It looks like Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sisters Generation is going to be missing its previous release date of May 19th by about two weeks. Idea Factory International has announced today that they will not be able to release the title on that date and will now be releasing Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sisters Generation on PC via Steam on June 2nd.
To make up for this delay, when Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2: Sisters Generation is released it will cost $29.99 but for a few days after launch the game will be sold at a 50% off discount. As for the content, this PC release includes all of the features from the original PlayStation Vita release as well as graphics that have been upped to 1080p.
Today Koei Tecmo released a new set of screenshots and a brand new trailer for Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess showing off the extra characters that have been added to the upcoming title. As we’ve previously reported, Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess features characters from previous Deception titles and after the player defeats these princesses in the game they will become playable characters in the mission mode. This includes Millenia the Clockwork Princess, Alicia the Branded Princess, and Reina the Tragic Princess.
As for the core game, players will still be able to play as Laegrinna, who is assisted by three Daemons, on a quest to kill the descendants of the twelve Saints that bound her father using Sadistic, Elaborate, and Humiliating traps. The brand new mode in Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess features the sadistic and mischievous Velgurie who is woken from her long slumber and must regain her powers by defeating humans in the dreamlands and the waking world to ensnare their souls. Velgurie is the first character in the series that can use kicks and somersaults to drive her opponents into traps, or away from her.
In 2005 a small mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 invited gamers to London, England. The city was in the middle of a zombie outbreak caused by Horizine Biotech. Fast forward ten years and the mod is growing into its second retail release. Tripwire Interactive is now looking to take the very best parts of Killing Floor and ratchet up the dial to 11 in Killing Floor 2 to create a gory, yet classy co-op shooter.
At its heart, Killing Floor 2 is still the same game as its predecessor. Six players work together to fight against increasingly difficult waves of disfigured creatures. New waves bring new and deadlier mutations and the entire game is capped off with a boss battle. Currently, there are four perks of the ten planned perks available for testing, along with some of the perk’s special weapons. Tripwire Interactive have released three maps for testing as of publication, with a fourth map to be released in the near future.
Between rounds, the trader opens her sales pod up. It definitely makes more sense lore wise than the first Killing Floor, when she would open up an actual brick and mortar store somewhere on the map. Money is gained throughout the round from kills and can be passed around to new players or those needing a little extra help to buy their best weapon.
The four perks currently available cover all the basis of a class based shooter. The melee/tank Bezerker perk uses home-made melee weapons and converted power tools. The Field Medic is almost completely self-explanatory, wielding dual-use weapons that can fire bullets or healing darts. The Support class runs a variety of deadly shotguns and specialize in doling out ammunition and welding doors to control the flow of Zeds and buy time for the team in particularly challenging waves. The final perk is Commando, who deals mid-ranged damage using a variety of assault rifles. Probably the most user friendly change in Killing Floor 2 is the tweaked experience system. It is now a lot easier to level certain perks. For example, in the first game the Support perk could only gain experience by welding doors, resulting in some really boring grinds where a fledgling support would whittle down a wave down to the last few monsters on their own and then keep a door welded shut as to level faster. In Killing Floor 2, all perks can gain experience by just killing enemies with the perk’s weapons on top of fulfilling the perk’s primary role.
Levelling up a perk will give a percentage based stat bonus for each level. For every five perk levels, the player can select between two talents. Right now, the talents are still work in progress. Some perks have better designed talents that will most likely survive to the game’s release, some talents are just downright awful. The Bezerker’s two level five talents are the first to come to mind. 20% more ranged weapon ammo or night vision for a primarily melee tank? Really?!
The three maps are rather varied in locale and well designed. All three have plenty of room to roam around in and have a good mix of claustrophobic interiors and wide open spaces to kite Fleshpounds and Scrakes around. Biotics Lab never fails to make my heart stop when I spot the imprisoned Clots being shuffled around the map on a conveyor or the ones left to wander in their small cells.
Killing Floor 2 remains a fantastic co-op experience. Even at normal difficulty levels, teams who are unable to stick together and support each other are bound to fail. No amount of experience, slow-mo Zed time, and ammunition in the world will save a bunch of lone wolves. Even in its current state, the game delivers some really tense moments. Currently, there is only one final boss, the 100 year old Nazi mad scientist Hans Volter. His three stage boss fight made me reminisce of hours spent raiding in MMORPGs. That first Hans Volter kill was ever so rewarding, especially after the several frustrating deaths while I learned the mechanics of the fight and a couple close calls. The future will bring more final bosses, including the return of the dreaded Patriarch.
One of Killing Floor 2’s biggest draws is the new visuals. The game has been upgraded with to Unreal Engine 3.5, giving it plenty of eye candy for those with powerful machines, while still being extremely accessible to a wide variety of computers. Tripwire Interactive has amped up the gore this time, as the maps slowly develop a thick layer of blood and gore as the rounds progress. I am impressed that the devs have figured out a way to pull this off without any noticeable impact to the game’s performance over time.
Tripwire has also included a new damage system called MEAT (Massive Evisceration and Trauma). It is inspired by Soldier of Fortune’s innovative GHOUL system. The MEAT system allows enemies to be sliced and diced based on how and what it was killed with. Slice a Zed with a downward katana stroke? Expect the body to fall to the ground in two pieces. When the slow-mo Zed Time is triggered, the game goes black and white except for the gore, which streak the view with shades of crimson. Tripwire has warned that some regions which ban extreme graphic violence will have their gore slider stuck at no or low levels when the game finally leaves Steam Early Access; however, Killing Floor 2’s excessive gore has quickly become an extremely guilty pleasure.
