March 11th is the day that the earth will stand still. The day that we will all go beyond death and show that although we may be cursed, we can still carry on for it will be the day that Dark Souls II will go on sale. As we get ever closer to the highly anticipated game’s release, Namco Bandai have been showering us with trailers and screenshots until we can’t take it anymore. Today is another of those days, and we have a brand new bunch of shots to share with you.
The images give us a bit more of a look at some of the world of Dark Souls II – namely some characters and locations. Included in the pictures are;
3 old ladies and the Housekeeper: Milibeth.
Emerald Herald, the mysterious lady.
One of the few Drangleic survivors who wanders endlessly with his furniture on his back: Merchant Hag Melentia.
A cursed lost undead blacksmith: Blacksmith Lenigrast.
Maughlin the Armourer, a Merchant from the West.
A cursed Knight from Mirrah: Lucatiel of Mirrah.
An apostol called blue knight: Blue Sentinel Targray.
Along with the new characters, lot of new items, features and places are shown, among them:
The Deep Pit, a complicated 3 dimensional map.
An Iron-Barred Gondola that will lead the player to new adventures.
Majula, a place at the extremity of Drangleic.
A Human Effigy, an item that could save more than one life.
Check out the gallery of pictures below and let us know your thoughts in the comments. Always remember to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Dark Souls II news as it becomes available.
A week has gone past us already, and it is time for the awesome folks over at Disney to shower us with free Disney Infinity maps in this week’s Toy Box Challenge. As with previous weeks, there are five free maps for Disney Infinity owners to download, as well as a new Toy Box Submission Challenge, and a video that showcases the winners of the previous challenge. Without further adieu, lets get into it!
TOY BOX SUBMISSION CHALLENGE
This week’s Toy Box Submission challenge will be a tricky one. The theme for this week is the Disney Parks Challenge! Time to recreate Disneyland, Disneyworld, Tokyo Disneyland or just about any other Disney Theme Park just like one of the big D’s own Imagineers.
As always, you can create and share your Toy Box creations though, using these instructions:
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U
Bring up the Pause Menu and select “Online/Multiplayer.”
Then select “Toy Box Share” > “Disney’s Toy Boxes” > “Submit to Disney.”
Follow the prompts. You’ll be asked to give your Toy Box an original name and description. Choose carefully – they will be shown to everybody if your Toy Box is featured.
iPad
Bring up the Pause Menu and select “Toy Box Share.”
Then select “Disney’s Toy Boxes” > “Submit to Disney.”
Follow the prompts. You’ll be asked to give your Toy Box an original name and description. Choose carefully – they will be shown to everybody if your Toy Box is featured
TOY BOX COUNTDOWN
This week’s Toy Box Countdown features the top 5 user generated maps that were submitted to Disney for the previous Pirates Adventure Challenge. Check out the video below to see the top 5 entrants in the challenge. All of which you can download right now!
That’s another week of Disney Infinity updates for you passionate Disney fans out there. Were you happy with the Toy Box Countdown winners? Will you be downloading any of the maps (wither from the winners, or from Disney)? Let us know in the comments below, and remember that for all the Disney Infinity news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
If you’re a fan of the long running Hitman series than you will be very excited to hear that the team at Io-Interactive have released an open letter to let fans know a new Hitman title is in the works and that it will be available for PC, Xbox One and PS4. Some of the highlights of the letter include the team announcing the game as AAA (a big call), stating that Contracts Mode is back and that the game will take the best parts of each of the other games in the series.
The story will revolve around Agent 47 at the prime of his career, stalking his prey across the world with the support of his long-term handler Diana Burnwood and the whole of the ICA. No title or release date has been announced yet but expect frequent updates as the game continues its development. To read the full letter to the fans you can follow this link.
Eugen Systems has been making realistic military RTS’s for almost a decade now. What if the Cold War turned hot, with all-out war breaking out breaking out between NATO and the Warsaw Pact nations? Their latest series Wargame is a exploration on the what ifs of the Cold War. Wargame AirLand Battle is the second game in the series and introduces a single campaign plotline based in Scandinavia, new nations, the addition of fixed wing aircraft, tweaks to urban warfare, and adjustments to logistic units.
Story
Wargame AirLand Battle takes place in 1985. The western liberal democratic NATO alliance is now engaged in combat with the communist Warsaw Pact. The war has now spilled over to Scandinavia. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway are now fighting for their very survival. The battle starts in Denmark and quickly spills over into the traditionally neutral country of Sweden. The Swedes are forced to join NATO in hopes of surviving the Warsaw Pact’s onslaught. It is important to note that the plot in Wargame AirLand Battle is not directly related to Wargame European Escalation, so do not be shocked when no “previously in Wargame” screen pops up to update players on the happenings in Wargame’s vision of the Cold War.
