Back in March XSEED Games surprised many gamers in the West when they revealed that they were working on localizing Akiba’s Trip 2 for release in North America as Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed and now that E3 has come and gone we have a new trailer as well as some new English screenshots which you can check out below.
In this trailer we are treated to some new gameplay footage as well as a sample of the English voice work that will be available in the game when it is released on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita sometime later this year.
Adventure game maker Paul Cuisset has a Guiness World Record under his belt. His adventure game Flashback is the best selling French game worldwide. However, he has yet to release a new IP since his 2005 title Amy. This week, Cuisset teamed up with French publisher Microids (Deadly Association) to announce their upcoming adventure game Subject 13. Microids has yet to announce a release date or a list of supported platforms, only a promise that more information will follow in the coming weeks.
Subject 13 stars reclusive physics professor Franklin Fargo. One day, he finds himself trapped in a scientific facility; a voice on the radio addresses him as Subject 13. Now, Fargo must confront the demons of his past that keep his soul imprisoned, while he escapes from his physical prison.
Well if Omega Quintet and it’s possible localization sometime in the future wasn’t enough to get JRPG fans such as myself excited for the PlayStation 4, then perhaps this news will. Today through an odd little teaser trailer featuring a pig and a monkey that jokes about E3 ending, Compile Heart has revealed that Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II is going to be released for the PlayStation 4.
Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II is a main game in the series and as we have already heard, will feature three different game dimensions as well as a new character named Uranus and it looks like more details will be revealed later in the week by Dengeki PlayStation.
Fans of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate in the West may be happy to hear that the game’s roster has just grown a bit larger. Today in North America Phase-4, a clone of Kasumi with her own unique fighting style and costumes, was released for the game on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Gamers in Europe can download the character on the 360 only at the moment as the PS3 release for the character in that territory is set for June 25th.
It is worth noting that Phase-4 is not a free DLC character as she will cost $5.99 just like Marie Rose did when she was released by Tecmo Koei. A slew of costumes were also released alongside Phase-4, with some of them being available in a bundle that is priced at $12.99 or purchased seperately for $1.99 each. It is worth noting that a number of other DLC costumes for other characters has also been released today following an “Overalls” theme.
Almost a year after its PAX Australia 2013 showing, competitive indie shooter Painters Unite, from local upstarts Canvas Interactive, has made its way onto Steam Greenlight. Already, there have been comparisons to the recently revealed at E3 2014 Nintendo Wii U title Splatoon, as well as flat out accusations of being a clone. Knowing the developers behind Painters Unite, and having followed (and covered) it from “Day One”, I wanted to take this opportunity to set the record straight.
I attended classes at Qantm College, Sydney for two years, earning my Bachelor’s Degree in Interactive Entertainment (major in Games Design). My lecturer at the time was, in fact, the now Creative Director of Canvas Interactive, James Betar. Even back then, James was working part time, solo, on this concept he had where players would be engaged in multiplayer matches with the aim of, not killing their opponents in a spray of bullets, but converting foes to their team with a burst of colour. Once our course was completed, James recruited some standout talent from within and began to commit a lot more time to the project, with it becoming a true passion for the small team. In July of 2013, Painters Unite was featured in the ANZ Indie Pavillion section of Pax Australia 2013’s grounds, revealed to the public and playable in its Pre-Alpha stage. For a video game that has been in development for 4 years, and its existence open for the public’s acknowledgement since mid-2013, I fail to see how anyone can accuse it of ripping off a title that was literally just unveiled for the first time last week.
So, please, check out their Gameplay Overview trailer embedded below, and if you like what you see, click through to their Steam Greenlight page, up-vote and leave a supportive message. Follow their campaign, and also their Facebook page for all future updates.
We have some great news for fans of ecchi shows with some decent plot to go along with all of the PLOT in a series. Today it was revealedby High School DxD‘s light novel publisher that a third season of the popular anime has been green-lit. Of course no time frame for the series was revealed at the time but we will likely see the third season sometime next year.
It is worth noting that so far the first two seasons of High School DxD have each covered two light novel volumes a piece, with some of the side-stories mixed in which means there is a fairly good chance that the third season will focus primarily on story arcs that involve the oft-neglected Koneko and Akeno. Both the first and second season have also been licensed for release in the West by FUNimation with the first series being released last year and the second season set for release sometime later this year.
