At EB Expo 2013, we stopped by Nintendo‘s booth and got the chance to talk with PR and Product Representative Jamie Wilson about the new releases for 2013 and beyond.
We discussed the games that Nintendo is adding to their line up, including Super Mario 3D World, Sonic Lost World and the highly anticipated Windwaker HD Remake. We also discussed the new gameplay options made available by the new console releases and implementation of the Wii U Gamepad. 2DS anyone?
Oh yeah, we also talked about this Pokemon thing. I guess it’s pretty popular. We delved into the the details about the first ever worldwide release and what this means for Western fans used to learning from the Japanese version. So check out the interview and learn all about your favourite plumber, hedgehog and pocket monsters.
At EB Expo 2013, I was lucky enough to get the chance to speak with Sharon Ng (PR and Marketing Manager), Calvin Shing (eSport Manager) and Kenny Poh (Marketing Manager) from Wargaming. More than willing to answer questions and explain the duties they undertake in their respective field, the information began flowing with the answer to a question I hadn’t even the chance to ask, regarding the Tankasia Tournament. We now return to your regularly scheduled interview already in progress.
Calvin: Tankasia will be starting in the last week of October, or the first week of November. From last season there were a total of about five hundred teams who signed up for the league, one team is seven players, which equates to about 3000-3500. The whole league takes around nine weeks for it to complete and follows point system. Players start out in the challenge series and work their way up to regular and then to the masters, where all the top teams play. Continuing to get better every week. The bottom four of the Masters series will drop back down to regular and such, so every week there’s the drop.
CC: This is the first time a tournament has been set in Australia. How big is that as a moment for eSports, in terms of Wargaming?
Kenny: Of course to us it’s a very strategic move. The game is actually built on a platform that originated from Europe, so what we want to bring across is competitive platform gaming to the rest of the world and of course World of Tanks serves to be a very successful platform. The game itself is very different from other general games where one competition, one game can take forty minutes to an hour. However, our games go for about ten minutes, a race to five or seven depending on whether its semi-finals, quarter finals or finals. But when talking about how big it is for wargaming, it is definitely very important for us. Not only is this happening in Asia, it is actually happening globally for the entirety of of wargaming. We are all running different leagues all over the world and will eventually lead to our, I would like to put it as global championship…
Calvin: Wargaming League.
K: Wargaming Global Championships. It will be a global platform, like the world cup in a way.
C: Every class will send two teams up, their strongest two teams. For example from South East Asia it’s the Tanksasia Masters. The two champions will be sent up and then they will battle with other classes’ two teams.
CC: This tournament is a pretty monumental task. Being a global e-sports event, i would assume there is a prize players work towards?
C: There is a $100,000 prize pool for Tanksasia, per season. There are three seasons in one year and then they work their way up to the global league. The global league from what I know is…
Sharon: 2.5 million
K: 2.5 million USD. All the prize money is in USD
Who will win?
CC: OK. Wow, that’s a lot of money. Like you were saying, now that its global, how difficult is it to coordinate? You mentioned team drop downs, points, that has to be hard to manage on such a large scale.
K: We have specific teams…
C: Yeah, we use all forms of communication between the teams and our other departments. Like Skype, normal phone calls and such, which we are on every week. Each week the teams are supposed to send in their profile, scores and such so we can update it on our website. So we are talking to players everyday [laughs] There may be thousands of players every week, but yeah, we try to talk to them all.
CC: World of Tanks is really picking up support, even getting a new console version. Will this effect you at all, or will the competition remain solely PC based?
S: No, it will not effect us in any way. Though everybody always has a preference, like console vs PC. Its always an ongoing discussion. Like for myself I prefer PC games, but maybe you prefer console games. However we will not connect, as we feel it’s a different experience. Also it may be unfair, because the controls for Xbox if you have tried them before, are actually very different. Its more intuitive and gives you more control.
CC: Going back a bit, with the tournament itself, are their any specific guidelines the players have to follow? With the available communication is it ever difficult to just explain the rules?
C: Yes definitely, because of language barriers. In South East Asia there’s Japanese teams, some Vietnamese teams as well, so we try to converse with them in English and see how it goes. English will normally solve the case. Then if there’s any disputes we’ll tell them to send in an email and we’ll slowly review to them step by step what really happened, in case of any technical difficulties that they had, or draw issues, or disputes with other teams. We’ll solve them…slowly [laughs]
CC: I assume there would be some complaints like that, just because of how intense the entire thing is. Like you said, with everything that’s riding on it, like the millions of dollars. Plus, if everyone’s willing and skilled enough to play on this level, I’m sure there’d be a lot of…not just complaints but second guesses, players calling things unfair.
K: It happens.
C: So for South East Asia we enforce this rule on camping. We’ll give out a first warning and the second warning will lead to a disqualification. So we really enforce this rule a lot, like for example just now for the fourth placing I had a warning sent to one team.
S: Camping drags out the match so it’s like…
C: It’s not entertainment.
