feature online drop-in multiplayer as well as a fully remixed soundtrack and updated graphics. The two-pack will retail for $9.99 (or 800 Microsoft Points). Stay tuned to the Flickcast for more news and reviews on Final Fight: Double Impact as it becomes available.

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According to various news sites across the Interwebs including Joystiq, 1Up, and Kotaku, Playstation 3 consoles across the globe have been suffering from what looks to be a global network lockdown. While it sounds like this would just affect people’s ability to do things like sign into their accounts, check their trophies, use dynamic themes or access the PlayStation Network, some users have reported that they can’t even play games.

Consoles most affected seem to be the older PS3 models, not the PS3 Slims released last year. Titles that are giving players issues, like the newly released Heavy Rain, will give users a screen stating “Registration of the trophy information could not be completed. The game will quit.” The console then reboots and returns to the main screen. This is incredibly frustrating, because even if the PSN is down, gamers should still be able to play their games offline without a problem.

Sony is aware of the PSN connection problems and is telling users to “stay tuned” for updates. But in the meantime, they advise you not to use your PS3. Hopefully, this is something that will be fixed very soon.

Back in November, lots of PlayStation 3 owners got to enjoy the classic games God of War and God of War 2 once again, this time with a new upscaled look to accommodate their fancy HDTVs. With that, a reinstated excitement for the upcoming third installment of the game was found.

The games follow Kratos, a Spartan soldier who makes a deal with Ares in order to slay his enemies. That deal immediately turns sour as he becomes the God of War’s right-hand man, killing thousands. Kratos inadvertantly kills his family in the process and vows to take down Ares. From there, the following games become incredibly deep, with plenty of references to all things Greek Mythology.

The newest game involves Kratos waging war against the gods of Olympus, with the titans on his side. The game hits stores on March 16th, and the newest trailer gives us just that much more to get excited about.

Check out the trailer for God of War III after the jump, and keep it here for updates and more for the upcoming title.

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As we reported last week, Sega’s “hidden” title, referred to as “Project Needlemouse” has been revealed to be Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 and will be coming to the XBox Live Arcade, PlayStation Store and WiiWare.  Included with that announcement was a trailer that showed only a very tiny bit of actual gameplay footage.

Now, a video has surfaced on the internet over at Gamevideos.1up.com with footage of actual game play from a press event. As this footage should not have hit the internet, it is not of the best quality but it does give a great indication of what Sonic 4 will actually play like as it holds true to the series’ original side-scrolling roots.

Notably absent from this game are the cast of Sonic’s best buddies like Tails and Knuckles as well as the entire cast of random extras like Big The Cat and Shadow who piled on to the series as it started to lose quality. While there is still tons of information to be revealed on it, take a peek at just what Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 looks like so far.

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It started 19 years ago. A little blue rodent ran his way on to the Sega Genesis system and into our hearts with Sonic the Hedgehog. Since, he has gone through some ups, like Sonic 2 and 3, and some downs, like Sonic Unleashed.

But still, everyone has hope for the little guy who went toe to toe with Mario during the early console wars and just missed. Recently, Sega has been referring to a project under the codename Needlemouse which was revealed yesterday as Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1.

With a recently launched site, Sonic 4 will make its ways to all the major systems as a downloadable game in episodic format from the XBox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare… and according to the ellipsis on the website, possibly another format as well.

Sonic 4’s website features a variety of countdown clocks, some specific to character reveals and various content like concept art, that will reveal more about the upcoming downloadable title in the following days. But, for now, take a peak at the teaser trailer that brings Sonic back to his 2D sidescrolling glory, the way he was meant to be seen.

Stay tuned to The Flickcast for more information on our favorite Sega mascot and his new game as it becomes available.

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Have you been anxiously awaiting the release of Armored in theaters? No. We didn’t think so. But did you say to yourself that you might check it out if it was free or when it came to cable? That one is a little more likely. Well for some people this past week, those wishes came true a little early when Armored, which is still in theaters and hasn’t been put on to DVD, On Demand or any streaming service appeared on the Playstation Store. And to sweeten the deal, they put it up for free.

