We have an epidemic people. In the past few weeks BioShock: Infinite and Tomb Raider both were officially confirmed pushed to early 2013. One or two delays make sense, and at the end of the day wont really have a big impact on the season, but we now have two more to add to the list.

Last week THQ announced that Obsidian’s South Park: The Game would also be pushed to the early portion of 2013. This ambitious RPG might not have yet been on a lot of people’s radar, but the game has been written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone with Obsidian getting a lot of support from the folks at South Park Studios. So it is likely the game will be a big deal once it gets close to release.

In addition, Gearbox Software announced today via their blog that Aliens: Colonial Marines has also been delayed until the first quarter of 2013:

Our vision has been to create a video game sequel to the original Alien trilogy. Our vision is for the game to be fully featured with an exciting, suspenseful, thrilling and action packed narrative campaign that can be played alone or cooperatively combined with a robust competitive game where human players can take on the roles of Colonial Marines or Xenomorphs and do battle online. The game must be authentic.   

Hopefully the later release date will help Gearbox properly follow through on those visions. Alien: Colonial Marines isn’t just getting a nebulous delay though, an official release date of February 12th has also been announced.

These two new delays have started to make early 2013 seem a little crowded. The normally lack luster post holiday gaming season might just be pretty worthwhile next year.

In what will most likely amount to very little when competing with the dominance of the iPad and Kindle, Microsoft and Barnes & Noble today announced the formation of a new partnership. Said partnership will combine B&N’s Nook and College business into an as yet unmamed subsidiary with Microsoft investing $300 Million to help get it up and running.

“The formation of [this new subsidiary] and our relationship with Microsoft are important parts of our strategy to capitalize on the rapid growth of the NOOK business, and to solidify our position as a leader in the exploding market for digital content in the consumer and education segments,” said William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “Microsoft’s investment in Newco, and our exciting collaboration to bring world-class digital reading technologies and content to the Windows platform and its hundreds of millions of users, will allow us to significantly expand the business.”

That sounds good. Snarky comment at the top of this post aside, as much as we like Apple and its products around here, a little competition is good for everyone — especially consumers. So, we wish Microsoft and B&N luck with their new Nook adventure.

For me details, check out Barnes & Noble’s full press release after the break.

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Much like you can pretty much count on things like death and taxes, you can also count on new versions of Microsoft’s Windows OS to come along. You can also count on their being some confusion regarding the different versions of the OS and what the can or can’t do.

Fortunately, it seems Microsoft has learned a lesson from the release of Windows Vista and Windows 7 and has simplified things a bit for their upcoming new OS: Windows 8. This week the company announced there will be three editions of its next-generation Windows 8 operating system: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro and Windows RT.

Microsoft made the announcement on its blog and further promised “all editions of Windows 8 offer a no-compromise experience.” Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro will support PCs and tablets powered by x86 processors, while Windows RT works with ARM-powered devices. Windows 8 is aimed at the average consumer, while Windows 8 Pro is designed for tech enthusiasts, business people and tech professionals. The RT edition is intended for lighter-duty devices.

Going for the Pro edition of Windows 8 gets you premium features such as encryption, virtualization, PC management and domain connectivity. “If you are an enthusiast or you want to use your PC in a business environment, you will want Windows 8 Pro.”

Windows RT (the OS formerly known as Windows on ARM) will only be available pre-installed on PCs and tablets powered by ARM processors. It will include touch-optimized desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

Microsoft is set to finish Windows 8 this Summer with PCs and tablets powered by the new platform following in October. Windows 8 looks pretty good, and we’ve payed with it a bit, so we’re very interested in seeing the final version when its released.

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.

With PAX East over, it’s now the time to countdown to the biggest show in the gaming world: E3. This 2012′s E3 has the potential to be one of the biggest in gaming history. As both the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 have hit milestones in their lifecycles, could it be time for both Microsoft and Sony to reveal the latest entrants to the console market? Last year’s E3 revealed the Wii U to mixed feedback.

Nintendo appeared to be playing catch up to the power of both the 360 and PS3 by announcing power specs that are comparable to the current generation’s competitors with another gimmick controller. But what could this next generation of home consoles do to change the game and the way gaming is consumed? Truth be told, we don’t know and the rumor mill around the internet has only lead to widespread debate over possible problems caused by these new consoles as opposed to innovations brought on from them.

The next iteration of consoles will most likely not focus on simple graphic upgrades. Looking at games from the XBox 360′s and PlayStation 3′s launches and comparing them to the most recent releases has shown that these systems have not topped out yet in terms of their processing power and graphical capabilities. In the hands of the right developers, cutting edge visuals are still being developed for consoles and it is rare to see drastic differences between even the highest end PC games to their console counterparts. So while it is realistic that these new systems will have stronger processors with higher capabilities, the noticeable degree of improvement isn’t going to be as drastic as with previous generations.

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It all started with Summer of Arcade before XBox Live came alive with a series of seasonal promotions to help push new titles for their digital download platform. With the Block Party freshly wrapping up with some hits like Warp, Microsoft has already dropped the list of games for the upcoming Arcade Next promotion set to start on April 18th and wrapping up on May 9th.

Of the four games, only one is a wholly original IP with Bloodforge. Trials Evolution is a sequel to XBLA hit Trials HD and Fable Heroes is a new gameplay style set in the Fables world. The most anticipated of all the titles though may be Minecraft: XBox 360 Edition, a port of the unstoppable indy PC sensation making its debut for the first time on any console system.

Also for the first time, the achievement cap on XBLA has been upped. Starting in April, XBLA titles will be allowed up to 400 Achievement Points and up to 30 total achievements per release. This is a drastic increase from the original 200 point / 12 total achievement maximum that had been in place (well, 250 point maximum if you include the possible 50 points that could be added for DLC.

