There ya go Nattie. WWE 2K16 is getting closer and with the roster completely confirmed now, we are seeing more and more of the game itself from 2k. I am still honestly a bit weary of things – but after last year I think that is normal. Keep in mind that While WWE 12 was terrible, 13 was fantastic, so things can always improve.
The game is looking great thus far and this clip shows a lot of the game in action, featuring entrances and more that all look pretty close to the main product. Its all rather exciting and as a long time fan of the franchise, I’d say this might just be the one that latches its hook in me all over again. Enjoy the clip below.
Well, here is your system announcement that we expected, but is sure to please many. Activision and Treyarch have announced a Call of Duty: Black Ops III themed Playstation 4, that will be bundled with the game, a themed console and controller, and the Nuketown Map pack.
Yes, as you see above it is an interestingly colored console that isn’t the prettiest we have seen, but it is unique and I find myself liking the design. The controller has some nice coloration as well, even though I am not a huge fan of orange. Keep tuned in though as this title launches in November and is sure to have even more announcements ahead.
ACTIVISION’S NEW BEHIND-THE-SCENES VIDEO EXPLORES CAPTURING THE PROS OF TONY HAWK’S® PRO SKATER™ 5
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Sept. 23, 2015 – Activision Publishing, Inc. has shared the third behind-the-scenes trailer for Tony Hawk’s® Pro Skater™ 5. “The Skaters, Pt. 2” looks at the many varied techniques developer Robomodo is using to capture the look and feel of the sport and its top pros. It also explores the challenges of balancing the classic arcade style of Pro Skater’s legacy with the power of modern consoles.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 rekindles the offbeat style of classic Pro Skater games in a brand-new set of levels with the same over-the-top focus on daring objectives, tight controls and endless shredding for high scores. Jump in and out of online sessions with up to 20 players at a time to complete missions, unlock new content, and take on challengers in head-to-head matches (online play exclusive to the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One). The game includes tools for players to create and share their own skateparks. It also features ten of the world’s top pros: Tony Hawk, Nyjah Huston, Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, Ishod Wair, Leticia Bufoni, Riley Hawk, Chris Cole, Lizzie Armanto, David Gonzalez and Andrew Reynolds.
“Activision and Robomodo have really worked closely with the pros to make sure Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 feels true to the original series, and that is obvious when you’re playing,” said Tony Hawk. “There is a great mix of styles and personalities in the game – and it’s a blast to see each skater represented to the last detail.”
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 is expected to launch on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One in North America on Sept. 29, 2015 for $59.99. The game is also scheduled to release without online play on Xbox 360 and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system on Nov. 10 for $39.99. Join the community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TonyHawkGames and on Twitter and Instagram @tonyhawkgames.
About Robomodo
Robomodo is a game development studio specializing in AAA games for all console and mobile platforms. Experienced in designing original IP and innovating on established franchises, Robomodo combines solid game design with distinctive artistic styles.
About Disruptive Games
Based in Berkeley, CA, Disruptive Games is an independent studio with a mission to create innovative and exceptional games. Disruptive specializes in connected experiences for all types of games, even genres that have historically been offline. Additional information about Disruptive Games can be found online at www.disruptivegames.net.
About Activision Publishing, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading global producer and publisher of interactive entertainment. Activision maintains operations throughout the world. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, http://www.activision.com or by following @Activision.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.
Send Evil Back Into The Underworld With Extreme Exorcism
Paranormal Platformer Launches on PC, Mac, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®3, Wii U and Xbox One
September 23, 2015 – What an excellent day for an exorcism as paranormal platformer and action party game Extreme Exorcism launches today on PlayStation®3, PlayStation®4, Wii U, Xbox One via the ID@Xbox self-publishing program, and PC and Mac via Steam. Developed by indie team Golden Ruby Games and published by Ripstone Publishing, Extreme Exorcism is available for $12.99 and has players take on the role of Extreme Exorcist Mae Barrons – whose unconventional ghost-removal skills are called upon when everything and everyone else has failed to rid a haunted house of its ghostly presence.
It takes a special exorcist to combat these poltergeists because each time a spirit is eliminated another will mimic Mae’s prior movements, weapon fires and dodges. With Extreme Exorcism, players are their own worst enemy and the longer they survive, the more chaotic the game becomes.
