DigitalDNA Games, the makers of the wonderful sandbox zombie survival game CastleMinerZ, is now offering their platinum best seller for PC users. Fans can now get the game from directly downloading from their site here. The creator, Tom Steinke, says it’s a way to reach an even broader fan base which has not been tapped until now.
DigitalDNA is still offering a free trial experience for those who are not ready to commit to a purchase yet. I myself have played this game for countless hours and with the new PC release they have added a feature to link your account to Facebook and bring your friends along with you in the zombie madness. They are also offering specials on the game which range from pay to free from their Facebook page.
In my experiences with this game, spending countless hours building, even battling some dragons with close friends along the way, building a home in a very hellish area, and surviving together, this game has been an absolute delight and I now own it on Xbox 360 and on PC.
Blizzard has announced in an email to subscribers and on a blog post that they will be shutting down the Diablo III auction house. They created the auction house system to provide a convenient and secure system for trades.
Though, as time went on the developers had realized that despite the benefits of the auction house system and the fact that many players around the world use it, it simply undermines Diablo’s core game play of killing monsters, defeating the greatest evils in the world, and collecting cool loot. With that in mind they decided to remove the gold and real-money auction house system from Diablo III.
Blizzard had also mentioned that they feel this move, along with the Loot 2.0 system being developed concurrently with Reaper of Souls, will result in a much more rewarding game play from the players perspective. They have not decided how the auction house will be shut down, but they have stated that the shutdown will go into action on March 18, 2014.
From a Diablo III players stand point, I feel like this honestly is a good move. The Auction House really took a large aspect of the game out, that, I really looked forward to. The collecting and the grinding for hours on end. Getting a group of four friends, and having a wicked good time together defending the world against evil and corruption. I cannot wait for this change to go into effect.
Overview
When it comes to horror movies, no man has crafted one genre into an art-form more than John Carpenter. Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China, and several other films helped launch the careers of young talent that are now considered legends in the business, and while the man himself hasn’t had a success in a good while, his contribution to cinema has paved the way for thousands of current directors as they try to capture some of that movie magic. In the 80’s, Carpenter was at his peak, getting ready to produce yet another classic in the form of “They Live”. One smaller film that rarely sees much attention is the film before that however, which is of course 1987’s Prince of Darkness.
Re-enlisting the talent of Donald Pleasence (Halloween) and Victor Wong (Big Trouble in Little China), Carpenter put together a project that seen an ensemble cast deal with the ultimate evil. Prince of Darkness is what you would call a cult favorite, as while it is loved by fans of the genre, the average movie buff would probably be clueless to its existence. Shout! Factory (or Scream Factory in this case) specialize in showing some love to the non-mainstream however, and have brought the film to Blu-Ray for the first time. Is this one horror flick that can make the jump into the present day? Let’s find out.
Story
Prince of Darkness’ strong point is not really its story, but rather its execution. We start out with a group of physicists who are in their late 20’s and early 30’s, and have suddenly been tasked in investigating an ancient container of green, swirling liquid. Pleasence, who plays the priest in the film, has brought these scholars and their Professor (Victor Wong) to an abandoned church where the container is located, with all of the tools provided to the team for their research. There is a dark secret to this container however, as it holds the power to possess humanity with a simple squirt of water in the mouth. As time rolls on throughout the film, more and more of this team starts to turn to the dark side, and it is up to the priest and remaining squad to restore order and rid the evil once and for all.
Its funny. Writing about that entire scenario brings out a chuckle or two, as this film sounds like a camp fest on paper. I love campy horror movies, but if you go into Prince of Darkness with that kind of mindset, you will probably be rather disappointed with the result as Carpenter’s bizarre creation here takes itself very seriously, and that is what makes it so enjoyable. The ensemble cast don’t come with back-stories, and that in itself is ok. You have the leading man Brian Marsh who is at the center of it all, along with his love interest Catherine, the young man stuck with comic relief – Walter, and a bunch of other characters that have interesting qualities, but never really come into the forefront enough for us to care about their inclusion. Horror movies back then did this a lot, as they kind of painted a clear picture of who to root for without going into detail for those poor souls that are just going to die in a quick and meaningless fashion. Sure, it made the endings predictable, but that ending is at least satisfying.
