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Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD Remaster Screenshots Released

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Square Enix has shared a set of new screenshots for the upcoming high-definition remasters of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2, featuring Bahamut, Anima and more. Be sure to check them out below.

Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD Remaster is coming to the PlayStation 3 and sold separately for the PlayStation Vita. The game will be out on December 26, 2013 in Japan and will be available bundled with a limited edition PS Vita 2000 model.

First announced back in September 2011, there is still no exact international release date but a release window of this winter (or summer, in Australia) is expected. The latest trailer shown was during Tokyo Game Show 2013.

Logitech G100s Gaming Mouse Review

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Logitech G100s Gaming Mouse
Manufacturer: Logitech
Platform: Windows
Price: $39.99 USD – Available Here

Visual learner? Check out our video unboxing and review below!

Logitech’s long running G series of gaming accessories received a major refresh this year. The G100s took over as Logitech’s budget gaming mouse designed for RTS and MOBA games. The mouse features a traditional ambidextrous design with two programmable sensitivity settings, an invisible optical sensor, and a special hydrophobic and oleophobic coating.

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The Logitech G100s is packaged in a simple box. Flipping open the box’s front cover reveals the mouse. Inside the box is the mouse, warranty information, and set up guide.

Installation of the G100s is very simple. Plug in the mouse and it is ready to go. The most noticeable feature of the mouse is actually the lack of distinct red glow of optical mice. The Logitech G100s actually uses a special Zero Delta optical sensor that does not project any visible light.

The sensor is capable of detecting 250 dpi to 2500 dpi, which is plenty for most RTS and MOBA players. However, high sensitivity FPS players may find the G100s’ sensor a little lacking. In my testing, I found the sensor to be accurate and smooth. The two preloaded sensitivity should work for most users. However, users can install the optional Logitech software to change the sensitivity settings to their preference.

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The body of the mouse is the classic ambidextrous design. The same design can be seen in cheap quality mice that often come free with pre-packaged computers. Do not let the simple design fool you, there is a unique feature built into the mouse. The top of the mouse is coated with a hydrophobic coating that repels water. As a gamer who suffers from a mild case of sweaty hands, I noticed that the top of the mouse was much easier to grip without the need for a rubbery coating. I felt there was a big difference compared to my previous mouse used a hard plastic coating. Additionally, the left and right mouse buttons are coated with an oleophobic coating that helps repel fingerprints. After extensive use, the mouse buttons are a little shinier than the rest of the mouse, but there are no fingerprints in sight. The coating is pretty durable, as I was unable to scrape off the coating with a sharp fingernail. The oleophobic and hydrophobic coatings are found on many products in Logitech’s G line. It is a brilliant alternative to rubber coatings.

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The mouse buttons have a nice crisp click to them. The click is the same practically anywhere I pressed the mouse button down. Logitech has rated the right and left mouse buttons to last up to 20 million clicks in their lifetime. The mouse wheel is smooth. It can only roll back and forth with a slight click as the wheel is spun. I liked the feel of the middle mouse button as it provides a nice crisp feedback, unlike the unpleasant mushy feeling of some mice. However, I would have preferred a texture mouse wheel. Although the rubbery wheel provides just enough grip, textured mouse wheels are definitely easier to manipulate. The sensitivity button is well placed below the mouse wheel. I found I could hit the button with one of my middle finger joints without having to shift the positioning of my fingers. The location makes it easy to drop down to a lower sensitivity while trying to snipe, then switch to a higher one once I needed to make my escape with a different weapon in hand.

Gamers who tend to palm their mouse will have no problems with the G100s. However, due to its long design, those who prefer to use a claw grip may have some problems. I have rather small hands and had difficulty comfortably using the mouse in a claw grip.

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The bottom of the mouse is covered four mouse feet. The bottom one is exceptionally generous in size. I cannot find any documentation on what the feet are made from, but they feel as slick as the PTFE/Teflon mouse feet I have used in the past. In use, the mouse glides smoothly around my mouse pad.

