We are back yet again with another episode of CC Unplugged, and we have a lot of Nintendo to talk about regarding that dark, grim future that certain critics have painted for the Wii U. Other than that, Dustin Spencer, Philip Federico, and Luke Halliday discuss some of the games they have been playing, including WWE 2K14 while speaking about that lingering DLC cloud and other fun topics that are sure to be a hoot.
So grab some a dress with a spit down the leg, tell your friends, and prepare to get UNPLUGGED!
Be sure to listen to our past CC Unplugged episodes here.
SPONSOR PLUG
Special Mention to our partners over at Razer, us here at Capsule Computers are geared by gamers, for gamers. Check them out on Twitter and Official Website.
A long time ago, I was graced with a rental from Blockbuster. You see, back then I was watching every horror movie VHS I could get my hands on, and when The Slumber Party Massacre made its way in my VCR, I fell in love with one of the campiest, yet enjoyable slasher films from the 80’s. Thanks to Scream Factory, The Slumber Party Massacre will be seeing a revival on Blu-Ray with some fantastic special features in tow – set to release on March 18th.
Here are all of the drilling details:
This March 2014, loyal fans and horror enthusiasts are invited to join SCREAM FACTORY™ for the ultimate sleepover when Amy Holden Jones’ THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE, starring Michele Michaels (Death Wish 4: The Crackdown), Robin Stille (Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama), Michael Villela (Wild Orchid) and Andree Honore (Strange Reality), debuts on Blu-ray™ for the first time on March 18, 2014. This highly collectible Blu-ray edition features new high definition transfer and killer bonus content. A must-have for all slasher fans and movie collectors, this definitive Blu-ray release of THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE is priced to own at $24.97 SRP.
THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982) helped define the slasher film ethos of the 1980s. Put together by first-time director Amy Holden from a script, titled “Don’t Open the Door,” by celebrated author Rita Mae Brown (Rubyfruit Jungle), the film was an immediate hit for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, eventually spawning two sequels and became a staple in mom-and-pop corner video stores of the 1980s.
When Trish (Michele Michaels) decides to invite her high school girls’ basketball teammates over for a slumber party, she has no idea the night is going to end with an unexpected guest – an escaped mental patient and his portable power drill – crashing the party in the cult classic, The Slumber Party Massacre.
You can pre-order The Slumber Party Massacre here from Shout! Factory‘s official website, or snag it off Amazon by following this link. If you consider yourself a horror movie fan and have yet to witness one of the overlooked greats of the genre, you owe it to yourself to give this release a thorough viewing. It may not be the scariest, but much like other gems from the decade such as Psycho II and Prom Night II: Hello Mary Lou, it certainly made an impact in its own unique way.
“IRL Shooter” the creators of “Patient 0”, a real-life first person shooter that uses unique and advanced laser-based weapons and environments to bring the action of a zombie video game into reality, are incredibly excited to announce that they well be bringing the action and horror of “Patient 0” to us living here in Sydney in August of this year! Last year “IRL Shooter” brought the fright to Melbourne with their real-life videogame experience but now, well not it’s Sydney’s turn to prove what we can do in a zombie apocalypse. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, let me lay it down for you: “Patient 0” is a large-scale interactive game that takes place in a 7000 square metre warehouse that has been made up to look like a laboratory that has been overrun by zombies. You, 5 friends and 200 trained actors will take part in this experience of a lifetime.
You’re a group of trained soldiers (you and your friends) who have been deployed into a danger zone filled with hundreds of flesh-hungry zombies (the 200 actors), your mission is to wipe out as many as possible while trying to find an antidote and ultimately attempting to stay alive. With things like infra-red weaponry and environments as well as pain belts that give you a bit of a shock when bitten, this is as close as you’re going to get to LIVING a game like “Resident Evil”. The tickets went on sale in December and unfortunately a majority of them have already been sold but, if you’re quick enough, you can get your hands on some sweet tickets now as well as help pledge money to the project by heading to the official “IRL Shooter: Patient 0” page here.
We also have a video that has been released by “IRL Shooter” that explains more about the experience and shows you a little of what the environment actually is which is in the Featured Video Section below the article but don’t scroll down yet because, just after this paragraph we’ve also posted a nice little that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at Melbourne’s “Patient 0” from last year. Now go check them out below and don’t forget to head over to the site to pledge some money and grab some tickets.
Join editor Joe Morgan as he dives in to show off the first half hour of the game. You’ll see him experience space combat, space stations, interplanetary capitalism, upgrading skills and perks, and more. A couple of rogue mercs may even have his number.
