The Flickcast

‘The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks’ Hands On First Impressions

Posted on October 21, 2009

The_Legend_of_Zelda_Spirit_Tracks_box_art 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.

Joe Quesada Talks ‘Captain America’ At Big Apple Comic Con

Posted on October 21, 2009

Marvel’s chief fanboy, Joe Quesada, was at this year’s Big Apple Comic-Con to talk about what’s going on in the Marvel universe. With the recent accusation of Marvel by Disney it’s hard to deny the company’s success. So, just how does Marvel continue to compete against DC it’s competitors? According to Quesada, “The way we differentiate ourselves is by not sucking.”

Yes, you read that correctly. Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief claims “not sucking” is a sound business strategy. Okay, I can’t argue that point. From a business perspective not sucking, or at the very least sucking less then your competition, should be somewhere in the business plan and/or mission statement.

Unfortunately for Quesada, someone at Marvel hasn’t read said business plan. If they had we, the fans, would not have been forced to endure Ghost Rider, either Fantastic Four film or the trilogy of reboots that was The Punisher, The Punisher and The Punisher: War Zone. Quesada should probably send out a memo to the staff regarding his suck less initiative just as a reminder.

‘Legend of Neil’ Gets a Season 2 Finale

Posted on October 21, 2009

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!

Queen to Rock You LEGO Rock Band Style!

Posted on October 21, 2009

Queen Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and MTV Games recently announced that members of Queen Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor will appear in LEGO Rock Band! The band members will be seen rocking out LEGO style during the in-game performances of “We Are The Champions” and “We Will Rock You.”

Guitarist Brian May said about his band’s appearance in the game: “This is IT! I wanna play! When do I get my toy LEGO man?”

Queen’s rock pack for the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content was just released, featuring 10 of the band’s greatest hits including “Killer Queen,” “Somebody to Love,” “Fat Bottomed Girls” and “Under Pressure.” In addition, Queen will release Absolute Greatest on Nov. 17, featuring 20 of the band’s biggest hits.

Lego Rock Band will be coming to your Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo DS consoles this holiday season.

Marc Guggenheim Leaving ‘FlashForward’

Posted on October 21, 2009

marc-guggenheim Add another change of TV show leadership to the list that already includes CBS’s The Good Wife as, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Marc Guggenheim is stepping down as showrunner on ABC’s first season drama FlashForward. Even though the show recently got an order for 9 more episodes (what is known as the “back nine” in TV production) it will be David Goyer taking the helm from here on out.

According to the trade, reasons for Guggenheim’s departure are not clear. But what is clear is that the show, in spite of good ratings for its debut, has since slipped. For adults 18-49 the show had a 4.1 rating at its premiere and dropped to a 3.1 for its fourth episode. Not the way they hope numbers will go.

Initially, Guggenheim had been brought in after the pilot to replace FlashForward‘s co-creator Brannon Braga, who also co-created and ran Star Trek: Enterprise and Threshold, due to his departure to run the latest season of Fox’s 24. Goyer had worked alongside Guggenheim since that point to learn the ropes and will now step up for the next nine episodes.

To be honest, its not that unusual for showrunners to leave shows and go on to something else. It happens. Still, you have to wonder if the ratings had remained consistent, would we even be talking about this at all? My guess, probably not.

FlashForward airs Thursday at 8/7C on ABC.

‘New Super Mario Bros. Wii’ Hands On First Impressions

Posted on October 20, 2009

super-mario-brothers

At this weekend’s Big Apple Con in New York City, I got a chance to spend a few minutes with New Super Mario Bros. Wii. A sequel to 2006’s New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS, this game will be the first game in the Mario series to feature simultaneous multiplayer gameplay since Mario Bros.

The game performs much like Super Paper Mario did. The Wiimote is held sideways, and you control Mario, Luigi, or Toad with the directional buttons. Simple things like jumping or attacking are performed using the buttons, while more complicated things like Luigi’s spin attack are performed by shaking the Wiimote. Overall, the controls were familiar and easy, and I never found them frustrating. Graphic wise, this game looks exactly like New Super Mario Bros. but performs well on the Wii.

All the reading I’d done about this game told me that New Super Mario Bros. Wii is a cooperative side scrolling multiplayer. But after myself and a fellow Flickcast contributor were handed our Wiimotes and told how to play, what ensued was an all-out battle. We fought over mushrooms, power ups like the Propeller Suit, coins, and reaching the end of the level. We trapped eachother against walls and ran eachother into enemies.

This was a frustrating and unexpected aspect of the game. As much as you do need the other player to reach the end of the game, it can become a contest to see who will end up with the most points at the end of the level, or who can frustrate eachother the most.

You’ll be able to get your hands on New Super Mario Bros. Wii November 15th.

Apple Redesigns iMac and MacBook, Refreshes Mac Mini

Posted on October 20, 2009

omgthenewimacsarenice

Apple announced new models of the iMac desktops and MacBook laptops earlier today, much to the joy of Apple enthusiasts everywhere. The new iMacs, according to TUAW, are changing from aluminum and polycarbon design to aluminum and edge-to-edge glass. They will come in 21.5 and 27-inch models, now with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

The 21.5-inch model will cost $1,199, with a step-up model at $1,499. The 27-incher will start at $1,699 and the higher end 27-inch with a Intel Core i5 quad-core processor will be $1,999. Important changes to the iMac models are the addition of an SD card slot and the ability to use the 27-inch iMac as a monitor.

Inside the iMac box, you’ll now find a wireless keyboard and the new Magic Mouse. The Magic Mouse is pretty cool, as it functions similar to the MacBook Pro touch pad with touch sensitive capabilities and accelerated scrolling. For $16 extra, you’ll also get an aluminum Apple Remote.

Apple’s new MacBook laptop is rounder and sleeker at 1.08 inches thick and weighing in at 4.7 pounds. Now sporting a glass trackpad like the Macbook Pros, the MacBook also features a seven hour battery life, an LED-backlit screen, backlit keyboard, and SD card slot. Despite these upgrades, Apple is still keeping the Macbook, with a 2.26Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM, at $999.

Apple also refreshed its Mac mini line to include more memory, larger hard drives and with a special “Server” version featuring dual 500GB hard drives and Snow Leopard Server. All of these models will be available today except for the 27-inch i5 quad-core iMac, which will ship in November.

New on DVD This Week

Posted on October 20, 2009

blood-the-last-vampire-movie

Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows such as Blood: The Last Vampire, Easy Rider and the first seasons of Hawaii Five-O and Vega$. Plus, I think some movie with lots of robots, explosions and Megan Fox also came out this week as well.

Check them out.

Movies

Blood: The Last Vampire ~ Michael Byrne, Constantine Gregory, Yasuaki Kurata (DVD and Blu-ray)

Cheri ~ Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Friend, Kathy Bates (DVD – 2009)

Easy Rider ~ Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson (Blu-ray)

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