At the start of the month, rumors consumed PC and console gamers alike at the thought of a Steam created console. Most PC gamers thought to themselves, “Well I’ve already got a Steam box. It’s called my PC.” Console gamers had mixed reactions whether it was excitement at the thought of Steam powered games being available on a home console for the first time while others worried about the thought of adding a fourth major console to their home collection, especially with the impending release of the Wii U, next XBox and PlayStation 4 within the next few years.

These rumors were dispelled in under a week when Valve spoke to gaming site Kotaku saying that the company was a long way off from releasing a home system and that the rumored boxes that had been created were meant for internal purposes only to test streaming content from a PC to television, not acting as a console in and of itself. Valve told Kotaku, “We’re always putting boxes together,” he said. “Going all the way back to the Half-Life 1 days, we built special boxes to test our software render…it’s just part of development.”

While on the surface the concept of a Steam box might sound good, there are a few essential problems it must overcome before this idea should attempt to become a reality. The first is the current state of the home console market. Right now, the console market is dominated by the big three: Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. While Nintendo diverged from the hardcore gamer with the Wii, they claim to be aiming at taking a hold back on that market with the release of a more powerful Wii U.

Continue Reading →

After breaking the 10 million sold mark, it was inevitable that LEGO Batman would receive a sequel. The original was so popular, it became a part of the package deal for the XBox 360 for a time. Back in November of 2011, a few months after LEGO revealed initial designs for their LEGO DC Super Heroes line, Traveller’s Tales and Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment announced that the latest LEGO Batman title would encompass some of the most well known heroes and villains of the DC Universe. Now more than a full three months later, we get a first glimpse of it in action in LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.

In the trailer below, we see LEGO Batman and his ward LEGO Robin once again, but this time joined by the Man of Steel (or in this case also LEGO) Superman. He makes his way over to Gotham as the Joker is released from Arkham Asylum by Supe’s own nemesis, Lex Luthor (voiced by none other than Clancy Brown).

Continue Reading →

One of the best new MMOs out there is going to try to lure you in with a weekend of free play. Now all you worry warts and feet daggers have no excuse to not  jump into this new world and decide first hand if it is worth the price of admission.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is officially offering a weekend pass to new users, which allows players access to eight different classes and the ability to advance your character has high as level fifteen. This limited free-to-play time period begins today and ends on Monday the 19th of March.

The MMO world really needs to evolve with the times and understand that continuous worlds with monthly subscriptions might not be the best tactic anymore. There has been a steady movement towards the free-to-play model in the past few years, and while this specifically is only a weekend free pass, giving anyone and everyone a free chance to play is a step in the right direction.

At the very least many new people will get to experience the clashing of lightsabers in a pretty great game this weekend, and that is wonderful. Head over to the Star Wars: The Old Republic page now and get in on the action while it is offered for the dirt cheap price of nothing.

There has been a wonderful recent trend of classic game franchises that were dormant being given new life with current generation updates. The most recent franchise to get a respectful update is the PC classic MechWarrior.

MechWarrior was a high water mark in PC gaming in the ’90s, offering incredible game play and even better graphics. Back in it’s heyday, no consoles could compete with the graphical power of the top tier PC games, and as such MechWarrior was very much a gamer household name.

Obviously things have changed, and the once proud franchise has almost all been forgotten. That is until the brand new MechWarrior Online releases later this year. The game boasts inedible graphics and real time giant robot physics (if there can be such a thing), meaning over-heating, terrain, weather, and gravity are all going to be factors you must contend with.

At the recently concluded Game Developers Conference, the first game play footage of the new game was revealed. It looks like a nostalgia sandwich wrapped in a shiny, next-gen wrapping. Just watching the game play footage harkins back to a bygone time in PC gaming. First-Person robot destruction still looks like a blast.

Check out the new footage after the jump.

Continue Reading →

The second game I picked up from PAX East’s collection of indie games, known as the Boston Indie Showcase, was the survival shooter platformer known as Super Crate Box.

Super Crate Box brings classic arcade gameplay back to your iPhone and PC with its retro art style, chiptune soundtrack, and basic mechanics. Your mission is simple: navigate your way across, up, down, and around some platforms (and a fire pit!) to collect crates filled with goodies that are essential to your survival. Collecting crates not only unlocks new weaponry, including a grenade launcher, land mines, and dual pistols, but new level maps as well. But getting these crates isn’t easy. There’s swarms of enemies to navigate around, and sometimes your weapons just won’t be enough.

