Being at home during a pandemic forced us to find new ways to entertain ourselves. One of the ways that’s worked best for us is playing games online. So, in that spirit, we’re kicking off a new series at The Flickcast called What We’re Playing. 

Each week we’ll highlight a game we’re playing at home. For the first installment of What We’re Playing, we turn to an old favorite: Dungeons & Dragons. 

D&D was created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and first published in 1974. Since then its popularity grew considerably. Even with a slump in the late 80s and early 90s, D&D is still played by millions of people around the world. That popularity has exploded even more during the last year or two. You can probably guess why.

If you’re not familiar, or have never played, you may wonder “What’s D&D?” For that we turn to Wizards of the Coast, the company who publishes the game. From their official D&D website:

“The core of D&D is storytelling. You and your friends tell a story together, guiding your heroes through quests for treasure, battles with deadly foes, daring rescues, courtly intrigue, and much more.”

Sounds fun, right? Traditionally, D&D is played by a group of friends sitting together at a table. One person is the Dungeon Master, or DM. This person creates and runs the game, spins tales of adventure, plays all non-player characters (or NPCs) and generally is the go-to for all rules and what happens during the campaign.

The players (not the DM) create characters of their own and rollplay them during the game. You can choose from a variety of character occupations including fighter, ranger, rogue or wizard and races such as human, elf, dwarf or halfling. Then, once characters are created, players explore dungeons or ancient ruins, interact with NPCs and creatures like Orcs or Giants and even, yes, fight an actual dragon.

That’s how it’s usually done . . with everyone together around a table. But what if getting together isn’t possible?

Part of what we loved most about the High Moon Studios entry into the Transformers world is that it was the original G1 canon most of us had fallen in love with during our childhood. Wanted to know what happened before Optimus and the crew made it to earth, you got the story finally from Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. But Activision has gone and done something that is not only unexpected but for some of the most hardcore of Transformers G1 fans… unwelcomed.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark will be a part of the G1 Universe but it will also be a part of the Michael Bay movieverse as well, with events taking place before Transformers Age of Extinction. That means that they are doing what could be the absolute worst offense when it comes to G1 territory by combining it with whatever Michael Bay is throwing at the wall this time.

A lot of people say I am too harsh when it comes to the Michael Bay films but after the first one, it just kept getting farther and farther away from the franchise I grew up on into a poorly put together film with sophomoric level comedy forced into it. In Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, we got Grimlock and the rest of his dinobot compatriots but now that could all be washed away because of the new Michael Bayified Grimlock that we were introduced to during the Super Bowl trailer.

With Transformers 4 (aka Age of Extinction), starring Mark Wahlberg and Nicola Peltz, set to hit theaters later this year, it’s time to take a look back at all the Transformers have given us over the years. And what better way to do that than with a video showing every single transformation scene in every Transformers movie. Well, the Michael Bay ones at least.

The video was created by Tunglebrek who gives appropriate accolades to Michael Bay, ILM, Digital Domain and sound designer Erik Aadahl for their great work. And yes, we feel like Tunglebrek probably has quite a bit of free time on his or her hands.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Check out the vid after the break.

It is time to face the facts: My Little Pony is a worldwide phenomenon. The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic from IDW has now sold over 1 million copies in less than one year. The first issue is also the best-selling comic in IDW’s history.

“We have a great relationship with Hasbro, one we’ve always been very proud of, so selling a million copies is a really big deal, but to be able to celebrate the achievement with Hasbro makes it even sweeter, ” said Ted Adams, IDW CEO & Publisher.

In celebration of the milestone, Hasbro and IDW are producing a rare variant cover for issue #12 of the comic, which is due out this month. Only 12 copies of the cover will be available to win through contests and charity auctions.

I had a soft spot for 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and I have a soft spot for this, even with its flaws. If you remember the end of the last film (and never mind if you didn’t), Zartan is impersonating the President of the United States in one step of Cobra Commander’s grand plan for world domination.

I think this is supposed to take place right after the last film, but no matter. All you need to know is that the President is not the real President, and the Joes are not aware of it. They’re busy raiding a nuclear arms facility in Pakistan — a mission devised by Zartan (Arnold Vosloo/Jonathan Pryce) to wipe out the Joes when they call for transport after the mission.

All of them, save for Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki), Roadblock (The Rock), and Flint (D.J. Cotrona) are killed. Fortunately Snake Eyes (Ray Park) is away on another mission training with Jinx (Elodie Yung) and quite possibly the worst actor in the entire film, RZA as the aptly named Blind Master.

