Today NIS America has released a new trailer for Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and this time around we get to not only meet the entirety of the cast of characters, but we also get to listen to a few of the English voice actors at work.
The trailer can be seen below as well as a few new screenshots for the game where players take control of Makoto Naegi, a teenager who has been accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy where he is suddenly stuck in a battle of survival against his fellow classmates as they are trapped within the school. We recently had a chance to interview NIS America about the title and the interview can be found here.
Yesterday, NEW PEOPLE and the J-POP Summit Festival Committee announced that the J-POP Summit Festival will be returning to San Francisco’s Japantown in July with the event taking place on Saturday and Sunday, July 19th and 20th, 2014.
The summit will see the return of everything that was available last year, meaning there will be live bands and artists, pop culture panel discussions, film premieres, fashion shows, DJ dance events, interactive games, celebrity appearances, and a lot more. Many of these events will be free to attend and additional details can be found here.
The second annual Japan Film Festival of San Francisco will also be returning for the event which will run for a week where numerous live action and anime film premieres will be run starting on July 19th and ending on July 27th at the NEW PEOPLE cinema where prominent Japanese directors and actors will be in attendance, as well as several lecture presentations, workshops, autograph sessions, and film industry networking opportunities will be available.
Ubisoft has just announced when they will be showing off their new Snowdrop Engine for the upcoming game Tom Clancy’s The Division. The trailer will be going live on Monday December 9th, 2013 and then players will get to see just what Ubisoft has planned for the title for the newest generation of consoles.
To preface and tease Monday’s trailer even more, Ubisoft has released a small little teaser giving just a taste of a vehicle packed bridge. While not providing much besides the vast number of objects shown and knowing that The Division will be set in some dystopian future, it is impressive looking at the amount of detail, if only we could tell if it was in engine.
Those wanting to see the small teaser trailer for the trailer that will be releasing Monday can find it embedded below. Tom Clancy’s The Division is set to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC hopefully before the end of 2014, but with the delays of Ubisoft’s other games there probably aren’t any guarantees.
Get ready to rock and roll your way into legend with Halbrick’s latest mobile game Band Stars. The game which is a collaborative effort with fellow Aussie game developer Six Foot Kid has just launched world-wide on the app store.
Band Stars puts you in control of a would be music superstar as you climb the charts with hit after hit becoming a true ‘band star’! You can pick up the game now on the iOS for both iPhone and iPad.
Get Band Stars now on the app store here. Be sure to let us know what you think of this rocking game in the comments section below.
While the Danganronpa franchise has had a minor presence in the West thanks to fans taking it upon themselves to translate the series and most recently an anime of the first game was also released, the title has never seen an official release in the West. That all changed when NIS America announced that they were planning to bring the first game in the series’ enhanced Vita version, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, to North America in early 2014. We had a chance to ask NIS America some questions about the title and David Alanzo, the Marketing Coordinator, and Phoenix Spaulding, the localization editor for the game, took some time to answer them.
For those who may not be familiar with the Danganronpa series, can you tell us a little bit about the game to start off?
DA: Sure! Danganronpa is a visual novel game that has similar investigative gameplay to the Ace Attorney series, with a dash of 999 and Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward storytelling thrown in. The basic premise is you’re an average kid who’s somehow managed to get into the prestigious Hope’s Peak Academy in which everyone is the best at what they do – there’s the Ultimate Pop Sensation, Ultimate Baseball Star, and others. On your first day of school, you all are locked in by a black and white robotic bear calling himself Monokuma who tells you the only way out is to murder a classmate and get away with it. However, if the others find out who the murderer is, that person is sentenced to death. Your job is to investigate each case and unmask the killers during the class trial!
The localization announcement for Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc came right on the heels of the debut episode of Danganronpa: The Animation. Was this planned or just convenient timing?
DA: We actually got lucky with the timing of our announcement. It’s great to see how excited people are about the anime, which was inspired by the game.
What led to the decision to only bring over the first half of the Danganronpa Vita remake instead of the full compilation all at once?
DA: As a publisher of mostly JRPGs and strategy RPGs, this type of game is new territory for us so we wanted to test the waters by seeing how well the first title would do. Judging from the reception it’s gotten so far, it looks like people are definitely excited about it, and we’d certainly be interested in publishing the second Danganronpa if given the opportunity.
Since this is the enhanced version of the original PSP game, besides visual upgrades are there any other new features included in this version of the game?
DA: On top of the updated visuals, Trigger Happy Havoc has included touchscreen functionality throughout the game, allowing for more interactive approaches to investigating and the trial mini-games. There is also a “new game plus” feature that is completely different from the main game, but I don’t want to give away too much about that…
A few of Spike Chunsoft’s games have been brought over to North America in the past, but Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is the first title to receive an M rating by the ESRB. Is anything being cut or altered in the Western version of the title because of this?