This game infuriates me. And not because it’s bad, it’s actually really fun. It’s just hard. I did some quick research, and other players have had similar problems. What’s different about Super Crate Box is that you can’t kill enemies by just jumping on their heads. This familiar mechanic extends back, for most of us, to our earliest childhoods, smashing goombas and other critter enemies in games like Sonic or Mario.

Continue Reading →

Not long ago, the gaming world was given the epic fantasy adventure of the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The game featured over 250 hours of gameplay for those looking to explore every dungeon and complete every quest. It was a task that many, though knowing they could never fulfill to its entirety, flocked to.

Just a few months later, gamers were told about a new fantasy adventure, different both in visual tone and gameplay mechanics that would rival that scope. In a recent interview when asked about the length of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, developers stated that the fastest speed run of the game by one of the QA testers who had already competed the game previously and knew locations of every major event in the game at just over 200 hours.

Originally started out as an MMO from former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios, Reckoning split off in to its own single player action RPG adventure. With executive game designer Ken Rolston (Elder Scrolls III: Marrowind, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), artwork from Todd McFarlane (Spawn), an epic 10,000 year world history from R.A. Salvatore (Forgotten Realms) and music from composer (Goldeneye, Viva Pinata), Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning had the most impressive pedigree for a new IP in recent memory and quite possibly the most hype to live up to.

Continue Reading →

With March 6th quickly closing in, Capcom has finally announced the final four characters for Street Fighter X Tekken. None of these are huge surprises for longtime fans of either series as they are either fan favorites or staples for both series. M. Bison and Akuma round out the Street Fighter roster as Jin and Ogre make their way over to team Tekken.

M. Bison, still carrying the improper name and the original boss of Street Fighter II, makes his way to the title. Akuma who has made his presence felt in almost every Street Fighter or Capcom vs. title since his creation also stands on the Street Fighter side of things, looking to be the opposition to Tekken’s Ogre. Both Jin and Ogre come to Tekken’s side of things, an interesting combination to be announced together with the history of the two characters with Ogre killing Jin’s mother. All four combatants can be seen in the trailers below.

Capcom has confirmed as well that the PC version of Street Fighter X Tekken will be released on May 11. The PlayStation Vita SKU has still not be given a release date.

In addition to all this, Capcom is launching Cross Assault on February 22nd, a week long reality show pitting top players against each other as they try to compete for $25,000 in prizes.

Continue Reading →

Since its announcement last June, gamers have been awaiting the arrival of the latest Alien franchise title. With the lackluster response from the most recent Aliens vs. Predator title, it looks like it is up to Aleins: Colonial Marines to pick up the pieces of the franchise and put them back in the right places.

SEGA makes an odd choice of making this trailer fully cinematic while the previous one released featured in game footage. The reason behind that is the game has a look and feel that we have experienced many times before with FPS Marines versus Aliens gameplay. If they focus too much on this in the trailer instead of building on the possible story points like the chaotic nature of a full battalion of marines taking on an infestation, the game could potentially just feel like one of those “been there, played that” scenarios.

In terms of scale, Aliens: Colonial Marines may be the largest single player battle gamers have had the opportunity to encounter. Expect lots of grizzly cut scenes with dozens of different marines acting as cannon fodder to the xenomorph menace.

For now, check out the trailer after the jump. Stick to the Flickcast for more on Aliens: Colonial Marines coming to the PC, PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 scheduled for Fall of 2012.

Continue Reading →

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.

Continue Reading →

After the critical and commercial success of Resident Evil 5, it is no surprise that a sixth proper Resident Evil title is coming out. Selling over 5 million copies and garnering a Metacritic score in the mid 80s, it is only common sense that Capcom would continue the story of their top tier franchise. After several viral teasers, no pun intended, on NoHopeLeft.com, Capcom finally revealed to the world Resident Evil 6.

This Resident Evil will feature series headliners Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield along a new unknown male character, this one who seemingly has an unknown immunity to the T-virus. This new character appears as a mercenary for hire and is seen in the trailer below constantly being given injections, whether these are used to revive him or help him fight a T-virus infection are still unknown. This new character also has a female sidekick much like Sheva from Resident Evil 5.

Take a peek below at the new trailer and the first image reveal for the game. Stick to The Flickcast for more on Resident Evil 6 coming out for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on November 20th, 2012.

Continue Reading →

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.

Continue Reading →

This is it. It’s the big one! Right before the New Year, we posted our awards for the best of gaming in 2011. But there was one all important award that we needed some extra time to deliberate on… The Game of the Year.

In this episode, JC and WallE forgo the usual format of the Bitcast and engage in a conversation where they, along with some input from Flickcasters Matt Raub and Cortney Zamm, decide on what game earns the coveted title of Game of the Year.

And The Nominees Are:

Continue Reading →