Paramount Pictures have released Official Trailer #2 of Brett Ratner’s Hercules. It may be cliche for a protagonist to flat-out state he is not a hero, and then proceed to accept his task, but with the promise of such high-action fare visualizing the 12 Labours of Hercules, we can forgive the screenwriters.
Also released is a brand new poster, featuring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in all his glory as the legendary demi-God. The Nemean lion, Erymanthian boar, Lernaean Hydra, Cerberus and every challenge in between, for that matter, clearly could never have stood a chance. Check out the poster in full directly below, and the trailer embedded underneath.Hercules hits theaters nationwide on July 31, 2014.
Today Viz Media announced their digital manga plans for the month of June and with this they have also announced the license rescue for the manga Trinity Blood. More on that in a moment however, as today sees the launch of the new Shonen Jump Advanced series Seraph of the End which is now available digitally for $6.99, and in print for $9.99, while next week will see the one-shot release of The Boys Over Flowers Jewelry Box shojo manga that will be priced at $4.99.
Other releases this month include the first volume of All You Need is Kill on June 19th for $6.99, the aforementioned Trinity Blood Volume 1 which will be released on June 24th for $4.99. Trinity Blood was previously handled by TokyoPop before the company folded and the last four volumes were never released in English. Other notable releases this month include Dragon Ball Full Color Volume 3, released today, Deadman Wonderland Volume 3 on June 10th, One-Punch Man Volume 3 and Future Diary Volume 2 on June 24th as well as thirteen other popular Viz series that will be updated in the month of June.
If you ever wanted to get closer to your favorite CPU without having to deal with fighting numerous enemies or advancing through a storyline that involves saving Gamindustri, then you can now do so through NIS America‘s latest release in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series, Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection.
In this game, players do not control the girls directly but instead help manage their favorite CPU through their new career as an idol trying to gain their shares back from the popular idol group MOB-48. They will do this by choosing various tasks such as relaxing, taking lessons, or working to manage your chosen CPU’s mood and stats as well as perform concerts for fans where the player controls the game’s camera angles and stage effects while your idol performs the chosen song and dance.
A couple of months back we learned that Square Enix would be releasing Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call in the West, but at the time we did not have a release date. Well now we do, as the company has announced that not only will Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call be released in North America on September 16th but it will also be given a special Collector’s Edition and some pre-order bonuses.
The Collector’s Edition can only be purchased through the Square Enix Online Store for $69.99 but it comes with the game itself, a 20-track music CD, a 3DS Collector’s pouch, a 5-track remix CD and five CollectaCards from the game. If you don’t feel like spending that much money, you can also pre-order the game which will give you the “Limited Edition” version that comes with the five-track remix CD.
As I mentioned in my review for Drakengard 3, that can be read in full here, the characters in the bloody title are one of the best aspects of the title. As such it was a shame that the only time we spent with Zero’s sisters was trying to kill them.
However now fans of the series have the option to learn more about each of Zero’s sisters as Square Enix has released DLC for Drakengard 3 that expands upon each sister’s story by giving them a unique chapter and allowing the player to play as that sister. A summary of the DLC and the prices can be found below:
Sister Prologues: Additional prequel chapters featuring Two, Three, Four, Five and Zero in a playable level with their own unique weapons; each chapter, minus Two, contains its own unique trophy set as well ($5.99 each)
Sister Prologue Bundle: Contains all of the above prologue chapters, including One ($29.99)
Furiae’s Garb: The costume of the princess turned goddess, Furiae, from the original Drakengard, reduces damage taken by 5% when equipped ($2.99)
Eris’s Garb: The garment of the youngest military commander in Drakengard 2 prevents stamina loss when guarding ($2.99)
Intoner Arrange Tracks: A new music pack that replaces the tracks used when Zero enters Intoner Mode ($1.99)
Last month we heard that Tecmo Koei would be releasing Samurai Warriors 4 in Europe and today we also received confirmation that the game is going to be released in North America as the company has just revealed the game will be released on October 21st in North America. The game will also be hitting stores in Australia and Europe on October 23rd and 24th respectively.
