Three-in-a-row games seem to dominate the mobile app markets. Candy Crush, Free-Fall and Scurvy Scallywags are just a few of the heavy hitters out there. Well now Nintendo have gotten in on the action with Pokémon Shuffle for Nintendo 3DS.
As you could probably have guessed, Pokémon Shuffle has you matching three identical tiles in order to progress through its many stages and capture a bunch of wild Pokémon. Pokémon Shuffle is available now through the Nintendo 3DS eShop absolutely free. The only draw back is that like the mobile games that inspired it, the game uses a life-system where once you have expended your five hearts you are required to wait for them to replenish before you can continue playing.
You know, when I first got my 4G-compatible phone, I was absolutely blown away by how quick it ran. YouTube videos, web pages and emails all loading in the snap of my fingers. Even now when I’m out and about on the weekend, loading up a video to kill time while I’m bored is faster than my home’s WiFi.
So with 4G being so fast, I’m sure you will be as shocked as I am to hear that Telstra are introducing even faster mobile speeds with their new 4GX network. Just how fast is 4GX? Well Telstra have put up a little video below that shows off just how fast the network is. Not only that, but selected mobile phones and tablets can access 4GX right now! Check out the video below then click “Find Out More” to see if you can tap into the lightning fast seeds in your area.
Team17 has announced that the Kickstarter title, This is the Police by Weappy Studio, has been added to it’s official line up. This means that marketing, PR, and general assistance to development and release will be aided by the publishing company. Additionally, there is now the added hope that This is the Police will come to other platforms besides PC.
The title is nearing the end of it’s Kickstarterfunding period, and while This is the Police hasn’t quite reached it’s goal it’s close. Hopefully with this announcement from Team17 the title will be produced even if Weappy Studio’s Kickstarter isn’t fully funded.
We’ve covered This is the Police before and the title is quite promising. It appears to be a mash-up of genres, involving strategy and adventure aspects. Additionally, the overview of the game is set up like city management games as the protagonist works to earn money though police corruption. Hopefully the story will be strong as well, since the game looks to lean heavily on it’s corrupt police narrative for setting. Look for This is the Police in December 2015.
Dragon Ball Z Season 9 brings us the conclusion of the Buu Saga and also the end of the entire Dragon Ball Z series and the anime itself if you prefer to discount the Toei Animation produced Dragon Ball GT as canon. There are more fusions, more transformations, more battles and even another time skip to end the series. Featuring 38 episodes, does Season 9 offer the finale Dragon Ball Z deserves? Read on to find out.
Story
Spoilers ahead, so any new fans of Dragon Ball who haven’t seen the final arc of the Buu Saga and don’t wish to be spoiled please skip to the visuals section. After an unfortunate event that provides a rather interesting social commentary on the actions of men, Buu has an anger induced meltdown causing him to transform into a much more sinister, slimmer form. From then on the plot focuses on how to destroy the newly formed monster, which encourages new transformations and new strategies, many of which fail.
The Z warriors are at their most powerful here and it is a real treat for the viewer. Gohan’s potential being unlocked through Elder Kai, Gotenks reaching Super Saiyan 3 and the most ridiculously powerful character in all of the series, Super Vegetto, the fusion of Goku and Vegeta gone Super Saiyan all reach awesome new heights. These transformations and how they occur are good fun to watch play out, but it can get annoying when the heroes continue to toy with their enemies instead of finishing them off, particularly Gohan who seemingly hasn’t learnt his lesson from fighting Cell.
The fights continue to be a strong point for the series and are pushed to new limits along with the fighters power. From the over-the-top creative super attacks of Gotenks to the punishing melee of Ultimate Gohan, the fights somehow manage to remain interesting and fresh after the series long run. Buu’s absorption techniques and the way he can warp his body also lead to a handful of interesting techniques. This is classic mountain smashing, planet destroying, energy blast firing Dragon Ball Z action.
While all the awesome power ups and fights are great, both the story and main villain is weaker here than in former arcs. The Buu Saga is often ridiculed for being contrived, overly long and contradictory (there are still debates to this day over which Buu form is the strongest) and rightfully so. The convenience of some characters not mentioning certain information or performing questionable acts (or not performing any act) makes you question Toriyama’s ability (or willingness at this point in the series) to craft a complete story and take into account past series lore.
