The Flickcast – Page 261 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

USA Network Announces Summer Premiere Dates

Posted on April 18, 2012

For those of who want something more than the basic TV networks, and if you don’t have a premium service like HBO, there’s always USA. In fact, there’s premieres for some of USA’s most popular shows, and some new ones, just around the corner.

USA Network has set summer premiere dates for its returning series Royal Pains, Necessary Roughness, Burn Notice, Suits, White Collar and Covert Affairs. First to come back are Season 4 of Royal Pains and Season 2 of Necessary Roughness, which will hit the air on June 6 and will be shown on Wednesday at 9 PM and 10 PM, respectively.

The following week, on June 14, Burn Notice returns for Season 6, leading into the second season of Suits, which will once again be paired on Thursdays. Also returning to their regular night, Tuesday, are White Collar Season 4 and Covert Affairs Season 3, which launch on July 10.

Of those shows, we’re most interested in Burn Notice. It’s still fun to watch, features some interesting twists and turns, has some nice scenery and has Bruce Campbell. What more could you want from a show?

Microsoft Confirms ‘Halo 4’ Winter Release Date

Posted on April 17, 2012

Once the marquee mascot for the XBox generation of gamers, Master Chief has taken a step back in recent years. In hopes to regain the original glory of the FPS, Microsoft announced last year that they were moving a head with a brand new numbered Halo game.

Today Microsoft set Halo 4’s official street date, November 6th, 2012. This unsurprisingly puts one of the most anticipated games of the year in the middle of the juiciest video game release window. The real question now is can this 4th installment recapture the magic of the original trilogy?

FPS games have grown leaps and bounds since Halo: Combat Evolved rejuvenated the genre. Added to that, one of the original Halo’s greatest strengths was it’s story, and it will be hard for the developers to come back with a compelling and authentic Halo story based on where the franchise currently sits.

Of course that is all doom and gloom from a registered PlayStation fanboy. The truth of the matter is, if Master Chief is truly an iconic mascot in the same way Sonic, Mario, Link and Crash Bandicoot Kratos are than Halo 4 will be a rousing success, at least commercially. Heck, I will be rooting hard for this game myself, if for no other reason than to wash away that grimy layer of muck that is Gears of War being the 360s marquee exclusive.

Vince Vaughn to Take on ‘The Rockford Files’ In latest TV to Big Screen Adaptation

Posted on April 17, 2012

Remaking old TV shows as movies is a tricky proposition. There are a few angles you can take with it, you could make the movie as direct an adaptation as possible. Or you could embrace the camp nature of the source material and make a farce of it.

Both tactics have failed miserably, but so to have they both worked. This spring’s 21 Jump Street is a prime example of a film that works by embracing the absurdity of the original’s sincere premise. Most indications of Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows might have succeeded in a similar fashion, so word of more classic TV adaptations can be met with some optimism these days.

According to Deadline, Universal has gotten behind their next TV to Big Screen adaptation:

Universal Pictures has set David Levien and Brian Koppelman to write The Rockford Files, a feature adaptation of the memorable series that ran on NBC from 1974-80 and featured James Garner as the down-and-out private eye. The studio will develop the film as a star vehicle for Vince Vaughn to play Rockford, and Vaughn and Victoria Vaughn will produce through their Universal-based Wild West Picture Show Productions banner.

Vaughn is a rather obvious choice, but hopefully it means they are going for a more comic approach. I know that will get fans of the original twisted up, but I think a strait forward adaptation of the show wouldn’t really work today. What could work is a Vince Vaughn staring vehicle using the show’s premise and the core of the main character. So long as it is more 21 Jump Street and less Starsky and Hutch we should be fine.

‘Protoype 2’ Revenge Trailer Hits the Net

Posted on April 17, 2012

With less than two weeks before the release of Prototype 2, the most emotional trailer so far for the game hit the net this week. As we have discussed before on the Flickcast, the right music can make or break a trailer. In the case of Prototype 2, the choice of Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” is a perfect fit to get the audience emotionally invested in the story of James Keller and his plot for revenge against Alex Mercer.

Up until now, what we have seen of Prototype 2 has been adrenaline fueled machismo and scenes of epic violence, especially with GameStop’s pre-order campaign. For the first time, the audience gets a chance at seeing the human side of the game’s protagonist with a somewhat relatable start to the trailer. With so many soldiers fighting overseas right now, it becomes easy for the audience to identify with a character who is separated from his family by the current conflict. This only makes the hit feel even harder when Keller returns home to see the virus in New York has claimed his family.

