Members of Call of Duty Elite for both the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 have already started reaping the benefits of their yearly membership with the first content drop in January. As promised, Activision is intent on keeping up with their Content Drop schedule for Elite Subscribers to prove the value of the service.

This month, subscribers will be getting their hands on the new map Overwatch. Somewhat similar in aestetics to the rooftop multiplayer map of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, this one is much more dangerous as its central passage is one that provides little cover or protection from falling for the players crossing it. It does give some nice variety to the other maps that have already been released and it will be interesting to see how it plays out when more game modes are added as well.

Call of Duty Elite Drop 3: Overwatch drops you into a construction site atop a New York City skyscraper. The battle takes place along two levels in a near symmetrical layout, with the central bridge and side routes open to attack from multiple angles. Watch your every step, as a lack of safety barriers surrounding the perimeter leaves nothing between you and a 70 story fall to the ground below.

Overwatch is the third Content Drop in Modern Warfare 3′s Content Season, which will include more than 20 pieces of brand new content over the 9 month season. Elite Drops 4-6 will be available in March for Premium Members on Xbox Live and will include the multiplayer map Black Box and two brand new Special Ops Missions, Black Ice and Negotiator. The full calendar of content is outlined here.

Check out the screens after the jump and stayed tuned for more Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 news as it becomes available.

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Just when you thought Activision had filled your shelves with enough little plastic figures for Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure, they release a third wave of these collectible interactive toys. Now available are the Cynder and Double Trouble individual blister packs as well as the Empire of Ice Adventure Pack which features a new playable level to the game, the character Slam Bam and two new in game items (including a very familiar looking shield).

Check out the screens and videos for all three new characters below.

Cynder

Volts And Lightning!

Element: Undead

Primary Attack: Spectral Lightning

Secondary Attack: Shadow Dash

Upgrades include:

• Cynder Flight
• Black Lightning
• Shadow Reach

Bio: While just an egg, Cynder was stolen by the henchmen of an evil dragon named Malefor and raised to do his bidding. For years, she spread fear throughout the land until she was defeated by Spyro the dragon and freed from the grip of Malefor. But dark powers still flow through her, and despite her desire to make amends for her past, most Skylanders try to keep a safe distance… just in case.

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Playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and not sure if Elite membership is right for you? Check out the latest two trailers from Activision and Call of Duty Elite featuring Rob Riggle, the cop from the Hangover who had way too much fun with the taser in the classroom, as he explains the benefits of Elite as well as walks you through the first two maps from Call of Duty Elite’s nine month content drop.

As the Elite trailer goes to explain, the biggest benefit for Elite membership isn’t just getting maps first. They are actually cheaper if paid for up front. Instead of getting four packs at $15 a pop, players can pay for them all with the Elite membership for only $50 (or already have it free if they purchased the Hardened Edition of the game) and as mentioned, they get them much earlier than waiting for content packs.

As promised, Elite delivered its first two maps yesterday. In addition to new gameplay modes which will be coming soon, new multiplayer maps have been the biggest and most important DLC on XBox Live since Halo 2′s map packs.

This pack features Content Drop 1: Liberation which resembles a Central Park setting, complete with mounted miniguns (just like real life), long lines of sight for snipers and tons of tree cover and close quartered underground locales as well. Content Drop 2: Piazza takes players to an Italian seaside village filled with tight winding roads leaving lots of chances for close combat encounters.

Check out the January Content Drop trailer below as well as screens of both Liberation and Piazza. Stay tuned to The Flickcast for more on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty Elite.

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The world of video games and the world of toys have always had an interesting dynamic. Many people will remember the main outlet for purchasing their original NES games was from the cage at Toys R Us. Then, as gaming evolved and players matured along with the content of the titles, video games began getting their own stores and found their way into electronics superstores like Best Buy.

As that happened, many people began their arguments that video games were a form of art and not just simple boys. But… why can’t we have both? Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure works behind the concept of “Bring Your Toys To Life” where players blur the lines between their collectible figures and their gaming console experiences.

