Once the marquee mascot for the XBox generation of gamers, Master Chief has taken a step back in recent years. In hopes to regain the original glory of the FPS, Microsoft announced last year that they were moving a head with a brand new numbered Halo game.

Today Microsoft set Halo 4′s official street date, November 6th, 2012. This unsurprisingly puts one of the most anticipated games of the year in the middle of the juiciest video game release window. The real question now is can this 4th installment recapture the magic of the original trilogy?

FPS games have grown leaps and bounds since Halo: Combat Evolved rejuvenated the genre. Added to that, one of the original Halo’s greatest strengths was it’s story, and it will be hard for the developers to come back with a compelling and authentic Halo story based on where the franchise currently sits.

Of course that is all doom and gloom from a registered PlayStation fanboy. The truth of the matter is, if Master Chief is truly an iconic mascot in the same way Sonic, Mario, Link and Crash Bandicoot Kratos are than Halo 4 will be a rousing success, at least commercially. Heck, I will be rooting hard for this game myself, if for no other reason than to wash away that grimy layer of muck that is Gears of War being the 360s marquee exclusive.

The Bitcast returns this week with their record setting 8th Episode featuring the Flickcast’s own version of Mario & Luigi, though JC and WallE will both always lay claim to being the star of the episode.

In the News of the Week, JC and WallE discuss the upcoming Spike Video Game Awards show and speculate on the upcoming announcement from Epic Games, the makers of Gears of War and the Infinity Blade franchises. They also discuss the 10th Anniversary of Grand Theft Auto III coming to iOS before getting into detail with South Park: The Game coming from Obsidian. They even talk Beta numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic and announce the current and upcoming DLC for Goldeneye 007: Reloaded, sadly with the absence of Sean Bean.

In the Long Grind in Skyrim this week, JC gets in detail on both the dragons and music of the Elder Scrolls V.

For the Topic of the Week, WallE shows that he can handle both movies and gaming as he discusses the scores composed for some of the most influential titles in gaming history.

Continue Reading →

Ever wonder just why grunts look the way they do? Or if the inspiration behind the Forerunner architecture came from Frank Lloyd Wright? Or if the Warthog always looked like a jacked up Jeep 4X4?

Just in time for the 10th anniversary of Halo: Combat Evolved, Titan Books along with Bungie have released The Great Journey: Halo: The Art of Building Worlds. Inside is close to two hundred pages of original concept art from Halo: Combat Evolved all the way to the most recent Halo: Reach and everything in between.

Halo: The Art of Building Worlds takes players through the journey of Bungie as they created not just Halo: Combat Evolved but the universe that surrounds it. Some of the artwork are full two page spreads, beautifully painted works, that show the lush environments of the Halo universe. Other pages include series of sketches of everything from variations of Elite and Spartan Armor to the unused fauna concepts that never made it into certain games.

These pieces are some of the most interesting as you get insight into the Halo that never was, including the original concept for Master Chief and the completely un-iconic name he was almost graced with back when Halo was still an RTS game. Much like looking at classic Star Wars concept art, this book is a literal nerdgasm of “what if”.

In his foreword, 343′s Frank O’Connor explains how Halo has become this generation’s Star Wars. Looking at the artwork and stories that have come from them in this book, we have to agree with him.

Continue Reading →

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)!

Continue Reading →

Last year, we took a more traditional approach with our Best Video Games of 2009 article with categories such as Best Music Game or Best Action Platformer. This year we are going to depart from the traditional and give what we think are categories that truly deserve to be rewarded their due.

Best Use of Zombies / Best Downloadable Content – Red Dead Redemption “Undead Nightmare”

The ultimate “What If” scenario brought forth to one of the best games of 2010, “What if the undead invaded the old west?” And the answer doesn’t just involve a lot of people dying. There are horses of the apocalypse, big foot, some hard choices to be made and people turning on or abandoning their fellow man left and right.

This awesome story told over the revamped look of Red Dead Redemption using characters players have already grown to know, love or despise makes Undead Nightmare not only the best zombie game of 2010 but also the best exmple of DLC for the entire year as well.

Continue Reading →

How do you make a Halo game without Master Chief? Somehow Halo 3: ODST, a converted expansion turned full retail release, was able to do it. But ODST wasn’t about the Spartans. It was about a group of ground level grunts just trying to survive impossible odds. Halo: Reach focuses on a group of Spartans called Noble Squad and the six members as they fight through the final days of the planet Reach. The game is a prequel to the original Halo: Combat Evolved and there are lots of little references and Easter Eggs to the events to come in Halo. But still, is it really Halo without Spartan John-117, Master Chief? After just a short time with the game you will agree it is.

Gameplay:

Halo: Reach takes the tried and true Halo formula of being one of the best FPS console games and continues to run with it. Fast paced combat with occasional instances of vehicular sequences, one incredibly short stealth sequence and the E3 revealed space battle encompass all that is Halo: Reach. The most fulfilling part of Reach’s gameplay is how even though it does have the “I’ve done this before” feel to it, it still has the addictive nature that made the previous Halo titles so special. It will be likely that the XBox Live top five charts over the coming weeks consist solely of Halo 3, Halo: Reach and three Call of Duty titles because of this.

