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Dragon Age: Inquisition Available Now

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November 20, 2014

Time to sharpen your swords, string your bows and channel your magic because Dragon Age: Inquisition is here! Following on from the incredible Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, Inquisition puts you in the role of the inquisitor who must make decisions and save the world from an unspeakable evil.

You can grab Dragon Age: Inquisition both online and in-stores from today. We will have our review of Dragon Age going up shortly (the game is SERIOUSLY long) in the mean time, check out EA’s sweet launch trailer and make sure you stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Dragon Age news as it becomes available.

Rin-ne anime adaptation announced to air Spring 2015

Travis Bruno

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November 20, 2014

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Last week it was discovered that there would be a major announcement for Rumiko Takahashi’s latest manga, Rin-ne, this week and it looks like the many signs pointing towards an anime adaptation were completely correct. It has been revealed that Rin-ne will be given a twenty five episode anime adaptation that will be handled by Brain’s Base.

The anime adaptation will begin airing next spring, though considering the current length of the manga series it is adapting, which is also being published in English by Viz Media, there is a good chance that this may only be the first season of Rin-ne depending on how well the series is received.

For those unaware of what Rin-ne is about, the story follows a girl named Sakura Mamiya who vanished as a young girl in the woods behind her grandmother’s home only to return unharmed a few days later with the power to see ghosts. Now grown into a teenager, Sakura attends school like a normal girl but simply wishes that her power could disappear. At least that is what she thought as all of a sudden a strange student named Rinne Rokudo who has always been absent returns to school with quite a mystery in tow.

Sentai Filmworks acquires The Familiar of Zero: Knight of the Twin Moons license

Travis Bruno

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November 20, 2014

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Sentai Filmworks acquires The Familiar of Zero: Knight of the Twin Moons license

It seems that Sentai Filmworks was pleased with the sales of the first season of The Familiar of Zero, because they have now revealed that they have acquired the second season, which is called The Familiar of Zero: Knight of the Twin Moons. Currently it is unknown if the company will be releasing their own English dubbed version of the season, since no English dub has ever been created for this season unlike the first.

That being said, Sentai Filmworks did state that they will be releasing the series on home video and through digital marketplaces sometime in the future. This means that now the company owns the rights to the first, second, and fourth seasons of The Familiar of Zero so it will be interesting to see what will happen with the third season.

Feel It in WWE 2K15 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 Today

Zac Elawar

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November 20, 2014

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Feel It in WWE 2K15 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 Today

WWE 2K15 is now available for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, presenting a radically different gameplay and presentational experience than its last-gen counterpart. For the first time, Visual Concepts – developers of NBA 2K – have left their mark, collaborating with Yukes to create a fresh take on the series, bringing their patented MyCareer mode to WWE, along with 2K Showcase and a totally revamped Creation Suite. Greg Thomas, President at Visual Concepts, said;

WWE 2K15 for the PlayStation 4 system and Xbox One takes the franchise to a whole new level. The next-generation of consoles let us create and deliver gameplay, authenticity and realism previously unseen in a WWE video game, as well as build the foundation for an exciting future. Major gameplay improvements, the historic rivalry experience in 2K Showcase and our first foray into a comprehensive career mode with MyCareer make us pleased to offer fans an impressive WWE video game experience.

From the opening chain grappling exchanges to the new animations, stamina and momentum systems, WWE 2K15 puts forth an experience so authentic, nothing has even come close to it in the past. New proprietary facial and body scanning technology captured the WWE Superstars, Divas and Legends to a scarily detailed and realistic degree. WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler and WWE commentator Michael Cole are still calling the action, but have re-entered the booth this year with five times the number of recorded lines versus any prior instalment. Aside from the above-mentioned modes, fan favourite match types, as well as Universe Mode, also make a comeback. MyCareer in particular is a story driven mode that starts players off at the NXT Performance Center as their own created superstar, where they’ll be trained by head trainer, Bill DeMott and encounter NXT Superstars Rusev, Bo Dallas, Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn and Corey Graves, before seeing them through to the main roster and, hopefully, Hall of Fame status. Gamers can choose their path as faces or heels, making alliances or breaking trust in order to get to the top.

