Fans of South Park may have been able to enjoy the latest season premiere tonight but they still have over three months to wait until South Park: The Stick of Truth is released. While the game’s release date has been up in the air since the game’s acquisition, today Ubisoft has announced that South Park: The Stick of Truth will be released in North America on December 10th and in PAL regions on December 13th.
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To go a long with this announcement the company has released a new trailer and a few new screenshots for the game, both of which can be found below, and they have also revealed “The Grand Wizard” edition of the game. This version comes with a six-inch Cartman figure designed by Kidrobot, a map of South Park and finally the Ultimate Fellowship Pack which is also given to anyone who pre-orders the game. This pack comes with the Necromancer Sorcerer, Rogue Assassin, Holy Defender, and Ranger Elf costumes.
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 9 – September 21, 2013. Diablo 3, Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, NHL 14, Total War: Rome II, and more were covered in the past couple weeks.
Our anime personnel have also been working hard to cover a deluge of titles like Tsuritama, Future Diary, Patlabor, Last Exile and more!
Here’s your review breakdown for the past couple weeks:
As you may have already heard, Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers will be the first game to cover the Sanctuary, Poseidon and Hades arcs of the Saint Seiya manga. Last month a trailer for the Poseidon arc was released and that video can be found here and today Namco Bandai has released a new trailer which highlights the fights and events that will take place when players make their way through the Hades arc of the story.
The trailer can be found below and the game itself, which features over fifty different playable characters, will be released in the West on November 26th exclusively for the PlayStation 3.
First off, if you haven’t already noticed, a huge patch has been released. The patch contains hundreds of bugs fixes, balance tweaks, and idea groups for over 20 nations in the game. It’s free and out now for Mac, Linux, and PC.
Second, some new DLC has been released. Entitled “American Dream,” the new DLC will let players live out the events of the American Revolution in great detail. It will add new unit models, over 50 new events, and more.
Finally, episode 2 of the hilarious “Frenemies” mini series has been released. You can check it out in the video player below this article. You can also check out the game’s official website here.
Hey there comic book fans! If one lot of awesome Titan Comics graphic novels isn’t enough to satisfy your hunger this week,then you are in luck! Titan Comics have released the first volume of the awesome The First Kingdom. The First Kingdom from the industry legend Jack Katz, is the story of the rise and fall of humanity over the thousand years since the end of the world. The world has become a play thing for new gods, and the mortals are just along for the ride.
This is the first time that The First Kingdom has been collected together, and mars the first of 6 volumes that will tell the complete tale. The book has been carefully and artfully collected, taking high resolution scans of the original art pages, and feature all redone lettering to really make it pop.
You can check our our First Kingdom preview galleries below. They contain their fair share of nudity, so we have included the censored versions of the pages. Let us know in the comments below what you think, and will you be picking up The First Kingdom Vol 1; the first installment in the 6-part epic. Always remember that for all the Titan Comics news as it becomes available, stay tuned to Capsule Computers.
Trouserheart is a delightful little action/adventure game where you play as King Trouserheart after his prized leather trousers have been stolen. As the king you travel from stage to stage in an almost dungeon-crawler style, defeating enemies and collecting gold to better upgrade your equipment. The game is fun, colourful and often times frantic. The game suffers from some incredible lag issues and sometimes repetitive level design. This, combined with its $3 price tag may be enough to turn away some gamers, but for those who do pick it up, there is definitely a lot of enjoyment to be gotten out of this game – even if it is just the fact that you are playing as a burly, bearded barbarian type with no pants on.
Gameplay
Trouserheart is a hack and slash adventure game for the iOS. The player is placed in the role of King Trouserheart, who one day has his most treasured possession stolen; his the majestic leather trousers. The game is broken up into small stages, and each of these stages is broken down to even smaller rooms.
The stages in Trouserheart are very linear, and each contain a handful of enemies for you to hack and slash your way through. Since the levels are completely linear, it feels a lot like a simple dungeon crawler as you progress through. In the middle of longer levels are campfire checkpoints that allow you to restore your health before progressing on and fighting the boss. Killing enemies grants you more gold, which can be redeemed back at your home for upgrades like better swords, shields and armor (but alas, no pants).
The game is controlled using an on-screen joystick and button. I know this is a massive no-no for a lot of gamers, but Trouserheart pulls it off surprisingly well; the game is very liberal with where you can keep your thumb, and as long as it is near the button/stick you will be fine.
The game isn’t overly difficult, and you will be able to blast through the entire first few worlds without running into any trouble. However, if you are looking for a bit more of a challenge, there is also a Hardcore Mode implemented into the game that has permanent death, forcing players to be a little more cautious as they play, or face the game over from its entirety.
While the game is fun, enjoyable and has an intuitive control scheme, it does suffer from a noticeable lag issue. Entering a new room, or having too many enemies on the screen at once will often cause the game to lock up for a few seconds, or at very least slow down to a crawl. The game is optimized for iPhone 5, but I was playing on a 4S so I can’t say for certain if this is just a case of it not being suited for the earlier devices or not. Regardless it was more than a little bit frustrating.
