After teasing the localization yesterday Koei Tecmo made it official today by announcing that they are going to be bringing Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book to the West and will be releasing it on June 7th in North America and June 10th in Europe. The title will be available physically and digitally for the PlayStation 4 and digitally only on the PS Vita while the PlayStation 3 version of the game will remain Japanese exclusive.
Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book is set against a vibrant background reminiscent of a medieval European town, the Atelier series’ latest standalone installment follows the exploits of a young novice Alchemist, Sophie, who discovers she is the owner of an enigmatic book imbued with a soul. This Mysterious Book seems to hold all the secrets to the art of Alchemy, even going on to become Sophie’s mentor. As Sophie improves her Alchemy skills throughout the story she unravels forgotten memories, and eventually sets out to uncover the strange tale of the book’s origin.
NIS America will be handling the limited edition version of the game that will be priced at $99.99 and include:
PS4 version of Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book
2-disc original soundtrack featuring 38 tracks of original music from the game
48-page hardcover art book, including illustrations and sketches of the characters, creatures, and background art of the game
Two new videos for Bandai Namco‘s One Piece: Burning Blood have been released and the focus this time around happens to be on two newly confirmed playable characters, Shanks and Koala. V Jump has posted two videos, nearly ten minutes in length, going into a decent amount of detail showing off both of these fighters.
You can check out the videos below and as for the game itself, One Piece: Burning Blood is set to be released on the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita in Japan on April 21st and on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PS Vita in North America on May 31st and Europe on June 3rd with a PC version arriving sometime in June.
A number of new screenshots for Koei Tecmo‘s Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 have been released thanks to a new preview for the game and the majority of these screenshots focus on showing off the most popular character, at least as far as polls go, Marie Rose. The screenshots show off character communication, a number of the side activities that players can take part in such as volleyball, rock climbing, pool hopping, and more, as well as owner mode. The company also released a trailer showing off the PS Vita version of the game.
You can check out the video below and as for the game itself, Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 is set to be released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan on March 24th and the Asian release, featuring English subtitles, can be pre-ordered through Play-Asia.
The series’ director Kazutaka Kodoka has announced that a brand new trailer for Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak Academy will be debuting next Saturday on March 26th. The trailer will be shown on television in Japan but will likely be appearing online shortly after.
3月26日午前11時から新宿アルタビジョン、そして道頓堀トンボリステーションにて、アニメ「ダンガンロンパ３ The end of 希望ヶ峰学園」の最新ＰＶを放映します！驚きの発表があるので、みんな集合だぁぁ！ ♯ダンガンロンパ
It has also been revealed that a new character that will be appearing in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak Academy will be revealed in next week’s issue of Weekly Famitsu. For those who haven’t been following Danganronpa 3, this serves as a conclusion to the core storyline of the series and the creators of the series have stated that the best way to close out the storyline is through an anime adaptation and not a game, though a new game is in the works.
Square Enix has held numerous live streams for Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness in Japan but now that the PlayStation 4 version of the title will be released in that country next week, it is time for Square Enix’s Western branch to step things up a bit.
As such the company has announced that they will be holding the first English “Star Log” live stream for Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness on March 21 at 4:00 p.m. PT / 7:00 p.m. ET. The stream will be held both on YouTube and Twitch so potential viewers have at least a couple of options to choose from.
Racers Head To The Track In DiRT Rally To Take On The Best And Rise To The Top Of The DiRT Community
Larkspur, Calif., March 18, 2016 – Today Deep Silver and Codemasters released the DiRT Rally® multiplayer trailer ahead of the game’s release on PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One on April 5, 2016. The video is available to watch now at https://youtu.be/rb7A4av_1hA.
Competition lies at the heart of the DiRT Rally experience – gamers can create online events or join leagues, climb the global leaderboards or participate in multiplayer FIA World Rallycross racing.
DiRT Rally allows gamers to take to the track in exclusive officially licensed FIA World Rallycross multiplayer races, where up to eight players can experience the breathless thrills of bumper-to-bumper racing in some of the world’s fastest off-road cars.
DiRT Rally’s online events are one-shot chances for players to test themselves against the best drivers in the world and claim bragging rights as well as in-game currency. Daily Events require nailing a stage selected by the DiRT team – mess up and the opportunity is lost. The Weekly Events, meanwhile, require players to complete all available stages in a rally location, while Monthly Events are a marathon-like test of endurance and skill over 24 stages. Only the brave need apply.
