After Scribblenauts Unlimited came to the Wii U with a fairly soft launch, a lot of people wondered what might be next, if at all, for the series. Aside from new puzzles, what was there really left you could do for Scribblenauts that hadn’t already been done with the customizability of Scribblenauts Unlimited? I mean, it has “unlimited” in the title. The answer of course is rather fitting, a comic book crossover.

Whenever publishers in comics are in a sales dip, they crossover a more popular character into another series to give it a sales boost. But why stop at just a Batman Scribblenauts or a Scribblenauts Metropolis? WB Games and 5th Cell took the whole DC Universe and brought it over to the Scribblenauts world in Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure. In addition to giving the powers of various DC heroes and villains to Maxell, the trailer below indicates that players will be able to actually play as various DC characters in the game as well in the puzzle solving adventure.

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Wii U owners were pleased to find that the arcade classic Pac-Man found its way to the Wii U shop just about two weeks ago. Not bad to get some excitement about a game getting close to its 33rd birthday. But yesterday, something no one expected happened. A second Pac-Man piece of news in a month popped up with an all new Pac-Man title. Pac-Man would be returning in an all new game. Namco Bandai will be releasing Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures this fall to the XBox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

The hungry little sphere that could is coming back to 3D (with a sidescroller for the 3DS, go figure) with some new powers not yet seen before… well that’s not entirely true. From the look of the trailer below, there will be a transformative power set to the game where upon eating various ghosts, Pac-Man acquires certain abilities. Sounds a little bit like Kirby, wouldn’t you say? Well even though we only see one of these in action, there is certainly a Kirby-esque feel to the way the game looks to play.

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Nostalgia for retro lifestyle can go two ways. There are those things we fondly remember that when we revisit them they don’t seem to hold up. See the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES as a prime example of something you sunk probably years of your life into only to realize years later that it is a pretty terrible game. But there are others that withstand the test of time and whether it’s 1985 or 2085 are still going to be great games. Games like Castlevania, Super Metroid, Gradius, Super Mario Brothers and others stand that test of time. So it’s no wonder why someone would take the chance at going back if given the chance.

A.N.N.E. is that chance. A.N.N.E. is the brainchild of Moise Breton, the founder of GamesbyMo. With 10 years in developing, A.N.N.E. is Moise’s first time focusing on his own project that combines concepts behind some of the above mentioned titles with bright and vibrant Fez-styled graphics. As you’ll see in the trailer below, the game has a unique feel as it transitions from ship based combat to puzzle solving to exploration and ground skirmishes. And it doesn’t just feel like retro graphics but full on gorgeous pixel art style animation on top of the mashup gameplay.

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Hey all! As I am sure some of the regular readers of The Flickcast have noticed, my favorite part of the Con season is taking pics at them. Unfortunately, due to some professional responsibilities, I was only able to get down to one day of WonderCon this year.

But because my time was limited, I didn’t waste it on panels and the like. Instead I hit the floor with camera in hand and got as many pics of the Wondercon sights as I could.

While WonderCon doesn’t have the size of San Diego or New York Comic Con, the fans there weren’t any less fervent with their cosplay love. This year I saw a lot of new and original costumes I had not seen before. While a pimped out Boba Fett was present, I also saw for the first time Paper Mario as well as a group of female X-Man villains. Alongside the working R2 units, there was a life sized Wall-E that sadly the picture doesn’t do justice as it captured all of the personality of the movie and brought it to life in front of us all.

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Been wondering exactly what happened to the Dixon brothers before meeting up with Rick Grimes in Atlanta? Well with The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct being tied into the AMC series, you’ll get some of those answers and you can get those answers today. Out today for XBox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and the Wii U is The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. If you take a look below, you get a better idea of what to expect from this stealth FPS experience.

