Bohemia Interactive has just announced the release of the first update for Arma 3, which will implement a whole host of tweaks and fixes for the PC game covering issues from the back armor of a tank to enemy AI to the quality of moonshine. Full details of the update can be found on the Arma 3 website, but players who already own the game will find the changes implemented automatically via Steam.
In addition to the update a post-launch campaign is still due for release, coming in three seperate episodes of DLC. Details regarding a release date for the campaign DLC are yet to come, so players will have to make do with the islands of Altis and Stratis until it drops.
With Sankarea: Undying Love’s anime adaptation set to be released in a few days on October 1st, FUNimation has revealed that there is an issue with the anime that makes it so that there is still censoring in the home video release of the series. This means that the various scenes that were censored when the anime was originally streamed and shown in Japan, are still censored on this release.
FUNimation has said that this is due to an issue with the original material they received and have released a statement, including a way to receive an unedited version of the anime, which can be read below.
In regard to the release of the Sankarea DVD & BluRay content, FUNimation had originally released this set with the materials provided to us. We will be receiving additional home video masters. Customers who wish to receive the unedited version may do so by emailing [email protected] along with a copy of your original receipt, and a physical mailing address (no PO Boxes please).
Once the replacement discs are authored we will begin to process your request. Thank You.
It looks like the remake of Hyperdimension Neptunia, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1, is going all out. Not only have they decided to revamp the game’s graphics, combat system and exploration but they have even given the game’s opening video an upgrade.
Rather than reuse the original video from the PlayStation 3 version of the game, a new opening video has been created for the game and along with that comes a new theme song which is called “Miracle Portable Mission” and is performed by Nao. While Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 is set to be released in Japan soon, it is currently unknown if NIS America, the company that has brought nearly every Neptunia title to the West, will localize the title.
While the game’s release date has been up in the air for a bit, today it has been confirmed that gamers looking forward to Valhalla Knights 3 won’t have to wait much longer to pick up and play the title. XSEED Games has announced that Valhalla Knights 3 will be released at the price of $40 on October 15th.
Recently a trailer was released detailing the various races that players can play as and now a new trailer has been released that talks about the various classes that players will be able to play as once the game comes out in a couple of weeks.
Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower Studio:Studio Pierrot Publisher:Viz Media Format:Blu-ray, DVD (Reviewed) Release Date:September 17, 2013 Price:$19.98 –Available Here
Overview When an anime manages to reach a certain level of popularity not only will more seasons be ordered, but the occasional movie or spin-off will also be created. Of the many popular shōnen series at the moment Naruto has been one of the longest running series and because of this, a number of movies have been made. The latest movie to make its way to the West is Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower courtesy of Viz, but is this movie worth the time it takes to watch?
Story Team 7, consisting of Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato, are given the order to track down and put a stop to the plans of a rogue ninja named Mukade. Mukade is currently seeking out a powerful Ley Line lying beneath the ruins of Loran that was sealed long ago by the Fourth Hokage and if he manages to access it, he will gain immeasurable power.
Upon finding him, it is revealed that Mukade is a puppet using ninja and despite their best efforts, Mukade breaks the seal and begins to unleash the power of the Ley Line. While the power spills out of the Ley Line and absorbs Mukade, Naruto and Yamato attempt to stop him and are also sucked into a beam of light, leaving Sai and Sakura alone.
Naruto awakens to find that he is still in Loran, but rather than being a desert wasteland the city is thriving. While still trying to figure out where he is, he encounters the queen of Loran, Sara, and a group of Leaf Ninja who are there on a secret mission. The Leaf Ninja squad explains that Naruto has somehow traveled back in time with the power of the Ley Line and they are also there to put a stop to someone who came from the future seven years ago.
Despite her disbelief, Queen Sara quickly learns of the plight of her people as Mukade’s plans are unveiled and Naruto must try to put an end to his machinations with the help of the Leaf Ninja that not only consist of two people with jutsu’s strikingly similar to some of his childhood friends’ but also a man who looks like he just might be the Fourth Hokage, Naruto’s father Minato Namikaze and for fan pleasing services, a young Kakashi.
