Namco Bandai Games have just dropped a major bombshell for Soul Calibur fans with the announcement that Heihachi and Spawn will be playable characters on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Soul Calibur II HD Online. With this news Soul Calibur II HD Online will be bringing the originally console exclusive characters together for the first time ever.
Soul Calibur II HD Online is a HD re-imagining of the 2003 classic Soul Calibur II, a game which was heralded by many as one of the greatest fighting games of all time. It is only fitting that the game gets a HD remake on its 10th anniversary.
Whether you played the game way back in 2003 or never got your hands on it, Soul Calibur II HD Online looks like a must-have fighitng game to say the very least. The game is slated for release on Xbox 360 an PlayStation 3 later this year in Fall.
It was only just announced by both Warner bros. Interactive and DC Entertainment today that people who purchase the newest Scribblenauts game, Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure, will also be given a limited-time only, exclusive and free gift in the form of an original DC Comic. The digital comic, Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure – “A Battle Most Bizarre“, will have Batman and Superman come together for an on-page adventure the likes of which you’ll only see while playing the game! Within the comic Batman goes up against The Joker whilst Superman goes head-to-head with Bizarro, all the while out Scribblenauts main character, Maxwell, will be using his magic notebook to help the heroes, defeat the villains and restore balance to the world.
Every purchase of Scribblenauts Unmasked will come with a digital version of the comic despite which way you buy the game. Each physical copy will come with a unique redeemable code that you can redeem online at the Official Website. Those who purchase the game through Steam will be given the comic immediately through download, this way nobody misses out! The game will be available for the Wii U and 3DS as well as on the PC through Steam, the game is created by 5th Cell and will be released on all platforms here in Australia on September the 25th.
A new game from Rocketcat Games has been put onto kickstarter. This new game titled “Death Road to Canada” has been called a perma-death road trip survival simulator. There is not a single thing about that sentence that isn’t amazing. You must embark on a trip across the country and survive against post-apocalyptic creatures.
You can recruit up to 5 other survivors to help you as you scavenge for supplies and deal with massive groups of classic zombies. All of the survivors you find have randomized names, appearances, personalities, and traits that will both help you and hurt you on your adventure. There is a lot of replay value since everything in the game is randomized.
Every play, is a whole new game. You can back this project by heading over to the kickstarter page here. Did I mention that you can also get a pet dog to help you? Oh, and that dog can get more dogs, as you create a dog army. All of the madness will be available to PC, Linux, Mac, iOS, and Android.
Bohemia Interactive has released the latest video in their Community Guide series, titled Snipers & Launchers, for upcoming military simulator Arma 3. It explains the art of sniping from cover and effectively firing handheld anti-tank and anti-air missiles.
The last Community Guide video focused on piloting helicopters, no easy task, and explained how in great detail. This video is no different, covering all the nuances of being both being a sniper and taking out vehicles. Two seemingly different roles but both sharing a common risk: you want to take out your target before they see you or face a world of hurt.
Those who haven’t purchased the beta or the Digital Deluxe Edition yet can do so from Steam and the official store. Both editions include the full retail game at a lower price than the release date, which is September 12 for the PC.
Another otome video game has made its way over to the West and this time around it happens to be an intriguing PSP title where the well known Keiji Inafune happens to be your uncle. Aksys Games has released Sweet Fuse: At Your Side in North America and Europe for the PSP. It can be purchased either at the store or as a digital download.
The game follows the story of Saki Inafune, Keiji Inafune’s niece, who must solve a mystery after her uncle’s theme park is taken over by Count Hogstein. To do this she will have the help of seven gorgeous guys and depending on how you make your way through the game there are fourteen different endings to unlock. Check out the game in motion in the game’s launch trailer below.
Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance Studio:Studio Khara Publisher: Madman Format : DVD Release Date: 15th June 2011 Price: $29.95 – Available Here
Overview
Neon Genesis Evangelion would have to be, by far, the most widespread and influential Anime series and franchise to have ever been created. It has spanned over 18 incredible years and, although it showed signs of slowing down during the 90s, it has been a fan favourite for most of those years. Every Anime fan knows Neon Genesis Evangelion and – between the original series, the End of Evangelion movies, the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy and it’s countless marketing adventures – if you didn’t know about it “back in the day” I’ll guarantee you know about it now.
Introducing Mari!
Story
This is the second of the four Rebuild of Evangelion movies and it takes place, story wise, directly after the first movie (you can see the review for the first movie here). It’s crucial that you watch these movies in order, making sure not to skip even one, because they are incredibly story-driven and to miss one would be almost criminal. The characters from the first movie continue on into this movie with their pivotal roles still in play but with this movie comes the addition of a few more characters that play roles with the same, if not more in some cases, weight as the characters of Shinji and Rei. It is quite difficult, once again, to delve into greater detail because this movie just oozes twists and turns, if I’m to say one thing about the story in it’s entirety it is that it becomes a lot harder to separate yourself from the world of Evangelion and it’s characters, the way they grow and interact as well as the events that take place will throw you into both shock and awe. The stakes are raised in ways that are, almost, unimaginable and the story just forces you to think past the surface and into deeper layers of thought, while that sounds incredibly “artsy” and whimsical, that is exactly the kind of energy that the movie gives off.
One of the many incredible scenes!
We get to see, as an audience, the way that Shinji evolves and devolves mentally as well as how the people around him react to his continuing shift in and out of semi-sanity. The movie isn’t all character based though, we see the appearance of more Angels and we see the battles become fiercer and more dangerous, because it’s not like they were dangerous enough in the first movie. Excuse my sarcasm. These movies just pull the viewer into connecting with the characters in it. The movie hints at a great deal of things that you, kind of, have to grasp and understand yourself because a lot of it isn’t exactly explained, which isn’t a bad thing, it just treats the audience a different way, it doesn’t hand feed us information, it gives us what we need and allows us to come to our own conclusions on what exactly is happening. Let me just end this section by saying that the end of the movie climaxes in such an incredible way, it’s something that you won’t see coming (had you not already seen the series) and it will leave you wanting a lot more. In a good way.
Rei once again.
Visuals
Evangelion 2.22 is on par with Evangelion 1.11 when it comes to visuals, if anything it’s actually better considering it was made years after the first movie and technology never really stops getting better so that adds to it all. I feel like they were pushing the limits with this movie, because of it’s incredible story it seems like the animation team were allowed to run wild with what they could show and how they could show it and it really made for an incredible experience. With these movies there’s no way they could go backwards in any part of production and that includes visuals. We get to see a lot more of the surreal side of Evangelion in this movie, we have more Angel appearances, more Eva battles and one big thing which I really cannot say because it would spoil the movie for so many people.
Eva Unit-01 getting ready to brawl!
Audio
Everything I have said about visuals can also be said about the audio of 2.22. The quality of the voice acting and music has stayed, more or less, the same as how it was in the first movie, the voice acting cast returned for the second movie and they, once again, did an incredible job. Because of the increased tension within the story and the climactic battles and confrontational scenes, the voice actors really had their time to shine in a big way. If I have to say one thing about this movie that trumped the one before it is that during the final scenes a soft song was played, the song was actually very uplifting yet it was put in a scene of great terror and struggle which I believe was done to confuse the audience as well as scaring the audience at the same time. Such a contradiction didn’t go unnoticed and it did the scenario a great deal of justice too.
Just a glimpse at the beautiful scenery.
Extras
Evangelion 2.22 was released in a similar way to 1.11. The version I was given for review came with a simply-designed slipcase, instead of having a reversible cover we were just given a nice piece of art displaying the main characters on the flip-side. The movie release also came with another 20-page book which, one again, had a great deal of information from the movie alongside a huge note from the director. On-disc extras included the original release of the movie (2.02), U.S. Commentary, the Japanese original trailer, a train channel spot, DVD and Blu-Ray spots, Japanese TV spots, omitted scenes and remixed scenes. There are no lack of extras with this release.
