Since the events of Sandy Hook in Newtown, CT, the argument about violence in games and the effect it has on children has been reignited. Recently, Vice President Joe Biden spoke to everyone from gun owners to experts in the entertainment and gaming industries to try and find ways to prevent another tragedy like Sandy Hook from happening. And when a call came for a ban on assault weapons, the NRA responded by trying to shift the blame solely to the media, including the gaming industry, since the offender was reported to have played “violent video games.”

Obviously, there are many issues that contributed to the tragedy at Sandy Hook and the events that led to it. I cannot even begin to fully explain them all and to try would be socially irresponsible on my part. However, there there are some aspects of it, and the resulting controversy, I feel I need to address.

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Since we started covering games, we have always had an eye on THQ and its franchises. From the WWE and UFC fighting games to fantasy adventures like Darksiders and sci-fi worlds of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine to even the modern day gone wrong Saints Row, THQ has been a huge part of gaming for the better part of the past twenty years. Unfortunately, this past week THQ was forced to declare bankruptcy in hopes of somehow finding a way to save the jobs of as many employees as possible and keep their games in progress still alive.

There are a few options to what could happen to THQ. First, it could be bought out by another company and have its portfolio absorbed into the new company including licenses. Another option would be the company dissolves and its assets including studios are auctioned off. If either were to happen, it is possible that we would see some of the THQ franchises picked up by other studios and studios picked up by other publishers. But the question then begins, what would the good combinations be for publishers and studios as well as studios and franchises.

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Say what you will about Spike’s Video Game Awards and their choices of winning titles, but it is one of the places to see the premiere trailers for some of the biggest games of the following year. Six months separated from E3, the VGAs are the biggest nationally televisions gaming event in the latter half of the year in the US. As a result, games that were quiet during E3 get revived interest while other games that were spotlighted at E3 get one last big push before their releases early in the next year.

So far, Spike has revealed three teasers for game’s that will be getting the ultimate spotlight on this year’s VGAs. Gears of War: Judgment will be coming to the VGAs only six months after its E3 announcement and will focus on the character Baird in the early parts of the Locust War. The Last of Us actually made its debut at last year’s VGAs and quickly grew a rabid fan base. Coming from the same studio that brought us Uncharted, The Last of Us has an intense blend of action and survival in an apocalyptic setting while also focusing on the relationship between its two diverse main characters. Finally, after a plethora of delays, Bioshock Infinite will make its way to the VGAs to help prepare for its February 2013 launch.

Check out all the teasers below after the jump and catch the Spike Video Game Awards on Friday night, December 7th at 9 PM on Spike TV.

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Ever play Gears of War or the Unreal Tournament series? If so, you’ve played one of over 30 games that Cliff Bleszinski has been a part of creating in his twenty year career. Late last week though, the man known to the gaming world as CliffyB announced his retirement from the Epic Games studio. On their website,  Epic announced that Cliff would be departing the company. That day, CliffyB would go on to trend worldwide on Twitter. From the looks of things, it seems to be an amicable departure from both sides. Currently Cliff’s next plans are still a mystery.

But the question is, what happens now to Epic Games? And the answer may surprise people. Probably not a lot is going to change with the company. While CliffyB is unarguably the most public face of Epic Games, he is one man amongst a gigantic team of programmers and designers. While Cliff has no doubt been a part of Epic’s most recent string of successes, he is not the sole force behind them. Unreal will go on. Gears of War will continue. The groundwork has been laid and Cliff leaving the company just gives the opportunity for someone new to step up… and hopefully cut their way through a wall with a chainsaw at E3.

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As we told you earlier, Microsoft kicked off their E3 festivities with what could be considered a fairly standard and unsurprising Press Conference. As expected, they announced the anticipated console exclusive, Halo 4. Upping the ante from last year, this E3 brought gameplay footage of Halo 4 to the audience with a first look at the new enemies and weapons as well as some familiar faces from past Halos. Microsoft would follow with footage of the new Splinter Cell: Black List which uses enhanced Kinect controls.

Following on the Kinect bandwagon, EA debuted footage of the latest Fifa and Madden franchises. In Fifa, players will be able to make coaching decisions and their reactions will be read by the Kinect and penalties may even be awarded based on poor sportsmanship. In Madden, NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback Joe Montana demonstrated the game’s new Kinect enabled play calling features.

After the Fable: The Journey trailer, Microsoft Studios brought out studio head Phil Spencer who introduced the trailer for the new Gears of War: Judgment, staring Baird, and then the latest racing experience with Forza Horizon.

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Since its release back in 2006,  the Gears of War series has been met with both fanatic praise and scornful rejection. Some boast that it “redefined the third-person shooter,” while others claim it only furthers the stereotype of gamers as meat-headed blood junkies. Whatever your stance on the franchise is, the third and (possibly) final chapter of the trilogy is here – and credit must be given where it’s due.

