Get ready, Trainers! The 2018 Pokémon Championship Series dates are announced
London, United Kingdom—27 July
The 2018 Pokémon Championship Series season dates and events have been announced, as well as the dates for this year’s Pokémon European International Championships, which will take place at ExCeL London on 17–19 November 2017.
The Pokémon Championship Series is the official competitive program for Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon video game players. The best of the best compete throughout the season to win fantastic prizes and for the chance to be crowned the Pokémon World Champion. Check out the full list of events and tournaments on our official website here: www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-news/battle-in-the-2018-championship-series-season/
POWERCHORD STUDIO and BROWNIES Reveal Launch Date and Gameplay Details Ahead of August 3 Release of JRPG Adventure EGGLIA: Legend of the Redcap
In-depth Trailer Introduces Fans to Turn-based Combat, Resource Management, Village Development and More
Tokyo, Japan – July 27, 2017 – DMM.com Ltd.’s POWERCHORD STUDIO and Brownies Inc. announced today the highly anticipated RPG, EGGLIA: Legend of the Redcap, will launch in Western markets August 3. Ahead of this launch, developers today shared an exceptional new trailer providing an informative look at the various features and mechanics that players can look forward to in the upcoming JRPG adventure. In anticipation of the Western launch on August 3, the Egglia team has also launched an English-language Twitter account at: twitter.com/egglia_en, and a Facebook page at: facebook.com/EGGLIAEnglish.
Players will explore the land of Egglia as a gentle elf named Chabo and will navigate the world via a turn-based RPG system while hunting monsters for experience and gathering resources on a hexagonal grid. Along the way, players will face increasingly difficult battles against a plethora of enemies and must fight their way through using the game’s unique turn-based dice combat system.
Various companions will be met throughout the journey and players will be able to build homes and grow a village for them. These homes can be upgraded and furnished with numerous decorations allowing players to customize and decorate as desired.
As the adventure continues, players will uncover a variety of eggs that can be hatched to unlock different lands of the world of Egglia. Players will explore these new areas and gather materials to upgrade their village and evolve a number of spirit companions that will assist in future battles.
To showcase these gameplay features, POWERCHORD STUDIO and Brownies Inc. have released a gameplay introduction trailer which can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/lvy9zaInb9E.
EGGLIA: Legend of the Redcap, a collaboration between PowercHord Studio and Brownies Inc., is scheduled for release August 3 via the Apple Store and Google Play as a one-time purchase of $9.99, €10.99 and £9.99. For more information about the game please visit: http://EGGLIA.jp/eng/.
About Brownies Inc.
Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Tokyo’s creative Kichijoji neighborhood, Brownies Inc. creates software, merchandise and graphic designs that stay true to the values of Japanese craftsmanship. President and CEO Shinichi Kameoka leads the small company, which has created such games as Seventh Rebirth, Shooting Hero, Fantasy Life Link! and EGGLIA: Legend of the Redcap.
About DMM.com Ltd. / POWERCHORD STUDIO
Established in 1999, DMM.com Ltd. is one of Japan’s top electronic commerce companies, servicing over 40 industries including game development, online shopping, video on demand and more. POWERCHORD STUDIO is a subsidiary of DMM.com, a product development division dedicated to developing captivating content for Japanese and worldwide audiences. In 2013 they launched the hit game Kantai Collection, which has been played by over 2.2 million people. Additional successful launches include EGGLIA: Legend of the Redcap, Over Legend Endless Tower and Dandy Dungeon: Legend of Brave Yamada.
One of Square Enix Collective’s most beloved projects is finally on the cusp of becoming a reality. Re:Legend is a co-operative monster raising RPG where one to four players must work together to rebuild the village at the island of Vokka. Creatures known as Magnus inhabit the lands. Players will collect and raise the Magnus to aid them for travelling, fighting, farming, crafting items, and gathering resources. The developers Magnus Games have cited titles like Rune Factory, Digimon World, Fantasy Life and Monster Rancher as inspirations for Re:Legend.
Developers Magnus Games is looking to raise $70,000 SGD on Kickstarter, which is roughly $51,000 USD or $65,000 AUD in the next 30 days. As of the publishing of this article, they have already managed to draw in pledges for half of their goal. Steam copies of the game start at $30 SGD ($21 USD/$28 AUD) with PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch versions planned as stretch goals.
Along with the start of their crowdfunding campaign, Magnus Games had a massive announcement. The developers have been able to partner with three composers who have an even bigger name on their resumes, Final Fantasy. Shota Nakama (Final Fantasy XV), Yoshitaka Suzuki (Final Fantasy XIII-2, Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, Final Fantasy XV), and Falk Au Yeong (Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII) will be providing the soundtrack for the game. The music will be performed by the Video Game Orchestra.
