Flat Earth Games announced the release of their arcade stealth-shooter Metrocideon Steam Early Access today. Metrocide takes place in a futuristic dystopia where police drones rule the skies. Players will take on the role of T.J. Trench, a contract killer looking to make enough money to escape the city by plying his trade. As a rogue-like game, players will only have one life to complete their dirty deed in secret by dodging drones and relying on an extensive array of weaponry.
Metrocide is currently part of Steam’s Early Access program. As part of the launch, a new video walkthrough featuring Zone 3 has been released. Flat Earth Games hopes to balance the game’s difficulty in the next six week and release the full game before the end of the year. Check out Metrocideon Steam.
Pop quiz! Are there more ways to multiply two numbers to get to 30 or are there more games in Indie Gala‘s Every Monday Bundle #30? Stumped? Well there are four ways to multiply to 30 (1*30, 2*15, 3*10, and 5*6) and seven indie games plus one DLC in the Every Monday Bundle #30! For one low price, buyers will receive:
Rabbit Hole 3D Steam Edition– A minimalistic retro puzzler that mixes the classic book Alice in Wonderland with a little red brick falling down the rabbit hole of words.
Triblaster – A retro styled shooter that will challenge players to survive in a 3d space against a rainbow of geometric shapes.
AntiSquad– Take command of AntiSquad, the home to misfits that clean up the messes most governments don’t want to be associated with, in this strategy title from Bulkypix.
Secret of the Magic Crystals– Players can run a magical horse farm and then race their noble steeds with “The Race” DLC.
RoboBlitz– A physics based action puzzler featuring space pirates, robots, and 19 humorous levels.
Frederic: Resurrection of Music– The great Frederic Chopin has risen from the grave to duel soulless pop stars looking to wreck music in the name of corporate greed. Players will rock out to 12 remixes of famous classical music pieces with Chopin’s trusty piano.
Playing History: The Plague – The black plague was among the deadliest outbreaks in the world. Though mostly eliminated through modern antibiotics, Playing History: The Plague takes players on a point and click adventure in one of the most terrifying moments in history. Be sure to vote for the game on Steam Greenlight.
For the first 24 hours of the sale, gamers can pick up all seven games for only $1.99. Afterwards, the price will rise, so be sure to brag your copy at Indie Gala.
Fans of Gust’s Atelier series will be happy to hear that Koei Tecmo is planning on bringing the latest game in the series, Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea to the West. Currently very few details are known about their plans for the game as the localization announcement was just confirmed over Koei Tecmo Europe’s Twitter, but they are planning on releasing it sometime in 2015.
Although this release announcement has only been made by Koei Tecmo Europe’s branch, there is a near 100% guarantee that Atelier Shallie will also be released in North America. For those who haven’t followed the game since it was announced, Atelier Shallie takes place six years after the events of Escha & Logy features two heroines, Shallistera and Shallote, with Shallistera trying to save her village from failing and Shallote training to become a skilled alchemist.
If you were hoping to add another racer to your next-gen console’s backlog then we have a bit of bad news for you. Project Cars, which was originally meant to be released in November, has been delayed until March 20, 2015. This delay affects all versions of the game, including the PC release, and Bandai Nacmo has said that the reason for the delay is not only to “extend and polish” the game but also to move away from some of the more competitive titles that come out in the holiday season.
We recently had some hands-on time with Project Cars and you can check out our impressions of the title here.
Recently Microsoft announced that Halo: The Master Chief Collection had gone gold and with that came a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is that the game will now be released on November 11th almost everywhere in the world, except for a few countries who will be see the title released a few days later. As for the bad news, well you better make sure that you have plenty of hard drive space open when the game is released.
You see, Halo: The Master Chief Collection uses up the entirety of the 45 GB Blu-ray disc and on top of that there will be a 20GB content addition that will be downloaded alongside the installation. The reason for this massive install size is because Microsoft did not wish to cut any corners when it came to releasing these titles nor did they want to force players to swap between different discs when they want to switch between the four games included in the collection.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, a new vision for the future-set timeline in the immensely popular FPS series, is out in two weeks for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC from Activision, but you can view the Launch Trailer right now, which is filled with high-octane action and gameplay. The video is embedded at the bottom of this article.