The plot in Wargame AirLand Battle is a possible scenario; however, Eugen System chooses the hands off route. Instead of meeting generals and building characters, Wargame AirLand Battle’s presentation of the plot reads more like a history textbook than a videogame. The plot is not the most gripping thing in the world, but it seems plausible.
Gameplay
Wargame AirLand Battle is probably one of the most realistic real time strategy games on the market. Battles are split between two modes, a turn based map and a real time strategy based conflicts. The turn based maps play like a small game of Risk. Players are able to deploy troops, hammer their enemy with a variety of abilities, and position their troops to get the best possible advantage going into the conflict. Each division is comprised of a deck, which represents the amount of units they can call upon during the conflict. Each deck has its own strength and weaknesses. For example, a mechanized infantry division fighting in urban areas and dense forests will have a distinct advantage against an armoured division of tanks. However, change the landscape to the open fields of Europe and the tables will quickly turn. Each division will have a moral and initiative ranking that will dictate how many resource points they will begin the conflict with and how many the enemy will need to accrue to win.
Based on the positioning of divisions on the map, conflicts between enemy divisions will break out. Players will start out in their respective sectors and will be able to spend their entire starting resource points on units that will be instantly deployed to the battlefield. Players will do battle over neutral sectors that will need to be controlled by a command unit. For each sector controlled, players will gain more resource points, allowing them to call in reinforcements that will slowly enter the battlefield. As players destroy enemy units, they will gain points towards victory, which will affect the overall battle map.
On the multiplayer side of things, players can opt to play traditional single map skirmishes with up to 19 other players in four different game modes or play campaign with the turn based battle maps either cooperatively or competitively. Players have greater flexibility to create decks that suit their play style, which emphasizes both smart deck building and RTS skills. The game uses a well-organized lobby system that is easy to navigate.
Eugen Systems takes great pains to make Wargame AirLand Battle as realistic as possible. All units have limited amounts of fuel and ammunition. They must be resupplied by returning to Forward Operating Bases (FOB) or by standing near supply vehicles. Decks limit the amount of troops that can be called into battle, forcing players to also consider their remaining reserve units when engaging in battle. To further improve realism, Eugen Systems bumped up their already impressive 350 historically accurate units to a mind boggling 750 units from twelve different countries in Wargame AirLand Battle.
Wargame AirLand Battle is an impressively deep game. The single battles are dynamic rock, paper, scissors match ups that require smart deck building and strong RTS skills. The campaign mode adds a completely new dimension to the game that will take hours to master. Unfortunately, its depth makes the game very difficult to learn. The tutorial only covers the most basic tactical movements and controls. Most RTS campaigns will slowly introduce a new unit type every level, allowing the player to master the unit’s role in small steps. In Wargame AirLand Battle, the first campaign gives a very rough tutorial on how to use the battle map. Once I was thrown into my very first conflict I was suddenly slammed with a huge amount of units when I had only been introduced to the most basic infantry, scout, armour, and airpower units. However, players who are willing to put the nose to the grind and learn the nuts and bolts of Wargame AirLand Battle are rewarded with a complex game that will please the military, history, and grand strategy nerds.
Visuals
Wargame AirLand Battle is a visually impressive game. The game renders out a visceral intense war on the ground. Zoomed in close, players are treated to some impressive combat scenes. Combat gets hectic with explosions going off, tracers flying, and aircraft screaming overhead. It is a wonderfully chaotic scene to witness. It is incredible to see the attention to detail Eugen Systems developers possess. Individual soldiers in infantry platoons even appear in game. Zoom the game out or sit in the menu and suddenly the player is transported away from the chaos of the battlefield to a sterile far-away command centre complete with era appropriate buttons. The small touches really help create the full package in Wargame AirLand Battle.
Audio
Like any good war film, the sounds of war in Wargame AirLand Battle is backed up with an orchestral score. Wargame AirLand Battle’s music is subtle but imparts a feeling of epic depth that matches the games grand scale. The recording for sound effects are done well. There is a wide variety of gunfire, explosions, vehicle engines, and klaxon horns alerting to important events to breed the chaotic feeling of war and combat. The voice acting is decent, though the lines seem a little thin as I noticed some lines being repeated by different nations here or there.