Samurai Warriors 4 will be given a digital release on the PS3 and PS Vita in North America, priced at $49.99 and $39.99, while the PS4 version of the game will be sold at retail for $59.99. To go along with this news the opening video for the game was released and you can check it out below.
Overview There is a very good chance that you have probably seen a series that is some form of an adaptation from the epic novel series Nansō Satomi Hakkenden. This month along we saw the release of a series that spun the story of Princess Fuse into a ‘counterfeit’ style movie and now we have Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East. Now that the first season of this series has been released in North America, is Eight Dogs of the East’s take on Hakkenden worth watching?
Story Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East begins with a village in flames and children dead or dying upon the snow. Through the flames a strange man appears holding a sword, asking one of the children if they wish to continue living. Five years later the series joins these three children who survived the events of their village being burned to the ground, but not without going through some changes.
Shino, Sosuke, and Hamaji live in a church on the outskirts of a village that is afraid of what they are capable of as rumors are constantly whispered about the disease that spread throughout their village. However things are much more extreme than that, as it turns out Shino’s body contains the Murasame weapon that manifests itself as a talking crow. This possession forces his body to not age and gives him an affinity for demons while Sosuke also must deal with sharing his body with a dog.
Living in the church, these three lived a relatively comfortable life but the Murasame is a precious weapon and the Imperial Church moves to take action on the group by kidnapping Hamaji. Despite this kidnapping, Hamaji finds herself in a comfortable lifestyle and even when Shino and Sosuke go to her rescue, they find that she is being taken care of and that the man who kidnapped her is actually the same man that saved their lives five years prior.
This man, named Satomi, tasks Shino with finding others that are similar to him and his brother. You see, these two were both born with flower shaped birthmarks and holding glowing gems with a word emblazoned on said gem. These gems relate to the story of Princess Fuse and her eight dog warriors who died protecting her. While one might think that tracking down people like this would be difficult, the group runs into two almost immediately, even if they do not know right away that they are in fact gem holders.
In fact, even though the whole aspect of the flower shaped birthmark is used initially to show a relation between Shino and the ones they are trying to find, as well as the fact that they are all possessed by demons in some form, is put to the forefront as Shino deals with various issues that arrive in town or on their journey. In fact the whole gem aspect takes a back seat for quite some time and is only briefly brought up again at the end, likely because the series is intentionally broken into two seasons.
As such, this first season focuses mostly on Shino and Sosuke as they meet people similar to them and handle problems that range from insect-familiar wielding monks holding a friend prisoner, and dealing with a mountain god, with Hamaji barely appearing until she is sent off to school for a one-off episode to seemingly get her out of the way. There are one-off episodes scattered throughout this first season where we are introduced to characters that will likely have some role in the future, but are never seen again after they are introduced which is a very poor way of trying to develop characters we are supposed to care about.
Even the characters that do stick around are barely developed as they tend to either be a running gag or someone to be in the background as Shino and Sosuke deal with things. Only until the final few episodes does the plot actually begin to move forward in any way by revealing a certain villain with an obsession with Shino and someone pulling his strings to try and fulfill a prophecy. This makes this season difficult to continue at times simply because it feels all over the place at times while trying to introduce every character before attempting to find a course for itself at the end.
Visuals Eight Dogs of the East is a fairly impressive looking anime with some great looking character designs and a few nicely detailed looking yōkai. Each character has a unique look and whenever they transform into their yōkai forms or whenever Shino makes use of Murasame the sequence is handled incredibly well. There are some minor drops in quality throughout the series but for the most part the designs of the characters fit in well with the era that the series seems to take place in.
There are a few action sequences throughout but they tend to not last very long as most of the fights are ended within a few strikes which is a bit disappointing. The background scenery is generally what one would expect from a series like this but there are a number of standout moments that take place in the church with the stained glass backdrops making the scene look amazing.
Audio Sentai Filmworks has given Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East an English dub which accompanies the original Japanese voice work and the English cast contains quite a few familiar names that work well given the characters in the series. Greg Ayres does a great job handling Shino and the rest of the cast is suitably fitting.