Kevin Spacey’s involvement as Jonathan Irons, the cunning leader of private military corporation Atlas, has been well-publicised. The player, however, will embody Jack Mitchell, a soldier who dons an advanced exoskeleton and is committed to restoring order after the world is devastated by a catastrophic attack. That exoskeleton provides multiple options in manoeuvrability that drastically changes the usual rules of the battlefield, and all of the abilities it enables – the dodges, dashes and boosted jumps – carry over into multiplayer for an even more intense experience with friends. Multiplayer also features a revamped Create-a-Class and Supply Drops.
Again, check out the Launch Trailer below, and read our hands-on impressions from EB Expo 2014 earlier this month.
Overview Of the many anime series I have watched, I can probably count the series that took place in a College setting on one hand. Usually these series are set in a middle school or high school with graduation being the final goal. Even the most popular series generally find a conclusion once their characters graduate high school. As such Golden Time being set in a college, albeit one focused on freshmen students, is already off to a different start. From the author who brought us Toradora!, will Golden Time get off to a successful start with Collection 1?
Story Tada Banri has just moved to the bustling city of Tokyo to attend a private law school. Despite how challenging this might be considering he is not only late on his first day but also knows no one within the city, he is happy to be living alone and taking a step forward with his life. In fact, his new found freedom is quite the blessing because immediately after graduating from high school Banri was involved in an accident that left him with retrograde amnesia, leaving him with no memories of the past eighteen years.
After spending a year trying to recover, he has moved on with his life, though the past will continue to haunt him throughout the series. After managing to make a friend with fellow law student Mitsuo, he is introduced to a girl that Mitsuo has been trying to escape from for years, his childhood friend Kaga Kouko. Ever since they were children Kouko has planned their lives together and thanks to her wealthy upbringing, she never was given a reason to deviate from her plans… other than the fact that Mitsuo wants nothing to do with her of course.
With Kouko’s die-hard desire to marry Mitsuo and his desire to avoid her and find someone he really loves, problems quickly rise to the surface. Still, after meeting and becoming friends, it becomes clear that Banri and Kouko appear to be meant for one another as Banri is a boy with no past while Kouko wishes to move past hers. However things are never that easy, especially when memories of Banri’s high school crush Linda, who also attends the school and has become quite close to Banri despite knowing he doesn’t remember her, begin to surface.
The first half of Golden Time has its highs and lows but one of these highs happens to be the way that it handles its characters. Rarely do we see any semblance of a realistic relationship in an anime series, with characters usually locking away their feelings until the final moment but in Golden Time there is actual discussion and development that feels believable, giving the cast a human quality that is necessary considering some of the idiotic situations the cast ends up in.
It is also interesting to see a dime a dozen type cliché like amnesia actually be used to create a worthwhile plot point. Thanks to the way Banri’s amnesia and past are explored over the course of the first half of the series we watch as he struggles with the feelings that are warring within him. A certain aspect of how it is being handled leaves much to be desired however as it not only doesn’t fit with the realistic tone of Golden Time but also feels like an attempt to force drama into Banri’s life and new relationships.
Despite the forced feeling that the ghost of Banri’s past has, its existence does serve as a way to represent the conflict between Banri’s new life with his friends and his past memories and relationships as well as a tool to test his faithfulness with Kouko. This results in a number of interesting events, but at the same time the forced feeling of “Ghost Banri” drags down the feel of the series due to its unnecessary existence and the way that it makes a story already plagued with disjointed events and odd occurrences, even worse does the series no favors.
On the other side of the coin, we have Kouko who starts as a character that will easily rub viewers the wrong way but eventually shows character development thanks to legitimate conversations and not forced drama. While Kouko may be an over-the-top character that tends to be clingy and a bit possessive, the reason that she is this way is not only elaborated on but can easily be inferred by the viewer thanks to her past and Banri’s situation. That being said, I can also see her being a character that people will find annoying if they do not understand why she is acting like she is.
Visuals Golden Time was animated by JC Staff which can be hit or miss depending on the property they are working on and thankfully Golden Time just so happens to be one of their hits. Featuring detailed character designs, especially in regards to Kouko’s ever-changing clothing, a gorgeous color palette that is nicely presented in Blu-ray, and nicely detailed environments Golden Time is quite a visual treat.