Players can also take advantage of DiRT Rally’s league system to compete with friends and rivals. Hosted on dirtgame.com, gamers can create their own leagues or join one of the thousands already created by the vibrant DiRT community. League events are fully customizable without restriction on the number of leagues each player can be a member of, so there’s never a lack of a fresh challenge in DiRT Rally.
DiRT Rally is now available on Steam and will be powersliding onto PlayStation 4, Xbox One and on April 5, 2016. The DiRT Rally Legend Edition for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is available to pre-order now. The DiRT Rally Legend Edition includes both the Fully Loaded MINI Pack and Fully Loaded Ford Pack, which unlocks and fully upgrades the MINI Cooper S and Ford Escort MK2 from the start of the game, gives an exclusive livery for the cars and provides a unique team mechanic with perks.
Gamers pre-ordering the digital edition of DiRT Rally will receive the Fully Loaded Rallycross Pack, which unlocks the Mini Classic Rallycross and provides the same benefits as the other packs.
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About DiRT Rally DiRT Rally is the most authentic and thrilling rally game ever made, road-tested over 80 million miles by the DiRT community. It perfectly captures that white knuckle feeling of racing on the edge as you hurtle along dangerous roads at breakneck speed, knowing that one crash could irreparably harm your stage time.
Every stage tests you differently, as you race on the edge of control across snow, ice, tarmac and dirt and tackle a variety of weather types. As the car suffers attrition and stages string together, your dedicated rally team tries to keep you competitive and each rally becomes a marathon-like test of concentration and skill.
DiRT Rally also includes officially licensed World Rallycross content, allowing you to experience the breathless, high-speed thrills of some of the world’s fastest off-road cars as you trade paint with other drivers at some of the series’ best-loved circuits, in both singleplayer and high-intensity multiplayer races.
About Codemasters
Codemasters, the award winning video game developer and publisher, has a 30-year heritage. With titles distributed globally, Codemasters is a leading developer and publisher of driving and racing entertainment games including DiRT, GRID and the official BAFTA award-winning FORMULA 1 series of videogames. Since March 2010, Reliance Big Entertainment Ltd. (RBEL), a part of India’s Reliance ADA group, has been the principal shareholder (60%), alongside existing investor, Balderton Capital, the leading European venture capital firm. For more information on Codemasters’ product portfolio, please visit www.codemasters.com. Join in the conversation with @codemasters on Twitter or Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/codemasters.
About Deep Silver
Deep Silver develops and publishes interactive games for all platforms, seeking to deliver top-quality products that provide immersive game experiences driven by the desires of the gaming community. The company has published more than 200 games worldwide since 2003, including the best-selling zombie action Dead Island(TM) franchise, the critically-acclaimed Metro(TM): Last Light and the smash hit action adventure Saints Row IV(TM). Deep Silver is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Media, GmbH, and also owns the development studios Deep Silver Fishlabs in Hamburg, Germany, Deep Silver Volition based in Champaign, IL, USA, and Deep Silver Dambuster Studios in Nottingham, UK. For more information please visit www.deepsilver.com.
“PlayStation”, “PLAYSTATION” and “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Trademarks are property of their respective owners.
KOEI TECMO EUROPE ANNOUNCES UPCOMING RELEASE OF ATELIER SOPHIE: THE ALCHEMIST OF THE MYSTERIOUS BOOK
Celebrated Atelier series from GUST to debut on the PlayStation®4 this summer! Limited edition details unveiled!
Hertfordshire, 18th March 2016- Koei Tecmo proudly announced today the upcoming launch of Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, and digitally for the PlayStation®Vita handheld system on 10th June 2016. This is the debut of the long-running Atelier series on the PlayStation®4 and it marks a new beginning for GUST’s popular RPG brand.
Set against a vibrant background reminiscent of a medieval European town the Atelier series’ 17th instalment follows the exploits of a young novice Alchemist who discovers she is the owner of an enigmatic volume imbued with a soul. This Mysterious Book seems to hold all the secrets to the art of Alchemy knowledge and it goes on to become Sophie’s mentor. As Sophie improves her Alchemy skills throughout the story she unravels forgotten memories, and eventually sets out to uncover the strange tale of the book’s origin.
The development team at GUST consider this title ‘the new standard for the Atelier series’ as they have poured all their creativity into rebuilding the series’ signature Alchemy system from the ground up and into crafting a visually stunning world full of well-rounded characters and beautiful illustrations. In a series first, there are two key illustrators involved in the making of Atelier Sophie, NOCO and Yuugen. Their distinctive work brings the in-game world to life and creates a dynamic environment where time, weather, and relationships play a key role in the adventures of the young new Alchemist and her trusted allies.
