Holy Halo, Batman! This week’s Xbox Newsbeat is almost all about the upcoming launch of Halo 5: Guardians, so let’s get to it!
Xbox and YouTube Team Up for a One-of-a-Kind Halo 5: Guardians Launch Celebration
Gamers can hop onto Youtube on for a six hour Halo marathon on October 27th from at 9:00 AM AEDT to3:00 PM AEDT. The broadcast will include coverage of the following events:
The world premiere of “Halo: The Fall of Reach” episode one, the new animated series that tells the dramatic tale of the origin and intrigue behind the SPARTAN program that propelled characters like the Master Chief and Dr. Catherine Halsey into the pantheon of Halo lore.
The first Xbox roundtable featuring the writers behind “Halo 5: Guardians” and Nathan Fillion, the voice of Spartan Buck.
Special documentaries will get up close and personal with Halo superfans around the world, showcasing what makes Halo Nation unlike any other community in gaming.
A lucky fan in Australia will play “Halo 5: Guardians” from a helicopter flying over Sydney, as gameplay is broadcasted via a screen suspended from a second helicopter.
In London, iconic entertainment venue The Roundhouse will transform into a “Halo 5: Guardians” celebration, with a friendly tournament between four teams of YouTube creators and fans.
In celebration of a Halo superfan from Japan who has played over 10,000 hours of Halo, Master Chief and Agent Locke action figurines will travel to the edge of space for the most epic Gamertag selfie.
A Taiwanese cosplayer will bring his passion for the Master Chief to life when he collaborates with one of the hottest jewelry designers in Australia to recreate the Master Chief’s helmet with more than 30,000 Swarovski crystals. The one-of-a-kind helmet will be unveiled during the show and kick-start a chance for gamers around the world to bid on it for charity.
In New Zealand, Halo fans will converge at the close of the Armageddon Expo for multiplayer sessions, cosplay displays and more.
In Hong Kong, a real-life course inspired by the new “Halo 5: Guardians” competitive Arena multiplayer mode, “Breakout,” will be constructed, putting Halo fans into real 4v4 combat.
In New York City, a special fan destination will take place at the brand new flagship store Microsoft at Fifth Ave. and 53rd St., located in the heart of Manhattan and culminating in the midnight launch of “Halo 5: Guardians.”
The Master Chief Becomes the Hunted in the Halo 5: Guardians Launch Gameplay Trailer
The official launch trailer for Halo 5: Guardians was released this past week. The new trailer teases players with some of the game’s plot elements during the first half of the trailer and features plenty of screen time for Master Chief. The second half of the trailer focuses more on gameplay footage, with enough gunfire and explosions to fit in a Michael Bay film.
Halo: The Fall of Reach Animated Series Trailer Explores the Origins of the Master Chief and Blue Team
A new trailer has been released for the animated adaptation of Eric Nylund’s novel Halo: The Fall of Reach. The series follows the early days of the SPARTAN program. Viewers will get a chance to see a young Master Chief and the early days of the alien invasion. The adaptation is being produced by SEQUENCE, the team behind the “Terminals” short.
Halo: The Fall of Reach will be bundled with the special editions of Halo 5: Guardians and can be streamed on the Halo Channel starting October 27th.
Halo 5: Guardians List of Achievements Revealed
Achievement hunters, start your engines. 343 Industries has released the full list of achievements for Halo 5: Guardians. 1000 Gamerscore is up for grabs across 65 missions. Check out the full list at the blog post on Halo Waypoint.
Great Things Are Happening in the Xbox Game Preview Program
Microsoft released an update on three games that are currently part of their Xbox Game Preview program that lets gamers check out new games that are currently under development. Elite: Dangerous became the first game to leave the Xbox Game Preview Program, becoming a full release this week. The “Desolation Point” update for The Long Dark introduced gamers to a new coastal highway, new weather transition systems, coal and scrap metal gathering, and increased save slots. The developers of the post apocalyptic strategy Sheltered announced their two week update schedule and a major game update scheduled for mid OCtober that will introduce new quests.
