While episodic content is a great way to give gamers an enjoyable story at a bite size price, it also can be frustrating for fans as they simply can’t wait to see what will happen next. As such, after the first episode of the second season of The Walking Dead was released back on December 18th, fans of the game have been dying to hear about the second episode.
As such, over on the Telltale Games‘ Twitter page, the developer tweeted out a picture of Clementine saying “Still. Not. Bitten.” and saying that the next installment in the series is “just around the corner.” The full tweet and the image can be found below and hopefully we won’t be waiting too much longer to see how Clementine’s story will progress.
Paramount Pictures is just about set to release their newest film, Labor Day, into theaters. Starring a solid cast of Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin, Gattlin Griffith and Tobey Maguire, Labor Day tells the story of the 13-year old Henry Wheeler trying to take care of his mother and home when Frank Chambers enters their lives.
Since Labor Day is set to release in just a few days, Paramount Pictures has released just one more featurette before it starts showing. Those wanting to check out the featurette for themselves can find it embedded just below to see what to expect from Labor Day.
You Should Stay Clip
The featurette isn’t the only new promotional material that Paramount has for today either as they have also released a clip titled “You Should Stay”. The clip is also available for those interested in the movie to check out embedded just below, but for even more information about what to expect from Labor Day, be sure to read our own Labor Day Review. Labor Day is set to release in theaters on February 6th, 2014.
Compile Heart has recently released a new trailer for their latest spin-off of the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise, Chou Megami Shinkou Noire Gekishin Black Heart, which is set to be released on the Vita in Japan on May 29th.
In this trailer players are introduced to some of the new characters that will be in the game, many of which are references to either game genres or entire franchises. You can check the trailer out below and try to guess who some of the characters are references of. Currently Noire Gekishin Black Heart has not been licensed for release in the West, though NIS America has brought numerous Neptunia games over in the past.
Sony have recently announced that it is releasing an official wireless headset accessory for the PlayStation 4. The new headset officially named The Wireless Stereo Headset 2.0 will feature 7.1 virtual surround sound as well as as a hidden noise cancelling microphone. The headset can be used at home using the USB wireless adaptor with your PS4, PS3, PC or Mac and has a rechargeable battery with up to 8 hours of battery life. The headset also sports a foldable design and comes with a standard 3.5mm stereo jack so you can use it as a normal pair of headphones with your PS Vita or other devices.
A free Headset Companion App is also coming soon to the PlayStation Store for both PS4 and PS3. The app will allow access to custom sound modes to enhance your gameplay, music and movie experience on the PS4 and PS3. The first sound mode that will be coming to the app is being developed by Sucker Punch for inFAMOUS Second Son, and will allow users to experience the best sound quality possible for the anticipated title.
With this announcement also came the news that firmware 1.60 will be releasing for the PS4 tomorrow, bringing support for the original wireless PULSE headsets including the GTAV limited edition headset. The Wireless Stereo Headset 2.0 will be available from the 10th of Februrary at £79.99 (around $160 AU).
Over the weekend Namco Bandai released a few character introduction videos for the soon to be released Tales of Symphonia Chronicles. While we’ve seen a few of these intros before, this time around the company has given us the English version of said trailers with the Japanese voice work that will be available in the game.
Currently Tales of Symphonia Chronicles is set to be released on February 25th in North America and February 28th in Europe. The three videos highlight Lloyd, Colette, and Kratos and can be found below.
The developers of Syrinscape at Interaction Consortium, are proud to announce that they have joined Paizo Inc. for developing the official sounds of Golarion, to accompany Pathfinder RPG sessions.
Benjamin Loomes, creator of Syrinscape stated, “Our partnership with Paizo is something we, as a company, talked about from the very beginning. I am a Pathfinder tragic, and getting to build sounds and music integrated completely with the wonderful world of Golarion is a dream come true. I know Fantasy gamers of all kinds are going to LOVE what I am building right now!”
Syrinscape is a revolutionary sound design app, that enables gamers to experience and explore the ever-changing soundscape of the fantasy world, through the power of unity audio engine and rich encounter-specific music. Following the recent release of ‘Syrinscape Fantasy Player’, this year Syrinscape will launch the rebirth of the much-anticipated Syrinscape SoundSet Editor and ‘Syrinscape Sci-fi Player’ with a whole raft of content for RPG’s, including; Shadowrun,Star Wars and Bruce Cordell & Monte Cook’s, The Strange.
Syrinscape Fantasy Player is now live on Android Tablets and iPad, in addition to PC and Mac, and can be downloaded here for free.
Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to become a part of Syrinscape, join the Facebook Community here today and adventure into Pathfinder!
Outplay Entertainment (maker of the popular Word Trick) has announced that their new monster collecting and battling game, Monster Legacy, will be hitting the App Store soon. If you’re a fan of secret dungeons, clever puzzles and capturing a over 100 unique monsters to use for battle, you may just enjoy this game.
Monster Legacy will send players on a journey chock full of quests, as they are forced to overcome various puzzles in perilous dungeons scattered across the world of Arborea. The numerous monsters that roam these cavernous caves can be captured, trained and evolved, all with the goal of bringing down Evil Lord Ardur. He’s the bad guy. The game itself is free-to-play and offers more than 20 levels and 70 quests, making for hours of gameplay that may or may not be addictive.
Though no release date is concrete, expect Monster Legacy to be gracing the App Store shortly. In the meantime, check out the screenshots and trailer below to get you in a monster catching, puzzle completing, cave exploring mood.
