As skeptical as we may be about the upcoming Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie from Michael Bay, we have seen what Activision can do when it gets its hands on the Transformers. While the last piece of Transformers that Activision published was based off G1 continuity and not off the movie franchise, it was a tremendous improvement from the previous Transformers movie game.

In anticipation of Transformers: Dark of the Moon: The Game, we have a whole new set of screen shots and a new trailer to show it off in addition to the list of pre-order bonuses.

Check out the full list below of all the preorder exclusives as well.

Channel wide – Original BUMBLEBEE toys with the Wii and NDS AUTOBOTS game and original LOCKDOWN toy with the NDS DECEPTICONS game

Best Buy – FREE movie ticket upgrade to 3D

Toys R’ Us – Exclusive Inverted BUMBLEBEE in-game character skin for 3DS game

Target – Exclusive BUMBLEBEE Deco in-game character for NDS AUTOBOTS game and Wii game and Exclusive LOCKDOWN Deco in-game character for NDS DECEPTICONS

K-Mart/Sears – Original, limited edition Transformers: Dark of the Moon comic book from IDW Publishing

Stick to the Flickcast for more on Transformers: Dark of the Moon: The Game and check out the trailer and screens after the jump.

Continue Reading →

Last year, High Moon Studios proved that they understand the Transformers license. After years of bad games and Michael Bay’s “vision” raping the childhood memories of longtime Transformers fans, Transformers: War for Cybertron brought players back to the story they wanted with the Transformers G1 universe.

Now, High Moon Studios will attempt the improbable, turning a good game for the PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 out of the Michael Bay Transformers movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Behaviour Studios will be tackling three distinctly different versions of the game as well for the Wii, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS.

“We couldn’t be more excited to expand on the epic movie universe in the Transformers: Dark of the Moon game, and allow fans to experience the gripping events and backstories that occur right before the upcoming film,” said Paul Wright, Head of Marketing for Licensed Properties, Activision Publishing.

“The immensely talented group at High Moon Studios are huge fans of the property, and they are thrilled to unveil some new characters from the movie while introducing Stealth Force gameplay that lets players convert to a third form beyond robot and vehicle modes to defeat their enemies in more ways than ever before.”

Continue Reading →

Transformers: War for Cybertron has been one of the favorite licensed games in recent memory for us. Especially after seeing what Michael Bay did to the film franchise, it was great to see people who had a true appreciation for the source material get their hands on it and get to play around with the world.

At Comic-Con, we spoke to the game’s director Matt Tieger and he walked us through the now recently released DLC content that was announced at the Con. Make sure to check out the full interview with Tieger for more of his insight into the game.

The first thing you notice when playing the new content is the great variety of additional character models and loadouts for the game’s Multiplayer and Escalation mode. Classic favorites like Jazz, Demolisher and Shockwave make their return to the Transformers universe that were previously only available as pre-order bonuses while never before seen Scattershot and Onslaught make their way to Cybertron.

As expected from the high values of this production team, all the models look beautiful and do a great job of separating themselves from the others already on the battlefield. It is easy to spot these new characters in online play, especially the uniquely shaped head of Shockwave. These new models do a great job of preventing games that feel like the final fight in Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen where Michael Bay’s horde of clone-like Decepticons cannot be told apart during the chaos.

Continue Reading →

From the very announcement of the title, Transformers: War for Cybertron had a lot of pressure on it. For the first time in easily over a decade, fans of the original series have been given a chance to experience a new canonical tale of the true Transformers universe. And this story isn’t one that real fans would want taken lightly.

Transformers: War for Cybertron covers what happens before Optimus and his Autobots come to Earth and continue their war against the Decepticons. This game is almost like what the Phantom Menace is to Star Wars… Scratch that since I actually like Transformers: War for Cybertron.

Gameplay

Transformers: War for Cybertron plays out as a third person shooter with the addition of transforming robots. The gameplay comes across as almost brutally simple at times. There is no character advancement throughout levels and most of the characters play very similarly with only a few changes in weapons and special abilities.

With a push of the left analog stick, characters transform into their vehicle form which are basic variations of cars and tanks, except for the two levels of the campaign where players play as the jet fighter Transformers. These play very similarly to all other vehicles except for the ability to stop and hover in mid-air.

Continue Reading →

June 22nd can’t come fast enough. Still reeling from the Michael Bay Transforminators of last summer, the true Transformers fans are all aching for the return of the G1 story. We have been covering Transformers: War for Cybertron closely and just got two new features from Activision regarding the release of this game.