To commemorate the announcement of Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book, Koei Tecmo released a first batch of assets illustrating the game’s key characters and background art. A teaser trailer going through the series’ history and introducing the key features of this exciting and mysterious new chapter of the Atelier brand has also been released and can be accessed here.
Finally, Koei Tecmo Europe is pleased to announce the release of a limited edition box, available exclusively through the NIS America Europe Online Store! This collector-must-have box will include:
~ PS4 version of Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book
~ 2 Disc Original Soundtrack featuring 38 tracks of original music from the game
~ 48-page hardcover art book, including illustrations and sketches of the characters, creatures, and background art of the game.
~ Set of 5 5″ x 7″ beautiful mini art prints
~ 40″ x 26.8″ cloth poster
Pre-orders for the limited edition will go live on the 22nd March 2016 at 12pm GMT and can be accessed here.
KOEI TECMO EUROPE LTD. is a publisher of interactive entertainment software for current generation consoles, handhelds and digital download content based in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, UK. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of KOEI TECMO HOLDINGS CO., LTD., headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. TECMO is best known for the Dead or Alive® and Ninja Gaiden®series. KOEI is best known for its Dynasty Warriors® and Samurai Warriors® franchises. On April 1, 2009, KOEI TECMO HOLDINGS CO., LTD was established as a result of the TECMO, LTD. and KOEI Co., Ltd. merger. More information about KOEI TECMO EUROPE LTD and its products can be found at www.koeitecmoeurope.com
The “PS” Family logo, “PS4” and “PSVITA” logo are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
All news surrounding the unique genre-mix at GDC 2016 in San Francisco
the stories of the ‘Arabian Nights’ can be discovered at the GDC 2016: Together with it Matters Games, Daedalic Entertainment shares the most recent news of their trade and exploration game Caravan.
Caravan, already scheduled for release in Q2 2016, first and foremost convinces through its authenticity: regional folklore, the famous stories of the ‘Arabian Nights’, and actual geographic properties and backgrounds of the Orient all were essential elements of the game’s development. At this year’s GDC, Daedalic Entertainment presents a new and fully playable version of the desert adventure.
Caravan will be released in Q2 2016 for PC, Mac and Linux.
About Caravan:
Caravan is a trading and exploration game with strategy, trade and RPG elements that tells an exciting story. The player controls a caravan in the pre-medieval Orient and travels to the various towns of the Arabic peninsula. During those travels, the caravan will steadily grow, as it acquires more members, heroes and camels over time. Along their path, the people of the caravan will face danger, adventure, tempting business opportunities and vicious combat.
World and setting are based on geography and history of the Orient. The player manages all important resources, like water, provisions and the caravan’s animals. It’s also their responsibility to keep an eye out for profitable business and buy and sell resources.
It’s an individual story with a lot of player agency in a balanced genre mix sprinkled with captivating folklore, mystical elements of the ‘Arabian Nights’ and authentic backgrounds. For further information, take a look at the presskit.
Features:
Genre-Mix: diverse gaming experience through a mix of strategy, trade, and RPG elements
Players manage their own caravan
Setting based on history and geography of the Orient
Cultural authenticity through regional folklore and stories of the ‘Arabian Nights’
About Daedalic Entertainment
Daedalic Entertainment, based in Hamburg, publishes and develops computer and video games for all platforms. The studio focuses on interactive literature and character and narrative-driven games like adventures and RPGs. Daedalic Entertainment has a staff of more than 140 employees, including the Writer’s Room, a team of writers unique to the German media industry.
Since May 2014, Daedalic Entertainment is part of the Bastei Lübbe group of companies. In August 2014 the studio also established Daedalic Entertainment West, based in Düsseldorf. The studio’s first project is the Space Exploration RPG The Long Journey Home.
With titles like Goodbye Deponia, Daedalic won the German Developer Award 21 times („Studio of the Year“ 2009 and 2013, among others). With Chaos on Deponia the studio from Hamburg won the German Games Award for “Best German Game 2013”.
Daedalic Entertainment is also the six-time winner of the German Video Game Award and the European Games Award.
