Freddie Mercury is a musical genius. If you ever doubt that fact go watch Highlander and enjoy a fantastic film that is made nigh classic by its soundtrack from Mercury’s band Queen. His loss ranks amongst the most tragic music industry passings, and he remains an icon to this day.

Bear McCreary, composer of such classic TV shows as Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead, has teamed up with his brother Brendon and Metalacolypse creator Brendon Small to honor the late rock icon. In a tribute show benefiting the AIDS Project LA the three musicians will take the stage together and put on a show.

There are often really cool things to do when you live in Los Angeles, but I have to say this event might out do them all. I implore anyone and everyone who lives in the LA area to check this out. Not only are you assured of getting a great show, but you also are contributing to a worthy cause. My fingers are crossed that they rock out to an epic version of Princes of the Universe.

Full details on the event after the jump.

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Every once in a while, a piece of casting news comes out of left field and seems like the best possible choice for a film. That is 100% the case in this piece of news, as Borat’s Sacha Baron Cohen has signed to play Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in an upcoming untitled biopic about the band.

The script comes from writer Peter Morgan, who also brought historical dramas like Frost/Nixon and The Queen to the silver screen. Morgan is currently finishing another draft of the script, which means we will most likely see production for the film begin be the beginning of next year.

Baron Cohen, who’s most known for his Kaufman-esque stunts as Borat and Brüno, may be stepping out of his outlandish comedic role to play more of an outlandish musical character. Though the flamboyance of Mercury could be seen as a parallel to some of Cohen’s other roles, we can’t imagine this film being done in the same vain as Da Ali G Show.

Rights have been purchased for such Queen classics as Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Another One Bites The Dust and You’re My Best Friend. No word on whether or not Cohen will actually step in to rerecord the vocals, but knowing his method-style of acting, we can imagine he might.

The film is currently under the banner of GK Films, who will produce alongside De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Productions. More news will likely break in the coming months as to the casting and plot outline for the rest of the film.

It’s not all movies and TV here at The Flickcast. We also love to play video games. Some of us have also, at one time or another, been musicians or played an instrument or two. So, we’re obviously big fans of games that let us do both.

Case in point Guitar Hero and Band Hero, both of which allow you to feed your inner rockstar and jam to your favorite hot tunes. Now, that selection of tunes just got a bit hotter with the announcement from Activision that you will be able to get a whole slew of additions for both games this Summer.

Some of the new tracks and content for the games comes from bands like Queen, Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, Shinedown and more. All in it looks to be a great Summer of rock and roll gaming.

For the complete details, check out the official press release from Activison after the jump. Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero are available for XBox 360, PS3 and Wii.

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Video games are a big part of the world these days. People love them and they far surpass pretty much any other form of entertainment in terms of revenue. Yes, they even beat the movies. One of the most popular game titles to hit stores in the last few years has been the Rock Band franchise. Rock Band 1 and 2 have sold millions of copies and now Rock Band 3 has been announced and looks to add millions more units sold to that already impressive total for the franchise.

Some of the new features and tracks announced for Rock Band 3 include access to the most music available in any video game with more than 1,500 tracks and growing, a new keyboard gameplay and three-part harmonies for up to seven players rocking together, Rock Band Pro Mode and much more. We could go into all the new features and song that will encompass Rock Band 3 but instead, why not hear it directly from the people who are bringing you the game. So, here’s all the info directly from an official Rock Band 3 press release. Oh, and at the end we’ve also included a couple preview videos for the game as well so be sure and check them out.

The Most Music. Period.

The Rock Band 3 disc soundtrack contains 83 of the best bands from around the world, including bands that have never appeared in a music game, as well as support for existing Rock Band tracks (Rock Band and Rock Band 2 discs, downloaded songs, track packs, AC/DC Live: Rock Band™ Track Pack, LEGO® Rock Band and Green Day: Rock Band™).
Additionally, Rock Band 3 will give players immediate access to a music library approaching 2,000 songs by launch, with new content added regularly. Rock Band’s gigantic music selection dwarfs that of any other music game on the market.

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On Friday, Activision brought news of the latest installment to their smash music genre series Guitar Hero with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. Instead of just being the traditional formula of playing through various setlists with no context or story behind it, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock looks to redefine the style of the genre using Quest mode. In addition, the game will feature an all knew “rock inspired” guitar controller, the largest on disc collection of any Guitar Hero game to date and an all new Quickplay+ mode as well.

