While we know that Toukiden: The Age of Demons is currently set to be released in North America on February 11th and sometime in February for Europe, we now have confirmation from Tecmo Koei that the game will also be released in Australia and New Zealand in February 2014.
Developed by Omega Force is set in the historical period of Japan where humans fight for survival against monstrous demons of immense strength. Only Slayers, an elite force that has protected mankind in secret for years, can turn the tide of the battle. Players take control of a young Slayer that they can completely customize with six different weapon types to try out. To help get players started, anyone who pre-orders Toukiden through the PSN will receive Mitama of Momotaro, a soul that will strengthen the player’s kill and a pair of cat ears for armor.
Trolls. We’ve all seen them, we all feed them, and intentionally or unintentionally, we have probably all been them at some point. Ever since the first badly-dressed gamer from the 70’s altered the size of their paddle in pong, there have always been people who will grief, cheat, and exploit game mechanics to have fun. Nowadays, with the inclusion of multiplayer in so many titles, these people have found a way to affect the enjoyment of other players. Hell, I’ve been guilty of it myself, spending game after game of Halo 3 camping in areas that required trick jumping to get to, bringing an energy sword raining down onto the skulls of unsuspecting enemy players that happened to stroll by. Similarly, I have had to suffer my fair share of Call of Duty matches where someone is floating above the map somehow, repeatedly busting open my skull from an invisible location. Don’t even get me started on the amount of times I have ragequit matches after being hit with a grenade launcher from halfway across the world upon spawning, only to be told that I’m an 8 year old noob who should probably go and jump off of a cliff.
Hidden behind an alias or a veil of anonymity, it is easy to say or do whatever you want without any fear of repercussion, but what is the reason that people act in such a manner online? Well, according to a study carried out by Vivian Hsueh-Hua Chen and Yuehua Wu, this kind of behaviour isn’t always driven by the individual, but rather the attitude of the group as a whole. The study examined 941 teenagers and how they acted online when playing MMO’s. Interesting results were drawn regarding the level of ‘cheating’ among different genders, but the most striking conclusion was the following:
“… deviant behaviors online, such as game cheating, are largely influenced by the online social groups people feel they belong to. An online group, despite its fluid, unstable and imaginary nature, is powerful in constructing and changing its members’ attitudes and views on behaviours. Hence, a behaviour that is perceived as problematic and deviant can be reconstructed with a different interpretation.”
Simply put, this means that when an anonymous player is put into a group of other anonymous users, they will tend to imitate how those players behave, speak, and play.
No foul play here, just two guys crouching over a dead body… Repeatedly
As someone who focuses on competitive games, I can’t say I am entirely convinced by this conclusion, but I can definitely see how it would apply to particular games. Since I started playing DOTA 2, I have had to acclimatise myself to the sea of hatred that is the MOBA community, be it in League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Defense of the Ancients, or any other MOBA style game. In that scenario, I can definitely see how imitation is a factor, be it the post-game GG or the torrent of mutual hate that comes whenever someone gives up after 5 minutes and feeds for the rest of the game.
One question to ask yourself though is whether imitation of group behaviour is always a negative thing? One form of imitation that is integral to the success of most MMOs is a sense of competitiveness. Without friends to play with, most gamers lose interest in new titles at an alarming rate, but in a team of like-minded people, something drives them to aspire to new heights. Taking this discussion back to my earlier example of Halo 3, sure, groups or ‘clans’ of players probably taught each other some bad habits and I probably dished out my fair share of abuse and exhibited some, “deviant behaviour,” of my own. Oh, the shenanigans we would get up to: comparing people’s mothers to various moons of Saturn, telling screechy little kids to delete system 32 before realising I wasn’t on a PC, ah, what little bastards we were, but I digress. Having a team mentality can make a game infinitely more entertaining by making you push for that next skill level, raising the bar with every game. Given the choice between the hellish, flaming spiral of bitterness and contempt that we have now and a world where all games are uncompetitive, but everyone is best friends, I’d pick up my headset and scream at my DOTA buddies any day of the week. In conclusion, play nice, but not too nice. Unless someone noobtubes you. Then they probably deserve it…
The only troll I have to deal with nowadays
What do you think? Does flaming, trolling, and griefing come down to the individual? Or is this behavior learned and imitated from the people they play with? Let us know in the comment section below.
Today Ubisoft has released a few new screenshots for Assassin’s Creed: Liberation HD which show off how much of a graphical upgrade the game has received since it was released on the PlayStation Vita back in 2012. The smaller image represents Assassin’s Creed 3: Liberation while the larger shows off Assassin’s Creed: Liberation HD’s new look.