Finally, two new games are joining the program. Layers of Fear by Bloober Team is a horror game exploring madness and art through the eyes of a painter. The game will be available sometime in the next two weeks. Teotl Studios and GRIP Digital’s Solus Project will join the program in early 2016. Players will explore an alien planet in hopes of finding the tools to call for help after becoming the lone survivor.
Activision and Treyarch released a new trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops IIIintroducing two new vision modes and Tactical Rigs for the campaign. The two new vision modes are designed to help players navigate through the chaos of incoming enemies. Tactical mode pops up data points on top of enemy heads that will show information like status, enemy type, and distance to help players target high priority enemies and avoid dangerous areas. Enhanced Vision mode helps players in dark areas, giving off a pulse that bathes the area in night vision green and improving visibility. Additionally, enemies and allies are highlighted.
Weapon mods have been a long standing feature in the Call of Dutyseries. Black Ops III will be introducing new modifications that gives players a variety of special abilities in campaign mode. Things like Traversal Enhancement will let players parkour around the map via wall runs and thrust jumps, while Emergency Reserve gives players a second chance at life after they’ve been downed.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III launches on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC on November 6, 2015.
Although most Deus Ex fans have turned their sights towards the upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided which is set to be released on February 23, 2016 that doesn’t mean that Square Enix and Eidos Montreal are forgetting where it all began. In fact they have just released an authorized fan-created mod for the original Deus Ex released back in 2000.
This mod is called Revision and was created by Caustic Creative and it overhauls the environments and soundtrack of the original game and is a free download through Steam. You can check out a launch trailer for the mod below to see what has been “augmented.”
The expansion to the popular Go! Go! Nippon!, Go! Go! Nippon! 2015, is now available for download either through MangaGamer‘s official websiteor through Steam a bit later today. It is worth noting that both the individual expansion as well as a bundlethat includes both this expansion plus the original game for new players is available on both of these digital stores and for one week they will be available at a 25% discount.
It is worth noting that MangaGamer is also holding a 2015 Fall sale that started earlier today and will run until Halloween where a number of their PC titles, both All-Ages and 18+, will be available at a 25%-55% discount. The list of titles discounted during this sale, including the popular Koihime Musou and a few physical releases, can be found here.
Bethesda has been busy at work releasing weekly S.P.E.C.I.A.L. videos but it seems like those humorous little clips are far from the only thing they’ve been working on as the company has just released a new live action trailer helping to promote the upcoming release of Fallout 4.
Titled “The Wanderer” this minute long video shows off a little bit of what the world looks like before the apocalypse but primarily focuses on how the world looks once the player steps outside of Vault 111. You can check out the video below and keep an eye out for Fallout 4 when it is released on November 10th for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
Overview After debuting in 2003 the Disgaea series has remained one of the most prominent strategy RPGs in the gaming industry, where many titles of the same caliber have fallen by the wayside. As such it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that after three successful releases on the PlayStation 3 that Nippon Ichi Software would take a stab at the PlayStation 4 with their next core release in the form of Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance. So now with Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance released in the West, has the series made a successful transition here?
Story It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that, with a name such as Alliance of Vengeance, that the primary plot point for this series happens to be one of revenge. Although there are countless Netherworlds populated by various demons and Overlords with tremendous strength a powerful enemy named Void Dark has risen above practically everyone else and with his army of Lost and devoted generals he has been steadily laying waste to every netherworld that he comes across.
Those who do not submit to Void Dark’s rule are eliminated or, if they do submit, become members of his army as they continue to spread throughout the Netherworlds, conquering well over half of the known Netherworlds by the time the player starts the game. With such a devastating force a number of rebels are still trying to make a stand and it all begins with the main protagonist Killia, a self-described wanderer, arriving at a battle between Seraphina, the Overlord of the Gorgeous Netherworld, making a stand against some of the Lost forces.
After witnessing Killia single handedly defeat a group of Lost that Seraphina and her Prinnies were struggling with, Seraphina brings him into her Pocket Netherworld in an effort to turn him into her servant. Despite not falling for her wiles, Killia begins to work with Seraphina and her forces as she seeks to take down Void Dark for her own reasons. As the pair begins to gather strength and fight through the enemy they begin to meet other Netherworld Overlords who are seeking vengeance against Void Dark for their own reasons who take up the fight with Killia in order to bring down the tyrant.