S: It’s an unglorified win. If you manage to camouflage yourself and hide really well, the other team can’t find you, even though you’re the last tank. It ends up in a draw which is not…
K: Basically it defeats the purpose of the game, when scenarios like this happen. So what you were saying before about complaints, this is something that we deal with daily. So in Wargaming we have thousands of staff and are facing these kinds of things every day. As a company we are actually very specifically centred on community, so we are always looking at our players feedback, to ensure that they are well taken care of. I mean we can’t please everybody, but we are constantly trying to ensure that our players are heard and we try our best to fix and balance the game. Though its impossible to balance everything at the same time because if you talk about complaints, there’s different class disputes. Every body has specific problems that are totally different from one another. But for us, like I said, we listen and try to help. Like camping, this issue was a specific case that was brought up across Europe and when it came to Asia we felt like we needed to do something. So subsequently Calvin and the team started to do something with the format and improvise this area for, like I said, entertainment. I can’t be watching a game for ten minutes and everybody is just hiding in the trees.
C: Yep, I think for season one the first match which was streamed, there was one team which was camping, so we disqualified them. All the teams were scared, so they listen to us now.
It’s a big world
CC: Talking about enforcing these rules, how stressful is it? You yourself aren’t actually playing the game but, whether it’s right or not, player and the audience will complain to you.
C: Ah yes definitely. So different departments will have to maintain their professionalism in talking to players and viewers and such. We do have to stick to a very strict guideline on what to say and what not to say, so that we can maintain our sanity [laughs]. Because players complain about every single little thing honestly.
CC: People often complain about how events are handled. How much does that affect you personally? How often do these complaints get back to you?
K: Almost every time. The thing is that we are all human beings and we are looking at a few hundred to a few thousand every time. Everybody will have something to say. For example you line up somewhere and wait for a present a long time, “Oh, the queue management should have been better.” Some people get the present, but complain they were caught in a queue. Some complain in the queue before they get anything. It’s a chicken and egg problem. So overall in terms of events or eSports, we try to take care of every part. Be it accommodations to logistics, we try to give everybody the very best we can. I can not fully wipe out a problem but I can minimise it. We try to minimise as many of those unnecessary things that should not have happened. But like I said, once again, you cannot please everybody, it happens everyday, like the question you just posed. We were just having complaints earlier on about the event. We only can listen.
C: Everything, even team sides on stage. Left side, right side, the teams wanted to choose sides. [laughs]
K: They felt that maybe the light was too much on one side. It happens. Maybe its superstitions about positioning, this is something that we cannot control, we can only minimise and we can only try to provide. Wargaming is doing that everyday. If you say that we’re stressed, I wouldn’t say that we are but it’s part of what we need to face, and we face it everyday. I mean they are our people in a way, they played our game, supported us, otherwise it would not have grown from Russia and Belarus all the way across the globe in two and a half years. We’re actually spreading really fast, so we need to be very careful and thankful, like what Calvin was saying, because we meet too many people who are different. For example I’m saying one thing today, and another tomorrow. When player don’t get information they’ll say, “I was trying to get some information, they’re not willing to tell us.” Players sometimes don’t understand that portions in a game are not within our control, so we don’t have the information. For example he [Calvin] is an e-sports manager, his speciality will definitely be in the game itself, of the tournament basis, of the structure, of the maps and the machines and how to operate the viewership for that. For me I specifically run events and marketing, I have different areas that I need to cover, I will not take his place. I must be prepared for my own. So it’s part of the job.
C: We all deal with players [laughs]
Left side?
CC: You were saying you do marketing for everything, again going back to communication, how difficult is it due to language barriers and I suppose cultural differences. How does that affect your marketing?
K: Generally in Wargaming, we have a very strict code for how we portray our images, artworks and key arts. So marketing in terms of Europe, North America, Korea, Japan and South Asia is totally different. For example in Asia, we are actually very aggressive in café acquisitions, that’s the main culture differences. For example in Melbourne, it costs about $5-$8 an hour to play in a café and in Sydney its $1.50-$2. That’s a very drastic difference, even in Tasmania, Adelaide, Brisbane…everybody’s cost is different. But generally in Australia itself, because the country is so big, people tend to enjoy playing at home. Now this is one part of marketing, so our marketing for Australia is a lot on ground, we focus more on community engagement. Why? Australians are passionate, extremely passionate about games. But when we go to Asia, for example Singapore, we have a very fast track in terms of our internet, running around 205mbps in fiber optics. But 10 years ago, café in Singapore was running like hotcakes, springing up everywhere like McDonalds, and cafes were packed. But right now, due to the advancement in internet speed, that has changed. So in Singapore the way that we market it is different again, we need to go more viral, go more online. Now we are talking about two first world countries, moving into something that’s a little bit more on the lower end we come to maybe Thailand or the Philippines. The country itself is running on 7mbps. Our client is rather big and takes extremely long for them to download, and they are not able to download at times. So in Thailand the cafes are in the thousands so distribution and marketing there is done via café, where basically we have staff going down with CDs. Giving out CDs to install the game. So you can see the drastic differences.
When it comes to advertisements it’s no more general. In Australia for example TV commercials are still fine because Australians still do actually watch television. Singaporeans don’t watch television, they’re very much on the move, everybody’s on their phone so everything is online. Internet. Internet. But when we go to the other to countries [Thailand, Philippines] there’s activities, outdoor banners. It works for them. So marketing differences, cultural differences, it’s definitely drastic. Totally different from North America and even Europe. Japan, which we actually just started off about three weeks ago at the Tokyo Game Show, manage it totally different. Japan doesn’t believe in Facebook, same applies to China. Every country is different. At Wargaming our marketing team is actually very versatile. It’s all over the world and in every country there’s somebody local. Our company makes it a point that, from the specific countries that are covered, there must be somebody from that country. As the local you understand what’s best and what is most suitable. We specifically work with them, with Singapore controlling the offices for Wargaming in this region. We are actually doing a lot of localisation, whatever we do is all about localisation. Unless its eSports. eSports is different.
