Those confused by the announcement of the release date for Moebius: Empire Rising as to who Phoenix Online Publishing is will be pleased to find out more about the new publisher. Created by indie devs for indie devs, Phoenix Online Publishing is kicking off their start with a nice selection of titles.
In addition to Moebius, Phoenix Online Publishing will also be releasing Quest for Infamy, Lost Civilization, and The Last Door as they release digitally for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. With hopes of helping other indie developers to get their games in the hands of gamers through both major digital and retail distribution, Phoenix Online Publishing will be facing plenty of competition, which is why they want to focus on games with “rich storytelling and atmosphere”.
With those four titles alone, the future certainly looks great for Phoenix Online and it will be great to see what other games they will be helping to reach their audience as they already have quite a variety from RPG, to adventure games.
Called “Prisoner Seven” by the Resistance, Van Helsing’s newest ally is a powerful magic user hunting the streets of Borgova. A mad professor’s former test subject, it’s hard to tell whether he’s even a monster or just a victim. Van Helsing can’t take on the powerful General Harker alone, however, so the help of Prisoner Seven will be more than welcome.
For more information, be sure to check out Neocore Games’ official website here.
Warner Brothers Entertainment alongside DC Entertainment have just announced that their game “Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition” is set for a home console release this April. The game which was previously only released for the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS handheld consoles has been majorly updated, it is more or less the exact same game story-wise that was on the handheld duo but this time around it has been equiped with some stellar HD graphics alongside crisp audio and even some new extras for fans to sink their teeth into. For those of you unaware of this Batman title, the official synopsis is as follows:
After gang-fueled uprisings occur within the walls of Blackgate Prison, Batman is called in to restore order and put an end to the rebellion before the chaos implodes. As the story progresses, players will explore deep inside the bowels of this remote island penitentiary and discover what happened after the events of Batman: Arkham Origins and learn more details of the Dark Knight’s past.
The game is set to be released on the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U through all their significant online distribution systems like the XBLA, PSN, Nintendo eShop and Steam. “Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate – Deluxe Edition” will be available to purchase starting on the 2nd of April this year but until then I suggest you head down to our featured video section below where you’ll be able to watch the new announcement trailer for the game. Enjoy!
Iceberg Interactive and developer immersionFX are excited to welcome players aboard The Good Life, a sandbox sailing simulation for PC and Mac, currently available for voting on Steam Greenlight.
Iceberg Interactive CEO, Erik Schreuder stated; “The Good Life defies categorization, which is what makes it such an intriguing and unique title . . . it’s a really laid back, mellow game that will leave you pining for more sunshine and tropical surroundings in your life. We think you will be pleasantly surprised!”
The Good Life takes players on an adventure across the tropical seas in the JoJo Isalnds, with over 50 harbors and dozens of diverse places to explore, as well as discovering hidden treasures, transporting tourists and hooking up fishing escapades in realistic weather conditions (check out the gallery below). Become an adept skipper and progress across seven different ship types, while competing for business and earning more money to build a commercial empire, to buy and sell properties in this tropical paradise.
The new features of The Good Life include:
Faster boat rides, e.g. Aventor, among 52 available ports that speed up the action
New Fishing gameplay: 15 different fish to catch for extra money
Action-packed pirate attacks, with speedboat cannons now firing and players can see their trajectories
Improved character animations and underwater visual experience, with new sea-life (colourful fishes and fiery sharks)
Player’s stats and progress charts; percentage of game completed, percentage of area covered, days on-board, items photographed, people rescued, earnings from houses and boats, and others.
Multiple saves, up to 10 available slots
Don’t miss out on your chance to ensure The Good Life reaches Steam, vote here on Steam Greenlight!
Players better be careful that the various guards and other people they will be sneaking around aren’t that aware of their presence. That being said, Square Enix wants everyone to know that there is a Thief on the way and he will be here next week as the company has just released the game’s launch trailer which can be found below.
In the aforementioned trailer the company has packed in a little of everything as we are treated to a bit of the game’s premise as well as the action and stealth elements that make Thief what it is. Thief is set to be released on February 25th in North America and February 28th in Europe and other PAL regions for the PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
Kill la Kill Episode 19: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head
Things weren’t exactly looking up last week were they? Well I hate to break it to you, but the situations doesn’t really improve this week. Quite the opposite in fact. With her heart in Ragyo’s hands, literally (and metaphorically on some level), there was nowhere to run when the barrage of truths flowed forth. Now we get to see how these revelations affect everybody. Nothing will ever be the same.
