If you happened to guess that the teaser website from Atlus USA was for Conception II like myself, then you can pat yourself on the back because in a world where fans can enjoy Senran Kagura in English, they will soon be able to enjoy Conception II in the West as well.
Today Atlus USA has announced that they are bringing the game over to North America under its new name, Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars, in Spring 2014 on the PS Vita and 3DS. The game finds the player playing as a young man who has started working as a Disciple, a human gifted with the powers of a Star God.
This gives him the ability to fight monsters from the Pandora Labyrinth and protect the world, but because every Disciple runs out of powers when they turn 18, it is the player’s job to create more “Star Children” to fight in battle and they will do this by making star children with various heroines in the game with dating-sim elements and taking them into battle where enemies have unique weaknesses depending on where the player attacks from.
As you have probably heard, Telltale Games made quite a name for themselves last year with their take on The Walking Dead series with their video game. After receiving acclaim from practically everywhere, the series has sold more than 21 million episodes and even received some post-game DLC in the form of 400 Days after its conclusion.
As such, Telltale has now released The Walking Dead: Game of the Year Edition which costs $30 and is available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Mac. This physical copy of the game comes with all five episodes of the first season of the game as well as the 400 Days DLC, making it a perfect way to get ready for the second season.
Rockstar‘s Grand Theft Auto Onlineexperience has just received its first substantial content additions with the availability of the Beach Bum update. The developer pledge to supplement the major paid expansions with these more regular title updates, along with the instant and seamless adding of jobs from the Rockstar Social Club. Just fire up your respective console and automatic title update 1.06 will pop up for you to download. Rockstar have also done some significant tuning and made numerous fixes. Read on below for the details in their latest notes:
NEW VEHICLES, WEAPONS & MORE
Take on new Beach Bum Races with the BF Bifta dune buggy, the rugged Canis Kalahari off-road truck or the Bravado Paradise beach camper van. For aquatic-based endeavours, the classic Speeder speedboat is also now available. All four vehicles can also be accessed in Story Mode and are available at no in-game cost. To access them in GTA Online, just visit the southernsanandreassuperautos.com in-game website (or docktease.com for the Speeder).
Also available in both Story Mode and Online (and at no additional in-game cost) are the new SNS Pistol & Broken Bottle – a pair of close range weapons perfect for any beach blanket brouhaha.
This update also features a wide array of new apparel – everything from casual canvas hats to tank tops, t-shirts, board shorts and bikinis in a wide range of styles and colours… plus new hairstyle and tattoo customization options.
30 NEW JOBS COMING TO THE WORLD OF LOS SANTOS & BLAINE COUNTY
In conjunction with today’s Beach Bum update, we’re also adding 30 new Jobs to GTA Online today. This includes new beach-themed Races, Deathmatches, Parachutes, Last Team Standings and Gang Attacks, plus the beachfront “Survival on Del Perro Pier” and more.
TITLE UPDATE 1.06
Along with the new Beach Bum update content, automatic Title Update 1.06 also includes a host of fixes and adjustments for Grand Theft Auto Online, which are listed here:
Fixed an issue where the game would delete your personal Vehicle if you have another player in it when you add a Tracker and Insurance.
Fixed an issue where players could become stuck on the aerial view when entering GTA Online with cloud servers down and having just launched a mini-game.
Fixed an issue where the mission ‘Damaged Goods’ would start even though it had previously been completed.
Fixed an issue where under rare circumstances players couldn’t claim back their personal vehicle in GTA Online.
Fixed an issue where under rare circumstances players were able to get the Declasse Sheriff SUV into Los Santos Customs and respray it causing the menus to malfunction.
Fixed an issue where in rare circumstances players would lose all personal vehicles after being idle kicked and unable to rejoin an online session.
Fixed an issue where players could occasionally get stuck after killing a pedestrian with a golf ball.
Corrected an exploit where players would retain their personal vehicle after selling it at Los Santos Customs mod shop by transitioning back and forth between Story Mode and Online.
Corrected an exploit where players could keep repeatedly selling a Bati 801 to Los Santos Customs.
Corrected an exploit where players were able to duplicate vehicles by accepting a Mission while leaving a high-end garage.
Corrected an exploit where a player could start a Team Deathmatch with all players on the same team.
Players are no longer able to delete their GTA Online character while the Rockstar cloud servers are unavailable.