Be sure to check out our full preview for Starpoint Gemini 2!
We livestream gameplay footage on our Twitchpage. Our YouTube channel is updated with content daily. Also be sure to follow us on Twitter, and Facebook. Leave a comment here or head on over to our YouTube page and leave a comment so we know what you think and how we can improve our Impact! feature.
Each year, we as a team come together and have to make the brutal decisions of defining the best of the best. It sounds difficult, but in all honesty, the development teams make it easy by delivering quality products that we get to consume each year – and these awards are our way of paying proper tribute.
Which titles went that extra mile to please? What experiences left us in reflection? These are the games that will live on past a generation as they offered a form of entertainment greater than our currency. This is the Game of the Year Awards for 2014, so join us as we celebrate greatness yet again!
Welcome to Capsule Computer’s 4th Annual Game of the Year Awards!
Click on the pages below to and find out who wins, along with our editors’ choice awards and special bonus feature GOTY Podcast!
Slowly but surely we’ve made it into the age of videogames. Many years ago playing video games was something only certain people did and, for the most part, it was quite a niche market…not anymore. “Sword Art Online” is an Anime that originally began as a light novel series written by the very popular novelist Reki Kawahara (Fumio Kunori), it eventually became popular enough to warrant an Anime adaptation and from then on in the popularity of the series soared to even greater heights. With its videogame-based storyline (which is quite appealing in this day and age) and its semi-relatable characters, it is easy to see how and why this Anime has become such a favoured series in the hearts and minds of many Anime fans around the world. Madman Entertainment has only recently released this series “down under” and luckily for me I’ve been given the chance to review it. I think it’s about time we “log-in” and see what all the fuss is truly about.
Story
Volume 2 continues directly on from Volume 1 (read our review here) though there is a bit of a timeskip inbetween the two. It has now officially been two years since the players of Sword Art Online became trapped within the game and the quest to complete the entire 100 floors is still in progress with the online community hitting the high 70s number, this means they’re all fairly close to getting out yet there’s still quite a long way to go before they can. Kirito continues on his lone quest as a hero but over the course of the story within Volume 2 it seems he changes his tune pretty quickly when he once again reunites with Asuna, a player he felt some sort of spark with when he first met her in the events of Volume 1.
I’ll try my very best not to give much away but it will be quite hard to NOT considering the points I intend to make so I’ll slap a low-level “spoiler” warning on this part of the review just in case it does turn out that way. Volume 2 has the series slowly transform into more of a simple fantasy story rather than the “players trapped in game” story that it hosted at the start of the series. Players have somewhat forgotten about the real world and have started living in Aincrad as if it was reality rather than a videogame, it’s obvious enough for the main character to point out so I’d say it was a purposeful storyline development and to some people it is a beneficial change but for me it was not and that is only because the main characters also changed, they lost sight of the their original goal for what seemed like a great deal of this volume and I felt as though this was a mistake on their part.
Volume 2 Aincrad Part 2 had a pretty solid focus on the romantic connection between our main characters; Kirito and Asuna became incredibly close and, despite being a part of the “Assault Team” and the “Knights of the Blood” guild who are self-tasked with the completion of the game, decide to take a small vacation away from the “hustle and bustle” of surviving so that they can instead work on the romantic side of Sword Art Online.
I’ll give the creators this much; it did set itself apart from other series’ because two characters actually get together despite the whole “I’m too shy to tell you how I feel” dilemma from both parties but, as mentioned, they lost site of the main goal and it actually worked to revert the character development we saw in the first half of the series. Spoiler: Asuna became somewhat of a needy bride and Kirito played on the “you’re my wife, I don’t want to see you hurt” ideal despite Asuna proving herself to be just as good a fighter as Kirito himself so I’m not too sure why they would go ahead and do something like this but I suppose it is what they assumed the audience would love.
Certain things transpire when Kirito and Asuna find a young girl passed out in the woods near where they live, yes it becomes that real, and after a short story arc with here we realise that this series isn’t all it is cracked up to be; it became for too corny for my liking, things just happen to fall into place for these characters and I understand they are the main characters living in a fantasy world but there are also certain ways to go about things and this was not one of them.
Unfortunately I cannot outline exactly what I’m referring to only because it happens closer to the end of the volume and I’m not sure people will be too happy about it being spoiled. The series ends in what I’d consider to be an extremely typical way and I was actually hoping it would end the story in a negative way rather than a positive only because it would make both more sense and an ending that I believe would’ve made a greater impact on the audience but, as always, these are my opinions and my opinions alone.
