Dish Out Carnage of Hellish Proportions in Gunnheim, The Top-Down Shooter Where Vikings Have Guns
MONTREAL, October 16, 2015—Publisher, Meridian4, and developer, SIEIDI, today announced the Steam release of Gunnheim, a top-down shooter where the equation is simple: vikings + guns = mayhem.
The Lord of Death hits the bottle hard on the Ragnarok of all benders and hell breaks loose- literally. Enter the unholy children of Gunnheim: gun-toting, skull-crushing Viking warriors born and bred for battle, summoned to restore the balance. Gunnheim is a 1-4 player top down shooter inspired by Viking mythology and the golden era of couch co-op gaming.
In Gunnheim, you’re bringing the term berserker to a whole new level, saving the day by dishing out carnage of hellish proportions. Armed to the teeth with all manner of modern weaponry, fight your way through hordes of hellspawn with your brothers and sisters at your side, survive epic boss fights against the biggest and baddest of the devil’s children, and watch with maniacal glee as your enemies are turned to bloody piles of pulp, fangs and horns. Put your goggles on, it’s about to get really, really messy.
With a cutting sense of humor, Gunnheim brings fast paced action, superior low-poly graphics, and more gore than you can imagine to this classic genre.
“We grew up playing couch co-op games and hotseat multiplayer titles,” said Petri Pekkarinen, CEO of SIEIDI, “Gunnheim is our PC debut, and from the very first prototype we wanted it to feel and look original. We love that the gameplay works for both casual Friday night gamers as well as hardcore achievement hunters.”
“It’s clear from the positive response we’ve seen in Early Access, that Gunnheim is a game that the Steam community wants,” said Andy Sher, CEO of Meridian4. “We’re thrilled to help bring this game to full release.”
Gunnheim is available now in Early Access on Steam for $9.99. The full release will be available on October 16th and will be 35% off through October 30th. For the latest Gunnheim news, follow the game on Facebook and Twitter.
About Meridian4
Meridian4 is a game publisher based out of Montreal, Canada thats management team is made up of interactive software professionals with over 30 years of combined experience. The company has knowledgeable and qualified people in all areas of publishing including sales, distribution, manufacturing, production, marketing and promotion. Meridian4 has been publishing for over six years and has flourished by adapting to the ever-changing landscape of the games industry and growing by continuing its strategy of forming strong relationships with independent developers and bringing some of the best interactive software to North American and worldwide markets. Visit Meridian4 at meridian4.com.
About SIEIDI
SIEIDI is an independent Finnish game development startup founded in 2014. The SIEIDI team is made up of 5 gaming enthusiasts who use their combined design, tech and business skills to create a unique and meaningful gaming experience. Gunnheim, a top-down shooter inspired by Viking mythology, is the company’s first original title and releases in fall 2015. The name SIEIDI roughly translates to “a sacred place” in Sami, the language of the indigenous people of Scandinavia. This description is the cornerstone of SIEIDI’s philosophy: respect the gamers, value the makers. Learn more at sieidi.com
Over the last three days, FUNimation Entertainment has been gradually announcing the English dub cast of their upcoming DVD release of Riddle Story of Devil. The English dub cast list is as follows: (character/actor)
Tokaku Azuma – Morgan Berry
Haru Ichinose – Alexis Tipton
Shiena Kenmochi – Anastasia Munoz
Otoya Takechi – Colleen Clinkenbeard
Haruki Sagae – Carli Mosier
Isuke Inukai – Jamie Marchi
Kouko Kaminaga – Clarine Harp
Suzu Shuto – Michelle Rojas
Chitaru Namatame – Monica Rial
Hitsugi Kirigaya – Natalie Hoover
Mahiru / Shinya Banba – Mikaela Krantz
Sumireko Hanabusa – Bryn Apprill
Nio Hashiri – Lauren Landa
The standard and limited edition releases of the series can be pre-ordered from FUNimation’s official online store here. Both editions will feature episodes 1-12 and the OVA episode with Japanese audio, English audio and English subtitles. On-disc extras will include episode commentaries, the textless opening and ending animations, the U.S. trailer and trailers. The standard edition has a suggested retail price of $59.98 USD while the limited edition release has a suggested retail price of $64.98. It is currently unknown how the limited edition release differs from the standard edition release.
Overview Adapting a video game into any other type of format has long been an issue. Live-action movies have almost always suffered in some form unless they simply use the base material and go their own way and even anime adaptations are usually hit and miss. In fact, quite a few video game anime adaptations have been released over the course of the year so far and now we have BlazBlue: Alter Memory. While an anime adaptation of a fighting game may be the easiest challenge to overcome, the BlazBlue series is quite a bit different from your standard fighting game so does the anime adaptation manage to do it justice?