The background music throughout the series ranges from forgettable to simply being there. The only exceptions are for a few insert songs that take place during episodes eight and nine as the vocals do a great job making these moments stand out. The opening theme “God Fate” by Faylan is a mixture of English and Japanese and is rather nice sounding and the ending theme “String of Pain” by Tetsuya Kakihara, the Japanese voice actor for Shino, is a nice closer for the series.
Extras As far as special features go, Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East comes with a bit more than your average Sentai Filmworks offering as it comes with a few episode commentary tracks from the original Japanese cast, a clean version of the opening and ending theme, disc credits, and trailers for other Sentai Filmworks releases.
Overall Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East Collection One is quite obviously a series that was intentionally broken into two seasons, but by trying to force all character introductions into the first season with barely any attempts to develop these characters outside of the main two it becomes a bit of a mess. There are times where the series starts to move forward but these moments are few and far between and the spin on the old Hakkenden story isn’t as enthralling as one might think. Considering all of the haphazard set-up in this first season, hopefully the second season actually manages to bring things together for some kind of payoff.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
It’s finally here, fight fans! The “Ultra Street Fighter IV” – the next step in the fighting game franchise – upgrade has just been released digitally in the West through the PlayStation Network with an XBLA released scheduled for tomorrow. I’m not exactly sure why Xbox gamers have to wait the extra day but I guess we should just be thankful it’s only that! In celebration of this, Capcom has released the official launch trailer for the game and let me just say…it’s pretty damn awesome.
Splicing in footage from the game itself alongside that of the Capcom Pro Tour, viewers are given a good look at what the new game has to offer as well as some of the character’s deadly techniques. If you’re a fan of “Street Fighter”, this is definitely one title you wont want to miss out on! Now keep in mind that this isn’t the full game, this is simply the game upgrade so only purchase if you already own “Street Fighter IV“.
Once again, the “Ultra Street Fighter IV” game upgrade is now available through the PlayStation Network for a measly $14.99 (price will change depending on location) with the XBLA version being made available tomorrow for the same price. Not convinced that you should get it? Head down to our featured video section below to check out the launch trailer and get pumped for when hell of a wild fight! with new stages, new characters and new fight mechanics…as if you’d say no to this.
Goodnight, sweet prince. Sony has today announced that plans to stop the shipment of PlayStation Portables around Japan will come into effect by the end of the month. The start of the new year saw an end to North American shipping of the console and now it is time for Japan to say “sayonara” to what was once a beloved handheld device. With the popularity of the PlayStation Vita slowly on the rise, this seems like a good time for is all to begin leaving the last generation behind as we step into a brighter video game future.
Originally launched just under ten years ago, the PlayStation Portable was the first of its kind for Sony and introduced the handheld gaming audience to a variety of brilliant games most of which many people hold dear. Unfortunately this time was always going to come but thankfully the PSP will continue to be sold throughout Europe and Latin America until further notice. Japanese PSP owners will be given PS Vita discounts to help transition from one console to the next which I believe to be a fantastic idea. Once again, we say “goodbye” and “goodnight” to an old friend of ours. PlayStation Portable, may your eternal slumber be peaceful.
You thought the Batmobile was cool before right? Hah! Think again. Rocksteady Studios alongside Warner Bros. Interactive have today released a brand-new trailer for their upcoming “Batman” game “Arkham Knight“, but the caped crusader isn’t quite the star of this video…oh no, it’s his greatest gadget; the Batmobile. This short trailer, which is actually more like a teaser, is entirely CG with no actual in-game footage shown.
It introduces audiences, once again, to Batman’s most powerful asset; an automobile with the destructive and suppressive force of a small army. Watch as the Batmobile speeds into action, stopping momentarily simply to flaunt all of its attributes all of which come in the form of hyper advanced weaponry.
Batman has always been on the bleeding edge of technology but nothing in his past arsenal compares to that of the new Batmobile. Head down to the featured video section below to check out the short trailer and don’t forget to hit up our comments section just under that to let us know what you think of it. “Batman: Arkham Knight” is set for a 2015 release on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and on the PC but you can expect to see more of the game at the 2014 E3 Expo so stay tuned for coverage on that!
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