C: No, we still need to localise.
K: But eSports is on the global platform in general.
C: Yes
K: So everybody’s there to fight and playing the game is just a language issue. But in general all the imagery is the same, because it needs to be standardised. I hope that helps.
CC: Definitely. But, because the marketing has to be so different just appeal to the different cultures, how do their attitudes react to each other in the game itself?
C: I have to do a very strict guideline and I really have to adhere to it so that I don’t give leeway to any countries, be it due to language problems or otherwise. I don’t give and leeway to anyone, so that everyone knows that whatever I say is final. No leeway is given, no teams can complain. “I’m from Vietnam I don’t understand your rules” [laughs] No.
Or right side?
CC: How often would all of these random excuses come up? Like “I don’t understand the rules” or “My internet connection was bad”
C: Yeah, I look through them one by one. Normally I’ll take 24 hours to look through a dispute. I’ll go through every single step that they took. Recently for the Australia national series, the qualifiers, one team couldn’t get ready. So they were complaining in forums, in game chat and such. I talked to him on Skype and went through with him, “What did you do?” step by step. In the end, the mistake was done by him. He did not read the rules and miscalculated the tier points.
CC: How do the more serious, persistent people with complaints affect you? PR especially as sometimes gamers band together, rather than taking the side of the company who apparently wronged them, under the perception that a large company just doesn’t pay attention.
C: For eSports, because of good relations with Wargaming and the players, if there’s obviously something a team has done wrong and he flames it in the forums, our players will support us. There’s no need for us to go out and make and official statement about it, our players will rebut him and such.
K: One of the main reasons I think is that early on, we took extreme efforts to get close to our community. We do listen and players know that. I think Wargaming is really one of the few companies around the world that do a lot of engagement activities on the ground and meet the players a lot. Trust me we meet players from all over the region, we get around. We want the players to know that there will be times there are questions we cannot answer, that we cannot review. But we try our very best. So I think a lot of our players feel, and know, that we actually care. We take the extra effort to make them understand. It’s being human, if you don’t get the attention, “Oh your not interested in me, I’m your paying customer, your not interested in me” However if we care, people know that they can talk to somebody and we make it a point to actually speak to a lot of players, not only from Australia but across the world. We have players on our Skype who personally who talk to us. But sometimes it gets a little bit too much, especially when we’re busy. It happens.
C: I have players on my Skype, my phone, everywhere.
K: These are the kind of things that the company doesn’t ask us to do. But because this is our vision we wish to create something that is very different in terms of community. So we speak to them a lot.
CC: With the tournament as well, it’s such a large scale operation but so much effort goes into giving it a personal touch. How difficult is it to maintain that balance?
C: For example on Skype there’s an unofficial team captain chat, which is steadily growing because every week there are new teams coming in. I’ll have my other managers and such keep a look out on forums, “Hey that’s a new team, lets talk to them, add them on Skype.” If there’s any official news we can also put it on Skype to tell everybody and, if there’s a need to, the can also PM (Personal Message) me for more details. It makes things more convenient. If there are any queries they can ask it in the chat and other team captains will reply to them. For live, offline events, because we have to organise hotel transfers for the players it’ best if I can get their phone number so I can just call them directly. Instead of having just one guy in one agency to handle everything, we prefer the personal touch.
CC: It’s a lot more intensive than just organising a game. A lot of people probably don’t realise how much work goes into it. When you think about a sport, you think about the game itself. Hotels don’t often cross the fans’ minds.
C: People think that they are just talking to me I think, but they are talking to multiple teams.
About 0.000002% of the total player count
CC: A lot of work people appreciate, even if they don’t quite realise it. Going back to the marketing, people might see an advertisement and judge the game without realising the amount of effort that went into that localising it.
K: Like you said, with marketing, different regions have different bases. Some are console, some are PC regions. It happens. So with our marketing we definitely change our strategy. Such as you know we’re having an Xbox version, so in a way it’s a strategy to move people into World of Tanks on different platforms. We take the data into consideration. We are also going mobile with Blitz. So there are multiple platforms we are going on, so that it caters to everybody. Why would a company want to stop when its actually growing? We don’t want to close of sectors of the market where we can actually expand to as well.
CC: Not just World of Tanks, Wargaming also encompasses World of Warplanes and the newest addition World of Warships. With the effort you put into Tanks alone, how is it going to affect you as these other titles in the trilogy gain more and more players?
K: We cannot say right now [laughs]
S: We’ll tell you next year [laughs]
K: But as of now as you can see Wargaming are only managing World of Tanks. The problem is we already have around 2000-2200 employees around the world and that is only on one title. So expect us to grow further, that’s for sure. Not forgetting the multiple platforms we have coming up.
CC: I was going to say, not only are you growing in games but within World of Tanks alone…
K: We are multiplying. I think because our company is very inclined to make sure the players are taken care of as much as we can, we can’t do a 100% job. But the company is very focused, which is one of the ways we manage our players. We don’t really have a problem with this. Yes players will rage, players will flame, it happens everywhere, in every game.
CC: Like you said, running all of these events, it gives everyone a higher opinion of the company. Some people tend not to put two and two together, attacking the company behind a game they love.
K: Its very simple, let me just put it to you. There’s just too many [laughs] We have 70,000,000 registered players. So just 1% Is enough to keep you busy for two weeks. The amount of complaints…But this is just human nature, we look at the bad but not the good. It’s always the case.