Epic Games‘ co-op shooter Fortniteis now available as a paid early access title on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Mac, and Windows. While the game is designed to be free to play, the early access period will be limited to those who purchase the $39.99 USD Standard Edition at minimum. More expensive editions are available; containing more loot pinatas, heroes, weapons, and even extra copies to share with friends.
With the game’s launch into early access, Epic has revealed the cast of Fortnite. The player is always accompanied by the robot Ray who is voiced by Ashly Burch (Horizon: Zero Dawn, Life is Strange). Additionally, Phil LaMarr (Samurai Jack), Adria Arjona (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Emerald City), Amy Pemberton (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) and Andrew Kishino (Bulletstorm) also lend their voices to Fortnite.
Fortnite is scheduled to launch as a free to play game in 2018.
Aven Colony is a city building sim from Mothership Entertainment. Players take on the role of a famed governor from Earth who is tasked with setting up the first colonies on Aven Prime. To succeed, players will need to keep colonists happy while contending with the hostile environment full of plague spores, lightning storms, and alien life.
Story
While Aven Colony does not contain a novel’s worth of story, the game has a surprisingly beefy story for a city builder. The campaign follows the conquests of the famed governor from Earth as they establish the first colonies outside of the Solar System. Along the way, players are supported by a team of scientists, bureaucrats, and explorers that will send field reports, request for help, and chat among themselves about the mission and the world of Aven Prime. The dialogue is well written. It moves confidently between humorous moments and more serious notes as dangerous new lifeforms are discovered on the planet. I understand that the expectation for the amount of story content for a city sim’s campaign is quite low, but Aven Colony’s is done so well that I often found myself sitting in campaign missions wishing for more.
Gameplay
Aven Colony is a city builder in the same vein as the modern Tropico and Anno series. Players start off with a small colony with a small bit of housing, storage, and power. While the colony is small, the needs of the colonists are very basic. Colonists need food and water to survive. Buildings need nanites for construction, available power in the grid for maintenance, and workers for production.
Players will soon encounter Aven Colony’s first twist to the city builder genre: winter. Each Sol consists of all four seasons, with winter bringing special penalties. Night will fall on Aven Prime and the weather will drop, causing the power output of all solar panels to halve, farms to stop producing food, and greenhouses to halve its food production. Lightning storms will also randomly occur during winter, damaging any buildings it hits. To compensate for the loss of solar power, batteries and lightning rods can be built to harness some of the power for a short-term boost to the power grid.
As the game progresses, research options open up a variety of processing options that will give colonists new luxuries, defensive options for the colony, and ways to process the native plant species into edible foods and drugs. Of course, as the size of the colony grows, so do the demands of the colonists. Keeping colonists becomes challenging as they will demand a more varied diet, short commutes to work, entertainment, better policing, and consumer goods from home. Failure to please the colonists will result in the player losing the next election and getting the boot.
As if the needs of colonists weren’t challenging enough, Aven Prime’s hostile environment makes every effort to bring disaster to the colony. The beginning of the game is usually limited to lightning strikes and ice storms that can damage buildings. Eventually the game ramps up the environmental difficulty along with the expanding needs of the colonists. Uncapped geothermal vents will belch toxic gas that is sucked into the colony’s air system through open air intake fans. Aven Prime’s native species will begin attacking the colony. Plagues and parasitic spores will damage colonists and buildings, requiring hospitals and scrubber drones on standby to clean up the mess. Automated defense turrets can help shoot down some of the spores, but spores sometimes sneak their way through.
Aven Colony’s controls and UI are excellent. The controls are simple and everything can be accessed with either hotkeys or through the UI. The menus are easy to navigate and are well organized.
Aven Colony has players juggling a few more balls in the air than other city simulators, but it really does not bring anything innovative to the table. Managing Aven Prime’s hostile environments does not require any new game mechanic, just a few extra buildings that need to be placed. The expedition system is a neat mechanic, but does not provide enough of an impact to the game to feel meaningful. While Aven Colony may not be particularly innovative or deep, Mothership Entertainment makes up for a tightly polished experience. The game is well balanced, and the difficulty ramps up at a nice pace.
The campaign mode provides a variety of scenarios that offer different challenges for players. Unfortunately, this is where Aven Colony’s gameplay stumbles the most. Tackling these challenges only requires a slight adjustment to one’s strategy before players can carry on as normal. For example, one scenario placed players in an arctic zone where food was supposed to be nearly impossible to grow, so players were supposed to trade the plentiful minerals to ensure a steady food supply. Instead, it was much easier to simply create a smaller farming colony at the distant temperate spot and ensuring the main colony had a steady food supply. From there, the campaign mission boiled down to completing all the objectives provided until the victory conditions were met.