In tandem with today’s Title Update, we’ve also completed a new round of dynamic tuning on the game. This includes changes to the Bad Sport system and continued balancing of rewards for all different types Jobs. Notable adjustments are listed below:
The Bad Sport penalty for destroying personal vehicles has been reduced significantly.
Players will no longer receive a Bad Sport penalty when they are in a non-moving tank and other players crash a vehicle into them.
The GTA$ and RP rewards for Races, Deathmatches and Parachuting are now based on the average time they take to complete.
Players now receive GTA$ and RP rewards when failing a cooperative Job or being a member of the losing team during a Versus Mission, depending on how long the Job / Mission lasts.
Players now receive a bonus GTA$ multiplier for Missions when played at the higher difficulty levels (Normal = 1.25, Hard = 1.5).
In Team Deathmatch, all players on a team now receive the same GTA$ and RP rewards, with the winning team getting roughly 4-5x what the losing team receives.
Removed some instances of debris in specific Races, including the cardboard from the ‘Down the Drain’ Race.
Deliveries from Pegasus have been reduced from $1,000 to $200.
The cost of removing a wanted level by calling Lester has now been scaled based on the amount of stars you have – at a cost of $200 per star.
Restricted cars and vehicles that have been added to player garages through exploits have been removed. This includes tanks, helicopters and police vehicles.
The following vehicles have been added to the southernsanandreassuperautos.com website in-game: BF Dune Buggy, Canis Bodhi, Karin Rebel, Maibatsu Sanchez 2, Vapid Sadler, Vapid Sandking SWB.
To eliminate any remaining vehicle loss issues, an additional automatic cloud save will occur when purchasing a vehicle or vehicle modification.
As we continue to tune and adjust the evolving Grand Theft Auto Online player experience in the weeks and months ahead, we ask that you keep sending us your feedback – just fire over an email to [email protected] and tell us what you’d like to see implemented in future updates.
“Fight for your Father. Fight for your legion. Fight for Rome!” Marius Titus’ path to vengeance will soon be tread as Ryse: Son of Rome launches alongside Microsoft‘s Xbox One in two days. Check out its launch trailer embedded at the bottom of this article.
Although the Crytek title has been through the ringer since its reveal, it has definitely been well represented and marketed these last few months. Its recent trailers – including this one – present a truly epic story that, along with the stunning graphics, should sell the game for many. We’ll hopefully be leading legions throughout the Roman Empire ourselves in the coming week. Everyone loves a blood-soaked revenge tale, and so we’re hoping for an appropriately powerful experience.
Cowboy Bebop Remastered Sessions Collection 1 Studio: Sunrise Publisher: Madman Entertainment Format: Blu-Ray Release Date:October 16, 2013 Price:$39.95 – Available Here
Overview What makes us alive? What makes us dead? Cowboy Bebop asked these questions 15 years ago, by the end of its troubled original 1998 TV run it had reached an answer. We don’t die until we’re forgotten and we’re not alive until we have something worth remembering. In many ways Cowboy Bebop embodies these notions. 15 years after it wrapped up its 26 episode run, it lives on in the minds of anime fans around the world. Why is it that this anime has stood the test of time? Well it’s quite simply one anime series that you’ll never forget.
Story Mars, Earth, the expanse of the Universe – this was the vast playground that made up the world of Cowboy Bebop. Throw in a rag-tag group of bounty hunters traversing the enormity of space in search of a quick buck and you’ve got yourself the makings of a pretty good anime series. What makes Cowboy Bebop truly great however is what lies beneath – heart and soul.
Cowboy Bebop is of course the work that made Shinichiro Watanabe the renowned director he is today. This was the series that changed the landscape of anime forever. Cowboy Bebop became a wild success throughout the world, especially in the West where it came along with a tide of anime series proving that anime had a mature side too. There are many things about Bebop that made it so popular in the West, such as its many Western-styled settings and themes, but at its core its real success came from the fact that there was just simply nothing like it.
It was a special breed of anime and with these remastered episodes, the series hasn’t aged a day since 1998. The stories are just as impactful today as they were back then and the same goes with these characters. It has a timelessness to it that will likely never fade. There is something for everyone to relate to in here because no matter how extraordinary the lives and adventures of these characters may be, the emotions that come with them ring true. Once again it is that genuine heart and soul beneath Bebop’s surface that make it such an endearing series. Watanabe understands that sincerity is necessary for connection and in Cowboy Bebop the storytelling is about as emotionally genuine as it gets. Bebop understands human emotion and it underpins all of its stories with it in one way or another.