So the Cultural & Sports Grand Festival took a decidedly vicious turn didn’t it. The situation isn’t exactly peachy as Ryuko learns from her newest mortal foe that her life may have been somewhat of a lie. Imbued directly with Life Fibres, Ryuko manages to reacquire her heart and lash out at Ragyo. But we all remember how well anger benefits her. Far from the cool, calm and collected girl who fought Nui mere moments ago, Ryuko once again becomes rash in her fury. As each slash misses, she looks to be overwhelmed by the devilish tag team of CEO and Couture, showcasing just how psychosomatic her own abilities are. Whilst her personal life crumbles, the COVERS also decide to make their move and absorb the populace of Hannouji. Utilising humanity as a battery, the COVERS unleash devastation and show just why Satsuki worked so hard to create a resistance. Which unfortunately crumbled in seconds. Not even Mako is safe as she is swallowed up and lost to the world, a moment which further expresses just how much Gamagoori cares for her as he struggles in vain to save her. However, ever the planner, Satsuki unleashes her backup plan.
Hey Sukuyo, the plot is happening a little higher up
One month later…
That’s right, hard cut to the future. It is in this time jump that the anime has inverted its premise to a degree. What began as one girl standing against a school of oppression, has become the story of humanity’s last bastion doing its best to survive against an overwhelming force. Though the Elite Four have joined forces with Nudist Beach, which is badass, humanity is still massively on the defensive. Essentially, humanity’s fate rests on the shoulders of five people. The mightiest five who carry the only weapons able to harm the COVERS. By the way, it was cool to see that Satsuki’s broken sword was reforged into two smaller blades. It was a touch of detail that, in its own weird way, expressed just how desperate humanity is, forcing them to do something sensible in such a wacky anime. Pretty meta. It was also good to see that there were no hard feelings between any of the characters. They know that any complaints they had would count for nothing against their current situation and each instead vow to do what they can to save the world. Though light bickering is still permitted. One of the most interesting moments of this team up was seeing the last Goku Uniform crumble. In the same vein as repurposing Satsuki’s blade, it showed how resources are so valuable that they are used until the bitter end.
Love will make a guy do crazy things
Even Mataro nets himself some moments of badassery, if only in spoken form. Longing to save his sister, he remained in Hannouji for the past month. Just him and some other children, surviving in the most heavily COVERed area in Japan. This same devotion is shown heavily in Senketsu, who wishes for nothing more than Ryuko’s health. Having dragged her unconscious body through the explosion that threw the series a month forward, even characters unable to understand his words are able to understand his heart. Both Sukuyo (Mako’s mother) and Mikisugi relay their condolences to Senketsu, as Ryuko lays comatose beside them. Rather than explosive anger, or depression, Ryuko simply fell unconscious. If you ever needed proof that the Kanto vagabond had a fragile side, there it is. Unable to cope with the shock of Ragyo’s claims, Ryuko lies locked in thought, struggling to process the truth.
Speaking of trouble Kiryuin girls, Satsuki has apparently been hanging from chains for the last month. Never without a reason, rainbow clad mother of the year spends her hours torturing and teasing her daughter into a white hot rage. As always, her physical closeness with her daughter crosses a boundary and carries sever sexual undertones. Though more than anything this shows how Ragyo will use any means necessary to unnerve Satsuki and enforce dominion over her. Seeing her not as her daughter, but rather a puppet to be controlled as she sees fit. With this goal in mind, Ragyo explains to all of use that Isshin Matoi and Soichiro Kiryuin are one in the same. Having faked the death of Ryuko and himself, Soichiro changed his appearance and began a secondary plan to defeat COVERS. Not the world’s best father, he may have just been the best father for the world. Unfortunately, he was forced to place the burden of the future onto the shoulders of his own flesh and blood. But they turned out fine right? Sins of the father indeed…
Human no more…
Let’s just say the truth may have had a slight impact on Ryuko. And by slight I of course mean inconceivable. As Nudist Beach struggles to defeat a force of COVERS, managing “only” to save Mako and again show how hilarious the whole Mako/Gamagoori relationship is, Ryuko awakens. And boy is she pissed. Slaughtering the COVERS and freeing the human batteries in a single blow, everyone is ecstatic to see her up and about, especially Senketsu. Unfortunately, this is not a shared emotion. Apparently mental scars aren’t as easy to heal as a torn out heart. The shock of her existence sparks the notion that she is no more than a monster, the same monster Nudist Beach feared Senketsu to be. Bred to murder her own kind. A weapon. Less than human. In her self destructive depression, her refusal to ever don Senketsu again expresses the extent of her emotions. However, her mind is just as clouded by fear as it is anger. Knowing the truth, her transformation into a mindless beast is now her fault more than ever. Perhaps she does not want to harm her friend any more than she already has? This new perspective on Ryuko also adds some depth to her previous tyrade about treating Senketsu as more than a weapon. Unknowingly, her righteous anger was indeed for her own sake. Each one of her previous feats of strength, her rapid recoveries, proficiency with a Kamui, everything we all took as simple quirks of the anime were in fact crafty little pieces of foreshadowing. Very clever…and kinda sad in hindsight.
