Capsule Computer and Indie Gala’s 62nd Monday Bundle has a bit of a twist this week. Also known as the Monday Storm Bundle, the bundle contains five indie games for one exceptional price.
Storm United– This is the title game for this bundle! Storm United is a class based FPS that mixes elements of space marines, competitive gaming, and player-oriented development into one fantastic Steam Early Access title.
Bloodsports.TV – A co-op hero defense title set in the same post-apocalyptic world as Krater.
Red Bit Ninja – An old school platformer that will challenge players to survive 60 challenging level with their wits and a handy rope dart.
Trash TV – You are a TV destined to be recycled into something new… unless you can escape of course. Run through the factory’s perilous levels and gain your freedom!
Thief Town – A local multiplayer stealth game that challenges players to pick out the other 3 player characters in a crowd of look-a-likes.
For the first 24 hours of the sale, Indie Gala Monday Storm Bundle is available for only $1.89. Afterwards, the price goes up! Be sure to get your bundle at Indie Gala today.
Last Monday, the official website for NTV’s upcoming live-action Death Note TV drama series revealed who will be playing Light Yagami, L and Near. Today, eight more cast members were revealed. The new cast members include:
Hinako Sono as Misa Amane
Reiko Fujiwara as Sayu Yagami
Megumi Seki as Shouko Himura
Gouki Maeda as Touta Matsuda
Tomohisa Yuge as Shuuichi Aizawa
Kazuaki Hankai as Watari
Jirou Satou as Kanzou Mogi
Yutaka Matsushige as Souichirou Yagami
Currently, the cast differs completely from the cast of the two live-action films and the spin-off film. The TV drama will begin broadcast at 10pm on July 5, 2015.
FUNimation Entertainment is releasing collections of more than a dozen titles in this month. Here is the full list of all of their June 2015 releases, including price details, packaging details and the details about the on-disc extras for each of them.
June 2, 2015:
Wanna Be the Strongest in the World! Standard and Limited Edition DVD and Blu-ray combo-packs – SRP $64.98 / $69.98. On-disc extras include episode commentaries for episodes 1 and 7, the U.S. trailer and Japanese trailers. The limited edition release will come in a chipboard art box.
Nobunagun Standard and Limited Edition DVD and Blu-ray combo-packs – SRP $64.98 / $69.98. On-disc extras include: episode commentaries and trailers. The limited edition release will come in a chipboard art box.
Fairy Tail Collection 4 DVD and Blu-ray combo-pack – SRP $54.98. On-disc extras include episode commentaries and trailers.
June 9, 2015:
Oni-Ai Blu-ray S.A.V.E. – SRP $24.98. This English-subtitled release will also feature trailers.
Sacred Blacksmith DVD S.A.V.E. – SRP $29.98. Trailers will be included.
CLAMP Double Feature DVD S.A.V.E. – SRP $9.98. On-disc extras for the xxxHOLiC movie include: Opening Day at Shinjuku Cinema Milano, Recording Session Montage, Japanese Cast and Staff Commentary, Character Design Slides, Background Plates and trailers. On-disc extras for the Tsubasa movie include: 2005 Premiere in Ikebukuro, 2005 Movie Event in Shibuya, Recording Session Montage, Japanese Cast and Staff Commentary, Production Artwork, Background Slides, Origin of Bird Kingdom and trailers.
Hyperdimension Neptunia Standard and Limited Edition DVD and Blu-ray combo-packs – SRP $64.98 / $69.98. On-disc extras include: Transform Collection, DVD and Blu-ray commercials, Commercials, Promotional Videos, the U.S. trailer and trailers.
June 16, 2015:
Tokyo Ravens Part 2 DVD and Blu-ray combo-pack – $64.98. On-disc extras include: “Kon Explains it All!” #3, episode commentaries for episodes 14, 18 and 23, the U.S. trailer and trailers.
Is this a Zombie? Of the Dead Anime Classics Edition DVD and Blu-ray combo-pack – SRP $49.98. On-disc extras include: Character Actors in Action: Episode 1 Video Commentary, Audio Commentaries for episodes 4 and 10, the U.S. trailer and trailers.