Story Let’s just say here at the start that unless you’ve actually played through Blazblue: Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift, you’re going to be in for a bit of a bad time. If nothing else, this anime has a very steep learning curve that will likely require at least some reading into prior to starting unless you want to be completely lost.
Nearly every event that transpires in the series is given practically zero explanation as to why things are happening as they, what certain character abilities are, nor are the majority of the characters that do appear given much in the way of development or explanation as to why they may be targeting a specific character or willing to help out another outside of the roughly five or six characters that actually do spend time in the limelight.
Anyways, BlazBlue: Alter Memory begins with Ragna the Bloodedge facing off against Nu-13 (whose name is only said once) only to be killed when she runs both of them through with a large blade. This process has occurred ad nauseam as a twisted god-like being has forced the world to continue to reset until certain events transpire. The majority of the world is unaware of the endless loop that they are living in outside of a couple of special beings who have also grown tired of watching the same events transpire over and over again without being able to directly interfere.
After the most recent loop however, something has changed as a young girl named Noel Vermillion has started to remember something regarding Ragna and despite it being against her orders to track down her captain that deserted after hearing word of Ragna’s whereabouts. By pursuing Ragna, she is able to interfere in the combat between Ragna and the Nu-13 resulting in Ragna surviving the encounter kickstarting the stopped gears of the world and moving it along a new path for the first time in ages.
Despite this seeming like something positive, with the flow of time restored it also means that those who have hidden away are now free to take action as one of the ancient forces quickly shows itself in the form of Terumi. Although he makes quick work of the wounded Ragna and Noel, Terumi opts to leave the pair be after the appearance of Rachel and from here the show begins to fall apart due to the fact that it simply tries to do too much and so very little at the same time.
The storyline of the BlazBlue series has always been a complicated one and with the anime trying to cram as much possible into a twelve episode season things are going to fall by the wayside, especially since nearly every single character introduced at the point of Continuum Shift is given something in the way of screentime. This means that we’ll have characters such as Platinum the Trinity appear and take up a few minutes of Ragna’s time only to never play a part again, Carl Clover serve as a one-time combatant, and even Arakune appearing for a limited time.
Between the various fights that occur, Ragna spending the better part of the first half of the series trying to recover from his wounds while meandering around with Taokaka and Noel, and time spent revealing Ragna and Jin Kisaragi’s past through flashbacks delivered through bits and pieces means that there is just so much going on and very little detail put into anything meaning that all of the technobabble and poorly focused on characters that constantly appear will only serve to confuse newcomers and annoy fans of the series hoping for more. At least in some ways there are still some elements of the game’s comedy manages to transition well enough and the few character interactions that do have time to shine are rather well done.
The story does manage to find itself progressing at a decent pace near the end of the series, with various developments that I cannot mention falling into place in an enjoyable enough manner for fans, especially since the series opts for following the True Ending path of Continuum Shift, though at this point there are also numerous subplots and ancient beings who have also appeared in some form only to be left hanging as an advertisement of sorts for viewers to go into the games to learn more.
Visuals Debuting back in 2013, BlazBlue: Alter Memory marked the first time that many of the characters made an animated debut outside of a handful of in-game scenes and unfortunately the series manages to be hit and miss regarding these characters. The designs are still quite flashy looking and are just as colorful as they were originally, however the quality of the designs fluctuates badly throughout the season, with characters looking downright terrible at times during the calmer moments.
The action sequences are at least a small highlight as many characters will freely use their special attacks with quite a bit of flair transitioning nicely into animated format and there is a decent sense to the combat choreography here but don’t expect too many intense moments as the clashes between characters are often handled in a manner that doesn’t give off much in the way of suspense.
Audio I will give FUNimation quite a bit of credit here as they managed to bring back all of the original voice actors to reprise their roles here in BlazBlue: Alter Memory. This is essential to English fans of the games as the titles have always been extremely word-heavy and there would have been quite a bit of disconnect if new voice actors were brought in instead. Thanks to this, the characters sound superb and there are plenty of nice moments during combat where characters will loudly shout their special attack names in a manner fitting the source material.
As far as the soundtrack is concerned, the background music during combat sequences are enjoyable and fit the action properly though the standard tracks that play normally tend to be forgettable. The opening theme song “Blue Blaze” by Faylan fits the action packed nature of the series and is accompanied by some superb animation sequences while the main ending theme “Reincarnation Blue” by Aira Yuuki feels generic.
Extras FUNimation’s release of BlazBlue: Alter Memory only contains clean versions of the opening theme and ending theme accompanied by the US trailer for the series and trailers for other releases from the company.