Visuals
The art style in Aven Colony is excellent. The human colony has a futuristic sterile silver design that contrasts well against the vibrant organic colours of Aven Prime. The art used in the UI is of high quality and matches the game’s aesthetic well.
Aven Colony is built on Unreal Engine 4. The game runs well, but it still exhibits Unreal Engine’s characteristic texture pop. The textures on maximum settings feel a little on the low-resolution side and can be a bit fuzzy at times; however, it does take some pretty close examination to pick it out. I noticed a persistent visual glitch with the Trade Hub building during ship take offs that would result in a flickering case of goods on the landing pad.
Audio
Aven Colony features a solid audio experience. The sound effects are very good, and the soundtrack is an enjoyable listen. The voice acting is fantastic. The quality of acting is easily worthy of a full triple AAA game and made the story a more enjoyable experience.
Overall
Aven Colony is a decent budget city sim. Aven Colony’s campaign could use a deeper challenge, but at least it boasts a good storyline for a city sim. The audio/visual experience is good, though the textures feel a little fuzzy at times. While Aven Colony is probably a bit too shallow for the hard core city builder fan, the game is polished enough that it probably would make for a great game for a newbie looking to get a taste for city building sims without plunging into the deep end or paying for a full priced title. Aven Colony does not have the depth or the content to stand up against its full priced competitors, but its low price point makes the shortcoming a lot more intriguing.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
CLOUDBASE PRIME FULL RELEASE OUT NOW ON PC, MAC AND LINUX
First-Person Action Game Launches Out Of Early Access
LUBBOCK, TX – July 26th, 2017. Independent video game developer Floating Island Games is proud to announce that first-person terrain manipulation game, Cloudbase Prime, has officially launched out of Early Access and is now available as a full release on PC, Mac, and Linux. Pilot a robot suit and get lost in the depths of a gas giant mining operation where things have gone very, very wrong.
Cloudbase Prime boasts levels built of modular terrain that you can move to solve puzzles, block missiles, and launch enemies to their doom. Find new weapons, special ammunition, and powers to upgrade your robot suit. You’ll find ample use for them in fast, bouncy combat and a variety of massive boss fights.
“Cloudbase Prime is a goofy, cartoonish game where you jump a lot and shoot things, but it’s also an ode to how the first-person games of my youth could make me feel real emotion with simple graphics, simple stories, and heart,” commented creator Tyrus Peace. “I hope you enjoy it.”
A 10% launch discount is available to gamers who buy the game during its launch week. Thereafter, the standard edition of Cloudbase Prime will be available for $9.99/€9.99/£7.49. The game is currently available on Steam and Humble Store.
In Cloudbase Prime moving is fun! Launch yourself with terrain to fly high and charge your boost engines. Explore varied levels, plumbing the weird depths of a gas giant’s robotic wilderness. Climb huge robotic trees, swim inside giant jellyfish, and find lost cities in the clouds! The game has a clean, cartoony polygonal style. Players will discover why robots are mutating and acting all murdery via fully animated and voiced in-game story bits.
About Floating Island Games
Floating Island Games is a small dev team composed of Tyrus Peace. Its goal is to make modern games that remind of old feelings while allowing Tyrus to stay home and help raise his family.
TEAM RACING LEAGUE – TEAM-BASED RACING REVS ONTO STEAM FOR 11TH AUGUST 2017 RELEASE (Steam Review Codes Available Now)
A New Experience and online interaction where pure gameplay wins
26 July 2017 – Haarlem, the Netherlands – Holland developer Gamious is pleased to announce 11th August 2017 as the release date of their exciting and dedicated multiplayer, 3 on 3 racer, through the Steam Store http://store.steampowered.com/app/504460. With a price point for this ‘race to the line’ game of $9.99/£6.99/€9.99, fans of this genre will be captivated with this first ever team-based racing game. It leaves no circuits untouched to convey the mechanics and sheer sense of teamwork in a challenge to get to the top of the rankings.
Finishing first with a time to match is just the beginning. Players must master a plethora of skills, ensure on the track focus and total interactive bonding with your team, all of which are supported with great and responsive controls.
Once the action begins, be assigned a team, join the fray and show your mettle..be it 3 against 3, red v blue!
Connect with your teammates’ vehicle to improve their overall speed, and support them with extra boosts. The Co-Driver can also create roadblocks which sabotage your opponents perfect racing line. Torch the blocks of the opposition and their hovercrafts, but be aware: with every ploy or master tactic you undertake, this can always be countered by your rivals. Interacting with your fellow teammates is the key to crossing the finish line first.