The mouse cable is made from plain plastic. It is roughly six feet in length, which should suit most set ups. I would have preferred to see a slightly thicker cable as the gauge is rather anorexic. There is a small strain relief located where the mouse meets the cable, which should help lengthen the life of the mouse.

I am not a huge fan of the graphic design of the mouse. The body is black with gray markings that look like the Halo series reimagined for the 1980’s. Although the design is rather subtle, I found it a little tacky looking compared to the more simple designs in gaming accessories today. Also, I am not completely sure why a running stickman was chosen for the DPI setting buttons, but I suppose there are few better icons to describe DPI adjustments.

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At $39.99, the G100s is a strange mouse. There are definitely mice available with a fuller set of features that would be considered necessary in a gaming mouse. The Logitech G100s lacks macros and thumb buttons, features its competitors are able to provide at a similar price point. For an extra $10, gamers can upgrade to the Logitech G300 which will provide 9 macroable keys and onboard memory.

If you are gaming on an extreme budget or have some burning passion for the classic ambidextrous mouse design, the G100s is a good choice. It provides a solid sensor and excellent grip for a mouse with no rubber coating. Users can program two sensitivity settings in the very accessible DPI adjustment buttons.  However, the mouse is missing features considered standard in most gaming mice today, such as thumb buttons and macros. For the price, the G100s is an excellent option as a beater mouse that can be taken to LAN parties, thrown into bags, and exposed to other abuses without much worry. However, as a primary gaming mouse, there are better options at the price range.

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Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD Release Date, Price Announced

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Ubisoft has announced the release date of Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD as January 15, 2014 at a price of $29.95. The former PS Vita exclusive will be available as a digital download for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

The game is set before the American Revolution with a female Assassin protagonist, Aveline, taking players through the streets of New Orleans, fetid swamps and ancient Mayan ruins. Players will have machetes, poison dart blowpipes, a whip and dueling pistols in their arsenal. The HD port will feature additional missions that explore Aveline’s story, as well as updated world design for more gameplay options during levels.

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Those who pre-order the game on PS3 and PC via the PlayStation Network and Uplay will receive 25% off, while those who purchase the season pass for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag will get the game 25% off on release day. The comparison shot below shows how, aside from the higher resolution, the aesthetic look has also been improved over the handheld version.

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Walking Dead Season 2 Details Arriving Soon

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Telltale Games has just revealed the above image on Twitter, teasing the release of new information about the second season of The Walking Dead point and click series. Fans of the game will recognise that hat instantly as the one belonging to Clementine. The rest of Telltale’s Tweet is just as recognisable: “Keep that hair short”.

Of course we already knew that Clem was going to feature in the second season of the game thanks to Telltale’s reveal at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, which also mentioned that Kenny’s fate would be explored. Yet to be revealed is the involvement of the characters from 400 Days, which had several different outcomes available to players with regards to who formed a group at the end of the game.

The news is scheduled to hit at noon Pacific time tomorrow for the States, which will equate to 6am on Wednesday morning for Australian fans.

Magicka: Wizard Wars Preview

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Magicka: Wizard Wars
Developer: Paradox North
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Platform: Windows

Magicka: Wizard Wars is Paradox North’s upcoming free to play Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) title. The game is currently in closed alpha with purchasable tiers that will allow early access to the game amongst other in game bonuses. Magicka: Wizard Wars takes Magicka’s friendly fire enabled spell casting system and focuses it into a highly competitive PVP experience.

Magicka is a highly regarded indie action co-op title. Players went on a humorous adventure that left nothing safe from parody. The game introduced an incredibly fun spell system that allowed players to create spells by mixing up to five different spell effects. Co-op was made even more challenging as friendly fire is permanently on. Although there were several PVP arena maps in the original Magicka, the title’s main focus was on the co-op gameplay.