DA: We wanted to keep true to the dark and almost hopeless atmosphere of the game, so we did not cut anything. All of the murderous cutscenes are intact, and we’ve tried to stick to the vernacular of high school – a world in which language is not always one of grace and poise.
Along those lines, I’ve noticed that while Monokuma’s name has remained the same, a few minor alterations are already apparent in some of the assets released for the series, such as the students being called ‘Ultimate’ and Hifumi Yamada’s title change. Since Danganronpa has been given a fair amount of exposure in the West already through the anime, should fans expect a number of other alterations such as this?
PS: We always talk about our process as one of localization rather than translation. We work hard to express the spirit of the original Japanese, and sometimes approaching translations literally gets in the way of that. There are some fans who already have ideas about how things should be translated or phrased, thanks to fan translations, the anime, and other materials, but our choices are based on what we think best reflects the characters and setting within the context of the game itself. We didn’t refer to any materials other than the original Japanese text for our translation, and so it’s inevitable that our version might differ from others out there. Regardless, we think if players go into it with an open mind, they’ll be pleased with the final results.
There have been a lot of text heavy games from NIS America in the past, but since this game is more of a puzzle/visual novel, how does this compare to some of the past titles you’ve had to work on?
PS: Just like any other title, it had its ups and downs. One nice thing about it is that each chapter is (for the most part) pretty self-contained, so that once a case would resolve itself, there was some time where things were pretty straightforward and easy to deal with. On the flipside of that, since it is a mystery, the details of each case (and the overarching plot) are incredibly important, so a lot of time was spent making sure all those details were clear when they needed to be clear, and vague when they needed to be vague.
Speaking of that, how does the localization process of a game such as this unfold?
PS: That’s really a whole other interview in and of itself, but the core process was the same as any other game. We start by playing through the game itself, getting a sense of the gameplay, presentation, visual style, and so on. From there we start translating and editing the script files and preparing for voice recording. Once we finish all that, we send everything to the developer in Japan, then they insert it all into the game and send us our first debug build. From there comes the long process of quality assurance, where we play through the game looking for whatever issues might pop up. In the case of Danganronpa, particular attention was paid to making sure the edited dialogue was giving the player the proper information at the right time, and not revealing too much or too little.
Currently Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is set to be released in North America on February 11, 2014 and in Europe on February 14, 2014. The game will be available both physically and digitally and a limited edition version of the title is still available through NIS America’s online store.
We’d like to say special thanks to NIS America and especially to David Alanzo and Phoenix Spaulding for taking the time to answer our questions and for this opportunity.
The Xbox One has been out for a bit, so those that have already gotten their consoles have surely been learning the controls and voice commands that the system utilizes. While it is fairly intuitive there are somethings that players might not find out until they are shown, which is why Larry Hryb Xbox Live’s Major Nelson has just put out a video giving some tips and tricks to getting around the Xbox One.
While the chart describing all the voice commands is nice, Larry going through and showing off some of them makes it certainly a bit easier to remember and more in depth than the previous video, as well as letting players know what they can do with the two new buttons that have replaced Start and Back. Eager to learn what you’re missing out on for yourself, just check out the Tips and Tricks video embedded below.
Aquarion Evol Part 1 Studio:Satelight Publisher:FUNimation Format:Blu-ray/DVD Combo Release Date:December 3, 2013 Price:$69.98 – Available Here
Overview Creating an original anime can lead to either great returns or failure since there is no way to gauge whether or not an original series will be popular based on already released material. Usually these original series tend to be completed after only one season, and rarely is a sequel made seven years after the initial release; however that is the case with Aquarion and now this series, Aquarion Evol. After all that time has passed, and perhaps many viewers never seeing the original season, how does Aquarion Evol Part 1 manage?
Story Since this is probably going to be a sticking point for some, let’s start off with the fact that Aquarion Evol is a continuation of the Aquarion series. While knowledge of Aquarion is not required to enjoy a lot of what the series has to offer in this first part, numerous references, callbacks, character appearances and much more are played off of the original Aquarion season. This means that fans will obviously be able to enjoy the story better as they will be able to catch the various nuances, references, and learn of plot points earlier, where new viewers may not.
Anyways, the story of Aquarion Evol takes place 12,000 years after the events that happen in Aquarion and the events that happened in the past series are considered myths and a movie was even made based loosely on the events of the finale of the first season. A teenager named Amata Sora is watching the movie in a theater alone, until a girl named Mikono appears and actually enjoys the movie with him. After falling in love with Mikono at first sight, he begins to escort Mikono around the city until a threat new to Aquarion Evol appears.