Overall
Don’t let Wargame AirLand Battle’s huge learning curve scare you off. The game is one of the deepest RTS games I have played in a long time and it is a refreshing change to get out of space and into a less popular war in history. Though a little disappointingly weak in the story side, the game combines snappy visuals, an impressive attention to detail, a solid audio experience, and rewardingly complex gameplay in one package. The icing to the cake? Eugen Systems is releasing free DLCs for Wargame AirLand Battle like they did for the previous Wargame title.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Players have been able to enjoy the addictive over-the-top gameplay of Loadout for quite some time now thanks to the Early Access program of Steam, but those that have been patiently waiting for the full release of the game finally have a set date to look forward to, the final day of January.
Developer Edge of Reality has been in the gaming business for quite some time porting games to other systems like the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series and making games from other IPs like movie tie-in games, but Loadout is their venture into something uniquely theirs. With 3 years spent developing Loadout, it is finally ready to go gold and let players craft their own guns, with over 44 billion possibilities.
The players wanting to check out the free-to-play action shooter for themselves can get Loadout January 31st, 2014 from Steam. While those still not wanting to wait those scant few days can still find it on Early Access.
GAMEVIL is happy to announce that today marks the release date for their latest free-to-play title – Kiwi Dash. Available on both App Store and Google Play, the game is to allow players an endless, casual chasing experience featuring adorable birds known as Kiwis. In this wondrous turn of events, cats have stolen a precious totem from the Kiwi haven, and the once docile creatures must reclaim what was rightfully theirs. Kyu Lee, President of GAMEVIL USA, had the following to add:
We’re excited to launch Kiwi Dash as it marks our first take on the casual, sideways runner. We’ve learned a lot collaborating with Vanilla Breeze, and we feel confident that the game will appeal to a wide casual gaming audience around the world.
Be prepared to run, dash, dodge, and collect plentiful amounts of kiwi fruits in your future excursions in Kiwi Dash! Grab your free copy now at the App Store or Google Play. Take a look at the official trailer below for a glimpse of Kiwi action!
Hozuki No Reitetsu Episode 2 – Demons And Underwear And Crabs/The State Of Hell, And This And That
Another week, another episode and I’m so glad because I cannot get enough of Hozuki No Reitetsu. Welcome back to another instalment 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 two, an episode where Hozuki must deal with young demons slacking off and talking about underwear as well as a surprise visit from European Hell’s very own overlord; Satan. Hozuki No Reitetsu has only come out with two episodes as of right now but it has already concreted itself in as one of my favourite Anime series’ of this season so let’s get into it and see whether or not episode two hit the bar that episode one raised last week.
Demons And Underwear And Crabs:
What do you get when you cross demons with underwear and crabs? Answer: Another odd episode of Hozuki No Reitetsu. Let’s be honest; work is boring and nobody enjoys their job, if you do however, you may be on the right path to some sort of success but that comes in time, today’s episode of Hozuki No Reitetsu showed us that, no matter what age, no matter what race, no matter what plane of existence you live on; work is bad and singing about underwear is good.
Karauri and Nasubi, two young demons, are spending their work day at the shore of the River of Styx cleaning all of the trash left behind by humans who have been disintegrated but it seems like that’s not enough excitement for little Nasubi so he decided to sing a few jingles he’s heard on TV, jingles heard on underwear commercials…you see where this is going.
The songs spark conversation regarding underwear and this lasts for the whole episode with crabs being shown in different scenes throughout, that’s where the episode name comes from. Nothing actually happens within this episode, no actual issues are resolved because, really, there were no issues to begin with. Little Nasubi gets into trouble for screwing up a job he had to do but that quickly gets thrown to the side for more talks of undergarments.
I have to be entirely honest and say, as of right now with two episodes and four short stories in, this would have to be my least favourite simply because I feel as though it wasn’t as elegantly put together as the other ones, I still loved it with its small play on words and references to Italy and our favourite Italian plumber Mario but I can’t say I enjoyed it as much as the last two stories. I Suppose not every episode is going to knock it out of the park but the second story of episode two really won me back over.
The State Of Hell, And This And That:
Now this half-episode here was an absolute ripper! “The State of Hell, And This And That” had the leader of European hell, Satan, pay a visit to the Japanese hell rules in an attempt to lull them into a false sense of security by being nice and showing respect but with the dark intentions of eventually taking over and extending his rule to Asia. Satan doesn’t even know what he’s in for. Hozuki, being the titular character, takes him for a tour of their hell, all the while Satan plots different ways he can take over.