Two more Transformers join the game’s roster, upping it’s total number (including preorder bonuses) to 26 appearing robots while the developers have released a video describing the customization abilities for multiplayer, allowing players to come up with their very own robotic warriors.

SILVERBOLT
Autobot
Class: Scout
Chassis: Jet
Primary Weapon: Photon Burst Rifle
Abilities: Shockwave, Barrier
Description: SilverBolt is a Grim and brave warrior, who often worries more about his teammates then himself. He is courageous, can fly at break-neck speeds and truly believes in the Autobot cause. He would die in defense of his friends if ever given the opportunity.

Continue Reading →

Transformers: War for Cybertron has had a recent outpouring of information lately. New characters, Pre-Order Exclusives and box art reveals.

First, let’s hit on two new playable characters that will be joining the game’s roster. Ironhide is the oldest of the Autobots. While his age makes him the slowest member, he is also the meanest and war hardened of the group. He is the definition of the Soldier class for multiplayer play. Warpath takes a page out of Ironhide’s gameplan and kicks it up with pure muscle with a massive cannon as his primary weapon.

Autobots aren’t the only ones getting reinforcements. Barricade, a scout class Decepticon that transforms in to a car, may be one of the fastest characters in the game, even outrunning many of the jet based characters. Along with Barricade, Decepticon Skywarp has been added to the game. This Scout class jet, much like Starscream, has cloaking abilities to reign down heavy damage on the unknowing Autobot forces.

As we reported before, Gamespot and Amazon will offer exclusive multiplayer characters Demolisher and Shockwave. Best Buy has joined the fray and added their own exclusive preorder bonus, Jazz. Check out the videos of all three of these exclusive characters below.

Transformers: War for Cybertron is set to hit shelves June 22 for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Check out all the screen shots and trailers below.

Continue Reading →

This week On the Radar a bunch of gaming news about Halo and Gears of War, Red Sonja switches up celebrity hotties, Mark Strong talks Sinestro in Green Lantern and Tom Arnold takes to the sea to fight aliens!

Court dismisses Marvel, Stan Lee law suit.  Excelsior!

While Stan Lee has been working overtime on film cameos and convention appearances he’s also been dealing with legal fights.  This one was between Stan Lee Media Inc. and it’s former board members.  At it’s most basic level the case was over ownership of mainstream characters like Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Fantastic Four.

The judge dismissed the case based on two primary factors.  First, the shareholders did not acquire their shares until a year after the issue of ownership occurred and second, said shareholders should not have waited nearly a decade to file their case.  No word yet on whether the decision will be appealed so until next time true believers…

Halo movie will be happening at some point

What should be an easy sell as far as a video game adaption, Halo has struggled to gain traction with studios.  However, Frank O’Connor of Microsoft Game Studios has said the film will happen eventually:

“We’re going to make a movie when the time is right,” he said. “We own the IP. If we want to make a movie, the scale of all the other stuff that we do changes dramatically. We make tens and tens of millions of dollars on ancillary stuff, toys, apparel, music and publishing. If we do a movie all of that will grow exponentially. We have some numbers if we do a movie, but it changes everything. It also changes our target and age demographic.”

Continue Reading →

Anyone who has been following the The Flickcast should know we were incredibly excited for the upcoming Transformers: War for Cybertron. It’s not the Michael Bay Optimus Prime has a mouth and every Decepticon looks the same Transformers. It’s the real deal G1 Transformers we grew up with and loved. Activision has been taking this one seriously as we had hoped they would and dropped not one, but two bombs on us this week regarding the upcoming release.

First off, there are two different pre-order bonuses coming for those who decide to purchase in advance from either Gamespot (shown above) or Amazon.com. Those who pre-order from either location will be given exclusive download codes to skins available in the game’s multiplayer modes. Amazon preorders will be given the Demolishor skin (below) while Gamespot preorders will get the chance to play as Shockwave.

In additional mutliplayer news, a trailer has just been released for Transformers: War for Cybertron’s online competitive multiplayer mode. Players will have the option to take on roles as either Leaders, Scouts, Scientists or Soldiers in customizable characters against players over XBox Live and the PlayStation Network. Take a look below at what the trailer has to offer and make sure to check back right here for more news on Transformers: War for Cybertron as it becomes available.

Continue Reading →

This week On the Radar Michael Bay does his part to help take down the American car industry, MGM loses a bidder as it struggles to stay afloat, and in completely contradictory fashion James Cameron, of all people, advocates against 3D.