Overall BlazBlue: Alter Memory is the type of series that fans will likely still find some enjoyment in, though only if they happen to be die-hard fans that want to see how their favorite characters will look in an anime format. In many ways, the series feels strange, even for an anime created from a video game series as it fails to even offer much incentive for fans to watch, let alone newcomers. By giving viewers very few reasons to care about certain characters or focus on developing the world it leaves newcomers scratching their heads while fans of the series will only find themselves disappointed with a poor adaptation that tries to do far too much with too few episodes.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
In case you missed it, Go! Go! Nippon!, the title originally served as something of a “guidebook” in game format, will soon be getting an expansion that is simply being called Go! Go! Nippon! 2015. This expansion expands and improves upon the original game by nearly doubling the storyline, offering widescreen HD graphics, and e-mote animation for the character sprites.
MangaGamer announced earlier today that they have now placed Go! Go! Nippon! 2015 up for pre-order on the company’s official website where they offer either the expansionfor $7.85, currently available at the discounted price of $5.96, or a bundleof the original game plus the expansion for $14.95, currently discounted to $11.21. Both versions will be released on PC, Mac, and Linux, either through MangaGamer or Steam, on October 16th.
2K Games has decided to reveal some new info regarding Battleborn. First off the company decided to give us a look at the big bad guy that players will need to be worried about when the title is released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on February 9, 2016. He happens to be named Lord Commander Lothar Rendain and you can check out his reveal trailer below.
The company also stated that those who pre-order Battleborn before the game’s release date will be given the “Firstborn” pre-order pack that gives a golden skin, shown above, to Thorn, Reyna, Montana, Marquis and Rath.
Nintendo are planning some cool stuff for the upcoming EB Expo in Sydney Australia including competitions, a Super Mario Bros. themed selfie area and of course a heap of playable games including recent releases and some games that won’t be hitting store shelves for a while.
For the 3DS, The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer and Skylanders SuperChargers Racing(with guest stars Bowser and Donkey Kong) will all be playable, with Tri Force Heroes still a month from release. Also playable will be Yo-kai Watch which is huge in Japan and is now coming to the west. Not only will the 3DS game be playable, but Nintendo will be hosting a premiere screening of the anime comedy series before its TV debut. The premiere screenings will be held at 4:30pm on Friday, and 8:30am on Saturday and Sunday before the show floor opens, with attendees able to take seats from 30 minutes prior to the screening.
For Wii U fans, attendees will get to tasteStar Fox Wii U (which has unfortunately been pushed back into 2016) alongside Xenoblade Chronicles X (releasing on December 5th) and Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water – the chilling new adventure creeping into town October 31. Fan favorites such as Smash Bros, Super Mario Maker and Splatoon will be playable as well.
As for activities, attendees can bring along thier own Amiibo and compete in Amiibo partner battles against other teams. On Wii U, massive 8-player battles featuring 4 teams of player and amiibo will take place, with 2 on 2 battles for the Nintendo 3DS. To to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Super Mario Bros. series, players can get their souvenir photo from the Super Mario Bros. selfie corner!
Amiibo weren’t even out last year!
The EB Games Expo is running from October 2-4 and if it’s anything like last year will surely be a huge blast to attend. Honestly the line up does look a fair bit weaker than last year where we got to play some huge hits like Smash Bros. and Splatoon, but I’m sure Nintendo will still make their area incredibly fun to be in. Check back with Capsule during the expo for some anticipated game previews, photos and event coverage!
Hey hey everybody! I know what you’re all thinking “Newsbeat, on a Friday!? This is madness!” Well we thought we would get in early so y’all can get your dose of all the hot Microsoft news before the weekend begins! This week we have three little pieces for your enjoyment, so sit back, relax and enjoy!
Come Join Xbox at EB Expo 2015
Next weekend sees Sydney play host to the annual EB Games Expo and as you would expect, Microsoft is going to be making a big showing. Attendees will be able to try their hand at Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Quntum Break.
The EB Expo runs from October 2nd – 4th so make sure you check it out!
See the Amazing ‘Descent Into Legend’ Trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider
Not much to say about this one folks. The anticipated Rise of the Tomb Raider by Square Enix is only a couple of months away, so let’s check out the newly released trailer:
HUNT the TRUTH Season 2 Available Now
Are you eagerly awaiting Halo 5: Guardians? Well if you are a Halo fanatic then you will likely know about The popular Hunt the TRUTH podcast. Well the second season of the in-universe audio drama begins shortly after the events of Season 1, as journalist Benjamin Giraud’s exposé of a massive military cover up and conspiracy seemingly came to an inauspicious end. Keegan Michael Key reprises his role as the now-discredited journalist, but the focus of Season 2 turns to FERO (voiced by Janina Gavankar), the rebel leader who helped Giraud unravel his hunt.
