One of the biggest game releases this year is the upcoming Mass Effect 3, the sequel to the mega hit franchise that blends Sci-Fi action and RPG immersion. The game is already being penciled in for game of the century and fans are at a fever pitch in anticipation, so bringing the game to iOS devices seems a smart way to capitalize.

The just announced Mass Effect Datapad is still clouded in some mystery, but we do know it will be an iPad exclusive. Best estimation is that the app will work as sort of a strategy guide, or some sort of informational support for your missions.

Also, EA has announced Mass Effect Infiltrator for all iOS devices, a third person shooter that is meant to feed into the main game’s Galaxy At War system. The mobile game is set around freeing prisoners and gaining evidence against Cerberus, both of which will have a direct impact on your single player experience.

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Before I go on, let’s get one thing stright: I don’t know if there’s a link between violent video games and actual violence in real life. And neither does anyone else.

That’s the point. Nobody knows for sure. So when someone decides that violent video games are a problem and “something needs to be done,” I feel compelled to bring it to your attention — especially when the method in question is so lame in concept as to be laughable.

Here’s the deal: An Oklahoma Democratic lawmaker named Will Fourkiller (ironic?) has proposed a tax be applied to all games that receive an ESRB rating. In addition, Mr. Fourkiller also proposes T-Rated games have a tax added to their cost since some include “simulated gambling.”

Are you with me so far? Good. To rationalize his proposal, Mr. Fourkiller refers to a crime in which a man killed a police officer and stole his car after playing Grand Theft Auto.

”Not everybody is going to react the same, but I believe after hours and hours of watching the screen, playing the video game, being that person and taking on that role, people get desensitized,” Mr. Fourkiller said.

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Take square blocks and build whatever you can imagine, limited only by your own creativity. It’s a description that could fit perfectly with one classic toy franchise as well as one of the most groundbreaking PC games of 2011. For decades, children have put together the little pegged blocks in billions of combinations building castles, cities, vehicles and creatures in ways the creators never could have expected.

For the past year, gamers have dug squares out of a virtual landscape and created everything from replicas of famous landmarks to Godzilla-sized Pokemon recreations. And now, the two franchises which look to be a perfect fit for each other, LEGO and Minecraft, are coming together.

As reported on LEGO’s CUUSOO blog, the Minecraft project has been approved to move on to the product development stages:

Since the Minecraft™ project reached 10,000 supporters on LEGO® CUUSOO, many of you have been eagerly awaiting our update. Until now, the project has been in the LEGO Review—a stage before product development begins where a LEGO Jury evaluates the idea’s feasibility as a product and makes a decision.

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A billion dollars in sales in just 16 days. An unprecedented release both for the video game and entertainment industry. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a juggernaut. It only seems fitting that along with the Call of Duty Elite mobile app going live this week, that the DLC announcements would start rolling out as well. Starting January 24th for premium Call of Duty Elite members on XBox Live (and later dates for other platforms) until September, there will be at least twenty content drops for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 including “brand new multiplayer maps, Special Ops Missions, new game modes and more.”

“The mammoth launch of Modern Warfare 3 and the breakout success of Call of Duty Elite were just the beginning. Call of Duty Elite provides an “always-on” connection to our fanbase, and the MW3 Content Season is the ultimate way to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Call of Duty community and provide tremendous value to Call of Duty Elite premium members,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “With the Call of Duty®: MW3 Content Season for Call of Duty Elite we are delivering on our promise of more new content, more often, and with more variety than ever. With three studios collaborating on the first season, the breadth and depth of material on tap is truly extraordinary. It’s rare you can successfully execute both quantity and quality, but thanks to the expertise of our developers, the reach of Call of Duty Elite and the passion of our fans, we intend to deliver.”

Content drops will occur once a month for the nine month duration of the DLC season with the first three months from January to March promising five different content drops.

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As is the usual practice almost anywhere were column inches or post counts matter, writers such as myself take to their keyboards and make lists. I am no exception and, with a great deal of difficulty and toil, have managed to cobble together a list of what I think are some of the best things of 2011.

I don’t really want to bore you with a lot of explanations as to why I picked what I did. Suffice it to say these picks are mine and mine alone. Also, they are not in any particular order, mostly because I find it hard to rank them that closely. Or, I was just too lazy.

Either way, here you go.

Movies

Drive
The Artist
Attack the Block
X-Men: First Class
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The Descendants
Thunder Soul
13 Assassins
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Hugo

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2012 is a big year for Ringers, obviously the first part of The Hobbit hits screens, but now they have the arrival of Lord of the Rings LEGO sets and games to look forward to. LEGO has announced that starting the summer of 2012 they are going to be in the Lord of the Rings business.

“Only LEGO, with their expertise in the construction category, is capable of doing justice to the incredibly imaginative environments depicted in the world of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the two films based on THE HOBBIT… These films give life to amazing worlds and characters and we are thrilled to bring fans these products that deliver an imaginative play experience befitting of these beloved properties.”

LEGO has been working with Warner Bros. properties for the last few years with the successful LEGO Harry potter and LEGO DC Universe lines, now one of the most respected film franchises of all time will get their LEGO due. The most exciting aspect of this news is the confirmation of LEGO Lord of the Rings video games. The first game announced is based on the upcoming Hobbit film due out next year.