In the darkest hour, there will be a light
So with our hero now her own worst enemy, the situation just went from bleak to explosively bleak. Senketsu is disheartened, Satsuki is in chains, COVERS continue to spread and Ragyo is plotting something called an Ultimate Kamui…things are looking worse than before, quite a feat if I do say so myself. But hey, maybe if we hope hard enough a miracle will happen. A miracle by the name of Satsuki Kiryuin. Never thought I’d say that.
Ever since playing the original Drakengard, and probably used long before then, placing giant creepy babies in a game is something that is pretty terrifying. Now Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z is trying to double down on that nightmare fuel by not only putting giant zombie babies in their game, but also making them a two-headed deformed monstrosities.
You can check out some gameplay footage as well as screenshots of the “Terrible Two” as Tecmo Koei is calling them and be sure to check out the game itself when it is released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America on March 18th and in Europe on March 21st.
Hozuki No Reitetsu Episode 7 – Man And Woman And Mortal Hell/Hell-Style Acupuncture And Moxibustion Techniques (How To Use The Johari Mirror).
Another week, another episode and I’m so glad because I cannot get enough of Hozuki No Reitetsu. Welcome back to another installment of Hozuki No Reitetsu Anime Impressions, I hope you’ve all been as excited about this new episode as I have! This week marks the release of Hozuki No Reitetsu episode seven: An episode that introduces us to another level of Japanese Hell (one for all the perverts out there) as well as the dangers that come along with the mediocre practice of acupuncture on a patient tortured by pain.
Long episode names are just one of the many typical Hozuki No Reitetsu staple but as long as they usually are, nothing beats the ones from this week. Episode seven shows us that, even though the tortured souls aren’t having too good of a time down there in hell…at least they don’t have to see Hozuki on a daily basis, that would be true torture. Poor King Enma.
Man And Woman And Mortal Hell:
There’s a different kind of hell for everyone! It doesn’t matter what bad things you did in life, big or small Hozuki No Reitetsu guarantees that there will be a place for you in hell and, if you’re like any kind of normal human that feels sexual emotions, chances are you’ll be heading to “Mortal Hell” a place where the sexually inclined can be tortured for the rest of eternity.
The best way I can explain Hozuki No Reitetsu’s “Mortal Hell” is that it is a place where the extreme sexual deviants go to be tortured, which is probably a good thing in many cases because usually that kind of thing can get way out of hand but in the world of Hozuki No Reitetsu they punish even the slightest sins and that could mean trouble for the masses. Nasubi and Karauri, our little demon friends, take a day off in the first half of this weeks episode and they decide to go and check out “Mortal Hell”, a place where they would one day like to work but for punishable reasons. Seeing as “Mortal Hell” is occupied mostly by women demons tasked with sexual and emotional torture, the two young boys think that it would be a pretty “primo” place to land a job.
Hozuki, being the main character and the best friend to all demons, takes the two young ones on a little bit of a tour around this specific land of torture and the group find out a little more about Karauri that maybe they shouldn’t have. While travelling through the Hell they meet up with the beautiful Oko, she joins the tour despite Hozuki’s hostile responses and helps out along the way seeing as she knows what she’s talking about when it comes to “Mortal Hell”…let’s just say she’s a “pretty big deal”.