As the evil goo (which we will call it here) becomes more intelligent, the cast slowly begin to dwindle in numbers. You might think “Why don’t they just escape?”, and you would be right, but a solution is conveniently set in place from the start of having random homeless people lead by Alice Cooper (who is also playing a part) surround the church to await the second coming of their dark overlord. You leave, you die via whatever sharp tool these beggars can get their hands on. The liquid also has an odd way of infecting a human as well, as it shoots a stream of water into the mouth of its victim, making them gurgle in agony until they are fully possessed. Once under the dark one’s control, these zombie like figures can also infect via that lovely spout of goo, giving this threat a bit more substance as a whole.
Sure, the story is out there and a bit on the silly side, but as I mentioned, execution is everything within Prince of Darkness and that is one thing that Carpenter hit right on the head. Whenever there is a death, or a kill, there is no build-up. To make sense of that a bit more, imagine (while not attaching this example with the movie) that a character is being stalked by one of the possessed. Instead of some intense chase, the villain runs up and just stabs the other character in the throat. The end. Those gritty moments give the film a rawness, and that edge keeps the excitement high as we head into a somewhat intense yet forgettable ending to a film that at least made for an entertaining evening.
Extras
The Special Features within Prince of Darkness on Blu-ray are not too plentiful, but enough of an excuse to re-watch the film and get some further knowledge on how it was crafted from top to bottom. It is surprising to hear some of the stories John Carpenter has as he relives the film, and his interview is just as insightful where he speaks about how this project came about. Alice Cooper has also been interviewed which is odd due to the small role his character had, but considering the man was and still is such a star, it was great to see his own perspective of the film’s impact. We also get a nice little segment reflecting on the special effects and make-up, as well as an alternate TV opening and an inside look at the chilling soundtrack. Fans of reversible cover art will also love to find the stunning, yet eerie original movie poster can be found on the other side, but oddly enough I find the standard cover to be the more stand-out of the two.
Visuals
Visually, Prince of Darkness still looks like it is from its decade. There isn’t a lot to do to make older films get that sleeker, high definition look aside from your standard polishing, but for a film that has such a dark, yet intriguing setting – the older cameras do well to put the viewer in that space. Speaking of the setting, that is another element I really was fond of during my viewings of Prince of Darkness. There is something about the older buildings used in these classic horror experiences that truly feel realistic, no matter how over the top the plot. The lighting was used effectively to convey that our characters are on a bit of a timer themselves as they try to restore order and stop Satanic goo, and the old church utilized as the surroundings creates a claustrophobic atmosphere as certain faces become trapped with nowhere to run.
As far as special effects go, there isn’t a lot to be seen other than some liquid falling off a ceiling. The jets of water shooting out of one mouth into another is bound to make you laugh the first time as the concept is ridiculous, but Prince of Darkness doesn’t fear crossing that line and pulls its over the top gimmickry off quite well. As far as the blood, this can be a bit gory, but not gory in a SAW way, but rather a Re-Animator styled fashion. There is a lot of the red stuff, but a good portion of the scares to be had are the ones that allow the viewer to use a bit of imagination, rather than to have the kill painted out for them in one gruesome picture.
Audio
Soundtrack wise, this is yet another flick that put a lot of its budget into its score, and it shows with how much intensity the remastered tunes are both clear and chilling, giving this old church a good number of scenes that are sure to leave the viewer uneasy at times. There might not be a lot of music leading up to a kill, but what comes after in audio form is a great reflection that retains the shock value while telling the viewer they can now take a breath. The acting and screams are fine as well, but Donald Pleasence really steals the show here as his over-acting as the priest sells the serious tones in the movie ten times beyond what could be expected, and even though it is a bit of a stereotype for the actor, its obvious to see just why Pleasence was selected for this role.
