It looks like a boss that fans of Koei Tecmo‘s Dead or Alive haven’t seen in fifteen years, or perhaps never, will be appearing once again in Dead or Alive 5: Last Round. Details leaked from this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine have revealed that Raidou, the final boss from the very first Dead or Alive game back in 2006 will be returning as a cyborg in Last Round.
Raidou will make use of his new powerful mechanical body to unleash a slew of new attacks to make him even more of a force to be reckoned with. Currently Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is set to be released in the West on February 17th next year for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
Continuing what has been quite a licensing spree for them, Sentai Filmworks has also announced that they have acquired the license to the 2013 anime series, Makai Ōji: Devils and Realist, only they will be simply calling it Devils and Realist once they give the series an eventual home release and digital release sometime in the future.
Originally animated by Dogakobo, Sentai Filmworks describes the story of Devils and Realist in a synopsis:
William Twining leads the perfect life of an aristocratic noble: he’s handsome, wealthy, intelligent, and takes great pride in his family’s lineage, all while dreaming of his future in high society. After his wealthy uncle goes bankrupt from bad investments, William worries about losing his good name. When he’s told his tuition has yet to be paid at the prestigious Stradford School, he quickly rushes to his estate – only to find that the debt collectors have taken everything and his uncle is missing.
Struggling to find a way to pay for school, William stumbles upon a mysterious room where he accidentally summons Dantalion, Grand Duke of the 36 Armies of Hell. Being a hard-line realist with a love for science, William does not believe in demons and takes Dantalion as a con artist. But the truth of the matter is: as a descendant of Solomon, and the “Elector,” William is the person that must select a substitute ruler to take Lucifer’s throne. His fate will forever change as he is now entwined and inseparable from the underworld which he must manage and nominate an infernal substitute king.
It’s around the 20th of the month which means more anime gaming news from popular Japanese magazine V-Jump. This month for Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, Bandai Namco have revealed that Great Ape Vegeta will appear as a boss fight in the game both in Story Mode and Paralell Quest. Unfortunately, the scan is very unclear as to whether or not you can play as him but at the time of writing it looks like a no. A cool feature that hasn’t been done in any other game yet is the ability to target Vegeta’s weak spot in his tail, even allowing you to throw the Great Ape once he is weakened. Interestingly in a small picture on one of the scans, it appears that a Namek character has also transformed into a Giant Namekian, meaning they may access to that form as a transformation of sorts.
In another scan, Beerus and Whis from Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods were revealed as playable characters in addition to Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, who is the main character of a seperate Akira Toriyama work that did have a brief involvement with Dragon Ball in Dragon Ball Minus. Jaco seems to be linked in to Day 1 editions of the game which will also come with a rare Trunks Dragon Ball Heroes card in Japan. It seems the story mode will feature a Battle of Gods arc which hopefully means we will see the return of Super Saiyan God Goku as well.
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In addition to that we also got a rundown of all the games modes including Story Mode, Paralell Quests, Tenkaichi Budokai and Free Battle. The story will feature the Scroll of Time, which apparently allows you to visit any era in Dragon Ball history. It is revealed Trunks is summoned by The Supreme Kai of Time to fix the trouble in history caused by new characters Mira and Towa, who are after Kili energy for a still unknown purpose. In Parallel Quests, you or an online co-op team can fight in various scenarios that alter the events of the show. For example, The Ginyu Force appearing in a city on Earth or Raditz fighting alonside Goku as opposed to against him.
In Free Battle it appears any match up you can dream of can be created, Lastly in the Tenkaichi Budokai, an online World Martial Arts Tournament mode, epic final battles are promised if you manage to make it past the qualifying rounds. Stay with us as we continue to bring you all the latest Xenoverse news as it is revealed in the lead up to the games release on February 17th, 2015.
Recently Viz Media revealed that the second film in the Tiger & Bunny series, Tiger & Bunny: The Rising, would be released next year on February 24th and today we have been given a glimpse of what the full package will contain.
The release will 94 minutes in length and fans of the series can either pick up a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack for $29.99 or a standard DVD version for $19.99. The combo pack will feature a number of extra on-disc bonus features including a World Premiere Event, a special digest, as well as various original promotional material.
