Putting a rough week behind them, Sony is moving into celebration mode. On 3 December 1994, Japan saw Sony sell its very first gaming console, the original PlayStation. Over the years, PlayStation has seen immense success. The PlayStation 2 is the world’s best selling home gaming console while the PlayStation 4 hold the title of fastest selling console in history.
So to celebrate 20 years of entertainment Sony is celebrating by releasing a limited edition “Original Grey” PlayStation 4 console. 12,300 units will be sold (reflecting the original’s release date) for 49,800 yen in Japan, $499 in the US and £399 in the UK. Information on how to obtain one of these limited edition consoles is yet to be revealed however we’ve been assured that details will be released soon.
Finally, in the words of Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios, “Thanks for a great 20 years, and here’s to 20 more.”
The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses concert tour is returning for a new series of worldwide tours in 2015 titled “Master Quest”. The new concert series will feature music from the 2013 game A Link Between Worlds and Majora’s Mask, as well as music from other games in the popular franchise. The orchestral adaptations have been approved by the series’ composer and Nintendo sound director himself, Koji Kondo.
2015 tour dates are as follows:
Nashville, Schermerhorn Symphony Center; January 21 & 22
Honolulu, Concert Hall; January 30
Tokyo, Tokyo International Forum; February 7
Boston, Symphony Hall; Feb. 27
Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, Arena Monterrey; March 6
Mexico City, Arena Ciudad de Mexico; March 8
Toronto, Sony Centre for the Performing Arts; March 20
Stockholm, Ericsson Globe; April 16
London, Wembley Arena; April 17
Dusseldorf, Germany, Mitsubishi Electric Halle, April 19
Paris, Palais de Congres; April 23
Milan, Teatro degli Arcimboldi; April 24
Atlanta, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre; April 30
Edmonton, Alberta, Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium; May 20
British Columbia, Queen Elizabeth Theatre; May 22
Calgary, Alberta, Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium; May 23
Montreal, Place des Arts; May 30
Austin, Texas, Long Center for the Performing Arts; June 20
Houston, Jones Hall for the Performing Arts; Oct. 22
Additional tour dates for Europe are to be announced sometime in the near future. Tickets for some of the concerts are available for purchase now, while tickets for the other concerts will be made available in the near future.
Overview
There is somewhat of a localisation renaissance happening on the PC right now with quirky Japanese games and visual novels cropping up out of nowhere, all in English for our benefit. It’s great to see the visual novel market, no matter how small, start to open up in Western territories thanks to digital platforms such as Steam.
The amusingly-titled and budget-priced Cherry Tree High I! My! Girls! is a sequel to the original Cherry Tree High Comedy Club visual novel. Read on to see whether it’s worth a gander!
Story
Although I have never played the original Cherry Tree High, the story is fairly straight forward from the get-go. We’re first introduced to two minor characters, the student council president Chitose and teacher Utena who are deliberating the continued running of the school’s Comedy Club. The members of this tenuous club are the stars of the story; the boisterous Mairi, the prim and proper Hoemi, punk rocker Haru, a girl with glasses who is so hardly mentioned I forgot her name and a fairly unremarkable guy by the name of Yoshiki.
Surprisingly, the club is more or less up and running right away. It seems the bulk of the story veers towards a different direction rather than character introductions with hardly any setup at the start. Once Mairi has her Comedy Club up and running the plot moves towards her dream of going pro and her search for a comedy partner in order to form a dynamite duo and make the world laugh.
Soon enough, a spanner gets thrown in the works with the arrival of super famous idol Ai Towano who attends Cherry Tree High incognito in pursuit of her own dream to attend the famous Comedy Club. I found most of the humour came from this little trooper who gets lost easily, looks like an angel and has to pretend she can’t sing to keep up the deception. Ai’s place in the story is almost centrefold right next to Mairi but even so her background life isn’t explored as much as I would have hoped let alone the lives of the side characters.
The plot picks up towards the end and it’s Hoemi who surprisingly becomes the most interesting part of the game as her cheerful attitude masks the uncertainty towards her best friend. Sadly, it ends abruptly after seven short episodes and many loose threads are left untied.
Gameplay This is a “kinetic” or linear visual novel, so expect one button that performs just one function; “Next”. In this case both space bar and enter fulfill that role. Unfortunately for visual novel fans who are used to more elaborate titles there are hardly any options or menus, no save slots, UI adjustments or dialogue trees.
The game automatically saves after each episode, and only after each episode so if you quit midway you’re forced to mash the space bar until you reach where you left off. Aside from seven story chapters there are also five sub episodes or spin off events you can explore on the side.