With lots of different roles to fulfil in Team Racing League, you can never stop assessing what your team needs the most. Decide to race to the end, support your team mate or troll your opponent. In Team Racing League you can play in the style you want to and be thanked for it.
“Team Racing League has been a massive undertaking for a small company like ours”, said Pim Bouman. “We hope that our new take on the racing/team-based genre will be welcomed by many once it is released on Steam Early Access.”
Features:
Team-based 3v3 racing
Win together, lose together
Team up literally by connecting your hovercraft
Support your teammates with anchor mode, blocks and roadblock
Burn your opponents using flaming hot toasting mechanics
Pure, skill-based racing
Create your own team and rise to the top of the rankings
Team Racing League…. a new and innovative way to compete.
OUT ON STEAM 11TH AUGUST 2017
About Gamious
We are Gamious, a small Dutch game developer, based in Haarlem. We craft original and accessible games with pure gameplay – games we love to play ourselves. Every game we deliver is the result of the collaborative effort of small teams with the right skills, experience and an absolute passion for that specific game genre.
Paragon UFSD for Nucleus Tackles Incompatibility Problems on Embedded Devices, Creating New Opportunities for Device Manufacturers
Full Access to macOS, Linux, Windows File Systems under Nucleus OS
FREIBURG, Germany, July 26, 2017 – Paragon Software Group (PSG), a technology leader in mobile device and embedded system solutions, announces the release of Paragon UFSD for Nucleus, technology that grants instant access to popular macOS, Linux, or Windows-formatted file systems under Nucleus OS. Targeted at embedded systems manufacturers, Paragon UFSD (Universal File Systems Driver) technology delivers interoperability with all popular file systems – FAT, NTFS, exFAT, HFS+, extFS — when integrated into electronic devices.
More than three billion devices throughout the world run today on the Nucleus real-time operating system (RTOS). For data storage, Nucleus OS includes a FAT-compatible file system tailored specifically to embedded applications. Although the Nucleus file system could be used for various applications, other file systems, such as Windows NTFS, exFAT, Mac HFS+, and Linux extFS are more popular and widely used today.
Paragon UFSD for Nucleus provides full support for Windows, macOS, and Linux file systems, opening up new opportunities for embedded system builders, while making their devices compatible, faster, more reliable, and flexible. Embedded developers are no longer limited to obsolete FAT and can now implement any popular file system on resource-constrained, energy-efficient devices that run at low speeds.
Key Features and Benefits:
Maximum interoperability. Full read/write access to FAT, NTFS, exFAT, HFS+, and extFS-formatted volumes under Nucleus OS.
High performance. Paragon’s UFSD technology provides the highest data throughput speeds possible — equivalent to or exceeding native file system performance.
Rock-solid stability. Tested in different configurations to ensure there are no file or volume corruptions.
Support of multiple partitions on a block device. Paragon’s UFSD for Nucleus OS includes functionality for working with several storage partitions at once.
All connection types support. Internal and external storage devices supported: SATA HDD, USB-HDD, SSD, SD cards, etc.
The Universal File System Driver for Nucleus OS is delivered in the form of a binary library, which is linked when the firmware is compiled. Depending on the platform, additional modifications to Nucleus kernel code may be necessary. Since most vendors modify Nucleus OS according to their needs, assistance with integration by Paragon’s team of experts is provided.
Direct Developer Support
To provide optimal performance and successful integration of Paragon’s UFSD technology into embedded devices, the company offers:
An individual approach to each customer;
Quick turnaround with a short lead time;
Deep analysis and review of embedded product from Paragon’s team of experts;
Software and hardware compatibility troubleshooting;
English, German, Russian, and Chinese-speaking engineers on staff.
Paragon’s support and integration engineers will optimize applications under the partner’s system or product parameters and conditions.
Paragon Software Group is an innovative software developer focused on two dynamic growth markets. The company’s comprehensive product line for the data storage market addresses the needs of data security, storage and management for PCs, servers, and networks. A second portfolio of products focuses on mobile productivity applications for handheld devices. Founded in 1994, Paragon Software has offices in the USA, Germany, Japan, Poland, and Russia, delivering its solutions to consumers, small business, and enterprise clients worldwide through a network of Value Added Resellers, distributors, and OEMs as well as online through the company website. Paragon Software provides technology to a host of world-class companies and partners including Belkin, Bosch, Cisco, D-Link, Dell, Toshiba, HP, Western Digital Corp., ASUS, Seagate, LG Electronics, Logitech, Buffalo, Acer, EMC/Iomega, Siemens, Lenovo, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, and ZTE. For more information please visit the company website at www.paragon-software.com
AWAKEN THE POWER OF MEMORY IN LOST SPHEAR AVAILABLE 23rd JANUARY 2018
SYDNEY, 26TH July 2018 – Square Enix Ltd., today announced that, LOST SPHEAR®, the latest title from Tokyo RPG Factory™ will be digitally available on PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Nintendo Switch™ console, and STEAM® across Australia and New Zealand on 23rd January 2018.