Titles like Silence, The Devil’s Men and Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth show Daedalic’s desire to raise the bar higher for the whole adventure genre. Blackguards has likewise earned it a place among RPG creators. As a publisher, the studio is also known for releasing unique and outstanding titles like Divinity: Original Sin, Valhalla Hills and Bounty Train. www.daedalic.com www.facebook.com/daedalic twitter.com/daedalic
About it Matters Games
It Matters Games is a developing studio founded in October 2011 by Jens Kortboyer and Hendrik Lesser. Since its first days, the studio is part of Europe’s leading game developers association, the remote control productions family.
The young team aims to create games with a unique style and solid, well established gameplay, that have a touch of real life to them.
Since the studio’s foundation, it Matters Games has developed various games with high quality partners. Among those games are the popular mobile game ‘Dog Hotel’ with more than 74 million players, as well as ‘Sidekick Cycle’, a downhill bicycle game, reknown for its charity background. www.itmattersgames.com on.fb.me/24mlA2K
New Physics Puzzler Invites Players To Help Splatts Find 101 Ways To Die
Maim, Tear, Burn, Explode, Impale, Repeat: Darkly Comic Game Launches for Xbox One, PC & PS4; New Launch Trailer Showcases the Murderous Mayhem
London – 18 March, 2016 – Vision Games Publishing today announced101 Ways to Die, the latest game from UK indie developer, Four Door Lemon, is now available for Xbox One and PC and will hit PlayStation® 4 next week, on Tuesday, March 22. The game is priced at £10.99/$14.99/€14.99 on all platforms.
A dark, hilarious physics-based puzzler, 101 Ways to Die casts players as the assistant to the morally corrupt Professor Ernst Splatunfuder, who they must help recreate ‘101 Ways To Die’ – a book full of delightfully gory death recipes.
By utilising a variety of madcap and deadly implements, players must find the most violent and brutal ways to maim, slice, burn, explode, rip and impale lab-created creatures known as Splatts. Whatever you do, don’t let them escape!
A brand-new launch trailer showcases just a few of the many maniacal ways players can maim, mash and mutilate the Splatts. Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sveuIhd7GuE
Key Features
Manipulate the environment to kill the Splatts before they escape
Create mutilation, mayhem and destruction by laying down fiendish combinations of tools
A series of bone-crunching animations show your creatures being maimed, sliced, burned, exploded, ripped and impaled
101 delightfully gory death recipes to unlock
Over 50 blood-soaked levels
“As much twisted enjoyment as we had creating all the death recipes in the game, we think players will have even more fun exploring all the clever ways they can find to kill the hapless Splatts,” said Simon Barratt, Producer at Standfast Interactive. “Professor Splatunfuder’s lab is now open for business—let the killing commence!”
For more information head on over to the official website over at http://101waystodiegame.com/ and remember, it’s not just about killing… it’s about killing in style!
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About Vision Games Publishing
Vision Games Publishing is the publishing arm of Standfast Vision, a Guernsey based investment fund for video games, investing across genres, business models and gaming platforms. Vision Games Publishing offers sales, marketing and production assistance, working closely with developers to help take their game to market.
Overview Often when a light novel series becomes popular enough it is given an extra push with an anime adaptation and usually this is done in an effort to help drive sales for the source material even higher. The problem with this is that sometimes anime viewers are occasionally left in the dark when it comes to certain aspects. Invaders of the Rokujyoma!? currently sits at twenty one volumes in length and with Sentai Filmworks releasing the anime adaptation in the West, what can fans expect?
Story High school student Kotaro Satomi finds himself an incredible deal on an apartment in the Corona House apartment complex that he must move into after his father is transferred to an unknown location. At 5,000 yen a month for a room suitable enough for a single guy, this type of luck doesn’t come every day so Kataro manages to sleep incredibly soundly after moving in despite his friend saying the room is rumored to be haunted.
While working at a side-job to earn a bit of money, Kotaro hears a strange woman’s voice and after falling through a large hole in the ground, discovers a strange shrine with an unknown woman saying she has been waiting for him. This all is forgotten rather quickly when Kotaro comes to and is told that he simply hit his head while working and is lucky that all he has is a bruise. The only problem is, once he returns to his too good to be true apartment, an invader has already found its way inside.
A strange girl named Sanari is inside of his room and talking about kicking him out. Eager to free himself of any burden, Kotaro quickly removes her from the premises. The only problem is, Sanari travels right through the doorway and back into the apartment, revealing herself to be a ghost capable of traveling through objects, possessing people, and manipulating fire. After quarreling with this teenage ghost who has been living in the apartment for as long as she can remember, the pair are interrupted by another girl flying a staff through the window.