Whether it is feeling philosophic or adventurous, episode after episode, Cowboy Bebop proves to be a profound journey that is every bit as fun as it is thought-provoking. With this first collection the journey may have only just begun, yet so very much has happened. It is a true testament to Cowboy Bebop’s superb writing that it can accomplish so much in so little time. In what would take lesser series an entire season to do, Bebop does in one smooth episode. With each passing episode another layer is added to the world of Bebop and the tales that string it all together. This is storytelling at its finest.
Cowboy Bebop is not considered one of the greatest anime of all time for no reason. It is genuinely ground-breaking, following the beat of its own drum and being something unique in the immense history of the medium. To this very day, Cowboy Bebop still stands out as an anime masterpiece the likes of which few can match. It is the heart of Bebop that keeps it alive and it is its soul that keeps it in our memory.
Visuals and Audio As far as aesthetics go, Cowboy Bebop was far ahead of its time. With sprawling locales and highly detailed character designs that were both distinct and creative, it is hard to forget the visual style of Bebop. Blending film-noir, westerns and space opera, Cowboy Bebop stumbled upon a unique aesthetic to use as a backdrop for the series action. Each of the planets is varied and detailed in their own way, crafting a sense of true scale for this universe sized canvas that Watanabe and his team were painting. The animation is superb, with high level fluid sakuga being prominent throughout. You can very much tell that Watanabe and his team were at a creative high point when developing the series world and characters. In this special remastered edition of the series it only looks better in HD, with true crisp pristine visuals preserving the original work for modern audiences.
One of the most touted features of Cowboy Bebop is its brilliant soundtrack, with this remastered collection it is easy to see why. Yoko Kanno’s immortal compositions sound incredible on this release. The soundtrack itself is every bit as brilliant as they say, not only adding immensely to the action on screen but also at times being a part of it. Kanno truly had a special vision for Cowboy Bebop and that musical creation stands the test of time as one of the greatest ever as far as anime goes.
Extras Madman Entertainment have done an absolutely remarkable job on this collected release of remastered episodes of Cowboy Bebop. The release comes jam-packed with a plethora of bonus content and goodies that are sure to delight fans of the series and make this release a true collector’s item.
The Remastered Sessions Collection 1 comes bundled with a 40 page art book that compiles several of the series original design artwork for characters, vehicles and locations. It is a great look into the world of Bebop in the form of an art book. Not only that but there are also several commentaries both Japanese and English, the music video for theme song Tank! and much much more. It is real value for money and a must have for all fans of the series.
Overall 15 years later we still remember Cowboy Bebop, it still captures our imagination and evokes thought and introspection. For a series that had its initial TV run aborted and put into question as to whether it would ever be completed, it is actually quite fitting that it has experienced such a long shelf life with anime fans. That’s the Cowboy Bebop way after all, rebellious through and through. In fact its not hard to believe that 50 years from now people won’t still remember Cowboy Bebop and the real folk blues it brought to the world.
Cowboy Bebop is simply an anime masterpiece, an adventure that all anime fans must take. This is heart and soul, love and hate, time and space, all wrapped up into what is one of the greatest anime of all time. And you know, this collection is only the beginning, what lies ahead is something you’ll really never forget. So until then, just for now – See You, Space Cowboy.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Namco Bandai Games have just announced the official release date and further details for the upcoming swashbuckling RPG adventure game One Piece: Romance Dawn for the 3DS. The game is set for an official release both digitally and physically on February 14th, 2014.
One Piece: Romance Dawn is said to retell the infamous story of One Piece in RPG action. The game will feature several of the greatest moments of the One Piece anime series such as the Arlong arc and even Drum Island arc.
The game will be released physically in a special limited holographic cover editions that will be exclusive to Gamestop and EB Games. These holographic editions are extremely limited and will serve as a great collector’s item for One Piece fans.
Stay tuned for more information on One Piece: Romance Dawn as its release date approaches.
Overview
Sony has long been touting Killzone: Shadow Fall as their premiere first party first-person shooter for the PlayStation 4. As a launch title for the new console, Guerrilla Games has had their work cut out for them. With the recent release of Killzone: Mercenary for the Vita, there was proof that the series could thrive beyond its original trilogy. How does the first triple-A first-party title hold up? Does it herald a new generation or should it have been put down before reaching Vekta?
