The Flickcast

‘Grand Theft Auto Online’ Leaves Me Without Comment

Posted on October 2, 2013

Originally the plan was going to be to come home from the office a little earlier than usual, hop on GTA Online and then when I finally had enough, watch Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. while passing out for the night. Luckily, work got in the way and I wasn’t able to leave early as I saw Twitter exploding with #GTAOnline and #GTAProblems along with not very positive feedback. There was no way it could be that bad, right?

I hop on, choose four random grandparents that result in a character that actually look somewhat like me (and according to this equation, I am 1/4 black which is unexpected) and sign into the game server. Well, I attempted to sign on to the game server. It ended up taking three tries before I finally got in. Once finally in the game, I got the intro cut scene with tutorial messages as a familiar face drove me to the first mission. As I stepped into the first mission, the game got stuck on a “Searching for player” screen that I couldn’t exit. Start, Back, B. All of the go to buttons did nothing. So I hit the home button and went back out to the dashboard and restarted the whole game.

TV RECAP: ‘Once Upon a Time’ – Ep. 301: ‘Heart of the Truest Believer’

Posted on October 1, 2013

Hey Oncers, it’s finally that time again. Let’s get started.

We begin with a flashback to Henry’s birth, which is emotional and painful (for viewers and for Emma). At least Jennifer Morrison has plenty of experience with this kind of thing. Emma doesn’t even want to hold baby Henry but just wait 11 years Chosen One and you’ll be falling through a magic portal on board a pirate ship to rescue your son from Peter Pan.

That’s where we pick up in present day, with the Jolly Roger splashing into Neverland waters. Meanwhile the boy in question lands in the sand with Greg and Tamara in tow. Henry tells the annoying duo that both of his moms and all of his extended family are coming to find him. Greg and Tamara are unimpressed, which makes sense since this same top notch family were unable to prevent them from easily taking the kid in the first place.

They try to phone the home office but their communicator is chock full of sand. Henry switches tactics and plants seeds of doubt regarding this mysterious “home office.” Greg doesn’t take the bait but Tamara isn’t so sure. Her suspicions are confirmed when they run into the Lost Boys, who apparently are the home office.

Monday Freeview: ‘iFruit’ for iOS

Posted on September 30, 2013

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.

TV RECAP: ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ – Episode 101: ‘Pilot’

Posted on September 27, 2013

I will apologize in advance if I do not pick up on certain nuances in the series that pull from the comics. My exposure to this series is just from the movies. Any comments or explanations of points I have missed or misinterpreted are greatly appreciated.

An unemployed single dad is on the street with his son when a nearby building explodes. The man goes to see if anyone needs help, and we discover that he has super powers. He saves a woman from the blaze, and is captured on a camera phone. Of course all of these people are filming a burning exploded building, and this man is the only one who actually does anything to help.

In Paris, Grant Ward is on a mission to retrieve something called (as best as I could understand it) a shitari neurolink. A hacker group known as Rising Tide has leaked the coordinates of his target, so he must work to get there before others do. He completes the mission, but is brought in to see Agent Maria Hill. She wants him to work with Agent Phil Coulson, who we all believe to have died. Phil reveals himself, and confesses that while he did technically die for a matter of seconds, his “death” served as great motivation for the rest of the Avengers.

‘Batman: Arkham Origins’ Season Pass Details Announced

Posted on September 27, 2013

With Batman: Arkham Origins just around the corner, it was kind of a shock to hear about a season pass for the title. Traditionally, the format of the Arkham games didn’t lend themselves to enough DLC to warrant a season pass. When you finally read what you get for this $20 price tag and is also claimed to be a $30 value, it really doesn’t feel worth investing another 50% of the game’s original price for this extra content.

TV RECAP: ‘Sleepy Hollow’ – Episode 102: ‘Blood Moon’

Posted on September 25, 2013

This episode opens with Ichabod running from the headless horseman in the woods. It seems quite apparent that this is a dream when the other three horsemen join in the chase. Crane is cornered, and some vines entangle and trap him. Rather than holding him at bay for the horsemen, he falls through the earth into a cave.

His wife Katrina is there, and tells him they are safe for now. But, the horsemen will unleash the apocalypse, as well as an army of evil that will make way for the horsemen’s arrival. The first of the dark spirits will rise with the blood moon, and she “is one of us”. At this point I felt like I was watching Disney’s A Christmas Carol, and was waiting for Crane to say “Well can’t they just all visit me at one time and get it over with?”

As was expected, this was a dream, and Crane wakes up in a hotel room. He tries to leave, but the officer posted at his door will not let him, and makes him wait for Abbie to arrive.

Taco Bell to Give Away PlayStation 4’s Early + ‘Knack’ Hands On

Posted on September 24, 2013

Announced earlier today, Taco Bell is entering into a partnership with Sony for the launch of the PlayStation 4. To help promote the launch, for a limited time Taco Bell customers will be able to input a code into the Crack The Code portal from select Taco Bell items where they can will a PlayStation 4. These giveaways will happen every fifteen minutes which means almost 100 PlayStation 4’s a day will be given away. Even more exciting though is that the PlayStation 4’s will arrive to winners BEFORE the PlayStation 4 releases to the public.

Late last week, I was invited to come down to Taco Bell HQ where I found out this awesome info and along with some top digital influencers, we also got to try out some new items coming soon to Taco Bell stores. Included in that was the Triple Steak Melt (though we only got a half sized portion. But what stood out the most was the new Nacho Wrap which has the Fiery Doritos inside. While I am not a regular at Taco Bell, this one was damn good and I will probably be stopping in to get it occasionally to pick one up.

Take a Behind the Scenes Look on ‘Skylanders SWAP Force’

Posted on September 23, 2013

Right now, I am counting down the days until my savings account basically becomes non-existent. On one side, I have a new console generation so there goes a few hundred bucks instantly. On the other, we have the next version of Skylanders with the largest launch lineup of new characters since the game’s inception in Skylanders SWAP Force. In other words, “Goodbye monies.” But I can’t complain. I am the one choosing to buy them after all. But of course, Vicarious Visions can’t help but make the wait and anticipation worse by showing off the new characters.

Skylanders SWAP Force will take place in a new location called the Cloudbreak Islands. Here, there is some mystical volcano that erupts every hundred years and this is the source of the SWAP Force’s SWAP ability. Back to his old habits is the series’ antagonist Kaos. But this time he isn’t alone as he is accompanied by his mom. Because if there is one thing more intimidating than a horrible wizard, it is one that needs to bring his mom to a fight.

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