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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2011 was one heck of a year for gaming. Once again, the Call of Duty franchise set records for the largest entertainment launch in history. A game that was only in Beta was able to sell millions of copies and spawn an ungodly large community to the point they had a convention before the game was officially released. There were tons of critical darlings encouraging developers to rethink how they create games.
Take a look this week at the awards The Flickcast (along with The Bitcast team) are proud to present for gaming in 2011

Think Outside the Box Game: Portal 2

While many may argue that Minecraft may be the most deserving of this award, they need to remember one thing. In Minecraft, there are no rules. The expanses of the box are too extreme to find the outer boundaries of. Within Portal 2, players are asked to explore new viewpoints of physics, matter and… well, portals. The puzzles in Portal 2 completely overtake the complexity and creativity of the original, which in itself was groundbreaking. With additional toys at their disposal and the introduction of a cooperative mode, the team at Valve came up with a game that redefined both the puzzle solving and FPS genres all at once.

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With E3 coming to a close today it’s time to take a look at the rest of the photos we took over the last three days. Well, we can’t actually show you all of the photos due to several factors: we shot way too many and some of them contain embarrassing moments best left for a night of cocktails at Trader Vic’s.

However, we do have quite a few we can share so in this gallery we’ve included those. Yes, they contain more booths, some gameplay, cool cars and, of course, a selection of beautiful booth babes.

What E3 would be complete without them? A less beautiful experience to say the least.

Click through for all the pics. See you next year!

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To open their press conference at this year’s E3, Nintendo needed a heavy hitter. That heavy hitter was Zelda, returning with a brand new title for the Nintendo Wii titled The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Swords. Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto hung out on stage for awhile, giving us a taste of the game play and features of the newest title in the epic Zelda franchise.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Swords uses Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus technology to help Link swing, swipe, and roll his way through Hyrule. Controls in this game will differ from the previous title, Twilight Princess, as players will use the Wiimote to swing Link’s sword and the Nunchuck as a shield. Another new aspect of game play is the ability to raise your sword to the sky, charging it with solar energy to fling at your enemies.

From what we saw from Miyamoto’s presentation, the game play seems much more realistic and smooth than Twilight Princess. Watching him, it really looked like he was holding a sword and shield, and his movements translated well in the on-screen game play.

The new item system, which Miyamoto described like a “pocket”, seems like a very intuitive system and a welcome change from the last game’s menu. This game also differs from Twilight Princess hugely because of its bright and beautiful scenery.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Swords won’t be released until 2011, but we’ve got a gameplay trailer to keep you occupied after the jump.

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I’ve recently fallen in love with The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, so I was excited at Nintendo’s Big Apple Comic Con booth to have the chance to try the sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, due out for the Nintendo DS later this year.

Animated in the same style as Phantom Hourglass and the Gamecube classic The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Spirit Tracks plays very much the same. Players control Link by dragging the stylus across the screen in the direction you want him to move. Attacking and other actions are also done using the stylus. While I had hoped they would have worked in the use of the directional pad to control Link in this game, it’s understandable that they’d want to keep the mechanics the same for returning players.

What is very different about Spirit Tracks is the ability to control a Phantom, one of the enemies in Phantom Hourglass. The Phantom can do a lot that Link cannot, such as walking through fire or across a pit of lava. Controlling the Phantom was as easy as tapping the Phantom, and then drawing a line in the path that you wanted him to go. This was a little frustrating when trying to get the Phantom to turn corners, because if the line was drawn too close to the wall he’d get stuck.

Even more frustrating was the fact that if the Phantom had to go ahead of Link to clear the way, Link wouldn’t just follow after him, you have to direct him over to the Phantom. It wasn’t difficult, mostly just time consuming. However, the addition of the Phantom added a lot to my experience and made Spirit Tracks feel like its own game, rather than just a straight sequel to Phantom Hourglass.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will be available for Nintendo DS on December 7th.

Those of you who have been following the ongoing webseries The Legend of Neil may or may not know that season two has just come to an end, and what a finale! This season has had multiple orcs, the Dark Nut, and yes, more Felicia Day!

If you aren’t up to par on the show, it’s basically an crass spoof on the classic Legend of Zelda video game, in which the main character, Neil, gets drunk and asphyxiates himself while playing the game, thus transporting him inside the universe. He is overcome by orcs, skeletons, and dragons, but makes it through each level with a crass, who-cares attitude.

The show is created and directed by the castmember of another popular webseries, The Guild, Sandeep Parikh. Sandeep plays Zaboo on The Guild and occasionally pops up to voice a few parts on Neil. Check out the season 2 finale after the jump, or catch up on the first two seasons at the show’s official site. Enjoy!

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