To say Minecraft: XBox 360 Edition is already a success is an understatement. The game literally became profitable within the first hour of sales and boasted 400,000 users in its first 24 hours, breaking all XBLA records including the one set by fellow Arcade Next member Trials Evolution with its quarter million first day sales. But does commercial success equal a great game? In the case of Minecraft: XBox 360 Edition, the two are one in the same.

Gameplay

For those who haven’t played Minecraft yet in either its PC or mobile incarnations yet, the game is an open world where players must mine resources around them in order to craft tools and build structures including buildings, mine cart pathways and increasingly complex machines. On the surface, Minecraft looks incredibly simple as players only need to hack away at or place objects in the world around them.

But there are tons of layers of depth. Players literally start in a world with nothing but their fists to punch out sections of a tree. Once they have some wood, they start constructing tools to make these tasks easier. They also can craft weapons and armor to help defend themselves from the world around them.

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According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is going to give multiple smartphone and tablet manufacturers early access to the latest builds of Android to build devices and then sell those directly to consumers through the Play Store. Google will supposedly have these devices ready in time for the launch of the next version of Android, code named Jelly Bean, which is ser to bow in November.

In the past Google has selected one company to make its “Nexus” devices. Most recently, that company was Samsung. Recently, Google began to sell the Galaxy Nexus directly through its Play Store and had a page of the store dedicated to devices plural. This, of course, begged the question as to what other devices were going to be sold there. Perhaps this new development answers that question.

According to the Journal’s source, this new plan would give Google “more control over the apps that run on smartphones and tablets powered by Android, thus reducing the influence of wireless carriers over such devices.” Gotta say, that sounds pretty good as I think carriers have way too much influence as it is.

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Last night during the season premiere of America’s Got Talent, all five of the NBC viewers were treated to an extended ‘super’ preview of The Amazing Spider-Man. Basically it super-sized the most recent trailer with an extended scene, some dubstep-ish cues and a couple of choice new shots.

The movie is in an odd place for the general public. We are not that far removed from the Raimi series, and despite the vocal internet backlash to the third film, it was a success. So Sony has to win over a skeptical public on top of the already difficult task of competing with this summer’s other two comic book goliaths.

To Sony’s credit this extended trailer marks the most interesting and inciting glimpse at their reboot. It showcases one of the most important aspects of Peter Parker that was almost missed completely in the Raimi films, the personality of Spider-Man.

Spider-Man is a wise-cracking, naive, and most importantly noble hero. There is a duality to Peter that is much more subtle than in a character like Batman, but is no less important. If the Marc Webb reboot can tap into that, we can all be in for a very pleasant surprise this summer.

Check out the full trailer after the jump.

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Idris Elba will be returning as Heimdall in the Thor sequel. While that might seem like a bit of ‘well duh’ kind of news, it is nice to hear none the less. Considering the man is a very talented and very busy actor, whose role in Thor was pretty small, it would not have been terribly surprising if he didn’t have the time for another minor role right now.

However, Mr. Elba recently chatted with Collider who got the confirmation direct from the man himself:

Yes, I am.  I’m definitely going to do my man in a suit film… I’d just like to get to know him a bit more.  Who is Heimdall?  He guards the gate.  Okay.  Is there anything else?  I don’t know what is in the script because I haven’t read it yet.  But, the audience has responded to Asgard and wants to know more about who lives there and what it’s about.  I’m sure, if they do that, Heimdall will be featured more.

Not only is he coming back, but clearly Elba is eager to explore his character more. It would be really great if they allowed him that opportunity, especially the way the story is set up. Heimdall guards the Bifrost, the Bifrost has been destroyed.

That could make for some juicy stuff for Elba to sink his teeth into, and maybe a far more interesting way to incorporate another famous Asgardian who has a few obscure ties to Heimdall, Amora the Enchantress.

The war for dominance in the social media space will never really be won. Even with Facebook and Twitter dominating the scene at the moment, there’s always going to be other players looking to draw eyeballs and attention to their networks and platforms.

One such player in this war is search giant Google, whose Google+ social network debuted towards the end of last year. Sadly, even with some impressive user numbers, over 100 Million at last count, a new study suggests that “social activity and user engagement” on the service is far from good. In fact, it’s downright terrible.