The phenomenon spreads…
CC: It just becomes expected, when everything runs well its an attitude of, “Of course, why wouldn’t it.”But when something goes wrong…
K: The company is about creating a legendary game, we put a lot of passion into the things that we do and everyone is very committed. For example we are flying from nation to nation. I haven’t been home for two weeks. I just travelled from Tokyo, to Taipei to here. After we get back we have to fly a lot of places as well, like Korea. It happens. It’s tiring, we have families, but its our responsibility to make sure that everything is done properly.
CC: It’s a worldwide thing and, I feel a little guilty for not realising myself, you have to be there at each location. Which would be stressful as much as it is tiring.
K: A fair share, but the company treats us well.
CC: I’m not even sure how to respond. I’m here talking to three people who have to help run millions of players along with events, marketing and the game itself.
K: On our site we deal with about 200,000 users around Asia, with an influx from other regions. We also have players from India playing on our servers which we can’t control. They feel that their ping is safer here, though they should actually be playing on North American servers. We can’t control that, but we try to take care of them as much as we can.
CC: It’s unbelievable. Sometimes it’s difficult to contact people who live half an hour away from me.
K: Maybe you’re to close to each other [laughs]
CC: Speaking of being close, how different are the live, on stage matches for World of Tanks as opposed to the online ones?
C: One of the teams playing on stage had girls coming up, we were shocked [laughs]
S: Players are getting their own fan clubs.
K: Yes, we do all kind of events for Wargaming globally. We tend to have different objectives for different kinds of events, so EB Expo is very different from our PR and marketing events, where there’s a lot more engagement and acquisitions. Here its more of an experience, to showcase the league. Initially there are multiple platform sets for the league, so it’s not just professional league straight away, we have open season for everybody. A place where people can play. To compete at home is easy but when you’re playing in front of a crowd it’s a totally different ball game. Our HR tried when she was in Australia, playing in front of 600 people, she was fumbling. She can play, but she fumbled. It happens. When you are playing for a total pool of 2.5 million, you wouldn’t have to work for a year. For us we have a lot of hardware and software sponsors who are actually watching. Our partners will be hear to see if we can carry their brand, so there a lot more things here than simply playing.
CC: Not only are these events helping eSports spread, but also impacting your marketing…
K: They are watching. They came to see us yesterday, so its actually a platform for us to showcase everything and because we have a live stream, which is growing, there are a lot of opportunities for partner marketing as well.
Tanks and planes and ships, oh my!
CC: It’s interesting in that regard. Not only are you trying to market the game to the audience and players, but you’re also trying to market your company to possible partners. It strange to know that there’s two parallel promotions running, one of which the audience probably isn’t aware of.
K: It’s definitely different ways of managing. The front end is where it’s created, but the back end has a different portion. The engine behind the function. This is the totality. There’s a lot of things involved. Not only are we passionate about eSports, but we have a lot of other thing we concurrently do. Of course, we go back to the player again, the community, so actually there’s more than two ways. There’s so many platforms, and PR to deal with, any number of things which come back to us. Sometimes it’s hard to explain, but we try our very best in everything, every aspect we do.
CC: There’s certainly a lot happening. You look at the Wargaming name and don’t realise all the machinations behind it.
K: Let me jump the gun a little bit, a lot of people say that, playing games, they always want to work for a gaming company. But when you start to work for one it’s no longer the same. You don’t play games any more. You’re too tied up in too many things. Too many channels you have to be in.
S: It’s kind of like betraying your own game if you play something else.
K: They only look at the surface. But every job is the same.
I would like to thank Sharon, Calvin and Kenny for the very enlightening interview regarding Wargaming, World of Tanks and so much more. It definitely takes a huge effort to organise something as large as a global tournament, a lot of which goes fairly unnoticed. Though with 70,000,000 players and counting, they must be doing something right.
Bluehole Studio and Gameforge present the Steampunk Workshop Update for TERA: Rising, the free-to-play MMO that stems from the original PC title, TERA.
The Steampunk Workshop Update offers players four new dungeons;
Wonderholme: 10 player raid across ‘Wonderland’ for average and expert players
The Channelworks: 3 player support system during battle in subterranean tunnels
Shattered Fleet: 5 player instance to defeat the raging disaster on abandoned fleets
Kezzel’s Gorge: 7 player battle against the fierce giant, Kezzel, driven to find his gold
In addition to TERA: Rising, three new festivals; Sun, Carnival of Blood and Beach Party, have been launched in Arborea to provide players with the opportunity to complete special quests, mini-games and exciting puzzles. The update also allows heroes to obtain special materials essential for crafting powerful PvE and PvP equipment, through proving their worthiness in challenging combats. However, before these matches begin, players should experience the impressive Steampunk outfits and weapon designs to boost their hero’s fashion sense.
The Mario Kart franchise is one of the best selling video game series of all time, with over 80 million copies sold over its long tenure. People are addicted to the family-friendly kart racer, and it is due in no small part to its consistent, yet always evolving formula. Mario Kart has always taken the extra step with each new installment, never being satisfied with resting on its laurels. With that in mind, I stepped up to the podium at this year’s EB Games Expo, and sped Mario down a racetrack to find out if the upcoming Mario Kart 8 for Wii U is worth the wait.