June 23, 2015:
Ping Pong the Animation DVD and Blu-ray combo-pack – $59.98. On-disc extras include: episode commentaries for episodes 1 and 11, TV Spots, the Original Trailer, Next Episode Previews, Promotional Videos, the U.S. trailer and trailers.
Origin: Spirits of the Past S.A.V.E. DVD and Blu-ray sets – $14.98 / $19.98. On-disc extras will include: “The Making of Agito” 50-minute Documentary, The Quest for Never-Before-Seen Visuals, Voices to Give Life to the Art, The Harmony of the Visuals and Sound, The Premiere, and Then to Asia, Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots.
June 30, 2015:
Soul Eater Premium Edition Blu-ray – SRP $64.98. Check out the details of this release in the original announcement article here.
Soul Eater Not! Standard and Limited Edition DVD and Blu-ray combo-packs – SRP $64.98 / $69.98. On-disc extras include: “Soul Eater Whoops!”, episode commentaries for episodes 5 and 9, the U.S. trailer and trailers. The limited edition release will come in a chipboard art box.
BlazBlue Alter Memory DVD and Blu-ray combo-pack – SRP $64.98. On-disc extras include the U.S. trailer and trailers.
.hack//G.U. Trilogy movie DVD – SRP $29.98. On-disc extras include: Special TV Program: Making of the Theatrical Feature, Parody Mode, Image Board Galley, Promotional Videos and Trailers.
Additionally, all of the above releases excluding the movie sets will include the textless opening and ending animations for their respective shows. All listed prices are in US dollars. Retailer prices may vary.
Sentai Filmworks is releasing several titles this month, including new releases of ongoing series, the first releases of some series and re-releases. Here is the full list of titles Sentai is releasing this month, including price details and information about the on-disc extras for each set.
June 2, 2015:
Haikyuu!! Collection 1 on DVD and Blu-ray – $49.98 / $59.98. It contains episodes 1-12 with Japanese with English subtitles.
June 9, 2015:
Knights of Sidonia Season 1 on DVD, Blu-ray and in a Collector’s Edition DVD and Blu-ray combo-pack – $59.98 / $69.98 / $99.98. It contains episodes 1-12 with Japanese, Spanish and English audio and English, Spanish and French subtitles. On-disc extras will include the following features: the Alternate Angle Version – Uncensored, Behind the Scenes Parts 1-2, Press Conference, Advanced Screening and Sounds of Sidonia. The collector’s edition will come in a chipboard art box along with a poster, a sticker, 15 postcards and a foil postcard.
Mardock Scramble Trilogy on DVD and Blu-ray – $39.98 / $49.98. It features both the theatrical cuts and director’s cuts of all three films, The First Compression, The Second Combustion and The Third Exhaust, with dual audio and English subtitles. On-disc extras will include the following features: Opening on the Road, Blackjack Showdown, Memorial Talk, Director’s Cut Promo and Narrated Promo.
June 16, 2015:
Captain Earth Collection 1 on DVD and Blu-ray – $49.98 / $59.98. It contains episodes 1-13 with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
June 23, 2015:
Hayate the Combat Butler: Cuties on DVD and Blu-ray – $49.98 / $59.98. It contains episodes 1-12 of season 4 with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
June 30, 2015:
Space Brothers Collection 3 on DVD and Blu-ray – $49.98 / $59.98. It contains episodes 27-38 with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
Magical Warfare Complete Collection on DVD and Blu-ray – $59.98 / $69.98. It contains episodes 1-12 with dual audio and English subtitles.
All of the above releases, except the Mardock Scramble trilogy sets, will feature the textless opening and ending animations for each respective show as on-disc extras. All prices listed are in US dollars. Retailer prices may differ.
Next week sees the release of the highly anticipated Jurassic World in theaters across the globe, but what if you have young kids who might be scared off by the Velociraptors and what not, but still want them to enjoy all the fun of the Jurassic Park franchise? Well luckily, Warner Bros have you covered with the release of LEGO Jurassic World coming at the same time!