The time travel aspect of The Lost Tower isn’t a new concept but it does open the door to a number of possibilities that can be explored when you consider how Naruto never met his parents. Sadly thanks in part to Naruto’s own idiocy and Minato not wanting to know about the future, the family connection is barely explored. There are a few bits of team work between the two but unfortunately that is the best that viewers will be provided. Also as I mentioned earlier, a young version of Kakashi plays literally a bit part in the movie and seems to be included just to please fans for the thirty seconds he is on screen.
Instead of family bonding or anything else, the focus lies squarely on Mukade and Queen Sara. However both of these characters end up being rather poorly presented as Mukade plays a background villain for much of the movie and barely feels like a threat until the closing minutes of the movie and Sara fits the stereotypical role of an inept ruler not wanting to believe that she may have been lied to by someone close to her. While she does start to make strides in becoming a better character throughout the movie, she ends up becoming rather forgettable and mostly serves as a way for Naruto to keep powering forward.
Where The Lost Tower actually falls in the Naruto time-line is a bit difficult to determine, at least the events that take place in the present, however thanks to at least one hint dropped by Naruto himself, it occurs after the events involving Jiraiya and Pain. However regardless of its placement in the series, it means little to the overall storyline thanks to the fact that, except for Naruto, none of the present day cast is involved nor are they able to recall what exactly happened.
In the end, while there are a few battles to see and the climactic confrontation between Mukage, Naruto, and Minato is quite a sight to see, there is pretty much nothing of note in The Lost Tower’s story. Nothing is explored, nothing is expanded upon and in the end it feels more like simple filler than anything else, but it does serve as a nice distraction from the main story.
Visuals Considering your standard landscape in a Naruto episode usually consists of rural, Japanese style buildings or forests, watching the various fights take place in a sandstorm or in a wide array of tunnels full of pipes and equipment is a nice change of pace. There are also numerous skyscrapers and various other elements added into the movie with a fair bit of detail as pre-ruined Loran was something of a jewel in the desert.
As for the characters and fighting, the various designs of the enemy puppets are the same style we’ve seen from the main Naruto series, albeit with more futuristic-like abilities and are almost all the same looking,while Mukade’s design can best be described as mob member #4 thanks to his lackluster appearance that would serve better as a background stand-in. That being said, Naruto, Sara, and Minato are nicely detailed with their fair share of action shots while the quality of the animation during fights always remains top notch as the ninjas duke it out with puppets and Mukade’s final form.
Audio As one would expect, all of the standard voice actors for Naruto reprise their roles in this movie and for those who don’t like the English cast the Japanese voice track is also available on-disc. The main cast sounds just as one would expect and Sara’s voice actress, Eden Riegel, handles the character nicely including her brief singing section.
The movies’ soundtrack is pretty standard with a number of themes from the anime revamped for this movie release. It is worth noting that the final battle theme does fit nicely with the action but for the most part it is relatively forgetful.
Extras With this DVD release of Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower Viz has provided a few basic bonus features as well as an animated short called “Naruto and the Three Wishes.” The basic extras include Japanese trailers for this movie as well as the yet to be released Blood Prison Naruto movie, a clean ending theme and trailers for other Viz anime.
The animated short is fourteen minutes long and has been given an English dub. This short takes place before the time skip and features all of the younger ninjas messing around on an island. While there Naruto uncovers a magic lamp with a genie inside that will grant them three wishes. The short provides a fair bit of comedy as they all fight it out to see who will be able to use the last wish.
Overall Whenever a movie is made for a shōnen series, the events rarely ever have any effect on the actual storyline. However thanks to this caveat, they usually are capable of delivering unique interactions or special power reveals that wouldn’t work in the main series. Unfortunately Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower does neither of these things. While there is some nice action to be had, the bland focus on the story, the missed possibilities and the lackluster villain leaves The Lost Tower buried beneath the sands of time.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
We’ve just heard that the short yet incredibly epic Anime series FLCL (Fooly Cooly) will be returning to Cartoon Network’s Toonami in October! FLCL will be taking IGPX’s place, time spot and all, after the racing Anime’s finale on October the 19th, there will be a double episode that night. Cowboy Bebop will also be heading off Toonami for a little while and Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex will be having a break after the 19th of October. As of right now we don’t know exactly what is going to replace these shows, we just know that FLCL is back in and hopefully that will bump up the ratings because, apparently, they haven’t been doing well lately.