The first thing I noticed about the game was its absolutely stunning visuals. This is the series’ first foray into HD graphics, and the guys over at Nintendo have pulled out all the stops. The backdrops are well done, the character models are fantastic, the textures make the surrounding areas pop to life, and the particle effects (like the sparks and flames that trigger when you drift around a corner) are all expertly animated, and combine together to make a really beautiful looking experience. The trailers and footage shown for the game really don’t do it justice, and it isn’t until you are looking at it and playing it that you can see so much life and vibrancy just exploding off the screen.
The game itself plays exactly how you would expect, and anyone who has ever played a Mario Kart game will immediately know the controls, and they will feel like second nature. I got to try out both the motion-control (implemented in Mario Kart Wii) and the more traditional joystick controls, and while the motion-control took some getting used to it was still fun and felt very fluid and responsive. However you can’t go past the joystick and button controls, which were incredibly responsive and fluid.
Thinking back to the original Super Mario Kart on the SNES, to where the series is at now with Mario Kart 8, it is amazing to see how the improvements and developments from the previous installments all (usually) end up as series’ mainstays. In the short track that I managed to race on, I got to speed by Donkey Kong (introduced in Mario Kart 64) riding a motorcycle (Mario Kart Wii), before I jumped off a ramp (Super Mario Kart) and having my kart grow a hang-glider (Mario Kart 7). Everything feels like Mario Kart should feel, and retains the best parts of the series to make an experience that is nostalgic, while still feeling fresh.
Part of feeling fresh is the new addition to the series, in its anti-gravity sections. The race tracks now twist, turn and even go upside down. As you enter a part of the track that is going upside down, your kart’s wheels will flip around and turn you into a sort of hover craft. Initially it didn’t seem like this was changing the gameplay formula too much, but my impression soon changed when I was hit. In normal situations, ramming your opponent’s car would cause them to lose speed and control, however when you are in one of these anti-gravity sections, the exact opposite is true. When colliding with someone, both racers will get a temporary speed boost (about equivalent to triggering the mushroom item) which can vastly differ your racing strategies. It will be interesting to see how other race tracks employ this feature, and how it will impact on the game as a whole.
I know what you all want to hear about; the weapons. Sadly in the small demo I played, there were no new items to take advantage of. As this is a simple demo, many players were blasting ahead of the competition and as such were only getting access to bananas and green or red shells. This is a staple of Mario Kart games since the beginning, where the worse off you are doing results in better available weapons. All Mario Kart games add or remove certain items from their repertoire, so it will be exciting to see what the final item list ends up like when the game finally launches.
Mario Kart 8 is definitely a by-the-book Mario Kart game, but this is definitely to its benefit. Taking 11 years of history and development and packaging them together with a couple new features, and a beautiful visual style makes for a game that I am definitely excited to play more of when it launches next year. So for all the Mario Kart news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers
While watching this first episode it is hard to escape the feeling that you are watching something truly special. It only makes sense when considering how prestigious the manga it’s based upon is. Being a multi-award winning manga series, it was only a matter of time before Ace of Diamond got an anime adaptation, if anything it is surprising it took this long.
The first episode focuses in our hero, an ace pitcher named Eijun who has a bad boy streak in him. Eijun dreams of going all the way to nationals with his team. Having never won a match that dream is dashed out time after time. After a gruelling game Eijun is brought to tears, blaming himself for their collective loss. When a player on the opposing team makes a snide remark about Eijun having a girl on his team, Eijun flips a switch and gives the opposing team a slapping they’ll never forget.
After being reprimanded by a teacher, Eijun promises that he will take his team to nationals in high school. We get a glimpse at Eijun’s passionate side when we see the lengths he goes to in order to ensure he makes it past the entry exams for the high school they all plan to attend. He refuses to even play baseball, the thing he loves most in the world, so that he can study for those exams.
There is an interesting spanner thrown into the works however when a scout from a school in Tokyo called Seidou turns up at Eijun’s home with an invitation to join Seidou Academy and it’s presitigious baseball team. The whole thing doesn’t smell right to Eijun so he goes and checks the place out for himself after a bit of persuading from the talent scout.
It is at Seidou where we meet several other players that each look to provide Eijun with a challenge in coming weeks. After witnessing one player rip into his team-mate, Eijun flips out once again and asks him a very interesting question, “Did this so-called prestigious school not teach you that baseball is a team sport?” It seems like with that line we come to know who Eijun is as a character. He doesn’t play baseball to be the best, he plays baseball for the comradery that comes with it. He does what he does not for himself, but for others.
Right now Eijun is definitely the most interesting character of the cast, but with a number of intriguing characters popping up throughout the episode we can only wait to see how things develop in the coming weeks. This episode ended on a pretty big moment and next week looks to pick it up a notch with the confrontation between Eijun and Azuma.
As it stands now Ace of Diamond looks to be a clear highlight of a season already packed to the nose-bleeds with sports anime. What differentiates Ace of Diamond however is that it isn’t simply about baseball, it is about why these people play baseball, why they love baseball and that burning passionate desire that lives within us all.
The animation here is done by two of my favourite studios in collaboration (Madhouse and Production I.G.) and I must say they have done a superb job at bringing the series to life. It is visually stunning and fluid, with several instances of fantastic sakuga animation on display in this first episode. I hope that the quality is consistent throughout much like Madhouse series usually are and unlike how Production I.G. series usually are. I gotta say though, I really loved the soundtrack here. The opening theme was a big hit for me, it is super catchy and I can’t get it out of my head.