Considering the nature of Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance’s plot is focused around vengeance, with some characters seeking revenge for the murder of their families and others simply due to the loss of comfort, this does mean that some of the goofiness inherently found in the plot is a bit lackluster this time around, but this is primarily due to the main character being far less charismatic and more one note than any past protagonist. Not only are Killia’s reasons for fighting a bit too similar to a few elements that arose during Disgaea 4 but his mannerisms and subtle personality do leave much to be desired, even with his backstory, compared to what the series is known for.
Thankfully the rest of the main cast more than makes up for Killia’s humdrum nature as the rest of the demons, with Seraphina and Usalia being the best of the bunch, that join the team being outstanding characters with plenty of unique quirks and interactions that provide plenty of the off-brand humor that Disgaea is known for while also delivering appealing storylines that weave into the main narrative in a manner that is surprisingly emotional at times.
Gameplay For the most part Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance plays in a manner that fans of Disgaea will be more than familiar with as combat is still set on a battlefield where characters must move around gridded tiles that can have various traps, geo effects that can provide bonuses or penalties, or simply be filled with obstacles that they will have to navigate or jump over to reach their enemy and dispatching them before all of their own units are defeated in turn based combat where the player can queue up their own character actions however they wish before executing long combo attacks that can even feature special combination attacks if two characters are close together before ending their turn and letting the enemy move and retaliate.
One of the more prominent differences in combat this time around is a new Revenge gauge that fills up whenever a character takes damage, sees an ally damaged, or witnesses an ally being defeated on the battlefield. When filled the character will enter Revenge status where they will be given a large boost to their stats, be able to almost always inflict critical hits, use skills for a small amount of SP, and even trigger a unique Overload ability if they happen to be an Overlord character. This Revenge mode can be triggered by both allies and enemies, though defeating enemies in this status does provide players with an extra reward, since it is also possible to avoid an enemy due to the Revenge mode only being active for a limited number of turns.
A few other elements of combat have been streamlined while others have been removed. Players can now easily throw allies and enemies in a diagonal direction, choose to back-up the placement of their characters if they haven’t taken an action yet and aren’t in a fitting location, and a feature from Disgaea D2, mounting certain monster characters, has been removed entirely in favor of the simpler magichange system allowing monsters to be transformed into temporary weapons. Another change is the prominent showing of character resistances, with certain enemies being more resistant to certain weapon types as well as elements, meaning that some slimes for example can only be dealt major damage with an axe or magic rather than a gun or sword.
Outside of combat players will be spending plenty of time taking advantage of the various systems that are located around Seraphina’s Pocket Netherworld. There are numerous NPCs to interact with here, including those who sell items, weaponry and armor, allow players to create characters to join their roster through the available classes that they have unlocked so far, accept and turn in quests that range from simply killing a certain number of enemies to reaching a certain level with a certain class and more, and of course work their way through the Item World and Chara World in order to not only enhance their own equipment as well as boost the various stats and attributes for various characters, with the Chara World often offering various risks and rewards for continuing further through the board game like style that it has.
Of course players can also choose to fiddle around with a map editor, creating their own or downloading one submitted by another player, take part in the Interrogation Room where captured enemies can be either recruited or used to enhance the abilities of your own party members. Along the lines of strengthening your party, players can now make use of a Squad Shop system where characters can be assigned to different squads, all of which have certain perks that are given to characters in this squad and usually offer unique bonuses that make the grind through the levels a bit easier.
There is in fact so much to do outside of basic combat that players may find it a bit overwhelming at times since Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance simply has so much to offer, with players even being able to send out a Nether Research Squad to obtain various items, including rare equipment, and level up various units that they don’t often bring into battle. With features such as a Cheat Shop to adjust certain rates of drops, a Curry Shop to provide temporary boosts for the next battle, and a plethora of new demon and monster classes to take advantage of this is a Disgaea game right down to the fact that players can easily sink over a hundred hours into the game if they wish to as there is plenty of fresh new content to enjoy here.