Overall
Prince of Darkness is not the scariest film in the genre, but it is one that all horror fans need to look into as a history lesson of sorts. The acting and entire plot come across as over the top and campy, but the gritty kills and dark undertones are sure to pull you in for what is nearly two hours of non-stop entertainment. This film could have been about anything really and still had the same result, as Carpenter was such a strong writer that he managed to put together a solid script for a wildly bizarre concept. The crazy mixture of physicists, possessions, and an intense performance from Donald Pleasence come full circle in Prince of Darkness to create a pure gem of a film, and with the newly remastered visuals and tons of extras included, now is the time to discover the dark side you might have missed.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Future Diary: Part 2 Studio:Asread Publisher:FUNimation Format: DVD Release Date: September 17, 2013 Price: $59.98 – Available Here
Overview Many anime are given brief, twelve to thirteen episode runs where a second season may eventually come somewhere down the line, and other anime are given a lengthy two-cour season right off the bat. The advantage of the latter is the ability to properly develop backstory and drop numerous hints to viewers throughout the first half of the series and capitalize upon it in the second half. Now that Future Diary: Part 1 has concluded, the review of which can be found here, does Part 2 manage to bring everything to a satisfying finish?
Story The God of Time and Space has given twelve people the special ability to predict the future. These futures are told on diaries that come in many different shapes and sizes and each one has a unique way or predicting the future or assisting the user in some way. The reason these twelve people were given these future diaries is to kill one another. When the last diary user perishes, the last one standing will be the new God of Time and Space as the current god, Deus, is slowly deteriorating and if he is not replaced, the world will be destroyed.
Throughout the first half of the series, the story followed Yuki, a boy who spent most of his time simply observing life as it passed him by, and Yuno, Yuki’s stalker turned girlfriend as they battled against other diary users, eliminating half of them and gathering a few allies and friends over the course of the first thirteen episodes. However Part 1 ended with Yuno drugging and stealing Yuki away to an unknown location with two skulls in tow.
As such, Future Diary: Part 2 picks up immediately where the first half left off, with Yuki’s friends attempting to save him from the mentally shattered Yuno. When Yuki’s friend Kousaka’s cell phone suddenly announces that he is an Apprentice Diary User, the three manage to escape from imminent death and are able to rescue Yuki from Yuno’s psychotic grip.
While Yuki tries to come to grips with the game after abandoning Yuno, the nature of 8th’s diary is revealed and he once again face off against numerous diary users to try and protect himself and the only person that he can turn to happens to be the one that drugged him, tried to kill his friends and continues to stalk him. As the number of diary users begins to dwindle, Yuki continues to have issues with what they are doing, but when two people very dear to his heart are suddenly taken away from him, Yuki changes his goal to winning the game, even if it means betraying allies and killing anyone that gets in his way.
There is much more to the game than meets the eye however as numerous revelations concerning Yuno and the machinations of Deus’ assistant Murmur begin to emerge. With numerous plot twists and secrets revealed, the second half of Future Diary becomes one that may be a bit difficult to follow for some, but very easy to understand for those who’ve been catching the numerous clues dropped throughout the series.
With a full thirteen episodes to work with, Future Diary’s second half occasionally slows things down to flashback to explain a number of instances that may have left viewers scratching their head, such as why Yuno is so in love with Yuki and what the corpses found in her house ultimately were. For every slower moment however there are five more involving detailed plans and pieces of information falling into place as the surviving diary users go after one another and attempt to put an end to this game once and for all and become the new god of the world.
The nature of the remaining diaries, outside of ones already known to the viewer at this point, such as 9th’s, Yuno’s, and Yuki’s are more interesting than the ones encountered in the first half of the series, keeping things not only fresh but viewers on their toes as many of the diaries capabilities are kept in the dark until they are used and put the alliance between the three to a test.
