Gaijin Games’ Runner2 coming to Vita December 17th in North America, 18th in Europe
Santa Cruz, Calif. – December 11, 2013 – If you’re reading this press release, chances are you’re a member of the press. Either that or you’ve somehow found a way to be included on our mailing list. You sly dog, you.
In any case, we come to you today with a fairly major, fairly awesome announcement. Runner2 is headed to the PS Vita on December 17th in North America, followed closely by a December 18th release in Europe! It’s a Christmas miracle!
Our goal with the Vita version of Runner2 was to achieve complete parity with the PC and console versions. Being the awesome (if we may say so) developers that we are, we’re confident that we’ve accomplished this. You can expect the same amount of content, the same beautiful graphics, and the same creepy Slenderman roaming the woods of the Supernature. And speaking of expectations, you can also expect the Good Friends Character Pack to release day and date with the game itself!
If you’re interested in receiving a review code, don’t hesitate to reach out! If you’re not interested in receiving a review code, then you’re probably a jerk (but we love you, anyway).
Happy holidays, everyone!
ABOUT GAIJIN GAMES
Gaijin Games is an award-winning, Guinness World Record-breaking (seriously!) San Francisco- and Santa Cruz-based video game development studio that focuses on making unique gaming experiences for discerning humans. Founded by Genuine Men, Alex Neuse and Mike Roush, Gaijin Games has been responsible for tickling the world with its rhythm-music eccentricities since 2008 with their IGF award-winning BIT.TRIP series and the console version of the IGF award-winning lilt line. In addition to rhythm-music stylings, Gaijin Games has also branched out into the puzzle genre with their Robotube brand, recently launching BlokTonik for the iPad. Moving forward, Gaijin Games aims to bring their special brand of entertainment to all platforms, console and otherwise. More information about the studio can be found at www.gaijingames.com.
Screen Print have begun listing the film for release from Anchor Bay on March 19th, 2014. The release is said to be on both DVD and Blu-Ray formats. It is unknown whether the release will feature an English dub.
Currently the film has no confirmed release details for North America. It does however have a potential UK release in the future with GFM Films believed the be dubbing the film for release in the region. Stay tuned as further information on this release develops.
The Stanley Parable started its life as a mod for the Source Engine in 2011. After a successful Steam Greenlight campaign, developers Galactic Cafe brought an expanded game to Steam that provided remade environements and more story options. The game is designed to be thought provoking and mind bending, encouraging players to explore.
Story
Stanley is office drone number 427. One day, Stanley realizes that everyone in his office has disappeared and a narrator is now instructing him on what to do. There are many paths in The Stanley Parable, but the story always starts out the same. The story evolves based on the player’s decisions. Will they follow the narrator blindly? Or will they attempt to forge a path of their own. The game quickly turns into a battle between the player and the narrator.
Galactic Cafe has done a spectacular job in writing The Stanley Parable’s script. It is funny, bizarre, quirky, witty and utterly thought provoking. The developers set out to create a game that messed with people’s minds. Mission accomplished. There were several times where I was be brought back to the introduction of the game and not completely sure if I was actually at the beginning or if the reset was simply part of the new ending I encountered. Some endings are sure to cause philosophy majors to salivate while others will leave players staring at the screen wondering what on earth did they just experience. The Stanley Parable is sure to make the perfect topic for many academic papers as it explores the relationship between video games, players, and the choices they make.
Gameplay
Don’t let the first person perspective and Source engine fool you, The Stanley Parable is an interactive fiction/adventure game. While traditional interactive fiction and adventure titles will consist of one long extended story, The Stanley Parable plays more like a Choose Your Own Adventure book by providing short stories that can be played over and over again. Small variations can randomly occur, like parts of the office becoming rearranged. Some choices that will affect the game are very obvious, such as disregarding the narrator’s instructions, while others will take some experimentation. There is a strong emphasis on exploration and experimentation. Although the areas Stanley will experience are rather compact and mildly claustrophobic, new endings can be found in the strangest places. Players are not only encouraged to openly defy the narrator, but go back and look for new places they could can access.
The controls are very simple. Stanley is only capable of crouching, walking around, and interacting with his environment. Even the traditional FPS mainstay of jumping is stripped from the game. The simplified control and the slow pace of the game will make it easy for even most non gamers to enjoy The Stanley Parable.