The aftermath of a massive battle.
Overall
Basically all I could say more about this movie is that it holds up nicely, it moves on perfectly from the first movie and watching this movie continues to prove that there is no slowing down for this franchise, not one bit. The fights, the characters, the visuals, the music, the tension; it’s all perfect. I feel like this movie is the catalyst that separates the Evangelion movies from the series and it’s done in such an epic way and I honestly don’t know how the other two movies are going to get any more epic. Once again Hideaki Anno has produced another fantastic movie that does fantastically on all fronts, he’s truly proven to be a man that doesn’t let down his audience.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Mastertronic and Abstraction Games are proud to announce that The Chaos Engine, the classic Amiga game originally developed by legendary outfit The Bitmap Brothers is now available for PC, Mac and Linux! The early ‘90s top-down shooter has been fully restored by Abstraction Games who worked closely with one of the founding members of The Bitmap Brothers, Mike Montgomery.
The Chaos Engine is known as being one of the first games to introduce a skill system in the action-adventure genre which allowed players to improve their characters and equip unique weapons. The game includes two modes, one which looks and plays just like the original and an alternative mode with a few extra enhancements such as revamped control options, new graphics and Steam features.
Players battle through four unique worlds as one of six characters in single-player or online and local co-op modes. Mike Montgomery had this to say about the games re-release:
“This really feels like the right time to bring back The Chaos Engine…there are many fond memories of The Chaos Engine and I wanted to make sure that the game was true to the original without losing its charm during the restoration process. The option to play in the original ‘Classic’ mode with the added option to play in ‘Enhanced mode’ with its refined pixel-perfect finish is a clever way to satisfy all enthusiasts! It feels a completely natural transition to the PC.”
If you would like more information on The Chaos Engine you can go to www.chaosenginegame.com. If you’re pumped to try out this classic, you can get the game right now on Steam, Get Games and GOG.
If you are looking forward to picking up Bravely Default: Flying Fairy in Europe then you may want to double check what the game is going to be called in your region. It has been listed by Nintendo of Europe that the game will instead be called Bravely Default: Where the Fairy Flies, which leaves it with some interesting initials.
Anyway, currently no exact release date has been announced for the Western release of the game except for sometime in 2014 in North America and sometime later this year in Europe. Currently it is unknown if this name change will also be applied to the North American version of Bravely Default: Flying Fairy.
Today a new, extended version of Battle Princess of Arcadias’ debut trailer has been released by Nippon Ichi Software. The title is a PlayStation 3 exclusive and since it is being created by NIS it has a very unique looking art style with interesting looking characters and enemies to face off against.
As for the game itself, Battle Princess of Arcadias will feature numerous playable characters, different gameplay modes and will play like a side-scrolling brawler with RPG elements that allow for player leveling, equipment gathering and more. As mentioned before, since Nippon Ichi is developing the title internally, NIS America‘s localization chances are pretty decent since the company almost always localizes internally developed titles.
It has been revealed that in an effort to help promote Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, Tecmo Koei is going to be bringing some unique promotional entertainment to those who are attending PAX Prime. There will be special Yaiba food trucks placed outside of the PAX Prime venue which is at 2nd Avenue and Pike Street between 11 AM to 2 PM on August 30th and 31st.
All food will be spiced with “Yaiba’s own hot sauce” and players will also have a chance to attend a “midnight zombie movie night” that will be hosted by Dead Ninjaz After Dark. The event is a double feature where the “Miami Connection” and “Zombie vs. Ninja” movies will be shown and attendees can take part at the bar or take photos with the well-known cosplayer Jessica Nigri.
Anyone who attends the event must be 21 or over to attend and will receive gift bags that will include Yaiba branded hot sauce and a special limited edition print by comic book artist Corey Lewis. The event itself will take place between 9 PM to 1:30 AM at The Big Picture, 2505 1st Avenue.
If you are looking forward to picking up 