Not only are the diaries more varied, but the diary users themselves receive a bit more development as well, with explorations into not only the two leads’ pasts but developments for 9th as well. In fact, outside of Yuki’s change from a wimpy bystander to someone with a goal and the numerous mysteries surrounding Yuno, 9th ends up being the best developed character throughout the series as she changes from a homicidal terrorist who cares only about herself to someone who is willing to work with others and try to change things for the better, even if it means going back in time to do it.
Ultimately, once everything is on the table and all of the mysteries about Yuno and the game are revealed, there is quite a jump in focus halfway through Part 2 of the series, but it ultimately turns out for the best. Every mystery hinted at throughout the first part of the series serves as a building block to the ultimate secret that Yuno is hiding and what Yuki must do to put an end to it all, resulting in a sobering but hope filled ending that is a bit shortchanged thanks to details being explained in a certain OVA released long after the series’ release.
Visuals The overall animation used throughout Future Diary continues to impress throughout this second half. Each scene is nicely detailed, Deus’ continuing deterioration progresses at a steady pace and the battles between the remaining diary users become more vicious and larger in scale. These fights occasionally suffer in some minor drops in quality, though the final sequence of events that take place are handled beautifully.
The characters remain expressive and varied in appearance throughout this second half, even with 8th’s oddly proportioned designed. As far as blood and gore goes, there is actually more this time around as some of the deaths tend to be a bit more graphic than the first time around and there is also a bit of nudity and a number of dark themes shown in the second half.
Audio While Brina Palencia didn’t compare to the Japanese voice actress for Yuno Gasai in the first half of the series, she actually manages to be pretty convincing this time around as Yuno begins to sink further into her obsession and madness. She still doesn’t quite fit the bill but her voicework does improve as the series goes on. As for the rest of the characters, the current casts’ voice actors portray the characters well enough while the new characters introduced in this half are also performed admirably enough.
Throughout the second half of the series the various action sequences and dramatic twists are accompanied by fitting background music, especially with the final fight as the last two diary users come to a head. This second half features both the opening and ending theme from the first half for the first episode, but switches over to new themes after the second episode. The opening is “Dead End” by Faylan which is sung with English lyrics, albeit a bit poorly, and while impressive it doesn’t have the same impact as “Fantasy Mythology.” As for the ending theme, it is “Filament” by Yousei Teikoku and while the animation it is paired with is fitting for the series, it is a far cry from “Blood Teller.”
Extras The bonus features for Part 2 of Future Diary remain similar to the ones included in the first half. There are your standard bonus features such as promo videos, the US trailer for the series, trailers for other FUNimation series, textless versions of both openings and both endings and finally an extra version of Omake #10.
There are also two commentary tracks with this release, with episode 20’s commentary featuring J. Michael Tatum, the voice of Nishijima and he is joined by D. Patrick Seitz while the second commentary is for episode 23. This commentary features Josh Grelle, the voice of Yuki, and Brina Palencia who voices Yuno.
Overall Thanks to the numerous hints and mysteries established throughout the first half of the series and built upon in Part 2, Future Diary consistently keeps the viewer on their toes as they never know exactly what is going to happen next, something quite interesting for an anime all about being able to read what your future has in store for you. With a plot that launches itself head first into the finale with plenty of time to spend on major revelations, Future Diary: Part 2 delivers a satisfying finish that is hindered a bit due to a poor ending point.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
MechWarrior Online has officially been released after the completion of its Open Beta phase and is celebrating with a tournament and launch trailer which you can check out below.
Developer and publisher Piranha Games and Infinite Game Publishing have brought the latest iteration of the MechWarrior franchise to the PC in a free-to-play format.
Set in the year 3050 during the early stages of a massive interstellar war, MechWarrior Online puts you in command of the most powerful war machine to ever walk the field of battle, the mighty BattleMech. Pilot your ‘Mech and customise it to suit your preferred battlefield role; upgrade systems, weapons, and armor with endless options giving you creative control over your battle strategy as you face your next opponent. MechWarrior Online delivers a rich online experience, rewarding everything a player does with experience points, C-Bills, unlocks, and recognition.
