Viz Media has recently detailed their digital manga updates for the month of May and alongside a number of standard updates we also have a few license rescues here. But before we get to those the full color official graphic novel of All You Need is Kill has already been released and is priced at $8.99. The other big release is the digital release of Volume 2 of Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma priced at $6.99.
Other releases set for May 20th include Phantom Thief Jeanne Volume 2, Psyren Volume 16, Strobe Edge Volume 10, Otomen Volume 18, Boys Over Flowers Volume 36, and Knights of the Zodiac Volume 28. On May 27th the final volumes of Phoenix and Whistle! will also be released.
As for those license rescues, both the Fate/Stay Night manga and Future Diary manga have been picked up by the company for digital release at the moment. As such Viz is planning on releasing the first volume of Fate/Stay Night and Future Diary digitally on May 20th and each of these volumes will cost $4.99 a piece.
If you are on the fence about picking up Aksys Games‘ XBlaze Code: Embryo when it is released on June 24th then we have some good news for you. Over on the PlayStation Blogit has been revealed that a demo version of XBlaze Code: Embryo will be released for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita this Tuesday on May 13th.
For those who haven’t been following the game, XBlaze Code: Embryo takes place 150 years before the events that take place in the Blazblue series and follows Touya Kagari, a sophomore at Hakuou North Academy. When on his way home one day from work, he ventures into an off-limits area after hearing a noise only to find a man gravely injured. When this man attacks him and Touya is saved by a small girl named Es his normal life changes into one where danger is everywhere.
Today Compile Heart has released a three minute long teaser trailer for Omega Quintent that introduces us to the five idols that must save the world from the “Beep.” Despite being three minutes long the majority of the footage shows a performance of the song “Inchoate Voice” from all five members of the group.
In case you missed it, Omega Quintet is a PlayStation 4 idol based RPG where a dark entity known as “Beep” attacks peoples’ minds and conventional weapons are completely ineffective against them which makes their rapidly increasing numbers a dangerous prospect as they quickly spread throughout the world. The only way that humankind can fight against the Beep is through Songstresses which are the five girls in the idol group named Otoha, Kyouka, Kanadeko, Nene, and Aria.
Block Story is a voxel based adventure game. Originally released for iPhone and Android, the game has been ported to Windows and is now part of Steam’s Early Access program. The game merges sandbox styled voxel exploration with RPG gameplay. It features cross platform compatibility, allowing players to play on their mobile device on the road, then come home and pick right up from their computer.
The game offers Story, Creative, or Hardcore worlds that are randomly generated based on a wold seed. Similar to many other games in the genre, Story mode will allow players to roam around the world, complete quests, and craft items. Hardcore is similar to Story mode, but death is permanent in this mode.
Creative mode will give players access to every block in the game to build whatever they can dream up. The mode is pretty standard fare. Block Story does not do anything special with the mode to differentiate itself.
Story and Hardcore modes are the major focus in Block Story, as its RPG features differentiates it from the other legions of similar games on the market. As part of the tutorial, players are immediately assigned quests to help them get acquainted to the game. The idea has a lot of potential to help provide some direction for those turned off by the open ended nature of voxel exploration games. So far, the quests are a rather droll kill x number of enemies or bring me y number of items sort of deal. The quest text’s writing is also pretty weak, but since the game is currently in Early Access, there is plenty of time for improvement.
The game’s controls are a bit clumsy. Currently, it is brutally obvious that Block Story is a port from touch screen based mobile devices. There are several on screen buttons for menu, flight, quest logs, etc that can be clicked on or accessed by hot key. These buttons can be pressed with a cursor if escape is pressed, which brings up the mouse cursor. These big chunky buttons are not worked into the UI in a clean manner, instead just sitting on the right hand of the screen. Since they cannot be interacted with until escape is pressed, it would be a much better idea to make them more subtle or hide them completely until escape is pressed.
The library of items is pretty vast. Players are able to craft a wide variety of weapons, armours, and even vehicles. Some item recipes are locked from the beginning of the game, requiring players to complete certain quests for access. Instead of having a traditional durability system, usable items like pick-axes and swords are manufactured in stacks. Each use destroys one item from the stack. The system is workable, but needs some serious balancing. Overall, the recipe costs for items are a bit on the expensive side. It would be nice to see the developers increase the initial stack size of usable items on creation. More importantly, the price of lighting needs to be dropped significantly. Considering players will spend a lot of time underground digging, the cost of lighting is rather high. The weakest level of lighting requires an entire 1/3 of a wood block from a tree, a piece of wax harvested from a bees nest from certain trees, and a fire block, which costs 1/8th of a piece of coal after the initial fire is made from a stick, a piece of coal, and three pieces of stone for just two candles. The much brighter torch requires an oppressive nine fires and eight pieces of sand.