To help send ghosts back to the underworld for good, players are equipped with a lethal arsenal of more than 20 ghost-busting weapons, including swords, guns, grenades, mines, rocket launchers, razor-sharp boomerangs, lightning spells and Kung-Fu moves. Exorcists need all the firepower they can obtain, as they’ll face 50 challenges, a single player story mode and local multiplayer with up-to four players, which includes both Co-op and Deathmatch modes.
Keep a close eye on the Golden Ruby Games and Ripstone Twitter feeds for game updates and sneak peeks – you never know what might be lurking in the shadows.
You can see Mae in action right now in the Extreme Exorcism press kit.
# # #
About Golden Ruby Games:
Golden Ruby Games is an indie developer and two man super-team located in the vibrant New York City indie games scene. Founded in 2012 and dedicated to making unique and memorable games, Golden Ruby plans to position itself as one of the stand out development houses in New York and in the US. Their previous console title Hermit Crab In Space, and mobile titles Worm Run and Destroy All Color have all received critical acclaim. Now, the Golden Ruby Games team look forward to releasing their third title; Extreme Exorcism on PC and next-gen consoles, which will be published by Ripstone in 2015.
For more information on Golden Ruby Games please visit their website: www.goldenrubygames.com
About Ripstone:
Ripstone® Publishing is an independent UK based games publisher specialising in digital distribution.
Ripstone’s ethos is built on honesty, integrity and trust, founded in 2011 in order to create a bespoke service for independent game developers.
Publishing video games on a number of different platforms including handheld and home consoles, PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android; Ripstone is best known for games such as Ironcast, Stick It To The Man, Pure Chess, Pure Pool, Big Sky Infinity, Men’s Room Mayhem & the award-winning Knytt Underground. http://www.ripstone.com
Warner Bros hasn’t been shy about giving its Batman: Arkham Knight players more paid content to enjoy post-release; first was the Batgirl story DLC, then the Nightwing and 1980s Batmobile. Well now you can add another new Batmobile to that list with the Nolan-universe Tumbler Batmobile.
While you can grab the new Batmobile and roll through the streets of Gotham in style, come September 29th there will be a tonne more content available, including:
Crime Fighter Challenge Pack #2: Grab this Crime Fighter Challenge Pack and receive various challenge maps for Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Catwoman and the Batmobile. This expansive challenge pack allows focused training in Freeflow Combat and Invisible Predator stealth incursion.
GCPD Lockdown: Set after the events of Arkham Knight, play as Nightwing to stop the Penguin from breaking out of the Gotham City Police Department in this thrilling story pack.
Also, make sure you stay tuned for even more Batman: Arkham Knight downloadable content coming in October, including:
Batman Classic TV Series Batmobile Pack: Travel back in time with the Batman Classic TV Series Batmobile Pack. This pack includes the 1960s TV Series Batmobile, Classic TV Series Catwoman Skin, Classic TV Series Robin Skin and two racetracks inspired by the Batman Classic TV Series.
Catwoman’s Revenge: Set after the events of Arkham Knight, prowl the night as Catwoman as she seeks her revenge on the Riddler with this story pack.
Crime Fighter Challenge Pack #3: Get this Crime Fighter Challenge Pack to receive various combat and predator maps featuring Batman, Nightwing, Robin, and Azrael.
4chan, an anonymous image board, is nearly twelve years old and is close to featuring its two billionth post. It has been announced that Hiroyuki Nishimura, the founder of the Japanese image board 2channel, has taken over Moot’s position as the new owner of 4chan.
Hiroyuki Nishimura created 2channel in 1999. The success of the site led to the founding of Futaba Channel, which in turn inspired 4chan. Moot and Hiroyuki Nishimura met in 2011 and quickly became friends. Moot is confident that Nishimura is the best person to lead the site into the future.
Moot announced this January that he would be stepping down as the administrator of 4chan. Following his departure, the lead developer, managing moderator and server administrator have managed the site.
AnimEigo founder Robert Woodhead made a post on Twitter recently that suggests that there will be an announcement made about the 1989 OVARiding Bean at the Anime Weekend Atlanta 2015 convention this weekend. AnimEigo’s panel will be held between 6:30pm and 7:30pm this Saturday, the 26th of September, in Williams Ballroom E at the Cobb Galleria.
Over three months ago, when the first stretch goal for the Otaku no Video Kickstarter project was met, Robert Woodhead revealed that AnimEigo’s next project will be the Riding Bean “High Octane Edition”. It is likely that it will be a Blu-ray release.