Vekta looks incredible on the PlayStation 4
Story
In the wake of a petrusite detonation that virtually rendered the planet of Helghan uninhabitable, the people of the ISA decided the best thing to do was to bring the remaining Helghast to Vekta, erect an enormous wall, and give them all of the land on the other side of the wall. As a result, this forced the current Vektan inhabitants to leave, many of whom were slaughtered before ever reaching the wall.
Players control Lucas Kellen. As a child, Lucas was one of those who had to leave his home. Before he and his father could escape, however, Helghast forces slaughtered his father. Just as they were descending on Lucas, a Vektan Shadow Marshal named Sinclair took out the attackers. Without a home or father, Lucas fell under the protection of Sinclair and began his own Shadow Marshal training. Now, it’s his job to run covert operations over the wall in an attempt to keep the Helghast threat abated, but something sinister is just over the rise and it will take everything Lucas has to fight it.
The Helghast feel as angry as ever.
Gameplay
The Killzone franchise has been around since the late days of the PlayStation 2. That, coupled with the playstyle of the original trilogy, could lead people to believe that every game with the Killzone name is going to be tied to heavy, plodding movements and a “Red vs. Blue” mentality. While we’re still in a war of primary colors, fans may be surprised to hear that the feeling of underwater movement has been ditched in favor of a much more responsive experience with solid gunplay.
As a Shadow Marshal, your combat style feels notably different than that of the grunts you forced through the planet Helghan before. Kellen typically tries to avoid conflict head-on, opting instead of calculate the moves of his enemies and take them down from the shadows. To aid in this, he has access to a scanning ability that can send out a sweep, temporarily making enemies on your HUD much easier to see, especially when behind cover. There’s a small bit of risk/reward with the system, though, as the further sweep you send out, the higher chance you’ll overcharge yourself and alert enemies to your presence instead.
Shadow Fall features some incredible scenery.
On top of the ability to scan for enemies, you’ll get access to the OWL. This combat drone can follow you into battle and aid you on your missions. The version of the OWL in Shadow Fall offers you a defensive shield, an attack mode, a stun blast (which is particularly effective with shielded enemies), and a rappelling rope to quickly descend from higher elevations. The OWL is also required to help hack computer terminals either for story progression or to turn off an alarm.
In terms of the campaign, Shadow Fall feels like it struggles to find its place. The game’s story is cohesive enough to get you to a conclusion, but it’s severely hampered by poorly written dialogue and some sour story beats. With perhaps one or two exceptions, you’ll never really feel engaged by any of the characters, and even our protagonist never really feels relatable.
The missions over the course of the campaign work hard to offer a fair bit of variety, so you aren’t left to merely run-and-gun through the entire 8+ hour affair. You’ll infiltrate enemy territory, zip around through space, work unarmed through back alleys, and more. They work hard to keep objectives shuffled, but a few levels themselves feel like they should’ve been left on the cutting room floor. Some missions feel like they lack a sense of direction, occasionally leaving you wandering from one place to the next with no real guidance. You can find yourself backtracking when it’s unnecessary. To top it off, the objective marker is solid red, making it easy to lose sight of, even when you’re making a conscious effort to follow it.
This time, the Vektans are living just over the wall from the Helghast.
As a major component of any triple-A first-person shooter, there has to be a competitive multiplayer mode. To that effect, Killzone: Shadow Fall does not disappoint. The game boasts several playable classes, each with their own customizable loadouts. It also ties in a full progression system with each of these weapons and loadouts to keep you working toward the next weapon, scope, and so on. One of the strongest components of the multiplayer are in its “Warzones.” Each warzone can be set up and customized to give players a unique experience, offering a wide variety of shifting objectives in the middle of a match to keep things interesting. You’re free to design your own and release it to the masses. Overall, Shadow Fall offers a solid multiplayer package for fans who’ve picked up the game. Launching alongside multiplayer-focused titles with pedigree like Call of Duty:Ghosts and Battlefield 4, however, leaves the title feeling a bit lacking for longevity by comparison.
Multiplayer is a solid, fun offering.
