Today NIS America announced at Anime Expo that they have acquired the license to Hanasaku Iroha: Home Sweet Home, the movie that was released after Hanasaku Iroha finished airing in Japan. This license doesn’t come as too much of a surprise considering the company already released the first half of the Hanasaku Iroha series earlier this year and released the second half earlier this week.
Hanasaku Iroha: Home Sweet Home continues to tell the story of Ohana as she lives and works at her grandmother’s hot spring inn and focuses around Ohana’s mother as she learns more about her past. Currently no release date has been given for Hanasaku Iroha: Home Sweet Home, but the film will be shown off at Anime Expo on Saturday night.
It was revealed on Sunday that there will be two new styles of Nintendo 3DS XL based on the new Pokemon X and Pokemon Y games. They will feature the legendaries from the newest generation and will actually come with either Pokemon Y or Pokemon X pre-installed. Obviously you’ll get a choice as to what game you want on your system. The system will also come with a 4GB SD card which the Pokemon Games will be installed on.
Blue Design:
Blue Design 3DS XL
Gold Design:
Gold Design 3DS XL
The Blue Design with both of the legendaries on the front of the console will be sold all around Japan in any good game retail stores where as the Gold Design will only be sold in Pokemon Centres. They will both cost you 22,800 yen each and it is slated for release in Japan in October. So far we’ve only heard of their release in Japan and we’re not quite sure if they’ll make it over here in the West but I can guarantee a lot of Pokemon Fans are praying for them to be sent out our way. Have faith, Pokemon fans, Nintendo and Gamefreak won’t let us down!
At the moment the game has only been announced for Europe but it will feature the following added content:
Additional Chapter: Finally free of Kabuto’s control, Itachi intends to crack the Reanimation forbidden jutsu. Will an unprecedented Uchiha alliance with Sasuke be enough to handle it?
New playable Character: Kabuto reaches the almighty Sage mode and is now playable in versus mode. Unleash his power and defeat your opponents both offline and online.
Director’s Cut Edition: Discover completely revamped Storm 3 cinematics and experience more intensely than ever the epic conflict consuming the entire ninja world.
100 New Missions: Embark on a whole new series of missions, many with their own uniquely challenging objectives.
38 Additional Costumes: Outfit characters in a selection of 38 costumes from the Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 DLC packs.
Whenever Namco Bandai brings a Tales game overseas, they have always simply provided the English voice track and while a number of gamers do prefer the original Japanese track, they have come to expect English only releases for the Tales series.
However Namco Bandai just announced today that for the first time ever in a Tales game, there will be a choice between English and Japanese voice work. Tales of Symphonia Chronicles will feature dual audio tracks when it is released sometime in 2014 with both Tales of Symphonia and Dawn of the New World in HD.
Olivier Comte, Senior Vice-President at Namco Bandai Games Europe, had this to say about the inclusion of dual-audio:
“We are extremely excited to announce that Japanese voiceovers will be implemented for the first time ever in a European release of a Tales of title, in the upcoming Tales of Symphonia Chronicles. We know this feature has been strongly awaited by the fans, and we are really pleased to be able to make this happen finally.”
During the Japan Expo the guys from Pokemon revealed another new addition to the next Generation of Pokemon gaming. The new Pokemon is quite odd and, honestly, not what you would expect it to be. It’s name, in English, is Honedge and it’s Japanese name is Hitotsuki.
Honedge/Hitotsuki will be a Steel and Ghost type combination. It’s basically a sword that will unsheathe itself during battle so that it can attack enemies, quite an odd one. It’s sheathe is very ancient in style and it’s blade underneath is fairly basic. On the end of its handle is what looks like a sash that actually works as it’s hand.
It’s official description is as follows:
It is now known that Honedge comes into being when a departed spirit possesses a sword that once belonged to humans. It can use the blue cloth attached to its hilt as nimbly as an arm. Pokémon Trainers who carelessly take this blade in hand may find the blue cloth wrapping itself around them and draining their energy!
It’s safe to say that this Pokemon will be an incredible addition to any team, it looks deadly, it seems fearsome and I sure as hell wont take this one lightly in battle.
There is also a five minute video that has come straight out of the expo and the video has Junicha Masuda of Gamefreak explaining a great deal about the new Pokemon region and about the new Pokemon Honedge, you can watch the video below in our Featured Video section.
Keep on eye out on the sight for any and all new Pokemon news as it gets released and don’t forget to head to our comments section to drop us a line.
Limbo, the critically acclaimed puzzle platformer from Playdead, has come out of its own proverbial limbo. Previously released on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, PC, Mac, Vita, and even the streaming game service OnLive, Limbo is now making its way onto iOS devices.
Coming out for both iPhone and iPad, Limbo is available now in the iTunes App Store for $5.49 USD. Players who’ve already experienced the game now have a new avenue to play the game on, taking it with them wherever they go. For those who have not yet played the game, a low price point and easy accessibility on iOS should offer quite an enticing opportunity to experience this breathtaking game.
You can check out Limbo’s iTunes page here. You can also see the official game website here.
Considering this is now the third game bearing the XIII moniker at this point, it only makes sense that Square Enix would be trying to bring back favorite characters. We’ve already seen Snow and Hope appear and Noel will be an enemy from the looks of things, and now we see the return of another face that probably could use some explanation.
In the latest trailer for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, this one from Japan Expo, we see that Fang has returned to the living and is no longer a crystal at this point, though why she is back to being flesh and blood is currently unknown. Also unknown is if Vanille will appear as well now that Fang has come back.
