Hajime No Ippo – Rising Episode 1 – Greatest Challenger
The Fall/Autumn Anime Season has just started and, for the most part, I’ve been really excited for Hajime No Ippo – Rising, considering I watched the season that came before it during my high-school days you can probably understand that nostalgia plays a big part in me wanting to return to this franchise. Before I go on into a long-winded explanation I just have to mention that I’m incredibly happy that they’ve decided to make a third Anime season for the series, the Manga has been going on for a long time and is still going so I guess it didn’t really come as a surprise. Let’s get to it shall we?
The episode/season begins with a flashback to Ippo’s Makunoichi (The Main Character) past. It shows him as a child who, much like all other children, looks up to his father who’s work on a fishing trawler is quite dangerous. Unfortunately Ippo’s dad is killed by a freak storm that hit the ship he was working on, he managed to save the rest of the crew though so he’s considered a hero to the small ocean-side community, Ippo must now grow up fatherless and I hope this particular part of the episode hit the hearts of the masses as much as it hit mine because it really shows where Ippo’s “Fighting Spirit” comes from. Just an addition to the starting statement of “The episode/season begins with a flashback “, just before the actual story within the episode begins there is a short recap of Ippo’s fights from the past season which show not only how different he was but also how the animation is better and I found that to be a nice little comparison between the two seasons.
Ippo doesn’t give up on his father though because papa Makunoichi promised his son that he would return just like every other time he had gone out for work, Ippo spends a lot of his time at the pier as his mother, understandably, slides into depression. I actually loved this half of the episode more than the later half, the friends and co-workers of Ippo’s father continuously kept an eye on him and his mother after the unfortunate death and even helped them through the mourning process and, eventually, helped them get back up on their feet. The symbolism of Ippo as a child teaching himself to tie a bowline knot much like his father would’ve shows the determination of this kid and foreshadows his determination and hard work within the boxing ring.
Now the second half of the episode takes a real change in pace as we’re thrown back into the present day and into the ring. We’re reintroduced to all of Ippo’s friends and fellow boxers like Takamura who had the spotlight for the last half of the last season of Hajime No Ippo yet it didn’t really focus on them for too long because they also introduced the first threat to Ippo: Shimabukuro, a fisherman who has openly announced that he knows the secret to overcoming Ippo Makunoichi’s signiture “Dempsey Roll” which is a monster of a statement that would make fans of the series like me automatically dislike this guy. The episode ended with the beginning of their official match and I think it was ended perfectly because I was left in anticipation for the episodes to come.
I have to say though, my favourite part of the episode happens in the last, let’s say, 30 seconds where Ippo seems to have his back against the wall, metaphorically and physically, and his coach realises that he’s showing the symptoms of someone with Cyanosis (Hypoxia) – where the colour of the skin for a human turns blue or purple when they are low on oxygen – to which Shimabukura, the fisherman, says “Welcome to the Ocean Floor”. That gave me shivers not only because it was a great line that was well-timed but because both fighters, in some way or another, have ties to the ocean; Ippo having his father die at sea and Shimabukura being a fisherman himself. The pair-up is just perfect and it oozes symbolism which is something I really enjoy.
The episode was fantastic because it still kept the same rhythm and style as the other series’, the animation is fantastic – the voice-acting work is even better and the workers over at Studio Madhouse really know what they are doing, you can feel it. This series has gotten me excited and I’m ready to see what is to come in the weeks ahead. I can already say that this anime is going to kick all kinds of arse! Check out more Hajime No Ippo – Rising Impressions HERE.
It is quite amazing, Attack On Titan has made such an impact on the Anime world and it’s audiences in such a huge way. The Anime got incredible reception, the Manga has begun selling better than it had previously and the amount of merchandise that has been designed, developed and sold is nothing short of fantastic! Ever since Episode 1/Chapter 1 of the series, fans have fantasized about having their own 3D Maneuver Gear to zip around their cities or towns, some fans have even made working models of the Gears, obviously they weren’t so exact as to hoist humans into the air but they were “working”. I’ve got some good news for all you die-hard fans of the series: It was only recently announced that an Officially made and released 3D Maneuver Gear is set for release sometime in 2014.
I’m not joking, this is not a hoax, this is confirmed and it is great! It has been said that the release will actually be a 1/1-scale model of the Gears from the series and, from what the picture, it probably comes with the sword and extra blades too. Like I said above it is scheduled for release in 2014 but it will be unveiled properly at the “Survey Corps Archives” exhibition in Tokyo, which will run from the 18th of October until the 4th of November so expect a lot of awesome-looking merchandise and images to come from that. As for right now; enjoy the one official picture we have and stay excited, the Attack On Titan craze will be around for a while.