I really enjoy how player progression is implemented in the game. Even basic actions like digging will provide player with a steady stream of experience. Every level will provide extra points that can be spent on improving a wide range of stats, from weapon proficiencies to digging speed. The system provides some permanent progression missing from many games in the voxel sandbox genre.
The world controls could use some improvement. Though the overall controls work fine. Currently, it is impossible to interact with blocks like the tool box when a block that can be placed in the world is equipped. Even more frustrating, NPCs can only be spoken to if the player is empty handed or carrying a tool. A weapon will attack the NPC and turn them hostile. Considering there are only four quick access slots available, it can make interacting with tool boxes a real chore. The automatic jump ability makes scaling a single block a lot easier, but it seems to be a bit fussy. When underground, especially with low ceilings, the auto-jump does not always kick in, leaving hte player to jump up each block manually. I do like the fly ability, which allows players to fly short duration by using up their mana pool. It makes exploring caves and getting out of deep chasms a lot easier.
Switching between mobile devices/storing worlds and characters in the cloud is achieved with DropBox. I like the idea that the player is in possession of their uploaded content. However, the characters and worlds must be separately uploaded to DropBox and is not done automatically. Switching between mobile and desktop is definitely not seamless with these two extra steps.
One of Block Story’s biggest strength is its graphics. Considering the game is in Early Access, the game runs very smoothly, without any hiccups, FPS issues, or sudden dips in frame rate. The game supports different skin packs, but the default one itself is already nice to begin with. Ores give a very distinct coloured glow, making it easier to spot from a distance. I would like to see some tweaks to the candle and lantern’s glow colour as it gives off a very unnatural banana yellow glow. All blocks give off the same destruction animation, no matter the block type. It is a little strange to see blocks that display items smaller than the voxel size being destroyed as the original voxel size becomes painfully apparent.
The music is a bit slim right now. There are short spurts of music here or there. The sounds effects are good, though slightly lacking at times. For example, when hacking away at a block with a pick axe, there is silence until the block is actually broken. It seems a little disjointed, but I expect things to be added, now that the developers have a lot more memory and storage space to work with compared to the mobile platforms.
Block Story is pretty rough around the edges right now. The content is what you would expect from a mobile game and the developers have some ways to go to bring it up to desktop standards. The idea of merging voxel exploration with RPG mechanics has some serious potential, and the developers are just beginning to dig in. The game is in an absolutely playable state, but some gameplay tweaks are needed. For those who are a huge fan of the mobile game, Block Story is a definite must buy, even this early in development, just for the ability to continue an existing game on the desktop. The developers have a great idea in Block Story, but some further development is required.
AIE and Wargaming team up to send top games and film alumni off to Italy
Sydney, Australia, May 12, 2014 – Academy of Interactive Entertainment is inviting its top alumni to a very special and important event this June in Tuscany, Italy to reconnect, network and examine innovation in education.
The event aims to cement stronger relationships between alumni and encourage ongoing involvement in the education curriculum from alumni who now hold influential roles in the games and VFX industries.
“This is going to be a fantastic event for AIE,” said John De Margheriti, AIE CEO. “We created AIE in 1996 as a non-profit organisation to grow the games and animation industry in Australia. This is both a celebration of the alumni that have blazed the trails into the industry and also a rare opportunity to re-connect and gain their valuable insights,” he enthused.
AIE alumni can be found in studios around the world including Weta Digital, Bioware, DreamWorks and Rockstar. Alumni will be flown to the event, which will run over three days in the Tuscany region. This event is being generously supported by Wargaming, the award-winning videogame developer behind World of Tanks.
“Wargaming and BigWorld have a long association with AIE providing curriculum input, expert speakers and employment opportunities for graduates,” said Stephen Wang, CEO of BigWorld. We’re proud to be able to make this event possible and are looking forward to meeting Alumni and seeing what they’ve achieved.”