Take a look at all four titles after the jump and stay tuned to the Flickcast for news and reviews on Trials Evolution, Bloodforge, Fable Heroes and Minecraft: XBox 360 Edition as soon as we get our hands on them.

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I like to make it a point to cover video game music as often as I can. I really think the entire industry is on the cusp of breaking down what little barriers are left and establishing itself as a thoroughly acceptable artistic medium.

So when I was given the chance to take a listen to London Music Works’ Essential Games Music Collection Vol.1 I was excited. Usually compilations like these are reserved for film scores but the quality of video game music has risen so high this release isn’t just warrented, it’s way over due.

Of course with any release like this there will be a heavier reliance on the newer and more popular themes to sell the album. Luckily that works in this release’s favor, as the industries most recent and most popular stuff is what people should be hearing.

The album does still try to strike a balance between the new and the old, but with only 13 tracks to deal with there is going to be a lot of music left for volumes 2 and beyond. The descending order of most recent to oldest also makes for a very interesting listening experience, a devolution on the industry, if you will.

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If you feel your current XBox console is starting to get a bit long in the tooth and are anxiously waiting for Microsoft to drop some new, shiny hardware goodness, you are going to have to wait a bit longer. Until next year, in fact.

That’s right, Microsoft has confirmed that the next next-gen console, rumored to be called the Xbox 720, will not even be announced or talked about at the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, or “E3″ as we like to call it.

“While we appreciate all the interest in our long-range plans for the future, we can confirm that there will be no talk of new Xbox hardware at E3 or anytime soon,” the company said in a statement. “For us, 2012 is all about Xbox 360-and it’s the best year ever for Xbox 360. The console is coming off its biggest year ever-a year in which Xbox outsold all other consoles worldwide.”

Well, that’s nice for Microsoft. We’re glad they feel the XBox 360 is still a great gaming platform. In fact, it really is. It still manages to offer a lot to gaming developers and the games still look pretty darn good when played on it.

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As we first told you a few weeks ago, Microsoft has today released the first “Consumer Preview” of the latest version of its Windows software. The new software has been dubbed Windows 8 and is, according to Micsosoft, is “Windows reimagined and reinvented from a solid core of Windows 7 speed and reliability.”

According to the company, here’s what you can expect from the Windows 8 Consumer Preview:

Windows 8 Consumer Preview is a prerelease version of Windows 8 that focuses on people and apps and gives you powerful new ways to use social technologies to connect with the people who are important to you. Windows 8 Consumer Preview is built on the rock-solid foundation of Windows 7 and has the security and reliability features you expect from Windows, but we’ve made it even better. It’s fast, and it’s made to work on a variety of form factors—especially the new generation of touch devices.

Well, there you go. You can go to Microsoft’s website and download Windows 8 to try for yourself. Although, unless you have a touch monitor you won’t be able to experience it exactly as it was intended.

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Even though we are mostly Mac and Apple users here at The Flickcast, that doesn’t mean we don’t know or care that another, more popular, company exists that provides software to run computers and the like. That company is, of course, Microsoft.

With Windows 7 being our favorite version of the OS so far, Microsoft is going to have to go a long way to convince us that they have something better up their collective virtual sleeve. That something is, at least according to them, Windows 8.

We will all get a chance to see if they are right come February 29 when the company releases what they are calling a ‘Consumer Preview’ of the new version of Windows. The company will reportedly announce such a preview at a special, invitation-only event in Barcelona.

It’s interesting that they aren’t referring to this release as a “Bata.” I guess that has too much of a stigma of unfinished software or something that still needs a lot of work. The truth is Windows 8 probably still does need a lot of work and a big service pack will follow its final release as it does for most Windows versions. Not that Apple and most other software companies are immune to updates, they aren’t of course.

Still, we do like the looks of Windows on the smartphone so if Windows 8 is anything like that, it might be worth checking out later this month. What do you guys think? Are you going to take the plunge and try out the Windows 8 preview?

Ever since the beginning of the motion gaming movement we have been waiting for a game that lets us slice and dice with a lightsaber. Finally that dream is becoming a reality with the brand new game Star Wars Kinect, a motion based game that puts you in the Jedi army during the thick of the clone wars.

This game was originally meant to be released last year, but a release date has finally been confirmed for the long awaited project, April 3rd. And to celebrate the release a special edition Kinect bundle pack is being released with a 320GB R2-D2 themed 360, a C3-PO gold controller, a white Kinect and of course the game as well.

Additionally more details about what we can expect in the game have been released, including the new Duels of the Fate mode which pits you one-on-one against Sith baddies, cool. Also a Galactic Dance-Off where you can take on Darth Vader Dance Central style, much less cool.

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Earlier this week, a rumor came out on InsideMobileApps.com stating that Microsoft may be getting rid of its Microsoft Points system in favor of a more traditional transaction system like that of the Android App and Apple App stores.

Though Microsoft gave the expected “we do not comment on rumours or speculation” response, InsideMobileApp reports of mobile developers being told to plan upcoming DLC and In-App purchases in accordance with this change. Whether this will affect just the Windows Phone which uses the Microsoft Points system that started with the XBox 360 or carry across all Microsoft platforms at this point is all speculation.

The Microsoft Points system has come under fire since the initial Marketplace pricing structure on the XBox 360 was revealed. At its origin, downloadable titles on the XBox Marketplace were either 400 or 800 Microsoft points which translates to $5 and $10 respectively.

The problem however quickly presented itself that points were sold in 500 point increments. This resulted in leftover points. It would force customers to make further purchases in favor of having unused currency sitting on their account. This problem further compounded itself when DLC evolved and was priced at other irregular point values.

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