It is fair to say that The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct has its work cut out for it. And not even because of anything that has been seen from the game before today. It is because it will inevitably be compared to Telltale’s The Walking Dead adventure game. Despite being different in almost every way from the art style to gameplay style and the continuity it chooses to follow, parallels will undoubtedly be drawn.

The hardest part will be people giving the game a fair shake and taking it for what it is doing which is trying to give a new experience by trying to combine stealth and FPS gameplay together while putting people in the world of the TV series they have become so invested in. (Hopefully Andrea doesn’t show up until the absolute end.)

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With Skylanders Swap Force already on the horizon for this upcoming holiday season, the final Giant figure is being released for Skylanders Giants with Ninjini. Ninjini is the 8th Giant, representing the Magic element and is the only female of the Giants. Our bank accounts are happy that Ninjini has finally seen the light of day as this is the last of the $15 Giants to complete our collections (totaling a cool $105 on just Giants if not counting Tree Rex who comes with the Skylanders Giants game.)

Make sure to check out Ninjini’s trailer and screen shots after the break and stick to The Flickcast for more on Skylanders Swap Force and the 32 new Skylanders coming out for it as it becomes available.

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Last week we reported about the leaked image attached to the title Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. This new Assassin’s Creed game rumor lined up with previous statements about a new lead character and a new locale as well. Yesterday, Ubisoft revealed these rumors to be true with an official trailer revealing the game as well as a character trailer showing off the new protagonist Edward Kenway.

The first trailer starts off with Blackbeard (coincidentally, Blackbeard was who I researched to give the possible time frame that the events of the game will take place when looking at famous pirates in history). This means that the game has to take place before the events of Assassin’s Creed III since Blackbeard was dead by 1718. This could be an indicator that Desmond Miles may in fact not be the modern day protagonist for the game as well as Desmond’s memories took place chronologically.

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The other day when looking back at the proud leaders of this great nation, I opted to shy away from the fantastic portrayal of General turned King George Washington in the alternate history DLC of Assassin’s Creed. But after showing proper respect two whole days ago and the DLC releasing, it doesn’t seem right to not share the launch trailer for “Tyranny of King Washington: The Infamy” DLC which hit the digital marketplace yesterday.

In this trailer, the question is posed about what would have actually happened to General Washington had he not stepped down as President at the end of the Revolutionary War. In this alternate timeline, Washington is corrupted by his power and declares himself king and it looks like it is up to Connor to stop him.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops II is addicting. Between the standard competitive multiplayer and the Zombie mode, thousands of lifetimes of game hours have already been played online. Now while the game doesn’t exactly go into a slump over time after its release, there is definitely a renewed spike in gameplay with the release of new maps.

Things may have been a little different last year with the early access that Elite members received in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 but with Call of Duty: Black Ops II Season Pass holders and the general public gaining access to the new maps at the same time, expect servers to fill up and social lives to diminish. But how do you help salvage social relationships with friends, family, work and significant others? Activision says it’s time to call in a Replacer.

In the video below, you’ll check out the real benefit of taking on a Replacer. For those moments that you don’t really need to be there for like putting together furniture or the first few annoying hours of labor, a Replacer is the ideal substitute.

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As much as we love Disney and a lot of the things they do like Wreck-It Ralph, even we notice that they don’t always come up with all their own concepts. Usually it is something that has been successful in the past and they put a Disney twist on it to turn it into an even bigger success. Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast and tons more are all examples of this. So, it’s no surprise that Disney and Avalanche Software would be following the success of the toys to video game combo of Skylanders with the announcement of Disney Infinity.

Using a special hardware base accessory, players will be able to unlock new in game content and characters for Disney Infinity. Sounds familiar right? Disney Infinity will be following a model similar to that of Activision’s Skylanders franchise. Players will be able to take purchased toys and put them on a base that will read the figure and unlock characters and items in the game.

In the trailer below, you’ll see characters from Pirates of the Caribbean, The Incredibles, Monsters University, Cars, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Toy Story and more that will most likely be on the list of playable characters and toys coming out for Disney Infinity.