As you can see the character models are better defined and have more detail in them and the backgrounds have received a major overhaul as well. Ubisoft has also stated that the game’s campaign has been reworked and a few new bonus missions have also been added to the game. The game is currently set to be released next week on January 15th for the Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, and Steam at a price tag of $19.99.
Now that Marvelous AQL’s Senran Kagura live stream has come and gone, details and screenshots for Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson have started to make their way online. The story will take place in Kyoto and the game will feature an impressive step up in graphics with the entire game being in stereoscopic 3D.
Also revealed were the two new female characters, the character art can be found below amongst the other screenshots, with Kagura dressed in white and Naraku dressed in green. The game will feature tag-team combat mode called ‘Pair-Play’ with players being able to switch between characters in the middle of the action or play with a co-op partner. Currently Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson is set for release in Japan on August 7th for the Nintendo 3DS.
After a long awaited cliff-hanger with the season 2 finale, Sherlock BBC has made an impressive return this New Year. The acclaimed British series is a modern adaption of the Arthur Conan Doyle classic, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson.
Sherlock Holmes fans will not be disappointed with season 3, with three movie-length episodes comprised of Mark Gatiss opener ‘The Empty Hearse’, Stephen Thompson’s ‘The Sign of Three’ and Steven Moffat’s finale ‘His Last Vow’. Be prepared to meet the new villain, CAM – master blackmailer Charles Augustus Magnussen, with many more surprises in stall for an exceptional crime drama TV series.
Watson’s wedding to Mary Morstan, with the best man, Sherlock
Check out the launch trailer of the new season below, set to air in America on January 19.
As for future plans of Sherlock BBC, the writers have already started mapping out an exciting journey for Season 4, which will possibly air in 2015.
It’s that timeless battle: Robot vs Penguin People
The official site for the upcoming anime Daimidaler the Sound Robot (Kenzen Robo Daimidaler) has begun streaming its first promotional video. The series itself is an adaptation of Asaki Nakama’s manga of the same name and centres around the titular robotic weapons engaged in a battle for humanity.
The comedy centers around a high school boy named Kōichi Madanbashi who has Hi-ERo particles, the power source to operate the robotic weapon Daimidaler. With the help of Kyōko Sonan from the mysterious Prince Beauty Parlor organization, he stands up against the Penguin Empire that troubles humanity.
Director: Tetsuya Yanagisawa (Destiny of the Shrine Maiden/Shattered Angels) Script Writer: Takao Yoshioka (Senran Kagura/Elfen Lied) Character Design: Junji Goto (School Days) Production Company: GENCO Studio:TNK
With the staff of Highschool DxD back together, Daimidaler will certainly prove to be an interesting series…to say the least. Check out the video below and witness the great power of one heck of a secret weapon. Hint: It’s the robot.
simian.interface is a puzzle game developed by VestedInterest, and published by Chillingo, that draws its inspirations from modern art and cognitive psychological experiments. Originally made available for free last year as a browser-based title, simian.interface now makes its way onto iOS devices at a price point that is as minimal as its art design. It’s important to consider – before complaining that it isn’t free much like its computer version – that players could also pay what they want, starting at a minimum of $1.99, to download the game for PC/Mac (getting the soundtrack as a bonus). That being said, is it then worth investing any interest in simian.interfacefor mobile, especially for those who’ve already played through it on their home computer?
Gameplay
simian.interface couldn’t be any simpler to grasp. There are two methods of interaction available to the player: touch and tilt. Touch controls allow you to touch and drag at any point on the screen to rotate the play-space, but you’ll want to take advantage of your iOS device’s gyroscopic capabilities and play by tilting. It at least adds a simulated layer of difficulty to an otherwise easy game. The first three stages are in fact trials to help you get acquainted with the game. Identified as //mod_a through //mod_c, the puzzles therein are appropriately straightforward, mostly consisting of “get that box into that outline” scenarios. Once you graduate, you’ll be able to tackle //main, //dir and //sys. Each consist of 7 levels, much like the trials…
However, now they get a little trickier. Just a little. Soon you are required to rotate objects, complete more complex patterns and combine coloured cubes. In regards to the latter, this is necessary because the combination transforms the duo or trio (in most cases) into one white cube, which is the prerequisite for moving on. Blasting through the stages will only take you 20-35 minutes, but there are secrets hidden on one level from each. Once you discover them all, a final selection of bonus levels will reveal itself. Here, there are moving obstacles that create a fail state when touched, which is a nice element. If only this kind of creative addition wasn’t so infrequent. I am also disappointed that there are no additional levels since the original PC release in 2013, although the ability to add some is there with app updates (hopefully).