Sadly, most of the humour is gone in Magicka: Wizard Wars. The announcer does crack a few jokes about the player at the beginning and the end of the game, but that is it. I do hope that it will return in some greater form as the game progresses.

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The biggest change in Magicka: Wizard Wars is the simplification of the spell casting system. Although players still have access to all eight spell elements, the player is limited to creating combinations of three versus the original five. To cast a spell, players mix and match three spell elements. The first element dictates the style of attack, while the next two modifies the type of damage dealt. For example, the spell combination lightning, lightning, and fire will cast a bolt of fiery lightning that will jump from player to player while dealing electric and fire damage. Wet players will take extra damage from the skill and dry players will be left with a burning damage over time effect. As players rack up kills, they can unleash one of four powerful skills called Magicks. These abilities can change the tide of battle when used. The four abilities currently cycle every few days.

Spells can be chained together to create interesting synergistic effects. For example, players wet from a water spell take extra damage from lightning and frozen players are vulnerable to rock based missile effects. Mixed with friendly fire, Magicka: Wizard Wars allows a well-coordinated team to steamroll the opposition.

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Currently, there is only one map available in Magicka: Wizard Wars. Players are provided with three spawn points arranged in an upside down triangle on the map. Two teams of four are provided with 100 respawn tickets. To win, one team must cut off the other team’s ability to respawn, whether by forcing the other team to consume all 100 tickets or by controlling all three spawn points. To help defend spawn points, the controlling team will have two imps that will attack enemy players. The imps are rather squishy, so the best they can do is buy the defending team a little bit of time to rush to the defense of their spawn point.

Matches tend to be short, lasting 15 to 20 minutes usually. The shorter length helps diffuse one of the most frustrating elements of the MOBA genre, which is being stuck with a losing team for 30-40 minutes. Whether this will actually curb the infamous MOBA rage and poor player behaviour has yet to be seen as friendly fire is a big part of the Magicka series.

Magicka: Wizard Wars’ graphics are a significant improvement over the original Magicka title. The models, particles, and textures are visibly sharper. There were no graphical glitches or slowdowns in my experience with the alpha, which is a good sign for the future.

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The current state of the alpha is true to form. The main gameplay elements have been implemented and work well. The game is surprisingly polished in its current state. The spells are well balanced.  However, the team at Paradox North are currently struggling with connection issues in the game that need to be ironed out. As a free to play title, Paradox is relying on microtransaction to make a profit on Magicka: Wizard Wars. Currently, the store has yet to be implemented, so the only equipment available are the bonus items.  Players can sign up for free for access to the open alpha at the official Magicka: Wizard Wars website. Codes will be given out as more slots open up in the alpha. For immediate access, players can purchase one of three tiers ranging from $12.99 to $49.99. It is highly recommended to pick up the $19.99 tier as it comes with a free copy of Crusader Kings II which is valued at $39.99.

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Magicka: Wizard Wars is shaping up to be an excellent MOBA title that may entice those spurned by the long matches to give the genre another try. The game is in an excellent state of polish considering its alpha status. It is definitely worth a look for fans original Magicka and MOBA fans.

 

Pokemon X and Y – An Easy Guide To Levelling Up Your Pokemon

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At this point in time the Pokemon X and Y 3DS games have been out for, let’s say, two weeks and while a lot of people are most likely done with it, there are still a majority of people who are training up teams, battling with friends or preparing to hit up an Official Tournament. There are so many things to do once a Pokemon game has been completed; you can look for Mega Stones, find the Hidden Legendaries, hunt for Shiny Pokemon, etc. I, on the other hand, have been strictly working on levelling up my entire starting team to level 100 and, in Pokemon X and Y, it actually hasn’t been too difficult to do yet if you’re impatient like me then you’ll be glad to know that there are ways of speeding up the level-capping process while also keeping it enjoyable and without loosing those sweet and tasty extra stat boosts you get from EV training. While many people might already know this, I’m going to take you through what I find to be the easiest methods to levelling up your Pokemon Team.