Earlier this month Square Enix released the first batch of DLC for Drakengard 3 which included the prologue chapters for most of Zero’s sisters as well as some other content. Well today the company released the final batch of DLC for the game which includes One’s prologue chapter as well as most of the pre-order exclusive items.
The full list of the DLC and their prices can be found below:
Garb / Weapons
Zero’s Garb Variety Pack: A retailer exclusive pre-order item, this DLC contains three alternate costume color schemes for Zero. ($2.99)
Caim’s Garb: A previous Collector’s Edition exclusive, this DLC – from the original Drakengard – halves the player’s stamina use when performing heavy attacks. ($2.99)
Beautiful Child: Originally included in the Collector’s Edition as a pre-order bonus, this is a cosmetic headwear for Mikhail in the shape of a Giant Baby head. ($0.99)
Nier’s Garb: Modeled after NIER Replicant, the Japanese-Exclusive version of NIER®, this costume boosts damage by five percent. ($2.99)
Kainé’s Garb: Modeled after Kainé from NIER, this costume doubles the window for triggering a parry. ($2.99)
Experimental Weapon #7: Cosmetic headwear for Mikhail modeled after Emil from NIER. ($0.99)
Prologues / Themes
One’s Prologue: A Collector’s Edition exclusive as part of the Sisters’ Prologue Bundle, One’s Prologue is now available for individual purchase. ($5.99)
PlayStation Themes: A Wave 3 pre-order bonus for Drakengard 3, these PSN themes prominently feature Zero, Mikhail and the four Disciples (Cent, Octa, Decadus and Dito) on players’ PlayStation 3 dashboards. ($0.99 each)
Fans of side-scrolling action games will be happy to hear that Battle Princess of Arcadias is now available for purchase through the PlayStation Store on the PS3. This NIS America title is only available as a digital download and costs $29.99 and it follows the story of Princess Plume from the Kingdom of Schwert who must battle against numerous monsters that have begun overrunning the land.
Along the way she will meet a number of warriors who will join her in battle where players can switch between fighters in real-time to take on numerous enemies ranging from simple looking creatures to giant bosses that will require the player to make use of the game’s fast paced battle system to eliminate.
Overview Yu-Gi-Oh is a franchise that has become synonymous with the younger crowd of anime/manga fans of the world. As time passes, more and more variations are added to the title as series continue to spawn. Thus we come to Zexal, a new story that centres around one boy’s passion for duelling and the increasing odds at which he is forced to bet. But with a knowledgeable ghost by his side it shouldn’t be too dangerous…right?
Story Meet Yuma Tsukumo, a boisterous, never-say-die student who has one searing passion in his life: Duelling. Unfortunately for Yuma however, he is a terrible duellist. Though he possesses a powerful deck passed onto him by his father, he is unable to utilise it and is thus routinely trounced by his fellow students. But if there’s one redeeming feature about Yuma, it’s that no matter how many times he’s knocked down, he gets right back up and tries again.
The story really kicks in when his “friend” Tetsuo’s deck is won from him by schoolyard bully Shark…though you’d never guess he was bad guy from the name. Blindly sticking up for Tetsuo, Yuma finds himself duelling Shark. Midway through losing, Yuma once again has visions of an ominous door that appears in his dreams. Utilising his pendant, another memento of his dear departed parents, Yuma opens the door and unwittingly summons a spirit: Astral. Luckily for our protagonist however, this spirit is benevolent, albeit amnesiac, and quite the duelling prodigy…what a coincidence. The duel also takes a decidedly more magical turn from this point on, as it is revealed that Astral’s memories have fragmented into powerful Number Cards, which cause their wielder’s personality to change, as Shark immediately demonstrates. Thus begins the partnership between Yuma and Astral and their quest to recover all 100 Number Cards to return the spirit’s memories to him. That shouldn’t take too long.
One thing I have to note about the characters of Zexal is their personalities, which at some points are down right annoying. I understand what is trying to be conveyed, but the way that it is handled comes across as bratty. Though I guess they are kids. My prime example is, during his second duel with Astral by his side, Yuma straight up declares that he will ignore everything the spirit says. Really dude? The guy just helped you win for the first time in at least 50 duels and your turning on him? This also creates one of the longest sequences of reverse psychology I’ve ever seen…and it works consistently. It’s just kind of jarring that, at least thus far, one of Yuma’s most redeeming features has been Astral.
