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Hot Wheels: World’s Best Driver Review

January 13, 2014

Hot Wheels: World’s Best Driver
Developer: Chillingo
Publisher: Chillingo
Platforms: iPad (Reviewed)
Release Date: Out Now
Price: $2.99 – Available Here

Overview

Hot Wheels: World’s Best Driver is a nice new take on the racing formula, and one that should fit right at home on a mobile device. Instead of traditional track-racing, Hot Wheels offers a series of bite-sized challenges. Unfortunately, the challenges aren’t that fun, and this, combined with the game’s clumsy controls and sub-par visuals really make for a package that captures none of the heart and soul of the Hot Wheels cars many of us played with as kids.

Story

Hot Wheels: Worlds Best Driver puts you in the shoes of one of four different racing teams. Each team is competing for the title of, you guessed it; “World’s Best Driver.” To attain the lofty rank the racers will have to go through a series of difficult challenges to test their speed and dexterity on the racetrack. That’s really all there is in the way of story, and it honestly doesn’t do much to tie the game together. You can play through all of the game’s challenges without ever knowing why you are doing it and the experience will still be the same.

Gameplay

Hot Wheels is a racing game, but it is one that deviates a little bit from the norm. Instead of putting you in a series of races against AI controlled opponents around winding tracks and sprawling backdrops, Hot Wheels has you completing a series of racing challenges. These challenges depend on which of the four teams you choose. Each of the teams; green, blue, yellow and red, all have their unique driving styles (high speed, high-tech, powerful and outrageous respectively) which offers unique and varied ways to play between them.

Green will have you racing through drag strips and through tracks as quick as you can. It is filled with a lot of time trials and speed challenges. Blue will have you making the most out of your drift maneuverabilities and deploying parachutes to make you stop right on the line. The yellow team has you pushing through walls and crashing into opponents to show you who is the best on the road, and finally the red team in their motorcycles are the daredevils – racing through obstacle courses and spitting in the face of fear.

There is a lot of content here – each team has six different stages of challenges to unlock, with 2-3 challenges in each. Furthermore, the challenges can all award up to three medals depending on how well you perform so there is a definite incentive to replay. Unfortunately, the game plays awkwardly and overall is just not that fun.

The controls are the biggest let down for Hot Wheels. The game has your car accelerating manually, and only gives you control over the left/right turning, drifting and any optional items you would deploy. There is no option to break or slow down, which means that it is very easy to lose control of your car along the various tracks. This is especially pertinent in some of the harder challenges where slipping off the track or running into a wall even once forces you to restart the entire challenge again.

Visuals

The visuals for World’s Best Driver are outdated to say the least. Everything is highly pixellated and looks like it has come out of the early 2000s. The cars are all so jagged that they almost look blurry and it is hard to play for more than a few minutes before it hurts the eyes. The backdrops aren’t too much better either, being sparse and just as poorly rendered as the vehicles themselves. None of the magic of playing with Hot Wheels cars as a kid is captured here, and that is a real shame.

Audio

The game’s audio handles itself a fair bit better than its visuals. A nice up-tempo soundtrack underlies the racing game and somewhat helps put you into the racing frame of mind. Where the audio is let down is the constant narration in your ear by your crew member. Failing a mission will get you berated over and over again, while succeeding will get a tiny bit of praise. The crew member is also incredibly repetitive; it wont take too long before you have heard everything he has to say to you (multiple times).

Overall

Hot Wheels: World’s Best Driver is an interesting take on the racing genre. Its small, bite-sized challenge structure is perfect for on the go racing and its incredible amount of content would have you hooked for hours. Sadly though, the game itself just isn’t that fun. Poor visuals, an annoying pit crew voice in your ear and relatively boring missions really make this a game that even die hard Hot Wheels fans would struggle to enjoy.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Paranoia Review

Vicky Martin

January 13, 2014

Paranoia
Studio: Icon Home Entertainment
Publisher: Icon Home Entertainment
Format: Blu-ray, DVD (Reviewed)
Release Date: Out Now
Price: $24.95 – Available Here

Overview

Director Robert Luketic brings to screen Paranoia, a thriller based on the 2004 best-selling novel by Joseph Finder. The worn-out tagline ‘be careful what you wish for’ is a diminishing factor for the film, which renders a sense of familiarity from titles with the same premise. Should the audience be paranoid that the Box Office earnings of the debut were not very successful? Perhaps the all star-cast, namely Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, can convince the audience otherwise, to save the film for digital home entertainment.