Pokemon X and Pokemon Y is set for a world-wide release on the 12th of October which is only four days away and, as you can probably imagine, fans all around the world are going wild with anticipation and excitement. With all the “leaks” circulating the world wide web in the past week or so I feel like it’s about time we report on some “Official” news. While this little bit of information has been around for a while, I think it deserves a little bit more spotlight considering we’re only a few days from release. A special Torchic is set for world-wide distribution on the launch date of the game. The Fire-Starter from the “Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald” generation of games will be given to us at Level 10 with the moves; Scratch, Growl, Focus Energy and Ember already learned by the Pokemon.
Torchic will come with the Hidden Ability “Speed Boost” which raises the speed level of the Pokemon at the end of every turn. It’s a fantastic ability which is used a great deal in Official Tournaments. Torchic will also be distributed with the item “Blazikenite” which, as you are all probably aware of, is the item that allows Blaziken to Mega-Evolve which is going to be one of the biggest assets in the newest generation of Pokemon so you’d be a chump to miss out on it! Now remember; Pokemon X and Pokemon Y (as well as Torchic) are set for a world-wide release on the 12th of October on the 3DS and the information for the Pokemon Distribution can be seen in more detail here.
BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma prepping to release in English, so Aksys has revealed a special limited edition version of the game that packs plenty of bonus additions to the newest in the fighting series. Just what can hardcore BlazBlue fans expect from the upcoming release? Luckily they have a list:
40-Page Art Book – Presented in full color, collecting art from both the game and special art from artists
Official Soundtrack CD – Filled with new music composed by Daisuke Ishiwatari
Rachel Alucard Nendroid – A nendroid of one of the fan favorite characters of the BlazBlue series
Mystery Item – An additional item yet to be revealed
Even without knowing what the last item is, the BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Limited Edition looks chock full of great additions. But, what do you think? Give your thoughts on the limited edition bonus material and what you think the final mystery item will be in the comments below.
“In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future There is Only War”
Space Hulk is the Warhammer 40k based, strategy board game adaptation that fans had been waiting for for years and for the most part it received a decent reception. However, it was not without its problems and those came mostly in the form of bugs which are being patched along with the release of a brand-spanking new 3 mission campaign called “The Messenger of Purgatory”. In this exciting new campaign players will be tasked with commanding a squad as they blast and hack their way towards the remains of their fallen comrade, Captain Atarius, who they must retrieve to complete the mission.
Full Control, the studio behind Space Hulk, had this to say about the expansion, “We wanted to give the community a big ‘thank you’ for the wonderful support they have shown, through the first stage of launch, and we think that fans will really love the Messenger of Purgatory campaign.” Space Hulk is available on Steam, Mac, and iOS.
Constant C may have been one of the lucky hundred titles that were chosen for Steam’s Greenlight back in August, but the game is looking at an even brighter future as well. Original developer IGS and 5pb Games have announced that the title will be reaching XBLA in the Spring of 2014.
Telling the story of a robot trying to fix a research space station that is frozen in time, Constant C is a puzzle platformer that lets players control gravity, momentum, and time to solve the mysteries of the space station. With more than 100 levels, players will have plenty of challenges to face and now the XBLA version will see enhancements like improved localization.
Those wanting to see more on Constant C can check out the official trailer embedded below. Constant C was previously released for PC, but this newer improved version will be hitting the Xbox 360 XBLA next Spring.
Lords of Xulima is a Turn-Based RPG with the 2D isometric feel of classic games like Baulder’s Gate made by Numantian Games; with a release date set for early 2014 on the PC, Mac, and Linux, but Numantian Games is looking to the crowd sourcing giant IndieGoGo to help them reach their goal and provide even more content to the players.
In developing a game as complex as Lords of Xulima, we needed to make a lot of decisions about what aspects to include and which ones to exclude. Even though we would like to be able to do everything to make Lords of Xulima the best game possible, unfortunately we need to adjust our vision to match our budget. For this reason, we have decided to launch this campaign and ask you to contribute to improving Lords of Xulima.
Lord of Xulima boasts more than 60 hours of gameplay as well as a vast continent to explore, “with different environments and climates”. The landscapes are hand-drawn, keeping with the old-school feel of games like Diablo and Fallout, but with a modern and intuitive interface.