Visuals & Audio
The visuals for Trouserheart are actually really enjoyable. King Trouserheart, all of the enemies and the game’s stages are all really bright and vibrant, and the ‘chunky’ art style makes everyone look like they were papercrafted cutouts that were folded together.
The level design is minimalistic; the stages themselves are short, and the rooms in each stage only allow you a few steps movement in any one direction before you have reached the end. This is good however, as it adds a sense of frantic-ness to the gameplay. If there is a real downside however is that there just isn’t much variety between the rooms or the stages, so you will find yourself walking past the same backdrops multiple times.
Sadly I kind of felt let down by the audio in Trouserheart. Not because it is inherently bad or anything like that, but there is simply not much there. Each character has their own unique sound effects, and the sound of a sword hitting an object is nice, but all in all it doesn’t really add anything to the experience.
Overall
Trouserheart is a game that for all intents and purposes is incredibly fun. It is very casual in nature which allows players of any age or skill level to pick it up and have a go. There isn’t a whole lot of difficulty here, but with hardcore mode and the option on what skills to level up, you can make the game as hard as you want it to be.
The game will also offer iOS 7 Controller support in the coming weeks, so it will be interesting to see how it fares having the buttons mapped to an actual controller. At the moment though, as fun as the game is, it is let down by repetitive backdrops, and a serious lag issues.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Games based on movies are generally bad, movies based on games (even ones that have good stories) are generally bad, so a movie based on a racing game series that for the most part doesn’t have a large story focus, well they somehow made a movie based on Battleship didn’t they ?
The first trailer for Need for Speed has been released and is very typical of any other action movie trailer out there with a brooding voiceover, explosions, an attractive girl and car chases. Former Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul has taken the lead role behind the wheel for this Fast and Furious imitation and while I don’t doubt Mr Paul’s acting ability, it seems like the role would of been suited to a younger actor. He will be starring alongside super model Imogen Poots, rapper Kid Cudi, and Michael Keaton who was Batman before Christian Bale.
Personally I’m not being very optimistic about how this is going to turn out but who knows, we might be watching Need for Speed 6 in ten years time. The movie comes out in theatres on March 14th of next year.
Parrot‘s wireless Zik headphones are getting even more stylish with the new Gold Collection. Three new colour combinations will join the classic matte black look. Starting in November 2013, the following gold themed headphones will be available:
Yellow Gold: matte white with yellow gold framing
Rose Gold: matte white with copper arches
Black Gold: matte and shiny black
The new Gold Collection Zik headphones will feature the same great technology as the classic Zik headphones, including Bluetooth connectivity, touch sensitive controls, active noise cancellation, and special sensors that improve the user’s voice during phone calls. Features can be tweaked with the free Parrot Audio suite on iOS and Android.
The Yellow Gold, Rose Gold, and Black Gold Ziks’ will be available in November 2013 for $449 AUD.
Namco Bandai Games America Inc. has announced the digital release of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+ in North and South America. Continuing a legacy of classic arcade action, DX+comes as an upgrade to the 2010 game Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. The game will feature improved leaderboard functionality, in-game achievements and medals, as well as additional DLC packs including mazes, music and graphics such as classic Dig-Dug and Rally-X sprites.
The high intensity race to gobble up every pac dot in sight features an added element of danger as multitudes of easily angered sleeping ghosts lie scattered around the bright neon mazes. As Pac-Man runs past these ghosts, they will awake from their slumber and make chase, creating a long chain of angry ghosts trailing behind Pac-Man as he darts around in a chaotic search for a Power Pellet. Exciting modes such as Score Attack, collecting as many points as possible, and Time Trials, clearing out a set number of laps around each maze as fast as possible, will be sure to keep both old and new Pac-Man fans coming back for more.
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX+will be available as a free title update for players with Pac-Man Championship Edition DXwhile other players will be able to download the game as is for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Steam. Check out the screenshots below and get ready for some classic arcade action. Waka waka waka.
Overview It’s been 49 years since 009 Cyborg was first released. Wow. With a manga, a game, two anime films and two anime series already to its name, comes one more film. Redesigned and brought into a new age, 009 Re: Cyborg continues the story of the 00s and the world they fought to protect.
Violence, in all its slow motion glory
Story “In the beginning was the Voice, and the word was Him; and all obeyed His word in great awe. But those who dwelt upon the land, through vanity, cunning and greed, attempted to build a multitude of towers whose tops reached unto heaven, and accumulated great wealth on earth. Scattering across the land and laying it to waste, man turned a deaf ear to His Voice. So He gave unto man an opportunity to atone for his misdeeds; and flame and smoke and the roar of a lion descended upon earth; and shattered the many towers to dust….”
Decades after the rebellion of the Cyborgs and their battles for justice and world peace, the 00s have retreated to more regular lifestyles. Unable to age, they do their best to fit in to the society they saved so many times before. Joe Shimamura, formerly known as 009, lives the life of a normal highschooler. Life is fairly simple. Unfortunately for the Cyborgs, and the rest of the world, justice and evil are ever changing and ever present.