For those who haven’t been keeping up with Tiger & Bunny: The Rising, the movie involves Kotetsu Kaburagi, also known as Wild Tiger, being fired by Apollon Media’s new owner, forcing an end to his partnership with Barnaby. Barnaby is now moved back into the First League and paired up with a new hero with a massive ego called Golden Ryan. However when the heroes are sent to look into a series of strange events tied to the city’s Goddess Legend, they find three NEXTs planning on bringing destruction to the city of Stern Bild.
Over the past few days Sentai Filmworks has picked up a number of slightly older anime series that were passed over when they were airing. Today the company has announced that they have acquired the license for Gingitsune, an anime which aired during the Fall 2013 anime season and was animated by Diomedéa.
Although no set date has been revealed for the release, the company is planning on releasing Gingitsune on home video and through digital markets.
The story of Gingitsune is described by Sentai Filmworks as follows:
Although Makoto Saeki’s life is quiet, it’s anything but ordinary! As the 15th successor to the Saeki Shrine, Makoto is gifted with the ability to see spirits of all sorts. But there’s one spirit in particular who has been at Makoto’s side since childhood— Gintaro, the huge silver fox who’s occupied her family’s shrine for over 350 years!
With a love for oranges and a gruff demeanor, Gintaro serves as both messenger of the gods and guardian of the Saeki family shrine. When Gintaro’s not lazing about or napping, he’s reluctantly helping Makoto tell the fortunes of classmates and providing wisdom as necessary. But with other spirits in the area who need just as much, if not more, help than their human counterparts, Makoto and Gintaro always have their hands full helping out those in need!
Rogue Factor and Focus Home Interactive launched a brand new website and trailer for Mordheim: City of the Damnedin preparation for the game’s Early Access launch. The website is packed with information, images, and developer commentary about the game. The trailer provides viewers with the first look at Mordheim: City of the Damned’s gameplay.
Additionally, Rogue Factor released more information about the Early Access release. Buyers will get a 20% discount in exchange for participating in Early Access. The beta will contain two faction, two maps with randomly generated elements, and two unique maps. Deathmatch will be the only mode available during the Early Access period of the game.
No word on the exact release date for the Early Access beyond “in a few days.”
Now that Far Cry 4has launched, Ubisoft is turning its attention to the inevitable season pass that must go with every major game release. A new trailer gives gamers the first look at the previously announced content. The trailer features gameplay from Escape from Durgesh, Overrun, and Valley of the Yetis. Of course, a Far Cry 4 trailer wouldn’t be complete without everyone’s favourite idiot Hurk making an appearance.
Far Cry 4 is out now in North America and the UK for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows. The game will launch in Australia and Europe. Far Cry 4’s Season Pass will cost £23.99 or $30 USD.
Sexism has been prevalent throughout all forms of media for longer than anyone can remember. However, sexism within video games and gaming culture has recently become a particularly heated issue due to the Gamergate controversy. Interestingly, one country is tackling the issue head on: Sweden.
Dataspelsbranschen (or Swedish Games Industry in English) is a gaming industry trade organisation who’s recently received funding from Vinnova. Vinnovais a Swedish government-funded institution dedicated to increasing the country’s capacity for innovation by funding progressive projects and ideas. The grant issued was for 272,000 kronor (approx. 42 thousand AUD) which will be put towards the noble goal of reducing sexism and gender stereotypes in video games. The specifics of the project are yet to be decided, but will involve the company, working with several game developers, creating a set of criteria in which games can be ranked on how gender friendly they are. It is still unclear how this rank will be communicated to consumers but it looks like that it will take one of two forms. The first involves presenting all games with a label portraying the appropriate ranking while the second involves giving some type of certification to high ranking games.
In addition to addressing the content of video games, the company will also investigate the methods developers adopt to promote gender diversity and equality. When asked if the project could take away from a video game’s creative potential or it’s more fantasy-based elements, project manager Anton Albiin stated, “Of course games can be about fantasy but they can be so much more than this. They can also be a form of cultural expression – reflecting society or the society we are hoping for. Games can help us to create more diverse workplaces and can even change the way we think about things.”
