A few weeks ago Koei Tecmo Europe revealed that the company was planning on releasing Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea in the West and today we have been given a release date for the latest entry in the Atelier series. Koei Tecmo has announced that Atelier Shallie will be released in North America on March 10th and in Europe on March 13th with the game being available both at retail and as a digital download.
It is worth noting that this game is the final entry in the Dusk trilogy and Koei Tecmo has provided a summary of the title below:
In Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea players chose to play as either the reserved, mission-focused Shallistera, daughter of a tribal leader who embarks on voyage to find a cure for her ailing father or ambitious, energetic Shallotte, who has been struggling to bring success to the alchemy workshop since the passing of her father. While their personalities and appearance are drastically different, they both share the nickname “Shallie” and uncover the reasoning why along each of their journeys— the dual main character system has been improved with separate stories and multiple endings for Shallistera and Shallotte.
If you’ve been looking forward to MangaGamer offering something a little different on the Adult side of their site then you will probably be interested in learning that a demo has been released for No, Thank You!!! which is the company’s first boy’s love game.
For those who are unfamiliar with the term yaoi, this game is all guy on guy action and follows the story of Haru as he hits on various guys working at the bar. Currently No, Thank You!!! does not have a release date for the PC but once the game is released it will cost $39.95. Those interested in checking out the demo can do so here. (18+ Only)
This week Atlus USA was quite generous with the new trailers for Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth as they have released four new character trailers as well as a trailer highlighting how players will form a party in the game.
The four characters shown off happen to be Rise, Fuuka, Koromaru, and Kanji. You can check out all of the videos below as well as some new screenshots below those.
Party Forming
Rise Kujikawa
Rise is no stranger to the spotlight and uses those skills to help out her teammates! Her support abilities can manipulate turn order, and let a team member go first — either to land a crucial killing blow or get off a quick heal to save the entire party.
Fuuka Yamagishi
Fuuka, the labyrinth navigator from P3 is a strong battle navigator to start off with, since her Healing Breeze spell refreshes the whole party for three turns, and eventually learns a passive that lets the team regen health and SP!
Koromaru
Koro! KORO! Sooooo fluffy! The adorable canine Persona-user from P3 is back and cuter than ever in Persona Q! But despite his cute looks, Koro is a highly competent frontline fighter, either through slashing attacks or assaulting with Fire and Dark magic from his Persona Cerberus. Koromaru is a strong attacker, either through magic abilities or physical attacks, so it’s up to your play-style to determine what kind of sub-Persona to use.
Kanji Tatsumi
I’ll bash you good! The brash Kanji is back as a front-line brawler with his trusty metal chair. He has high HP for brutal physical attacks and his Persona Take-Mikazuchi gives him lightning elemental attacks. A high HP sub-Persona works well for Kanji, but it’s up to you if you want to make him an all-out damage dealer or a tank with defensive abilities.
Overview Usually when a movie is released for an anime that has already finished airing, fans of the series tend to be concerned about the property. This is because most movies are either simple recaps that do nothing to add to the story or are nothing more than simple spin-offs that offer little of value. However most of these movies are also produced for shōnen series, which makes Hanasaku Iroha the Movie: Home Sweet Home, a movie created two years after the ending of the series something quite different. Should fans of the series look forward to picking up the movie?
Story
Now before we discuss the movie, it is worth noting that Home Sweet Home does not pick up after the series ended but instead takes place somewhere around the twentieth episode of the series. This means that the movie is generally one that only fans of the series will enjoy thanks to the various relationships and character nuances built up over time. That being said, thanks to the way things are handled even newcomers may find Home Sweet Home a decent starting point before jumping into the full series.
Autumn has come to the Kissuiso Inn and Yuina has begun working at the inn in order to learn how other hot springs inns operate. Due to Ohana’s connection with Yuina and the fact that she is newest employee, she is put in charge of training Yuina and keeping an eye on her. Unfortunately this quickly becomes something Ohana isn’t prepared for as Yuina’s free spirit makes her quite a handful as she unknowingly insults many members of the staff and begins to mess up even the simplest tasks.
One such task happened to be cleaning a storage room which she left in disarray. While cleaning up Yuina’s mess, Ohana discovers old logbooks kept by Denroku while her mother, Satsuki, was still a teenager working at the inn and through these learns that despite their estranged past, Ohana and her mother are more similar to one another than she previously thought.
Hanasaku Iroha the Movie: Home Sweet Home is a shorter movie that comes in under three episodes worth of running time. At the same time it also feels like the stories told throughout the movie could easily have been worked into the main series without breaking the flow since despite the main plotline following Ohana’s discovery of her mother’s past and learning about her deceased father, many other little interactions occur at the same time.