In a show of force in their own ideal of justice, people across the globe are systematically bombing skyscrapers. Claiming to be led by “His Voice”, people suddenly decide to initiate these attacks, regardless of previous affiliations or beliefs. With no sign of slowing down, the world needed new defenders. The world needed the Cyborgs back.
“She’s right behind me isn’t she?”
Living his normal life, with no memory of his past, Joe is forced back into his previous life by his once comrades in arms. Brought together once more, the film deals with the characters own development since their separation, along with how their personalities mesh after reuniting. Over the course of the film, the 00 Cyborgs investigate the source of the attacks and the reasoning behind them.
Once the film delves into the concept of “His Voice”, it takes a sharp, theological turn. In one particular scene of dialogue, characters explain a variety of concepts far beyond fighting bad guys. One notion is that the Voice that people hear is that of God himself, willing them to enforce a twisted form of justice onto the world. Another is that the sheer concept of God itself is nothing more than humanity’s invention, being the only species capable of higher thinking, and possessing elements which are useless on the evolutionary scale, such as imagination. In their own desperate struggle to comprehend the unfathomable majesty of existence, humanity invented God within the brain, the source of all thought. Seriously heavy stuff.
However, with all that being said, the film does base itself on the fact that the audience has seen prior iterations of 009 Cyborg. The film plays out very much as an addition to the original, rather than a stand alone piece. Characters are not explained in any sort of intricate detail, simply appearing and slotting into the plot. The story itself isn’t bad, it just doesn’t feel complete in itself.
Able to leap speeding missiles in a single bound
Visuals The visuals are without a doubt the strongest element of 009 Re: Cyborg. Fully rendered in 3DCG, the film presents a beautiful representation of the 009 Cyborg world. The landscapes themselves are large and picturesque. From sprawling cities, with unfortunately numerous skyscrapers, to locations such as Venice, the world looks amazing.
One of the most notable elements of the film is the appearance of the cyborgs themselves. Deviating from the original designs, Re: Cyborg presents a much more realistic interpretation of each character. This immediately presents the film as a new take on the series, fitting of the passing of time. One of the most notable redesigns is Cyborg 002: Jet Link. Originally possessing a beak-like nose and long spiked back orange hair, his redesign features a face of regular proportions and simple slicked back blonde hair. This, combined with the CG styling, allows characters to be taken much more seriously.
Luckily his name was already Jet
Another noticeable upgrade is given to the Cyborg’s abilities, with each receiving far more visual detail than previously possible. This leads to some cool combat sequences, showcasing the variety of the Cyborgs powers and how they use them to fight, whether it be fire breath or a knee mounted cannon. In the case of Joe’s Accelerator, the film makes use of slow motion. While this clearly expresses the unsurpassed speed allowed by the enhancement, it also amplifies the visual environment. Raindrops are seen almost hovering in place, explosions are shown slowly engulfing those unfortunate enough to be in the area, already stunning scenes made even more awesome.
One of the most visually nostalgic moments of the film lies towards the end, where the 00 Cyborgs don their uniforms once more and fight together for the sake of the world. It clearly expresses the evolution of the visual style and how times have changed…and it’s awesome.
And it shall be known as “The Handgun”
Audio The soundtrack of 009 Re: Cyborg is very well suited to the visuals. During the more action packed scenes, guitar can be heard along with a combination of trumpets and vocalisation. This gives of a very dramatic feel whilst still keeping a situation tense. Other action scenes take the opposite approach and lacks a backing track entirely, making use of only muffled sound effects. This is generally employed when 009 is using the Accelerator. This, combined with the visuals, clearly depicts the speed at which he is moving, far beyond the rest of the world.
The film also employs numerous sound effects to complete the world. Being Cyborgs, the 00s produce a number of minute, mechanical sound effects when utilising their abilities. Though it may not sound like a major component, the small sounds, like the lens of their eyes adjusting or the pulse of 009’s Accelerator, really add to the film. The voice acting in the film was also done very well. As it stands, the film only has the original Japanese audio. The characters are emotive and
Score one for the arachaeologists
Overall 009 Re: Cyborg presents an interesting story. Take an already serious threat, like attacks on cities, then throw in theological concepts and cyborgs. You’ll end up with chaos. The plot itself is interesting, though it is somewhat confusing as a stand alone title. Certain important aspects of the story were left underexplained and rather vague, leaving what seems to be an intricate plot somewhat confusing. It also bases itself off the premise that the audience has seen 009 Cyborg media before and knows the characters. Once again, while not terrible, it mitigates the enjoyment of newcomers. Not that there’s anything wrong with appealing to stalwart fans, it just feels as if the film is incomplete to a degree. That being said, 009 Re: Cyborg is a beautiful film that discusses some complex issues and will give you something to think about. Also it has Cyborgs with powers. Awesome.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