This half episode goes entirely off the chains when the cast come to the realisation that Karauri is a bit of a sexual deviant himself, he’s a demon that likes a bit of torture in the bedroom but he IS a demon so I’m not sure as to why they were shocked. I enjoyed seeing another level of hell in this half of the episode. As I’ve said in previous impression articles; Hozuki No Reitetsu can really do whatever it is that they want to and no-one will say otherwise because they will always find a way to fit it into the universe they’ve created for these characters, seeing different types of hell is actually pretty funny and the fact that they all have their different and silly quirks means that the series doesn’t take itself all that seriously…but that’s something we’ve already figured out right?
Hell-Style Acupuncture And Moxibustion Techniques (How To Use The Johari Mirror):
Here’s something I’m going to come out and say before I go on and say anything else: I would absolutely rather be a demon in THIS hell than anyone close to the character of Hozuki because it seems like he causes the people around him so much more pain than any tortured soul he comes across in his daily rounds. After a hard half a day of work, King Enma starts to get a little tired and damn clumsy. Tripping over his own feet, he throws out his back just like an old man and now it’s up to Hozuki to make him feel better…even if it is against the will of Enma.
Not wanting to call up his nemesis Hakutaku who is a trained medical healer, Hozuki decides that he’ll try different things like Acupuncture and Moxibustion to get King Enma back to health, though he has no idea how to do those things. This half of the episode was just for pure fun, even though the first half wasn’t at all serious I felt as though it was still somewhat informative seeing as it give us an insight into another stage of hell. All the usual suspects turn up in this half episode, which basically means Shiro and his animal pals wander through the situation and inevitably join in on the shenanigans.
These types of episodes would have to be my favourites because they’re just so silly and strange yet oddly sitcom-ish in the way that characters just enter scenes or situations without prior mentioning or involvement but makes those scenes so much better than if they had NOT been present for them. As you can probably already tell, the episode just keeps escalating until King Enma is in more pain now than before the “healing session” began. Luckily for King Enma, Hozuki has an incredible level of luck and eventually (through hours of torture) he actually does cure him of his “slipped disc” making the amateur practice of healing techniques a complete success!
Hozuki No Reitetsu, in my opinion, has hit a nice plateau. It has the ability to both rise and fall in quality and I hope very much that it does rise but at this point in time I have no complains because it still gives me cheap laughs and it still retains its intelligence, even if just slightly. I’m hoping we see more great episodes in the future much like its first episode which, to this day, is still one of my favourites. Either way I’m enjoying this series and I hope it continues and grows, bigger and better.
Check out more Hozuki No Reitetsu impressions HERE.
One man indie development studio Browny Application and Kiss Ltd released their Metroid styled platformer Humanity Asset today. The game will have players shooting their way through 400 stages in 16 levels in this homage to retro shoot ’em ups. Aliens have invaded Earth to steal technology that can potentially save their alien planet. The players will have access to a variety of ranged and melee weapons to fend off the aliens.
Humanity Asset is available for $9.99 for Windows via Steam (buy here) and other digital distributors. A DRM free version is available on GamersGate. To celebrate the launch, the game is 25% off at Steam and GamersGate until February 27th, 2014.
Many anime companies generally separate their Blu-ray and DVD releases still and while Viz Media is still offering that option for their next release K, they are also releasing their first ever Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack for the series.
K follows the story of Shiro, a relatively easygoing teenager that is happy just being a student, until his life is normal life is turned upside down when a clan attempts to murder him in the streets. You see, they have mistaken him for someone who had murdered a member of their clan and only with the help of a young man named Kuroh Yatogami does he manage to escape this threat, only to find out that he is now a hunted man who must try to prove his innocence before someone takes his life.
The anime will be released next week on February 25th as both a standard DVD version for $44.82 US/CAN and the Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD combo pack which is priced at $69.99 US/CAN. This Limited Edition version comes with a slew of bonus materials such as a chipboard box that contains a full color eighty page premium art booklet that contains individual episode synopses, character profiles, translated song lyrics, and poster art. As for on-disc extras, it also includes an interview with KANAME☆ during his first ever U.S. guest appearance, a photo gallery featuring KANAME☆, and convention highlights from Anime Expo. It is also worth noting that if you were to purchase the anime from either Robert’s Anime Corner or Right Stufyou will also receive some exclusive K stickers.