Visuals
Volume 2 was visually the exact same as volume one and, considering they’re both a part of the same series, I’m not surprised there was any change in aesthetic quality. If anything I was less impressed with the environments of Volume 2 simply because the story was not written in a way that would have the characters journey through these expansive and beautiful environments, unlike Volume 1 to which I compare. The animation stayed the same; great and I’m so glad it did because, as a fan of action, I longed for battle scenes that hosted extremely high calibre animation quality.
Battles were few and far between with the count being something small like two or three within the whole volume, though those battles were quite high-octane and fairly entertaining despite being short. There isn’t much that can be said about Volume 2 that hasn’t already been said about Volume 1; the animation is still great though the characters aren’t put into to many situations where the animation team can go all out, the environments are good but once again the story doesn’t take us on as much of a journey as it did last time so we’re not really shown as many beautiful environments. All in all it still looks fantastic!
Audio
Much like the visuals of Volume 2 Aincrad Part 2, the audio still stands at quite a high calibre much like it did in Volume 1. My only complain would have to be the voice acting and I can’t entirely say it is the actors/actresses fault because they are only to read what they have been told to so more of the blame goes on the scriptwriters and translators rather than on the performers themselves. Some of the dialogue is just so horrendous; breaking character and saying things that dwindle the impact of situations came up a fair few times, not to mention some of the silly secondary characters and their pieces of dialogue.
Luckily for the series most of the characters have great voice actors and actresses, even our two main characters who go through a pretty bad stage where their interactions are somewhat cringe-worthy. The music is kicked up a notch in Volume 2 with the use of some rock and fantasy tracks being entirely on key with the situations within the scenes, the music team really made their bones with what they did in Volume 2 (as well as volume 1) and it did a lot to bring up the value of the series and make situations all the more intense or emotional.
Extras
Once again this release does not feature any real on-disc extras apart from the usual textless opening and textless closing sequences that come with every Anime release. It does, however, continue from what Volume 1 did previously and it does come with a set of six postcards that feature art from the series which looks to be done by several different artists considering they’re each in a different style. These extras are fantastic for those of you out there who absolutely love the series and the characters because each of the postcards depicts another character or group of characters in settings not entirely seen in the series. Usually standard Anime releases come with no physical extras so Volume 2 Aincrad Part 2 gets points for trying.
Overall
Look “Sword Art Online Volume 2 Aincrad Part 2” is a great Anime release that comes directly off another great Anime release (part 1) and the series in general is actually fairly good, the only real problem I had with this Volume is the actual story; it lost sight of its main goal and its characters were no where near as good as they were within Volume 1. I know I’ve been comparing the two volumes the whole way through the review but I believe it to be justified considering they’re both a part of the same series and to understand one you really need to understand the other.
Fans of fantasy Anime will absolutely love this and so will fans of romance because volume 2 really kicks up the “lovey-dovey” side of surviving in a strange and dangerous world. If you’re a fan of Anime series’ like “.Hack” or “Log Horizon” than you’ll definitely be into this one so give it a good try but if simply reading what I have to say about the series is making you hate this release than I guess it’s just not for you. There are a lot of players in this game we call “life”, if we were all the same it’d just be boring.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
In Bardbarian, players control Brad the Barbarian as he decides to trade his battle axe for a lute (which for some reason sounds like an electric guitar) and decides to use music to defend his town. This unique tower defence title has a huge bullet hell/shoot ’em up influence to it, creating a unique adrenaline filled experience. Filled with creativity, Bardbarian is a fun, fresh action title that’s way more fun than it looks and easy to recommend for fans of tower defence & shoot ’em up games.
Gameplay
Many mobile titles that try unique attempts at mashing genres often fail, so it’s fantastic to see a game like Bardbarian take a leap of faith and comfortably land a successful mix. The idea is basically to take your typical tower defence title, but make the towers soldiers who follow you around as you defend the town against waves of enemies. Your character Brad does not fight, but rather inspires the combatants to by playing guitar riffs (I’m calling it a guitar because it sounds like one) that improves certain stats, which is the game’s form of casting spells. Players choose these songs with a touch of a finger, as well as manoeuvre Brad around the battlefield with the soldiers following. The waves of enemies run towards to the town shooting and your soldiers also shoot automatically as they follow. This leaves the player to play songs and dodge the enemies’ projectiles, giving it a very side scrolling shooter vibe. It all feels very natural and is very pick-up-and-play with what seems to have pretty much no learning curve at all, it just works. While a survival mode is present and an endless mode to be available soon, the main focus is on the campaign which involves 4 levels and 21 long waves of enemies. These levels are broken up as parts of a particular night, and can be played consecutively in a single game, or once unlocking them you can skip ahead although it’s not recommended. From start to finish it’ll take about an hour, but you won’t be able to do this on your first try.