Visuals
Part of The Stanley Parable’s retail release was to remake the environments found in the original modification. The new style creates a purposely generic office space with a slightly eerie sterility. Without spoiling too much, the office quickly goes from generic to absolutely ridiculous to the point hilarity. Yet, throughout the insanity, Galactic Cafe makes it work as the insanity helps the game break out of the traditional Source Engine look.
Since the game is running on the Source Engine, The Stanley Parable runs well even on low end computers. The load times between levels are pretty reasonable and I did not experience any drops in frame rates or other visual oddities.
Audio
The Stanely Parable would not be the same without Kevan Brighting’s masterful performance as the narrator. Brighting never misses a step in his delivery and turns an already great script into an amazing experience. I would be thoroughly shocked if he is skipped over for an award next year. Backing up Kevan Brighting’s performance is a solid array of sound effects that help build the environment without ever distracting from the narration.
Overall
The Stanley Parable is a fantastic game in the art house movie sense. It is by no means a summer blockbuster as it lacks the explosions, glitz, and glamour of a title like Bioshock Infinite or the year’s latest Call of Duty title. Instead, The Stanley Parable takes a different path to greatness by being everything the modern blockbuster isn’t. The happy ending is achievable in five minutes flat, the script dares to provoke the mind, and the game is at its best when everything goes off the rails. My only complaint about the game is how much I wish there was more! The Stanley Parable may not be everyone’s cup of tea; however, I believe every gamer should at least play the game once in their lifetime to at least experience Kevan Brighting’s impressive performance. Galactic Cafe has created a brilliant game that is proof that video games is an art form no different than film.  Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Attack On Titan: The Last Wings Of Mankind got its release on the 3DS last week throughout Japan and it seems as though audiences have really gotten into it, it has sold over 93,471 copies in Japan alone and, to be entirely honest, I don’t find that hard to believe at all considering the Attack On Titan Anime has been one of the most popular titles to have been released this year. The game initially has three playable stores; Eren, Armin and Mikasa’s, with a Captain Levi DLC being released for free so long as you download it before the 31st of January.
It has just been announced that another DLC is planned for the game and this time it’s another fan favourite; Sasha Braus. The culinary killer Sasha will be the star of her very own DLC and, much like the Captain Levi story, once you’ve finished all of her missions you unlock an odd yet fitting pair of weapons for you to use in World Mode which just so happen to be a giant fork and knife. There has been no outline of a specific release date for the DLC but what we do have is a bunch of screenshots and images to keep you going until then. Enjoy!
The next Shinichiro Watanabe masterpiece, Space Dandy, is quick approaching and it seems as though the organisers of Otakon Vegas have jumped on the chance to make something even bigger of it. It was just announced that on Saturday the 4th of January at the Vegas Otakon, the event will be screening the very first episode of the new Anime before its air on Toonami at 11:30om.
What makes it even better is that the star of the series and the voice of Dandy himself, Ian Sinclair, will be attending the launch event alongside the ADR Director Zach Bolton. This is fantastic news for those of you who will be attending the Vegas Otakon, the rest of us will have to take it one step back and simply watch it through one of the many digital outlets that have plans to stream the episode or we can just watch it on Toonami itself.
Funimation will be streaming the episode for those of you watching from America, they also have the license for the series and have already outlined a home release for it. Us over here in Australia can catch the stream through Madman Entertainment who, like Funimation, will not only be streaming the episode as it is released in Japan but also own the license to the series. While Toonami will be showing the episode with English audio, the online outlets will be showing them with Japanese audio paired with English subtitles, hopefully this way nobody misses out. See you soon…Space Dandy.
The three videos, which can be seen below this article, showcase some awesome battles between the Straw Hat Crew (you and your friends if you decide to purchase this game) and some seriously tough characters: Whitebeard, Blackbeard and Shanks are the three battles that have been released and, considering these three men are a few of the strongest pirates within the One Piece universe, it’s pretty much locked in to be an epic and overwhelming set of fights.
Now Japan has had this game for a while at this point in time but everyone else is still hoping for a localisation of the game, keep wishing and maybe it will be Namco Bandai that will give you the greatest Christmas present of all. Tune in for what I’m sure will be a set of new gameplay trailers next week.
Some new characters have been revealed for the upcoming Shonen Jump fighting game, J-Stars Victory VS, in the latest issue of Weekly Jump Magazine. The latest issue confirms that two JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure characters will be joining the fight alongside a character from Jigoku Sensei Nube.