Visuals Killzone: Shadow Fall is a fantastic looking game. The character models carry the unique look of both ISA and Helghan sensibilities, with those glowing red eyes standing out as much as ever. Weapons and character models have a lot of fine detail that help immerse you. Helghan landscapes feel dark and ashen, which is less visually impressive, but the Vektan half of the world is gorgeous. Tall, white structures accented with a blue glow feature reflective glass and flowing lines that help lend a sense of futuristic utopian feel. Rays of light bathe you as you walk through tree cover. It can truly be an impressive, jaw-dropping visual experience.
Audio Shadow Fall, unfortunately, has fairly forgettable sound design. The game is peppered with deep, ominous tunes that pick up with the action, but none of it is memorable, even at the key points in the story. The voice acting is also somewhat lacking. Much of that is thanks to poorly written dialogue that often feels out of place, but the delivery often comes across as weak or forced. The sound effects are well placed, however, with gunfire and explosions helping carry the weight of the arsenal you wield.
Overall
Overall, Killzone: Shadow Fall is a fair entry in the series that does a good job showing off what the PlayStation 4 is capable of. The game has great gunplay and a solid multiplayer component, though it would be hard pressed to stand against some of its online-focused competitors. It can look jaw-dropping at times, but the lackluster sound design, poorly written story and dialogue, and sometimes confusing mission design really hamper what could have been an incredible launch experience. If you’re a fan of the Killzone franchise, you’ll enjoy what you get, but newcomers may be more comfortable with other launch games in the genre.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Ubisoft have just released a high impact launch trailer for the high octane video-game that is Fighter Within. The game which is for Kinect on Xbox One will allow you to lay the smackdown on your friends without the cuts and bruises that come with real fighting.
You can check out the launch trailer for Fighter Within below. Fighter Within launches alongside the Xbox One console on the 22nd of November, 2013. Be sure to pick up this exciting and innovative Kinect-based fighting game along with your Xbox One console for a fistful of fun that can only be found in Fighter Within.
Missed out on seeing the crazy shenanigans of Genesect and Mewtwo in Pokemon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened this past weekend at Hoyts Cinemas? Well fear not Pokemaniacs, Beyond Entertainment has just announced that they will be holding encore screenings at select Hoyts venues this coming weekend on the 23rd and 24th of November.
For more details on screening times for these locations, please check the official Hoyts web page for Pokemon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakenedhere.
Titan Comics have today announced that they will be attending this year’s Thought Bubble Comic Arts Festival from the 23rd-24th November, 2013. Thought Bubble is the largest annual event of its kind, and aims to celebrate and showcase sequential (comic book) art in all its forms. From superheroes, through to creator-owned novels, everything is there.
Titan Comics will have some of their best, brightest and most prominent personalities attending the event, and available for signing. Here is the rundown on when you can get your favourite Titan books signed;
Saturday November 23rd, 2013
Signing: Numbercruncher – Si Spurrier
Saturday November 23, 11:00AM – 12:00PM
Signing: Death Sentence – Monty Nero & Mike Dowling
Saturday November 23, 13:00PM – 14:00PM
Portfolio Review: Senior Editor Steve White
Saturday November 23, 14:00PM-16:00PM
Signing: Razorjack – John Higgins
Saturday November 23, 14:00PM – 15:00PM
Signing: Chronos Commandos – Stuart Jennett
Saturday November 23, 15:00PM – 16:00PM
Signing: British Comics Award nominated The Absence print – Martin Stiff
Saturday November 23, 16:00PM – 17:00PM
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 24, 2013
Portfolio Review: Senior Editor Steve White
Sunday November 24, 11:00AM-12:00PM
Signing: Chronos Commandos – Stuart Jennett
Sunday November 24, 12:00PM – 13:00PM
Signing: Death Sentence – Monty Nero & Mike Dowling
Sunday November 24, 14:00PM – 15:00PM
Signing: Scarlett Couture Print – Des Taylor
Sunday November 24, 15:00PM-16:00PM
Signing: Solid State Tank Girl – Warwick Johnson Cadwell
Sunday November 24, 16:00PM – 17:00PM
Not only will all those talented guys and gals be in attendance, but so will Titan Comics’ Senior Editor Steve White, who will be holding portfolio reviews during the event in hopes of discovering the next breakout star. So if you think you have talent, or you are just a big fan of comic books and graphic novels, then be sure to check out Thought Bubble. For more information on the event click here, and as always be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Titan Comics news as it becomes available.
