News has just come through that the August issue of Jump Square magazine has confirmed that two sequels to the live-action Rurouni Kenshin film are in the works for release in 2014.
The two follow-up live-action films will adapt the famous Kyoto Arc of Rurouni Kenshin across both films. The Kyoto Arc as fans of the series would know details Himura Kenshin’s struggle with the bandage-clad villain Shishio. The films will particularly focus on the ‘Great Kyoto Fire’ and ‘Legend’s End’ stories.
No official date has been set for the next two films in the Rurouni Kenshin trilogy, but it does appear that both films will be released at some point in 2014. It has been confirmed that Takeru Satou will reprise his role as Kenshin. Stay tuned as more information comes to light on these films.
Project x Zone Developers: Banpresto, Monolith Soft Publisher:Namco Bandai Platform: Nintendo 3DS Release Date:June 25, 2013 Price:$39.99 – Available Here
Overview When Project X Zone was announced for release in Japan, many Western gamers were hoping that the title would be released overseas but very few of us thought it would be possible. This is thanks to the fact that it features characters from franchises belonging not only to the publisher Namco Bandai, but also from Sega and Capcom as well.
To make things even more complicated, a number of these characters have never appeared in a Western release before, leaving their Western debuts in question thanks to their licenses being up in the air. However Namco Bandai has managed to overcome all issues in their way and have brought Project X Zone to North America. Is this crossover SPRG worth the faith that fans have put into it?
Story After something of a family heirloom is stolen from a rich girl named Mii Kouryuuji who seems to be a cheerleader that dresses in a skimpy outfit, the worlds begin to shift and collide with one another. The normal human world and the Makai world are clashing together and even portals to the past, future and alternate timelines are appearing all over the place. To make things even worse, the organization behind the theft are now trying to track down Mii for an unknown purpose.
Only by teaming up with her tutor/bodyguard/ninja/detective Kogoro Tenzai and the numerous allies from multiple dimensions and timelines can Mii not only defend herself from the onslaught of enemies seeking to abduct her, but also retrieve the heirloom and put a stop to the group’s plans once and for all.
It is pretty clear right away that the storyline for Project X Zone is clearly there to set up the premise of worlds colliding, giving us a game that features more characters than you can shake a stick at. The two main characters, and that term is used roughly here, are given their purpose in the story but for the most part that focus is diluted down to the point that it is simply in the background as we see beloved characters return and fight alongside other beloved characters and even a few new unknown faces appearing as well.
Using the term fan-service wouldn’t be inaccurate here with Project X Zone, as even a number of the in-game dialogue references various events spread throughout the games, though obviously nothing here is canon in any video game story. However hearing Tron Bonne mention her frustration at having her rocket delayed, seeing Frank West taking “erotica” themed photographs of any female character he comes across and listening to the various interactions amongst the cast is beyond delightful and will make any fan of these franchises giddy with joy.
It is worth noting though that with all of the characters that eventually join your group, a few do end up being pushed into the background and thanks to the main storyline being rather standard, the story unfortunately lacks polish. But when Hsien-Ko partners with Frank West, a little cat-like girl named Neneko meets up with Ryu and Ken and more characters make their appearances and interact with one another like the everything simply makes sense, there is little to complain about when there is so much on offer here.
Visuals Project X Zone is a SRPG title game which means that as one would expect, the characters are all given sprite character models inside of combat and on the battle map. These character models are wonderfully handled and look absolutely wonderful in battle. Many memorable moves that these characters have used for years now look wonderful in action on the 3DS, even when we’ve already seen them on consoles, that shows the dedication that went into creating the sprite work for Project X Zone.
Whenever the player triggers a special finishing move, the paired fighters will unleash an impressively animated special attack that culminates in each character having an anime style appearance as they unleash a finishing blow on their opponent. Outside of combat, each character is given a wonderfully handdrawn character portrait with a number of different facial expressions and poses to match the discussion, similar to what is seen in standard JRPG dialogue sequences.
Audio With over eighty different characters that appear throughout the game, and as I mentioned earlier, a number of which haven’t appeared in the West, it should come as no surprise that Project X Zone only features the original Japanese voice track. While a bit annoying for some, the Japanese voice work is admirably done and honestly most gamers who would buy this title would likely be choosing the Japanese voice track anyways. That being said, it is unfortunate that while everything is given English subtitles in event sequences and in special attack animations, the battle dialogue is untranslated leaving players to guess as to what the characters are saying as they execute their basic attacks.