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The Flickcast and the world got their first look at Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure back at Toy Fair.  Activision has come up with a way to combine the collectible aspect of high detail model toys along with the addictive nature of a classic dungeon crawling action game. Don’t let the word “toy” or the game’s lighthearted graphics fool you. Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is going to be full of depth.

While the game won’t be as intense in terms of upgrades and item management like a title like Mass Effect, it won’t be a slouch either. Players will need to work through levels, upgrading powers to further both their exploration experience and combat prowess. Being able to save these stats to a fancy action figure that they can bring to their friend’s console to play is just an added bonus.

With PAX this weekend, Activision has released a bundle of new screen shots and character vignettes for the game. This batch focuses on Dark Spyro, Bash, Sonic Boom, Stealth Elf and Voodood. Make sure to take a look at all these characters have to offer below.

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At Comic Con, we got our first look at the gameplay of the next-gen console upgrade of the Goldeneye franchise with Goldeneye 007: Reloaded. At PAX, Activision has released the first official trailer for the game’s Mi6 mode which we were only able to see in person in San Diego and were unfortunately unable to share with you until now.

From everything we have seen, Goldeneye 007: Reloaded does an awesome job of capturing the feel of the classic Goldeneye experience and updating it to the modern era. The question remains however if the game has evolved with the times to capture the interest of those who loved it so many years ago.

In addition to the game’s classic story (that is often forgotten because of the heavy nostalgia for the game’s multiplayer) will be the Mi6 mode. Almost in the way that Special Ops mode was added to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Mi6 will be a series of missions for players to tackle outside of the standard story. It will add more play time to the single player experience as well as increase the value for people who had already experienced the classic story years ago, giving them something all new.

Take a look at the trailer and gallery below and make sure to let us know your thoughts on Goldeneye 007: Reloaded coming this fall for the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 from Activision and Eurocom.

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Up until now, we have seen some pretty outrageous characters, insane levels and some astounding levels of violence associated with Anarchy Reigns. But there was really no context behind it. Now, SEGA reveals to us, along with three new characters, just why this group of horrific mercenary psychopaths have come to clash.

In a futuristic city, a group of bounty hunters is on a man hunt. The trailer is however pretty confusing though since it is hard to tell really who are the good guys and bad guys. It seems like assuming Jack would be the hero of the game since he was revealed first both as a playable character and in the story trailer.

At the same time, Leonhardt looks to be a good guy as well even though he is seen standing aside the villainous Nikolai. It will be interesting to see how everything players out once Anarchy Reigns is actually released.

Check out the full story trailer after the jump.

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Last year when Activision and Eurocom announced a relaunch of the Nintendo 64 classic Goldeneye as a Wii exclusive, classic shooter fans who had moved on from the Nintendo consoles to the more powerful and better controlling XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 were up in arms. They were the people who cut their teeth on first person shooters for the first time on the N64. It wasn’t their fault Nintendo had moved on to gimmicky controls and sacrificed graphics in favor of “family gaming”.

This year, their prayers will be answered with an all new, built from the ground up version dubbed Goldeneye: 007 Reloaded coming to the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. What fans will get is a retelling of the classic Bond story with new graphics and new mechanics that control and look more like a Call of Duty title rather than the waggle and aiming layout of the Wii (although it will be PlayStation Move compatible).

During the Activision press event, we had the opportunity to see the walkthrough of one of the game’s early levels which not only looked gorgeous but had engaging gameplay and very entertaining stealth takedowns. We also got to hear about the various new MI 6 modes that have everything from Stealth to Defense missions resembling Horde mode from Gears of War.

Take a look below at our developer interview, the game’s announcement trailer and the first image gallery for Goldeneye: 007 Reloaded for the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. Stick to the Flickcast for more on this already much hyped and anticipated title as more develops.

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Last week, we brought you the E3 Live Action trailer for Rise of Nightmares from SEGA.  Today, we let you see the game in action.

From what we can tell from this gameplay trailer for Rise of Nightmares, the graphics resemble that of other first person horror titles like Condemned with dark, gritty overtones along with the gore levels of House of the Dead. The animations look solid as the shambling attackers bring their constant threat to the player.