The saga is also full of coincidences that only seem exist to forward the plot to the next transformation that will most likely fail again and unfortunately, these coincidences happens a few times within the saga. It can also be argued Buu is a rather average villain only bent on destruction, a far cry from the scheming, iconic villains of Frieza and Cell that always seemed to have a connection to the Z warriors past where as Buu does not. While his back story is revealed and is actually rather interesting, it really doesn’t help Buu become any more interesting of a villain.
On to the ending, the story of Dragon Ball Z has always depended on its well fleshed out cast and the ending does a fantastic job of giving each of those a proper send off, right from the final moments of the battle with Kid Buu. The Super Spirit Bomb Goku forms to take out Buu gives a reason to show characters dating back all the way from original Dragon Ball to the newer Z sagas so you can see where they have ended up. Vegeta’s character is resolved beautifully, finally coming to peace with Goku’s natural talent that surpasses his own and letting go of the anger that came with the rivalry.
The epilogue takes place ten years after the defeat of Buu and gives us a few more concluding revelations. Gohan has finally achieved his dream (or should I say his mother’s dream) of becoming a scholar and is married to Videl with a daughter of his own. Many of the Z warriors are enjoying the peace, relaxing with their families and even expanding them. Of course Goku is the main focus at the very end and his ending is perfect for him, despite being a rather selfish decision on his part that gives some credibility to the theory he is not the universe’s best father or husband.
Visuals
There is no doubt the quality offered by this Blu-ray collection is margins above its old DVD counterparts. The most noticeable difference in the remaster is the sharpness which has improved three fold thanks to the high definition offered by the Blu-ray format and the removal of the ‘low bit rate’ effect. The Majin Buu Saga has always looked better than past sagas simply by virtue of being newer and being drawn with more detail and that has aided in the better image quality present here, with Season 9 stealing the crown for best looking season. A couple of comparison screenshots are below for you to see the drastic difference in quality for yourself with the DVD image on top and Blu-ray on the bottom.
I’ve mentioned the cropping issue in all my prior DBZ Blu-ray reviews but it is important to a lot of fans so I will mention it again here. Dragon Ball was first broadcasted in the old 4:3 aspect ratio but has been converted to 16:9 widescreen for this release without the option to view it in its original form, resulting in about 20% of the original image being lost. In the Blu-rays, Funimation have selectively cropped each scene instead of leaving the crop confined to one spot for the entire run of the show like they did with the older DVD release. This obviously does not eradicate the problem entirely however the selective cropping is a much better solution, with one such example being the above shot where you can much more of Goku’s face now.
The colours, brightness and contrast here are perfect and the grain removal is spot on. The new release does not suffer from any type of over saturation like the DVD releases but colours still manage to pop on screen. Lines are sharper and cleaner, colours are not over saturated and light and shadows are visible where they previously were not, allowing for more detail on screen and a more natural look. You can see the rocks and the light around the Kamehameha really benefit from the new remastering process as opposed to looking blurry.
The new box art which is featured at the top of this review showcases the events of Season 9 well and even manages to get Mr. Satan on the cover for once. You can link this cover up with Season 7 and Season 8 to form a mural that covers the events of the Majin Buu saga which is great for those who love their physical collections.
Audio
The audio options presented here by Funimation are excellent and should not leave anyone disappointed. The default audio is set to the Funimation English dub with the original Japanese Audio track and is presented in True HD Dolby 5.1 surround sound. All the intense battles, ki blast and yelling sound loud and clear in this release. You also have your original broadcast dub soundtrack done by Bruce Falconer and the original Japanese mono broadcast to select from as well. The Stereo and 5.0 options come through crystal clear and the Japanese audio, while obviously suffering from its age, does sound better than it has in past releases.
The Japanese and English music track both have some great highlights here and I recommend watching the Season twice with both soundtracks so you can hear the best of both worlds. On the dub, tracks such as Buu is Fighting fit perfectly with the out of control villain and the theme that accompanies Gohan returning to Earth brings even more epicness to the scene. More sombre scenes like Elder Kai giving his life are given appropriate backing tracks that again aid in involving you more emotionally with the scene. The Japanese audio track is also terrific, always matching the action on screen and able to stir just as much emotion as the Falconer soundtrack. Where as the DVD release had a lot of issues with audio ‘warping’ constantly, there is no such error here.