This first episode really hit all the right notes for me and I can’t wait to follow Eijun and his friends on their journey to nationals. Ace of Diamond really hit a home-run.
Being the first WWE game under the 2K Games umbrella there are many eyes keen to see what they do with the WWE brand. At EB Expo 2013, we managed to get our hands on WWE 2K14 for an extensive play through of what was on offer. What we witnessed was not just an improvement over previous installments but it could very well be legendary.
The first thing we tried out was the standard exhibition match. Available to play were only a handful of characters ranging from legends of the 80s all the way up to the champions of today. I took the time to play through each character and found myself pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of detail and attention had been given to making each superstar feel wholly unique and distinct from one another. Be it the way Ryback yells ‘wake up’ during his entrance, the way Edge runs his hands through his hair or the way Andre the Giant falls out of the ring, there was diamonds in the details here.
It seems as though 2K have pushed Yukes to greater heights than ever before with WWE 2K14. The game is lavishly rich with detail in the wrestler’s behaviour and actions. On top of that the game is a visual powerhouse, looking slightly more crisper than WWE 13. There was a lovely little detail on older arenas such as Wrestlemania 3. That arena in particular features an old-style grain effect overlayed that gives the vibe of the televised product that many saw all the way back in the 80s. It is a nice touch that goes a long way in terms of building an atmosphere. Once again the finer details are truly important in WWE 2K14.
As far as the gameplay mechanics go, the reversal system has been nicely fine tuned making it not so easy to reverse while also introducing new types of reversals. Rather than reversing out of a move into a hold, you can reverse instantly into a move. This makes the chain of action much more consistent and the flow is not broken.
A new introduction to the combat mechanics is the ability to lift and catch opponents in a move. My favourite instance of this was the catch ‘Shellshock’ move from Ryback. It was fluid and smooth and it looked great. It couldn’t be easier to pull off these moves either, all you have to do is irish whip and opponent and hit LB/L1 depending on your console and you’ll toss them up. Should you have a finisher to catch them in you just hit your finisher button and voila you just shellshocked your opponent hard to the mat. You can also leap from over and opponent of duck under their running through the same process. It’s a nice new addition that adds even more depth the the combat.
The other major addition to this game is the 30 Years of Wrestlemania mode. This mode plays out effectively like the Attitude Era mode of WWE 13, with the exception of it focusing on Wrestlemania rather than the Attitude Era. It doesn’t look much different aesthetically to Attitude mode and it plays out in the very same manner. So if you enjoyed the Attitude Era mode you will undoubtedly find a good deal of fun in 30 Years of Wrestlemania, which looks to be a true retrospective of the global phenomenon that is Wrestlemania.
All in all WWE 2K14 looks to the be the finest video-game incarnation of the WWE franchise in a long long time. It improves upon previous installments in small ways that provide a big pay off overall. 2K Games looks to be a great new home for WWE and WWE 2K14 a genuine step forward for a series that often couldn’t do that without taking a step back as well. Could the king finally be back on his throne? I for one think so. Hail to the king, baby!
So it has finally come to pass. Pokemon: Origins has finally aired after months of anticipation and the question has been asked by many – did it live up to the hype? Well I am pleased to say it certainly did, it was everything a Pokemon fan could have hoped for and more.
By focusing in on the series origins back in the original Pokemon Red and Blue (Green for Japan) games, it really shows us just how far the series has come over all these years. We revisit some old friends, some we have seen in the other anime but not quite the same way we see them here. There is a sure sense of nostalgia here for those who have played the games, but in spite of that it all feels so very fresh.
The OVA follows Red, a character who for many of us was and still is a part of us. He captures the spirit of discovery and adventure that so many of us cherished from the games. That desire to see all there is to see, meet and catch every Pokemon there is to meet and catch. Red embodies the players of Pokemon all across the world and the wonder they feel whilst playing these incredible games.
Over the course of the four episodes that comprise the OVA, we see Red as he journeys across the Kanto region, all of which culminates in him becoming the Pokemon League Champion. While all seems well in the world, we discover that such is not the case. Mewtwo is on the loose and Red wants to catch him.
What we get in the end is a real link between the original games and the upcoming Pokemon X and Y games. In the final confrontation an epic battle ensues between Mewtwo and Red’s Charizard. When pushed to their limits by Mewtwo, we get a glimpse of the X and Y mega evolutions when Charizard breaks the limits of evolution itself going ‘mega’. It is a great moment that ties the past with the present in superb fashion.
The characters are all well developed over the span of a mere 4 episodes and we come to see what makes a good trainer different from a truly great one. There is a particularly heart-breaking episode that deals with a topic that the other anime series would dare not touch, that is the theme of death. It is a beautifully profound take on the way in which humans and Pokemon effect one another. In this case the particularly sinister Team Rocket brutally kill a Marowak for defending it’s child. It is a harsh lesson that there are bad people in the world and the reality of it all is heartbreaking.
Loss is something that never came into the equation too much in the other anime series, in Pokemon: Origins the concept of loss is one explored at length. Be it loss of life or loss in battle, losing something always hurts, but it is the way we grow through loss that defines us. This may be Pokemon at its most thoughtful and for that alone Pokemon: Origins is well worth the watch.
Pokemon: Origins is a triumph for the Pokemon franchise and a true victory march for this series we have come to love and hold dear over all these years. So as we journey into the Kalos region with Pokemon X and Y, don’t forget to take a look back on how far we have all traveled, we have ran so far and seen so much, but the adventure will always continue so long as we have that fire in our hearts.
