If you are a fan of Sword Art Online and live in North America then Aniplex have a special contest for you. Announced in a recent press release, the company will be showing the hit anime series on the 20th and 27th of October on adult swims Toonami. After each show a keyword will appear; this word can be entered on a special entry form found on the Aniplex Sword Art Online Contest Page. Fans can then choose from one of three prizes, each relating to sword art:
SAO Weiss Schwarz Trial Decks (100 winners)
Sword Art Online Volume one on DVD (30 winners)
Sword Art Online Vol 1 Limited Edition Blu-Ray set (20 winners)
And an impressive grand prize (as seen above), given to 3 winners will be a Sony 3D Personal View Finder; a head set that features OLED screens and virtual 7.1 surround sound. Think of this as a real life NerveGear, the most appropriate and tempting prize for all Sword Art fans (if only they accepted overseas entries).
Aniplex have said the contest is “a special opportunity to win some great prizes while watching Sword Art Online” and have stated that Toonami is not sponsoring the contest. Let us know what you think about this contest by leaving a comment down below.
The last couple of weeks have been packed with reviews! Everyone has been busy trying to get you the best review coverage we can! We’ve had a few notable titles to come out from September 22 – October 5, 2013. Grand Theft Auto V, FIFA 14, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Rune Factory 4, and more were covered in the past couple weeks.
Our anime personnel have also been working hard to cover a deluge of titles like Sengoku Basara, Evangelion, Naruto Shippuden, Ghost in the Shell, and more!
Here’s your review breakdown for the past couple weeks:
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.
“In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future There is Only War” 