With such a vast library of characters to choose from, it is my pleasure to say that Project X Zone also draws upon those vast characters’ theme songs. The background music will always shift to a theme song related to the character you are currently playing as. If you have a third fighter attached to a group? It could be their song, or one of the main pairings’. For example, pairing Tron Bonne with Frank West and Hsien Ko sees not only the Dead Rising theme play, but also a chance for a Mega Man theme song or Hsien Ko’s own song to play while using that character. These audio tracks only make the fact that all of these characters are gathered together under one title all the more surprising and even more enjoyable.
Gameplay Project X Zone has gathered all of these characters under one title to create a strategy RPG and those who are familiar with them will already know what they are in for. Project X Zone features battle maps that places the players characters on a grid based map where they must attack and defend and complete certain conditions to complete the level. These conditions always end up involving defeating either all enemies or specific enemies but there are loss conditions as well and these can sometimes shift mid-battle.
Project X Zone features your standard, higher speed stat moves first, type move system but an XP, not to be confused with basic EXP, system requires the player to gauge exactly how they want to react to various events that happen to each character.
You see, whenever the player enters combat they are given a set number of attacks that they can unleash on opponents and whenever these attacks land, a certain number of XP is added to a meter with 100 being the basic limit, but 150 being the true limit. These XP points can either be used to unleash a powerful special attack which can elimate smaller enemies in one blow and deal massive damage to bosses, but can also be used for defense as well. Whenever you are attacked by enemies, you can either choose to do nothing and take the full hit, use 20 XP to counter, giving you one or possibly more attacks to strike bake at the enemy but taking full damage, or defend which halves the damage you receive, or use 60 points to block all damage taken.
On the offensive side of things, you may have seen my mention of trio groups and various attacks before and herein lies another interesting mechanic in Project X Zone, timing. The main pair of fighters will always attack together and when timed correctly, you will rarely miss your blows, however when some attacks send enemies launching into the air or ricocheting off of a wall, timing the return blows is crucial to landing full damage on an opponent.
But how about the 150 XP bar I mentioned? That is only obtainable through the use of Cross Attacks that are completed by having either your third fighter jump into battle to perform a pre-set attack sequence or having a pair close to your battle jump in for assistance as well. Anytime one of your attacks lands while a partner’s lands will trigger a Cross Attack which will push the XP bar past the 100 limit, but timing these attacks can be very difficult since it is entirely possible to call in allies only for them to either miss multiple attacks due to poor enemy placement or your fighters to miss due to their interference. That being said, it is also entirely possible to have not only your initial pair, but your third fighter and an adjacent pair dealing damage all at once, creating a whirlwind of havoc that can tear apart almost any singular enemy.
Unfortunately while Project X Zone has a lot going for it in almost every category, there are a few drawbacks as well. The main one being is that even being an SRPG, it is rather easy. Now I’m not saying that it isn’t challenging at times and it can be difficult to win a battle that may push you to your limits, but even then there isn’t too much difficulty once you get the timing of attacks down. While it is worth noting that there is no place to buy items and equipment and they are only obtainable from defeated enemies or battle-map chests, there is little customization or necessity to these things as they are simply adding more to the experience in a very shallow way that only makes things easier as the game goes long.
It is also worth noting that while Project X Zone is certainly a long game and the third fighters, or “solo units” as they are technically called, can be switched between pairs for additional dialogue, there really isn’t much to be had for replay value in Project X Zone. There are a few twists in battle here and there where new enemies appear, but this becomes predictable to the point you can almost call out when new foes will appear and since every battle plays out the same way, the lack of much replay value outside of different combat dialogue between new trios is a shame.
Overall Project X Zone is a game that fans of either Sega, Capcom or Namco Bandai should be cheering for since it has been released in the West and for good reason. While it does have drawbacks, Project X Zone is a game that is nearly impossible to put down at times, not only because some of the fights can take well over an hour, but also thanks to the number of characters from numerous franchises appearing, addictive combat and just pure enjoyment. If anything, being a bit of an easier SRPG may be a good thing for some as it creates a more accessible title that will allow more gamers to enjoy the wonderful title that is Project X Zone.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Overview
Ever since being published in 1974, Dungeons and Dragons has continued to grow in so many forms that the content is still enticing. Dungeons and Dragons does not care whether you are the old-fashioned tabletop player rolling multi-headed dice, avid fantasy reader, or video game addict because characters of all types are welcome. So the question begs how does Neverwinter deal with attributing to each of these important assets? Let’s see how this free to play title pans out.
