Nintendo Directs are like a mini Nintendo Christmas each time one randomly pops up and this time it was no different with some awesome news being announced and heaps of trailers for new titles across both the 3DS and Wii U. We’ll be covering all the news throughout the day but the major highlights included a Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D announcement with collectors edition for Europe, games like Ultimate NES Remix and Shovel Knight being available right now, a Splatoon single player campaign announcement, more information on the Mario Kart 8 DLC including a release date of November 13th (only 1 week away!) and last but not least information on how Amiibo’s will factor into games other than Smash Bros. (don’t get too excited it’s not great).
We will be covering the Direct in more detail throughout the day but if you want to watch the entire Nintendo Direct for yourself you can check it out below. Please be aware these dates refer to the European market but we imagine the Australian release dates will be very similar.
We all knew of their inclusion thanks to the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros., but now Duck Hunt Duo has it’s official announcement trailer and it managed to be cute, funny and nostalgic all at the same time. Duck Hunt Duo is a very unique character with his main moves coming from either the Duck Hunt Dog itself or the duck on its back. The old NES Zapper itself also makes an appearance in the move set with the on screen reticule and off screen gunfire attacks. Other NES classic light gun games also make cameos in his move set as does the Dog’s signature cheeky laugh.
With the announcement of the Duck Hunt Duo character also came the news that the classic 1985 NES title itself would be releasing on the Wii U Virtual Console. You can check out the trailer for yourself below as well as the newly released screenshots of the Duck Hunt team in glorious HD.
Though it was only announced 2 months ago at PAX, Atari has released the first trailer for Alone in the Dark: Illumination, the latest installment in the classic horror game series.
Alone in the Dark: Illumination is a cooperative third-person action-horror game. This new installment of this series adds a new element; the power of illumination. Players can choose between four playable heroes, each armed with an individual set of special abilities and weapons. The Hunter comes with powerful firearms, the Witch has supernatural powers, the Priest has “divine abilities” like Holy Light and the Engineer has mechanical items like the Tesla Wall.
Though Atari doesn’t have an exact release date yet, we know its going to be sometime this holiday and it’s available pre-order on Steam for $30. Its “Eldritch Edition” includes a limited edition character and weapon skin and early access to the beta.
Indie Gala is back with a brand new look and a brand new Every Monday Bundle. This week, Indie Gala and Capsule computers are releasing six indie games for one price.
Snow Light– A visual novel about a professional spy in the near future where scarce natural resources has plunged the world into a state of perpetual war.
Crow– A story driven action adventure game featuring exploration and combat.
AVSEQ – A puzzle game that features an audio-visual sequencer and 22 tredecillion possible audio permutations.
Wayward Manor – A screwball puzzle-adventure comedy set in the 1920s starring The Budds family.
Hearthlands – Build a city and attract the finest craftsmen and heroes to your kingdom in this real-time strategy title. Be sure to vote for the game on Steam Greenlight.
The bundle is available now on Indie Gala for $2.00
The Witcher 3 is still a couple months off, but us gamers can’t ever seem to get enough new trailers, gameplay footage and secret tid bits to help tie us over. Luckily Namco Bandai have got us covered and have today released the game’s opening cinematic for our enjoyment!
The video, titled “The Trail,” shows off witchers Geralt of Rivia and his mentor Vesemir as they pursue Geralt’s long lost love, the immensely powerful, raven-black-haired sorceress — Yennefer of Vengerberg. Well I’m sold! Check out the new trailer below and let us know if you are looking forward to the Witcher 3 or not, and if you still need a little more Witcher 3 action then check out our recent interview with the game’s senior writer Jakub Szamalek.
Overview When Platinum Games developed and released Bayonetta back in 2010 it garnered quite a lot of attention thanks to its exciting gameplay and unique main character. Despite the game’s popularity in certain areas, fans of the game had to wait over four years before stepping into Bayonetta’s stilettos once more. In that time frame, a movie based around the events of the first game called Bayonetta: Bloody Fate was created and now FUNimation has released it in North America. Has Bayonetta successfully made the transition into an animated film? Let’s find out.
Story Long ago there existed a light and dark faction, the Lumen Sages and the Umbra Witches. These two forces served to balance the world but when a Sage and a Witch formed a taboo relationship and gave birth to a child, things began to take a turn for the worse before each faction seemingly vanished from the planet.
Bayonetta: Bloody Fate follows a woman named Bayonetta who is working as a nun who spends her time slaying angels sent from heaven. If that sounds odd well, there is a reason for that. You see, twenty years prior to the start of the film Bayonetta was awoken from a five hundred year sleep at the bottom of a lake and she no longer has any memories of her past. Despite this, she is incredibly skilled at slaying angels and unleashing powerful creatures using her hair to eliminate tougher opponents.
After finally obtaining a lead on her past, Bayonetta heads towards the city of Vigrid in order to find out everything that she can. On the way however she gets caught up with another woman named Jeanne who shares Bayonetta’s abilities and is her superior in nearly every way and has to deal with the persistent Luka who continues to pursue Bayonetta as he believes that she killed his father twenty years ago when she awoke. To make things worse, this journey to find her past puts Bayonetta on a path that is fraught with danger and ultimately will leave her battling for the fate of the world.