David Haddad, Chief Operating Officer, Guitar Hero said, “Guitar Hero has set the standard for music based gaming and with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock’s all-new Quest Mode, robust and authentic set list, over-the-top challenges and rock-inspired new hardware, we are once again bringing the soul and energy of rock n’ roll to fans around the world.”

In Quest Mode, players will use eight Guitar Hero characters in any combination of instruments to help the Demi-God of Rock take down “The Beast” and save rock n’ roll. With “venues” ranging from the punk rock palace of CBGB’s in New York City to mythical lava fields, the game looks to have a fantasy motif under it somewhat similar to that of Brutal Legend. As seen in the trailer below, the game will put lots of focus on these eight characters and the respective beasts they become.

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Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment – $49.99

Score: 7.5

The music game formula is nothing new. Start out with a plastic instrument and pick a song. Successful completion of a song unlocks more popular but increasingly difficult tunes. For your sequel, include the ability to play as various famous recording artists, both living and dead. Lather, rinse, repeat. Occasionally pick a specific band and focus a game around them (i.e. Beatles Rock Band) or them and the music they inspired (like when we found out that Van Halen somehow relates to Third Eye Blind).

So what separates Lego Rock Band from the rest of the pack? Personality. Anyone who has picked up Lego Star Wars or Lego Batman sees that something special that Lego-izing a popular character or moment can bring to the screen. The unique and quirky humor of seeing a stormtroopers explode in to a pile of brings or watching the Lego Riddler get locked up in jail hold a special place in our hearts because we don’t just love Star Wars and Batman, but we love Lego too. Sorry Megablocks. It’s great to see that this humor carries over to give the Rock Band series not only its first ever “story” mode, but translates in to unique visuals that fit both the Rock Band and Lego licenses well.

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Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and MTV Games recently announced that members of Queen Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor will appear in LEGO Rock Band! The band members will be seen rocking out LEGO style during the in-game performances of “We Are The Champions” and “We Will Rock You.”

Guitarist Brian May said about his band’s appearance in the game: “This is IT!  I wanna play!  When do I get my toy LEGO man?”

Queen’s rock pack for the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content was just released, featuring 10 of the band’s greatest hits including “Killer Queen,” “Somebody to Love,” “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “Under Pressure.” In addition, Queen will release Absolute Greatest on Nov. 17, featuring 20 of the band’s biggest hits.

Lego Rock Band will be coming to your Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo DS consoles this holiday season.

With the epic battle between Guitar Hero and Rock Band waging on these past few months, the fans have only been caught in the crossfire of awesomeness. First, fans get to take a swing at metal with Guitar Hero: Metallica, then Rock Band retaliated with their Beatles expansion last week. Now it looks like the Heroes are swapping a guitar for a turntable in DJ Hero.

We’ve had quite a bit of news surrounding this fresh new game, and we’re all pretty excited about it’s release. We’re now getting word that the legendary techno funk band Daft Punk will play a pretty big part in the game as one of the playable DJ’s and even a handful of their songs.

Check out the newest trailer featuring Daft Punk and their songs included in the game after the jump. Don’t forget to grab DJ Hero in stores on October 27.

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As video games where you play imaginary instruments in a virtual band continue to gain in popularity, so will the bands that join in the fun and become part of the gaming experience. One such band is the legendary Van Halen, which are joining forces with Activision and their Guitar Hero game to become, you guessed it, Guitar Hero: Van Halen. And we’ve got a brand new video highlighting this partnership for you right here.

In the video, which tells you to “rock out to the biggest hits from one of the most legendary bands of all time” we see and hear your favorite Van Halen songs played by pretty decent likenesses of David Lee Roth, Alex Van Halen, Wolfgang Van Halen and David Lee Roth. The game will feature 25 of the band’s hit songs and 3 “signature Eddie Van Halen guitar solos” for you to try and keep up with. Plus, music from a bunch of other bands like Blink 182, Queen, The Offspring, Foo Fighters and more. All in all a pretty cool package.

Seeing as how Eddie Van Halen is regarded as one of the greatest guitar players in the world, it makes sense that the band would decide to join forces and appear in Guitar Hero. After all, Eddie was probably one of the inspirations for the game in the first place. Guitar Hero: Van Halen hits store shelves later this year. Meantime, check out the trailer for the game after the jump.

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