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SUPER TRAINING

While super training doesn’t exactly level up your Pokemon it does help add extra numbers onto stats when levelling up so I’m going to consider this as part of the process. I suggest that when you get a Pokemon, let’s say Aaron, you do a little bit of research on it’s final evolution, this will help you to determine how powerful it will be, what exactly it can be made to do, how exactly it will fit on your team and so on and so forth. It’s fairly essential to do this if you want a powerful team, you have to take species’ strengths and weaknesses into account as well as natures and abilities, it all adds up in the end.

Aron eventually becomes Aggron and while Aaron isn’t that great of a Pokemon, Aggron is so you’re better off putting in the time to make the final evolution even better. Aggron is incredibly defensive and has great attack yet lacks at everything else, by the advice that I read while researching I decided to Super Train my Aron in Speed and Attack knowing that it’s defences will already be outstanding. Now that I’ve done that I’ll get an extra Speed and Attack boost for every level I gain. This is what I would consider to be the foundation, don’t do anything else before you do this.

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POKEMON-AMIE

While this aspect of the game does seem very reminiscent of Nintendogs it actually is a very useful little addition that will actually help you in the long run. Having your Pokemon like you in Pokemon-Amie means that not only will it give you a permenant +25% Experience boost but it will also help you in battle so you’re not always trading out or having to revive. Pokemon with full happiness will overcome status issues faster, they will land critical hits more often and, as I said just above, they’ll gain more experience.

There’s a certain method I use in Pokemon-Amie that seems to speed up the process a great deal: First you pat the Pokemon until it no longer gives of hearts, it will give off a black musical note, Second you feed it until it no longer wants any food and third you play a mini-game with it that should reset it’s hunger and petting levels so that you can repeat the process. If your Pokemon begins emitting a flurry of shinning hearts it means you’ve gone up a friendship level, keep going until you’re the best of buddies!

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LUCKY EGG 

This item is another essential alongside the Exp. Share which we’ll talk about soon. Before I even go on to explain it I’ll tell you where you can find it: Head to Coumarine City, there you’ll find Coumarine Hotel, within the Hotel there will be a girl with a Marill, talk to her and if your main Pokemon likes you enough she will give you the Lucky Egg. This item doubles the experience you get in battle if the battling Pokemon has it as a held item. This mixed with the extra 25 percent you get from having your Pokemon like you is a fantastic method to implement.

It’s an item that seasoned players would have used a lot in the past and it’s great to have seen them bring it back for us to use again. Don’t pass up this little guy because it’s a gem. Mixing this item with Experience Share (the item that I am about to talk about) works incredibly well considering how the Experience is distributed among your team but I’ll go into more detail about that soon enough. Change Lucky Egg’s holder constantly, I tend to place it on the Pokemon with the lowest level and I allow it to level and, hopefully, catch up to the rest of the team which, most of the time, it does.

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EXP. SHARE

This is an item that you get early in the game regardless of what you do, it is just one of those items that gets given to you and it’s one of the best you’ll get in the game because it’s the one you’ll be using through the entire thing. This item has been improved in an incredible way; it now shares experience throughout your entire team and not just between the Pokemon battling and the Pokemon holding it. Like I’ve mentioned above; this item is used fantastically with the Lucky Egg (as well as all these other methods). The way that Experience is distributed with Experience Share is that the main battling Pokemon will receive 100% of the experience gained while the rest of the team each get 50% of the experienced gained which is already fantastic, now mix that with the use of a Lucky Egg with the item basically doubling the amount of experience a Pokemon gets.

It works out great and if you mix all these different methods together, which you can, with Experience Share you’ll be levelling like a League Champion in no time at all. Experience Share is also great to use while levelling a weaker team of low-level Pokemon; by having a strong Pokemon being the vanguard of your team and going up against the Elite Four, the weaker Pokemon will be levelling up like crazy with the large amount of Experience that would be gained from a League fight. It’s all very simple really, that’s probably why I understand it so well.