The development team at Epic Games end the story of Marcus Fenix and the rest of Delta Squad with a bang – both in the single-player / co-op campaign and across the online battlefield. From graphic updates to fine-tuning combat controls to completely redesigning one of the most popular multiplayer modes in recent history, all of the pieces of this blood-spattered puzzle fall gloriously into place.

Keep reading to find out how Gears of War 3 stomps on the juicy insides of its predecessors, while also managing to deliver one of the most satisfying ends to a gaming franchise.

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The world of first person shooters runs rampant in the video game industry but there are very few third person shooters that receive the hype of Gears of War. Military shooters constantly clone Call of Duty hoping to unseat the champ and futuristic sci fi shooters like Resistance look to topple Halo. But Gears of War has gone largely unchallenged. Until now.

Enter Binary Domain, a futuristic cover based third person shooter where players must survive an onslaught of machines that just don’t seem to want to die. Not only does Binary Domain from SEGA look amazing but it doesn’t look to be a Gears of War rip-off either. Aside from the obvious difference in enemies being crazed robots as opposed to creepy underground monsters, the environments are also drastically different too. Binary Domain is more reminiscent of  with fairly clean city that hasn’t had the waste of war laid fully upon it yet.

Binary Domain, as seen from the trailer, looks to be quite the challenging game too as players won’t be able to just take out enemies with a few well placed pop shots like they can against mortal enemies. These robotic threats look like they can keep a licking and keep on ticking. After blowing off limbs, these mechanical attackers will continue coming at players, much like certain zombie games interestingly enough. This definitely changes up the pacing seen in most third person shooters thus far.

Take a look below at the weapons trailer for Binary Domain and stick to the Flickcast for more on this February 2012 release for XBox 360 and PlayStation 3.

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It’s that time of year again when we all gather together to see our loved ones… that’s right. The Con season has begun. Whether it’s SXSW, Toy Fair, C2E2 or Comic Con in San Diego, if you are a reader (or writer) of the Flickcast, it’s likely you are going to end up at least one, if not all, of the Cons this season. Our first one up on the east coast is Toy Fair. Now while Toy Fair isn’t open to the general public, we made sure to get in and get a peek at some of the hottest new toys of the season.

We got to take a peek at the new models for the Walking Dead action figures alongside our friends from MTV Splashpage as the legendary Todd McFarlane himself explained how the zombie bodies will literally explode in the customer’s hands. We can’t wait to see the final versions in action.

There was a plethora of Green Lantern merchandise that we were unfortunately unable to snag pictures of as well as the brand new Thundercats line which is coming out soon. We were able to sneak a few pictures though of some of the Mezco Green Lantern products though.

The video game world was represented strong with Sonic The Hedgehog, Halo, Deus Ex, Street Fighter, Final Fantasy and Little Big Planet. Activision also announced to the world Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure for the Wii where toys and video games come together in a very interesting new way. Check back later this week for a full post including video of the product in action.

Check out all of our pics from Toy Fair below and keep checking back this week for more from the show (including an appearance on this week’s podcast discussing it with Matt and Chris)!

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Need proof that major comic book publishers fear that print comics are a dying commodity? News from DC’s camp may just be that. Word has recently come in that the megapublisher will be changing all current comics that are priced at $3.99 to be slashed down to $2.99 starting in January of 2011.

From a DC press release:

“As Co-Publishers, we listened to our fans and to our partners in the retail community who told us that a $3.99 price point for 32 pages was too expensive. Fans were becoming increasingly reluctant to sample new titles and long term fans were beginning to abandon titles and characters that they’d collected for years.” said Dan DiDio, DC Comics Co-Publisher.

“We needed a progressive pricing strategy that supports our existing business model and, more importantly, allows this creative industry to thrive for years to come. With the exceptions of oversized comic books, like annuals and specials, we are committed to a $2.99 price point.”

When taking into account mini-series, annuals and specials, more than 80% of DC’s comic books will be priced at $2.99.

This effects many of the major titles and ongoing stories such as American Vampire, Batman: The Dark Knight, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, and JSA All-Stars as well as many licensed titles like Gears of War, God of War, Kane & Lynch, and Ratchet & Clank. All of those titles will now be slashed down to $2.99.

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Since the “accidental” announcement of Gears of War 3 a few months ago before the Jimmy Fallon Show, the internet has been abuzz with everyone looking to see what the monumental third person shooter would have to offer that was different from the previous games. Especially after the mutliplayer snafu of Gears of War 2, players have been anxiously awaiting what Epic Games will be putting out in the next iteration of the series.