Story

Paranoia begins with a franticly paced and splintered chase scene, in which we only see fragments of the protagonist Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth), admitting to the audience that he can no longer make excuses for wanting to become someone else. Cue the American Dream pitch of how men lie, cheat and steal to protect their wealth and how life looks so much better on the other side.

In a nutshell, the first two minutes of this film narrows the storyline and sets up a typical narrative structure –that has no doubt been seen before. An aspiring successor from Brooklyn, Adam Cassidy (27yrs) is an entry-level employee at the high-tech company Wyatt Corp with the opportunity to change his life around by impressing the CEO, Nicolas Wyatt (Gary Oldman) in a group pitch project. The night before the presentation, Adam discovers that Wyatt Corp cut-back on his extended coverage for health insurance and he now owes $40,000 for his dad, Frank’s (Richard Dreyfuss) emphysema medical bills. Despite the alarming amount of debt, Adam unthinkingly costs his team and himself their jobs, after screwing up the pitch project and insulting the boss’s intelligence.

To celebrate his failure, Adam proceeds to take his former co-workers out to party at Club Rize, blowing $16,000 from Wyatt Corp’s Ethion discretionary fund on credit card. There he meets the mysterious and sexy, Emma Jennings (Amber Heard) on the dance floor and, unsurprisingly, wakes up in her bed the next morning. Unable to get her name or number, Adam retreats back home, but is interrupted by Wyatt’s detailed security, Miles Meechum (Julian McMahon), who delivers him to the man in charge.

For the price of credit card fraud, Nicolas Wyatt manipulates Adam into working for the competing company, Eikon, in return for a huge payout (not suspicious at all. . .) and secure jobs for his friends. With no choice outside of prosecution, Adam agrees to get inside the industry and steal the trade secrets on the latest smartphone, Occura, from the founder, Jock Goddard (Harrison Ford).

In order for this to happen, Adam, ironically, is transformed into the ‘someone else’ he always wanted to be and leaves his family and friends behind. With the help of Dr. Judith Bolton (Embeth Davidtz), Adam is (metaphorically) taken across the bridge into the other side of life; as a business executive with a new suit, apartment, car and position in Eikon. Coincidentally, Adam becomes reacquainted with Emma, who happens to be working as a marketing executive, for the same company.

Aside from the obvious office romance, as the film progresses the audience learns more about the rivalry between multi-millionaires Goddard and Wyatt. Adam takes his knowledge and skill to build trust, which is quoted in the film as “the holy grail of espionage”, with both parties to gain the upper-hand. Here would be a good time to mention, that the paramount performance goes to Gary Oldman, for his portrayal of a cold, corrupt billionaire CEO, amongst the one-dimensional performances by the rest of the cast.

Further discussion of the storyline would result in spoilers, so I’ll just mention the inevitable conclusion of an escalating situation and dramatic conflict consuming Adam, as he falls deeper into the lair of corruption, blackmail and spiral of lies.

Visuals

Paranoia highlights the dominance of security camera-like views, which are pivotal in espionage thrillers. The visual focus change between the eye of the camera and recipients on the other end, is effective in keeping the audience alert and on edge. An exemplary scene is when Adam comes to the realisation that he is under surveillance in his new apartment, and loses control by tearing down books from the shelves, smashing the roof smoke alarm and television to destroy all the wired cameras. In comparison, the shaky-camera effect during the chase scene between Adam and Miles is perfect for enhancing the intimacy of “paranoia”. I was disappointed that this camera technique was not used more frequently throughout the film.

Audio

Composer, Junkie XL creates an enriching score that seemingly follows the narrative and character development, with pulsating rhythms and a techno soundscape. The most interesting aspect of the soundtrack is the composer’s use of Moog synthesizers, to build an intense and powerful theme of suspense throughout the film. As for the sounds, the title Paranoia suggests that the viewers would be hearing creepy, unsuspecting and constant noises; instead the audience is exposed to the hum drum of technological communications in everyday life.