As you have likely heard by now, all launch copies of Shin Megami Tensei IV are “Limited Edition” box sets that include a number of bonuses. These bonuses include a 176 page book featuring sketches, art and background information as well as a walkthrough of roughly 40% of the game and other information that will help make your time with Shin Megami Tensei IV a bit easier.
Also included in this pack is the soundtrack CD for the game, but don’t take my word for it, you can check out the unboxing video from Atlus themselves below where PR Manager John Hardin gives us a look at everything included in the release, including that new game smell. Keep an eye out for Shin Megami Tensei IV when it hits stores in North America on July 16th.
It seems like the popularity of Leisure Suit Larry hasn’t quite died out yet, as after remake Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded was delayed, Android version was still seeing a lot of players at E3 2013. The Android version was released under the 100% Indie Initiative, a collaboration between Chillingo and Samsung.
While at E3, 100% Indie kept tabs on all 30 games they brought to the show for players to try out and paid close attention to which players tried first and most often. It seems Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded proved most popular as more than 65% of those at E3 chose to play it first. Still find an audience new and old, who knows what more will come from Leisure Suit Larry in the future.
Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded is published by Replay Games and developed by N-Fusion Interactive, including original creator Al Lowe who came out of retirement for the new game. Reloaded was released for PC, Mac, Linux, Android, and iPad/iPhone for iOS on June 27, 2013.
I won’t lie – Garfield’s Wild Ride is NOT the worst game I’ve played. However, it may be one of the worst uses of a licence I’ve ever seen in video games to date. Seriously – the concept of the game makes such little sense the developers had to justify it by making it all a dream. Among all the vanilla elements of gameplay there is some nice polish and presentation ensuring Garfield’s Wild Ride isn’t a complete waste of time and should keep Garfield fanatics happy, but other than that it’s just another mindless endless runner. The saddest part is that Garfield’s Wild Ride is a game that is made really well and showcases great talent behind the developer – it’s just overshadowed by the overwhelming generic gameplay and poor use of licensing.
Audio & Visual
Let’s start on a positive note shall we? Garfield looks wonderful. Filled with color and smooth artwork, visuals are true to the show Garfield and Friends. Animations however are a mixed bag as while it is mostly good, Garfield shifting from his running and falling animations to his flying animations do seem a little clunky. The game also encourages you to spend your hard earned coins to buy outfits for Garfield that have no effect on gameplay and pretty much are irrelevant to the character. He’s an anthropomorphic cat known for not wearing clothes. Why should anyone pay 5000 coins to give him pants and make him less true to the source material? Audio on the other hand is pretty much flawless, with multiple background tracks that cycle through every time you play to keep the stale gameplay feeling fresh. They’re mixed in stereo as well so with earphones you get a more enhanced audio experience. With plenty of polish, the representation of both audio and visual should be applauded. Unfortunately, it’s mostly downhill from here…
Gameplay
First of all – why the hell is Garfield in an endless running game? He’s meant to be a FAT and LAZY cat. So why the heck is he running? It’s totally out of character and evidence that the developing team probably aren’t very familar with the franchise. Of coarse, they justify this with the fact that he’s actually having a dream…but let’s face it that’s just poor storytelling. As for the gameplay, have you played the insanely popular Jetpack Joyride? Yes? Great! Slap a Garfield skin on that and make it less ambitious and we’re done here. Literally the ONLY differences I could find throughout the entire game is that there are other unlockable levels (which are pricy so save up those coins) and occasional Wheel Of Fortune type luck-based bonuses. That’s it. For those who haven’t played Jetpack Joyride, firstly, hate yourself because you’ve missed out on one of the greatest and most successful Australian mobile video game releases ever. And secondly, it’s a simple side scrolling endless runner with one-touch controls that let’s you hover to dodge obstacles and collect coins & power ups, etc. On top of that it encourages players to buy power ups by collecting coins or spending real life cash. Missions are available that reward you with lots of coins. You get the idea. Garfield’s Wild Ride is a simple clone of Jetpack Joyride with little to no originality thrown into the gameplay at all. That being said, it’s actually been done very well. It’s just that if you’ve played a game like that everything in Garfield’s Wild Ride becomes amazingly bland as it simply has nothing more to offer. It seems that the developers here took a lot of inspiration from the lazy fat cat by deciding to follow suit by putting in minimum effort and being as lazy as possible. Perhaps if Garfield was running in a Temple Run clone it’d make more sense, but making him fly just seems out of character even if it is a dream. Perhaps the nicest way to put it is that Garfield’s Wild Ride would be a great gateway game to Endless Runners for Garfield fans.
Overall
I should clear up a few things in the summary of this review – Garfield’s Wild Ride isn’t a terrible game. It’s just a generic game. It has good graphics, great audio and while gameplay is uncreative and a mindless clone, it actually works rather well. If just you’ve played a side-scrolling endless runner before, chances are Garfield’s Wild Ride has nothing new or interesting to offer you. It takes the general concept, slaps a Garfield skin on it and that’s it – just a mindless, generic cash-in that doesn’t feel the way a Garfield game should. Maybe that’s why it’s all in Garfield’s dream? As earlier stated, the nicest way to put it is that Garfield’s Wild Ride would be a great gateway game to Endless Runners for Garfield fans. So if you don’t fit that demographic, this may not be the game for you.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Today NIS America announced at Anime Expo that they have acquired the license to Hanasaku Iroha: Home Sweet Home, the movie that was released after Hanasaku Iroha finished airing in Japan. This license doesn’t come as too much of a surprise considering the company already released the first half of the Hanasaku Iroha series earlier this year and released the second half earlier this week.
