It’s been year since the release of a quality X-Men title. Not since X-Men Legends and its sequel has there really been a game that captured the essence of Marvel’s band of merry mutants, especially with the pitiful movie tie-in titles that have been released.

When X-Men: Destiny was announced by Activision and Silicon Knights, the makers of Too Human, players hoped their prayers would be answered as they would get to experience what it was like for an emerging mutant caught between the turmoil of the X-Men, Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants and the humans who seek to end the “mutant menace”.

Instead, what they got was a half handed execution that feels like a franchise cash-in rushed out in order to hit the holiday game season before the larger releases like Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3.

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At Comic Con, the Flickcast got our first hands on with X-Men: Destiny to mixed reviews from the team. While the game is still some time away, there lies a lot of potential for the game to take a turn for the better or the worse. When we had the chance to talk to Denis Dyack, who also headed up past projects such as Too Human, it helped sooth some of our concerns. Now, with PAX this weekend, the team at Silicon Knights gives us some further insight into the game with its new Powers trailer and a host of new screen shots.

In the new X-Men: Destiny screens, our main characters Aimi, Grant and Adrian can be seen in costumes different from their original character designs. The most notable are Grant fighting alongside the Juggernaut in similar wardrobe and Aimi who is wearing what looks like a New Mutants style uniform. This could be a sign that over the course of gameplay, certain decisions will not only change the world in front of the characters but the appearance of the characters themselves.

In the Powers trailer below, all three power sets that can be chosen by any of the game’s three characters are seen in action. At Comic Con, we chose the Density Control which used close by rock and asphalt to create a melee focused set, giving players an experience similar to that of the X-Man Rockslide. Energy Projection looks to be more of a sniper class where players will have the opportunity to take out enemies from a distance, playing more like Cyclops. Shadow Matter looks like it combines a mix of the two giving players some distance attacks and other close up enhancements.

Take a look at the trailer and screens below. As always, stick to the Flickcast for more on X-Men: Destiny as it approaches its September 27th release for XBox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Nintendo DS.

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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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The X-Men have potentially been one of the greatest comic book to video game franchises possible. Looking back to the classic arcade days, X-Men was a title that many gamers in their twenties pumped handfuls of quarters into to no end.

After that, pickings were fairly slim until the X-Men Legends games came out, followed by another drought until Wolverine: Origins, one of the few video game movie tie ins that was not only good, but ended up surpassing the quality of the film it was based off of. The X-Men seemingly would be perfect for the video game world with their plethora of both compelling characters and wide variety of powers to play with. But, as seen from title’s like Arcade’s Revenge, not everyone can seemingly get the franchise right.

Take a peek at Silicon Knight’s attempt at the X-Men franchise with X-Men: Destiny. Destiny looks great in motion as all the footage in this trailer is in-engine, not prerendered cut scenes. Each of the characters does a good job capturing the look and feel of the comics, although it is strange that the Juggernaut looks to have almost the same appearance as he did in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, a game not produced by Silicon Knights.

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Although they are pretty important, E3 and Apple’s WWDC are not the only things being going on this week with lots of things being announced. Obvioulsy, other news happens in other areas that we love and cover here at The Flickcast.

This time around one of the other things we we love and cover is comics. Our pals at Marvel have sent over a cool preview for one of their upcoming titles: Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1. Naturally, we’re going to share it with you.

Here’s the deets direct from the source:

Extremists hell-bent on saving humankind from the evils of Fear Itself must answer for their crimes this July in Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1! As the comic blockbuster event of the summer tightens it’s stranglehold on the Marvel Universe, the Uncanny X-Force storms into action courtesy of red-hot writer Rob Williams and superstar artist Simone Bianchi.

They’re the only thing that stands in the way of mass murder on a global scale when a group of frenzied zealots set out to save souls of the Marvel Universe from the clutches of the God of Fear! Except when the only way to reach true salvation is death at their hand, Marvel’s mutant black-ops team has no choice but to step in. But will their actions feed the frenzy?

Click through for your first look at this upcoming title. Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1 hits comic store shelves on July 6th.

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The X-Men are some of the most enduring and, let’s face it, cool characters in the entire Marvel Universe. With their diverse powers and great characters they are also some of the most popular creations in the Marvel Universe as well.

With yet another X-Men movie set to hit theaters soon, Marvel is also hard at work on more comic book incarnations and stories featuring these favored mutants. Case in point this time around is the upcoming comic X-Men: Schism from writer Jason Aaron and artists Carlos Pacheco and Frank Cho.

In this one, according to Marvel: For years Wolverine and Cyclops fought side by side, protecting the ideals of peaceful co-existence between human and mutantkind. But when a mutant-triggered international incident goes mainstream, their differences on the battlefield will prove to be too much and fans will bear witness to the fight they’ve all been waiting for – CYCLOPS VS. WOLVERINE!

X-Men: Schism will send shockwaves throughout and the entire Marvel Universe when a decision made by the X-Men leader jeopardizes the survival of all mutantkind. What lengths will some X-Men go to preserve the preservation of their species?

The new comic hits store shelves on July 13th. Until then, check out some preview pages for it after the jump.

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That’s right comic book fans, it’s that time of the week again. New comics are coming out from our friends at Marvel and we’ve got some particular ones we’re interested in.

Among the new ones coming out, we’re looking forward to reading  Cyclops #1, Kick-Ass #2,  Scarlet #5, Wolverine #7, and Secret Avengers #11.

As with most weeks, new comics arrive on Wednesday, so hit your nearest comics book store early for best selection.