Representing JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is Jonathan Joestar and Joseph Joestar, the first two ‘JoJos’ in the series. As for Jigoku Sensei Nube, the game will feature the series protagonist Meisuke Nueno.
The game is slated for release on March 19 in Japan for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita consoles. Stay tuned for updates on J-Stars Victory VS as they come to light.
Nagi no Asukara Episode 10 – The Saltflake Snow Falls and Falls
The plot finally matches the absurdity of the premise in this episode of Nagi no Asukara. Huge revelations are abounds as well as a confession that we all knew was coming, but didn’t expect so soon.
Uroko finally reveals the truth of what is going on to Hikari and Manaka; that devastating climate change is underway for both the ocean and land. Once again it’s tied to the Sea God, who seems to like freezing the world over whenever people leave the sea and forget about him.
This won’t happen for another 50-100 years apparently, but the saltflake snow will continue to fall and cause temperatures to drop. The solution? Hibernate everyone in Shioshishio and forget about the surface dwellers. The ena that protects the village people can also be used to go to sleep for long periods of time. The question is, how long will they sleep for and will everyone wake up? This dilemma eats away at Manaka more than anyone else throughout the episode.
Hikari finds this hard to believe but he grudgingly accepts. He is more concerned about what to do with Manaka. He probably feels like an idiot for hugging her out of nowhere in the last episode and getting pseudo-rejected. More importantly, he is still determined to do the boatdrift ceremony as it’s logically the only way to give the Sea God strength and thus save the world from freezing.
Manaka herself doesn’t know what to feel about Hikari, like she’s almost scared of change amongst her circle of friends. A conversation reveals that Chisaki is a little naive thinking that the surface people are better off not knowing and that they’re still different from the villagers. Kaname begs to differ, saying that Tsumugu would like to know what’s going on. Hikari decides to talk to Uroko.
It seems like Uroko isn’t interested in saving the people on the surface even with Hikari’s plan. But he allows them to go back up and warn them. Akari doesn’t seem too concerned about her incoming fate when told, and neither are the school kids. The fact that this will happen in the future rather than tomorrow makes the issue less pressing for everyone if they believe it at all. Nevertheless, Hikari is still determined to make the boatdrift ceremeony a reality.
An adorable scene with Sayu and Miuna sees Sayu organising who to give all her stuff to when she dies. Miuna doesn’t want to accept this fate and mentions how Akari will stay awake with her new family rather than sleep undersea. The divide between the two people is crystal clear at this point: one side will die, while the other will hibernate and stay alive. Here Sayu remembers her crush on Kaname and how they will be apart before finally realising the extent of the calamity.
Some words of wisdom from Tsumugu’s gramps. Weather and environmental changes aren’t fixed in one lifetime, nor are they inherently “good” or “bad”. What’s bad for humans isn’t necessarily so for other life on Earth. As the undersea village prepares to hibernate by eating a huge feast, Manaka is still unsure. How long will they sleep for? Will everyone wake up at the same time? Too many variables and I’m pretty surprised no one cares to find out more.
In a powerful moment, Manaka thinks about Hikari and his determination to do the right thing for everyone throughout the show. Did I mention I love the sound track? It surprises me every now and then.
The last scene is a sledgehammer. With little time remaining before hibernation, Kaname states to Chisaki that he loves her. About time!! The best part of this is that she had no idea, none whatsoever, that this was coming since she was chasing Hikari the whole time. This guy, Isaki Kaname, is the show’s sleeping giant. I can’t wait to see her reaction in the next episode.
Remember KAIO: King of Pirates? It is alright if you don’t because the game was originally announced all the way back in 2011 and has been delayed numerous times with pretty much nothing said about it and no media released.
Well it looks like Comcept’s Keiji Inafune-led 3DS pirate action adventure game might eventually see the light of day because the game’s official website has been updated with a release window of sometime in 2014. So, whether or not the 3DS game will make this release window is unknown, but hopefully if it does we’ll eventually see in in the West as well.
Today Namco Bandai has announced that they will slowly begin revealing pages from Dark Souls II: Into the Light, a comic based on the universe of Dark Souls II, on a weekly basis. Currently no pages have been revealed but you can check out the cover to the right.
The artwork is handled by Simon Coleby while the side story has been written by Rob Williams and Andi Ewington. As for the game itself, Dark Souls II is currently set to be released on the 360 and PS3 in Australia and New Zealand on March 13th and in North America on March 11th with a PC release sometime shortly after.
Some new characters have been revealed for the upcoming Shonen Jump 
Today