Before the park officially opens, we have a new trailer that shows off the park in all of its brick glory, and a few dinosaurs to boot. Check out the trailer below and make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all of the Jurassic World news, both video game and film related.
Nintendo released a promo video for the upcoming 3DS game Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon (Pokemon Chou Fushigi no Danjon) during the Japanese Nintendo Direct on Sunday. The game will be released on the 17th of September in Japan and will have a suggested retail price of 4700 yen. It is currently slated for release in early 2016 in the West.
The trailer reveals that the game will feature all 720 Pokémon, including all legendary Pokémon, and will allow the protagonist to choose their partner from 20 different Pokémon. It also shows some gameplay footage and a brief shot of the new town.
The official Japanese website can be found here. An official trailer is featured below.
What if Jesus was black? This is a question that has only been briefly explored before in comedy series such as Family Guy, not in a critical way that combines comedy with social and religious commentary. Aaron McGruder, creator, executive producer and head writer of The Boondocks, and Mike Clattenburg, creator of Trailer Park Boys, have taken this idea and created a series that does not just depict a stereotypically black Jesus in a random cutaway gag, but rather depicts a stereotypically black Jesus in his day-to-day life with his followers/homies. Does this show feature any meaningful religious or social commentary, or is it just another show that relies on harmful stereotypes?
Story
The year is 2014. Having died for everyone’s sins, as he often likes to remind people, Jesus Christ is living in Compton, California. As he is told by the people around him, he has not really done anything in the last two millennia, but he is still the lord and saviour as far as his devout followers are concerned. What does he actually do, though? What miracles does he perform? Far fewer than his followers would like. Homeless man Lloyd would love it if the Son of God would help him win the lottery, but Jesus only has love and kindness to give him. ‘Pops’ is the one who performs the miracles, according to Jesus. He loves everyone, but he does not do anything else for his homies. He will not pay for food, alcohol, marijuana or anything at all, and when he is put on the spot about that, he just says: ‘relax’. He has no income, but he receives offerings from his followers and gets free food and drugs from his homies.
Jesus has a plan, or rather his ‘pops’ has a plan. He wants to create a community garden for growing vegetables such as tomatoes and Spanish onions, as well as marijuana. Ms. Tudi provides them with the money to get started, but Jesus blows it all on rent when he decides to build the garden on a large plot of land that a couple of people from a local Mexican gang apparently own. The plan that ‘pops’ has goes from bad to worse when they execute their plan to steal horse manure from the Compton stables. They pull off the heist without getting caught, but Jesus does not properly close the gate to the stables even after Maggie reminds him to do so. The horses, who have remained quite still thus far, all walk out the gate and begin to roam the streets of Compton, demonstrating that these plans are never fully thought-through.
How good is Jesus, or rather God, at growing marijuana? Not good at all. The vegetables are growing just fine, but the marijuana plants are not. The effort was not in vain, however, as the tomatoes have a ‘magical’ property to them. Two millennia later, his next gift to the world, or at least to the paying citizens of Compton, is tomatoes that make them high. Later on, the show introduces a minor character who wants to take the plot of land and turn it into a car park, simply out of greed. This situation helps bring the community together, a positive outcome in that respect, as it shows what a community can achieve when they work together and help each other out, even if it involves marijuana.
A short amount of time is spent showing the influence of technology, particularly mobile phones and Facebook, on African-American society. Maggie, the only woman in the group of Jesus’ homies, is almost constantly on Facebook making negative statements about other people instead of doing anything productive. The show does not make any direct commentary about this, but technology is something that is perpetuating the problem of societal influence on young women. It, along with the media too, conditions them to focus only on their appearance and to judge each other, instead of using their intelligence and being productive members of society. The use of character archetypes is disappointing; there is the archetypical uselessly lazy character, the ‘nerd’, the ex-convict and the ‘bitch’, none of whom offer much social commentary. Jesus’ homies do not go through as much development as they could have, but they are all entertaining thanks to the talented actors playing them, even if they spend more time using guns or phones than they ought to.