Don’t know where your nearest comic store is? Use this handy guide to find one.

Comics On-Sale:
5 RONIN #5 AJA COVER
5 RONIN #5 MCGUINNESS VARIANT
AGE OF X: UNIVERSE #1
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #657
AVENGERS #11
AVENGERS #11 CAPTAIN AMERICA 70TH ANNIVERSARY VARIANT
BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #516
BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR #516 CAPTAIN AMERICA 70TH ANNIVERSARY VARIANT
CAPTAIN AMERICA #616
CAPTAIN AMERICA #616 EPTING VARIANT
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE SECRET AVENGERS #1
CYCLOPS #1
DEADPOOL CORPS #12
DEADPOOL CORPS #12 YOUNG VARIANT
DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #883
DEADPOOL TEAM-UP #883 YOUNG VARIANT
INCOGNITO: BAD INFLUENCES #5
INCREDIBLE HULKS #625
KICK-ASS 2 #2
KICK-ASS 2 #2 YU TRIPLE VARIANT

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With 2011 flying by already, it is only a matter of time before Activision’s next big superhero release with X-Men Destiny.  As we already discussed, X-Men Destiny will follow players as one of three new characters on their path to mutant destiny.

The first of these characters, Aimi Yoshida is profiled below. From the screens, Aimi looks to be a contemporary take on the classic Japanese school girl look. This seems very appropriate since some of the screens reveal villainous ninjas attacking Aimi and Colossus. It’s also interesting to note that Aimi’s mouth is covered, whether or not this is significant to the character or just a piece of cool character design remains to be seen.

Take a first look below at screens and the profile of Aimi Yoshida from our friends at Silicon Knights.

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Because we like the X-Men so much and because Marvel sent it to us, we’ve got more preview pages for the upcoming comic arc X-Men: First to Last. As we said in our previous article about this, the story comes from writer Christopher Yost, who returns to the X-Men with artists Paco Medina and Dalibor Talijic.

Here’s the official word from Marvel about this great looking (and sounding) story:

Starting in X-Men Giant-Size #1 and continuing in June’s X-Men #12, a dangerous villain from the X-Men past travels to the present with one objective in mind—destroy their future! The Evolutionaries are coming and their rampage through the Marvel Universe will push the X-Men to their limits.

And as if a new X-Men story and comics weren’t enough, there’s also a new action figure as well: X-Force Archangel. Available exclusively at Marvel’s website, this is the only way  you to get the first figure of Archangel in his “all-new, all-deadly” uniform. That’s right, we said “all-deadly.” Winning.

Look for this story to hit comic store shelves starting on May 18th. Until then, check out the new preview pages after the break.

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We like the X-Men. We also like it when our friends at Marvel send us previews for upcoming comics.

So when both of those things are combined, it’s an even better day. Case in point is this new preview for the upcoming X-Men: First to Last story arc.

Beginning with X-Men Giant Size #1 and continuing in X-Men #12, writer Christopher Yost returns to the X-Men with artists Paco Medina and Dalibor Talijic. In the comic you will “discover the staggering consequences when Xavier’s first class arrives in the future to tackle their greatest foe yet.”

“Can the X-Men of yesterday and today tackle their greatest enemy that neither can remember? The Evolutionaries are coming and their rampage through the Marvel Universe will reverberate through the lives of all X-Men past and present, first and last.”

Sounds awesome, no? Check out a preview of the new comic after the jump. X-Men: First to Last begins in May.

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It’s been about five years since X-Men Legends II: The Rise of Apocalypse, the last true X-Men game, was released. Since that time, the band of merry mutants has only played second fiddle appearing in other Marvel titles. Now, Silicon Knights, with the writing of Mike Carey, will be tackling the X-Men saga.

In the new trailer below, there is the first reveal of gameplay footage as well as some better hints of the mutants who will actually be featured in the game. These look to be Cyclops, Emma Frost, Quicksilver, Pyro, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Magneto and Surge. The final three look to be the possible characters players can play as.

In the trailer, the first actual gameplay footage is shown very briefly with a young mutant covered in tattoos facing off against a large mutated freak. This could be a reveal that Ink of Young X-Men may be one of the characters playable in the game.

Check back right here for more on X-Men: Destiny as it becomes available.

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It’s been a while since X-Men fans were really able to enjoy their favorite band of merry mutants in a video game that wasn’t part of a “bigger” picture. The last time was back in 2005 with the release of X-Men Legends II: The Rise of Apocalypse. Since then, the only certain X-Men like Wolverine or Cyclops have made their way into other titles like Marvel Ultimate Alliance or Marvel: Rise of the Imperfects. Now, alongside the announcement of the downloadable re-release of the X-Men arcade game comes a teaser for a new X-Men title, X-Men: Destiny.

The game is being written by current X-Men: Legacy scribe Mike Carey who has done a great job focusing on the secondary stories lately for the X-Men on their little island of Utopia, putting a lot of focus on Rogue, Magneto and Gambit as of late. Activision tells us that “The all-new original video game casts players as new mutant recruits in a rich, branching storyline that features a deep element of choice and gives players ultimate control of their destiny.”

Other than that, details of the game have been few and far between. The teaser below does a great job of hyping a big game but does little in terms of answering questions about it like, most importantly, just what kind of game it will be. Action platformer? Squad based combat? Action RPG? Everything is still up in the air.

Make sure to take a peek at the trailer after the jump and stick to the Flickcast for all news on X-Men: Destiny as it becomes available.

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