If you are a Naruto fan and want more elegant looking merchandise then The Kiss have something special for you. The outlet jewellery shop have created five different necklaces and bracelets based around the popular anime; reflecting the personalities of Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Itachi and Minato.
Both pieces have different symbols and colours to represent each character; the woven bracelet contains a small medallion and the necklace contains a ring made with four cubic zirconias. Both the necklace and the bracelet have the words “Eternal Bonds” engraved into them and the necklaces can be joined together to create an infinity symbol.
The bracelets do look more casual compared to the necklaces, but both of them have the same aesthetic look as normal pieces of jewellery. These would be great for the older fans of Naruto who want more than just the figurines and toys; something to wear around the office without drawing attention, similar to the Sword Art Online tie.
The Kiss online shop has priced the necklaces at 12,600 yen ($126 USD) and the bracelets at 8,190 yen ($81.90 USD).Let us know what you think about the necklaces/bracelets, and what other anime themed jewellery you would like to see by leaving a comment down below.
Manga can be made about everything and anything and while cooking may be something that has been touched upon before with Toriko, it looks like Viz Media is going to be giving North American manga fans another dose of cooking manga. Today the company announced during their Weekly Shonen Jump podcast that they have acquired the license for Yūto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki’s Shokugeki no Sōma manga.
In the West the manga will be called Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma and while the company will not be including the manga in their Weekly Shonen Jump digital manga, they will begin releasing volumes of the series both digitally and physically. The first volume is currently set to be released in print form on August 2014 but the first digital volume will hit sometime during Spring 2014.
For those who don’t know, the manga follows a character named Sōma who works as a cook at his family’s restaurant. Only problem is, his father happens to be a master chef that has enrolled him in an elite culinary school where graduation is nearly impossible.
With JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle heading to Western markets in Spring 2014 Namco Bandai has released a new trailer for the game which covers the first, second, and third chapters of the story. It is worth noting that the game will cover the Phantom Blood, Battle Tendency, Stardust Crusaders, Diamond is Unbreakable, Golden Wind, Stone Ocean, Steel Ball run and JoJolion arcs.
The trailer can be found below but it is worth noting that some character names will be changed in the Western version of the title to avoid copyright issues. However as you can see in the trailer, the game will be largely untouched in the West outside of the name adjustments.
Now at the Global News Network (GNN) desk, Ron Burgundy has reported on numerous international affairs, including our most recent election. And with today being 2013 Melbourne Cup day, the moustachioed epitome of man has a word of advice to us Aussies…
In the video embedded below, Ron implores us to “hang on to your traditions Australia!” Apparently, if we don’t, the country’s biggest horse race will go the way of the Kentucky Derby… what does that mean exactly? Watch the clip to find out. Paramount Pictures‘ Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues releases in cinemas nationwide on December 19. Also check out the latest official trailer here.
We have compiled a gallery of all the new screenshots below so be sure to check them out, as well as the trailer embedded at the end of the article. One Piece: Romance Dawn is set for release on November 28th, so be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the One Piece news as it becomes available.
The Forza Motorsport franchise from Turn 10 Studios has always done a lot right by its fans, and one thing it has managed to do exceedingly well is provide a tonne of support after release, usually in the form of more cars for players to race around in. The Microsoft and Xbox One exclusive Forza Motorsport 5 will be no exception to this rule, and will be providing an unprecedented amount of post-launch support to players.
Starting at launch (November 22nd), and dropping on the first week of the month from January onwards, players will be given access to a new Car Pack. Each Car Pack will have an additional 10 cars available for purchase and download. If you are a fan of a specific make or model of car, you can download them one at a time, while the racing enthusist will be able to purchase a Car Pass. The Car Pass is basically a Season Pass, and gives you access to every car that will be made available.
The first pack, available on launch day will be the LaFerrari Car Pack, and will give people world wide the first chance ever at jumping behind the wheel of Ferrari’s long-awaited new hypercar. Powered by an innovative 950-hp hybrid engine and limited to 499 global production units, when released, the LaFerrari will be one of the fastest and rarest cars in the world, and “Forza” fans will get the unique chance to drive the digital experience before anyone else.
Forza Motorsport 5 will be releasing alongside the Xbox One console later this month on November 22nd, and we recently were able to go hands-on with the game, as well as interview the developers. So in the lead up to the next console generation be sure to stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Forza news as it becomes available.
Overview
We’ve only just passed that time of year where everyone grabs a bucket of popcorn and either heads to the movie theaters or pops in a DVD before sitting down on the couch to take in a classic horror flick. The fine folks over at Scientifically Proven have set out to capture that same sense of the classic horror kings but with their own unique twist. How well does their platformer, Blood of the Werewolf, hold up? Is it good enough to howl at the moon or should it be put down with a silver bullet? Let’s find out.