Claiming herself to be a magical girl and seen by the others as an enthusiastic cosplayer, the girl named Yurika states that she must protect the room from anyone evil due to the high magical power found within it. Things continue to spiral out of control when Kiriha, a large breasted shrine priestess styled girl appears from beneath the floor.
Hailing from a race that has lived underground for thousands of years, Kiriha wishes to claim the room as a launching pad for their invasion of the surface world. While still reeling from that announcement, a symbol appears on the wall and a girl named Theiamillis from a futuristic alien world arrives, nearly destroys the planet in anger after being called flat-chested before being reprimanded by her ally, and states that she must make the resident of the location swear loyalty to her in order to complete her rite of passage.
After an ensuing brawl that draws the ire of the landlord, yet another strange girl who attends Kotaro’s school, the entire group is forced to sign a pact of non-aggression. Instead they will compete in various games in order to earn shares of the room, with those that lose all of their points dropping out of the competition. Things begin simple as card games but escalate into athletic competitions and more.
That being said, the competition aspect quickly starts to lose focus in Invaders of the Rokujyoma!? once the characters begin to grow more accustomed to one another and become friends. If the character introductions there sounded quick it is due to the fact that they are all quickly introduced in the first episode in an effort to spend as much time as possible giving viewers time to see how they interact with one another as well as give each girl a pair of episodes to shine on her own in some fashion.
This helps flesh out the cast of characters that initially come off as rather one-sided and allows certain girls, especially in Yurika and Kiriha’s arcs, to develop far more than viewers thought possible, especially with the comedic role that Yurika finds herself stuck into almost immediately since no one ever believes her about being a magical girl. In fact, by building up these characters the way that they are, watching through the series a second time and catching various aspects that may have been missed the first time around is something of a delight.
Unfortunately when it comes to Kotaro, viewers are left with many questions about him as his past is barely touched upon despite being referenced often enough as well as numerous hints that this is far from the first time he has met some of these girls before. Even when the apparent reveal of certain aspects about Kotaro’s characters come to light in the last episode viewers are left with even more questions than before.
I’m not saying that Invaders of the Rokujyoma!? is a bad series due to this, as the character interactions in this series are absolutely hilarious, a few of the characters are extremely memorable due to their personalities, and there are even a number of fight scenes scattered throughout to keep things feeling fresh. This creates a comedic harem series that really helps stand on its own; especially due to the rather unique way everything is established and developed. However those looking for something a satisfying payoff at the end will be left with numerous questions about the main character, certain origins of other characters, and more.
Visuals The animation found throughout the series can best be described as a bit on the simplistic side for backgrounds and colorful for the characters. Every girl has a unique enough character design and thanks to their various special backgrounds have special abilities that they often use, either in combat or for comedic purposes and these special effects are handled quite well.
Despite being a harem anime, the fan service is incredibly tame to the point of being nearly non-existent outside of a standard beach episode and a few panty shots but considering the tone of the anime is more about comedy and developing bonds between the group members while they still put on a façade of fighting for the room this is for the best.
Audio Sentai Filmworks has chosen to release Invaders of the Rokujyoma!? with only the original Japanese voice track and this works well enough primarily due to a Yurika, Theia, and Sanae’s voice actresses really helping deliver on their character’s personalities to the point that I don’t believe, at least in Yurika’s case, would have been easy to replicate in English.
The soundtrack for the series is fitting enough with a decent mix of background music used to fit the various themes but the real highlights are the opening and ending themes. The opening theme “Koukan win-win Mujouken” is sung by the female voice actresses and serves as a catchy and memorable opening and the ending theme “Love is Milk Tea” by petit milady proves to be even better than the opening theme.
Extras Unfortunately Invaders of the Rokujyoma!? has been released with rather simplistic special features as the only bonuses come in the form of the clean opening theme, clean ending theme, and trailers for other Sentai Filmworks releases.
Overall It is easy to tell that the anime adaptation for Invaders of the Rokujyoma!? was created in an effort to help give the light novels an extra push as one would assume that many of the mysteries and questions that are left hanging by the end of the series are answered there. Though the series does lack a satisfying conclusion, the comedy found throughout the series and the characters are rather striking. Those looking for a harem styled comedy that offers something a bit different should be pleased with what Invaders of the Rokujyoma!? has to offer, especially if they find themselves enjoying the character interactions as much as myself. Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