Between the mispronunciation of Satan as Santa and the constant signs of disrespect to the seemingly unpopular leader of hell, this episode absolutely killed me, in a good way! Showing Satan as an eventual nervous and fear-filled character was such a good move to be written into a story like this because it showed Hozuki No Reitetsu’s ability to poke fun at both themselves and at others’ beliefs, myths and legends.
Satan constantly broke character having him call his minions “good little devils” and noting that if his underlings treated him the way Hozuki treats King Enma he’d surely burst into tears every time, Satan even begged God to save him from the terror that is Hozuki and Asian hell which was probably the very best way they could have ended that episode. This half of the episode gave me the cleverness that I longed for while watching the first half of the episode and really showed me just how intelligent Hozuki No Reitetsu is and that the first episode wasn’t just a fluke, it really is this funny and it really is this smart.
Lines get delivers in Hozuki No Reitetsu like no others, I barely laugh at the Japanese dub of any Anime yet this series has made me cackle openly while watching it. The great thing is that it doesn’t treat you like an idiot, Satan mentions that Hozuki is slender and therefore weak but recalls the “recent heroes from Japanese videogames” and how they’re both slender and strong while we’re shown images of Cloud and Sephiroth of Final Fantasy fame as well as others, they’re not directly mentioned by name but we all get the message and I’m sure we all giggled when we saw Cloud’s spiky hair.
I was a bit worried when I saw that first story and didn’t quite enjoy it as much as I had anticipated but, by the end of the full episode I was locked back in and it sealed its place as a series I will continue to watch while others series’ of this season have still not proven themselves to me as fantastic titles…at least, not as fantastic as this one. I pray that Hozuki No Reitetsu continues to get better while also growing in popularity so it gets the large audience I honestly think it deserves. Continue to keep an eye on this site and it’s Anime Impressions page because will be continuing to do Hozuki No Reitetsu impressions indefinitely.
Check out more Hozuki No Reitetsu impressions HERE.
Digital media company Area 5, the folks behind such works as fighting game film I Am Street Fighter and behind-the-scenes The Last Of Us film, Grounded: Making The Last Of Us, have announced a documentary series about video game culture. The documentary series, called Outerlands: Season One, will be a six-part series that will aim to cover everything from e-sports and clans to game preservation, the rise of streaming content, and more.
Area 5 is seeking $210,000 in order to make this happen. That will cover everything from backer rewards to the travel and production costs of making the documentary itself. If any of you have seen I Am Street Fighter (and you should if you haven’t!), you’ll know the quality of work Area 5 does.
Area 5 also worked on the “I Am Street Fighter” documentary.
If you’re interested in getting helping get this project off the ground, you can head over to their official Kickstarter page. For more information on Area 5, you can check out their website here.
Coming off of yesterdays news regarding the addition of Shonen series rivals like Frieza, Madara and Akainu being added to the upcoming Namco Bandai brawler “J-Stars Victory Vs.“, it seems as though we’re met with a little more news on the same topic and it involves the adding of three more rival characters to the games already large roster.
Sosuke Aizen (Bleach) and Toguro (Yu Yu Hakusho) have both been announced as playable characters where as Hisoka of “Hunter x Hunter” fame happens to just feature as a support character rather than a fully playable one. Though the image from Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine that is currently in circulation isn’t of the highest quality it is still good enough to see the new characters added.
Like we say almost every time some “J-Stars Victory Vs.” news breaks; we all really hope this gets an outside of Japan release because it is looking to be one of the greatest Anime crossover games of our generations. Stay tuned for more news as it breaks.
D3Publsiher, Cartoon Network Enterprises and Namco Bandai Games are all extremely excited to announce that the very first DLC characters for the brand-new Adventure Time game, “Explore The Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW!“, has just been released and it comes with some awesomely cool characters to play as. Peppermint Butler, Gunter and King of Mars are the three new characters that take the spotlight, if you’re fans of the Adventure Time show than you’ll know instantly who these characters are but for those of you who don’t watch it…well, honestly, you’re probably not reading this right now.
With so many crazy dungeons to hack and slash your way through it only makes sense for some new kick-arse characters to be added into the mix and they just so happen to have chosen some of the strangest yet best! The DLC characters is available now on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U, the Xbox 360 version of the DLC will be sold for £1.29 per character whereas the PlayStation 3 and Wii U characters will go for £1.59 each so if you’re an Adventure Time fan living in the UK I suggest you jump on now to grab your new characters and keep on adventuring!