You see, while the planet that Mikono and Amata live on, Vega, is thriving with life, another planet called Altair is on the brink of collapse and the only way that Altair can try and sustain itself is by abducting women from Vega and with every batch of Abductors that appear, the Vega forces must fight back with the skills of the Neo-DEAVA pilots and their Aquaria mechs which can combine to create a more powerful robot whenever three pilots come together.
Though there is an interesting twist to these Aquaria weapons, the organization only allows for single gender teams with absolutely zero interaction between the two, even going so far as to erect a gigantic wall between the bases and equipping the Aquaria mechs with special safeguards so that any male and female union is rejected. When the Abductors appear and a beast of an enemy pilot takes interest in Mikono, Amata reveals an ability that he has been ashamed of his whole life, the ability to fly. But he also triggers something that will change the face of the battlefield and the lives of the Neo-DEAVA members, a union involving male and female pilots to create the legendary Aquarion.
After repelling the initial Abductors, both Amata and Mikono find themselves enlisted in the school where Neo-DEAVA keeps their pilots, only now the wall separating the two genders for so long has been torn down. With emotions and hormones running high, a plan is put into motion by the leaders of the organization to take advantage of these feelings as the stronger the emotions that tie pilots together, the stronger the Aquarion becomes. However there is one line that they must not cross, the line of love for if they do, it will only end in disaster.
While Aquarion Evol Part 1 consists of thirteen episodes, this first half of the series spends most of its runtime introducing viewers to the core cast of characters and their Element powers and setting up relationships. One thing that Aquarion Evol does well for the most part is take a number of anime tropes, and place them all on one character to such a heightened degree that they are usually used for comedic relief.
Such is the case with a yaoi loving girl who constantly pushes two boys together and has the power to take secret photographs, a girl so shy that she can turn herself invisible and more. The series is also rife with innuendo and jokes concerning the joining of the two sexes, the interactions between the two, or tons of hole puns. Of course the thinly veiled symbolism of the combination sequences may be a bit of a turn off for some as it is laid on very heavy numerous times throughout this first half. The first time a male and female union occurs, the robots push into each other before rupturing the seal to become one, all while the pilots experience euphoric feelings as they join together. While not used for every union, any time that a new character is merged, the climax scenes appear and the dialogue during these moments is well, terrible.
Speaking of terrible things, while most of the characters in Aquarion Evol are enjoyable for their quirks and the stereotypes they embody, the main girl Mikono features every bothersome and terrible trend in a female lead with very little development. While it is clear that other characters are starting to make connections and even the surface level flirting of Zessica eventually turns into true feelings, Mikono’s presence in the series drags down what would be an otherwise enjoyable introduction to the cast and world in this first half.
Outside of character introductions and world building, Part 1 also reveals a number of machinations occurring on the planet of Altair as Mykage, an extremely powerful enemy with no qualms about sacrificing his people, begins to pull the strings and influence elements of the story to benefit his final goal. This becomes a driving force behind the series as viewers watch his manipulations unfold before finally leaving viewers with an emotional cliffhanger with the death of a new ally and months to wait until Part 2 is released.
Visuals Aquarion Evol is a gorgeous looking show in many ways as it excels in almost every aspect. The designs of the Aquarion transformations are highly detailed and each of the mech battles are wonderful looking with some great looking fight sequences. When this is combined with the fact that all of the environments and backdrops in Evol are highly detailed and impressive to look at, and you’ll find many scenes worth checking out more than once.
As far as character designs go, Aquarion Evol features a nice variation of character designs and outfits, ranging from some generic looking side-characters to rather outlandish clothing choices making for an original looking cast of characters. There is some minimal fan-service in the show as some characters have revealing clothing and the union sequences feature outlines of each character’s body, but it is split rather evenly between male and female service.
Audio While I usually don’t have an issue with the way FUNimation handles their English dubs, Aquarion Evol is easily one of their worst attempts in quite some time. While some of the scenes in the series are voiced well enough, more often than not the characters are either over-acted or the voice actors voice will falter halfway through a sentence, sounding incredibly awkward, making Aquarion Evol a series that is probably best watched using the Japanese voice track.
Outside of the bad English dub, the anime’s sound track is simply outstanding. Thanks to the abundance of characters that fight in the Aquarion, each of these characters has a theme song with vocals that will play during their battle and these tracks help make each battle feel climactic. That feeling isn’t lost with the opening and ending theme either, as “Kimi no shinwa – Aquarion dai ni shou”, the opening, and Gekkou Sinfonia”, the ending, both by AKINO with bless4 are amazing sounding and are paired with incredible animation sequences.