Story
Selena was a devoted wife, a loving mother, and a wickedly powerful werewolf. Now, with her husband slain and her child taken captive by other monsters, she vows to take her vengeance and recover the only thing that still matters to her – her child. The task won’t be easy, however. She’ll have to face harsh landscapes and the evil monsters behind the plot themselves.
Gameplay Blood of the Werewolf is, at its face, a fairly straightforward 2-D platformer game. You’ll control a lady named Selena who wields a crossbow that she can aim in a circle around her to fire at baddies. Along the way she can also pick up some upgrades that will let you either fire flaming bolts that ignite their target or multiple bolts at a time.
One of the most pleasant surprises (and most significant impacts on gameplay) is the fact that, when exposed to the moonlight, Selena transforms from her small, human form to a giant, bloodthirsty werewolf. This provides a fantastic change of pace as well as some welcome variety in how the level designers were able to keep things mixed up.
There are several notable differences in the gameplay portions between Selena’s human form and her werewolf form. First, her human form can jump and climb ladders, but her werewolf form is capable of double-jumping. Second, where she can attack from range as a human, when she’s jonesin’ for blood, nothing but the claws will do. The werewolf form is able to slash and swipe at enemies to take them down. A heavier attack can be executed for major damage. The werewolf also gets a meter that fills as she consumes the hearts of her fallen foes, which she can harness for devastating attacks. This allows each form to contain its own unique play experience, keeping things fresh for the player.
As with any platformer, level design is a major element of the overall game. If one thing’s for sure, it’s that the team at Scientifically Proven have studied their forerunners and know how to build some intense sets. Many of the elements used throughout the game will feel familiar to anyone who’s dug in to platformer in the last three decades. They use them to great effect, however.
Timed crushing walls, crumbling platforms, fire traps, well placed enemies, and more fill every level. Conquering each stage provides a real sense of accomplishment for challenge seekers. The only problem, though, is that the game isn’t really catered for newcomers of the genre. Veterans will likely experience a few points where they have to take a break and walk away or risk destroying hardware to ease their frustration. The game keeps a death counter for you, though, and the checkpoint system is well implemented, keeping it manageable for anyone willing to continue trying their hand.
The storytelling in Blood of the Werewolf really feels top notch. Selena’s narrative between missions are both well written and voice acted, giving the players a sense of the rage she feels while trying to impart narrative to the players and she searches for her child. It’s a fun, interesting story and they do a good job executing on it.
Visuals
The art style in Blood of the Werewolf is wonderfully done. The color palette caters those classic horror settings. If you’ve ever played through a Castlevania game, you’ll feel right at home with the aesthetic. What’s more than the colors and settings, the characters and animations are quite fun to see and watch. The 2.5-D engine almost makes the characters feel somewhat papercraft, almost giving the sense that you’re playing through an animated film instead of a game.
Audio
The music is both fun and thematic. It captures some of the ominous feeling you’d get from one of the classic horror films like Frankenstein or Dracula, but it keeps the game feeling somewhat lighthearted while it drives the action. As mentioned earlier, the voice acting genuinely feels great. Selena’s narrative wonderfully performed, and in her interactions with some of the other monsters she encounters, you can really sense the emotion she’s conveying. Don’t mute this game – especially during story moments.
Overall
Overall, Blood of the Werewolf is a great platformer. It provides a wonderful sense of atmosphere, the story is well written and well told, and the gameplay mechanics feel fantastic. You may destroy a keyboard or controller out of rage, but you’ll want to buy another to see this great game to the end. Fans of platformers, especially old-school platformers, should give this game a serious look.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview
When Magrunner: Dark Pulse initially released onto PC back in June it was planned to be making its way to consoles by the third quarter. Now Magrunner has finally reached Xbox 360 and PS3 and its time to take a look at it again to see how well it works on the new platforms. Is Magrunner able to offer the same experience or even a better one? Or will players lose their sanity just playing the game instead of the eldritch horrors it holds within? Let’s look at what Magrunner can give on the XBLA.
Story
In the distant future of 2048 humanity has finally found a way to produce easy renewable energy thanks to the wonders of magnetism. This newly advancing field of science now offers many interesting developments the most amazing of which are of course the Magrunners. Seven special candidates, including Dax Ward the main character, that have been collected to run through a variety of tests in a special facility over the San Andreas Fault, an interesting story to hear to be sure, but unfortunately one that is forced to be shown rather than experienced for the player themselves. The story of Magrunner is intriguing to say the least, but the problems the story has unfortunately comes from the fact that for the most part it is told outside of actual gameplay. A few cutscenes here and there are fine for interactive storytelling, but here much of it comes off as ham-handed. The introduction is too long and just when the story seems to have reached enough backstory to begin gameplay it turns out to be just a break before another cutscene.