As for the voice acting, you again have the choice of the Funimation English dub or the original Japanese vocal track. The dub voices are at their best in Season 9, with some extremely well delivered lines from the cast that nail that bad ass tone, Super Buu’s “you’re missing the point” and Gohan’s “fight you, no, I wanna kill you” are particularly memorable. I can’t really comment on the Japanese vocal track but I have no complaints about what I have heard of those performances. All this voice work shines through with crystal clarity thanks to the remastering of the series original audio.
I always like to give my two cents on the menu song and I am pretty happy with it this time around. My only complaint is the background scenes of Hercule wandering around the desert that accompany it are a very poor choice for the track (and in general, especially for the final Blu-ray in the set).
Extras
Season 9 brings the extras big time, featuring an entire disc dedicated to bonus features. This time we have two standard interviews featuring Josh Martin (voice of Majin Buu) and Chris Rager (voice of Mr. Satan). In addition to that, we get a feature titled From East to West: Dragon Ball Z’s Epic Journey and another feature titled “A Completely Serious Discussion About the Comedy of Dragon Ball Z” which is six members of the main voice cast including Chris Sabat literally goofing around for an hour in a free interview format.
Personally even though there was more on offer here I wasn’t a big fan of these extras which is a shame as I have highly praised the interviews and special features on all past seasons I have reviewed. Josh Martin’s interview was particularly dry and he didn’t seem to share the love for his role as many of the other cast did which made his interview rather uninteresting. Chris Rager’s interview is easily the highlight, he shows a great appreciation for the role and reveals a lot about his past, how he got into the role as well as his inspiration for where Hercule’s voice came from. The entire interview is a pleasure to watch.
While the extras in previous seasons were always full of behind the scenes information about the show and the actors, these features are sorely lacking in that kind of information. The East to West special was mainly reused clips from previous interviews spliced together with fan accolades from various anime conventions that didn’t really have much substance (although the Goku/Gohan father son cosplay was touching and also good for a laugh). Perhaps it just didn’t appeal to my type of humour, but the hour long Comedy of Dragon Ball Z feature isn’t that funny even though the actor’s are trying really hard to be.
Apart from the big extras, there is a short U.S. trailer and a text less opening and closing segment. The ‘next time on Dragon Ball Z’ segments are missing from this release, however the previous episode recaps are present. Unfortunately the Blu-ray release is the old physical episode guide featured in the old orange remastered DVD box is completely absent.
Overall
Dragon Ball Z Season 9 is a worthy send off to the popular series. While the story falters in some regards that will stick out more to the most loyal viewers and those that love to search for plot holes, the strong personality of the characters and the still excellent transformation and fight sequences will keep you in your seat until the end. The special features aren’t as interesting as the ones included in past releases but the amazing visual and audio quality of the main content more than make up for this. If you don’t mind the transition to the widescreen format, this Blu-ray collection is how you should experience Dragon Ball Z.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Katana has been swinging her Soultaker katana in comic books, on the TV shows like Arrow, and in several Lego Batman games. Now, she is joining the cast of Infinite Crisis on March 4th.
In Infinite Crisis, Katana is a mobile bruiser specializing in burst damage who is perfect for picking off high value targets and getting around the map quickly.
Her passive skill Soultaker that allows her to store Slash and Cross Step abilities to give her bonus stats. Her Kendo ability gives her four possible finishing moves based on on her stored abilities.
Katana’s real name is Tatsu Toro and is a skilled martial artist. She married Maseo Yamashiro, a member of the Sword Clan and a Yakuza gangster. After her husband was slain by his twin brother Takeo, Tatsu Toro took up Maseo’s legendary sword Soultaker and is now using it to bring justice against criminals everywhere, in hopes of one day avenging her husband’s death.
Turbine released a new character spotlight trailer that will teach players all of Katana’s skills, provide some hints on how to play her effectively on each map, and suggest some items that compliment her.
Infinite Crisis is a free to play MOBA game based on the DC Universe. The game is currently in beta and can be accessed by signing up at the official site. The game is available for Windows only.
