As we learned already, the XBox One isn’t going to be backwards compatible with XBox 360 games. Personally, I don’t see this as an issue. When I got my XBox 360, I didn’t worry about playing my original XBox games on it. And any of us who were born before the PS2 rose to prominence remember the days when we got our SNES and the only ones who questioned if the NES games would still play on it were our parents. We didn’t care back then.

In an interview with The Verge, Microsoft Xbox Live vice president Marc Whitten said, “The system is based on a different core architecture, so back-compat doesn’t really work from that perspective.” As a result, the content of the XBox Live Arcade on the XBox 360 won’t be able to carry over to the XBox One. Since the XBox One’s hardware configuration won’t support XBox 360 discs, it makes sense that the downloadable content would not be supported as well.

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Since we already told you the important facts about the XBox One yesterday, I thought I would take time to let it sink in and then give my reaction to what was announced. Any of you follow me on Twitter saw my initial reactions yesterday, but I wanted to be fair and take a step back before voicing my actual thoughts instead of just hoping for retweets. This isn’t about being a fanboy or ranting, but just my honest reactions to the announcements.

First off, the name has to be addressed. I like the fact that Microsoft didn’t go with calling the console just “XBox” again and at least the “One” differentiates it. I call my current console the “360″ in conversation and I don’t doubt that I’ll end up calling the XBox One just the “XBox,” but it was at least better than Apple’s iPad, iPad 2 and then “new iPad.” And let’s be honest, the name isn’t what sells a system as the Wii proved since every gamer ripped that name to shreds.

Also, thank you to Microsoft for showing the system. They needed to do something to separate themselves from Sony and the PlayStation 4 and rather than continue the pissing contest that is going to reach E3, they just showed what it looked like. Much like the name, the overall look of the system isn’t going to make or break the sale of a console (again take a look at the Wii). I was happy to see most of the design on the controller remained and was happy to see the D-Pad had been changed as it is especially reviled by fighting gamers.

Hooray for Blu-Ray. Although that means my HD-DVD is now officially in the same category as Betamax and Laserdisc.

I appreciate Skype being on the XBox One and integrated with the “Snap” feature, but I feel like I’ll never use it. The last thing I want when watching TV or a movie is to have someone talking to me. Maybe if I was a sports guy and wanted to talk trash during a game with my friend across the country during a basketball game, I’d be down. But if I am watching The Walking Dead, don’t you dare try calling me during the show.

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During an event today at its Redmond, WA campus, Microsoft announced the brand new Xbox console everyone had been waiting for. Dubbed “XBox One” the new console features a host of internal and external improvement, enhancements and new features/content including 8GB of RAM, a 500 GB internal HD, USB 3.0, 802.11n Wi-Fi, a Blu-ray drive and three operating systems: The standard Xbox OS, the kernel of Windows 8 for web applications and a third platform that connects the two together.

Microsoft has also completely redesigned its Kinect sensor to better respond to users’ voices and gestures and has overhauled its Xbox Live experience, which is now supported by 300,000 servers, or 20 times the number of servers that currently power Xbox Live. That’s a lot of servers.

Microsoft also said during the event that it will launch 15 exclusive games on the Xbox One, 8 of which are new titles. The major one reveled was, of course, a brand new Call of Duty game called: Call of Duty: Ghosts.

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It looks like Microsoft won’t be as dumb as, well, Microsoft seems to be sometimes. That’s right XBox fans, you won’t need to be connected to the Internet to enjoy any games on the next-gen XBox console, currently known as the XBox 720.

Word has come to us today from the fine folks are Ars Technica (who got hold of an internal Microsoft email) that the Redmond giant has decided against this requirement. In the email, from Microsoft to Xbox engineers, the company outlines “a number of scenarios that our users expect to work without an Internet connection” and instructing the engineers to make those functions “‘just work’ regardless of their current connection status.”

The email goes on to say that the new Xbox should be designed for “playing a Blu-ray disc, watching live TV, and yes playing a single player game” without an Internet connection. Well, that makes more sense, doesn’t it?

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This is probably one of the geekiest posts we’ve ever put up here, but that’s okay as we often love some hot tabletop gaming action. To make said hot tabletop action even hotter, you really need some cool terrain pieces to visually enhance your adventures.

Fortunately, the gang at Dwarven Forge has got you covered. If you haven’t checked out their Kickstarter campaign yet, you should. These things look great, are durable, modular and will lend that extra flair to all your tabletop gaming sessions. And really, who doesn’t want extra flair? I know we do.

This is what Kickstarter was made for. Take that money you were going to give to Zac Braff and instead, give it to something really cool with perks that will last a lifetime.