Story
More-so the fantasy reader and gamer, I found Neverwinter’s story to be very appealing as I have encountered events that occurred prior to the game’s state. Though prior knowledge of The Forgotten Realms is not necessary in order to play the game, it definitely has its perks. Being able to recognize structures or places within Neverwinter as well as an enemy’s techniques can help during the initial encounter. For interests of both new and old D&D players, “Lore” is accessible throughout the story as interactive objects that detail past history of the world or given item. For those that like to forgo the storyline, you are able to skip such sequences and continue on your merry slashing and dashing ways.
Those more keen to old-fashioned tabletop playing are welcomed with open arms as the title features a dedicated portion entirely for creativity purposes. The “Foundry” a is map/quest creation environment that leaves the map’s imagination and objectives completely up to the player. By handing over the rights to become your own dungeon master through map creation, Cryptic Studios gave the public its own form of continual updates.
And my lovely book worms of The Forgotten Realms will be happy to hear/see environments of great renown such as The Underdark – the home of many denizens of evil – and Guantlgrym – the ancient city of the dwarves. With such places rarely seen and often imagined, it is refreshing to be given a visual perception to compare and contrast with book lore.
Gameplay
*It seems like you can never mention an MMO without conjuring up thoughts of Blizzard’s long-running Warcraft title. It’s true, nearly all MMOs retain some of the design decisions of WoW, but that game itself has even adapted over the years to suit its player base. Neverwinter takes several of the good design choices and uses them as a firm foundation.
*One of the most notable things to enjoy with Neverwinter (as with most every game) is the combat. Instead of a bar of a dozen or so different skills, though, Neverwinter keeps it far more concise. Once you full unlock all of your slots, you’ll have access to around 7 skills at a time, each with varying frequencies of use. This helps lend more weight to each of the skills you do have. You can thank the game’s adaption of the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules for this. While many holdouts will complain that the 3.5 rule set is far superior, Neverwinter’s implementation marks it as the right choice.
*Questing has been streamlined in Neverwinter as well. You can utilize a sort of “magic dust trail” that will lead you directly to your next objective. This helps keep you driving through the story material and gaining experience, so you never feel like you’re forced to grind. The addition of the “Foundry,” where players can create their own quests is also a wonderful draw for the would-be dungeon master anxious to try out his next quest on a slew of players. Neverwinter does a fantastic job ensuring the cream rises to the top with this, as well, promoting the best the community has to offer by putting on the front page of the quest seeker.
Beyond quests players can jump into queues for PvP domination matches, skirmishes, or even dungeon parties (no birthday cakes; only treasure!) Skirmishes and dungeons will measure your prowess against AI enemies while PvP matches are against other players. Skirmishes usually consists of a randomly queued group whose common goal is to defeat several waves of environmental enemies. Every wave proves more difficult as harder creatures step into the battleground to test the efficiency of the group – supply yourself with enough health potions if a devoted cleric is not close by. Upon defeating the final wave’s boss, a chest will appear for all of the team to loot individually.
Dungeons take much longer than skirmishes as it can consist several mini boss battles and a final boss at the end. Since there are also more enemies placed in dungeons, the chances of attaining rarer loot is increased. Note that full parties are not required to enter a dungeon; however, I would highly advise tagging along with others if your are at the minimum level requirement.
A commonly confusing aspect about Neverwinter is in regards to its money system. There are three types of normal currency in the game: Zen, Astral Diamonds, Gold/Silver/etc. Zen is the premium type of currency that allows player to buy items with real world cash. Astral Diamonds can be farmed in crude from for daily quests/dungeons and then can later be ‘refined’ to regular form. The only reason that the ‘refining’ method was added is to ensure that people farming the diamonds cannot refine more than 24,000 daily. With the current market standing, about 40,000 diamonds can be traded for 125 Zen. Your gold and silver that you acquire through your journeys will enable normal purchases of profession materials, weapon, armor, and other basic supplies. Anything fancy will likely require diamonds or Zen to complete a transaction.