Check out more details about what to expect from new partnership after the jump.

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You may have heard of a little game called Call of Duty: Black Ops. In fact, before the more recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, it was the best selling first person shooter game of all time on the XBox 360, PS3 and PC.

But what if you didn’t have and XBox or were on the road and wanted to play it on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch? Well, up until today you were out of luck. Fortunately, your luck is changing . . . for the better.

That’s right kids today Activision has released Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Here’s all the scoop from the official press release:

Adapted from Treyarch’s best-selling console hit, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and built specifically for Apple mobile devices, Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies delivers a Zombies experience never before seen on mobile along with 50 levels of cult-favorite Dead-Ops Arcade, providing the ultimate undead challenge for fans of Call of Duty’s signature Zombies mode. Featuring Voice Chat for a true Call of Duty style multiplayer experience, the title allows gamers to play solo or join a team of up to four to take down hordes of zombies.

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We like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, you like it and so, it seems, do a whole bunch of other people. How can we be sure?

Well, Activision on Tuesday announced that week-one sales of Modern Warfare 3 were 12.3 Million units, making it the biggest launch of all time. That number of units sold also brought in about $738 Million in revenue. Not bad for the first week.

The Xbox 360 version of the game was in the lead with sales of more than 7 million units, a record for game sales on a single console that was previously held by Call of Duty: Black Ops and its 5.8 Million units sold. 4.8 Million copies were sold for the PlayStation 3.

But what of the Wii? It had about 500K copies sold for it along with the PC version of the game, which also had about the same. In addition, in case you hadn’t heard, Activision announced late last week that COD:MW3 sold 6.5 Million copies and made $400 Million during its launch weekend alone. That’s also a record, by the way.

I’m sure Hollywood must be salivating pretty hard right now wishing they could get these kinds of sales figures for some of their movies. Of course, that would mean they would have to make good movies first. And let’s face it, most of them aren’t.

Look for our review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 very soon. We know John is working on it and it’s going to be great.

With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 , hitting this week the anticipation is almost palpabile. People across the internet are clamoring for just about any information available to the game. We know we at The Flickcast are anxiously looking forward to tonight at midnight to get our hands on it. But, until then, we are going to share this behind the scenes video from our friends at Activision that explains both the Facebook and Elite integration in to the game.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will tie directly in to player’s Facebook friends list. This is the first triple A title to allow for this level of social networking communication that will allow players to look directly at their friends list from the game browser and hop in to games using their Facebook friends. This is going to be a great resource as not a lot of people post their gamer tag to Facebook but almost certainly everyone on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer is going to link their game to their Facebook so they can partied up that much easier with all their friends.

We also get to take a look further into the three pillars of Elite with Connect, Compete and Improve. One of the most drastic improvements looks to be the 100 person clan structure which has been added to the game. Clans can take on Clan Operations and level up the entire clan as a whole. Competition looks to heat up as well with the inclusion of both real and digital prizes in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Keep your eyes peeled for any last minute news before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3′s midnight release tonight and check out the full behind the scenes video below.

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Presented without much comment is the new trailer for Rockstar Games upcoming Grand Theft Auto V. And yes, it appears the game is set in Los Angeles. Let that speculation end now.

In the trailer we hear the game’s protagonist talking about trying to become a good family man before realizing the futility of that course and switching to the criminal route. We also we see a car being chased by the police (naturally), part of a robbery and other criminals going about their business.

In addition, a Vinewood sign is shown (the GTA name for Hollywood), a helicopter and a jet. Hopefully these will be part of the game and players will be able to fly them. That would be cool.

Check it out after the break. Look for Grand Theft Auto V to arrive early next year.

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When you’ve written and directed some awesome movies like Slither and Super, what else might you want to do? Why, a video game of course.

That’s just what director/writer James Gunn has done with his upcoming game Lollipop Chainsaw. To be honest, it’s a bit hard to describe so perhaps we should just let the man, and the trailer, do the talking, or killing, for itself. Here’s what Mr. Gunn has to say about it:

Happy Halloween everybody! To celebrate, we all thought you’d enjoy the ultimate Trick: a 2nd trailer for our forthcoming game, Lollipop Chainsaw, developed by Suda 51 and myself, and starring the ever beautiful Juliet Starling.

I’ve been hard at work these past couple weeks finishing up the script and directing actors as we recorded the majority of our voice overs. Working with Suda, Warner Games and Grasshopper Studios has been a great experience, and I’m grateful that something as special as LC is my first game. I can’t wait to share it with you, as well as some of the cool.

Now, check out the trailer after the break. Look for Lollipop Chainsaw to arrive next year.

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Awesome. That’s the only word to describe it. The Call of Duty franchise just keeps getting better and better.

And now, with the latest installment, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, hitting stores next month we’ve got even more to be excited about. To keep the excitement going until the release, we’ve got a behind-the-scenes trailer featuring weapon proficiencies. Yes, it continues the awesome trend.

As always, by clicking through you certify you are 18 years of age or older. If you are, check out the trailer after the break.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 hits store shelves on November 8. Can’t. Wait.

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