Over at Fast Company, the findings of an RJ Metrics study that analyzed data from a sample of 40,000 public Google+ accounts in an effort to determine just how successful the social network is was revealed. The reports main conclusion? Google+ is a ghost town.

According to the report, the average post on Google+ gets fewer than one “+1,” the equivalent of a “like” on Facebook, and fewer than one reply. Links and other items shared publicly by Google+ users are re-shared just 0.17 times per post, on average. In addition, users averaged about one post every 12 days, usage per user declines each month after they make their first public post and about 30% of users who make a first public post never make another one.

As a daily user of Google+ (here’s my profile) I find this report interesting. On the surface it paints a pretty grim picture of Google+ and its user base. However, it only takes into account public post on the service, something I almost never make.

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It’s that time of year when thoughts turn to network schedules. This time around it’s ABC, which released its full Fall 2012 schedule this week.

The network is taking no prisoners this year and boldly launching 10 new series including 666 Park Avenue, The Family Tools, How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life), Last Resort, Malibu Country, Mistresses, Nashville, The Neighbors, Red Widow and Zero Hour. Five of the new series will bow in the fall, the rest in midseason.

Hey, we’re just happy Castle and Happy Endings are coming back. As for the new shows, we will have to wait and see. No point getting invested now, especially these days when networks kill shows after only a few episodes.

Full schedule followed by descriptions of the shows follows (thanks to the folks at Deadline for putting this together:

MONDAY

8 PM “Dancing with the Stars”

10 PM “Castle”

In January

8 PM “The Bachelor”

10 PM “Castle”

TUESDAY

8 PM “Dancing with the Stars the Results Show”

9 PM “Happy Endings”

9:30 PM “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23”

10 PM “Private Practice”

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Say what you will about Disney, but sometimes they do extremely cool things, such as the Star Wars Weekends summer events planned out at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando. Launching this weekend is the incredibly cool Carbon-Freeze Me experience:

Using state-of-the-art imaging technology, this experience casts your likeness as a three-dimensional, eight-inch figurine. At the Carbon-Freezing Chamber, several cameras will capture multiple angles of your face. The images are then reconstructed in a computer for processing, and in approximately four weeks, the completed figurine is shipped directly to your house. I had my image captured during early tests for this experience, and it was surreal to see a digital version of my head.

What Star Wars fan wouldn’t want an 8″ figurine of yourself frozen in Carbonite?

The best part about this whole thing is that you can get these custom figures for a relatively low price. For only $99.95 you forever frozen can be yours, and duplicates can be ordered for only $74.95 using the original digital reconstruction of your face.

Of course you will need to be at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to partake in this deal, but if you find yourself at the happiest place on earth this is one of the better souvenirs you could possibly pick up. Details on how to make an appointment (a necessity) can be found at Disney’s Park Blog.

Remember a few months ago when it seemed like fall 2012 was loaded with tons of awesome, highly anticipated video game releases?

We told you how BioShock: Infinite would be delayed several months and now add another of those high-profile games has jumped ship to early 2013. In an announcement made on Edios Games’ forums, Darrell Gallagher informed us that the Tomb Raider reboot game has been pushed to 2013:

Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game. In order to do this, we have decided to move the game’s release date by a few months, from Fall 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.

We’re doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve. We believe this is the right choice and I guarantee it will be worth the wait. The game is looking amazing and we can’t wait to show it to everyone at E3 in a few weeks.

Unfortunate news for a game that a lot of people were really look forward to. Although we here at The Flickcast think this might be for the best, in a world where Uncharted has set a new standard for action and treasure hunting games, Tomb Raider has a lot to live up to. At the very least the game wont be a no-show at E3 like BioShock, so we wont have to long to wait to see what sort of additions this delay allows.

Samuel Fuller’s The Steel Helmet (1951) is one of the most honest, unflinching, in your face war films ever made. Set during the opening stages of the Korean War, the film follows a small squad of Americans who face off against an unseen enemy. Gene Evans makes his big screen debut as Sergeant Zack, a World War II veteran who finds himself in a new kind of war.