Visuals
Any good MMO needs to have an appealing draw towards character creation. Neverwinter is successful in this aspect because it offers customization to further individualize a character. Most important is that the creator is able to actively view and update changes throughout the process. Not happy with making the character’s race an elf? Start over by creating a dwarf (the best race of all). Combine race with facial identifiers like tattoos and scars, and you have quite the custom package to choose from.
Aesthetically, the title could be spritz up a bit to compete graphically with other modern online titles. Though the graphics are not as high quality as other MMOs, Neverwinter still yields a plethora of scenery that keeps a player interested. You will be dredging through sewers, volcanoes, vaults, and even a dreadful place known as The Underdark. More enemies and traps lie before you -rest assured!
Audio
*Neverwinter also has fantastic sound design. The music always seems to match the mood of the situation marvelously. You’ll even find yourself sitting in the hub world just to hum along with the tunes. The voice over work is nothing spectacular, but each quest giver has spoken dialog that will do a solid job drawing you into the world. The sounds effects were also well captured and implemented, evoking the feeling of a crushing blow or the eery atmosphere of a dank dungeon well.
Overall
What are a few things to consider? Competitors may have a more beautiful atmosphere, but in regards to interactive gameplay and custom user-created content Neverwinter has the edge. Also, this title is free to play whereas other MMOs may have you pay $30 – $60 plus a subscription (that slims the selection down quite a bit).
*Overall, Neverwinter is easily worth a try. Though there’s payable content there for the ones that choose it, you can still have an excellent time playing the core of the game. With great quest structure, quick, solid combat, and evocative sound design, anyone interested in the world of Dungeons & Dragons or MMOs would be remiss to pass this one by without giving it a try.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here. * – Contributed by editor Joe Morgan.
Makoto Shinkai’s latest film, The Garden of Words, has been announced for REEL Anime 2013 by Madman during the Supanova Perth pop culture expo. Shinkai is known for his other anime films such as The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5cm Per Second and Children Who Chase Lost Voices.
The Garden of Words, known as Kotonoha no Niwa in Japanese, is the filmmaker’s latest project in collaboration with CoMix Wave Films. The title is based on the original meaning of the word “love” in Japanese, “koi”, as “lonely sadness”. Shinkai stated the the film is about longing for someone in solitude.
The animated film had its global debut this year here in Australia during the Gold Coast Film Festival. The Garden of Words is the fourth film announced for REEL Anime 2013, following the announcements of Evangelion 3.0, 009 Re:Cyborg and A Letter to Momo.
In addition, Madman is hosting one-day special screenings for certain titles, with Berserk Movie 2 confirmed so far for next month. REEL Anime will be held in select cinemas across Australia and New Zealand on September this year.
The latest trailer for Studio Trigger and Aniplex‘s new series Kill la Kill, has revealed that the anime is set to premiere in October.
As the commercial advertises, the anime reunites Hiroyuki Imaishi (Gurren Lagann) with head writer Nakashima (Gurren Lagann, Nodame Cantabile: Finale, Re: Cutie Honey). In addition, acclaimed animator Sushio (animation director on Gurren Lagann and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt) is designing the characters.
The trailer reads:
Will You Kill?
Or Will You Be Killed?
From Director Hiroyuki Imaishi
And Series Script Supervisor/Writer Kazuki Nakashima
The Director/Writer Combo Who Brought You Gurren Lagann Return!!
Character Design: Sushio
Animation Production: Trigger
“Humans Are Just Pigs Wearing Clothes!!”
“You’re the Girl Who Wields the Half Basami Scissors Sword?”
Kill la Kill
October 2013
For more information, check out Studio Trigger’s official site.
Skydance Productions, Annapurna Pictures and Paramount Pictures are joining forces to save us all from the robots who will one day rise against us. That’s right, Terminator is back… (see what i did there?) but not as you know it. The next film in the series (which has grossed over $1 billion to date) will be a reboot, and the beginning of a new stand-alone trilogy.
The film will be produced by Annapurna’s Megan Ellison (Zero Dark Thirty), and Skydance’s David Ellison (World War Z, Star Trek Into Darkness, G.I Joe: Retaliation and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), while Dana Goldberg and Paul Schwake of Skydance will serve as the the executive producers. Laeta Kalorgridis and Patrick Lussier, who between them have written Avatar, Shutter Island and Drive Angry, are currently attached to write the screenplay.