Visuals Although Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance has taken the jump up to the PlayStation 4 it really hasn’t done an amazing job at providing a significant graphical boost to the series although it is still as vibrant and colorful as ever and features more active characters on screen than ever before. Those who are familiar with the series’ past iterations will recognize that certain class sprites still feature the same appearance as before though the majority of the classes have been cleaned up and have a number of new animations to go along with them. This includes a number of new special skills that can be used by certain classes looking spectacular while the main characters have plenty of flashy techniques and combo attacks.
The main character sprites are far more refined than the rest of the generic cast however as most of them have plenty of unique animations allowing for plenty of variety and a nice combination of HD sprite-work with the dialogue. The various dialogue sequences that are displayed primarily through visual novel format have also been refined with highly detailed character portraits with plenty of variety to their poses and expression allowing for plenty of visual gags to go alongside the usually humorous dialogue.
Audio NIS America’s release of Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance features both the original Japanese voice track as well as a freshly recorded English dub for those who wish to enjoy the series to the fullest. Nearly all of the dialogue in the game is voiced in English and, with the exception of Usalia’s verbal tic sounding odd in English rather than being kept the same, all of the English voice actors and actresses have handled their roles incredibly well as they inject plenty of emotion into scenes that need it and make funny sequences even better.
The soundtrack in this title features a range of impressive sounding background tracks that usually play during battle and a number of great idle tracks that will play while the player spends time in the Pocket Netherworld, with most of the music featuring lyrics to keep them from sounding repetitive.
Overall Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance may seem like a daunting experience for those who may be stepping into the strategy RPG pool for the first time but by making certain mechanics a bit easier and offering a slow enough starting pace players will quickly find themselves sinking hour after hour into one of the best strategy RPGs you can ask for. Rarely can one find so much content in one package and Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance delivers that and more making it an incredibly worthwhile title to add to your PlayStation 4 library and a great showing of what the series is still capable of over a decade later.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
With under a month until Fallout 4 drops Bethesda is continuing to release their seven part video series showcasing the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. mechanics, which stand for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck and now that we have crossed the halfway point they are focusing on introducing A, Agility.
You can check out the video below where the video explains just how much agility will play a factor into being able to avoid damage, stealth attack enemies, and target more enemys in VATS mode, though the character in the video must have had quite a lot of luck to hit all of those low percentage shots. Anyways, keep an eye out for Fallout 4 when it is released on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on November 10th.
For a first look at a mode that was terrible last year, I am impressed with what we are seeing thus far of WWE 2K16‘s Creation Suite. 2K released a trailer for the mode and it looks to be much improved, featuring a lot of customization compared to the near templates we had to work with in the last installment.
There are also previews of the belt creation, entrances, and so on – but you can also create your own show now. It seems quite nice and I am now even more excited – but I am also still cautious about what could be the game to truly bring WWE into this generation. Watch the clipamabop down below.
All of Random House Books Australia’smanga releases of October 2015 are out now. Here is the complete list of all manga titles they released this month.
October 1, 2015:
Fairy Tail Volume 50 by Hiro Mashima
Attack on Titan: The Harsh Mistress of the City Part 2 by Ryo Kawakami
October 15, 2015:
Animal Land Volume 11 by Raiku Makoto
Air Gear Volume 34 by Oh!great
Knights of Sidonia Volume 14 by Tsutomu Nihei
Fairy Tail Colossal Edition Volume 1 by Hiro Mashima
Devil Survivor Volume 1 by Satoru Matsuba
Attack on Titan Colossal Edition Volume 2 by Hajime Isayama
Say “I Love You” Volume 10 by Kanae Hazuki
Astro Boy Omnibus Volume 1 by Osamu Tezuka
Witchcraft Works Volume 7 by Ryu Mizunagi
Kiss Him, Not Me Volume 1 by Junko
Your Lie in April Volume 4 by Naoshi Arakawa
Kodansha Comics, a North American manga publisher, announced in January that they would be translating Junko’s Kiss Him, Not Me manga into English and releasing it from August 2015. That same announcement revealed that volume 2 of the Attack on Titan Colossal Edition would be an omnibus release containing volumes 6-10.