AnimEigo has previously released this OVA in North America on DVD with Japanese audio, English audio and English subtitles. Bandai Visual released it on Blu-ray in Japan on November 21, 2008.
Overview The Hyperdimension Neptunia video game franchise has been expanding into various genres over the last few years and the rush of games with the cast isn’t slowing down, with there already being three titles released in North America this year and three more being developed for release in Japan. As such it didn’t come as too much of a surprise back in 2013 when Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation debuted and now that the anime has been released in North America, how does this video gaming parody series translate into an anime?
Story It is worth noting that for the most part, unless you have at least played one entry in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, you will be fairly lost right off the bat as the anime only explains a little bit about the way the world of Gamindustri works. This is likely due to the fact that the series attempts to cram the three original games into one twelve episode season while tossing in some original elements to help spice things up for fans.
Anyways, Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation begins with the four CPU Goddesses, Purple Heart, Black Heart, White Heart, and Green Heart signing a friendship pact in order to put an end to the long violence between their nations of Planeptune, Lastation, Lowee, and Leanbox respectively as they have always previously fought one another in order to take Shares, the source of energy for a Goddess as it determines the populace’s belief in their CPUs, from one another.
Shortly after the four nation celebration, the CPUs revert to their human forms of Neptune, Noire, Blanc, and Vert before beginning to part ways as “friends.” Weeks pass and Neptune continues to laze around her Basilicom, she and her little sister Nepgear (a CPU Candidate), begin to visit the other nations in order to turn Neptune’s personality around but as the group grows larger and visits each nation, it becomes apparent that there are dark forces at work. To complicate things further, a stranger from another dimension appears and a force from the past begins to cause trouble for the newly bonded together CPUs.
In case you missed the name references, the four girls and their respective nations represent the console industry, with Noire standing for PlayStation, Lowee for Wii, Leanbox for Xbox, and Neptune for if Sega had still managed to stick around in the industry. Hyperdimension Neptunia debuted back in 2010 and with the anime airing in 2013, the series blitzes past the story from the first game that underwent heavy re-writes when an enhanced version was released, and mostly focuses on the events from Mk2 and Victory.
This means that unless you’ve spent time with the series in the past, there will likely be some disconnect here and there as the series’ execution is primarily focused on the fluffy aspects of the character interactions with occasional issues rising up here and there. The common enemy throughout the early half of the series, Arfoire, regularly rears her head in order to take down the CPUs but the only time she really serves as any type of threat is quickly turned into a development device for Nepgear and her fellow CPU Candidates, Noire’s little sister Uni and Blanc’s twin little sister’s Ram and Rom, to transform into their CPU forms and break past their fears.
Various enemies quickly rise and fall throughout the course of the series, most given barely any screen time compared to the rolls they played in the original games and even the anime’s heaviest attempt at drama with a certain young girl fails to pack any real emotional punch due to the way it is handled. Thankfully the series’ humor managed to make the transition into the anime in all of its forms.
As mentioned earlier, the Neptunia series is known for being a parody of many elements of the gaming industry and the massive amount of jokes taking shots at games remains just as true in the anime as it was in the games. Characters will freely make references to well-known games and often quote lines from them as well. If you happen to be a gamer then this will leave you laughing quite often as there are plenty of jokes and gags here to keep you going, especially in regards to the R18 Island and the way mysterious beams of light are lampooned or Arfoire resorting to buying a eggplant farm to try and exploit a newfound weakness in Neptune.
It always helps that the characters themselves remain as fluffy and lovable as ever with their personalities from the games translating quite well into the animated format. Although this may take away from the action scenes and does damage the drama element at times, some of the best moments come from the girls taking jabs at one another or messing around in some form. This means that while the series doesn’t really go to any deep or meaningful place, it still remains as fun as ever for fans while newcomers will likely feel quite lost due to the anime adaptation haphazardly plucking major events from Mk2 and Victory with very little explanation.
Visuals The animation studio, David Productions, has done a great job bringing the cast into the new anime format which is a significant plus. The character designs are exactly as fans will remember and are fairly unique looking for those who aren’t familiar with the series. Whenever the girls transform into their CPU forms the transformation sequence is handled far better than the games have shown in the past, with many of the girls undergoing various physical changes due to their goddess forms being more adult versions of themselves, with the CPU Candidates and Vert being the exceptions.