Even though it was corrected in a matter of hours, a currently unreleased number of Playstation users had already downloaded the file which they can now enjoy on their Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable. Currently, there is no solution from Sony’s end to delete or lock those files which means those users own it for life, or at least until they get bored and delete it.

Since its Dec. 4th release, Armored has pulled in a lowly $11,750,895 domestic box office, barely overtaking the amount of money the characters in the movie are hoping to rob from the armored truck they are trying to rob.

Now if only they could screw up and pre-release movies people actually want to see…

This past weekend, Spike gave its annual salute to the video game world with their Video Game Awards show. Featuring performers such as Stevie Wonder and Snoop Dogg, the show has grown in to a larger spectacle each year to award the best in the video game industry. Along with all that hype has come exclusive trailers for the biggest premieres in the video game industry.

Some we knew were coming like the prequel to the Halo trilogy with Halo: Reach’s first in game footage while others were merely rumored and mired in PR confusion like Green Day: Rock Band.

Even more exciting were the surprise announcements like that of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II and Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 which had predecessors that dominated the video game charts of the past year. Take a look below at all of the trailers and let us know which ones get you most excited.

We already are placing our bets over in the Flickcast offices about which games are going to make the biggest splash in 2010. Take a look at some of our favorite trailers after the jump.

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Though they’ve been at war since the dawn of the Next-Gen gaming networks, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 have been a bit more visual with their dispute over the past few weeks. First, PlayStation announced they would also be supporting Netflix instant streaming, but only by way of a Blu-ray disc, which proved to be pretty awful.

Now, after Microsoft announced the integration of Twitter and Facebook in Xbox Live on Tuesday, Sony is again trying to get their hand on top of the bat, as they just announced yesterday’s 3.10 firmware update will also offer Facebook integration. From Joystiq.com:

Once firmware 3.10 is installed, the PS3 will be able to send updates to a user’s Facebook wall indicating which Trophies they’ve just unlocked in games and what they’ve recently purchased from the PSN’s PlayStation Store. Developers will have the ability to access Facebook functionality to send more detailed updates to the site from their games, and these options can (as was the case with Trophies) be patched into titles currently on shelves.

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With the first full downloadable character pack for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 hitting the Xbox Live Arcade later today, the final character has also been announced, which will round out the five-character bundle. That character is none other than the Master of Magnetism, Magneto.

It was rumored that Magneto was going to be added to the game after a tester leaked the info a few weeks back, but this is the first actual confirmation we’ve received from the game developers. The character will have more telekinetic and energy-based powers for you to toy with in the game, which should be a nice addition to your roster.

Magneto tops off the five-character bundle (consisting of Carnage, Psylocke, Cable, and Black Panther), which can be picked up on the Xbox Live Arcade later today for 800 Microsoft Points (or roughly $9.99). There is also the opportunity to purchase Juggernaut as a downloadable character for only $1.99, as well. Both packages will be available on the PlayStation Network on November 12.

Check out the full image of Magneto as well as a few action shots after the jump, and be sure to keep it here for more Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 news as it comes to us.

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After a few weeks of drooling, the developers of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 have finally given us a release date and price of their newest dowloadable character pack, including Psylocke, Carnage, Cable, Black Panther, and Magneto. The good news is that Xbox Live owners will get the pack this Thursday (November 5th), and the bad news is that gamers on the PlayStation Network have to wait until next week.

Though they haven’t announced yet that Magneto has been added to the pack, it was leaked a few weeks back when Psylocke and Carnage were first announced. The announcement for Black Panther came on Tuesday, and the alternate costumes for Cable, Psylocke and Carnage were released earlier this week as well.

Fans who worried about the price have nothing to stress about anymore, as the price has been announced as 800 Microsoft Points ($9.99 normally). This was the same price as the Hero and Villain Pack for the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance game back in 2007.

That price includes all five characters, new boosts, and brand-new simulator missions. Also available on that date, for the first time, is the Juggernaut downloadable character, which has only been available to fans who pre-ordered the game until now. You can also purchase Juggernaut for 160 Microsoft Points, or $1.99.