In 2K Showcase mode, players have the opportunity to relive two epic WWE rivalries – Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (2002-2004) and John Cena vs. CM Punk (2011-2013) – through 33 distinct matches with documentary-style video packages of classic WWE footage, authentic WWE Superstar commentary and cinematic cut scenes. Additional historical objectives unlock new WWE Superstars and Championship titles, as well as alternate entrance and ring gear, that can then be used in other WWE 2K15 game modes. Three additional 2K Showcase storylines will become available through the WWE 2K15 Season Pass Program, including the rivalry between Randy Orton and Christian in 2011 (has it already been that long?!), Mark Henry’s destructive “Hall of Pain” run and the illustrious career of late, great WWE Hall of Famer Ultimate Warrior.

It goes without saying that all your favourite Superstars litter the roster, from Legends like The Rock and Stone Cold, to current stars such as Dean Ambrose and Daniel Bryan, and divas like Nikki Bella and AJ Lee. The soundtrack within has been curated by none other than cover star John Cena himself, and, along with MyCareer, the game’s downloadable content and Season Pass Program will also introduce Paige (available exclusively through Season Pass purchase), Adam Rose, Emma and NXT Superstars The Ascension (Konnor and Victor). Purchase WWE 2K15 now for the most realistic wrestling game ever made. Our own review will go live soon, so keep an eye out for it!

Minecraft Blockopedia Unboxing Video

Philip Federico

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November 20, 2014

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Today the highly anticipated new Minecraft: Blockopedia landed on our doorsteps. Minecraft Blockopedia is fully illustrated and packed with essential information about each Minecraft block. Encyclopedic in its approach, each block is featured with a general overview of its properties, as well as little-known trivia and expert advice on what to do with it. From basic plants and ores to enchantment tables and End stone, you’ll find every single block in here.

Presented in a hexagonal book – Blockopedia contains everything you need to know to make the most of the blocks that make up the Minecraft world. It’s a comprehensive reference tool for adventuring beginners and more experienced players alike.

Blockopedia is out on the 4^th December from all good book retailers, with an RRP of A$59.95 and published by Egmont Publishing.

Check out our unboxing video below.

PlayStation TV Review

Zac Elawar

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November 20, 2014

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PlayStation TV
Manufacturer: Sony Computer Entertainment
Compatible Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
Release Date: November 14, 2014
Price: $149.95 – Available Here

Sony are hitting from all angles, expanding the PlayStation Family every which way. The latest brand entry is the PlayStation TV, a micro-console that allows the user to Remote Play titles on another television set, play PlayStation Vita and Mobile titles on the big screen and watch bought/rented TV show and films from PSN. Released exactly a year ago in Japan, it was originally dubbed the PlayStation Vita TV, although if you look at the packaging/marketing materials today, its ability to enable Remote Play for PlayStation 4 titles has become the prime selling point.

First thing you’ll notice is just how tiny this thing is. Its dimensions are 65 x 105 x 13.6mm (length x height x thickness) and it weighs just 110g. The compactness of the package may sound like an absolute positive, but when you consider having it connected via a thick HDMI cable, possibly an Ethernet cable (if you’re connecting straight to your modem/router) and power cable, all of which weigh more than the micro-console itself, just an accidental tug and your PlayStation TV will go careening off your entertainment unit. There’s also a USB slot to sync your Dualshock 4 controller to the system, the same way you would with the PS4. Upon hooking it all up, and getting into the home screen, you’ll recognise the U.I. as being a mirror of its handheld cousin’s. Navigating the menu’s using the controller as opposed to the touch screen of the PS Vita takes very little adapting, so to speak.

With all that said, the PlayStation TV doesn’t yet have the capabilities to run certain apps that the PS Vita does now. That may soon change, as will its inability to use external storage seeing as it boasts a USB slot (wishful thinking?). Playing PS Vita games on the PlayStation TV requires you either insert the game’s PlayStation card as is normal practice, or you can play downloaded titles loaded from its internal 1GB memory or separately purchased memory stick. Some games are not compatible with the micro-console, although most need a simple update at the touch of a button to become compatible. Returning to Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time as an example, the experience was smooth and translated well in the controls department. Relating to the latter point, the touch screen and rear touch pad of the PS Vita can be simulated with the “touch pointer” feature.