Character expressions tend to lean towards realistic which is a nice touch, though there are a number of times that they are taken to the extreme to try and pull off some laughs but generally fail to do so. It is also worth noting that there are noticeable drops in quality whenever a mid-range or group shot is used as facial expressions and even character designs dip noticeably.
Audio Sentai Filmworks has released Golden Time: Collection 1 with only the Japanese voice track accompanied by English subtitles, but this shouldn’t disappoint many as the series sports a fitting Japanese voice cast with a large number of series under their belts, except for Banri’s voice actor who is more of a fresh voice.
The background music throughout Golden Time is quite fitting for a series focused more on romance than comedy and it does a nice job of not overpowering any given scene. The opening theme for this first half is “Golden Time” while the ending theme is “Sweet & Sweet Cherry.” Both of these songs are performed by Yui Horie, the Japanese voice actress for Kouko and although the ending theme is a bit sub-standard the opening theme mixes English and Japanese lyrics together to create an enjoyable tune that will be hard to skip past.
Extras As far as bonus features go, Golden Time: Collection 1 is about as bare bones as they come. The release sports a clean version of the opening theme and ending theme as well as trailers for other Sentai Filmworks releases and the disc credits.
Overall Over the course of Golden Time: Collection 1 viewers will witness genuine character development and realistic interactions interlaced with forced drama and strange events. Thanks to the way things have been handled in the series so far, it is hard not to fall in love with characters and also become frustrated due to certain events. With the first half of the series leaving off on an interesting note as Banri continues to try and leave his past behind and move on with the insecure but loyal Kouko it will be interesting to see where things will go in the second half. Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
So it is that time of the week once again. What time of the weak you ask? The time of the week where we sit down around the camp fire and share stories about the latest and greatest news from Microsoft HQ. That’s right, it is time for Xbox Newsbeat! This week’s newsbeat is a little short with only four headlines, but they are surely going to grab your attention! So instead of sitting around and talking about the news, lets get down to it!
Xbox One ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Bundle Offers Two Free Games
We are coming up to the holiday season and that means that in addition to all of the awesome games being released, that there will be a bunch of cool console bundles designed to get the most value into your hands just in time for Christmas. Ubisoft and Microsoft have teamed up for one of these bundles, the Assassin’s Creed bundle, which from November 1st will give players a brand new Xbox One console, a copy of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flags, and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Unity. There will be two different versions of the bundle; one that comes with the Kinect Sensor (and will have an RRP of $599) and one without (for $499).
Watch All the Vines You Could Ever Want on Xbox One
Do you want to watch hours upon hours of short videos on your TV? Well you had better head to the Xbox One app store and download the brand new Vine App that will allow you to do just that. Vine is home to a tonne of hilarious and clever videos that make the most use of their limited time, and this new Xbox One app is the first built for TV method to watch them all.
Halo: Spartan Strike Comes to Windows 8 Devices and Steam this December
Do you like Halo? what about top-down shooters? Well looks like Microsoft and 343 have the perfect game for you! Halo: Spartan Strike is set during the time of Halo 2 and has you playing as a Spartan in a real-world, classified ONI simulation that starts on New Mombasa in 2552 and will take you through jungles, cities and more. Using your Spartan skills, an all-new arsenal of weapons, abilities and vehicles, including the iconic Warthog, you must lead UNSC troops through 30 challenging missions and prevent Earth from being overtaken by hordes of Covenant and Promethean enemies. The game will be coming to Steam and Windows 8 devices later this year, and playing the game will award unlockable content for the upcoming Halo: Master Chief edition.
Xbox One System Update: New Friends, Snap and TV Features on Xbox One
Ahh another month and another Xbox One system update has come our way. The latest update brings some highly requested features from the player base, but don’t take my word for it – check out the slew of updates that are being rolled out as we speak:
New Snap and Friends functions –Stay inthe game and in touch with your friends at the same time with improved Snap, SmartGlass and Achievements functions.
Snap Updates – The Snap Center has been updated to include quick access to many of the things fans wanted faster access to when playing a game – Friends, Messages, Game DVR, clock, and battery indicator – as well as making it easier to close and open new snap apps when playing a game. A double tap of the Xbox button on your controller will bring up a menu that allows you to open a new app in snap mode, close the current snapped app, or switch focus between your game and your running snapped app. Additionally, two apps have been optimized for Snap mode:
Friends Snap App – Access your friends list without leaving the game. Quickly check your friends list to see who’s online right now and take actions like send message, invite or join.