One thing that stands out as out of place in the trailer is the disembodied arm of the player when using the chainsaw. When using other weapons, the player’s arms are always there but in the snippets featuring the chainsaw, the player’s arms are floating in air. Hopefully this visual will be fixed by the game’s release as it is a strong visual disconnect at the moment.

The hardest part about seeing Kinect titles is that the gameplay footage is only half of the experience. Even more so than games using a controller where players are used to standard experiences like platforming, shooting and traversing though a level, the Kinect is bringing these to players in a new way. It will be interesting to see just how they play out when Rise of Nightmares is released later this year.

Check out the trailer after the jump and stick to The Flickcast for more on Rise of Nightmares from SEGA.

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The X-Men have potentially been one of the greatest comic book to video game franchises possible. Looking back to the classic arcade days, X-Men was a title that many gamers in their twenties pumped handfuls of quarters into to no end.

After that, pickings were fairly slim until the X-Men Legends games came out, followed by another drought until Wolverine: Origins, one of the few video game movie tie ins that was not only good, but ended up surpassing the quality of the film it was based off of. The X-Men seemingly would be perfect for the video game world with their plethora of both compelling characters and wide variety of powers to play with. But, as seen from title’s like Arcade’s Revenge, not everyone can seemingly get the franchise right.

Take a peek at Silicon Knight’s attempt at the X-Men franchise with X-Men: Destiny. Destiny looks great in motion as all the footage in this trailer is in-engine, not prerendered cut scenes. Each of the characters does a good job capturing the look and feel of the comics, although it is strange that the Juggernaut looks to have almost the same appearance as he did in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, a game not produced by Silicon Knights.

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One of the greatest sci-fi horror films of all time is undoubtedly James Cameron’s Alien franchise. Though the series seemed to lose focus as sequels progressed, there is no denying the gasp inducing moments that still hold up over twenty years since the original film’s release. Not surprisingly, there have been a number of movie tie-in video game titles as well. While some were critically received better than others, there is no question of the selling power of the franchise that has created over 20 titles over a handful of different consoles.

In Spring 2012, SEGA will be unleashing the next installment in the Alien series with Aliens: Colonial Marines. Written by Battlestar Galactica writers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle, Aliens: Colonial Marines will follow the events of the film series, specifically those of Aliens as a search and rescue team of marines tries to find Ellen Ripley and the rest of the missing crew from the Aliens film.

Aliens: Colonial Marines will be a first person tactical squad based shooter. Players will control a team of four marines, each with specific skills and weaponry that they can control by issuing commands as well as swapping on the fly between teammates. The game will also feature two player split screen co-op gameplay and four player online co-op as well. Competitive multiplayer has been announced but details are yet to be revealed.

Take a peek below at the first screens and trailer for this upcoming title and stick to the Flickcast for more on Aliens: Colonial Marines as more information becomes available.

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So back in 2010, Microsoft debuted the next great technology, where they let people be their own controller. No more holding plastic gizmos to get characters on screen to perform actions. Instead, they just had to do it themselves and their character would follow suit. People could bowl or play soccer in Kinect Sports, river raft and traverse obstacle courses in Kinect Adventures and improve their dance moves with Dance Central… and then there was a drastic shortage in titles for the Kinect that anyone really cared about playing.

This E3, Microsoft intended on showing people this wasn’t the case when they announced a slew of new Kinect games and the implementation of Kinect in other existing titles and franchises. One of the stand out titles in terms of curiosity is Rise of Nightmares from SEGA. Now, the horror survival genre is nothing new. Games like the early Resident Evil and Silent Hill perfected the formula early on. It has even made its way to the first person with titles like F.E.A.R. and Condemned. But never before have those trying to survive been forced to fight their way out with their own two hands… and feet… and even head.

Rise of Nightmares promises to not only let players use their body as the controller, but it also acts as the weapon to. It’s one thing to punch a zombie’s face off, but it’s a whole other thing to headbutt it clear off. This is definitely a game we will be keeping an eye on and will hopefully be getting some hands on preview coverage with in the coming months.

Check out the live action teaser trailer and in game screens below and stick to The Flickcast for more on Rise of Nightmares coming to the XBox 360 for Kinect.

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