I know. I can’t believe it. As quickly as Flappy Bird came to us, it has now left us. But in the process, it has left an eternal stamp on the gaming world that not many would have expected from a simple mobile game. Filling YouTube with rage quit videos and costing thousands of dollars in damage, Flappy Bird has clipped its own wings.

For those who don’t know, Flappy Bird was a game that came out and quickly became a viral hit much in the way that Angry Birds and Tiny Wings did (and it is completely ridiculous how popular birds are on mobile gaming). Unlike its avian cousins though, Flappy Bird was not easily accessible to all players.

Our parents and grandparents can’t just pickup and play and have a good time. Even seasoned gamers are terrible at Flappy Bird. After maxing out my high score at 6, I had to put down my iPhone or risk throwing it across the room.

At its inception, one of the first things I thought Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure needed was an app to help keep track of which characters anyone had. At first, a fan made app popped up but before Skylanders Giants was out, the app stopped getting updates. A few others popped up but often didn’t have special edition figures or get updates as new waves were released. But, after long wait, Activision has released the Skylanders Collection Vault app for iOS and somehow turned it into yet another game.

One of the things Activision has done right through its iOS releases for Skylanders like Skylanders Cloud Patrol, Skylanders Lost Islands and Skylanders Battlegrounds was linking the characters in the game to their real life counterparts that the player needed to have. Whether it was the code received when purchasing the figure or one obtained from the characters in game profile, people needed to unlock characters in the game which of course has lead to the “gotta buy ’em all” mentality that has skyrocketed the franchise. That same collector itch is scratched when players can compare their full collection to that of their friends by showing the characters they have unlocked because they actually own them, not just playing for hours on end or using in app purchases.

Normally, the Monday Freeview gives you a heads up on freebies that you will probably want to download. In this case though with iFruit, it is more likely an app you have the urge to download but probably shouldn’t waste a half gig of space on your iOS device for. As some of you may have already experienced only to give up, there were some pretty large problems with the transmedia experience tied from mobile devices to a person’s Rockstar Social Club account which of course ties together with their in game Grand Theft Auto V experience. Without even getting into the app itself, there were days where players couldn’t even download the app and then others where logging in was near impossible too.

Finally, when you do get in what you’ll find seems like a cool concept. Go in and customize the three vehicles owned by your three main characters. Play with chop, Franklin’s dog, and teach him tricks he can use in game. Browse LifeInvader, the in-game parody of Facebook. All interesting concepts that all ultimately end up falling flat of their potential.

Fifteen years ago I almost started an arduous trek down a very dangerous rabbit hole. I installed Everquest on my PC and luckily most of my friends weren’t playing so I avoided its clutches. I then saw the power of it in full effect with my roommate my Freshman year of college as I had a roommate who literally spent 14 hour binges without leaving his desk.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a gamer and have gone to extremes but even that was a bit too much for me. Since, I have carefully navigated past the waters of various MMOs like City of Heroes, World of Warcraft and DC Universe Online only getting just a taste and not allowing myself to be caught in their web.

Just over a week ago, those who have been stuck in the Evercrack trap found out they will be returning to it with Everquest Next. While Everquest II floundered, players maintained a strong base into Everquest even well into the days of World of Warcraft’s reign. Now, they will be rewarded with a new MMO that redefines the rules for what people expect from a massively multiplayer online RPG. You’ll be able to see a highlight of all the new features in the video below.

In the shiniest news this side of Persephone, Fox Digital Entertainment and QMx Interactive Inc. have announced the development of the officially licensed video game, Firefly Online. The multi-user, social online role-playing game is expected to be released in the summer of 2014.

“At QMx, we know firsthand how great and powerful a franchise Firefly is and how mighty the Browncoats are,” said Andy Gore, CEO of QMXi and Quantum Mechanix Inc. “It has always been our mission to bring the Verse to life for our customers in every way possible. The idea of creating an interactive experience where fans can have their own Firefly adventures — well, that’s just too shiny for words.”

Firefly Online puts players in the role of a ship captain where they must, as Captain Mal says, “Find a crew. Find a job. Keep flying.” Players will have the ability to customize their ship, create a crew, trade with and compete against other players, engage in space and planet-side adventures and explore the Verse. The only question left for players is, can any power in Verse stop you?

Last year, players got to experience a Walking Dead experience that rivaled the comics with Telltale’s The Walking Dead. Sticking to a traditional point and click adventure style of storytelling rather than an action game or shooter (like AMC’s The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct).

Last week on Tuesday for PSN users and Friday for XBLA users, Telltale released a special episode for The Walking Dead. Meant to act as a bridge between season 1 and the upcoming season 2, there is a departure from part of what people loved so much of the first season for. But, the new aspects of the game and its storytelling keeps the hook there for players for the next season.

The Long

The first thing players will note in The Walking Dead: 400 Days is the separation from the main characters in the first season. Where there is an appearance from some periphery characters, the majority of those seen in the game are new to both the game and the comics. There is also a group of six characters players take the role of (five characters with their own chapter and then one epilogue) as opposed to only playing for Lee in the previous title.