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About AIE:
Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) is Australia’s most awarded 3D animation, game design and visual FX educator. AIE pioneered the development of specialist game qualifications and continues to innovate through industry partnerships and dynamic teaching. AIE Campuses are located in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Seattle and Lafayette.
AIE courses are practical, career-focused and delivered by industry experienced teachers in a seriously fun and creatively-demanding studio environment. AIE is the current ACT Small Registered Training Organisation of the Year and National Finalist for the Australian Small Training Provider of the Year Award.
About Wargaming:
Wargaming is an award-winning online game developer and publisher and one of the leaders in the free-to-play MMO market. Founded as a privately held company in 1998, Wargaming has shipped more than 15 titles and employs around 1600 professionals across such key regions as North America, Europe, Russia, Asia and Australia.
Currently, Wargaming is focused on its team-based MMO war series dedicated to the mid-20th century warfare that will include the company’s flagship armored MMO World of Tanks, launched in April 2011 and currently boasting 65 million players worldwide, the flight combat World of Warplanes, named one of the most anticipated MMOs, and the naval World of Warships, scheduled for release in 2014.
In June 2012, Wargaming announced the Wargaming.net Service, the epicenter of a battle centric gaming universe that will gather the series under a single portal — www.wargaming.net.
“Good Smile Company” – a Japanese manufacturer of hobby products, most famous for their line of “super deformed” figurines, as well as others – today announced their next “Nendoroid” product and it’s one that is sure to get old-school “Pokemon” fans from around the world super excited!
Trainer Red will be the next figurine the company will be releasing and it may possibly be one of their best. Late last year the world was blessed with the short series “Pokemon Origins” which followed the original trainer (Red) on his adventure to be the very best. Well one can only assume this piece of merchandise has been in the works since the series’ release because the Red “Nendoroid” figurine is based upon the Red we all saw in the mini-series.
– Click For Larger Image –
The figurine will come with three interchangeable facial expressions, four arms parts, five hand parts, three leg parts, the original starter “Pokemon” featured in generation one (Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander), a “Pokeball”, a “Masterball”, a “Pokedex” and the trainer’s backpack. The “Trainer Red” figurine will only be sold in “Pokemon Centers” around Japan and through the “Amazon.jp” website, both of which will be selling it for 4,500yen.
The preorder period is set to begin on the 24th of May and will continue up until the 29th of June with the actual release date being on the 27th of September so you’ve got some time before you need to rush onto the web to import yourself one of these fine pieces of “Pokemon” merchandise.
Russian indie developers The Mandragora have brought their rogue-like platformer Skyhill to IndieGoGo in hopes of raising $15,000 to fund development. Players begin stuck in their penthouse suite of the Skyhill Hotel after a biological catastrophe. Beastly creatures that were previously human now roam the halls along with hazards that block the way. Players will need to wander around the hotel to scavenge for supplies and crafting materials in a desperate attempt to survive. There are three playable characters planned at this time.
To help raise awareness for their crowdfunding campaign, The Mandragora have released a playable demo of Skyhill. It can be found on the official SkyhillIndieGoGo page. Be sure to also vote for Skyhillon Steam Greenlight.
Originally shown during a convention, the second trailer for ufotable’s Fate/Stay Night was previously viewable as low quality, off screen footage. Now the anime studio has finally released a high quality version featuring a number of the characters including Saber fighting Lancer. Check it out below!
The trailer introduces a number of returning characters from Fate/Zero including Kirei Kotomine, Rin Tohsaka, Saber, Sakura Matoi and even a casual Gilgamesh. The music seems to be yet another remix of the series’ trademark Sword of Promised Victory theme. It appears that ufotable isn’t focusing on just one of the three routes of the visual novel as fans previously hoped, but utilising content from all three to (hopefully) create one awesome story.
Fate/Stay Night follows Shirou Emiya as he is caught up in an age-old war for the Holy Grail between seven Masters and Servants. Released first in the franchise, the series takes place 10 years after the conclusion of Fate/Zero. Check out our recent review of the prequel HERE.
Back again huh? You just couldn’t keep away could you? This is the curse that is cast upon every audience member of the “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” series despite how odd, nonsensical, crazy and downright bizarre it can get. Last week we witnessed the defeat of a cocky Jean Pierre Polnareff who, if you’ve been watching/reading, has now joined the “Stardust Crusaders” team as they continue their journey to find and destroy DIO. This week kicks off the sea-bound leg of JoJo’s bizarre adventure. Follow me for another week of anime impressions, a week where I try my hardest not to make too many “Love Boat” jokes while semi-accurately explaining the new episode to all of you reading right now.