Extras With Aquarion Evol Part 1, we have a number of basic features, such as a clean opening and ending song, the US trailer for the series as well as trailers for other FUNimation projects and two commentary tracks. The commentary track for episode 1 features Chirospher Bevans, the voice director for the series and the voice of Amata, J. Michael Tatum, the lead adaptive writer and voice of Mykage, and Brina Palencia who handles the voice of Mikono while episode 9’s commentary sees Alexis Tipton, the voice of Mix, and Josh Grelle, the voice of Andy, joined by Bevans.
Outside of those standard inclusions there is also The Myth of Ten Thousand Years and Two Thousand More Returns which is a twenty two minute long special feature that is presented in Japanese only and features interviews with the Japanese cast, information about the first season and how it connects to Aquarion Evol and more.
Overall Aquarion Evol Part 1 eases viewers into the story by introducing the characters and the world over the course of this first half while also building up the main storyline that only just starts to unfold by the end of this release, leaving viewers eager to see what will happen in the second half while not alienating those who never saw the original series. Evol also features an amazing soundtrack with outstanding animation and artwork but sadly it is marred by focusing on a terrible female lead and a bad English dub that is best turned off in favor of the Japanese voice track.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Speedball 2 was the sequel to the original Speedball that released way back in the 90’s for the Atari ST. Now Speedball 2 has been brought into the modern era with the release of Speedball 2 HD, a faithful recreation of the classic make believe sport title that is a burtalised mix of handball, football and ice hockey (and also some power ups!).
Players can manage and upgrade their Speedball team with full player transfer market across four planets and new formations. Featuring 330 team members to choose from and six new arenas, the ultimate mission is to assemble a Speedball team to win the Intergalactic Champions League and bring the greatest prize in galactic sport back to Earth. Points are earned by injuring opponents, with scoring goals being more of an afterthought.
Developer Jon Hare had this to say about the development process:
“Retro style PC games are a growing trend. Many of today’s game developers, like Vivid Games, grew up in the 8- and 16-bit eras and enjoy using their talents to breathe new life into old classics. We have all enjoyed working with Mike Montgomery to bring back the magic of the original Speedball franchise with enhanced mechanics and features for the modern gamer… Speedball 2 was one of my favorite games on the Amiga, so when Mike offered it to me to work on I couldn’t turn it down. We have done great things with Speedball in recent times at Tower Studios and now we have Speedball 2 HD, the best version of this classic game ever to grace a PC screen.”
You can get the game now on PC for a 20% discount with Steam, Get Games orGOG, but hurry as this sale will only last until the end of the first week of release. You can watch the trailer below the comments.
D3 Publisher has officially released Marvel Puzzle Quest: Dark Reign on Steam and is completely Free to Play! Now players are given the chance to assemble teams of their favorite superheroes and villains to duke it out through Puzzle Quest’s match-3 and story-telling gameplay. The game includes RPG leveling systems, player-vs-player modes, character upgrades and customization, and more!
The mobile version of this game was released on October 3rd, and has been met with very positive reviews by the gaming community. The PC version can be found on Steam for free here, and users have the option to purchase additional DLC packs to complement their gameplay.
Dragon Age fans that have been waiting for the forthcoming Heroes of Dragon Age don’t need to wait any longer as the free-to-play title has finally released for mobile devices. Now players can jump in on trying to collect the over 100 heroes for their squad, including warriors, dragons, golems, and more all the while exploring Thedas.
Heroes of Dragon Age is available for mobile devices from iTunes and Google Play.
Bejeweled, the #1 puzzle game, is also now available today for free from iTunes. Though the free version includes ads, players of all ages can now enjoy Bejeweled at no cost on the Apple device and play all 5 modes; Butterflies, Classic, Diamond Mine, Lightning, and Zen. Alternatively, players that don’t want to suffer through ads can purchase the ads-free version for $2.99.
Bejeweled free-with-ads version is available at no cost for the iPhone and iPad from iTunes.
Google has announced its nominations for its Players’ Choice 2013 and EA was excited to discover that three of their games made it into the “Old School, Still Cool” category for best franchises. Their three nominated games were FIFA 14, Bejeweled Blitz, and Sims Freeplay. Those wanting to check out the awards and make their vote for their favorites in all the categories can find it at the Players’ Choice Website, with voting open through now until December 10th.
Anyone wanting to check out the nominated game can find all of them on Google Play for Android FIFA 14,Bejeweled Blitz, and theSims FreePlay.
Tetris Blitz is shaking things up with a brand new mode for players to test their skills against each other. Now players can face off in the band new Tournament Mode, which players can step up exactly how they like with the ability to customize time limits, drop speed, and power-ups. Plus, players can create their own custom tournament identity to stand out, but don’t think players will be entering tournament after tournament as it will be limited with a special tournament energy system.