If the team at Radical can correct the problems many people saw with the previous [Prototype] like unfair enemy AI shooting missiles from blocks away off screen, they have the potential to make a much stronger game with Prototype 2. In the first [Prototype], the main character Alex Mercer was pretty much a jerk and very hard to get behind. Now with a war veteran looking to avenge his family, there’s something for the audience to get behind more than the senseless violence of the original game.

Prototype 2 comes to XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 24th from Activision and Radical Entertainment. Check back to the Flickcast for more, including a full review of the game once it is released. Check out the full Prototype 2 “Revenge” Trailer after the jump.

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PAX East 2012 XTRA Hands-On: ‘Nightfall’

Posted on April 17, 2012

 

Tabletop gaming has recently become one of my favorite hobbies, but work and other life commitments sometimes make it hard to make time to sit down and play them.

That’s where Playdek comes in. They port games from their physical, tabletop form into full-fledged iOS games. The really great thing is that these games are playable online, so even if you can’t sit down with your friends for your favorite board game, you can play at your leisure on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, or play and pass on long car rides or in long lines.

Another great thing about what Playdek does is that the digital version of these tabletop games clearly defines the rules and explains them, which helps take some of the intimidation factor for those of us who are new to tabletop. And if you love the iOS version of these games, you can buy the physical game fully understanding the rules and ready to play!

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Changing The Ending of ‘Mass Effect 3’: An Outsider’s Perspective

Posted on April 17, 2012

To say when gamers find something they really care about, they take it to extremes can sadly sometimes be an understatement. Back in 2007, Mass Effect was released for the XBox 360 and PC to much critical acclaim and commercial success. The game’s follow up, Mass Effect 2, would release in January 2010 for the XBox 360 and PC and almost a full year later on the PlayStation 3. The final part of the Commander Shepard trilogy was released on March 6th of this year with, as you guessed it, Mass Effect 3.

One of the biggest draws for Mass Effect was the promise of an epic storyline that not only spanned three full games, but contained choices that would affect the rest of the player’s story throughout the remainder of the story. Destroy a race in Mass Effect and they would not appear in Mass Effect 2. Let a character die in Mass Effect 2 and don’t expect to see them in Mass Effect 3.

So in a series all about choice, many players were floored to learn that upon completion of Mass Effect 3 and whichever choices they ultimately made, the game presented them with one of six different endings. The “perfect” ending would feature an additional five seconds of footage. The six “different” endings however were merely palette swaps. No matter what choices were made through the entire story or even in the ultimate decision of the player, they just received a different color explosion, particle effect and small changes in animation, but essentially the same ending.

Look at the side by side comparisons in the video from Crosscade (obviously, spoiler warning).

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PAX East Boston Indie Showcase XTRA: ‘Not Without You’

Posted on April 17, 2012

One of my goals this year for PAX East was to play every single game featured in the Boston Indie Showcase, a hand-picked collection of excellent mobile games created by independent developers. After checking out all the other games featured in the showcase, I was excited to see what Not Without You had in store for me on the show floor.

Out of all the games in the Boston Indie Showcase, most of which were very puzzle-heavy, Not Without You was definitely the most challenging of them all.

The blue furry creatures of Not Without You need your help escaping from the lab, which would be easy peasy, if the creatures didn’t move in tandem with one another. Using the environment and obstacles placed in your way, your task is to arrange these creatures in the right formation to lead them out of the lab doors in as few moves as possible.

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All Five ‘Star Trek’ TV Captains to be On Stage Together for the First Time

Posted on April 16, 2012

There are few franchises that garner the fan support quite like Star Trek. Trekkies, or Trekkers to some, are a loyal group of fans who have embraced the franchise in it’s many incarnations. Most of the stars of the shows and movies become fixtures at Star Trek conventions, but never before have the five television Captains appeared together onstage at a convention.

Well according to a Reuters report that is all about to change in London:

Organizers for “Destination Star Trek London” said on Monday that their fan convention would be the first official “Star Trek” live event in the UK for 10 years.

To mark the occasion, actors William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Sir Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Avery Brooks (Commander Sisko), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) and Scott Bakula (Captain Archer), who have commanded operations in each of their respective series based on the iconic TV franchise that began in 1966, will appear on stage together.

Recently William Shatner wrote and directed a documentary called The Captains, where he tracked down and interviewed each of the Trek captains. If the gathering in London is half as intriguing as that was this will be a tremendous experience. There is a really compelling allure to the idea of these iconic actors coming together to discuss the roles that came to define most of them (Bakula being the notable exception, he will always be Dr. Sam Beckett first).

Hopefully this event will be recorded and made available for those of us who can’t make it to London for this rare occasion. If for no other reason than to see what that kooky Avery Brooks will do live on stage.

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