Plus, because their Kickstarter is sure to be funded, your donation could get you a veritable treasure trove of awesome gaming pieces. Something every geek needs in his or her bag of tricks.

So, what are you waiting for? You get to support an awesome Kickstarter campaign and get some amazing stuff for yourself. What could be better than that?

[Via Geek Dad]

If you’re a geek or gamer (or both), chances are you’ve played Dungeons & Dragons, or know someone who has. First introduced in 1974, D&D went on to become an international phenomenon selling over $1 Billion worth of books, 20-sided dice and related materials in over 30 countries.

To this day, many leaders in entertainment, and other industries, hail D&D as a major inspirations for their creativity and imagination. In short, it was quite a game. And to many, it still is. But where did it come from?

The common wisdom is D&D was invented by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, two friends who’s love of gaming led them to create the first rule books, and more, for what would become modern D&D and later, Advanced D&D. But is that the whole story?

Over at Geek Dad they’ve wondered the same thing and a statement about the discovery of a rare manuscript may just hold the key to unlocking the mystery of who really created the game. According to the statement by the Strong National Museum of Play, “A rare manuscript believed by some experts to be the earliest existing version of Dungeons & Dragons” is now on display at their Rochester, NY, museum.

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Like all good things done by Nintendo, it’s time for special edition hardware. With the Pokemon franchise being possibly the most recognizable mobile game in the world with its original GameBoy roots, Nintendo is bringing the pocket monster flair to their behemoth (only in terms of importance, not size) pocket based console.

Retailing for a cool $199.99, the Pikachu themed 3DS XL will come with a 4 GB SD memory card and be available in limited qualities. From the look of the above image though, it may only be the top of the 3DS XL that features the Pikachu treatment as the hinge appears white, meaning the actual body of the system may be white as well.

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Great news for those of you using a PS3 or a PC to play Call of Duty: Black Ops II. That’s right, the Revolution DLC is here!

Check out the full press release below:

Just a quick note to let you know that Call of Duty®: Black Ops II players on PlayStation®3 and Windows PC now have access to the game’s first DLC Map Pack – Revolution. Revolution delivers an unparalleled amount of variety and content for all types of Call of Duty: Black Ops II players, featuring four all-new multiplayer maps set around the globe:

• Grind: Set in a skate park in Venice Beach (the birthplace of skateboarding!), quarter-pipes and curved surfaces drive players away from easy cover and into intense firefights.

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Once again, our fearless leader has posted something cool at his own website instead of here at The Flickcast. We’re still not a hundred percent sure why he does it, but that’s not really what’s important.

What is important is the fact that the fine and generous folks at Wizards of the Coast, in conjunction with DriveThruRPG, have launched a website known as Dungeons & Dragons Classics.

What is D&D Classics, you ask? Well, it’s an “online PDF store that features classic content from every issue of D&D, including fan-favorite supplement materials and iconic adventures.” Awesome, right?

This is a great service for those of you, like one or two writers around here we won’t mention, who have “misplaced” your D&D books or who want to get into the game for the first time.

No, they’re not free. But that’s okay, great things seldom are. However, the prices are reasonable, especially if you really want the classic D&D books (and more) in a more manageable format. This might get expensive.

Because of the time it takes to really get to know a system and being limited by only those few games at launch, it wouldn’t be fair to give a full and formal review of the Wii U console just yet. Instead, I’m just going to give my first impressions of it with a full review possibly coming later.

When getting the Wii U, the first thing I noticed and was unfortunately disappointed by is its setup time. If you plan on using the Wii U to its fullest potential, you are going to need to do an update to the system right off the bat. While this is automatic when doing your network setup, it is required to use the Wii U’s full functionality including things like the YouTube app. Nintendo has never been known for their online features and like Sony doesn’t have fast download speeds for consoles.

As a result, it took almost an hour of setup and download time before my Wii U was ready to go. Tip for parents, if you are giving your kid a Wii U for Christmas, open up the box and do this before you give it as a gift. Nothing is going to disappoint little Jimmy Xmas morning than having to wait an hour before he can actually start playing his Wii U.

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While the gaming world somewhat anxiously awaits the release of the successor to the PS3 (aka the cleverly named PS4), Sony has something over there in its right hand to distract you. What is this something you may wonder?

Why, it’s a brand new version of the PS3 of course. That’s right, today the company announced the CECH-4000 model. It will be 20% smaller and 25% lighter than the previous model and will also ditch the slot-loading optical drive in favor of a disc-tray that slides open sideways.