Overall

Paranoia is a mediocre film that serves as a reminder that “there is nothing original left in the world”; that’s only if you create a shallow, predictable and unrealistic movie. The film highlights the very real issue of the expanding freedom of social media networks, ultimately turning users into their own prisoner, as the protagonist discovers. Frequent use of fixed camera shots overlain with HUD’s reinforces the paradigm, that at every moment we are being watched or listened in on by someone with a phone or camera. Despite impressive visuals and an excellent soundtrack, Paranoia lacks the heart to distinguish it from its mechanics. The core of the film is held back by poor dialogue choices, cliché’s and a simplistic plotline, which detach the viewer from any sophisticated emotional connections with the characters. It is a decent movie to kill time, however don’t expect to see it more than once.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Nobunagun Episode 2 Impressions

Kane Bugeja

January 13, 2014

Nobunagun-Episode-2-01 — **I don’t think you appreciate the gravity of the situation**

Nobunagun
Gun No. 2: Evolutionary Invasion Objects

Alrighty, let’s jump straight back into the action shall we? The last time we left Sio/Nobunagun, she was gunning down monsters with extreme fervour and just a little bit too much joy…a lot to much joy. Is that just a little bit creepy you might ask? Yes. Yes it is. Even Jack the Ripper was freaked out and, well he’s Jack the goddamn Ripper…well kind of, but you get the point. Anywho, with her introductory awesomeness beginning to subside, we start to see the impact that this sudden life change has on Sio.

Though she has an encyclopaedic knowledge of weaponry and military hardware, Sio’s inexperience becomes more and more apparent as the battle wears on. Not used to actually wielding a weapon, she fall victim to one of the ever present complications of firing: recoil. Considering her’s is of a much higher calibre than most, she begins to miss targets and subsequently lets panic sink in. This serves to show that even with the spirit of Nobunaga, and a giant cannon affixed to her arm, Sio is still a schoolgirl at odds with her budding powers. In fact, the entire relationship between the historical souls and their reincarnations is still rather mysterious. As previously mentioned, Jack the Ripper was concerned whe he saw Sio smiling during her battle. Whilst an astute observation, he himself wasn’t too different when fighting. Whether this is because he’s shocked that a girl is similar to him or that he doesn’t realise how he acts during combat is yet to be seen…or he could just be a hypocrite. Who can say?

Nobunagun-Episode-2-04 — **Always keep danger at an arm’s length**

The two newly revealed E-Gene Holders are also rather…unorthodox. Newton, with her gravity altering boot, seems rather violent and Gandhi, while presenting an air of calmness, is still kinda…off. Being able to remain normal in such dire situations is not something just anyone can do. Though the spirit of one of history’s greatest pacifists may have something to do with that. Plus it gives him a rather strange, but still kinda awesome, helmet that projects forcefields using its attached arms. A power I’m sure will come in handy. See what I did there?

The nature of the reincarnations is also blurred when Sio reveals some latent Nobunaga skills. Though she herself is inexperienced, she is able to strategise with the same style and aptitude as her previous life, devising a plan to seize victory from the jaws of hopelessness. Her weapon is also shown to possess hidden aspects, when she draws an additional two guns from the larger cannon, covering her weakness from peripheral attacks. Eventually defeating a whopping 202 Evolutionary Invasion Objects, Sio proves that despite inexperience her new powers are incredibly formidable, impressing every member of the Defence Organisation aGainst Outer Objects (DOGOO), the organisation each E-Gene Holder (the reincarnations) belongs to. Phew, a whole lot of information being thrown around here.

Nobunagun-Episode-2-02 — **I wonder what Darwin has to say about these guys…**

With the present danger dealt with, the anime takes a rather rare turn for an “organisation vs monsters” series: it reveals the truth to the public. As this is the first time the creatures have made it on land, DOGOO realises that they can’t keep the recent events from the public and have already explained the situation to a majority of the world’s governments. The whole outfit seems rather practical actually. Also it’s rather refreshing to see a series where the battles don’t take place behind the scenes, with Deus ex machinas used to explain the continued secrecy of such grand scale conflicts. The public is also made immediately aware of Sio’s status as a new E-Gene Holder, a fact the press jump on. Again, this relieves another classic anime trope: oblivious parents. I can’t count how many series have a young character save the world, whilst their parents simply wonder why they’re late for dinner. It can wear a little thin after a while. It’s also interesting to note that DOGOO has an openly voluntary employment policy. As opposed to forcing the protagonist into responsibility, they simply ask her if she wants to join. Why aren’t all supranational anti-monster agencies this polite?