XSEED GAMES TO PUBLISH CLASSIC NIHON FALCOM TITLE XANADU NEXT; HD VERSIONS OF FAN FAVORITES LITTLE KING’S STORY AND SENRAN KAGURA SHINOVI VERSUS
PC Gamers Rejoice as Long-awaited Falcom Classic and Two Former Console-Exclusive Hit Titles Come to Windows PC in 2016
Torrance, Calif. – (October 16, 2015) – XSEED Games, the independent-minded publishing brand of Marvelous USA, Inc., today announced three new legacy titles coming to Windows PC. The critically acclaimed Wii title Little King’s Story, and SENRAN KAGURA SHINOVI VERSUS – previously a PlayStation®Vita exclusive – will receive high-definition upgrades for their respective Windows PC releases, with the classic Nihon Falcom title Xanadu Next seeing its Western debut to round out an exciting glimpse of what’s in store for 2016.
“Our commitment has always been to bring fans the games that they want to play, and we definitely want to show PC gamers as much love as we possibly can. With these announcements, I think we’ve made strides in both of those endeavors,” said Executive Vice President Ken Berry at Marvelous USA. “We jumped at the chance to publish two of our formerly console-exclusive titles on PC, as well as the highly-anticipated Xanadu Next, which we’re confident that Nihon Falcom fans and newcomers alike will adore.”
Little King’s Story
Designed and developed originally for Wii, Little King’s Story is headed to PC in all its glory, improved with true HD fidelity. Experience the story of Corobo, a young boy that stumbles across a crown with a mysterious power to charm any person and make them follow any order. Proclaimed the new king of his village, Corobo begins his efforts to turn his home into the best kingdom ever.
Little King’s Story combines life simulation and real-time strategy with ample adventure elements and an enchanting storyline. Every NPC (Non-Playable Character) in the village has his/her own personality, and players can command these townspeople to do various tasks, from digging for treasure to breaking down obstacles between areas. Unite surrounding rival kingdoms under one flag to become the best king in the world! Little King’s Story is scheduled for release on Windows PC through various digital distribution platforms in early 2016.
SENRAN KAGURA SHINOVI VERSUS
The lovely shinobi girls from the SENRAN KAGURA series also get an HD makeover in a port of SENRAN KAGURA SHINOVI VERSUS. Initially released on PS®Vita, SHINOVI VERSUS follows the events that took place in SENRAN KAGURA Burst, revisiting the rivalry between the students of the Hanzō National Academy and their sworn enemies at Hebijo Clandestine Girls’ Academy, the latter of which have now gone underground and formed a mercenary group known as Homura’s Crimson Squad. Both sides must also contend with two new sets of enemies: the students from the exceptionally strict Gessen Girls’ Academy, as well as the new generation of Hebijo students who seek to dominate all rivals.
Fan-favorite elements such as massive mid-air combos, Secret Ninja Techniques and clothes-ripping action will now be presented in full HD with this PC update of SENRAN KAGURA SHINOVI VERSUS. Each of the four schools gets its own unique narrative, and the original Japanese voice-overs pair with full English subtitles to bring each girl’s distinct personality and storyline to life. With 20 playable characters, each featuring her own diverse fighting style and palette of special skills, players will have to master a vast array of abilities as they set forth upon the Path of the Shinobi. SENRAN KAGURA SHINOVI VERSUS is scheduled for release on Windows PC in Summer 2016.
Xanadu Next
Xanadu Next is an exploration-centric action RPG from Nihon Falcom, the acclaimed creators of the Ys and The Legend of Heroes RPG franchises. A late entry in their immensely popular Dragon Slayer series and a spiritual follow-up to the late ‘80s cult classic Faxanadu, Xanadu Next puts the player in the shoes of a gravely injured knight given a new lease on life through ancient magic, who must now seek a legendary sword called “Dragon Slayer” to ensure his survival.
Set on the medieval Europe-inspired Harlech Island, players will explore the many different and interconnected environments of the world around them while battling vicious enemies in real-time, utilizing various skills attached to the many weapons they find along the way. Through a variety of ability-enhancing items that allow access to new areas, “Guardians” that grant passive effects, stat customization with the ability to level-down for point redistribution and more, the multitude of mysteries surrounding the ancient land of Xanadu are waiting to be unraveled. Xanadu Next is scheduled for release on Windows PC in Spring 2016.