So that’s it folks. Make sure you enjoy your weekend and get geared up for the EB Games Expo next week! As always, make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the awesome Microsoft news as it becomes available.
Sydney – September 25, 2015 – The legendary license created by Masami Kuramada is back, as powerful as ever with a brand new game available for PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®4 from now on! STEAM® version will be available soon.
Saint Seiya: Soldiers’ Soul is featuring characters from the all-new animated series broadcasted worldwide in the “Legend of Cosmo” and “Battle of Gold” modes. In this brand new anime and game, the legendary Gold Saints are back from the dead with their new God Cloths! The fabled fight against Hades was not the end of everything for Athena’s heroes: blessed by heavenly powers, Seiya and his friends still have to accomplish something bigger.
Last but not least, Saint Seiya fans can rejoice, as the “Asgard” Arc will be making its grand premiere!
SAINT SEIYA fans will be able to awaken their 7th sense with Saint Seiya: Soldiers’ Soul on PlayStation®3 and PlayStation®4 from now on. STEAM® coming soon!!
Dawn of Steel: flaregames’ Ambitious Mobile RTS Is Available Now in the AppStore
Long awaited first game of Superweapon, a new outfit comprised of EA and Zynga veterans, has been released worldwide for iPhones and iPads
Karlsruhe / San Francisco – September 25th, 2015 | flaregames, a leading international developer and publisher of F2P mobile games, announced today that Dawn of Steel has been published to App Stores worldwide. The game is free to play and available localized in 17 languages. Dawn of Steel is a modern mobile RTS built around direct intuitive controls enabling a wide array of tactical options and favoring player skill. This applies both to controlling squads of giant mechanized walkers and to creating clever base layouts to thwart enemy assaults.
The game is developed by LA-based Superweapon, a small team of game devs whose collective experience includes work on the Command & Conquer, Company of Heroes, The Lord of the Rings, Crysis, and Empires & Allies franchises. For Dawn of Steel the studio partnered with flaregames, a German developer and publisher best known for the Royal Revolt series.
“We have put great efforts in finding and choosing the best studios in the industry to partner with,” said Klaas Kersting, CEO and founder of flaregames. “Now we’re seeing our quality-based approach come to fruition: Superweapon’s Dawn of Steel has all we are looking for in a game: stunning visuals, intuitive controls, a fresh setting and compelling gameplay.”
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About Superweapon
Headquartered in Southern California, Superweapon is a small team of game devs whose collective experience includes work on the Command & Conquer, Company of Heroes, The Lord of the Rings, Crysis, and Empires & Allies franchises. The studio has been working on Dawn of Steel since its founding in 2013.
About flaregames
flaregames is a fast-growing mobile game publisher and developer focused on creating fun, high-quality, free-to-play games for smartphones and tablets. The company has a pipeline of games in development internally, and is working with some of the world’s most talented mobile game developers to bring their games to mobile gamers.
The company was founded in 2011 by a group of industry veterans, including Klaas Kersting, the former CEO and founder of online games category leader Gameforge. flaregames is venture-backed, having raised $23 million from international VCs like Accel Partners and T-Ventures. Funds are used to employ industry-leading talent, build world-class games and ensure the company fulfills its destiny of becoming a major publisher reaching and entertaining the massive global audience of mobile gamers. flaregames is based in Karlsruhe, Germany.
New Zealand – Outlaw developer Farmergnome and cow-tipping publisher Devolver Digital have released the nine-player co-op western opus A Fistful of Gun on PC via Steam, GOG, and Humble [fistfulofgun.com]. Players quick on the draw can grab A Fistful of Gun for 15% off the $12.99 price during the launch week or while supplies last – you never know.
Hopeful vigilantes can select from eleven unique playable gunslingers and seek their revenge on evil railroad baron Clayton Boon as a lone wolf or with up to eight other bandits in local and online co-op. Master the specialized controls of each character, collect gold from fallen foes to purchase upgrades, and imbibe a bit of liquid courage and unleash a tornado of lead across the dusty plains.
“It has nine-player co-op so you nerds better make about eight more friends than you have now,” said Devolver Digital CFO Fork Parker. “That’s what the kids call a sick burn.”
A Fistful of Gun launches with the most frantic, untamed content this side of the Mississippi. Noble gunslingers and yellow-bellied cowards can join together to battle through the epic story mode, a frantic arcade mode, and the white-knuckle versus modes. Heck, with some luck you and your mangy gang of misfits might even unlock one of the secret modes…
For more information about A Fistful of Gun and developer Farmergnome please visit fistfulofgun.com and follow @Farmergnome on Twitter. Just ask for Pete.