Maleficent finds a writer in Wonderland

Long before Alice in Wonderland stormed the box office there were rumblings about director Tim Burton tackling one of Disney‘s best baddies, Maleficent.  Well, the success of Alice has only bolstered this film’s development and Alice in Wonderland writer Linda Woolverton has been tapped to write t script.  While there were some Alice detractors out there, it’s hard to argue the success of the film.

For better or worse I think we’re witnessing the beginning of the fairy tale phase in cinema.  I’m sure the studios couldn’t be happier.  Most fairy tales, in their original iteration, are in the public domain which means the whopping cost of zero to use the stories.  Sorry, Disney, but you couldn’t be the sole exploiter of classic children’s tales forever.

Bryan Singer off X-Men: First Class?

When word came out about Bryan Singer returning to the X-Men franchise fanboys rejoiced.  Well, the excitement certainly didn’t last too long.  It seems Singer has to choose between X-Men: First Class and Jack the Giant Killer.  Unfortunately, he can’t do both:

“Before Singer can dive into casting, he has a rather large problem –  the fact that Warner Bros. has the filmmaker on the hook to direct ‘Jack the Giant Killer.’  Fox, flush with money from ‘Avatar,’ is eager to move forward with its mutant franchise in all of its permutations, so there are negotiations that need to be done.

With Singer contractually obligated to Warner Bros. it means Fox has begun searching for other directors to reignite the X-Men films.

Continue Reading →

Despite the monetary success, those closest to the original Transformers consider Michael Bay’s work on the movie franchise nothing short of abomination. Just hearing the word can now send a shiver down our spines as so much of our childhood was violated by his racism filled robotic romp.

Hearing there was going to be a new Transformers game brought us that same feeling. However, there was a shining light coming through the clouds, as bright as the AllSpark, when it was announced that the upcoming Transformers: War for Cybertron would be based on the original G1 universe.

Not only would Transformers: War of Cybertron take place in the most beloved of Transformers canon, but it would fill in the blanks for many fans of the series. All under the watchful gaze of franchise creators Hasbro, High Moon Studios has put together the pieces of what happened during the civil war between Autobot and Decepticon before the two factions found themselves warring on earth. In the video after the jump, it is obvious that High Moon Studios shares the affinity for Transformers Generation One that Michael Bay looked over.

Published by Activision, Transformers: War for Cybertron will come out for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS and the PC in May of this year. Click through to take a look at what is in store for longtime and newfound fans of the Transformers.

Continue Reading →

Welcome to the second part of my look at the duplicity that is the Hollywood we know and love (or love to hate in some cases).   Yesterday I delved into the mainstream films, such as Transformers, which get little to no recognition by the Academy.  These are movies that represent the very monetary foundation of which Hollywood is built.

Today I’m going to slide the other way and talk about the performance side of Hollywood.  Films with limited budgets, little to no marketing and have to fight tooth-and-nail in some instances for distribution as well as theater screens.  They are the darlings of Hollywood, praised for often dramatic portrayal of characters and deeply emotional stories.  Yet, even with all the attention they receive when nominated for an Oscar, only a select group of viewers end up seeing these films.

In contrast to their mainstream counterparts, performance films have always been the underdog.  It starts from the very point the script is completed all the way to getting onto the screen.  It’s the latter which ultimately proves the most critical because without theaters to show it, what good is a movie?

Continue Reading →

It was an interesting show for the Oscars this year.  From the “Kanye” moment to Sean Penn somewhat proudly proclaiming he’s not part of the Academy.  Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role (The Blind Side) the very same year she accepted a Razzie for Worst Actress (All About Steve).  And, of course, the gross upset of Avatar at the hands of The Hurt Locker.  With 41 million viewers, this year’s Oscars had something for everyone but, perhaps more interestingly, it best reflected the two sides of Hollywood which exist today.

How fitting to have two hosts on the one Oscar night that would truly exemplify both faces of Hollywood.  For so long many have seen Hollywood as one massive, filmmaking entity but that really isn’t the case.  Now more than ever there’s a division between what I’m calling (for the purposes of this article) “mainstream” Hollywood and “performance” Hollywood.  The names pretty much say it all.

Films in the mainstream category are all the summer blockbusters, tent pole movies studios rely on to turn a healthy profit year over year (e.g. Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Avatar).  In contrast you have the performance pictures, lesser known films with limited release and all too often far less money behind them (e.g. Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, The Hurt Locker).  These are two very different types of films, each vying for the attention of movie goers.

Continue Reading →