LOST SPHEAR expands upon many of the beloved features from the studio’s debut title, I AM SETSUNA, and continues Tokyo RPG Factory’s dedication to blending the nostalgia of classic Japanese role-playing games with the latest technology for a new generation of gamers.
The game is available to pre-order now from the PlayStation® Store and STEAM. Those who pre-order on the PlayStation® Store will receive a “Memoirs of the Moon” dynamic PlayStation®4 theme, as well as two music tracks. Those who pre-order on STEAM will receive a custom LOST SPHEAR wallpaper, as well as two music tracks.
LOST SPHEAR will be available digitally from the PlayStation®Store, Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch, and STEAM® on 23rd January 2018. For more information on LOST SPHEAR, please visit: www.lostsphear.com
Honestly speaking, tactical RPGs were never my cup of tea. Despite that, I have the rule to occasionally get out of my comfort zone and try a different game every once in a while. It served me well so far and made me discover some amazing games in the process. Even though Tower of Time seemed like something I’d usually skip, I decided to go against that impression and ended up being pleasantly surprised.
In my previous article, I mentioned how the devs put some extra effort in graphics as well as level design, amongst other things. After playing Tower of Time during the weekend, I have to say that there are many other segments of the game showcasing the impressive quality being poured into it.
After a short tutorial, we find ourselves in the mystical world of Artara. Taking control of Kane and Maeve, we stumble upon a tower full of ancient knowledge (as well as enemies). Kane is your typical brawler type while Maeve is good with picking enemies off a distance, bow & arrow style. As we explore the depth of the tower, we will find new party members, skills and loads of various treasure. Seriously, despite having only 4 levels in the current stage, the game is filled with so much stuff to discover. Secret passages, optional quests and journals giving us more insight into the history of Artara. What’s interesting about the real-time combat in Tower of Time is that you will only gain some gold, upgrade crystals and equipment after every battle. When it comes to accessing skills and upgrade points, you will have to explore every nook and cranny for blueprints and weapon/armor forges. It is a pretty clever way to entice you more into exploring and eliminate the exp grinding, which is usually the mandatory part in other RPG games.
So far, Event Horizon team has put their money where their mouths are. The graphics are indeed good, so much that one character will stop and comment how beautiful certain waterfall is. Considering the game is still in early access, I can only expect even more improvements on that front. However, what I found particularly impressive is the voice acting during the opening sequence. Shame we only experience it on rare occasions, since whoever was in charge of it did a damn fine job.
We have a couple of difficulty levels available to us when starting the game, ranging from easy to epic. Think of that last one as ultra hard mode, since one wrong step during combat will usually end up in a complete party wipe. There is also a special story mode, that is a bit lighter on difficulty and enemies health/damage. Some combat challenge is still involved there, but the focus is more on following and enjoying the story without the combat giving us too much trouble.
One thing I would like to specifically compliment is outstanding controls. Usually, in these games, I tend to encounter broken waypoints from time to time. You know how sometimes you click on a specific spot to send a character there and (for reasons only known to them) they tend to get all confused, take the longer road or just get stuck in a loop. It is something I encountered in most of the top-down action RPGs. Well, Tower of Time seems to completely devoid of that. Even though it is something I expected, I haven’t encountered a single bug related to character movements and waypoints. It might not seem like a big thing, but considering how common it is in already finished games, I find it impressive how one that is currently in early access seems to be completely devoid of those.
If the current stage of Tower of Time serves as a glimpse of what the finished game will look like, it definitely needs to be on more people’s radars. You have a unique combat system and masterfully crafted environments with a mesmerizing atmosphere. Remember that given the current status of the game, all of that is subject to change – for the better.
Tower of Time is already a special game to me. You see, I have this silly rule when it comes to early access games. Even if I enjoy them in the current stage, I tend to jump into them from time to time, check on the current improvements and still wait for the full release. But then you have Tower of Time who has a crazy amount of content for only 4 levels in the game at the moment, vast areas to explore and an interesting combat system that never makes two battles in the gameplay the same. For the first time ever, I might actually break that rule and play it full time now. I can already say that the game deserves it.