However, the experience of Remote Play for PS4 games is not as near-perfect, not by a long shot. The actual process is as quick and simple as doing so with the PS Vita, but with a few downsides, mostly dependent on the strength of your wi-fi connection and/or internet speed. Personally, my router is upstairs, and there are no TV’s in our bedrooms, so plugging the PlayStation TV into the router isn’t really an option. So, in utilising the built-in wi-fi, the signal strength fluctuated, but would fall to the last bar at times, which is disappointing considering other devices in the household don’t have as big an issue. Playing Destiny, there was a noticeable input lag that would render any shooter unplayable by FPS standards; playing games requiring those twitch reactions would be pretty much thrown out the window. The visual quality also suffers, although not to any particularly significant level. It will be interesting to see how the PlayStation TV handles streaming PlayStation Now titles once the service hits Australia.

Ultimately, PlayStation TV is great in concept, but fails to deliver with consistency or the same quality expected from a Sony product. If you’ve wanted to buy a PS Vita for the exclusive games, but are more of a couch player and fear you wouldn’t really use it on the move that often to justify a purchase, the PlayStation TV is your answer. In that respect, it negates the need for a PS Vita. Sony have even thrown in three free game downloads: Worms Revolution Extreme, Velocity Ultra and OlliOlli. As for its Remote Play capabilities, you better have a stellar internet connection to the device and hope that you don’t encounter as much lag as I did. The value of the PlayStation TV will only increase, however, once PS Now launches…as long as streaming doesn’t prove a hard task for the minuscule gadget.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Nokia’s N1 Android Tablet: A Foxconn in Disguise

Rebecca Hurd

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November 20, 2014

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Nokia’s N1 Android Tablet: A Foxconn in Disguise

Nokia shocked everyone the other day at this year’s Slush event when they announced their new product, the N1 Android Tablet. The announcement cams as a surprise as last year Nokia sold its Devices and Services business to Microsoft. Hence it’s no wonder that Nokia has brought in Foxconn to act as a partner in this venture.

Foxconn is well known as the manufacturer of Apple devices, including iPhones and iPads. However all aspects of the product apart from the manufacturing, such as customer support and selling the devices, are handled completely by Apple. For the consumer, Foxconn isn’t part of the picture.

Nokia is taking a completely different approach. The company is only bringing to the project the brand, the Z Launcher interface, the IP and the industrial design. This leaves Foxconn to handle distribution, customer services, sales and manufacturing. While Nokia President Ramzi Haidamus wants to ensure consumers that this doesn’t mean Nokia is “just taking a brand and throwing it over the fence to see which product it sticks to,” it’s hard to imagine it working any other way. Quite simply, due to Nokia’s loss of their Devices and Services business, there has to be a great deal of “throwing over the fence” to make this ambitious project as reality within their set time frame.

This (albeit seemingly one-sided) partnership is set continue further into future, Nokia already making plans to produce smartphones once restrictions from the Microsoft acquisition expire at the end of December 2015.

The Nokia N1 Android Tablet is set to hit the Chinese market and should be available for purchase by Chinese New Year next year. The tablet should next be available in the Russian and European markets. It’s still unclear if it will be available in the US or Australia.

The Crew Road Empire Mobile Game Released

Nathan Farrugia

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November 20, 2014

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The Crew Road Empire Mobile Game Released

The Crew from Ubisoft is launching in just under two weeks time and in preparation for the big day, the mobile development team have released a standalone mobile game titled The Crew Road Empire. This new game is a standalone free to play title inspired by its big console/PC brother, which you can check out our beta impressions of by following the link. This new title is a separate product from the companion app which was talked about when the game was first announced at E3.

The game has been described by Ubisoft as an original mix of fleet management and driving, where players run their own motor club and undertake transportation contracts for cash. Players grow in power by progressively settling new garages in cities across the United States and defining tactics to become the wealthiest Crew in the entire country. The game is now available for free from the App Store both for iPhone and iPad. There currently doesn’t appear to be any plans for an Android release.