This is where things start to feel starkly different. Part of what was so addictive in the first season of The Walking Dead was following the relationship between Lee and Clementine. In 400 Days though, before you can get too invested in a single character, you move onto the next. The long term results of these actions also remain to be seen as to how these characters will play a role in the second season alongside those who made it through the first.

Often, Kickstarter campaigns come from companies and properties we have never heard of and it has proven itself to be a great source for finding new IPs. But it has also been a way for creators with more established properties to help to find support from their audience in exchange for an actual product rather than just looking for donations. One of these companies is Blind Ferret which has been someone the Flickcast team has been aware of for quite some time. The team behind Looking For Group and the Gutters, we have seen both the comics as well as their yearly booth appearance at San Diego Comic Con. So when it came to our attention that they were doing a Kickstarter to help create a video game based off the LFG property, it quickly shot to the top of our radar.

With the campaign ending at Friday night of Comic Con in less than three weeks, LFG: The Fork of Truth is about a sixth of the way there for its $600K goal. This is one of the Kickstarters that needs support from its audience rather than people sitting back and assuming others will just kick in and they’ll be able to purchase it after the fact.

For most people, the iPad has become their de facto device to watch movies and television programs while on the go. To help facilitate this, services like Netflix and Hulu offer iOS apps to run on the device.

Today, in an effort to enhance that experience further, Hulu updated its app for the iPad. Here’s what the update gives you:

• Easier navigation. Simply tap or swipe as you navigate to find shows and discover great new content.

• Discover Panel. Tap the image of a new show, movie or episode, and we’ll give you a summary and more info instantly.

• Minimized Player. Want to multitask? Keep watching your desired video in a minimized player while you browse.

• New Series Pages. Includes both the most entertaining clip and the most relevant episode at your fingertips.

• Improved Search. Faster, more intuitive search bar.

When I went to the Apple App Store last night looking for something for the Mondayy Freeview, I figured I would help put everyone in the Memorial Day spirit and looked for the first App to pop up to pop up with Memorial Day in the title that was free. The one I came across was Memorial Day Barbeque Mayhem and had a four star rating with fifteen reviews.

I figured even at only fifteen ratings, it couldn’t be that bad if it still had four stars, right? Plus, who doesn’t love a Memorial Day BBQ? Oh, how wrong I was.

Memorial Day Barbeque Mayhem is what I like to refer to as a “jumper” where a player has the screen moving for them as their character travels left to right at whatever pace the game wants. It isn’t a full platformer because the X axis motion is completely out of the player’s control.

Instead, they just control when and how high they jump. Unlike games like Robot Unicorn Attack 2 which features additional actions like charging, Memorial Day Barbeque Mayhem keeps itself limited to just jumping. Now as a mechanic, this can work except for the hordes of issues that plague the game.

Plants vs. Zombies came out way back in 2009 for the PC and Mac from PopCap games. It would go on to be ported to iOS, XBLA, Nintendo DS, the PSN, DSiWare, Android, Windows Phone, the PlayStation Vita and then finally to the Blackberry in January of this year (also proving that BlackBerry really has no idea what they are doing). Originally titled Lawn of the Dead, Plants vs. Zombies is one of the most widely popular tower defense style games ever with a MetaCritic score of 88 to boot. So what is taking so long to get a sequel? That’s what YouTube stars like Francis and XBox community manager Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb want to know too.

With the teaser trailer below, we finally get official confirmation that Plants vs. Zombies 2 isn’t only real but that it is coming out in July of this year. Hopefully it won’t come out during Comic Con or there are going to be a lot of very confused people trying to figure out the best use of their time. Though no actual footage is shown, it is an awesome teaser that showcases how all of us feel about the wait on this title. The one the Flickcast staff seems to relate to the most is Francis.

Sometimes we find some real hidden gems that have lots of thought and effort behind them for the Monday Freeview. These games have teams of hundreds working on them to create persistent MMO worlds or an ever expanding cast of unique characters… and sometimes we find Robot Unicorn Attack 2.

A sequel to one of the most popular Adult Swim games to make it to iOS, Robot Unicorn Attack 2 is an incredibly simple game. Players hit one side of the screen to jump (and double jump) and the other to dash. That’s all you get for controls. While the game has special boosts that can be purchased with in game currency, the basic nature of this runner style game is an addicting premise.

By giving players attainable goals, the game keeps leaving the bread crumbs to keep going “just one more time”. Additionally, a single game is divided up into three runs called “wishes” (keeping with the unicorn theme) so that a player gets in the routine of going just a little bit further and having to continue to the next run. By the time the third wish is complete and awards are given out, it doesn’t take much for a player to commit to three more.

Thank goodness for Twitter because now we have yet another way to find music and get recommendations from fiends and anonymous bots. That’s right folks, today Twitter took the wraps off of one of the worst kept secrets of the Internets: Twitter Music.

In case you’re somehow not familiar with the new service, it helps users discover music based on what their friends are listening to, along with recommendations from popular artists.

“It uses Twitter activity, including Tweets and engagement, to detect and surface the most popular tracks and emerging artists,” Twitter said in a post at its blog. “It also brings artists’ music-related Twitter activity front and center: go to their profiles to see which music artists they follow and listen to songs by those artists. And, of course, you can tweet songs right from the app.”