Check out the trailer for Lords of Xulima below and also on IndieGoGo and don’t forget to vote for them on Steam Greenlight.
With the days whittling down, Ubisoft has released a brand new trailer for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and while it still has everything to do with piracy this time they went with a somewhat unique central theme. Showing off all Edward’s tattoos, the trailer focuses on many of them and gives a glimpse of the pirate life Edward has coursing through his veins.
From busting out of irons for some retribution, to leading a boarding party Edward has the very sea within his blood. Not only does the trailer feature some nice action from Black Flag, but it does give a good sense of who Edward is, especially with knowing what all those tattoos stand for.
Those wanting to see the trailer for themselves and check out all those sweet tats can find it embedded below. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag will be releasing at the end of the month for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, and PC, and as a launch title for Xbox One and PS4.
To be honest, back in school I never paid much attention in history class (ancient or modern) . So imagine my surprise when I found out World War II was won with simple touch controls and tower defence action over just 21 missions! Introducing Hills Of Glory 3D, a tower defence title with a World War II theme that for some reason thinks boasting it has 3D graphics is somehow still considered a selling point so significant it needs to be included in the title. Hills Of Glory 3D takes no risks in delivering a watered down strategy experience for casual gamers but comes in a nice, polished package for your thumbs to fiddle around with.
Gameplay
Hills Of Glory 3D is a simple tower defence title. Well, they call it tower defence but you don’t really build any towers or turrets unlike most other titles. Instead, you just defend the base with the weapons you have, making for a much simpler gaming experience. This is a double edged sword however, as while it does take away much of the complexity, the game then becomes a little too easy. It then starts feeling more like a button masher (or should I say screen tapper) with very little strategy required….which kind of defeats the purpose of a strategy game. The simplicity does make it very easy to play though. Players take control of a military base and must protect it against all enemies. Tapping shoots a troop and you can rack up combos. Two fingers can unleash a machine gun, two fingers drops napalm, holding can bring out a mortar, you get the idea. Options and weapons are limited as well as variety in gameplay and what you see is what you get. It may take some getting used to remembering the way to use certain weapons but other than that there is a very small learning curve. Of course I should also note Hills Of Glory 3D is free, so you know the drill of what to expect: waiting to play a game, in-app purchases, advertisements, a strong focus on upgrading & power ups and other generic features.
Audio & Visual
Like many of Chillingo’s published titles, presentation is pretty much as good as it gets on iOS. Graphics are bright, cartoonish, charming and not scared of having some fun. Oh yeah and in case you didn’t guess by the title, it has 3D graphics too! With smooth models, decent animation and nice textures the graphics department of Hills Of Glory 3D is surely a highlight. The soundtrack is pretty much what you’d expect from a military title with drums you’d be more than happy to march along too. Sound effects may not be spectacular but they get the job done. Sadly, voice acting isn’t present which would’ve been a nice touch.
Overall For better or worse, Hills Of Glory 3D is very simple, casual defence title. Without towers or turrets to build, gameplay boils down to tapping on enemies in a variety of ways to defend your base without much strategy to it. That being said, Hills Of Glory 3D could be a good gateway game to the genre for some gamers. With a decent soundtrack and bright visuals presentation is splendid and it’s also a free title, so why the hell not? With that being said, I’m sure most games will be left feeling unsatisfied and wanting more out of their game.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Capture from the EB Live! Battlefield 4 presentation. He’s not usually that stern looking….
EA Australia had a large presence at EB Games Expo 2013, with what was voted as ‘Best Game of Show’ in Titanfall, The Sims 4, FIFA 14 and more. But even more eye-catching and attention grabbing than the fallen mech from the former – in the back corner of the Xbox booth, mind you – was the life-size tank in the centre of the expo hall. And while t-shirts were being shot from its cannon into the crowd, and others lined up to play Battlefield 4, I was interviewing DICE Creative Director Lars Gustavsson. It was a real pleasure to speak with the man on the game, who came to Sydney all the way from Stockholm, Sweden.
The first thing I wanted to ask about is Levolution. We keep seeing, with the Siege of Shanghai map and all the beta footage that’s been released, the huge tower crumbling into the bay, but just far does Levolution go in the levels, in both single-player and multiplayer?
So we made it very clear to ourselves early on that Levolution isn’t just that epic thing that’s happening, and that it ranges from, on some levels it’s less epic, and on some it’s more epic. But the key thing is that it should alter how you play the level. And equally important – or sometimes even more important – is all the interactive components sprinkled around the world. And then in combination with the networked water – the new water that can change – improved destruction, and a lot of other things, it should make the battlefield more interactive.