The film opens with a tight close-up shot of a steel helmet that has been punctured by a bullet. It’s shortly revealed to be Sgt. Zack who is the lone survivor of an enemy attack that has massacred his outfit. With his hands bound behind his back, Zack tries to free himself. A young South Korean boy (William Chun) comes to Zack’s aid and frees him. The boy is nicknamed “Short Round” by Zack who allows the kid to tag along with him until he can find another American outfit to join up with.

As Zack and Short Round are making their way through a wooded area Zack hears a noise and tells Short Round to “Eat rice”. They’ve come across another American, a medic who is also a survivor from an enemy attack. Corporal Thompson (James Edwards) joins up with Zack and Short Round. It is also revealed that Thompson is a World War II vet and his experiences during the last war mirror that of Fuller’s own combat diaries with the First Infantry Division.

Shortly after, Zack and the others encounter an American patrol led by the green, inexperienced Lt. Driscoll (Steve Brodie) who commands the quintessential, stereotypical squad from most war films. Fuller handpicked most of the actors that represented the different types of service men who were serving in Korea.

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Since we know it’s going to be at least a few months until the next iPhone comes out and seeing as the “new” iPad just came out recently, that means it’s time for Apple MacBook Pro rumors and speculation. What fun!

The folks at 9 to 5 Mac have taken it to the streets (or, the Internets to be more precise) and have come up with some new info concerning the aforementioned new MacBook Pro lineup. According to the report, Apple is getting ready to launch an all-new 15-inch MacBook Pro with an ultra-thin design, USB 3.0, Ivy Bridge chipset, no optical drive or Ethernet port and “jaw dropping” Retina display. This info comes to them via a “trusted source in Apple’s supply chain.”

The new hotness is reportedly undergoing testing as you read this with an eye to a Summer launch. I, for one, can’t wait to check it out. Although, I’m probably more interested in a new 13″ MacBook Pro or MacBook Air with these specs. I just don’t need a 15 inch display and the weight that goes with it.

Unless, of course, it weighs the same as my current MacBook Air. In that case, I might have to give it a serious look.

We know NBC has made some not-so-friendly decisions in the past with our favorite shows, such as their decision to jerk around the millions (thousands?) of Community fans out there until we got what we wanted. Now they’re trying to get us interested in a brand new slate of comedies, dramas, and alternative series this Fall.

Starting off with the brand new batch of comedies, here’s what the official press release had to show us.

The season’s new fall comedies are “Go On,” “The New Normal,” “Animal Practice” and “Guys with Kids.” Other mid-season comedies include “Save Me,” “1600 Penn” and “Next Caller.”

The new fall dramas are “Revolution” and “Chicago Fire,” while “Do No Harm,” “Infamous” and “Hannibal” also will join the lineup in mid-season.

In addition, new alternative series include “Stars Earn Stripes,” “Howie Mandel’s White Elephant,” “Ready for Love,” and “Surprise with Jenny McCarthy.”

“Go On” — Misery loves company. Unless you’re sportscaster Ryan King (Matthew Perry, “Friends,” “Mr. Sunshine”) who thinks misery should just be left alone. After taking some time off, Ryan – who recently lost his wife in a car accident – is now ready to get back to work. And while he seems like his same old charming, cocky self, his boss won’t set him back on the air until he seeks counseling. So, Ryan reluctantly joins a support group with one goal in mind: get in, get out and get back on the radio as quickly as possible.

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In its second weekend in release The Avengers brought in over $100 Million bucks. I will write that again for effect. In its second weekend in release The Avengers brought in over $100 Million bucks!

That absurd second weekend haul obliterates the second weekend record just as the debut frame obliterated records last week. For reference the previous best second weekend was Avatar with a bit over $75 million. The movie has already cleared a billion in total Box Office and it has only been in US cinemas for 10 days.

So yes, The Avengers continues to draw in the masses and shatter records left and right. At this point in time it seems plausible that the movie will end up as the third most successful film of all time. Why not the top slot if it is doing better than everything else right now? The start of the Summer season is just to hard of a spot for the movie to have the kind of legs required to break that pesky 2 billion dollar plateau.

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