What’s most disheartening is that not all of the storytelling suffers in this way, early on many of the character interactions work perfectly fine and fit the constrictions of the universe told in the elevator between test chambers, in these cases the pacing actually works well giving the characters and their relationships time to find some depth. But, then as the facility goes to hell and the elevators are replaced for transitioning from room to room, the dialogue and character interaction begins to bleed into the gameplay itself, which isn’t necessarily bad until the game starts handicapping the player to ensure they finish listening to the story. Despite these problems however the story itself is able to at least build up to a suitable conclusion befit the Cthulhu name, even if it is forced upon the player a bit too strong.
Gameplay
FPS based around a one trick mechanic is not the most original concept, but in this case the one trick mechanic does turn out pretty different than similar games. Basing the puzzles around magnetism, attracting and repelling different objects to get the desired effects does actually require a much different means of thinking than one might expect. The puzzles are fairly straightforward at the beginning and are able to ramp up the difficulty as the game progresses, though the learning curve might throw some players for a loop as the game transitions away from the clean facility to the run-down and monster filled rooms later on. The difficulty however can sometimes stem from wondering what to do or where to go later in the game, but this aspect does fall in line well with the game as the only tool the player has at their disposal is magnetism it doesn’t leave too much for the player to work through.
Another aspect that sets Magrunner apart is the monster that players must face throughout the game, facing off against more than just a few turrets that players can easily bypass. Monsters ranging from Deep Ones that will stalk and kill the player, to Mi-Go that will protect certain areas preventing players from reaching them, to giant monstrosities that roam around forcing the player to watch out for where they are. These monsters help to give the game a more horror style gameplay, where Dax is almost powerless to fight these enemies except in instances where explosive cubes are available to use against them. This provides an interesting juxtaposition of puzzles requiring careful thought and planning and scrambling to escape and hopefully defeat these monsters, although sometimes switching between the two far too quickly.
Playing through the game with a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse provides a drastically different experience. Where the mouse affords great precision when trying to fire the magnetism charges accurately, the controller seems able to control much better at moving around. So, being on console and having only the controller option producing a slight difficulty in aiming exactly where meaning to. Depending on sensitivity as well, trying to get accurate shots on distance and/or smaller targets can sometimes be a bit problematic, though while much of the game is slower paced being based around the solving the puzzles, this isn’t much of a problem. Other the other hand, when being chased down by monsters and trying desperately to not die all resting on hitting a mark can lead to frustration until being able to set up a preferred method of aiming for these situations.
While the story mode has over 40 levels there is not much more to be found elsewhere in the game. While there is still the Hall of Fame for messages added into the game from the crowdfunding there are no additional modes for players to test themselves on. There are leaderboards to see how players stack up against each other, as well as different achievements for beating certain levels quickly or without dying, but other than these there isn’t much offered for replay-ability. However, being offered as an XBLA title and containing a campaign of decent length this doesn’t really hurt the game much.
Visuals and Audio
The transition from PC to console doesn’t seem to have cost much in the graphics department or sound. The game still looks very good, especially for an XBLA game and the audio quality still stands up as well. The voice acting is for the most part very well done, except for a few instances of dialogue that feels a bit clunky or awkward, but is able to express exactly what it needs to for the vast majority of the time. The best part of both of these aspects though is of course the transition from the neat and tidy lab like setting to the horror filled space levels. Both the environment and the music are able to encapsulate the each area as well as the feelings of both Dax and the player as the story goes on.
Overall
The tale of Dax C. Ward as he conquers the challenges laid before him in the Magrunner facility and he finds himself fighting for his life from Cthulhu Mythos brand monsters is great. It is just the execution that makes the game stumble along as the gameplay and the story both try to develop and unfortunately step on each others toes. Despite these Magrunner has still transitioned very well to consoles and being offered for half the price makes it an even better bang for the buck. Those that missed out on the PC release or who have been waiting for it to reach consoles should find it an interesting and unique challenge for their mind.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Entitled “Conquest of Paradise,” the game’s first major expansion will open up the world of North America, including the colonial nations and Native American peoples. For the first time ever in a Paradox game, the American continent will be completely randomized, so no two playthroughs will ever be the same. On top of being able to find the Native Americans, you will now also be able to play as them, complete with their own national ideas, buildings, and events.
The expansion is set to drop on December 11, 2013. For more information, be sure to check out their official website here.
Sony and Guerrilla Games have released two new trailers for Killzone: Shadow Fall, one of which shows off more multiplayer while the other is live action, titled Oaths and Promises. The live action video is shown through the ISA perspective, inaugurating the character as Shadow Marshall. See them both below.
Guerrilla Games has offered the multiplayer gameplay trailer at an ultra high bitrate, 1080p 60 FPS to download at a whopping 544MB.
The live action trailer seems to be part of Sony’s Take the Oath campaign, encouraging gamers to create their own trailers using the PS4’s Share feature.
Killzone: Shadow Fall is set thirty years after Killzone 3, where the opposing Helghast and Vektans live in the same metropolis divided by a wall. The first-person shooter is due to be released with the PlayStation 4 on November 15 in North America and November 29 in Europe.
Over 20 minutes of gameplay footage was released last month.