Visuals
The first thing you’ll notice about I! My! Girls! is the fact it not only has character portraits and background art like most visual novels but little character sprites moving around, reminiscent of retro games. While this adds a more dynamic layer to the game, I think it hardly improves the core visual novel experience. These games should be about memorable atmosphere created by dialogue, portraits and music all working together.
Audio
Luckily, this game has some groovy tunes and jingles visual novel fans would love and feel right at home with. There are no character voices though, which isn’t a deal breaker as plenty of traditional games such as RPGs function perfectly fine with simple text.
Overall I! My! Girls! starts off on uneven footing and it concludes in much the same way, no doubt to be continued as the story feels hardly finished. It’s short enough to finish in one night, there are no branching paths and the characters are far from memorable.
However there are chuckles to be found, you might smile a little and the game ultimately has heart. Not to mention it’s priced at only $3.99 making it worth a look for fans of the genre, just don’t expect a comedy masterpiece and you might find something to take from the experience.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Today Sega and Creative Assembly welcomed the second DLC for Alien: Isolation, whichis now available to download. ‘Trauma’ challenges players to compete across three new Survivor Mode maps; ‘Reoperation’, ‘Crawl Space’ and ‘Overrun’, as Sevastopol’s medical officer, Dr Lingard. In hope of safeguarding her research and clearing her guilty conscious for bringing the alien on board, Lingard sets out to destroy her data and do what she can to help those survivors in need of medical attention.
Of course, there wouldn’t be any “trauma” without a limited load-out of small arms and distraction devices, the station’s Working Joe androids on aggressive alert and the Alien hunting in the shadows, taking a top-tier time on the global leaderboards has never been more challenging.
‘Trauma’ is now available for MSRP $7.99/€6.99/£5.59, on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC. For players who want to explore the entirety of Sevastopol Station, don’t miss out on the Alien: Isolation Season Pass to access all five Survivor Mode add-on packs at up to a 25% discount. All of the add-on packs will be released in March 2015, including ‘Safe Haven’, ‘Lost Contact’ and ‘The Trigger’.
Daedalic Entertainment (Blackguards) and Shining Gate Software will be releasing the full version of horror-adventure game Decay – The Mare in early 2015 on PC. The title is inspired by classic horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Developers Shining Gate Software also drew inspiration from horror adventure games Phantasmagoria, The 11th Hour, and Gabriel Knight.
Decay – The Mare stars the drug addict Sam, who becomes trapped in an endless nightmare while staying at a rehab clinic. The first two episodes of Decay – the Mare is available now on Xbox Live Indie Games. The third episode is currently in development. All three episodes will be packaged together and released on Steam for Mac and Windows in February 2015.
Overview There are many big names in Japan’s anime industry, but few writers are known for having a style that is so easily recognizable as Gen Urobuchi. Nicknamed “Urobutcher” due to his tendency for writing dark plot twists usually resulting in death or torture, his attachment to the 2013 anime series Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet led many people to believe that such a twist would be on the way. So now that Viz Media has released the series in English, should anime fans follow the story of Gargantia?
Story In the far off future, humanity has formed the Galactic Allaince and is fighting for its survival against a race of alien creatures called the Hideauze. These squid-like beings can survive in space with no effort while humanity is struggling to stay alive and find itself a home. As such, every member of humanity is forced to battle against the Hideauze threat and we join sixteen year old Ledo as he takes part in a massive operation inside of a highly advanced Machine Caliber (mech) where he is assisted by an advanced AI named Chamber.
Despite the best efforts of the Galactic Alliance, the mission is a failure and while trying to retreat, Ledo is unable to properly escape through a wormhole in space and is instead flung to the far reaches of the galaxy. Six months pass and he is alerted by Chamber that they have been found by a group of humans that appear to be a wandering tribe to Ledo at first, as he does not recognize their language nor do they seem to have any technological understanding of what Chamber actually is.
In an effort to try and escape from his current situation, Ledo ends up taking a young girl hostage and flees throughout the building, only to exit and find himself standing outside in a world covered by water. Surprised that this is not a space ship but an actual ship, Chamber reveals that this planet may just be Earth, humanity’s long abandoned home world that was supposed to be covered entirely by ice. Knowing only war and far away from everything he knew and any help from those he used to fight alongside, Ledo decides that trying to work with these new people is the best way to survive and it just so happen that the girl he took hostage, Amy, is more than willing to help him out.