Like most games that involve in app purchasing, Bardbarian is all about grinding. Each level ends on a tough boss battle, and each has harder and harder enemies. Thankfully, earning currency is easy and there are plenty of upgrades which feel rewarding. That’s the beauty behind Bardbarian, everything you purchases matters. Unlike many titles these days that just increase a small stat, upgrades in Bardbarian dramatically effects gameplay and are also rather creative. The player feels rewarded for upgrading and encourages them to keep playing as the more you upgrade, the more fun the game becomes. While in app purchasing is present, it isn’t required as the game is more than fair when it comes to upgrades with affordable prices and currency easily earned. Many freemium games could learn a thing or two from Bardbarian in this aspect.
Audio & Visual
Bardbarian features hand drawn artwork that is filled with charm and character. The animation on the other hand can be a little wonky at times but it’s easily forgivable. The soundtrack comes from musical artist Maximum Satan, who sounds exactly as metal as their name sounds. Filled with distorted guitar riffs and drums with double kick, the soundtrack to Bardbarian is pretty awesome. What’s nice to see is that while the game has a clear metal influence, the gimmick is not milked dry which is noble of Tree Fortress, as I figured they’d want to try to appeal of fans like Metalocalypse or Brutal Legend a little more. Regardless, audio is awesome. However, it doesn’t loop perfectly which can be slightly annoying, but it’s not a massive deal.
Overall
Bardbarian is the most addictive mobile title I’ve reviewed in a very long time. The concept is a creative blend of genres that feels natural, upgrades feel rewarding and powerful, in app purchasing doesn’t feel forced, a rocking soundtrack and everything is filled with character. Bardbarian is easy to recommend, blast to play and I’m glad this review is over because now I can go back to playing it!
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The collector’s edition comes with a copy of the game of course, some special packaging, an 80-page hardcover art book, a cool looking pocket watch, and the Aerith Gainsborough’s “Midgar’s Flower Girl” outfit DLC. The full unboxing video, featuring Mat Kishimoto, the product manager, can be found below and the game itself is set to be released in North America on February 11th and February 14th in Europe for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. We recently had some hands-on time with the game and our impressions can be found here.
We now know, Deception IV: Blood Ties will be released on the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita in North America on March 25th and in Europe on March 28th, with the PS3 version allowing players to upload videos of their highest scoring trap layouts to the internet and challenge others to beat their scores and the Vita version allowing the touch screen trap layout and activation. Now Tecmo Koei has released some debut English screenshots and a teaser trailer which highlights some of the aspects of the game and can be found below.
Players will be controlling Laegrinna, a woman called the Devil’s daughter, who must use traps ranging from banana peels and flying cakes to iron maidens and swinging axes to eliminate enemies and will be assisted by three Daemons who will help her sacrifice these enemies and upgrade their traps, with each Daemon delighting in a certain type of death, be it sadistic, elaborate, or humiliating. Examples of how these traps will work can be found in the aforementioned screenshots and trailer below.
It has been awhile since we’ve seen an ESRB rating for a game with some strange themes and now we have one in the form of Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars, which involves creating children with fellow classmates. The game has been rated M for the 3DS, with no rating for the Vita version yet, and it has been given this rating due to “Fantasy Violence, Language, Mild Blood, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes.”
The full ESRB ratingcan be read below while the game itself is set to be released by Atlus in North America sometime this Spring.
This is a role-playing game in which players assume the role of a young student trying to rid the world of monsters. While exploring dungeons, players engage in turn-based battles with a variety of human and fantastical enemies (e.g., ogres, demons). Human characters occasionally use guns to shoot the player’s characters; other fighters use hammers, swords, or blasts of energy to deplete opponents’ health meters.
A handful of scenes depict a character covered in blood across the chest and upper arm. The game includes some suggestive dialogue (e.g., “You have giant boobs!” “I think your breasts are very lovely . . . Um, well…Their shape is…I think boys would like them.”). During the course of the game, players are able to engage in a Classmating system, in which two characters interact to create a Star Child; these brief sequences do not depict sexual acts, though the female characters shown are often partially nude and placed in suggestive poses (e.g., on their hands and knees).
Female characters are also depicted with jiggling breasts, and camera angles often zoom-in on cleavage and buttocks. The words “sh*t” and ‘a*shole’ appear in the dialogue.