The audio is very good right now. Characters are extremely chatty with excellent voice acting and the gun sounds are enjoyable. The game also includes a metal-heavy soundtrack to slaughter zombies to, with options to enable or disable vocals.
I am always amazed by Tripwire’s attention to detail. I love the small touches like pressing the reload key with full ammunition will get the player to clean the blood off their weapon or check their ammunition levels. I even noticed that characters have comments that are tied to their current perk. It really puts a shine on the surprisingly polished game the developers have put together for Steam Early Access.
Killing Floor 2 is just bloody good fun, even in early access. There isn’t too much content right now and there are some balance issues that need to be worked out, but I still find myself having a great time playing. Developers should pay attention to how Tripwire is running the early access phase, as Killing Floor 2 is the perfect example of how an early access title should look. The game is surprisingly polished, is actively being tweaked, and a steady flow of content is beginning to form. If Killing Floor didn’t get your attention, then Killing Floor 2 will grab you like a Clot and won’t let go.
Hanabee Entertainment has just announced the second of three new home video releases slated for July 2015. This comes very shortly after the announcement that Hakkenden -Eight Dogs of the East- Season Two is coming to Australia on DVD and Blu-ray.
Captain Earth Part 1 will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray on July 3, 2015. Episodes 1-13 will be featured across two discs with Japanese audio and English subtitles. On-disc extras will include the textless opening and ending animation.
The series was originally broadcasted in Japan from April to September last year. Animation production was handled by Studio Bones.
The DVD and Blu-ray sets scheduled for release in July 2015 will be available for pre-order here in the very near future.
Hanabee Entertainment has just announced their first of three new home video releases for July 2015.
Hakkenden-Eight Dogs of the East- Season Two will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray in Australia on July 3, 2015. All thirteen episodes will be featured with dual-audio across two discs. On-disc extras will include the textless opening and ending animation sequences.
Animated by Studio Deen, the second season premiered in the July of 2013, less than four months after the first season concluded. The series is adapted from Miyuki Abe’s manga series, which has been published in Kadokawa Shouten since 2005 and collected into 13 tankoubon volumes so far.
Pre-orders for the DVD and Blu-ray edition can be made here. Both sets will cost $59.99 AUD. Hanabee’s trailer for this release is available below.
A couple of weeks ago Atlus announced that all launch copies and pre-ordered copies ofPersona 4: Dancing All Night would come packaged with a code for a collection of swimsuits for the female members of the cast. Today, Atlus released a new trailer for the game showing exactly what these swimsuits will look like.
In the trailer below, the swimsuits for Chie, Rise, Yukiko, and Naoto are shown off. While this DLC will be packaged with all launch copies when the game is released in Japan on June 25, those that miss out can purchase the swimsuits from the PlayStation Network at a later date.
Animatsu Entertainment’s website has been updated with four more upcoming releases, including two popular Rooster Teeth titles and two anime titles. All of the following titles will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray.
Both Red vs Blue Season 12 and RWBY Volume 2 titles will be released on August 24, 2015. On-disc extras for Red vs Blue Season 12 include: Audio Commentary, Blooper Reel, Deleted Scenes, Season 12 Teaser Trailer, four PSAs, and Character Journal Entries. On-disc extras for RWBY Volume 2 include: ‘World of Remnant’; History Videos, Behind-the-Scenes Production Diaries and Audio Commentary Tracks with Cast and Crew.
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! will be released with dual-audio on August 24. Finally, The Comic Artist and His Assistants will be released on September 14.
The previously announced releases of Red vs Blue Season 11 and RWBY Volume 1 will be available on June 29. Also, Animatsu has had to delay their release of Nadia: Secret of Blue Water to June 22 due to unforeseen circumstances. Pre-orders for all titles can be made at Amazon.co.uk.
This week Koei Tecmo‘s Gust has announced that they are working on a brand new action RPG called Yoru no Nai Kuni (Land of No Night) and are planning on releasing it for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita on August 27th.
Few details about Yoru no Nai Kuni are currently known but the title takes place in a place where no one sleeps at night and follows the journey of two girls, Arnath who is described as being partially evil and the saint Rulitis. In battle players will be utilizing a magical sword and fighting alongside demon subordinates that are called “Servan.”
A few screenshots, some scans, and artwork for Yoru no Nai Kuni can be found below.
Bandai Namco has been changing things up with some of their mainstay Tekken characters in Tekken 7. A few days ago we learned that Yoshimitsu would be returning with squid-like tentacles sprouting from his body and now the company has announced that the ever-changing robotic Jack will also be joining the cast as a newly modified Jack-7.
As you can see in the announcement trailer below, Jack-7 has been given a dye-job from his usual blonde look and now has a neon glow throughout most of his body. That being said, it does look like many of his standard moves will return despite his altered appearance.
Sekai Project has announced that they will be releasing Frontwing’s The Fruit of Grisaia on PC via Steam on May 29th. This is the first of three planned Grisaia releases that were funded by a previously successful Kickstarter project that ended late last year. It is worth noting that this Steamrelease of The Fruit of Grisaia is for the All-Ages version of the game and that the 18+ version is still scheduled to be released at a later, yet to be announced, date.
In The Fruit of Grisaia, players take on the role of Yuuji Kazami who is sent to attend the isolated Mihama Academy where only five female students are attending classes. There are five routes in total to explore, one for each of the girls who have various reasons for attending the school that players will learn about as they progress through each route.