Minko continues to try her best preparing food that will impress her crush Tohru while Tohru continues to be blunt and vague with his criticisms all while the inn deals with a power outage that puts stress on everyone. This stress continues to build when Nako, who has been struggling to keep her many siblings happy at home while her parents are at work, learns that her youngest sister has run away due to the way her mother has been acting.
Although it is paced similar to the basic series, this setup works the best for Home Sweet Home as it ultimately gives fans plenty of what made the series great… character interaction. The simple scenes that show the characters working around the inn and interacting with one another provides plenty of humorous moments while most of the touching moments come from Nako’s struggles with her family and Ohana learning about her family.
Told through a series of flashbacks, viewers are given glimpses of Satsuki’s life at the inn while she was younger and how she dealt with trying to find out who she is and what she wants to do with her life. Despite their differences, these flashbacks give us a clear look at how Ohana is like her mother in many ways and also how despite how she raised her, that Satsuki truly cares for her daughter.
Visuals Handled by the same studio that worked on the main series, Hanasaku Iroha the Movie: Home Sweet Home does see a marginal boost in production values for certain scenes but for the most part many elements of the film look the same as the series. Now that isn’t a bad thing by any means, as the main series always featured lush detailed backgrounds and realistic and expressive character designs.
It is especially interesting to see how certain characters’ younger selves looked during flashbacks compared to their current selves. It is worth noting that there is some mild fan service present in the movie as there are a handful of bathing scenes featuring the female cast but it is incredibly tame and shouldn’t make anyone bat an eye.
Audio Since this is an NIS America release, it comes with only the Japanese voice track where all of the Japanese voice actors have retained their previous roles. All of these voice actors and actresses do an excellent job matching their characters’ personalities.
As far as the background music is concerned, a number of themes used from the main series are present in the movie which is a bit disappointing as it would have been nice to hear something fresh, but fans will at least appreciate the consistency. As for the theme song, it is “Kagefumi” by nano.RIPE which is used to great effect during one of the most touching scenes at the end of the film before transferring into the credits.
Extras Hanasaku Iroha the Movie: Home Sweet Home comes with only the original Japanese commercials for the movie and trailers for three other NIS America anime releases on the disc. This release also includes the long box slipcase as well as a hardcover art book.
Overall Hanasaku Iroha the Movie: Home Sweet Home may not be the continuation of the series that many might be hoping for, but it does have a touching story to tell about family and finding yourself. By blending the story of Satsuki’s past together with the other events happening at the modern day Kissuiso, Home Sweet Home creates an enjoyable story that will please fans of the series.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Astro Gaming and Microsoft are continuing their partnership by releasing a special Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Halo Edition gaming headset. The army green headset features a honeycomb design on the ear cups with gold accents. The A50 Halo edition will be available at select retailers and the Astro Gaming website for $300 USD.
The Astro Gaming A50 Wireless Gaming Headset is an officially licensed Xbox One headset. KleerNet 5.8 GHz wireless technology allows for lossless audio to be sent wirelessly to the headset with minimal interference or lag. The headset works with Dolby Headphone to provide 7.1 surround sound capabilities with three different EQ modes and adjustable voice/game volume balance.
Mordheim: City of the Damnedis nearing its Steam Early Access launch. Developers Rogue Factor released a new trailer teasing the city of Mordheim and the factions that are doing battle for control of the city.
Mordheim: City of the Damned is a turned based RPG-strategy title that will be released on Steam Early Access in the coming days. After a comet smashes into the city and scatters Wyrdstone fragments through the neighbourhoods, the four factions of Mordheim engage in a brutal battle to control. Players will be able to form an army and equip them with items found in game. Be careful though, as death is permanent for units.
Blizzard just revealed their answer to Team Fortress 2 with Overwatch. Announced to a live crowd of 25,000+ attendees of BlizzCon 2014, Overwatch is a pick-up-and-play FPS with an almost unprecedented variety of classes set against the backdrop of a highly-stylized, future Earth.
The Overwatch is a ragtag task force of international scientists, soldiers, adventurers and anomalies whose goal is to restore peace to the war-torn world. After years of fighting this noble battle, the Overwatch disbanded, but heroes still exist. The game is accessible, but features a low-floor/high-ceiling. Teams of six duke it out across many different environments, from the high-tech streets of London to a similarly updated Egypt. There’s a good deal of verticality to each arena, with each map designed to highlight the individual strengths of every character available. Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, said of the title;
Overwatch is our take on a vibrant, near-future universe with amped-up characters and action-packed team-based gameplay. With every new Blizzard game, we look at our favourite aspects of a genre and put our own spin on things. Our goal with Overwatch is to create an awesome FPS experience that’s more accessible to a much wider audience while delivering the action and depth that shooter fans love.