A launch event and tournament will be held on Thursday, September 26 at The Mezzanine in San Francisco. While registrations are now closed, fans can watch it live on Twitch from 2p.m. PDT and more details can be found here.
Grand Theft Auto V has arrived, and the whole gaming world has taken notice. We started Rockstar‘s generation-closer just yesterday, and will have our review up in the coming days (it’s a huge title in scope, as you know). But in the meantime, we have a neat unboxing video of the rare Collector’s Edition to share with you.
The Grand Theft Auto V Collector’s Edition sold out extremely fast when it went up for pre-order back in May of this year. You can view the unboxing video embedded below the following gallery – the quality of the latter which I must apologise for… not the best photos on my part. You’ll get a better, clearer look at the contents in the video itself. Oh, and as fair warning for any who haven’t started/bought the game on the Xbox 360, but plan to, do not install the “play” disc.
Yoshinori Ono, executive producer of Deep Down, has tweeted three new gameplay images of the dragon battle we first saw when the game was announced by Capcom. You can check them out below.
At 1280×720, these aren’t the 1080p direct-feed screenshots we’re expecting but they’re still a welcome addition to the previously released images. Deep Down will be playable and streamed worldwide from the Tokyo Game Show, running from September 19-22.
A PlayStation 4 exclusive, the online RPG is set in the year 2094 in New York where the hero must collect and read memories from the past inside virtually generated dungeons.
Following on from its huge showing and revival at E3 2013, many thought Square Enix would now regularly show Final Fantasy XV. That doesn’t seem to be the case as Director Tetsuya Nomura has confirmed there will be no new details for Final Fantasy XV at TGS 2013.
It’s not all bad news, however, as Nomura will be appearing on Sony Computer Entertainment’s Conversations With Creators interview series. There he will most definitely talk about the game.
“Since E3, I had the privilege of talking about Final Fantasy XV for the first time in a while,” said Nomura. “There won’t be new information at the Tokyo Game Show. I’m sorry, but you can experience a glimpse of Final Fantasy XV in this video. There are various things I cannot yet say, but please look forward to it.”
While it is a shame, it’s not entirely unexpected especially since fans of the once-Final Fantasy Versus XIII have grown a hardened shell to the constant delays and secrecy surrounding the title.
First announced in 2006, Final Fantasy Versus XIII has kept a low profile until its transition into Final Fantasy XV this year.
We have 5 Robot Chicken prize packs courtesy of MADMAN to giveaway to celebrate the release of Robot Chicken DC Comics Special. Each pack will contain the following :
To win simply leave a comment below answering the following question related to Robot Chicken and we’ll pick a lucky winner for each title:
If Robot Chicken and DC Comics collide? Who will survive with their super-dignities intact?
We’ll pick 5 lucky winners on the 28th of September. Make sure you use a valid email when you register/post your comment so we can email you if you are one of our winners.
Scribblenauts Unmasked is shaping up to be a veritable encyclopedia of DC characters and items. Since many players wont know a great portion of the game’s umpteen characters, Warner Bros. have released an infographic so showcase the “Top 13 DC Comics Characters You Don’t Know, but Should,” and considering there are over 2000 different characters in the game, the list is a godsend.
DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. are really digging these infographics at the moment, after the Superman one not to long ago. The Top 13 infographic was too big to put on one page, so click on Zatanna below to be taken to the full list. Some of these characters will be immediately recognisable to many, like Zatanna, (who has been appearing in most of the DC games lately, like Infinite Crisis and Injustice) but some others like Brother Eye are a little more obscure so it is a fun list to check out.
Being the comic book geek that I am, I knew all thirteen characters on that list. How many were you aware of? Also, does Brother Eye really count as a character? Let us know your answers in the comments below, and remember that for all the Scribblenauts Unmasked news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