Visuals & Audio
VestedInterest did a stellar job of communicating that sense of being part of a sterile, experimental machine; embodying a poor lab-monkey who simply wants its next banana (or dopamine hit). The command line syntax that you would see and use in computer directories and the like goes a long way in achieving this. When it comes to the puzzles themselves, the minimalistic visuals remind of the spatial and cognitive psych experiments the developers were inspired by extremely well, while the use of colour makes it feel like a moving work of art. Unfortunately, those who are colour blind will not be able to enjoy this game to the fullest, or even pass certain levels. Oh and to continue a popular fad/meme of sorts, there is a cat virus that manifests in intermittent cat images. Random to say the least.
The music in simian.interface is written and performed by Note! – a popular artist amongst chiptune enthusiasts. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a massive influx of retro homages coming to market. It seems what was old is new again, as the trend continues to entice people beyond the initial nostalgic appeal. Familiar blips mark each line of square text as they pop up on the screen, and the chiptune music picks up in pace drastically once you make it out of the main theme that plays throughout the menu and trial levels. It’s a good example track for how chiptune music actually influenced modern electronica/dance. Ah, those good old synthesized drones and “drums”… they absolutelydo sound like drums, zip it!
Overall
simian.interfaceis a deserving IndieCade 2013 Finalist for its originality in art design and overall approach to representing the puzzle genre. However, all things considered, the experience is quite short and simple any way you slice it. And with this iOS port being months in the making, it is quite disappointing to see a lack of additions to the package beyond the obligatory touch and tilt control options. I am hoping the team is considering adding new levels in future updates, preferably some that are significantly more challenging, maybe reminiscent of the nature of the bonus levels. simian.interfacecouldn’t be fairly priced at any amount higher than $0.99, being a great mental exercise that will occupy up to an hour of your time, if you struggle to discover its secrets, that is.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
It has been revealed by Respawn Entertainment boss Vince Zampella on Twitter that the max player count for Titanfall will be six versus six. While some people have already begun complaining about the limited size of the online matches, Zampella went on to say that the limit was applied to help balance the game.
@MrClutch514@Respawn 6v6 is max player count. Turned out to be the best balance with ai for us.
He explained further saying that this twelve player limit only counts for human players as there will be numerous AIs running around the battlefield for both teams and each player can also bring forth a titan that they can pilot themselves, or set to follow them or guard an area. EA is currently planning on releasing Titanfall on March 11th for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.
DayZ, the standalone zombie survival horror game from developer Bohemia Interactive, has already sold nearly 875,000 copies in Early Access on Steam. At $30, that’s quite a cash advance. It’s safe to say the ArmA II-mod-turned-full-game is highly anticipated. Development of the game still appears to have a long way to go, though.
The development team said in a recent dev blog that players should, “Please keep in mind that we do not expect to reach Beta status sooner than the end of 2014.” Over the course of the year, the team plans to work on server performance, stability, and security, along with gathering, crafting, and more complex interactions in the world.
With such an ambitious project, it’s probably no surprise to hear the game will remain in alpha for much of the year. Fans are probably still no less disappointed.
Adding yet another notch to Bones‘ belt is the upcoming anime series entitled Captain Earth. The series reunites director Takuya Igarashi and writer Yoji Enokido for yet another mecha series, following their collaboration on Star Driver.
The story begins when second-year high school student Daichi Manatsu suddenly spies a mysterious circular rainbow floating in the skies over Tanegashima island on television, on the evening before summer vacation begins. “I’ve seen that rainbow before…” Moved by intense foreboding, he heads to Tanegashima, the home of Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center, by himself. The mystery of his father’s accidental death. Memories of mysterious boys and girls he met during childhood. Daichi arrives at the island full of complex emotions, and as alarms sound at the center, he encounters the robot “Earth Engine.” Daichi is asked, “Are you the Captain?” The target is the mysterious all-mechanical lifeform “Kirutogangu” that is invading from Uranus. Now, when the stars in the skies are ablaze, the curtains open on their battle….
Director: Takuya Igarashi Assistant Director: Yoshiyuki Asai Series Composition: Yoji Enokido Original Character Design: Fumi Minato Character Design/Chief Animation Director: Satoshi Ishino Engine Series Design/Main Design Works: Shigeto Koyama Machine Good Fellow Design/Mechanical Design: Takayuki Yanase Mechanical Design: Shinji Aramaki, Takeshi Takakura Quilt Gang Design: Masaki Asai, Takeshi Yoshioka Concept Design: okama Graphic Design: Tsuyoshi Kusano Design Works: Masatsugu Saito Effects Director: Yasushi Muraki Art Director: Masaru Yanaka, Koji Eto Art Design: Takeshi Takahashi Music: MONACA/Satoru Kosaki Animation Production: BONES
Captain Earth is set to air in April, so there’s not to much longer to wait. To tide you over, check out the trailer below and prepare for some truly out of this world action. Go Earth!