Some light is also shed on the Evolutionary Invasion Objects that threaten humanity. Put simply: they came from space. Riding a tiny meteorite, single celled organisms crashed into the Pacific Ocean and began to adapt. Though at a stage equivalent to fish for about 10 years, their rapid advancement has had them begin the amphibian stage, with fear of a reptilian evolution not too far away. This alone serves as an interesting premise for the series. Though so far we’ve only seen them in a negative light, what with the murder and all, the creatures hold the potential for some interesting development. In essence, they are the same as the creatures that roamed Earth in it’s relative infancy. Creatures with the simple, bestial purpose of survival. Of evolution. Naturally, since their path has them walk over humanity, they are a threat to society.

Nobunagun-Episode-2-03 — **Ogura Sio takes the world stage**

I’m interested to see which way the anime takes each of the concepts it has raised thus far. The path of classic monster threats will no doubt lead to some kickass battles with lots of violence and destruction. Whilst on the other hand, the path of alien nature clashing with society would raise some interesting philosophical questions. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Check out more Nobunagun Impressions HERE.

Nobunagun Episode 1 Impressions

Kane Bugeja

January 13, 2014

Nobunagun-Episode-1-01 — **A hero awakens**

Nobunagun
Gun No. 1: Oda Nobunaga

So history is pretty par for the course when you’re in school. Dates, events, people. You learn about the past so we can move into the future, a new age. Those who don’t learn are doomed to repeat the mistakes of times long gone. You know, that old chestnut. So it may appear a little counter intuitive when the present’s best hope for survival revolves around breathing new life into the past.

Anyway, how about we meet our protagonist? Ogura Sio. Kind of a difficult girl to qualify. In some ways the typical anime schoolgirl, she begins her day by running to school, toast in mouth, panicking at her lateness. That being said, we learn beforehand that she is intensely interested in weaponry, guns to be more specific, a fact belied by her cute appearance. A quirky girl who somehow manages to both blend into the scenery and stand out. Each student knows her as the weird girl yet a teacher completely forgot about her when taking attendance. For a field trip to Taiwan. Which is a pretty cool excursion if I do say so myself. Going by first appearances, which is what we have at the moment, Sio is a pretty interesting protagonist, combining both the relatability that highschool anime students are supposed to express, along with a uniqueness that makes you want to follow her story…which gets a little crazy from here on out.

Nobunagun-Episode-1-02 — **Different? How do you mean?**

After a little sightseeing in Taiwan, there is a surprise appearance by a monstrous creature who rises from the ocean, ready to make a go of it on land. Unfortunately for literally everyone who isn’t the monster, it has a fondness for obliteration and decides to partake in a little anti-human, anti-life behaviour. Naturally the military shows up, proves ineffective and subsequently explodes. It’s like they’ve never watched a monster movie before. Similarly on queue is the arrival of someone who can actually do something against the titanic creature: some guy. Though, through the power of us being the audience, we learn that he is part of an organisation created to defeat these creatures, who have just now begun to encroach on land, having previously living solely in the ocean. Revealed to be Jack the Ripper, he calls forth a kick ass blade arm and goes ballistic on the beast and, as expected, deals considerable damage…before it explodes into hundreds of smaller monsters…damn.

Meanwhile, Sio stumbles around the battlefield in search of her not-quite-but-still-kinda-getting-to-be friend, who has not yet escaped. This is a pretty defining moment for her as, since she is the outcast of school, she really doesn’t have close friends. That she would be willing to risk her life for a girl who was nice to her only minutes ago, showcases a powerful sense of bravery, loyalty and compassion. Imagine what she’d do for someone she knew well. Anyway, running into the fray, Sio eventually crosses paths with the monsters and stands face to face with death…which is then killed by Jack, who is subsequently stabbed, who stands face to face with death, which is then killed by Sio…it’s all very neat and cyclical. What’s that? How did Sio save Jack? Oh yeah, I kinda skipped over that part…sorry. Well ol’ Jack, when injured, dropped a mystical artefact that was in turn picked up by Sio. Bearing the power of a historical soul, she was able to unlock her potential and reveal her true self, a form she herself named: Nobunagun. Don’t you just love it? It’s just so…punny. Even Jack can’t believe it. Anyway, with giant, soul powered gun as hand, Sio proceeds to unleash a barrage of bullets unto the coastal menace…and looks just a little too happy doing so.