But yeah, we truly hope people will use these tools and, just like they’ll have different weapons, different gadgets, different vehicles, they can also use the environment now to seal off entrances, to be warned by metal detectors, to flooding a whole city in order to get it your way! And maybe you’re better at piloting helicopters, then you’ll definitely want that skyscraper to still be there and dominate the skyline, keeping it up there so you can have that control point. While if you’re better at boats and ground warfare, then you’ll want it to go down quickly in order to have it your way.
And then we’ve got Battlelog, which is being overhauled and enhanced, with the second-screen integration thanks to Smartglass and the like. What can you tell us about how Battlelog has been improved?
So, what we saw when we shipped Battlefield 3… I mean, we were called crazy by many people for having that integrated on PC. And overall we saw it was a success, but we also saw that it was mainly PC players that got that. So the big focus has been to get it into all platforms for Battlefield 4; to give to the same feel as the rest of the game, but also extend it. You know, we have not only the Commander screen, but the battle screen which lets you overview the map you’re currently playing on so you’re squad leader can give orders on it. And this extra map is something we’ve been asked for, for a long time by the community; to be able to change your loadout, to be able to have your social network there and to challenge friends on leaderboards.
And now, with the Geo Leaderboards… many times leaderboards land somewhere in the middle and it’s not so relevant, but now, you can actually look at the same street where you live, or same city, or same country. So we keep on building this social hub. Before Battlelog, people usually went elsewhere to find the latest news for Battlefield. But now we’ve managed to become the central hub for news, feedback, forums, friends and you now, you can also challenge friends in specific missions and so on. So really building a hub by having it on PC, but also on current-gen and next-generation. It’s a lighter version on current-gen, but full integration on next-generation hardware. So a huge step forward.
Something you just briefly mentioned is Commander Mode, which was last seen – although in a somewhat different configuration – back in Battlefield 2142. Was the whole motivation for bringing it back and revamping it the rise of this second screen experience and it just being the perfect timing for the perfect fit?
Yeah, it started in Battlefield 2and went away with Battlefield 2142. Yeah, I mean the whole reason for bring it back was – well, there’s many reasons… we lost it while we went into the Bad Company era. And looking back, I mean we learnt a lot from that era, but we also lost track of a couple of things that the community really missed. So it’s been a big request from the community to get Commander back. We have upped the number of players in our squads, we’ve introduced a field upgrade system which lets you pick your specific career for unlocks – whether I want to play defensive, offensive and so on – and as you play together, you all go up, but if you get wiped the whole squad goes down. So we’re building a whole ecosystem of teamplay and to get that Commander in-game to work, but also to be able to provide it on tablets, and hopefully make it seamless to players on the battlefield – whether they’re sitting in a cafe playing or if they’re home on their sofa – it’s been a very interesting challenge but we’re very happy with what we accomplished.
We’re also seeing a trend now with what has been revealed for next-gen of the merging of multiplayer and single-player modes. Everything seems to be one cohesive, drop-in, drop-out experience. DICE are also doing some things to blend the two, mostly linked through Battlelog. Can you tell how how you are doing this?
So overall, when we had done Battlefield 3, we got a lot of feedback on the single-player campaign – both positive and in areas of improvements. I mean, the biggest one we took away was that the only thing we had to do was more battlefield. So we stepped back to the drawing board and looked at what elements from multiplayer could we introduce into single-player. So now, you play with a squad; you can use them to engage the enemies. Instead of ‘pick this one up to take that one out’, it’s more of ‘here’s a variety of tools, you do it your way’ where your own kind of battlefield moments start to take shape and you come up with crazy solutions of taking out enemies.
We introduced scoring and persistence in single-player to give you more to strive for, and a lot of new, interesting ways to try and do more and be more. Also, we worked with the story to make it more relevant for you as the player, with good actors… but also, what’s really great to see is that, with a lot of the initiatives that brought over from multiplayer to single-player, we then also started thinking about how to build multiplayer. We saw how we could build drama in Battlefield 3 single-player, and we brought that into Levolution. We had an intern project of building interactive water, and then we said ‘yes, we want that for single-player’.
You can see it in ‘Fishing in Baku‘ where the water kind of wades around you. Then we saw that storming water and said ‘we must do this for multiplayer’ and then said ‘no, we can’t do it – yes, we can do it!’. And then we came up with a design inspired by tanks combatting among sand dunes and getting line of sight – we managed to pull it off. So that, to me, is an enormous pool of potential and crossbreed between single-player and multiplayer. In the end, hopefully the customer definitely benefits from us going at Battlefield from so many perspectives or angles.