The new PS3 will come in two versions: a 250GB that will sell for $269.99 and a 500GB that will sell for $299.99. The 250GB model, which launches on September 25th, will be sold in a bundle with the game Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and will also come with a $30 voucher for digital content for the game DUST 514.

Interested in the 500GB version? You’ll have to wait until October 30th for that one when it comes out as a bundle with Assassin’s Creed III.

So, anyone interested in a smaller, lighter, tray-loading PS3 or are you just gonna wait for the PS4, which is expected sometime next year? Supposedly.

There are many different schools of thought as to how gaming should be presented. Some people like epic, long storylines. Others prefer bite sized casual experiences. Still others will combine the two and let a story be handled through a series of smaller episodic experiences. Telling a story across multiple games isn’t something new.

It began in the earliest days of sequels where players would pick up with the lead character after the events of the original in a new title. But many of these games weren’t created with the intentions of being long form stories. They were just stories taking place in the same universe of one that happened to be a commercial success. It wasn’t until more recently that games specifically began being created to tell a story across multiple releases. This would lead to the advent of episodic gaming.

The advantages of episodic gaming extend to both the developer and the consumer because of the nature of the format. First and foremost for the consumer is the reduced risk associated with purchasing a new game. For the most part, episodic games are cheaper than full retail releases so if a player purchases the first episode of a game and doesn’t enjoy it, they only spent money on the first episode instead of the entire season. Some developers and publishers will actually even allow players the first episode for free to reign people in. This tactic was used by XBox’s Live Market Place on Fable 2 and is going to be in effect this month for PlayStation Plus subscribers with the first two episodes of Telltale’s The Walking Dead.

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When we first got games on our cell phones, it was something to do to fill the time waiting in line at the bank or kill a few minutes when someone was late to meet you at the movies. There were only so many minutes you could stomach the slow moving and poorly animated versions of Snake or Tetris.

But as with all things tech, mobile phone games gave way to smart phone games which have the abilities to rival those of big screen content. While not everyone wants to keep a Nintendo 3DS or PlayStation Vita in their pocket, most people do have an iPhone or Android and they will play games on them. But the biggest weakness that some smart phone games still deal with are the controls.

While some games are perfect for touch or tilt controls like Angry Birds or Super Monkey Ball respectively, some genres don’t lend themselves to these mobile control schemes. Shooters and platformers require both twitch precision and a full view of the gaming environment but these are both lost when gaming comes to the mobile touch screen device.

Virtual D-Pads are constantly inaccurate and sometimes a game requires so many buttons that the player has to cover a quarter of the screen to access them all. The answer on how to remedy this is Bladepad.

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In the race to dominate the mobile gaming space we can’t count Android out even if Apple’s iPad does seem to be in the lead. Obvoiosuly, the folks at Activison feel the same way as they’ve announced a cool game for for the platform that any Android-using gamer will be happy to play: Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies.

Yep, that’s right. All your favorite zombie killing action is coming to Android. Sadly, it will be exclusive to the Sony Xperia for the first 30 days. Yeah, we know, that sucks.

Still, 30 days isn’t that long. Here’s all the scoop directly from the source:

CALL OF DUTY®: BLACK OPS ZOMBIES APP
NOW AVAILABLE ON ANDROID

Santa Monica, CA – August 3, 2012 – Call of Duty®: Black Ops Zombies, the fan-favorite app based on the popular Zombies mode from Treyarch’s and Activision’s record-setting hit Call of Duty®: Black Ops, is now coming to Android.

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I probably will say this every year I attend, but this year’s PAX East was my favorite one yet. The showfloor was excellent, with an amazing selection of the latest titles from both big name developers and indie up and comers. The tabletop and freeplay areas were expanded upon, the panels were enjoyable and entertaining.

Throughout the weekend, and really every PAX East, there’s a feeling of respect and community that I’ve never felt at any other convention. I’ve never made more friends at any other expo or con as I have at PAX East, and year after year I manage to reunite with old friends while making new ones. All of us who attend owe a great debt to those who dedicate their time and energy to making PAX the best it can be year in and year out, including the Penny Arcade staff and the Enforcers, the most dedicated, helpful group of volunteers I’ve ever come across.

I always get a feeling of sadness when I pack my bags, wave goodbye to the BCEC, and leave Boston, and while the PAX experience on the East coast may be over, the memories, souvenirs, beta keys, freebies, new friends, and new favorite games are all things we can connect with and experience everyday. We really bring PAX home with us. And there’s always PAX Prime in the fall.

I hope that those of you attended the convention enjoyed yourself as much as I did. Check out some photos from my time at PAX East after the jump.

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