During the Microsoft press conference at E3, Cliffy B of Epic came out with three cohorts to show off the game’s new four player co-op campaign mode. As you’ll see below, players will be taking the fight on two fronts as they deal with the pesky Locusts as well as the new threat, the transforming Lambents. As always, Gears looks beautiful in motion and the new gameplay depth added from a four player mode will inevitably help the series’ success further.

The second video gives some clips from the E3 premiere of Beast mode. The follow-up to Gears of War 2′s Horde mode, players will get to control a horde of Locusts looking to annihilate a group of Gears in this new multiplayer mode. From the look of things, players will have a variety of options with which Locusts they control as they take on the Gears.

These options will likely add hours of new and exciting gameplay for even the most battle hardened Gears of War veterans.
Check out the two gameplay videos after the jump, and keep it here for upcoming news, as it comes to us, on Gears of War 3.

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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.”

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Sounds confusing or just plain awesome? Capcom announced that not only would Lost Planet 2 feature Microsoft icons Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago from the Gears of War franchise as playable skins in both single and multiplayer, but at X10 they also revealed that Resident Evil antagonist Albert Wesker will also appear in the game.

As opposed to the faceless space marines we experienced in the multiplayer demo of Lost Planet 2, players will be able to take the reigns as their two favorite Gears or a Resident Evil baddie as they make their way through the environments of E.D.N. III.

Take a look below at screens from the game featuring the latest additions to the Lost Planet universe as well as video that Gamespot.com picked up from X10 as they controlled Marcus Fenix in Lost Planet 2.

As always, stick to the Flickcast for further coverage of Lost Planet 2 as it becomes available.

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Gears of War aficionados and Cosplayers rejoiced this morning with the announcement of a full scale Gears of War 2 1:1 scale Lancer Assault Rifle from Triforce, LLC. Having already designed a Locust Drone Maquette, TriForce combined the talents of sculptors Erick Sosa, William Valenzuela, Jorge Martinez, Toi Ogunyoku and painter Paul Komoda to create a 40 inch long, 15 lbs replica of Marcus Fenix’s iconic half chainsaw, half assault rifle, all bad ass weapon from the Gears of War franchise.

“When working on something as iconic as the Lancer Assault Rifle you have to get every detail right, in order to pay it the respect it deserves. Working closely with the incredible team at Epic Games we are confident we have created the most painstakingly accurate representation of this intricately designed weapon,” said Drew Seldin, a spokesman for TriForce. “You can only make great pieces if you work with the best and our design team is clearly the best. All you need to do is look at what they created and you will undoubtedly agree.”

Epic Games, the creators of Gears of War is also very happy with what they have seen from TriForce. Chris Perna, art director at Epic Games said, “The guys at TriForce have outdone themselves with this fantastic rendition of the Lancer, and the attention to detail is amazing. They went through great pains and spared no expense to bring to market the absolute finest quality reproduction of the Lancer to date. Working with these detail-oriented professionals has been a pleasure.”

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The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Len Wiseman, whose past credits include Underworld and Live Free or Die Hard and who is currently prepping the live-action Gears of War, has signed on to develop and direct a film adaptation of the graphic novel Shrapnel for Radical Pictures.

Shrapnel, which was teased last year during Comic-Con by Radical Publishing, describes a sci-fi future where humans have colonized the solar system and have formed a Solar Alliance to govern all planets. The story focuses on Venus, the last rebellious holdout, where a self-exiled former Marine teaches the colonists how to fight back.

Wiseman stumbled upon the property while shopping for comics with his 10-year-old daughter, Lily. Soon thereafter, his agent at ICM was scouting the rights.

“I am really drawn to the reluctant-hero story,” said Wiseman, who noted that the last hero he directed — John McClane in “Live Free or Die Hard” — fit that archetypal mold.

Nick Sagan and Zombie Studios chief Mark Long created the property. Radical principal Barry Levine will produce with Wiseman and Mark Gordon. Long and Radical’s Jesse Berger will exec produce. Although Shrapnel is currently being developed as a live-action pic, a 3D approach could be possible. Zombie Studios is planning the video game.

If you’re a fan of video games, big televisions and general awesomeness then this video is for you. Why? Well, it depicts one of the truly awesome experience you can have if you’re an avid gamer and have always wanted to really get your game on in a big, big way.

A tipster sent this in to Engadget showing a player using the enormendous 72 x 160-foot ‘LED wall’ at Dallas Cowboys Stadium to play some Gears of War. Later, video emerged of said player engaged in a bit of Halo and showing off his XBox Gamers Score (which isn’t that much better than mine, btw).

Supposedly, the stadium was being set up for the Jonas Brothers’ June 20th concert and the person taking advantage of this rather unique opportunity was the group’s video director Steve Fatone. Its a cool video and shows what some people will do when given the chance. But really, can you blame him? I would do it in a second.

Check out the video after the break.

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