Don’t worry everyone! The Last Guardian has not been deserted as Sony has filed a petition to revive the trademark, signifying that work is still being done on the title. Gamers had reason to worry when news first appeared that Sony might have abandoned The Last Guardian, after the trademark had expired two days ago on the 16th February. Understandably so, as Sony has been very tightlipped over the anticipated title during the current stages of the (seemingly never ending) development cycle.
The petition of revival notice at the time of writing has a status of ‘Application revived and is awaiting further action’, so it seems to be only a matter of time before The Last Guardian is trademarked again.
The Last Guardian, developed by Team Ico (who were behind cult favourite PS2 games ICO and Shadow of the Colossus), is an action-adventure game about a boy who is trying to escape from a large castle. The game started development in 2007 but has suffered numerous delays and problems with internal communications. Release dates and platforms are still not clear.
Back in 1982, Tron made waves with its epic story and (at the time) incredible use of CGI. In fact, when it was made, Tron was disallowed from the academy awards because the academy though that CGI was cheating when it came to special effects. Fast forward to 2010 and we finally got the highly anticipated sequel. Fast forward again to 2015 and Disney have released Sam Flynn and Quorra from the 2010 Tron Legacy as figures for Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes, albeit as iPad/PC exclusive characters that don’t have a physical figurine.
Sam’s ranged attack has him throwing his Identity Disc. Anybody who has played Disney Infinity 1.0 will be familiar with the disc and how it operates, but for those who haven’t; it is basically a boomerang… a really powerful boomerang. Quorra also has an Identity Disc but uses it in conjunction with her Light-Katana to deal rapid strikes to her enemies.
One of the coolest parts of the new characters is how they block and dodge oncoming moves. Sam and Quorra flip around like damn ninjas in the Toy Box, and as their flips and mid-air twists look awesome. Although both characters hide behind an identity disc to block, which seems like a big risk for the characters, considering the loss of an identity disc in the films means they cease to exist. However, I guess they needed to block attacks some way and it still looks badass.
Both Sam and Quorra look absolutely incredible in-game. Their dark suits that are highlighted by the bright blue/white outlining that fans of the Tron franchise will be immediately familiar with. Sam’s face is covered with a full mask so he has no expressions or dialogue, but Quorra’s face is free for the world to see, and you can definitely see Olivia Wilde’s features in her character model.
Ok, time to talk about the elephant into the room; the digital-only nature of these figures. Disney Infinity is more than just a video game, it is a collectible hobby, a cross-genre experience and the physical character figures and Power Discs make up a big part of that experience. By making the two Tron characters digital-exclusive, Disney have managed to both remain authentic to the movie and throw away the fundamentals of Disney Infinity.
Not only that, but limiting the characters to iPad and PC has ostracised the huge console player base and since Sam and Quorra have unique skills and abilities in contrast to the rest of the 1.0 and 2.0 characters, a huge chunk of the game’s audience will never be able to experience them in action.
Now we can sit here and lament the fact that console players wont get to play as Sam and Quorra in the near future, what is an even bigger mistake is the fact that the Light Jet and Light Cycle seem to (at least currently) be locked away in the iPad/PC exclusivity zone along with the two characters. This means that one of the most recognisable and famous vehicles in movie history is only available to players on iPad and PC.
I think that the rather vocal response has shown Disney and Avalanche Software that this kind of release is not what the fan base wants. I personally believe that this relagates new characters to nothing more than DLC or microtransactions, and if the game continues down that path then it wont be long before it loses followers. Lets just hope that this isn’t the start of a trend for the game and is a simple glitch in the system.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The Disney Princesses are some of the world’s most recognisable animated characters, and are definite favourites for girls and women all around the world. When Disney announced that Jasmine would be added to Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes, along side her beloved street rat Aladdin, many rejoiced – Jasmine would not only be bringing some serious female ass-kickery to the game, but she was also the oldest princess to be introduced (the others in the game have been from modern Disney flicks). Sadly, Jasmine didn’t release alongside Aladdin making players everywhere wonder where she was and when they could put her down on the Infinity Base and sneak out of the Palace on a magic carpet ride. Well, that time is HERE and Jasmine has been worth the wait.
Jasmine, unlike Aladdin uses her fists and her magical ability to create sandstorms (not sure if this is cannon to the movies…. leave this with me) to combat her enemies. She isn’t the greatest physical fighter, but Jasmine has the cunning, speed and dexterity to make up for it.