Another week, another victim of the Jigglypuff epidemic
Space☆Dandy Episode 5 – A Merry Companion is a Wagon in Space, Baby
Do you want to know the bane of being an anime reviewer? Every time you claim that a series is amazing, it immediately bombs, and every time you say that it’s the worst thing since sliced Hitler, it makes the biggest comeback ever just to shut you up. Not a week on from saying that Space Dandy wasn’t worth carrying on after episode 4, Bones decided that now would be the perfect time to blow me away and left eating my words. Not only was this week’s foray into the life of Mr S Dandy the best episode of the series so far, but it is one of the most enjoyable self contained, single episode stories to be released in a long while.
He’s not coming back for us is he?
This week Dandy managed to capture an extremely rare alien, a young Gentooan girl called Adélie with the ability to shock any living creature and transfer its mind into a puppet. However, the universe is just as cruel in Dandy’s time as it is in ours and he returned to the Aloha Oe with his prize only to find that it had been towed along with QT and Meow, forcing Dandy to take her to the Alien Registration Centre on the train. To stop her running away, he promised to take her to an address written on an old picture which transpired to be the last known address of her grandfather, the only person left for her to turn to in the universe according to her deceased mother. After finding that he no longer lived there, Dandy left Adélie at a hotel and under the pretence of going to Boobies, spent the night scouring the streets to find any clue that might lead him to her grandfather. One chase scene involving a stuffed orange penguin Dandy defying biology and taking flight to catch two alien hunters fleeing with Adélie on a train later and she was safely reunited with her grandfather. It was then that the pretty young girl vowed to grow up quick so that she could join her baka hero on the Aloha Oe and my heart melted a little.
First the marker, now vine whip? Are you sure you’re not a Pokémon?
Depth, how I have missed you! We’re talking a shallow puddle rather than an ocean, but Dandy became the first character to dip his toe into the warm waters of character development this week by growing a heart that yearned for something more than a cheap drink and a cheeky grope at Boobies. Going against his carefree nature he gave up his greatest worldly desires to search out the girl’s grandfather. During the time he spent with her he even learned to care for her a little and she started to see more to him than the selfish, perverted idiot that he normally comes across as. That’s more than I can say for QT or Meow who have both been killed by Dandy at least twice so far. Maybe he was just nurturing her so that one day in the future the, “big breasted, shapely assed woman,” he wished her to grow up into will come aboard the Aloha Oe, but I guess we’ll never know.
I’ll be a White Mage. No one ever hurts the White Mage right?
Considering its run, it pains me to draw this comparison, but was anybody else left feeling like they’d just watched an episode of Cowboy Bebop? High praise indeed, but I can think of at least a few episodes of Bebop that were worse than episode 5 of Space Dandy. I even felt a little Spike Spiegel radiating off of Dandy for a second or two as he let his selfless side break through while maintaining his cool, if not extremely silly, nature. Put that alongside his immediate dislike of kids and Dandy begins to feel more and more like a fitting homage to the legendary, afroed hero of old.
Adélie’s character design was very heavily inspired by classic anime heroines which was refreshing considering how obscenely overly cute lolita characters are nowadays. She was not sexualised or forced into too many scenarios designed to highlight her moe factor and for that I have to commend Space Dandy. It would have been far too easy to make Dandy a closet lolicon, but they chose not to tread that path and kept him faithful to the good women at Boobies which doesn’t exactly add a lot of class to his character, but it keeps him out of jail at least!
Jokes aside, this scene was lovely. I hope we see more like it!
All in all, this episode marked the first genuinely quality episode of the series and highlighted the potential Space Dandy has when it isn’t trying too hard to be quirky and different. Flairs of characterisation and a backwards leap away from the bad jokes that have left a stale taste in my mouth these past few weeks have left me actually looking forward to next week. Give me more of this Watanabe! It’s what you’re best at and what every fan of Bebop wants to see more of. Will we end up seeing more brilliant episodes like this? Stay tuned and find out.
Space Dandy is simulcasting in both subbed and dubbed formats and can be found airing on Adult Swim’s Toonami block or streaming on FUNimation in the US. UK viewers can catch it streaming on Wakanimand Australian viewers can catch it streaming on Madman with new episodes – both subbed and dubbed – up on the Madman Screening Room each Monday, at 1am AEDT.
For more impressions of winter’s best and worst, head over to our Anime Impressions page.
Ghost Games (formerly EA Gothenburg Studio) is the studio responsible for latest game in the Need for Speed series, and it has already been a few months since the release of Need for Speed: Rivals. However, it seems that the success of the game hasn’t protected the studio from being hit with lay-offs. After EA decided that its Guildford office has far too many workers, the company has entered a consultation period for some positions in the Ghost Games U.K. studio.
Of course the worst thing to come out of this will be the loss of jobs, but the second worst thing is the delay of the development of the next installment of the popular franchise. The next Need for Speed title is said to be on hold.
As cloudy as the future seems for the racing franchise, it appears that EA still plans to leave the future development of a Need for Speed title in the hands of Ghost Games, it just might take longer due to the reduced man power.
Given the history of MMOs on consoles, there has been plenty of questions on how Elder Scroll Online (ESO) well plays on the new consoles. Sony has provided some answers about the PlayStation 4 version of the much awaited game to assure anxious gamers that they will provide fluent ‘on the couch’ gameplay.
The greatest piece of news in the Q&A is that players do not need a PlayStation Plus account to play ESO. They will only need to pay for the ESO monthly subscription to have full access to the game. This is a win for PlayStation gamers as Microsoft has announced that Xbox Live Gold is needed to play ESO.
There was still one question left unanswered: ‘when will the PS4 beta testing begin?’. Many are still waiting, but with only a few months till the June launch, eager gamers should keep checking the ESO offical site for invites.
To learn more about Elder Scrolls Online on the PlayStation 4, head over to the full blog.