Nobunagun-Episode-1-03 — **Immediate badass status attained**

Though only two have been shown fully thus far, with two more glimpsed at, the character’s personalities also seem fundamentally affected by the soul they carry within them. For example our heroine Ogura Sio, bearing the soul of the apparent firearm proponent Nobunaga, is herself a bit of a gun nut, able to tell from a glance the calibre of even military level hardware. This effect seems to only be amplified when they manifest their weapon. Sio fired upon the creatures with the same fervour that Nobunaga himself is implied to have. As the remnants of his persona laugh maniacally within her mind, Sio herself has a rather murderous smile etched on her face.

In a similar vein, the visuals of the series are also pretty damn cool. The two weapons we’ve seen so far pretty much exist for the sake of being cool as much as they are for fighting monsters. I mean that gun is as big as Sio is, not to mention the tonfa/Swiss Army sword Jack wields. The monster attack also brought with it an interesting visual effect, in that the colour palette took a bit of a dramatic shift. Sio’s eyes turned red, her hair a shade of blue and the world went overall darker. This really incited a sense of the unknown and served to show just how scared and lost Sio was. This also contrasts with the earlier visuals, where Sio was surrounded by flowers and there was some sort of floral overlay in a number of scenes.

Nobunagun-Episode-1-04 — **Nobunagun is born!**

Well that was Episode 1. How’d you all enjoy it? So far, it’s proving to be a rather interesting series. The whole reincarnation, weapon summoning premise is rather unique and fresh. With Nobunaga and Jack the Ripper on stage, plus Newton and Gandhi on their way, there seems to be quite a mash up of history on its way.

Check out more Nobunagun Impressions HERE.

Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate’s Marie Rose hitting consoles in February

Travis Bruno

January 13, 2014

Today during the Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Official Tournament 2013-2014, the producer of the game, Yosuke Hayashi, made the announcement that they are planning on releasing patch 1.04 to the arcade version of their game later this month and in more exciting news, he went on to say that this same patch would be hitting the console versions of the game sometime in February with a major addition.

This patch will include the release of Marie Rose for the console version of the game as well as fix some bugs and apparently add some new features that were not detailed by Tecmo Koei during the announcement.

Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught DLC info leaked

Travis Bruno

January 13, 2014

Call of Duty: Ghosts Onslaught DLC info leaked

It looks like fans of Activision‘s latest entry in their yearly FPS series will be getting their first set of serious DLC soon. Thanks to a GameStop store putting up their display early, a Twitter user managed to tip off the internet to Call of Duty: Ghosts’ first map pack DLC.

Expect the DLC to drop on January 8th for the Xbox Live Marketplace first, with other platforms getting it at a later unspecified date, and it will feature four multiplayer maps called Fog, Containment, Ignition, and Bayview, an Extinction episode called Nightfall, and a new gun called the Maverick AR & Sniper Rifle.

Sakura Trick Episode 1 Impressions

Sanjay Parbhu

January 13, 2014

Sakura Trick

Episode 1 – Sakura Coloured Beginnings & Yakisoba,Verandas And Girls

The 2014 winter anime season is upon us and I can already see the cherry blossoms, some of you may think of them as elegant and breathtaking but for me I find them only quite amusing at best. Okay so obviously I’m not taking about the actual flowers but rather a show that bears the name, with that said I invite you all to join me as I take a look at that the anime Sakura Trick.

Before the OP starts we get an introduction to our two main characters; Haruka Takayama, who is excited about her first day at high school, is woken up in the middle of the night by her best friend Yuu Sonoda. What important matter made her call up Haruka at 12:34 am you may ask? To find out if she packed her pencils… no really, that’s the reason. Yuu rings up a second time to remind Haruka to check what class she will be in and not to show up with food on her face. We are then treated to a zoom into a photo of the two together with three other friends, followed by Haruka falling on her bed saying “Yuu-chan’s the nicest friend ever.”

The first half of the episode “Sakura Coloured Beginnings” is used to establish both the main characters and introduce us to the other supporting characters; Iizuka Yuku, Ikeno Kaede, Kotone Noda and Shizuku Minami. Although Haruka and Yuu are the ones that share the special kiss (we will get to that shortly), the other four girls are also paired up. Iizuka is best friends with Ikeno and Kotone introduces Shizuku to everyone. Haruka and Yuu’s relationship starts to develop when Haruka suddenly runs away after seeing other people linking arms (or as she puts it, her treasured spot) with Yuu. After finding her in an unused classroom Yuu suggests they create a memory by doing something they wouldn’t do with anyone else, finally arriving to the long awaited kiss, the 30 second long kiss to be exact.

