The popular free to play card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is making the leap from PC to iPad. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have the honour of of being first in line to download Blizzard’s game. The PC and Mac version of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft recently left beta with more than 10 million registered accounts.
“Instead of calling those folks up individually, we figured we might as well let everyone know that the global iPad rollout for Hearthstone has begun, and pretty soon it’ll be available everywhere. The game is a natural fit for tablets—we encourage everyone to check it out on their couch, in their backyard, in a coffee shop… or anywhere else they take their iPads,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment.
The game is available for free on iTunes. The worldwide release and Android version will be available soon.
“FUNimation Entertainment” – one of the leading American anime publishers/distributors known for series’ like “Dragon Ball Z”, “Attack On Titan” and “Space Dandy” – has just announced that they have acquired the rights to stream the upcoming action/comedy anime “Kenzen Robo Daimidaler“.
The new anime, which focuses on a young boy and his interesting new ability to pilot a powerful robot, will begin its Spring Anime Season run starting on the 5th of April (only a couple of days away) and will be available almost immediately for “FUNimation Streaming Subscribers” through the official “FUNimation” website (Click Here).
For those of you out there who are not “Streaming Subscribers” don’t stress because you will be eligible to watch the series only you’ll have to wait a week after every new episode release to watch it so it may be beneficial for you to head to the “FUNimation” site now to become a subscriber.
The Pixel Trip Studios has been funding development of their upcoming adventure game The Breakout from out of their own pockets. Now, development on the game has hit the point where they need to raise more funds to finish the game and potentially expand on its original vision. The team has started a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds for development. They are looking to raise at least £49,500 in the next 40 days.
The Breakout is a dark adventure game about a crew of prisoners who have been sent to Verdammen Hof, a prison camp for WWII prisoners of war with a penchant for escape attempts. The camp is run by the ruthless Col. Schvarzer and Head Guard Von Karlen. Team leader captain Guy Kassel will rely on his wits to gather the necessary supplies, assistance, and intelligence to execute a perfect escape, all while avoiding the suspicions of the guards.
The game is inspired by classic breakout films like The Great Escape and LucasArts point and click adventure games. Backers will be rewarded with copies of the game and special treats like having their names and likenesses preserved in the game. Pixel Trip Studios seek to release the game in July 2015. Extra money raised will go to stretch goals like paying for voice acting, adding cutscenes, and new chapters to the story. Back the project at Kickstarter.
In a move that you’ll either love or hate depending upon whether you are a teenage girl or not, it has been officially announced that One Direction will be performing the official theme song for the upcoming live-action film adaptation of romantic comedy anime ‘Say, I Love You‘.
The song was recently featured in the trailer for the live action ‘Say, I Love You’ film which you can check out below. The theme is titled ‘Happily’ which is likely a song that many One Direction fans are surely familiar with.
‘Say, I Love You’ revolves around the high school romance between Mei Tachibana and the handsome Yamato Kurosawa. Mei is a loner without any friends besides the local stray cats. Yamato, a guy who is often swarmed by girls becomes enamored with the quiet girl. Will love spring forth, will Mei ever say “I Love You”?
Be sure to check out the trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments section. You can take a look at our review of the anime series here.
Haruma Miura – who Japanese pop culture fans may know played Tatsuya Bito in “Crow Zero II” and who did the voice of Yara for the “Space Pirate Captain Harlock” movie – has just been confirmed as the actor who will be representing Eren Yeagar on-screen for the live-action “Attack On Titan” film that is said to currently be in production.
So far Mr. Miura has been the only actor confirmed for the film but hopes for some more information in the the near future are extremely high especially now that fans have been given this small piece of information. No real specifics for the film has been released apart from its shooting location which has said to be Hashima Island in Nagasaki.
The island is an extremely popular spot for photographers and will serve as an excellent “blank canvas” to build the world of “Attack On Titan” upon. The film has been said to be based on the manga moreso than the anime but will feature film-only scenes and storylines. As mentioned above; we do hope some more information regarding the films cast gets released soon and you can be sure that, if and when it does, you’ll find it here on Capsule Computers so stick around.
Think you’re the very best like no-one ever was? Huh?! Well here’s your chance to put your money where your mouth is, the “2014 Pokemon Video Game Australian National Championships” have just been announced so let’s hope you didn’t write a cheque your skills can’t cash because your pride as a trainer is now on the line. Big fans of the Pokemon franchise and its series of games will know that competitive Pokemon Battles are quite popular worldwide.
Players from around the globe spend months working on their Pokemon teams in the lead-up to tournaments and/or championships with the goal of beating the competition and taking home not only a sense of overwhelming pride but the sweet, sweet prizes offered up at every event. Championships are about to begin all around Australia with the top contenders of every event go in the running to win a trip to Washington, D.C. to compete in the “2014 Pokemon Video Game World Championships” which is set to be held on the 16th and 17th of August this year. Just note that you will need to have your own copy of Pokemon X or Pokemon Y for the Nintendo 3DS, the tournaments will only be played on those games.
Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Auckland (New Zealand) will each hold their own “Regional Championships” so, if you live in those states and are interested, head to the official event page by Clicking Here to read up on all the information available. Remember, trainers: These events are full of strong competition so come prepared with your best Pokemon and the most positive attitude you can. Good luck and hopefully one of you will make it to the World Championships in Washington. Go on and be the very best!
Event Details: To find out where and when you ca participate in a local event, head to the “Event Locator” page of the official Pokemon Website by Clicking Here.
“Do you remember how many pranks you have “pranken” in your life?”
April Fools’ Day is over for another year and from now until the next one we’re safe from silly pranks and practical jokes, thank the lord! The same thing happens every single year though; big companies release fake news stories which are almost always followed up by some sort of “fake” notice or an official apology. It’s what we call “Damage Control”. Unfortunately for some companies, releasing actual news on a day like April Fools’, it can be very difficult with people being collectively on-guard, worried that they may fall victim to another humiliating prank. “Crunchyroll” – one of the biggest digital anime, manga and drama distributors – fell victim to this mindset on the 1st as they unveiled that they have acquired the rights to stream the new “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” anime.
People wanted to believe that this was true but they could not bare to bring themselves to doing so…though, two days after April the 1st, we have confirmation that “Crunchyroll” will indeed be adding the “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” anime to their online library. Coming straight from the horses mouth, “Crunchyroll” stated that they will be adding the first season of the anime – which covers the events of both the “Phantom Blood” and “Battle Tendency” storylines – as well as the upcoming season “Stardust Crusaders” which is set to begin airing tomorrow on the 4th of April. Both the first episode of the new season and all the episodes of the first season will be available starting tomorrow at 9.30am so prepare to be engulfed by the all-encompassing power of “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure”!
Press Play, the creators behind Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, has recently announced that they’ll be releasing Tentacles: Enter The Mind for the Windows 8 PC and RT devices.
Tentacles: Enter The Mind is a new take on the Tentacle universe and mechanics from the prior award-winning title Tentacles: Enter The Dolphin. In this 3D bizarre world, weird creatures exist in every nook and cranny of Phluff’s mind. Eat the cuteness out of Professor Phluff’s dolphin-head and clean out his troubled subconscious. Use the intuitive controls to avoid projectiles and traps while chomping away at eyeballs.
The game will be free for download and available this summer. For more information, check out their site here.
One of this year’s best animated features has just hit cinemas here in Australia (about 6 months later than the rest of the world) and it is accompanied by Lego Sets, merchandise and of course a video game! The Lego Movie Videogame takes the plot and characters from the film and brings them home for you to play with yourself. While it manages to capture a lot of the charm of the film, it struggles a bit to bring all of the whimsy and wonder along with it.
Story
When the evil Lord Business tries to collect a super weapon of unimaginable destructive power, the good Wizard Vitruvius warns him that he will be stopped by “The Special,” a prophesied hero that will save the world. Enter Emmet Brickowski, an ordinary construction worker minifig who just yearns to be noticed. After teaming up with a mysterious, tech-savy, ninja-esq female fighter minifig, Emmet finds himself mistaken as “The Special,” and is whisked away on an adventure that has him crossing paths with Batman, running from a two-faced cop, and finally showing that you don’t need to be “The Special,” to be special.
The Lego Movie Videogame’s story is ported straight across from the film and is primarily told through sections of the film that are cut and pasted in between stages. It should be noted though, that since the game’s plot is lifted directly from the film and the fact that many of the cut scenes are actual sections of The Lego Movie, that there are a tonne of spoilers through the game and if you want to go in blind to The Lego Movie, then you are probably better off watching it before picking up this game.
Gameplay
The Lego Movie Videogame is pretty standard-fare when it comes to Lego videogames. You play are a collection of heroes, all who have different skills and abilities and you utilise their unique abilities to progress through the game’s fifteen large worlds, collecting everything in your path. While fifteen stages doesn’t seem like a lot, they are all massive maps, and the fact that there are so many collectibles means you will come back time and time again to find everything.
Since this is a Lego game, don’t expect anything overly difficult. There are little to no consequence for dying, and the puzzles themselves are nothing to scratch your head about, but the game is still fun and this simplicity makes it great to play with kids (of all ages). However, if you are a little bit older and have a little bit more experience with video games, you will likely find the challenge and objectives to get old and repetitive very quickly.
While the game follows on from the same pattern as other Lego games, it does throw some new concepts into the mix. The biggest addition is the new instruction builds. Throughout the levels are a selection of instruction pages that Emmet can use to build large Lego structures. Using instructions creates a mini-game where the player has to find the missing pieces in order for the structure to finish being built. The quicker they find the pieces, the more studs that they earn. The instruction builds are very reminiscent of real-world Lego kits and make ita better representation of actual Lego kits than previous games.