The whole stranger in a strange land and battle-hardened soldier in a peaceful time aspects are handled extremely well in Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet. Not only does a language barrier exist over the first half of the series, with Ledo requiring Chamber to translate everything and even Chamber having issues at times, but Ledo’s ideology also clashes with that of the mostly peaceful residents of Gargantia. Where Ledo has always been trained to kill enemies and anyone who is infirm or diseased is abandoned, this new world is one where people generally only threaten one another and they embrace those who are sick. Even the idea of family appears as a useless concept to Ledo and watching him learn more about this society and adapt to it over the course of the series makes for an entertaining slice of life aspect.
This slice of life style only lasts for so long however until it is revealed that the Hideauze threat may not be as far away as previously thought. After confronting a creature seen as sacred to the people of Gargantia, the series takes a dramatic turn and sends Ledo down a path where he begins to learn the truth behind the war that he was fighting. These revelations continue throughout the last few episodes of the series as numerous twists, one of which are laughably predictable, are thrown into the storyline to try and wrap up the story in an unfortunately clunky manner that disrupts the rather enjoyable flow the series benefited from early on and will leave many viewers unsatisfied.
Given the length of the series, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet tells an interesting and enjoyable storyline. It starts out as a slice of life series that sees Ledo adapting to his new life and experiencing different sensations that he never felt before while near the end it becomes a story that explores what happens when different cultures and political ideas collide with one another and what it really means to be human.
There are some aspects of the series that tend to be a bit strange, such as a very fan service heavy episode involving seductive dancing from the female cast, including Amy who is first introduced as a spunky girl but ultimately becomes little more than Ledo’s love interest. This becomes something of an issue throughout the series as we are introduced to numerous characters but only a handful are given any actual development. Perhaps this makes the series’ relatively short length given the scope of the story is its biggest limitation, as there is clearly so much more potential to be tapped here.
Visuals Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is a series that we declared one of the best looking of 2013 and it clearly deserves that honor, especially now that it has been given a home video release. Despite being a series that takes place primarily on a rusted ship on the ocean, everything is gorgeously colored. The ships and interiors are packed with detail to help make everything look realistic and the battles, the few that there are, are beautifully animated.
The CG used in designing Chamber is woven into the rest of the animation perfectly making the mech look like it is supposed to be there despite featuring a completely different art style. As for the character designs, they are quite fitting considering the nature of the series, including the albino look of Ledo who has only fought in space and the tanned look of most of the characters on Gargantia. It is also worth noting that, as mentioned before, there are a few doses of fan service worked into the series from time to time, usually through Amy and her two friends, but one dance sequence in particular is animated excellently in order to introduce a new element that Ledo is still unfamiliar with.
Audio With the release of Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Viz Media has included their own English dub to accompany the standard Japanese voice track. Considering the nature of the series and the language barrier, they handled the dub extremely well. Viewers will only ever be able to understand the side of the language the camera is focusing on while the other side will be unidentifiable until it is translated by Chamber. As for the actors themselves, the voice acting in the English dub works quite well and in the case of Chamber’s AI voice, it is an improvement over the Japanese casting.
As for the background music of the series, it simply works as intended and nothing more. Rarely does there ever come a tune that is memorable in any way and it tends to fade from memory very quickly. Unfortunately the same can be said regarding the opening and ending themes for Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, as both the opening “Kono Sekai wa Bokura wo Matteita” by Minori Chihara and ending theme “Sora to Kimi no Message” by ChouCho are unremarkable even if they fit the relatively calming tone of the series.
Extras This release of Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet comes with a handful of bonus features. First the release is contained in a standard slipcase while the discs themselves feature clean versions of the opening and ending themes, promotional videos for the series, trailers for other Viz anime, and two OVAs that have been given English dubs.
These two OVAs shift the focus away from Ledo and instead direct it towards the supporting cast instead as the first OVA reveals more about Ridget’s past while the other offers us a look at how a certain character handles his own situation when arriving on Earth.
Overall With some amazing animation and artwork and an enjoyable premise populated by a likable cast, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is a fun series that starts out strong and begins to sputter near the end as it tells a tale that shifts tone and loses parts of itself three quarters of the way through. This doesn’t make the series a bad one by any means, but merely one that could easily have been that much better if handled differently or given more room to develop.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
While we’re still waiting with baited breath for SteamBoy, the PC gaming giant hasn’t stopped innovating recently releasing a beta version of Steam Broadcasting. This feature enables users to stream their in game footage to other players simply and seamlessly. The beta is currently available to all Steam users and is incredibly easy to set up. At the moment both viewers and broadcasters are required to be signed up to the beta, unlike the similarly functioning Twitch, but the whole ordeal is so uncomplicated it’s hard to complain.