Messages Snap App – You’ll be able to open, read and respond to messages in Snap mode, and messages will now be displayed in a threaded conversation view.
Achievements App –Updated to enable sharing of achievements you’ve unlocked with captions, see a list of friends who have unlocked specific achievements, and an updated achievements Snap landing page that that shows Achievements on recently played games, when a gamer is not actively playing a game.
Friends section – The new Friends section enables you to see at a glance what’s going on with your friends. You can stay up-to-date with their current activities, the most popular games your friends are playing, and a Gamerscore leaderboard to see who has improved their Gamerscore over the last 30 days.
New SmartGlass features – You can now see a list of your top games in your profile. You can also see a list of your friend’s most popular games in the Friend’s section of SmartGlass.
Media Player DLNA and MKV support – The latest version of the Media Player app will now have support for DLNA streaming. With this update, you will be able to easily access and play music, watch photo slideshows or movies stored on home media servers and devices that support the DLNA server protocols. Additionally, you will now be able to playback MKV files stored on a USB device or a device on your home network that supports DLNA streaming.
So there we go, another busy week here at Xbox Newsbeat. Did any of this week’s headlines grab your attention more than the others? If so then let us know in the comments below and remember to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all of the awesome Xbox news as it becomes available.
Magic: The Gathering is by far the world’s most popular trading card game, and now Wizards of the Coast is branching out the Magic brand with the newly announced Magic: The Gathering Board Game. Set for release next Spring, the board game takes the characters and locations from Magic’s wonderful multiverse and presents them in an all new, exciting way. Players will take on the roll of one of five Planeswalkers, and summon powerful creatures against one another. To get our excitement up even further, Wizards have announced that a prototype version of the game will be playable at this year’s PAX Aus, alongside the rest of the suite of Magic stuff that will be on show. If you wont be able to make it to PAX Aus, or you just want some more information now, here are some details about the game that is still shrouded in mystery:
How is the game played?
In the Magic: The Gathering Strategy Board Game, players customize the battlefield by designing the map then placing terrain and powerful gylphs. Then players choose one of five different Planeswalkers and move their figure and unique creature squads around the map in a race to out-maneuver opponents and gain tactical advantages! Cast devastating spells, summon powerful squads, and tap into your unique Planeswalker abilities to defeat your opponents. Be the last Planeswalker standing to win!
How many players can play the game?
2-5 players.
How long does it take to play through the game?
Between 25 and 45 minutes, depending on the number of players and their level of expertise.
Will the game include any collectible pieces?
Each game will include the same five highly detailed, fully painted Planeswalker mini-figures.
What are the five Magic Planeswalker characters who will be featured in the board game?
Chandra Nalaar, Jace Beleren, Nissa Revane, Liliana Vess. The final character will be revealed at later date.
Does the game include Magic trading card game cards?
No, the game does not include Magic: The Gathering cards, but it pulls directly from Magic lore and includes references to many classic cards.
Does the game work with the Magic TCG system?
No, the Magic: The Gathering Strategy Board Game is a stand-alone experience from the TCG. Many familiar concepts will be present, but streamlined for the board game.
Does the game use any mechanics from the Magic TCG?
Yes, the game utilizes several classic Magic mechanics, including deathtouch, flying, and first strike.
What plane will the game take place on?
The game will take place on the drifting, mana-rich world of Shandalar.
So there we go. I am one for new Magic: The Gathering products, so this new board game really interests me but what about you? Are you interested in the game or do you think that it should remain as a trading card only franchise? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Magic: The Gathering news as it becomes available.
One does not simply livestream Mordor… right? In this episode of CC Impact!, join Senior Editor Jamie in exploring the Sea of Nurnen in Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Check out a little bit of everything the game has to offer, stealth, action, ranged, quests, and the nemesis system. Learn more about Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor in our review.
We livestream gameplay footage on our Twitchpage. Our YouTubechannel is updated with content daily. Also be sure to follow us on Twitter, and Facebook. Leave a comment here or head on over to our YouTube page and leave a comment so we know what you think and how we can improve our Impact! feature.