Jasmine’s ranged attacks make the use of “Carpet,” the magic, sentient flying carpet from the Aladdin films and TV series. While Carpet is more of Aladdin’s pal than Jasmine’s, that doesn’t stop the blue-clad heiress from using it to send out a tornado of sand that hits and decimates enemies from half way across the Toy Box.
One of the most exciting parts of the Jasmine character is that Linda Larkin reprises her role as Jasmine, keeping a sense of continuity with the character to her previous appearances. Larkin has voiced Jasmine in just about every Disney-produced film, episode and short that has featured the character so it is awesome that they have kept it going here.
When I recently reviewed the Disney Originals figures for the game, I mentioned that they seemed to fit in amongst one another and with the older figures much better than the Marvel Super Heroes did. The same reigns true for Jasmine, who looks absolutely stunning not only on her own, but like a match made in heaven when put next to Aladdin. The bright blues of her outfit contrast with her jet black hair and create a figure that looks simply awesome.
In addition to her individual figure, Jasmine is also available as part of the Aladdin Toy Box Pack, which includes both the Jasmine and Aladdin figures as well as two Power Discs that transform your Toy Box into the sprawling sands of Agrabah. Like last year’s Frozen and Phineas & Ferb Toy Box packs, the new Aladdin pack is the best way to get all of the pieces to make the perfect Aladdin Toy Box. Just a heads up though, the Aladdin Toy Box pack is only available from Big W.
While it was a little annoying that Disney held off on Jasmine for so long, it is great to finally have her be a part of the Disney Infinity 2.0 experience. Not only does she add a bit of girl power and increase the amount of Disney Princesses in the game, but her skills and ability make it so that she would be a great addition to the game regardless of her royal status.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Satoru Iwata, the President of Nintendo, recently gave a presentation at the Third Quarter Financial Results Briefing for Nintendo. Among many other topics, he discussed the sales data of recent Nintendo products.
The total sales of consoles from the Nintendo 3DS family has now reached 50.41 million units. Iwata stated that the Nintendo 3DS hardware did not sell as well as originally anticipated.
As for Wii U games, Mario Kart 8 has sold 4.77 million units worldwide and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has sold 3.39 million units worldwide.
5.7 million Amiibo units have already been sold worldwide, with the products being particularly popular in the U.S., Canada and Australia.
Super Smash Bros. for 3DS was released in Japan last September. By the end of September 2014, 3.22 million units were sold. The end of year sales total reached 6.19 million units following the western release of the game in October. Some people were skeptical about how well this title would do on a portable console, however the game continues to sell steadily.
Since the initial release of Tomodachi Life in Japan in 2013 (known there as Tomodachi Collection: Shin Seikatsu, which translates as Friend Collection: New Life), 3.96 million units have been sold globally.
9.35 million units of the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire games for the 3DS have been sold so far. Although it has not sold as well as Pokémon X and Y has so far, Nintendo is confident that the game will continue to do well this year.
After operating at a loss for a while, Iwata stated that Nintendo has finally returned to earning a profit from products.
FUNimation’s release schedule for May 2015 has just been revealed. In addition to the previously announced premium edition Blu-ray release of Darker than Black season one, this month will see the release of Anime Classics titles and S.A.V.E. editions of previously released titles.
First up is the S.A.V.E edition of the complete series of Solty Rei, which will be released on May 5, 2015 with a suggested retail price of $29.98.
Next up are the May 12 releases. Michiko and Hatchin will be receiving DVD and Blu-ray S.A.V.E. editions for $34.98 and $39.98 respectively. Darker than Black season two will be released as an Anime Classics DVD/Blu-ray combo-pack for a suggested retail price of $49.98, and will include the OVA.
Both the complete series of .hack//Roots and the Anime Classics release of Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 will be released on DVD on May 19 with a suggested retail price of $39.98.
Right Stuf has announced that they will be partnering with FUNimation to exclusively distribute the releases of the Idolm@ster spinoff series Puchim@s, with both season one and two to be available on DVD for a suggested retail price of $19.98 each. Right Stuf lists the two sets as being subtitled-only. The release date for both sets is May 19.
Except for the Puchim@s releases, all releases will feature dual audio. All prices are in US dollars.