Gameplay has been switched up a little bit from previous titles however. Most notable is the inclusion of armor abilities. As first seen in the Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta, the item system has been removed and replaced by these abilities that are “built-in” to the Spartan’s armor. These include Jet packs, Stealth and Sprinting. The jet pack is easily the most fun new power to use as it allows for mid-air sniping along with dropping into the heat of battle using the grav-hammer to level groups of unsuspecting grunts and brutes. Another interesting new ability is the hologram which creates a diversion as a holographic image of yourself runs forward drawing fire momentarily before the Covenant forces realize it’s not actually you.

Continue Reading →

It’s hard to talk about video games and not mention the Halo franchise. Constantly breaking records and taking names, Halo is a system selling behemoth of a property for the XBox 360. It was one of the games so popular, that it would go on to spawn multiple Machinima series, animated shorts created using assets from the respective games. These included everything from Phil to Arby ‘n’ The Chief to what may be the most famous Machinima ever, Red vs. Blue.

Smartly coinciding the release of the 8th season of Red vs. Blue entitled Revalation and the Recollection three disc set with the release of Halo: Reach, Rooster Teeth helps provide Halo fanboys with more Halo than they can handle in the biggest week of their gaming year.

The Recollection contains the second full story arc of the Red vs. Blue universe. Not a part of any official Halo canon, Red vs. Blue takes aspects of the game world never explained like the constant fighting in multiplayer of the different Spartans and tries to explain it. Taken with a grain of salt, the story even gets a little meta and makes a viewer step back and wonder how much applies to them. But for the most part, there is just lots of great comedic moments and swearing over a finely animated and even dramatic story.

Continue Reading →

Only a few actors can say they’ve run the gambit in the world of fan-friendly projects. Having worked with Joss Whedon at least twice, voiced Superman, worked on several Halo video games, and co-starred in everyone’s favorite nerd spy comedy Chuck, Adam Baldwin is one of those actors.

Last season on Chuck, Baldwin’s Colonel Casey went through quite a bit. He’s now reunited with his daughter and has a brand new partner in Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez). Along with working on the next season of Chuck, Baldwin has also taken time to return to voice Superman in Sony’s upcoming DC Universe Online video game.

We got the chance to discuss Baldwin’s character’s direction in the upcoming season of Chuck, as well as returning to play The Man of Steel.

Check out what he had to say after the jump, and be sure to catch all new episodes of Chuck this Fall on NBC.

Continue Reading →

When you are publishing one of the XBox’s largest exclusive franchises, it is inevitable that eventually some things will leak out to the public. To get ahead of this, Bungie has “leaked” to the information about the achievements to their upcoming blockbuster Halo: Reach. Taking control of the five man Spartan squad known as Noble Team, players experience a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved in which the military installation planet known as Reach is devastated by Covenant forces.

Halo: Reach will feature a total of 49 achievements. The way they break down will be 23 Campaign, 7 Firefight, 4 Multiplayer, 6 Training and 9 Player Experience. Bungie has noted that some of the Training goals can be met in both Campaign or Firefight modes.

So far, Bungie has revealed the names of 7 of these achievements along with the requirements for 7 of them. Below is what we know so far:

A Monument to All Your Sins – Complete each Campaign Mission on Legendary – alone.

Banshees, Fast and Low – Hijack a Banshee during the Reach Campaign.

Yes, Sensei – Earn a First Strike Medal in a Matchmaking game.

A New Challenger – Complete all of the Daily Challenges in a given day.

Make It Rain – Purchase an item from the Armory that requires the rank of Lt. Colonel.

Continue Reading →

During Monday’s Microsoft Press Conference, Microsoft Game Studios followed last year’s trend by showing actual gameplay footage from the campaign mode of their upcoming Halo title, Halo: Reach. While Halo 3: ODST got attention last year with its in game footage, it was usurped by the announcement of Halo: Reach. This year, Halo: Reach further blew gamers away. Having gotten their lips wet from the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta, fans weren’t even ready for the visuals that were brought to them on the E3 Press Conference

Seen below, the four player campaign is a drastic upgrade to the graphics and storytelling of Halo 3 and ODST. The team of four Spartans worked their way through a Covenant attack as they head to one of the UNSC bases. During this treacherous trek, you will see the drop pod Elites attacking, who now need to have a full team of Spartans to combat them. Combat strategy looks to have evolved using the game’s new weapons to clear the path of carnage.

The most startling part of the Halo: Reach footage comes from the reveal of the new gameplay mode shown at the end which transitioned flawlessly from the early part of the level with no loading screen necessary. We won’t spoil it for you, check it out yourself.

Continue Reading →

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.”

Continue Reading →

Ever wonder what your toys do when you aren’t around? (And no, the proper response isn’t “They aren’t toys, they are collectible action figures.”) Well one Machinimist did and combined it with his love of Halo 3 to make Arby ‘n’ the Chief.

Instead of having someone from the real world voice a video game character, DigitalPh33r took a different approach when he showed the Master Chief is actually an action figure who hops on to Halo every now and then when his owner isn’t around and is terrible at it, as well as completely immature. In addition to flaming of opponents and denial of his own lack of skill, Chief tries to overcompensate with constant failed attempts of LEET speak.

And did we mention that Chief is voiced by Microsoft Sam, the in-Windows text to speech program, instead of having an actual voice actor? Surprisingly entertaining for this fact alone, it doesn’t end there for the Chief as he gets a roommate in the first episode of the series, rekindling the infamous video game odd couple when his owner receives a package containing, you guessed it, an Arbiter action figure.

Continue Reading →