– All Aboard The S.S Friendship! –
All Aboard The S.S Friendship!
“Dark Blue Moon” actually starts off with a few minutes of recap. Despite the fact that we’re only six episodes in it seems that “David Production” believes we needed to be reminded of exactly why these men are adventuring across different lands. Recap breaks and flashback are normal for long-winded anime/manga series’ but with only six episodes under the season’s belt I can’t exactly see why we needed one. Taking a commercial flight to Egypt didn’t work out for the crew and now they’re on a mostly empty fishing boat in the middle of the ocean with what looks to be nothing but open sea around them…this is going to turn out great!
The men couldn’t even sit down for a meal without being attacked by some “man-slab” with a misplaced vendetta, what makes you think it’s all going to be “smooth sailing”. Absolutely no pun intended. Old man Joseph requested they be transported on a ship with minimum people aboard and the Captain seemed to oblige which is nice for a change but that doesn’t mean anything in the world of “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure”. It means nothing at all!
– The Stowaway. –
The Stowaway.
Gosh darn it! A bloody kid snuck aboard the ship before it left the dock! Who was keeping watch?! Jotaro and Kakyoin, both lying on banana chairs on the deck, couldn’t get one little bit of rest before some trouble started somewhere on the ship. It looks as though a young child has decided to tag along on the journey from Hong Kong to wherever it is these guys will end up, we know it’ll definitely NOT be where they want! Too bad for the kid, nothing ever goes right around a Joestar…especially not TWO Joestars. You’re in for some trouble, I’ll say that much.
After getting into a bit of a scuffle with a deckhand, the stowaway decides to leap into the ocean assuming he can swim to his destination. He obviously cannot. A shark begins circling the young boy but, for some unknown reason, he doesn’t notice the behemoth jetting towards him. BOOM! The shark is tossed out of the water and absolutely decimated by the flurry punching of Jotaro’s “Star Platinum”. Sometimes the juvenile delinquent can be pretty nice. he dived into the water to save the boy but after grabbing his shirt to drag him back to the ship he soon realizes that this isn’t a little boy…it’s a little girl! Jotaro removes her cap to reveal a beautiful head of long, black hair.
I hadn’t seen such a brilliant sight since the last time I looked into a mirror, I shed a single tear. It seems as though I’m the only one around that appreciates good hair. “Heirophant Green” – the Stand with some of the longest reach to have been introduced into the series as of yet – finally does something worthwhile and picks Jotaro (and the kid) up out of the water only to put the little girl in more trouble as the Captain of the ship…Dragon…surfaces from his quarters to the surprise of a stowaway.
– Captain Dragon And The No Smoking Policy. –
Captain Dragon And The No Smoking Policy.
This leg of the episode starts with the Captain somewhat roughhousing the young girl, all the while explaining that he doesn’t like stowaways and all that regular seaman-type stuff. Dirty minds, you all have dirty minds. Jotaro catches the Captain’s attention by lighting up a cigarette, something that we soon figure out the Caption doesn’t entirely like. After extinguishing the cigarette by rubbing it on Jotaro’s hat and jacket, the Captain begins lecturing the young man saying something along the lines of “where you just going to ash it into this big, beautiful ocean!?”. Jotaro then drops a knowledge bomb on the crew and the seamen by tricking the Captain into revealing that he’s a Stand user.
I’d actually rather you watch the episode to see the intelligent way in which this scene was written because it really was one of the coolest parts of the episode. I liked it because it was so simple yet ultimately so damn clever and even though this series does a lot of stupid things it also does a lot of great little things like this. Pissed because the team now know he’s working for DIO, the Captain grabs the stowaway and leaps into the water with her in the hopes that he’ll bait the men into jumping in with him. His Stand, “Deep Blue Moon”, is an aquatic one that obviously does better in the water than it does on land so you can see why he’d want to fight submerged. “Star Platinum”, being the fastest of the Stands when the story calls for it, beats the living hell out of the Captain and his Stand before they can even make contact with the water, saving the girl in the process. That’s TWICE he’s saved the girl, let’s not try for a third time. Ok?