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We’ve been keeping a keen eye on NetherRealm Studio’s followup to Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe in Injustice: Gods Among Us (which still confounds us that no DC logo or brand name of any kind is in its title even now with the final box art). The latest news is that Injustice: Gods Among Us finally has a release date of April 16th, 2013 as well as two special editions.

The Collector’s Edition of Injustice: Gods Among Us will sell for $99.99 and will include a copy of the game, a digital download of the DC Animated Film Doom, a three pack of DLC costumes for Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman based off of their DC New 52 designs, an Injustice comic and a statue of Wonder Woman and Batman in combat exclusive to this collector’s pack.

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In under two months, more than 427 million hours have been logged into Call of Duty: Black Ops II multiplayer and zombie modes. At this point, it is reasonable for players to be clamoring for some new content. Treyarch has responded with a resounding, “It’s coming!” with the the Revolution DLC pack (which had some tidbits leaked late last week). The Revloution DLC pack will be coming out first to XBox 360 on January 29.

The Revolution DLC pack will include four new multiplayer maps, a new zombie map, the first new zombie DLC mode and the first ever DLC weapon. Check out the level descriptions below as well as the full preview trailer after the jump.

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Don’t worry. We aren’t giving any more awards to Angry Birds. At least not today. But we do have four more games for the best of 2012. If you haven’t seen the previous two days awards, click here for Monday’s and here for Tuesday’s awards. Make sure to check back tomorrow for our final specialty awards and then again on Friday for the ultimate award from The Flickcast and Bitcast teams, the Game of the Year.

New IP With the Most Potential – Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

With writing from R. A. Salvatore and art design by Todd McFarlane, many would have thought that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning would have the makings of a surefire hit. With over 300,000 units sold by March of 2012, Reckoning gave a good showing for a brand new IP and had many people talking about it. Unfortunately due to financial problems with a loan from the state of Rhodes Island, 38 Studios was forced to close and with it went the possible future of the Kingdoms of Amalur series.

Despite coming from a brand new studio, Reckoning had all the makings of a hit game. Beautiful design, interesting and complex story with tons of back matter and, the most important, incredibly fun combat and gameplay. It was a huge world with tons to do that players could get lost in. Whether or not they even cared about the narrative, there were unending areas to explore and enemies to vanquish. Now, one can only hope that someone else picks up this IP and gives it a second chance to continue giving more people the chance to explore its epic world.

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Already got your fill of everything in Call of Duty: Black Ops II in the month that it has been out? Well, your bullet hungry prayers have been answered with the first piece of content coming out today for Call of Duty: Black Ops II Season Pass owners. For the discounted price of $49.99, Season Pass holders will get four DLC Map packs as well as the Nuketown 2025 Zombie map which goes live today on XBox 360.

The Nuketown 2025 Zombie map doesn’t just throw players into the bright, 50′s retro stylized suburbia that players have already experienced in Call of Duty multiplayer. Instead, they see the post apocalyptic version of the map. While the basic floor plan has stayed the same, the buildings are in ruins giving zombies tons of access points to the players. In addition, the burnt out mannequins are just creepy as hell.

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So, it’s official. Call of Duty: Black Ops II can boast earning more money in just 15 days than some countries can as their GNP for a full year. Call of Duty: Black Ops II has also reached this epic milestone of $1 Billion in sales in a shorter time than any other entertainment property. The fastest grossing video game of all time, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 did it in 16 days. Avatar, the fastest grossing film of all time and highest grossing film of all time, took 17 days.

“The release of Call of Duty® has been one of the most significant entertainment events of each of the last six years,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. “Since Call of Duty was launched, cumulative franchise revenues from players around the world are greater than current worldwide box office receipts to date for the top-10 grossing films of 2012 combined. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise have exceeded worldwide theatrical box office receipts for ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Star Wars,’ the two most successful movie franchises of all time.”

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