Last week on Toonami not one show hit over a million views. This may or may not be the reason for the list change, it could also just be a scheduled change to mix things up. Toonami also did a Q & A today, which was hosted by Tumblr, in which they mentioned that a hug announcement will be coming “some time in the next 30-60 days”. Who knows what that will be at this point in time, I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out.
Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi Developer:Idea Factory Publisher:Aksys Games Platforms: 3DS (Reviewed), PSP Release Date: September 19, 2013 Price: $29.99 – Available Here
Overview
Idea Factory’s Hakuoki franchise has been around in some format since late 2008. What started as a single otome game (a visual novel focused on female players) has blossomed to a media powerhouse with manga, anime, and nearly a dozen video game entries. With the release of Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi on the Nintendo 3DS, Aksys and Idea Factory are looking to bring the franchise onto a new platform for western audiences. How does the newest release hold up? Should it be granted the title of shogun or redeem itself with seppuku? Let’s find out.
Story
Your name is Chizuru Yukimura. Your father, Dr. Kodo Yukimura, has left your hometown of Edo and is stationed in Kyoto for his medicinal practice. When he ceases to answer the letters of his daughter, which he’s been faithful to write daily, you decide to leave home and search for him. When you get to Kyoto, though, you’re unable to find him, and the man he said would help you, Dr. Matsumoto, is out of town on business.
Disguised in the garb of a man and wielding the short sword you’d been taught to use as a child, you take off late in the evening. You know Kyoto is a dangerous place, but your confidence gets the best of you. When you’re jumped by a few ronin thugs intent on getting your sword, you take off running and duck into an alleyway, hiding under some lumber.
A short while passes and, just as you begin to climb out from the lumber, you hear your assailants. Something feels out of place, though. They’re no longer after you. The ring of steel sings into the night as they try, desperately, to fight off a group of samurai. When the ronin who were after you are unable to appease or defeat the samurai, things turn from bad to worse. The samurai not only kill the ronin, but proceed to chop them up. Fiercely, they hack and slash away at the corpses, saying only that they want more blood.
As you watch, you accidentally make some noise, attracting the attention of the blood-crazed samurai. They turn and begin to come after you, their white hair and glowing eyes marking them distinctively in the night. They come ever nearer, and just when you think you have no escape, another group of samurai, clad in blue, appear and quickly dispatch the crazed attackers.
The blue clad warriors begin to talk amongst themselves. You can hear what they’re discussing. The person they mistook for a young boy had seen too much. Surely it would be bad for the Shinsengumi if word of what had transpired were to become common knowledge. After heated discussion back and forth, they decide to spare you for the time and take you back to their headquarters.
When you wake, you’re bound and in bed. Soon, an older man comes in and escorts you to the common room, where every commander of the Shinsengumi, a ronin police force, were waiting to decide your fate. Upon revealing that you were actually a lady and that you were looking for your father, Doctor Kodo Yukimura, the commanders reveal that they, too, are looking for your father, and that you would prove to be a valuable asset in time. Thus began Chizuru’s adventure with the Shinsengumi. What were they so eager to keep you from finding out, though? And why are they also searching for your father? Only time will tell.
Gameplay
To call Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi a “game” feels a bit like a misnomer. In truth, it feels more like a choose-your-own-adventure book.
Classified as an otome, or “maiden” game, Hakuoki aims to deliver the overarching narrative while setting the player up to develop romantic relationships within the game. In this case, most of the Shinsengumi commanders can become love interests for Chizuru.
What Memories of the Shinsengumi lacks in gameplay mechanics, it makes up for in spades with the story. The world of 1860’s Kyoto comes to life with a wonderfully delivered narrative. Not only is the story well put together, but the time is taken to properly flesh out each character, leaving no one to feel too flat or one-dimensional. They also do a fantastic job of giving you easy access to an encyclopedia so you can find out information to better flesh out their world quickly and easily.