It is worth noting that there is a decent level of fan-service present in the series as the girls’ CPU forms all happen to be skin tight suits but it rarely goes above in that regard outside of a few jokes poking fun at how large Vert’s chest is or the tininess of Blanc’s. The various action sequences are nicely stylized with all of the characters making use of their signature attacks quite often in combat though I must say that despite the amount of effort put into a lot of these fights, there rarely is any feeling of danger due to the lighthearted nature of the series.
Audio When it comes to putting together an English dub for a property that already features an English voice cast in other formats it usually is a toss-up on whether or not the publisher will try to bring in the original cast and thankfully FUNimation has managed to gather almost all of the original cast to reprise their roles in the English dub for the series while, of course, the Japanese track retains all of the same voice actors from the games. As mentioned before, the series is packed with plenty of gaming references in the dialogue and the cast really helps deliver on these jokes and many more.
The standard background music throughout the series is fairly standard, with a few tracks sounding like they were pulled from the games, though I must say that there are a couple of vocal insert songs that were directly taken from either the opening themes or cutscenes in the games and these songs work wonders for the series, especially for fans who will appreciate the use of familiar music. The opening theme “Dimension Tripper!!!” is sung by Nao, the singer for most of the series’ music and is very fitting while there are a handful of different ending themes with “Love & Peace” by Ayane standing out the most, though the primary ending theme is “Neptune Sagashite” by Afilia Saga and, while catchy, pales compared to the temporary ending theme.
Extras The bonus features contained on Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation’s discs are fairly standard with there being a clean version of the opening theme as well as all of the ending sequences. This is followed by promotional videos for the series, a three minute long compilation featuring all of the transformation sequences, and trailers for other FUNimation series.
It is also worth noting that the series’ OVA is also included in this release though it is mostly treated as the thirteenth episode. The OVA explores the bad ending that players could potentially achieve in the game and Neptune and Vert’s efforts to reverse the changes that have occurred in the world by traveling to another dimension.
Overall Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation manages to successfully re-produce the charming characters and oft hilarious dialogue that the series is known for but unfortunately attempts to cram too much into such a short time frame that any dramatic moments attempted end up falling flat as a result of poor build up and execution. This results in an enjoyable and fluffy show that fans of the series will likely enjoy despite its issues as a number of extra character interactions are included here while newcomers will probably want to turn to the Re;Birth releases for the real thing.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Sentai Filmworks has just announced their acquisition of Re:␣Hamatora, the second season of the Hamatora anime series. This season will be dubbed into English and then released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on January 26, 2016. Sentai Filmworks describes this season as follows:
The first season was enveloped in mystery and came to a shocking end — but that was only the beginning. It’s been three months since the Yokohama Riots, and the Hamatora detectives believe things are back to normal. But these troubled characters, still reeling from the events of last season, will have to reply when a mystery that was cloaked in darkness comes to light.
Seiji Kishi, director of the first season of Hamatora, returned as the director for this season. Series composition was provided by Jun Kumagi, Satoki Iida handled the sound direction and Lerche produced the animation. This series is based on an original concept by Yuki Kodama and Natsu Matsumai.
Fans of Corpse Party had likely given up hope that the Corpse Party: Tortured Souls OVA episodes that were released two years ago in Japan would ever be released in the West despite the games they are based on receiving quite a bit of support.
Thankfully it seems like Sentai‘s Maiden Japan has acquired the license and is planning on releasing the four episode OVA series on Blu-ray and DVD on January 26, 2016. It is worth noting that this OVA will not be for the faint of heart as the anime is going to be incredibly gory and feature a number of gruesome deaths if the games are anything to go by.
A summary of the OVAs has been provided by Maiden Japan below:
The horrifying events that occurred on the unhallowed grounds of the Heavenly Host school were so gruesome and shocking that the entire school was razed in an attempt to wipe the events from memory. But, foolishly, a new high school, the Kisaragi Academy, was built in Heavenly Host’s place, and all true evil needs is an invitation. So when a group of students innocently perform a charm intended to bind them as friends forever, the nightmarish evil is unleashed once again.
Transported into a living hell where Heavenly Host still stands and undead horrors stalk the bloodstained halls, the students are now the prey in the most brutal test ever designed by inhuman minds. What follows isn’t for the squeamish or weak of heart, as they are hunted down in a savage orgy of torture, murder, and insanity.