On the topic of past Lego games, Lego City Undercover really set the bar high for where Lego games should be heading. Its large open world was as much fun to explore as the individual levels itself. The Lego Movie Videogame doesn’t quite reach these lofty heights, and while there are a variety of hub-worlds, they are not as big or sprawling as those that have come before it. The smaller disconnected hub worlds may add to the tone of the film and game, but it really feels like a big step backwards for the franchise.
Visuals
While past TT Games Lego titles have given us worlds that only featured Lego pieces for the intractable objects, The Lego Movie Videogame finally gives us what we have all wanted – a world built entirely from Lego. The colourful bricks that we all love so much are now the literal building blocks of the entire world. Everything from the citizens to the vehicles and even the buildings and roads themselves are built from Lego, which makes it look like a child’s dream creation come to life and adds a sense of whimsy.
The world itself isn’t the only thing that is authentically Lego this time around. Taking inspiration from the stop-motion animation style of the movie; characters all move in a blocky, somewhat disjointed way. It is a nice feature that just builds upon the authentic Lego vibe of this game. While a lot of other games couldn’t pull off this style of movement animation, Lego manages it quite nicely.
One downside to the visuals is the fact that there isn’t much of a difference between the Xbox One, PS4 and PC versions in comparison to the last-gen consoles. While they all look great, and the new console version have that slight more sharpness to the visuals, that is about it and unless you are really looking for it there aren’t all that many differences.
Audio
The voice acting for this game is a little off. Firstly, all of the cut-scenes are taken literally from the movie with no alterations or additions. This means that during these sections, we get samples of the great voice work that the likes of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrel, Morgan Freeman and Will Arnett put into the film. However, the same actors do not lend their voices to the in-game sections, resulting in a bit of a disconnection in the two. The voice actors for the gameplay sections often sound remarkably similar to their film-counterparts, but they are just different enough for you to tell.
The music is your pretty typical Lego fare, everything is happy and joyous and really sets a family-friendly tone to the events. However, the film’s theme song “Everything is Awesome,” makes a triumphant return… to punctuate just about everything in the game. Just about every accomplishment is accompanied with the flourish of “everything is awesomeeeee!” What originally starts as upbeat and cheerful quickly turns into repetitive and frustrating.
Overall
The Lego Movie was one of the most unique and special family movies to come out in the past few years. Its cast of characters manages to bring the childhood building blocks to life and create an adventure on par with what we as children could dream up. The Lego Movie Videogame goes a long way to bring that magic to the console, but its few nagging issues fall a bit flat. While there is a lot to see and do, it feels like a step backwards from the likes of Lego City Undercover and its few new additions to the Lego format feel like they could do with further development. Everything is awesome, but it isn’t the best that it could be.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
“YOU DON’T KNOW JACK” Studio Now Supports Amazon Fire TV With Two Launch Titles: “YOU DON’T KNOW JACK Party” and “Fibbage” – A New Lying, Bluffing, Fib-Till-You-Win Party Game
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – April 2, 2014 – Independent developer Jackbox Games today announced that two of the studio’s games – YOU DON’T KNOW JACK Party and the all-new Fibbage™ – will launch on Amazon Fire TV.
Fibbage is the studio’s newest, comedy-laced trivia party game. Up to 8 players can play together on their TV simply by using their mobile phones or tablets as controllers. The game challenges players to fool their friends with lies, avoid selecting their friends’ lies, and find the (usually outrageous) truths to some very unusual facts.
For example, if asked the question: “The mayor of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky is a _____,” players could enter lies such as “baby,” “rabbit,” or “ham sandwich.” Players can get as creative as they want, or use a suggestion if they get stuck. The game is hosted by the studio’s overworked and under-worshipped (according to him) host, Cookie Masterson.
“What we’ve always believed we do best is creating games that get groups of people sitting together laughing through gameplay and cracking each other up,” said Mike Bilder, GM of Jackbox Games. “Fibbage is the kind of game where you have fun when you get the question right, fun when you fool your friends, and fun even when you get fooled yourself.”
Each game of Fibbage is seven questions long and includes specialty questions such as Celebrity Tweets and Road Trip. And of course, the game culminates with a high-stakes final question: The Final Fibbage.
“We’ve watched group after group of people play Fibbage, and then ask if they can play another round, and another, and another, to the point where we have to cut them off like a drunkard at 3:59 a.m.” says Steve Heinrich, the game’s director. “When we hear laughter in every single play session, that makes us pretty confident we’ve got something special.”
Fibbage offers a free version featuring a handful of starter questions as well as a paid upgrade to full Fibbage to get hours and hours of game-party material. Additional content as DLC is planned in the near future.
Fibbage follows last fall’s launch of YOU DON’T KNOW JACK Party, the first game specifically created for the party play genre. Both games use mobile devices as controllers, eliminating a major friction point for live gameplay with big groups.
Jackbox Games is actively working to bring both Fibbage and YOU DON’T KNOW JACK Party to other platforms based on supportive technology and market demand.
About Jackbox Games
Jackbox Games, formerly Jellyvision Games, is a developer and publisher of games on leading consumer gaming platforms. The company is located in Chicago, Illinois.
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