“Deep Blue Moon” is a tricky Stand to fight, especially when it’s THIS tricky. Jotaro, trying his hardest to pull the girl up over the railings and onto the boat, realizes that he cannot move due to some sort of “special effect” that “Deep Blue Moon” possesses. Barnacles begin growing over “Star Platinum’s” arms and the Stand is partially immobilized. Using as much strength as possible, Jotaro flings the little girl up above his head for Kakyoin to grab but, in the process, falls deep into the ocean and is confronted by a very much alive Captain. “Welcome to the bottom of the ocean”.
– The Strife Aquatic With Jotaro Kujo. –
The Strife Aquatic With Jotaro Kujo.
This fight is pretty much the bulk of the episode but, unfortunately, a lot of the actual fight isn’t spent actually fighting…in a typical “Shonen-esque” way, the battle is mostly made up of the bad guy explain how he’s going to beat the good guy while executing that plan at a snail’s pace. Seasoned anime fans will be well aware of what I’m talking about and they’ll definitely be used to the pacing of certain anime fights. I’m looking at you, Dragon Ball Z. Jotaro spends most of the brawl on the losing side but eventually makes one hell of a comeback with a brand-new technique that nobody, including himself, has ever seen before!
He’s a champion of justice and the hero we need! The great thing about these types of “JJBA” scenes is that the graphics get a nice bump in quality so you’re met with beautiful visuals. “Stardust Crusaders” isn’t at all lacking when it comes to visual style, out of the two series’ so far I’d have to say that this one is the best looking. The Captain continues talking crap while Jotaro sits there nice and calm, just waiting for the right time to strike…oh, by the way; in this part of the episode “Deep Blue Moon” has made a huge underwater whirlpool and has also almost entirely paralyzed Jotaro and “Star Platinum”…just though that bit was important to know before I tell you the next bit.
The other three Stand users who are currently on the boat where it’s super safe decide to try and help Jotaro but as soon as their Stands touch the water they are sliced up by little scales that are circling with the whirlpool. The guys on the boat decide that they’re not going to try again and just kind of leave the rest up to Jotaro because, you know, he can handle himself. Eventually Jotaro decides to get serious and centers all his power into “Star Platinum’s” fingers, shooting/extending them through the face of “Deep Blue Moon”. Cutting the Stand as well as it’s user, Jotaro wins the underwater battle and makes his way back to the surface…if only that was the end.
– Titanic 3: Jack’s Revenge. –
Titanic 3: Jack’s Revenge.
As a final “screw you” to the “Stardust Crusaders” team, the Captain had rigged a whole bunch of explosives onto the ship that were set to explode if he dies…I guess. They never quite explained why his death coincided with the explosion of the ship, it wasn’t like he had some sort of detonator or anything of that kind, he just died and then the ship exploded so I’m going to just say it was magic and leave it at that.
The crew, who weren’t in on this whole “ship exploding” plan, fled alongside the team using some emergency rafts that DIDN’T get blown up in the huge explosion even though it clearly showed a good ninety percent of the ship being set ablaze. Escaping out to sea with their lives, the crew finally find themselves some time to just relax…until a huge boat comes out of nowhere and is headed straight for them! Still though, it’s much more relaxing than fighting a water demon.
Check out the “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders” anime on Crunchyroll and check out more episode impressions HERE.
Activision started it all with Skylanders, then Disney followed suit with Disney Infinity, now Nintendo is trying to get a piece of the action. The company has announced that they will launch a series of figurines based on its popular characters that you can interact with.
It will most likely be renamed, but for now it is being called the Nintendo Figurine Platform (NFP) and it is going to available on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. From the information released so far, the whole thing works much like Skylanders. The figures themselves will be able to store data, enabling them to interact with a range of Wii U and 3DS software.
“What is especially unique about NFP is that it is not classed as an accessory product of a certain software title but as a platform itself. “The figurines, which consumers can buy and collect, are going to work with multiple software titles to be released in the future, and we are aiming to develop more software titles compatible with the figurines.”
– Nintendo President Satoru Iwata.
We might be seeing the NFP range for Wii U on shelves by the end of this year, with the 3DS figures coming next year. Nintendo hopes to showcase the system and some figures at E3 2014.
Viz Media has recently detailed their digital manga updates for the month of May and alongside a number of standard updates we also have a few license rescues here. But before we get to those the full color official graphic novel of All You Need is Kill has already been released and is priced at $8.99. The other big release is the digital release of Volume 2 of Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma priced at $6.99.