If that wasn’t straightforward enough, once signed up things become even simpler. Basically there is a button “Watch Game” button that appears when your friends are playing a game. This will then send the player a request to watch their game or you’ll automatically start viewing, depending on their privacy settings. Broadcast begins and stops automatically when games are being viewed, a very handy feature. Players can also stream their games publicly. These broadcasts are accessible through the broadcast tab on the community home page.
With plenty of reasons to stream players’ gameplay (although we all know the main one is to show off) and the feature seamlessly incorporated into the hugely popular Steam (that sees millions of player log in every day), the Steam Broadcasting system should prove to be a rewarding experience.
With December kicking off yesterday, Viz Media has decided to detail what fans of Neon Alley will be able to expect for the month. New episodes will continue to debut on the service for series such as Naruto Shippuden, Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, and Sailor Moon Crystal.
It is also interesting to note that the entire English dub for Coppelion is now available on the service as well as the first thirteen episodes for the Naruto anime spin off, Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals. The English premiere of Sailor Moon episodes 37 through 46 will be available for streaming starting on December 6th for a limited time. Additional details concerning specific series can be found below:
Bleach
Neon Alley adds English dubbed Bleach Season 18 Episodes 256-267 available to stream beginning on December 1st.
Viewers can now check out a total of 267 English dubbed episodes, as well as the complete subtitled Bleach anime (366 episodes).
Naruto
For ninja fans, Neon Alley adds dubbed Episodes 66-78 of the original Naruto anime series, which will all be available beginning on December 3rd.
With the newest addition, viewers can check out a total of 77 English dubbed episodes as well as the complete subtitled Naruto anime (all 220 episodes) series!
Naruto Shippuden
Don’t miss simulcasts of the latest English subtitled episodes of Naruto Shippuden every Thursday in December beginning with a special double premiere of Episodes 389 and 390 on December 11th. Single episode simulcasts of the next 3 Naruto Shippuden episodes will take place every Thursday for the remainder of the month.
Also catch the action-packed addition of Naruto Shippuden English dubbed Episodes 19-23, bringing the total number of available dubbed episodes of the series to over 100.
Ranma 1/2
Ranma ½ fans can enjoy the addition of 2 new dubbed episodes of the classic martial arts comedy each week throughout December beginning with Season 6, Episodes 119-120 on December 5th and every Friday thereafter.
Today Capcom decided to do something a little different in regards to episodic content. Rather than simply announce the release date for the first episode of Resident Evil: Revelations 2, they have announced the release date for all four episodes at the same time.
The release dates and platforms are as follows:
PlayStation 4 and PS3
Episode 1 – February 17 (NA) / February 18 (EU)
Episode 2 – February 24 (NA) / February 25 (EU)
Episode 3 – March 3 (NA) / March 4 (EU)
Episode 4 – March 10 (NA) / March 11 (EU)
Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Steam
Episode 1 – February 18 (Global)
Episode 2 – February 25 (Global)
Episode 3 – March 4 (Global)
Episode 4 – March 11 (Global)
Every episode of the game will cost $5.99 / £4.99 / €5.99 while a “Complete Season” will come in at a slightly cheaper price of $24.99 /£19.99 / €24.99. It is worth noting that those who purchase the complete season will not only be given the four main episodes, but also spin-off episodes telling the side stories of Moira Burton and Natalia Korda, both of which are new characters to the Resident Evil series. Hunk will also be included as an additional Raid mode character.
A full box set will also be released in North America on March 10th and will cost $39.99 and include the previously mentioned content, Albert Wesker as an additional Raid mode character, an alternate costume for each of the main characters, and a “Throwback Stage Pack” featuring four fan favorite stages for Raid Mode.
With this announcement also comes news that Barry Burton, who has been absent from the Resident Evil storyline for quite some time, will be playable in Resident Evil Revilations 2 and you can check out a brand new trailer for the game below.
Almost everything that has been shown off for 2K Games‘ Evolve has been pretty much multiplayer with zero sign of an actual story. Well that all changed today when Turtle Rock released a trailer focusing on a new game mode called Evacuation.
While very few details about the game mode are actually shown, it at least gives Evolve more of a premise than simply hunting down giant beasts or, if you happen to be the beast, killing four hunters. You can check the trailer out below and keep an eye out for Evolve when it is released on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on February 10th.