For the most part, you’re simply going to be hitting the “A” button (or tapping the screen with your stylus)…a lot. A handful of times each chapter, you’ll be given some choice that will impact how the rest of the chapter (or potentially your time with your love interests) plays out. As these relationships grow, your decisions can greatly the outcome of the story, providing some interesting reasons to play through the game again with different choices.
For fans looking for a little more out of the game than just the story, a few minor features have been added to the 3DS version of the game. You can use the in-game photo booth to decorate photos with the commanders of the Shinsengumi. You can also go back and tackle story pieces you’ve completed to quickly see your decisions play out differently. Beyond that, there isn’t a lot to do outside of the story.
Visuals
The visuals in Memories of the Shinsengumi are straightforward and simple, but very well done. There are no moving parts to the game, so everything is set up with beautifully drawn anime images with a textual overlay. It serves much like some roleplaying games have done in the past, but without any character models. You can always go back and look at character or story-specific images in the gallery, too.
The game’s audio design is well done. The music does a great job setting the mood, but sound effects provide nothing more than a storytelling tool, giving the occasional sword clash effect or the like. The voice over work is where the real meat of the audio comes into play, though. Nearly every line of dialogue in the game has Japanese voice work to go with it. It does a wonderful job conveying the emotion of the lines. It would have been nice, though, to have had English voice work as an option.
Overall
Overall, Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi will appeal to a very limited audience. The title looks good and does a wonderful job setting up the world. Ultimately, though, the story and romance are the only things propping up this experience. Fans of visual novels or otome will find an excellent offering here, but with virtually no gameplay mechanics or interaction, it’s unlikely anyone else will be gunning for this title.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
All fans of One Piece will be way into this little nugget right here. One Piece is another of those Anime series’ that love a little cross promotion or some sweet merchandising. We’ve seen bottles, we’ve seen glasses and now we’ve been given a glimpse of some really snazzy looking One Piece watches. Tell time like a pirate would; by stealing the information from a Navy Sailor…or by looking at your One Piece watch. These digital watches show different images of One Piece characters every single hour, the images look like they’re taken straight from the Manga and because of it’s black and white display the images look really authentic. It uses a matrix EPD screen which are the types of screens you would see being used in a great deal of Electronic Dictionaries and eReaders.
Have one of the greatest Shonen Mangas on your wrist…at all times…”Yo!”
It’s not just pictures though, the watch does actually tell the time which is, pretty much, a staple for any good watch. It features a 32-city world clock, solar-powered charging technology, radio time synchronization, an automatic calender and even a power-save mode. The watch also comes with five different watch faces so that buyers can customise the watch when they want. The watch is being sold through Imperial Enterprises’ online shop here and will also be sold through other retailers but considering none of them are in the West, we’ll just stick to Premico (the link above). The unfortunate thing is that the product is limited to 3,000 units so get in quick! The watches all go for about US$608 which is quite a price to pay for a watch, I guess if you’re a big enough fan of One Piece you’ll find a way to grab one of these guys. Turns out the same company also has watches based on other titles like Dragon Ball Z, so if you miss out on these ones maybe you’ll be able to get yourself one of them instead.
On Saturday over at the “Anime Weekend Atlanta” holders of the Blue Exorcist license, Aniplex of America, announced details for the home video release of the Blue Exorcist Movie. Aniplex has set the release for the December the 17th of this year, just in time for Christmas. It will be released as a limited edition Blu-Ray boxset, it will also be subsequently released on DVD too.
The limited edition set will include a Blu-Ray disc with the actual movie on it alongside a DVD that includes bonus features like commentary tracks by the Japanese staff and cast, promotional trailers, staff interviews, a deluxe booklet which has to do with the movie and illustrated postcards in a “rigid box” done by the original manga artist himself, Kazue Kato. The Blu-Ray edition of the movie will be sold for US$89.98 and the DVD version will go for US$39.98. You can see the English Trailer here just in-case you’ve yet to see it and don’t know what the hype is about.