*Note* – This preview is based on an Early Access build of the game. The development will be based on player feedback and bug fixes from this point forward before releasing the full game.
War of the Vikings is an upcoming third-person multiplayer action game from FatShark and Paradox Interactive. It takes the concept of FatShark’s previous game, War of the Roses, and breaks into a period in time where vikings roamed the world, conquering in the name of Odin and seeking a seat in Valhalla.
The concept of the game is completely straightforward. Each match will pit a team of vikings against a team of saxon warriors in a fight to the death. In the Early Access version of the game, there are two game types. The classic Team Deathmatch mode will have teams working to get to 100 kills before their opponents can. The other game type, called “Arena,” plays like your classic Counter Strike match, where you have only one life and the last team standing wins the round. Both are fun, and they offer a little variety right out of the gate. The current development plan also shows plans to release the Conquest game mode in December.
If you’ve never played War of the Roses, the combat system will likely take some getting used to. Every player has both a health and stamina bar. With a heavy focus on melee combat, you control the angle of the weapon you’re swinging along with the power you’re swinging it. More power will cost you more stamina. Defensively, blocking is also directional so you’ll have to be quick and deliberate with your guard. This offers some fantastic dynamic combat. On top of swinging your blades, you can dodge and parry, or bet it all on an all-out attack that can end your opponent quickly but will leave you wide open to attack. If you get hurt, you can try to hide and bandage yourself up for more longevity. The gameplay feels great, though it can become a bit hectic in large groups. This only looks to get even better with a few months in the oven.
Within the game, there are currently three character classes you can play as. The “Thane” is your standard sword-and-board soldier. He comes equipped with a sword and shield, but he’s also able to swap to throwing axes to gain a little distance. The “Huscarl” is an offensive powerhouse, charging into battle with his two-handed axe and a set of throwing knives. Finally, the “Hirdman” is your standard viking archer, able to hit foes at great distance, but read for close combat with a hand axe.
The classes all offer a good variety of ways to enjoy the game. The wary player may choose a thane to get up close with some protection or the hirdman to keep their distance while picking off sturdier foes. Fearless players can charge in with the huscarl, swinging their heavy axe to land crushing blows on a group of unsuspecting opponents. On top of picking and choosing a class, you can also pick perks, such as “Agile Fighter” or “Hard Hitter” that offer more variety in how you can play your chosen class. With this being relatively early in development, the promise of more loadout and customization options promises to bring more variety and playability to an already-enjoyable game.
The Early Access version of War of the Vikings comes with two maps. The Docks map will have players warring around a tiny norse hamlet, a couple of viking vessels at the docks. With its various bridges and central killing ground, there are ample spots for intense brawls. The Forest map is much more open, offering skilled snipers plenty of space to deal damage. The roadmap shows plans for several more maps to come along, promising a wide variety of locations to chase your Leif Ericson dream.
Though the game has only reached the hands of Early Access players, it looks impressive. Character models look great and the environments are beautiful. In my experience, there were no issues with lag and other bugs were minimal to nonexistent. The fact that they’ve already provided players with their development roadmap and the promise of updating twice a month is an excellent start to what promises to become a truly epic game.
If you are a fan of War of the Roses or other multiplayer melee combat games, you should definitely keep your eyes open in the months to come. Paradox and FatShark are working hard to deliver a fun game true to the source material, and they’re doing it with feedback from the Early Access player base. I’m genuinely excited to see this game grow and evolve as it sails its ways for the shores of release in the first quarter of 2014.
Sony was generous enough to invite members of the press over to their EB Games Expo 2013 booth the night before the first official day of the show to get some hands-on time with their slate of titles across all platforms ahead of the 40,000-odd expected crowd. Of particular note, we played multiple major PlayStation 4 release titles and have some impressions to share.
Driveclub:Playing Driveclub allowed me my first look at the PlayStation Camera, which is tiny! It was hooked up expressly for the purpose of taking your picture for use in the local leaderboards. Once you’ve accepted the usage of a photo, the demo allows you a choice of two cars. For me, the options were: the Maserati Gran Turismo MC Stradale and the Mercedes Benz SLS AMH Black Series. Alongside their key attributes, such as acceleration, braking, etc., there was also a difficulty tag, with the Mercedes apparently falling under ‘Hard’, even though I had an easier time handling that vehicle.
Before a race starts, Club Standings are shown to remind you of your friends’ dominance. Club Challenges are also presented for you to attempt to achieve. Overdrives – which are bonus tasks that grant extra rewards – are listed, and Face-offs tell you which main competitive elements you will tackle during a race. For example, throughout the 2 laps, there will be sections where a Drifting challenge is posed to you. At the end of the highlighted section of track, you will be compared to the current leader. They basically add variation and keep the experience as fresh as possible. Unfortunately, I found myself floundering under the pressure.
In regards to controls, Driveclub leans more towards the tuned, realistic “simulation” approach. There was some stuttering at moments, but I put it down to early code. Racing games usually need a lot of varied content/modes to keep me interested though (which is rare nowadays), and even with the intermittent social challenges, I’m not sure if Driveclub would sustain my interest. It may for you PlayStation loyalists though, and if you are a primarily social, multiplayer-focused racing gamer, then Driveclub will hold you over until the next-gen iteration of Gran Turismo.