I’m more of a single-player admittedly, but when I do get online to play Battlefield 3 or what-have-you, I sometimes feel daunted because I’m going up against guys who have mastered their strategies for each individual map and it sometimes feels like a losing battle from the get-go…
Yeah, you will hopefully be able to try out more things now in single-player first, get a better hang of it… we’ve introduced a test range, where you’re offline and can try out all the vehicle types. So learn how to pilot a transport helicopter before it’s full of players that you don’t want to clash with. You can shoot the targets, customise and so on and try out the things that you’ve unlocked. So hopefully that will also ease people into the game.
And if I’m correct, there’s also been a change to the classes?
Yeah, we have… I mean, overall, we had an overhaul in terms of customisation, both in vehicles and in general we’ve given the possibility of – sort of in racing-game style – when you add a scope to your weapon, you can see what you lose and what you gain in order to see what impact it makes. In Battlefield 3, to be honest, it was very hard to know what new attachment did for your weapon. And I think that’s important to help the players kind of find their way into the battlefield.
And you’ve got the dual-scopes on many of the rifles…
Yeah, we have lots of nifty tools and gadgets. You can have the range adjustments in your scopes… so a lot of depth. And hopefully we’ve done a lot to ease you into game modes with instructional game mode movies. We reworked the whole deploy screen for better accessibility. In customisation, we re-organised unlocks for vehicles, introduced new vehicles classes and so on and so forth. And overall, what goes across the whole game – and you usually don’t talk to media about – but all this hard work has gone into improving network code, input latency, controls and so on. So far, a lot of people say that it feels like a new game, which makes me super happy. That’s usually not something you put on the back of a box, but there’s endless hours that have gone into it.
So the closed beta has been going on for about 3 days now. It’s early, but have you gathered any feedback already? I saw a funny video online of people who had stayed in that skyscraper as it was going down and were mysteriously killed as if shot from invisible sources.
[Laughs] Yeah, there was supposed to be an environment change there that didn’t happen. So overall – I’ve been a part of Battlefield since 1942; the first prototype 14 and a half years ago – we know that, even though we have the biggest QA or testing department ever, and we do double, triple playtests every day, it’s nothing like when hardcore gamers get their hands on it. During the first hours, days, we get more feedback. So with an extremely active forum, we already now have gotten a lot of feedback on drivers, glitches, tweaking, tuning, balancing, so we’re monitoring it closely. And today we’re opening up for the open beta, so it’s going to be super exciting when I get home to the hotel tonight to see if the whole backend and everything holds up.
The last thing I wanted to ask about is the fact that, on the promotional video, your plans for post-launch support show “new content weekly”. That’s obviously a huge, continuous commitment and I imagine that would range from camo and additional customisation amongst the more spaced out bigger expansions and DLC?
Overall, what we’ve learned is that, in the old days you shipped a game and it was over. We always have been trying to keep on updating the game. But, since 1942 with the expansion packs, we’ve always seen that the lifetime for Battlefield games are really long and how our premium was received for Battlefield 3… it was just enormous. So now we have an operations team, that is probably bigger than most game studios, that just work with everything from cheating hacking, maintaining servers and ensuring that you have a good experience, building the new content, expansion packs, working with the community and messaging and all of that. So yeah, it’s a big undertaking and commitment but it’s all worth it. The way that premium and the whole post-launch journey has been on Battlefield 3 – it’s a joy to see, it’s really amazing.
I have to thank you for taking the long flight over to Australia. I can imagine the fatigue and the jet lag, but it’s just been amazing to have so many developers from the studios come down for the event.
Thank you. I mean, to be honest, the honor is all on my side. I’ve said no to most trips on this game, just to be able to finish the game and take care of the family and to ship and sell the game, but – and I’m not sucking up here – you have an awesome community down here. People are extremely positive, and it’s a great event. EA Australia are doing amazing things. They took me for a ride here… we had ‘Dine with DICE’ here with the hardcore gaming community; special dishes, great entertainment. So it’s just a joy to be here. Jet lag… I have no seconds to rest, so as long as you don’t sit down you won’t feel the jet lag.
Thanks to EA Australia and Lars Gustavsson for the opportunity. Battlefield 4 releases for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on October 31st; the Xbox One on November 22nd and the PlayStation 4 a week later, Australia-wide.
“In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future There is Only War” 