The majority of the comedy comes from the use of African-American stereotypes in combination with the character of Jesus Christ and Christianity. This show is about a portrayal of what Jesus would be like in modern day life. A person who can heal people with the touch of his hand, except when it comes to his own back. A person who can turn water into a bottle of wine. What does he really do for the whole of humanity, though? He often betrays the trust of the people who are really relying on him to help them. He only has an infinite supply of love and kindness for everyone, and that is all he can be expected to offer in reality. Black Jesus’ message is that the figure of Jesus Christ is not there to help people with their real life problems, such as ensuring a drug deal goes right, but there, figuratively speaking, to give people faith and to try to get everyone to be kinder to each other. Its other message is that bringing the community together with a project is an excellent way to prevent conflict from arising between different groups of people, even if the community project is a garden in which ‘miracle’ tomatoes are growing.
Visuals
The costume design for Jesus is simple but effective: he wears a long brown robe that keeps getting stuck in car doors. There are a few gunfights throughout this season, which is not surprising for a show about an African-American community that also features stereotypical Mexican gangsters. The violence is not graphic, and it is more often than not meant to be comedic. The masks worn during one gunfight in particular help make a situation that would be terrible in real life rather hilarious.
Audio
Most of the music used is house music, and the rest of it is typical Christian music, such as songs sung with quotations from the Bible. Fans of The Boondocks will quickly connect Lloyd’s voice to Robert Freeman, and it is interesting to see John Witherspoon in such a different role. Fans of Charlie Murphy will enjoy a scene where his antagonistic character Vic is singing while playing the guitar.
Extras
Madman’s release comes with a ‘Honk if You Love Black Jesus’ bumper sticker. No on-disc extras are included.
Overall
Black Jesus is a hilarious series that simultaneously manages to be somewhat crude and offer a critique on Jesus Christ, the Christian God and Christianity in general. This series will no doubt offend some people, but it is an interesting and entertaining way of exploring two ideas: what if Jesus was black, and what if he lived in our time? Black Jesus shares some similarities to the Jesus portrayed in South Park, so if you have seen Jesus in that, you already have an idea about what you are getting yourself into if you purchase this DVD collection. If you are familiar with The Boondocks, then you know that Aaron McGruder writes not just to entertain, but to provide commentary on politics and society. This series may occasionally sacrifice commentary for comedy, but it is consistently entertaining.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
At the start of the year a domain registration for Corpse Party: Blood Drive was discovered and now XSEED has made it official by announcing that they are indeed localizing the title for release in North America. Corpse Party: Blood Drive will be released on the PS Vita sometime this fall and the company is planning on releasing the title digitally and at retail with a limited “Everafter Edition.” This physical limited edition will include a two-disc compilation of songs from the three Corpse Party titles as well as a “Dying Art” book featuring artwork from all the three games in the franchise.
Corpse Party: Blood Drive serves as the final installment to the supernatural story and is the first game in the series to allow players to explore Heavenly Host Elementary in 3D. The title will feature new gameplay systems that allow for more exciting interactions for players experiencing the gruesome finale to this tale of an inescapable, otherworldly school populated by vengeful spirits, including a dynamic lighting system aided by an in-game flashlight, talismans to protect the player characters from danger, deadly traps to disarm, cabinets to hide in, a stamina system that allows for limited dashing, and more.
XSEED Games has announced that they will be bringing Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space to North America sometime this fall season for the PlayStation Vita. When released the title will be available at retail and as a digital download.
As for the game itself, Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space is set as a predecessor to the series’ first North American release, Earth Defense Force 2017, and in the game players will take on the role of three distinct military classes to fend off hordes of invading giant insects. Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space was originally released in Japan and Europe for the PS2 but was never released in North America until now, with a definitive PS Vita release.
Atlus USA has announced that they will be releasing Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight in North America on August 4th and at launch all of the first print copies will contain the previously announced collectible box, soundtrack, and official art book.
To go along with this announcement Atlus has released a new trailer showing off Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight‘s cooking system where players can decipher various recipes and use ingredients gathered from the dungeons and dropped by monsters to create dishes that will provide various boosts to the party. You can check out the trailer below and as for European gamers, the title will be released next year on February 12th by NIS America.