The following is simply a sampling of the myriad characters/archetypes playable in Overwatch. For a run-through of the full roster, check out the Gameplay Trailer embedded at the bottom of this article:
Tracer, a former British test pilot who shrugs at danger, can execute impossible acrobatic assaults thanks to her ability to teleport, drop energy bombs, and even reverse time.
Reinhardt, a hulking German soldier in battle armor, can charge great distances and pin his enemies to a wall or slam the ground with his rocket hammer to knock them off their feet.
Hanzo, a bow-wielding Japanese mercenary, has the ability to scale walls with his bare hands, fire off a tracking device that illuminates nearby enemies for his team, and unleash a huge spirit dragon that does grievous damage to all enemies in its path.
Symmetra, an Indian architech, manipulates light and energy to shield her allies and damage her enemies—and she can turn the tide of any battle by building a device that instantly transports her teammates to the front lines.
All are unique, but the creativity of combat amplifies once you team up and combine your abilities with a team-mate. Overwatch is playable at BlizzCon this weekend, running on 600 PCs with 12 heroes selectable for 6v6 match-ups on either of three maps on show. Beta testing will begin in 2015, up to which point more content will be added on a consistent basis. To learn more about the fun looking competitive shooter, and even sign up for the aforementioned beta, visit www.playoverwatch.com.
With all of the serious tones we have seen from several releases as of late, its pleasant to see that some releases planned for this season are doing things light-hearted. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is one title for the Wii U that many should be eyeing, as the puzzle-based adventure title looks to be a pure treat with its light and upbeat atmosphere.
Fresh off the Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo have released a new trailer for the title, displaying the many “mini” universes that Toad and Toadette will be able to explore, and as you would expect, this clip shows one charming experience. Watch the clip down below, and expect to see this gem hitting the Wii U next month.
In the 50 new things about Smash Bros. Nintendo Direct that took place recently we learned a whole heap of stuff about game modes and unlockables, but one of the best announcements was that the number of music in the Wii U version will smash the amount of tracks in the 3DS version out of the park! Numerous game reviewers have been recording footage of the game and giving users a look at the default track selection for each stage that they have unlocked.
The full list is below for your viewing pleasure courtesy of a number of users who have worked hard to put this list together (original link here). Please keep in mind there are at least 100 more songs to unlock and not all the stages are represented below as we do not have a full stage list as of yet. After reading through the list let us know in the comments what your favourite inclusion is or if you’re a bit worried your favourite song isn’t on the list. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U releases on the 21st of November in North America and on the 28th/29th in Europe and Australia.
Well it wouldn’t be a major release title without a Season Pass these days would it? Ubisoft’s newest racer The Crew is the latest receiver of the Season Pass which is set to include four new car packs with corresponding missions as well as additional decals, rims, tuning parts and more. The info-graphic above (click to view it in full resolution) showcases the DLC plan for the next few months after the December 2nd launch promising even more content in the future. The Season Pass is set to contain:
Two exclusive cars – McLaren 12C and Ferrari 458 Speciale – available to Season Pass holders at launch.
One-week early access for all add-on car packs content.
Four packs, 12 cars total:
Extreme Car Pack- available January 2015, includes performance cars, perfect for exhilarating, high-octane missions
Speed Car Pack- available February 2015, includes sports cars, finely tuned for breakneck-speed races
Vintage Car Pack- available March 2015, includes vintage rides, fashionable for missions set in iconic American locales
Raid Car Pack- available April 2015, includes off-road vehicles, highly recommended for all-terrain missions
23 additional tuning kits unlocked to spec out the Season Pass car line-up for premium performance on any terrain.
All official paint jobs and rims for each car.
An exclusive sticker delivered with each car pack.
New missions corresponding with each pack’s theme, available to all players free of charge.
Not all the DLC content is paid for though with Ubisoft revealing that new missions, Player vs. Player modes and two new mystery features will be making their way to players via free updates alongside a host of community events. Those that do purchase the Season Pass will gain early access to two exclusive cars in the McLaren C12 and the Ferrari 458 Speciale. Our PR pack says these cars are ‘available to Season Pass holders at launch’ so take that as you will as to whether these cars will be made available to everyone at some point.
Will you be picking up The Crew and the Season Pass come launch date when it releases on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Xbox 360? Let us know in the comments below your plans or any impressions you have from one of the games many betas, one of which is running right now on the next gen consoles until November 10th.