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O-POWERS

O-Powers I find are very underrated with most people I know who play the game not even realising they could use it on themselves. There are O-Powers for almost every “boostable” aspect of the game and, much like Pokemon themselves, they can also be levelled up to be stronger. I just want to focus on one particular O-Power, that being the one that boosts Experience gained, didn’t think you’d see this one coming, right? You can find this O-Power a little later on in the game in Anistar City, more specifically; Anistar City’s Pokemon Center where you’ll find a man in a pale-pink suit who will make it available for you to use. Level One of this O-Power unlocks the potential for you to gain a boosted 25%, Level Two gives you 50% and Level Three gives you a whopping 100% boost.

I continuously use the O-Power specifically to level it up, I use it both on myself and I send it to friends who are training and the good thing is that, if they have it, they can send it to you so you get the boost for a short amount of time. Partner up with a friend so that you can go back and forth using the O-Power seeing as it costs less to send it to a friend than it does to use it on yourself. It’s these small exploits that will get you there quicker. By the end of a nice levelling session you’ll surely be up an O-Power level and so will your friend. Use the heck out of it, it’s there for a reason!

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TRADE

Now this one is entirely up to you to do, it does help but I wouldn’t consider it to be an essential part of the process only because it can sometimes be hard to do, allow me to explain. A traded Pokemon naturally earns more Experience and, up until recently, I had no idea that was true but it has apparently been this way for a very long time and now that I do know about it you can bet I’ll be using it for my future team-raising exercises. If you have a good friend who you trust enough with a task and who knows something about breeding or actually Pokemon in general you can get employ them to help make you a team that is naturally suited to gaining more Experience.

Time is probably your worst enemy when it comes to this method because, while the game is mostly directed at children, a lot of adults will be training Pokemon properly and not all of us have a great deal of time to do so. If you can set a time for you and a friend to make each other some nice, low-level Pokemon then do so because, while not crucial, it does help the process and, I suppose, it’s also somewhat of a bonding exercise with your other Pokemon-playing friends.

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WONDERTRADE

Ah yes, the dreaded Wondertrade, surprisingly this can actually help a great deal. While some people dabble in Wondertrade and are put off by others who tend to only offer a Bidoof or Zigzagoon, others are using this to their advantage and as a way to easily get a whole bunch of Rare Candies. With the implementation of the PSS system connecting with players locally and around the world has become so much easier and with a thing like “Poke Miles” being added to the game it gives one incentive to get out there and meet other trainers. Poke Miles are gained by Streetpassing other players and what not but the points earned are very low and don’t often make much of an impact.

The funny thing there is that meeting “Acquaintances” in the game also get you Poke Miles and the further you are away from the person you’ve met, the more points you get, that’s where Wondertrade is king. Start Wondertrading a great deal, the people you trade with will be added to you Acquiaintence list and they’ll also award you a bunch of Poke Miles which you can use to trade in for Rare Candy. In the South-Side Pokemon Center of Lumiose City you will find a man in a black suit who will trade you items for Poke Miles with one of those items being Rare Candies. There is no actual stock count which means you can buy as many as you afford and if you’ve already Super Trained, you still get those stat boosts so why not take the easy route.

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To get the most out of these methods I suggest you do them all together or as many as possible together. They all, somewhat, work off of each other and when done properly the results can be easily seen. I’m definitely seeing the results now, I’ve just levelled up my original six Pokemon to level 100 and I’m about to start on another six. Pokemon X and Y has truly been revolutionary and it has really made levelling up so easy and so smooth which eliminates the need for cheating yet leaves room for methods like this to shine. I truly hope this helps you all in one way or another and if you have any methods of your own or any suggestions on how to level up, head down to our comments section below and let us all know what they are. Keep on training, Pokemon Masters!