It is worth noting that Bayonetta: Bloody Fate is an adaptation and not a direct retelling of the original game’s storyline but very few liberties were taken with the story. This means that some battles that take place do not happen in the standard locations from the game but are still presented in the film. That being said, a number of details and a large number of boss enemies have been tossed aside in order to present a fast paced story. This isn’t an issue for those who are familiar with the game but for those who are new to the franchise, you may be left scratching your head about some characters and certain aspects of the story that are rushed through in order to cram everything in.
Of course those unfamiliar with Bayonetta will still be in for quite a treat as the story is very simplistic in nature. There are a few small twists but they are so obvious that it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Bayonetta: Bloody Fate benefits from its simplistic storytelling as the nature of the story and Bayonetta’s personality combine to create an exciting film that finds a nice balance between action and storytelling.
Visuals It is clear that Bayonetta: Bloody Fate must have had a smaller budget than your average anime movie as there are numerous scenes that are presented with a high level of detail and impressively smooth animation but on the other hand there are just as many sequences that make use of simpler images with very little movement. Even some of the larger fight sequences are presented using old school techniques to create an illusion of action or are extremely shortened to the point where Bayonetta simply finishes off an opponent with one move.
That being said, fans of the games will be in for quite an eyeful as it seems the studio knew exactly what fans would be looking for. The designs of the angels and boss enemies are quite impressive and fit the detail of the game’s perfectly and Bayonetta’s character design and poses are exactly what fans have come to expect from a character that flaunts her sex appeal and teases her opponents.
Audio Thankfully, FUNimation has gone the extra mile with Bayonetta: Bloody Fate’s English dub by bringing back a number of English voice actors who worked on the video game. While some smaller character voices have been changed, Bayonetta’s original voice actress Hellena Taylor and Jeanne’s voice actors Grey DeLisle both retain their roles and portray the characters perfectly, providing fans of the game exactly what they are looking for.
As far as the soundtrack is concerned, a number of tracks from within the original game are used throughout the movie which is a nice touch, though “Fly me to the Moon” is unfortunately absent. The song used in the credits of the film is “Night, I Stand” by Mai and although it doesn’t follow the theme of the standard background music used in the film, it is a decent enough song with complete English vocals.
Extras This release of Bayonetta: Bloody Fate comes with a number of on-disc bonus features. There is a hour and a half long actor commentary featuring Jonathan Klein the English Language Voice Director for the movie and Hellena Taylor, a large number of black and white storyboard images, and finally trailers for both this release as well as other FUNimation releases.
Overall Video game adaptations have a rather bad reputation but thankfully Bayonetta: Bloody Fate is a decent one. Although it suffers due to a poor budget, the important elements of the character designs translate nicely into animated form here accompanied by impressive background designs. While the film does rely on the viewer’s knowledge of the game for some of the finer details, newcomers to Bayonetta will find plenty to enjoy in Bayonetta: Bloody Fate.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The creeping chaos that always crawls up to you with a smile has returned once more in North America as NIS America has just released the second season of Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! on Blu-ray. The series has been given the classic premium edition treatment that includes a fully illustrated hardcover art book as well as an oversized chipboard slipcase.
Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! Second Season continues to follow Mahiro who now shares a house with Nyaruko, Kuko, and Hasuta, all of whom are aliens named after the nightmares from H.P. Lovecraft. While the first season saw the group face off against numerous strange creatures, this second season features even more odd monsters and even a person from Kuko’s appears to cause trouble. Those interested in seeing what we thought of the first season can check out our review here.
About a year and a half ago NIS America announced the acquisition of the poorly named Genshiken Second Season and now the company has a release date for the title which has also been given a more fitting title of Genshiken Second Generation.
Genshiken Second Generation will be released in North America on February 3, 2015 and will be given a premium edition that includes a sixty four page hardcover art book featuring episode guides, character info, and more, the series itself and sixteen minutes of bonus shorts included on two Blu-ray discs all contained in a chipboard slipcase.
For those unfamiliar with the series, NIS America has provided the below plot synopsis:
It’s a new semester at Shiiou University, and for “The Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture,” AKA Genshiken, that can only mean one thing—new freshman recruits! Originally founded as a club for otaku to discuss their unabashed love of anime, manga, and video games with one another, the current president of Genshiken, Chika Ogiue, may have bitten off more than she can chew by recruiting a bunch of yaoi-obsessed fujoshis, a.k.a. “rotten girls,” to join their ranks! Meanwhile, the original members of Genshiken who have since graduated find themselves coming to terms with their new lives as productive members of society.
Those of you who have had itchy trigger fingers ever since the last iteration of Activision‘s Call of Duty failed to impress have probably already run out to the store to pick up the newest game in the series, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. For those who haven’t, well now you know that the game is available worldwide.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare has been in development for three years and now features an exoskeleton in an attempt to revolutionize the series by providing players the ability to boost, double jump, dodge, and make use of various special abilities provided to them by their exo suits. Using the power of futuristic weaponry, players will take part in a story where PMCs wield more power than most countries and soldiers fight not for patriotism, but for money.
With Tales of Hearts R set to be released next week on November 11th in North America and November 14th in Europe, Bandai Nacmo has released a handful of new screenshots for the game that focus on showing off the “Spiria Nexus.”
In Tales of Hearts R, Spiria is an essence that governs a person’s soul and when the epidemic called “Despir” spreads across the land, the only way to get rid of it is for a “Somatic” to purify the core. This is accomplished by performing a “Spiria Link” and entering the nexus which is made up of a person’s Spiria where they must battle difficult enemies in order to reach the core.