There is no shortage of MMO options for the nerds of the world out there. There is fantasy RPG, Star Wars, futuristic shooters and everything else you can imagine. But what might be lacking is robotic car combat. Enter Transformers Universe.

We caught a glimpse for Transformers Universe last year at New York Comic Con but it was only character models. Though originally slated for 2012, we are just getting a first glimpse of gameplay in the new trailer and screens below. From what the trailer shows, Transformers Universe will be getting pushed back until 2013. As with any game delay though, we’d always rather see a game get the polish it deserves rather than be rushed out the door to meet a deadline and end up feeling unfinished or broken.

In the trailer and screens below, we get a first glimpse of the game in action. Character models are a happy medium between the hyper detail “futuristic” look of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and the cartoonish nature of Transformers Prime. Bot on bot combat is shown, both in melee and firefights and there are some great shots of the vehicles going too.

Now it’s no secret that the Flickcast team are fans of the original G1 Transformers as well as Highmoon Studios’ work on the franchise with Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. And when we have all seen the blockbuster abomination from Michael Bay, that doesn’t mean we are closed off to a reimagining of the robots in disguise. Most recently, this has come from Transformers Prime on the Hub network. And with all toy franchises, it was only a matter of time before a new game would be launched for it coming from NowPro.

The Flickcast has shown both the reveal of the game as well as the first gameplay foodtage for Transformers Prime: The Game. Now following the announcement that Transformers Prime: The Game will be a launch window title for the Wii U, we get to take a peek at some of the story for what Optimus and the rest of Team Prime are going to encounter. In the trailer after the jump, a new weapon is revealed that Megatron is intent on powering up to unleash devastation upon the Autobots and the rest of the world.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron has been one of those games that true fans of the franchise can’t get away from. Between its great story and improved gameplay, it has a tight knit grasp on their attention until the big holiday releases start pouring out. And one of the reasons for that is the Dinobots.

In the game, the players take on the role of Grimlock as he makes his way to save Slag, Swoop and Snarl, though sadly Sludge doesn’t get the full attention the others do. Unfortunately, the Dinobots didn’t make their way into the game’s multiplayer at launch. The problem was trying to figure out how the characters would play considering how differently Grimlock controlled than other characters. But when the development team said they figured it out, the Dinobots DLC was created.

There are three total DLC packs shown in the trailer below. The first focuses on some of the game’s classic characters who make appearances. The second, most likely to be the most popular, shows the Dinobots in action. Finally, the third pack crams in G1 skins as well as the Insecticons. Each pack sells for $8.00 for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Check out the full trailer and more detailed list of the included Transformers after the jump.

Two years ago, gamers were greeted with the first true Transformers game. It wasn’t tied into a movie or one of the relaunched tv series. Transformers: War for Cybertron brought players into a third person shooter that is treated as actual G1 Transformers cartoon continuity. Transformers: War for Cybertron captured what nostalgic fans of the series loved about the original 1980’s toy line and show by giving a backstory to the tale that people had already become familiar with. Now, after being interrupted by a Michael Bay movie tie-in, the team over at High Moon Studios is able to continue their piece of the Transformers saga with Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.

Gameplay

As mentioned, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is a third person shooter. Maybe it is the Activision pedigree or the experience that High Moon Studios has had with the franchise but the shooting is much tighter than it felt in the previous Transformers: War for Cybertron, which was already fairly good. There are subtle assists when taking aim but the control scheme, damage system and hit boxes around enemies all feel reasonable.

At Comic Con, The Flickcast got to get hands-on with Transformers: Fall of Cybertron’s multiplayer. Sadly we didn’t have the opportunity to bring you video from the event and show you what the latest version of Transformers multiplayer was bringing to the table. Someone at High Moon Studios must have seen our enthusiasm for the game because the new multiplayer trailer has been made available to the public for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron.

In the last Transformers: War for Cybertron, players were able to customize their character for multiplayer. Now, they are given tons more options to help give their own personality to one of four player classes including the Medic or the Titan. Everything from weapon choices to color schemes to tons of different armor pieces or heads to give a wider variety of bots on screen at once.

At launch, there will be 10 multiplayer maps (including one seen in the trailer after the jump which features a destroyed Metroplex-sized bot).

Players will also be able to receive a G1 Retro pack with a preorder from Gamestop.

Take a look below at a plethora of screen shots of the multiplayer as well as the full trailer. Stick to the Flickcast for more news and an upcoming review on Transformers: Fall of Cybertron due out for XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 on August 21st.