The duels themselves are also worth mentioning, if only to highlight some recurring themes. First off, I understand that this is Yu-Gi-Oh, a series based on a card game with pre-determined rules and regulations. There’s strategy involved, opportunities to use the right cards at the right moment, to turn the tide and pull victory from the jaws of defeat. But when every single turn seems specifically tailored to the introduction of a new card, the premise can wear a little thin. Characters never seem to have an ok turn, they either fail immensely or draw exactly the card they needed for the situation. It just seems a little unbalanced at times. I’m not saying that their aren’t some smart moves in each duel, just that these clearly designed moments stand out a little more.
Artwork If there’s one thing to be said about the artwork of Zexal, it’s that Duel Monsters look awesome. Each creature summoned during the duels is finely detailed, which serves to provide an interesting visual element to each duel. Monsters are greatly varied in their designs as well, ranging from magicians, to golems, even a man made out of sharks…yep. Monsters are also very well drawn during their attacks which again adds to the visual drama of each duel. When you get right down to it, without these well constructed beasts, Yu-Gi-Oh would be just another card game.
However, Duel Monsters do not always grace the page with their appearance, when no duel is taking place, our eyes are drawn to the characters, who’s designs are…exaggerated. Yu-Gi-Oh has always had rather interesting character designs, but Zexal takes the cake. As in, I don’t full understand how most character’s hair works. I know strange designs are pretty standard for anime and manga, but come on. There’s a girl who’s hair looks like cat ears. Like they’re a different colour in the centre somehow. Also I know Tokunosuke had a traumatic past, but I cannot take him seriously in the slightest…I think the tiny bowler hat with a star on it may contribute to that slightly, but I can’t be sure.
Overall Zexal Volume 1 is a pretty interesting introduction to a new page in the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. That being said, the events of the volume seemed to occur just a little too fast. It wasn’t as if the story skipped over too much, it just felt as if events could’ve had a little more time put into them. Astral’s introduction into the series, though interesting, could’ve had a larger impact if we knew more about Yuma’s life before he met the spirit. The pre-Astral storyline is essentially given to us in a montage-esque sequence of events, flying by rather quickly. I’m not saying that gratuitous amount of time had to be spent on Yuma’s school life, but a little more would’ve been nice. Of course this is the first volume so the story may focus more on detail now that we know the basics. All in all, not a bad start, but the best is clearly yet to come.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview Space Battleship Yamato is one of those rare movies where you can say: “This movie has it all.” It has adventure, drama, romance, but most importantly, a heart wrenching moral about the importance of love and what it means to put your loved ones before yourself. Director Takashi Yamazaki, whose previous credits include 2002‘s Returner and 2005‘s Always- Sunset on Third Street, brings the classic anime to the big screen with this live action adaptation.
Story
Earth is in ruins. There are aliens called the Gamilas attacking, who we discover are responsible for the ruin of Earth since they’ve been shooting radioactive missiles at the earth. The movie begins with a fight against the Gamilas near Mars, where Captain Okita chooses to sacrifice his fleet for a chance at escape from the horrific battle. Captain Okita’s decision, on the surface, seems to be very simple: get out alive and sacrifice his fleet, or die with them and leave Earth defenseless. However, one brave captain, Momoru Kodai, was the one who urged Okita to leave and defend the planet, even at the cost of his own life. This sets up a theme that continues throughout the movie: sacrifice. One of the things that sets Space Battleship Yamato apart from any other sci-fi movie I’ve seen is the focus on sacrifice and learning that sometimes, in order to save the ones you love, you must lay down your own life for them.