Although only some moments were lightly humorous, the first half does succeed in showing each character’s personality. Haruka is the more sensitive/romantic of the two whilst Yuu is more realistic in her train of thoughts, not really what I was expecting considering she is smaller and cuter then Haruka. The balance between pairs can also be seen the supporting characters with Ikeno winding up the serious minded Iizuka, and the outgoing nature of Kotone helping the more reserved Shizuku is a nice friendship in the making.

The second half of the episodes titled “Yakisoba, Verandas and Girls” is based around Haruka and Yuu trapped in the same unused classroom where they had their kiss. To avoid being caught by some incoming teachers they decide to hide outside on the veranda, once they think the coast is clear they walk back in to discover the teachers had locked the classroom door.

There are still moments where the humour is just weak/ stupid, but there are three golden moments that occur that put this story far ahead of the first one, making it a great way to end the entire episode. The overall goal of delivering yakisoba to Iizuka and Ikeno is a great set up; it frequently shows scenes of the two girls waiting for Haruka and Yuu to return and ends in a nice, unpredictable way. The tone Yuu uses for one line after she kisses Haruka is just hilarious and the story has the most awesomely impossible way to jump across verandas I have ever seen, I couldn’t help but admire what a ridiculous yet enjoyable scene it was.

One thing that did bother me about this episode was the amount of fan service that was used; there was only one scene where chest grabbing was essential to a joke and although it was used periodically, it didn’t add anything to either story plot. There are a few fan service bits in the opening theme so I recommend skipping it if you are in company. The theme song does fit the overall tone of the show as it is light hearted, upbeat and does put you in the mood for a light comedy show. The ending is also joyful and leaves you in the same state of mind you had when you first entered the show, again a few fan service scenes are added and some will find the chibi versions of the characters adorable.

Overall I found the first episode of Sakura Trick to be good; nothing to write home about, but also not bad enough to put you off watching the show. The first half gave us an insight into each character and the second half gave us that wonderful veranda jump (seriously it’s just straight out funny), an average show that does have its moments.

Check out more Sakura Trick impressions HERE.

Paul Walker’s Role as Agent 47 Going to Homeland’s Rupert Friend?

Zac Elawar

January 13, 2014

Paul Walker’s sudden, tragic death left multiple production studios scrambling to re-cast his planned roles, and in the case of Fast & Furious 7, stop filming and re-write the script. One of his upcoming roles that needs to be re-cast is that of Agent 47 in the character-titled sequel to Hitman, released in 2007.

Rumours are circulating that Fox International Productions, in conference with Square Enix, have offered the role to Homeland‘s Rupert Friend. The British actor previously starred in The Young Victoria (2009) and Pride & Prejudice (2005). Relativity Media’s The Best of Me is also in need of a replacement lead, and apparently James Marsden (X-Men, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) is in the running there. What do you guys think of these rumours? I actually can visualise Friend embodying the character more than I ever could Walker, although I do recognise he was an underrated actor as evidenced by his stand-out performance in Running Scared (2006) and the posthumous praise he is receiving for Hours.

Wizards Announces Magic: The Gathering Collector Coins

Andrew Day

January 13, 2014

Wizards of the Coast and The New Zealand Mint are teaming up for a very special collector’s product – new Magic: The Gathering Collector Coins. The coins are being minted from one ounce of 0.999 silver and feature a prominent figure of the Magic multiverse painted on. The first coin will feature the hugely popular Planeswalker; Jace, The Mind Sculptor.

These collectors coins are different to medallions in that they are legal tender. The New Zealand Mint has the right to produce national currency, and so these coins, despite their odd shape and design will be exchangeable for $2.00 in the Pacific nation of Niue (granted, nobody would ever sell them as they will be worth a fair bit more than $2).

The current going rate for 1 ounce of 0.999 silver is ~$20 which means that barring any insane markups, the sterling silver coin featuring Jace will actually be cheaper to buy than the card itself. Let that sink in – one ounce of silver is worth less than a piece of printed card.

There will be a strict 5000 of these minted so stocks are sure to go quickly. There is no set price yet for these coins, but pre-orders will be available from retailers soon for their March 1st launch. For a little more info on the coins then check out the New Zealand Mint page on the product. Do these coins interest you, or could you not care less? Let us know in the comments below and as always be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Magic: The Gathering news as it becomes available.

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