Heretic Monk Volume 1 Review

Heretic Monk Volume 1
Author: Shinji Hiramatsu
Publisher: eManga/DMG
Release Date: September 24th, 2013
Price: $9.95 – Available Here

Overview
Monks are generally known for living quiet peaceful lives offering prayers for people in need, but this is not the idea behind Heretic Monk. Instead the Heretic Monk likes taking a much more hands on approach for helping those in need. Collecting the first 5 chapters of into the first volume, what does this monk have to offer those checking out this manga?

Story
In the very first chapter the idea behind Heretic Monk isn’t pointed out immediately, the reader is introduced to a girl seemingly in distress offering up a coin to the monk asking him to help her mother. Unfortunately, the girl is carted away by her mother’s sinister looking boyfriend, and the story goes into more information about what is going on in the household. While a little outlandish, one of the strong suits of the manga is that it does go into plenty of detail to not only to give a good idea of who the characters are, but insuring that readers are feeling exactly how the author wants about each character.

After painting the boyfriend into being a truly terrible person, the manga switches gears to delivering the moral message. The Heretic Monk shows up and details the past life of the bad guy, explaining how they died and going through carrying out the death again because that the soul has not changed its ways. While this is going on additional information is explained about specific turns of phrase in Japanese and where they derived from, generally related in some way to the past life. This is of course what makes the monk a heretic, actively killing these people to make them pay for their crimes.

This is just the first story however, the four others generally follow the same pattern, but does offer some variety throughout. Some past lives aren’t people from Japan, which provides a somewhat different insight so that those not as familiar with certain turns of phrase aren’t missing out all of the time. Likewise, the setup isn’t the same every single time either, there is some change ups in the formula even in these first 5 chapters, which is good to see else it would quickly become stale with only the short history lesson being one of the few highlights.

Artwork
For the most part the art style is very dark and shaded, with a lot of use of shadow and dark lines from the auras that different characters appear with, to the very detailed backgrounds that the characters are set in. Though the more detailed backgrounds aren’t utilized a tremendous amount, as panels focused on characters speaking or interacting tend to be much lighter with as little detail behind them as possible. In some ways this is an interesting contrast, but no matter what the darker detailed backgrounds are always a treat to see.

The characters in Heretic Monk have a much more manga-style look to them, with the bad guys looking over the top villainous much more angular or grotesque, while the monk himself has the fairly standard stoic look. The women in the chapters are for the most part shown as being attractive, except in instances where they are meant not to be, but with an adult male audience in mind this is somewhat par for the course.

Extra Content
This edition of Heretic Monk doesn’t have much to offer outside of the first 5 chapters and a nice explanation of how to read a manga right to left. There isn’t more from the author or more information of the characters from the short little history lesson that show up during each story, but there is at least plenty of different versions of the manga for whatever readers use to read their manga.

Overall
Heretic Monk is an interesting story to story series akin to the style of Hell Girl with someone seeking justice or needing punishment. While there isn’t much for action the series doesn’t shy away from sexuality or violence, whether being inflicted to the evil reincarnates or by them. It does provide a nice perspective of Japanese culture, especially where certain phrases or sayings come from, as well as a few English ones. Those that aren’t put off by the sex and violence, who enjoy a one-shot chapter style should find something interesting and even somewhat educational.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Sydney Zombie Walk 2013 -The Dead Rise Again

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Prepare for an outrageous zombie apocalypse, bigger than World War Z; as the dead have been awakened again to march through Archibald Fountain, Hyde Park this Saturday, November 2 at 3.30pm.

Sydney’s annual Zombie Walks have proved to be very successful in creating awareness and raising funds for Australia’s Brain Foundation since 2009, with the latest Zombie Picnic Invasion on April 13 this year.

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For this event, Zombies are encouraged to wear their best walking dead suit, bring props (no realistic weapons), fake blood and all the more horror and gore!

Join the Sydney Zombie Walk 2013 by registering here for free and joining the official Facebook event page for rules and regulations.