Back on Earth, we discover that everyone has taken to living underground so they won’t be exposed to radiation on the planet’s surface. In one of these underground cities, our protagonist Susumu Kodai, brother of Momoru Kodai, llives and trades rare metals. He goes to the surface to find more metal and is nearly struck by an alien capsule that fell to Earth during the battle near Mars. In the resulting explosion, Kodai is exposed to a fatal dose of radiation, but somehow survives. Both he and the capsule are recovered, and it’s discovered in the capsule that an anti-radiation device that could save humanity is located on the planet Iskandar. Captain Okita requests humanity’s last functioning space battleship, the Yamato, and calls for volunteers to go on a “journey of hope” to get the anti-radiation device. After hearing this, Kodai dusts off his old military jacket and signs up, figuring he will honor his brother’s sacrifice by flying an almost certain death for the chance to save humanity. Before he volunteers, Kodai seems to not have any sense of purpose, other than to get up and find rare metals for trade. After he volunteers, he slowly becomes alive again, which speaks to another theme of the movie: the correlation between love and honor. All of the crew on the Yamato feels that they are doing an honorable thing by searching for the anti-radiation device, and really, they are. They’ve given up every hope of seeing their families again in search of a hope that their families may survive humanity’s impending doom.
Okita’s call for volunteers brings together a colorful cast of characters who all have their own motivations for finding and saving humanity, and these motivations and ideals are further explored as the crew of the Yamato journeys towards Iskandar. Some highlights include Kodai’s former fighter squadron, a doctor who is rarely separated from her tabby cat, and an enthusiastic weapons specialist whose mother worries too much. As the crew’s journey continues, it’s discovered that Captain Okita has a fatal disease that is rapidly spreading, leaving him unable to continue his duties as Captain. Okita calls Kodai to his bedside and names him Acting Captain of the Yamato. The crew reaches Iskandar, and it is discovered that the Gamila’s base is on Iskandar. The crew lands on the planet and launches an attack against the Gamila while looking for the anti-radiation device. They eventually find the anti-radiation device, even though it does not take the form they expect, and rush back to the Yamato.
The Gamilas continue to attack, and the only two to survive long enough to make it to the ship are Kodai and Yuki Mori, a member of Kodai’s fighter squadron. They board the Yamato and rush to get the anti-radiation device to the surface, but the Gamilas have followed them through space and begin to attack the already damaged ship. They fight back, but ultimately, Kodai orders all hands to abandon ship and sacrifices himself to save humanity. Kodai’s final moments aboard the Yamato are some of the the most poignant in the entire film. We watch him say goodbye to Yuki Mori, a member of his fighter squadron he’d fallen in love with. We watch him send one of his best friends away to safety so that he can return to his wife and young son on Earth. Finally, when Kodai is alone, he is spurred on by the faces of the fallen who have gotten him here thus far. After Kodai sacrifices himself, the film ends on a hopeful note. We see a restored Earth, where Yuki Mori stands with a child (presumably her and Kodai’s child). This last, hope-filled scene affirms the struggles that the entire crew went through on their quest and reminds us that there is always something to fight for.
Visuals
The space battles looked convincing and even dramatic, as well as unique. It would have been very easy for the studio to create a fight that reminded viewers of Star Wars or Star Trek, but Space Battleship Yamato had a magic all its own. The alien enemies, the Gamilas, looked realistic and at times, terrifying. The cinematography conveyed a sense of drama and high speed action during the battles, but also seemed relaxed and friendly when it needed to show the development of relationships between crew members.
Audio
The DVD of Space Battleship Yamato comes with Japanese and English options for audio and English-only subtitles. The English dub seems to discard the range of emotions that the Japanese dub has in favor of a flat, high octane tone. The score by Naoki Sato, whose previous credits include Blood-C and Eureka Seven, perfectly highlights the changing moods of the film and excites the audience when necessary, but his score will also haunt the viewer during the wistful sadness of some scenes.
Extras
The extras on the DVD consist of a pre-visualization of the film and the previews that were shown at the beginning of the DVD. The twenty-five minute pre-visualization is footage from the film with the actors and a rough version of the animation and CGI. The screen is split between the rough version and the finished product so that the viewer can compare between the two. The scenes in the pre-visualization are primarily the action scenes, but there are some “making of” clips that show the underground cities.
Overall Space Battleship Yamato is a great film for fans of the original series and films, but is also good for the casual viewer who enjoys good science fiction films. The characters come alive on the screen in an unforgettable way, and each character’s struggles highlight something important about humans as a whole. It looks and feels like a timeless adventure through space for the good of humanity, and it also makes you begin to think that might the most honorable motivation of all.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