While the project hopes to decrease the gender gap in the Swedish gaming industry (females only accounting for 16%), Dataspelsbranschen hopes that it will also inspire other countries to take similar measures. This is not a case of wishful thinking either. The Swedish gaming industry is a strong and constantly growing contributor to the global market. This year Sweden saw profits of 752 million euro (approx 1 billion AUD) from the video game industry alone, a 76% increase from last year. And with such exports as Battlefield 3 under their belt, who can say they’re surprised.
It’s not clear whether or not this project will succeed in creating a less sexist and more gender-equal video game industry, mostly because the program is barely taking its first steps. Despite this, the news is encouraging and it’s refreshing to see a country start to address such an important (if often ignored or denied) issue within gaming culture.
Yesterday, in one of their more intriguing PR stunts, Nokia posted a tantalising tweetletting consumers know they’re “up to something” and they certainly were. The tweet featured a picture of a black box and not much else. So what’s in the box? A bit of a trick question but the answer is the Z Launcher and a Nokia N1 Android Tablet.
The launch for these products were conducted at today’s Slushevent, a festival like showcase centred around Eurasian start-ups and tech talents, Nokia being only one of 2500 companies presenting their wares. So what exactly are the products showcased today by Nokia?
Before moving onto the tablet, let’s take a look at Z Launcher. Basically this product is used to replace your home screen in an attempt to make navigating your phone an easier task. The app presents you with an interface you can immediately “scribble” on when turning on your phone, allowing the user to write (not type) a search request for an app or file. The appeal? Being able to “just scribble and boom!” So far this isn’t too different from search functions that come already installed on Android devices. The main aspect of this app that makes the product worth while is it’s predictive quality. It learns not only how you write, but what apps you like to access at certain times of the day. This self-learning and automatically updating home screen is something interesting and new to look forward to. So far, before its official release, there has been 100 000 downloads of the Z Launcher, but these numbers are expected to rocket as the new interface is now available for free in the Google Play Store. At the end of the day though, no one is more excited about the Z Launcher than the company releasing it. As put by Nokia’s Head of Product Business Sebastian Nyström, “it’s predictive, it’s pure, it’s so Nokia.”
So what about the Nokia N1 Android Tablet? This was a bit of a surprise after Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri’s recent confirmation that the company isn’t “looking to a direct consumer return to handsets” after Microsoft’s US$7.2 billion April acquisition of Nokia’s handset business. Sure, it’s not a smart phone, but it’s bloody close. The tablet was sold at the event as something to compliment the z launcher, but due to their “what’s in the box” marketing campaign, it’s hard to believe that the Z Launcher is truly the main event. The Nokia N1 boasts a “beautiful” one piece aluminium body, no sharp edges, a thin and light design, a 7.9 inch laminated screen and a 2.3 gigahertz 64 gigabyte quad core processor. Throw in a bunch of accessories and an improved Z Launcher and you have Nokia’s newest achievement. The tablet itself doesn’t offer anything extraordinarily new or impressive, however, it does offer a competitive price. At $249 (plus tax), Nokia is presenting a competitive alternative to similar Samsung and Apple Products. For example, the new iPad Air 2 retails for $499, a whole $150 more expensive. During the event, Nokia also mentioned working with a partner (necessary after Microsoft’s acquisition) in order to release the phone on the Chinese market by Chinese New Year.
After two new releases from Nokia, I can’t help but say I’m surprised. It’s still early days, and both products are yet to prove themselves, but they do seem to promise an exciting and (kind of) new future for Nokia.
With Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth set to be released in a little over a week, Atlus USA has released a handful of new videos for the title, most of which focus on some of the game’s core mechanics. This includes the map making aspect that fans of Etrian Odyssey will be familiar with, as well as the way combat will unfold, and the powerful FOEs that populate certain dungeons.
Finally if you want to get a little extra entertainment, you will find that the final video features Atlus USA‘s PR Manager answering some fan questions and even singing a bit.