Tower Of Fortune 2 Developer: Game Stew Publisher: Game Stew Platforms:iPhone (Reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch Release Date: 20th September 2013 Price: $1.99 – Available Here
Overview
Tower Of Fortune 2 is the sequel that every iOS gamer has been wanting, even if they just don’t know it yet. This game somehow mixes action, RPG, Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Slot Machines into one game and, my God, don’t they do it well! This is Game Stew’s newest game and it fits right in with their already impressive catalogue of titles. Even before I start on the review itself I can safely say that you wont want to miss out on this gem!
Story
I never played the original game but I can assume they are very similar story-wise. Within Tower of Fortune 2 you aren’t told much about the story, all we know as the players is that you are a mighty warrior who’s daughter recently passed away, he has heard legends about a tower that, if scaled, will grant the adventurer one wish without any limitations. As you can probably already imagine, this is where the journey begins. That’s all the information we are given regarding the story which I don’t find to be an entirely bad thing because the development team have done this right. You adventure through some weird and wacky places, the first two being polar opposites of each other; one is a broken road where you fight goblins and the other is an abandoned factory where you fight what’s left of a scientists robotic experiments. It’s hard to see where the game will lead but I guess you’ll just have to play it and find out for yourself!
Gameplay
The game plays in a way that I’ve never seen before. Almost everything you do in the game revolves around the outcome of a slot machine. You tap the screen and the chambers will rotate, you stop them and whatever symbol comes up is what happens next in your story. This is also exactly how you fight enemies in the game. there are other things that go along with it like doubling down on the outcome or paying money to re-spin the chambers. Like I said earlier it is both action and RPG yet it also has a very “choose your own adventure” vibe to it which comes into it a fair bit. It’s such a fresh way of doing things and for someone like me who never played the first game I really enjoyed the, somewhat, strange yet fantastic way of gameplay. It’s essentially left all to chance which is exactly what an adventure is I guess.
The RPG elements appear in the form of levelling up, choosing abilities, upgrading gear, etc. It’s fantastic and the fact that you loose all your gear when you die makes it all the more heart-wrenching, you actually give a crap about what you do in-game. There is so much to see and so much to do within the game. It mixes simple gameplay with a really intense game style and they fit together so damn well. I found it hard to peel myself away from this one. The only bad thing I can say about this game is that it was a bit too hard to play when starting off, while dying makes you loose your gear and that forces you to play better, in the early stages it wasn’t really ideal and I could see it turning people off of the game. I don’t suggest it, I can just see it happening. there are also mini-games that help break it up which also help you in the actual story so everything is there for the taking really.
Audio and Visuals
The audio was nice, there wasn’t a great deal of music at all, in fact, I don’t think there was music apart from the little tracks that play after a win or after you loot something. It was all very, let’s say, “cinematic”. Every sound was part of the environment like birds chirping or the tone of a deep wind going through a tunnel. It was all very impressing and although there wasn’t a lot of variety, because it was simply environmental, it worked to compliment the visuals and that’s exactly what it needed. The thing that really ” hit home” for me was the visual style of the game, it looked like an old virtual pet, like a Digimon or Tamagotchi and that really made me enjoy this game even more. The way the characters bobbed and attacked were very reminiscent of those types of things and it was so nice to be able to have something that looks that way right in the palm of your hand. The environments were also extremely good looking and well put together, they were so vast and so detailed yet they were on half of the screen and made up of little black squares. I loved everything about the visuals of this game, they were done so well and so differently, it was nostalgic for me despite me never playing this before, it was simply the way it looked.
Overall
Tower of Fortune 2 is an all around fantastic titles that I guarantee will make a lot of people happy. I can imaging it does justice to it’s predecessor and it’s going to bring in a lot of new fans to not only the game but the company itself. As I mentioned earlier; the only thing setting it back, for me, si the fact that you loose all your gear when you die, it’s just a kick in the pants to not only be inexperienced but to also be punished for it. Trust me though, it gets easier the more you play, it forces you to learn but it would also send people running which is not good. In end I’d say that this game is absolutely fantastic and it would appeal to a varied audience because of it’s simple gameplay style and it’s story, so essentially it could be for anyone.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