Rurouni Kenshin Director to Appear in Melbourne

Sergei Lazarev

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November 20, 2014

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The Japanese Film Festival is in full swing here in Australia, offering cinema goers a huge selection of Japanese movies, both animated and live action, to enjoy during these sweltering months. Additionally, Director Keishi Otomo is making an appearance in Melbourne.

With the samurai epic Rurouni Kenshin trilogy screening during JFF, Director Otomo is holding a Q&A session on Saturday, November 29 at Hoyts Melbourne Central immediately after the movie screening from 1pm.

The Japanese Film Festival has already played in Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland and is now on in Sydney. Melbourne will be the next host in a week’s time on November 27. For a full list of films, times and locations available visit the official website.

Magic: The Gathering – Holiday Gift Box 2014 Review

Andrew Day

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November 20, 2014

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Magic: The Gathering Holiday Gift Box 2014

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Price: $29.99 official site here

The holiday season is once again upon us, and that means Wizards of the Coast have released this year’s Holiday Gift Box. Focusing on the recently released Khans of Tarkir set, the Holiday Gift Box 2014 contains just about everything you could need to get your Magic: The Gathering collection off the ground.

Going on with the Khans of Tarkir theme, this year’s holiday box is decorated in a vibrant red colouring that really makes it stand out. The artwork depicts the Mardu tribe as they prepare for battle on a rocky outcrop. It inspires passion, fire and just all around looks better than last year’s green box.

The contents of the box itself are almost identical to last year’s, but with a Khans spin and includes:

4x Khans of Tarkis Booster Packs
20x Basic Lands (four of each basic land type)
1x Foil, Alternate-Art Promotional Card (Sultai Charm)
1x Storage Box for 2000+ cards
6x Plastic Storage Dividers
1x Sticker Sheet

Let’s talk about the box itself. It is made of a thick cardboard and is not only study, but holds upwards of 2000 unsleeved Magic: The Gathering cards. Like previous boxes, I found this year’s product to hold up to approximately 2300 cards, but doing so made them pressed together in a vice-like manner and it was difficult to take cards out without risking serious damage to the bunch.

My preferred use of this year’s box is to hold my Commander decks. Having purchased one of each of the Commander 2014 decks, they each fit sleeved really nicely into the box, as well as all my tokens, dice and a pad of paper and a pen. To this end, it is exactly what I was looking for in terms of storage and transportation.

The sticker sheet is fun and they can be placed on the dividers in order to separate your cards in practically any way you wish. The stickers cover everything from card colour, set, rarity, mana cost, type, name and even the recently introduced wedge clan names (for the three colour clans present in Khans of Tarkir). Although it is disappointing that Wizards didn’t include the Shard names in addition to the Clan names (Shards being the OTHER three colour combinations that were present in the Shards of Alara block from a few years back)

This year’s included promotional card is the Sultai Charm. I’ll admit, I don’t play in the colours and Sultai charm to me ahs always seemed like the worst of Khans of Tarkir’s five clan-based charms. Nevertheless, the artwork here is really beautiful and the fact that it is in foil is even better. The Sultai symbol on the card really pops and if I was playing the colours, I would definitely prefer those over the original art.

So in total, the Holiday Gift Box 2013 will net you – 81 new Magic: The Gathering cards, a thick and study storage box for almost 2300 cards, plastic dividers to separate your collection, and a sticker sheet to customise them to your liking. The box itself retails at $29.99, which is only $1 more than the current RRP for 4 booster packs (here in Australia, anyway). At time of writing, the alternate-art Sultai Charm is selling online for approximately $4, so really you are getting the storage box, and 20 basic land cards and potentially making a bit of a profit just by purchasing them this way.

I mentioned this last year too, but the best thing about the Holiday Box is that it doesn’t discriminate. Anybody, no matter if they are pro tour veterans or brand new to the game, they can get enjoyment out of the product. The box is great for storage and the four booster packs are nothing to scoff at either. While it is almost the complete package as far as Magic products come, I still would love to see the inclusion of a d20 dice for keeping track of life totals.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.