Hajime No Ippo – Rising Episode 4 Impressions

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Hajime No Ippo – Rising
Episode 4 – The Goddess Of Victory

This episode starts off literally exactly where it left off in Episode 3 (click here to see Episode 3 Impressions) with Aoki being stark-naked right after weighing in for the match as his challenger Imae walks into the room to see his full-frontal nudity. It contrasts the two fighters and also does a good job at both lightening the mood and causing the kind of tension you could cut through with a knife. Hajime No Ippo knows how to blend humour with aggressiveness and it does it well.  The episode takes us through the final stages of setup before the big match for these two challengers and it also serves as a show of a divide between the two combatants, more-so than it did in the last episode.

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The episode title “The Goddess Of Victory” was not named as such by accident, this episode shows us the lack of connection between Imae and his former-lover and the deep link between Aoki and his girlfriend, it also shows as what the two fighters believes to be the correct way to go about love and boxing; Aoki confides in his girlfriend, he looks to her for comfort and stability whereas Imae seperates himself entirely from his girlfriend so that he can focus solely on the fight.  This episode, if you can’t already tell, is all about comparisons and works as a fantastic setup for a match where the audience can honestly not see the true outcome. Usually a fight within Hajime No Ippo can be forseen, the audience knows who will win and almost how they will do it but considering Aoki is not a title holder nor has he ever had a huge match like this, it can essentially go either way.

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It’s also stated that he learned a lot of what he knows through loses so this could just be another loss…possibly. Imae spends the night before the match alone, studying all of Aoki’s previous matches while Aoki himself spends the night locked in carnal embrace with his sweetheart which, apparently, is NOT a good move before a big boxing match. Aoki brings Tomiko (his girlfriend) along to the fight and, once again, it proves to just be an addition of fuel to fire for Imae who sees the couple together before the match begins. Imae seems to be full of hate and resentment and Imae seems to want to be rid of those emotions, it’s tough for both fighters but you tend to feel for Imae. The episode also briefly focuses on the Gym’s rookie member Itagaki Manabu who wins his rookie fight just before Aoki and Imae are set to enter the ring for theirs.

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The little addition was nice because you constantly see Itagaki training and you’ve never really seen him in the ring, I know for sure that he didn’t get too much spotlight last season so it’s just nice to see him in full view AND winning. The match is about to begin, Aoki begins preparations, he wears his “Victory Frog” jacket and hits the ring ready to take home the victory. Both combatants enter the stage with Aoki being a fan-favourite but it seems like the crowd only wants to see his patented “Frog Punch”, he doesn’t let their screams sway him though, rushing in will only force him into a loss. Imae stands at guard in the middle of the ring, barely moving a muscle as Aoki is bouncing and rolling just waiting for the right moment to strike but it doesn’t seem like he can see it. It’s the set up for an interesting fight and, like every week, I’m excited for this next episode. Check out more Hajime No Ippo – Rising Impressions HERE.

Gatchaman Crowds’ Second Season Green-lit

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Last season we were introduced to a quirky yet incredible deep and powerful Anime known as Gatchaman Crowds. The new Anime was a rough remake of an incredibly old Anime/Cartoon and fans were glad that they didn’t take every last detail from the “camp” original series. Gatchaman Crowds was fantastically well-recieved and it quickly became a fan-favourite with the main character, Hajime, being too cute and bubbly to hate.

The ending to the last season was incredibly odd and, while still good, didn’t exactly wrap up the way a great deal of the title’s followers thought it would which, I suppose, is actually fine now considering season two of the Anime was just green-lit. The next season is already in production and is set to be aired, once again, on NTV with details such as airing dates and times not yet being released. Within the coming months we’re bound to see this second season take flight with an abundance of information being released at a nice pace…at least, that’s what I’m hoping for.

For now just revel in the fact that Gatchaman Crowds IS making a return…again…and hopefully it’s going to answer a lot of our, so far, unanswered questions. Stay tuned for all news and information to be released in the future.