Killzone: Shadow Fall:My time with the PlayStation brand’s lead first-person shooter was very short, as I only experienced a single multiplayer match. Warzones make their return, allowing you to customise your objective-based playlist for any combination of tasks/modes in a given match. We played alternating between Search and Destroy and Capture and Hold. Any multiplayer shooter fan will be familiar with these game types, the former requiring the setting of a bomb at a specified location and the latter tasking a team with keeping control of a checkpoint.
The ability to customise absolutely every single aspect of a match imaginable is impressive and a great appeal. In this entry, there are only three classes available: Scout, Assault and Support. These are very common, well-defined roles in FPS’, and nothing too drastic differs here. Also, gameplay-wise, if you’ve played Killzone 3 at the very least, then you will have no problems picking up Killzone: Shadow Fall and getting into the groove of things quite easily. And it goes without saying that the game looks amazing.
Knack:Now Knack was the pleasant surprise of the bunch; I admittedly had little expectations for what I perceived to be a “kiddy” title. The demo consisted of portions of various chapters throughout the campaign. First up was a look at Chapter 19 – ‘Inside the Fortress’. Here, Knack has very basic attacks and no special abilities as of yet. Surely 19 chapters into the game, he would, but this was probably the particularly easy, opening section of the chapter. The camera is fixed, with the right analog stick mapped for directional dashing. ‘Square’ is your attack button and ‘X’ is jump. Combine the two and you can pull off a Kano-esque rotating ball attack mid-air. Throughout there are yellow crystals which you can break in order to fill up your special attack meter, of which there eventually is 3.
There are also destructible objects and somewhat hidden walls/gates that hold upgrades, pick-ups or unlocks behind them. After getting through the basic goblins – which can be deadly when you are at your most basic form – the demo abruptly fades out and then back in on Chapter 21 – ‘Catacombs’. Here is when the special abilities come into play as you face knights with laser swords, morning stars and more. Executing special attacks is two-staged: press ‘O’ once to initiate and then a second face button, each with their own unique attack. ‘O’ results in a focused shockwave, ‘Square’ with a sustained, tornado-like storm and ‘Triangle’ with a radial blast. Unfortunately, on every usage of a special attack, the game’s framerate suffered heavily. Again, early days… I hope that’s it.
Absorbing wood found across the levels, Knack gets bigger and attains more health, although every non-defended hit cuts Knack down a peg, sometimes literally. Chapter 31 – ‘Heavy Machinery’ introduces more platforming and timing-intensive elements. Eventually, we get to Monte Verde where ‘Tanks and Planes’ is the name of the game. Knack starts off huge in this part of the demo, out on the streets, scaring civilians as he stomps through. As the title suggests, your adversary becomes that of a higher-powered variety. In his enlarged state, Knack can pick up numerous heavy objects – including tanks – and hurl them. If the demo is any indication, Knack will provide players a widely progressive and evolving experience. Simple, yes, but fun. And we didn’t even scratch the surface of the puzzle component.
Hohokum:Honeyslug’s explorative indie title Hohokum is calming, for sure. But I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, and have no idea how to accurately describe it. The developer has previously stated that it is all about relaxing in the space and enjoying the musical, colourful experience. There were three worlds available to explore in the demo: ‘Lamp Lighting’, ‘Kite Village’ and a steampunk inspired world. The gameplay is simple as you control the ‘Long Mover’, interacting with objects simply by brushing by them. You can speed up or slow down, and despite my disorientation, there is a core objective in each world.
Apparently, the lightbar on the Dualshock 4 changes colour to reflect the level, although I don’t know what purpose that serves when it is so imperceptible. In the end, this type of game is best experienced at home, with good noise-cancelling headphones on. During a loud, crowded industry showcase, it’s hard to be engrossed with such an artsy (oh no, I said it!) title that promotes a state of serenity and tranquility. However, Hohokum certainly has the capacity to bring a little peace and joy to your lives when it releases later this year for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.
We’re seeing a good spread of genres covered for the launch window of both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, so there should be something for everyone. It was a bit disconcerting to experience performance issues, but what is important to keep in mind is that the consoles on-hand at the show are dev kits and the gameplay is of early code, across the board. Although, I personally haven’t experienced these issues with any Xbox One games. Take that for what you will. Either way, this November/Holiday Season is going to be very interesting.
Disney Interactive has released Pirates of the Caribbean: Isles of War, a new, multiplayer, online “Facebook experience founded in the lore of the hit films”. Players will engage in real-time naval combat against their friends and AI pirates as they sail across the Caribbean trading and plundering to your hearts content. Do you have what it takes to be the greatest pirate in all of the Caribbean. Players who are fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise will notice Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, Hector Barbossa, and other lively sorts will be featured in Pirates of the Caribbean: Isles of War.
Finding adventure on the high seas is a dangerous, but possibly prosperous, proposition. Victory in combat will bring spoils, while defeat will force the player’s fleet to return to base for repairs, although a ship will never be truly destroyed. As players build stronger bases and fleets, more powerful enemies with greater rewards can be unlocked and discovered by truly intrepid pirates.
Features:
Build multiple fleets and battle enemies in five-on-five, real-time strategy, naval combat action.
Explore the open Caribbean world to encounter a wide variety of enemies and allies.
Construct and upgrade buildings to gain more resources, better ships, more types of officers and stronger base defenses.
Gather resources through plundering enemies, trading with neutral towns and other players, and harvesting from a base.
Engage with other players by building alliances or competing in massive player vs. player battles.
Intense swashbuckling action is now available HERE on Facebook!