There are rumors circulating around that “The Rock” himself, Dwayne Johnson is up for the role of a villainous Terminator in the film, but as of writing, this remains unconfirmed. Stay tuned to Capsule Computers for all the Terminator news as it becomes available.
Bracing the rain, wind, and cold cosplayers descended on to Supanova in all manner of make up, costumes, and more.
Just about everywhere you looked there was somebody dressed up as your favourite anime, video game, tv or movie character. It was a great show and Capsule Computers was there to capture it all part of Capsule Computer’s Cosplay Hunt.
Check out the embed video bellow to see a little of what went down at Sydney Supanova 2013. And while your at it check out our full Cosplay photo gallery here and over on our facebook page.
Tsuritama carved out a place in noitaminA history as one of the anime block’s most bizarre series to date. Coming from the director of C for Control – The Money and Soul of Possibility, Kenji Nakamura has done it again with his wildly creative brand of anime with Tsuritama.
Hanabee will be releasing Tsuritama in dual-language format on both DVD and Blu-Ray come September 4th, 2013. The Tsuritama collection will retail for $54.99 (DVD) & $59.99 (BLU-RAY).
Saving the world one fish at a time.
When the fate of the world lies in Yuki’s non-existent fishing skills there’s only one thing to do – learn to fish of course! But socially awkward Yuki has more pressing matters drawing his attention…like his debilitating inability to communicate with others (and the fact that he’s the new kid on the block is not helping matters).
Haru, a peculiar boy with his own secrets, is making it his mission to help Yuki learn to fish and make friends in the process. Although when your group of potential friends consists of a cold ‘Fishing Prince’ and an aloof Indian hiding his own agenda in the form of DUCK things are bound to get messy.
Aired in the acclaimed noitaminA timeslot known for its innovative anime and directed by Kenji Nakamura (C for Control), tsuritama is sure to reel in and charm every viewer hook, line and sinker.
Scourge: Outbreak, the upcoming third-person shooter from Tragnarion Studios, has released its newest video focusing on a member of the squad. It features Ramiro “Shade” Cortez – an Argentinian hit-man with a dark past.
It’s rumored that Shade’s kidnapped sister may still be alive and under Nogari control. Unconcerned about payment when joining Echo Squad, his only directive is to destroy the Nogari Corporation. He intends to take no prisoners, but leave plenty of corpses.
Because Shade is unwilling to divulge information, its unknown where he trained. He’s proven himself a worthy asset many times over. He has unmatched accuracy, a Static Shield ability, and a Dynamic Shockwave ability perfect for intercepting enemies before they get too close.
Key features of Scourge: Outbreak include:
Up to 4-Player Co-op Campaign with 6+ hours of gameplay
4 Playable Characters, each with different weapon handling stats and a distinct combination of Special Abilities
Unique character-specific flashbacks that reveal critical past events, and shed a new light on the game’s story
XP system to track your experience and unlock powerful gameplay rewards in Campaign AND Multiplayer
Squad AI for groups with less than 4 Players
Quick-Order-System (QOS) for rapid deployment of squad-members
9 Weapons, plus multiple variants of each to suit your style of play
Up to 8 Players in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture-The-Flag multiplayer Versus modes in 5 action-packed maps!
Leaderboards for competing with friends and other Players around the world!
Challenging Achievements to unlock
Scourge: Outbreak will be coming to Xbox Live on July 3 for 800 Microsoft Points. For more information, you can check out the official website here as well as the trailer video below this article.
Not everyone was able to attend E3 this year but Deep Silver doesn’t want to leave those people out in the dark. Well, for a few weeks they did but now they have released the behind-closed-doors presentation video that was shown to attendees a couple of weeks ago for Saints Row IV.
The voice accompanying the gameplay demo, which can be seen below, is Jim Boone, senior producer of the game. In the video we not only see the alien threat that is attacking earth, but also some of the superpowers players will be able to gain access to and even a Blackhole Launcher. TO go along with this new gameplay footage the company also announced that all pre-order copies will also come with The Iron Rogue and Queen Amazonia costumes as well as the previously announced Commander in Chief Edition.
News has just come through that the August issue of Jump Square magazine has confirmed that two sequels to the live-action Rurouni Kenshin film are in the works for release in 2014.
