Earlier today we saw some of the first English screenshots of Rune Factory 4 since XSEED Games announced that they had taken over the license and were localizing the game for US release and now the company has released their first English gameplay footage courtesy of a late night E3 trailer.
The trailer, which can be seen below, contains snippets of gameplay featuring both farming sections, battles, dating sequences and even an introduction to both the male and female character that players will be able to choose from when they pick up the game sometime this summer exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS.
With the Xbox One not being supported in Japan at launch and may never even appear in the country thanks to its lower than low popularity in the country, it should come as no surprise that Japanese developers are already looking to the PlayStation 4.
In an interview with Dengeki Magazine it was confirmed by Nippon Ichi Software president Sohei Niikawa that the company is already planning on making their games for the PlayStation 4 console. As for what games they were planning on making, he gave no mention. However with Disgaea being Nippon Ichi’s flagship franchise in the country, our bet is on something Disgaea related.
With E3 winding down here in the final day, Square Enix took the opportunity to release a new twenty minute long E3 trailer for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. The special thing about this trailer is the fact that it is actually the PlayStation 3 version of the game which includes the user interface for the console version of the MMO.
The video is demonstrated and given commentary by Naoki Yoshida and is quite interesting as it gives a rundown of how the UI will work with the PlayStation 3, which many people have been wondering about since your standard MMO userface does not lend itself well to consoles. So with this video hopefully putting gamers’ fears to rest, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is set to be released this August for the PC and PlayStation 3 while a PlayStation 4 version of the game will drop sometime in 2014.
Sakurai confirmed the removal of tripping by simply saying, “To answer quite frankly, it will not return.” It doesn’t get any more definitive than that folks. Tripping was not a well liked feature in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and it seems logical for Nintendo to remove this feature.
If you have yet to have a look at what Nintendo has in store with the upcoming Super Smash Bros. game, you can check out some mind-blowing screenshots of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and for 3DS here. Be sure to let us know what you think of ‘tripping’ getting the boot in the comments section below.
Today the Electronic Entertainment Expo, best known as E3, wrapped up in Los Angeles, California and as people were leaving the conference center they were greeted with a banner which held the date of next year’s E3.
E3 2014 is scheduled for June 10-12 at the same venue as this year, the Los Angeles Convention Center. As for this year, the event saw 48,200 attendees which is a 2,500 increase from 2012’s E3. What could we be seeing next year at this time? Perhaps some more exclusives for the PlayStation 4? The death knell or multiple policy changes for the Xbox One? New games for the Vita? Only time will tell.
Bad news if you were hoping that your Nintendo 3DS may have been enough to play against your friends’ Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. Today it was revealed by director Masahiro Sakurai via an interview with Joystiq at E3 that Super Smash Bros. will not feature cross-platform play on the Wii U and 3DS.
The reason for this is because each version of the game will have different stages and although some stages will be the same, these differences are too great to allow the cross-platform play. He did mention however that players will be able to customize their characters in some way and will be able to transfer them to the Wii U version of the game, but he did not elaborate as to what type of customization he was referring to.
Namco Bandai have just launched a rather mysterious teaser website for an upcoming yet to be announced title. Not much is known about the title other than the fact that it will be released on the PlayStation 3 console. There is however a few clues to what the game may be.
One of the clues is the starry sky appearing on the website, which is clearly reminiscent of the Saint Seiya franchise, which of course features constellations as a focal point. There is also the ‘SBS’ in the URL which could possibly be the abbreviated title of a new Saint Seiya video-game. Namco previously released Saint Seiya: Sanctuary Battle on the PS3, so this could perhaps be a follow up to that.
Of course this is only speculation until there is an official announcement from Namco Bandai themselves. We will keep you updated on this story as it further develops.
Unfortunately it looks like fans of Wayforward are going to have to wait a little bit longer to play the original Shantae on their Nintendo 3DS. Today it was announced by Wayforward Creative director Matt Bozon that the difficult to find Game Boy Color original of Shantae will be released on the eShop not on June 20th but instead sometime in July.
The news came from a simple Twitter post and it stated that new details will be released on their blog sometime in the future when they become available. While disheartening, it is worth noting that Wayforward’s Mighty Switch Force 2 was released on the 3DS eShop today, so fans of the developers can still get their platforming fix.
World War Z is a film based very loosely upon the Max Brooks novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. While both focus on the worldwide pandemic of the undead, the time frames in which they are set is completely different. Whilst the novel is a recounting of the events through a number of interviews, the film places the audience smack bang in the middle of chaos. What were, in the novel, slow moving husks have become an unstoppable tide of death. This leaves one question; does the film’s new take on the war to end all wars do the title justice?
Just a humble, everyday former UN Investigator
Story
World War Z follows Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), former UN Investigator and now stay at home dad. Life’s good. He has his family, pancakes and a peaceful life. This is shattered almost immediately. Chaos breaks and the undead cascade through the town. Farewell peace. As the living flee from the dead, Gerry must save his family. Eventually, through a friend from his UN days, Gerry finds his ticket to safety; however, there is a price. Gerry must now help find a cure for this global pandemic.
One element of the film made immediately apparent is speed. From the abruptness of its beginning to the constant shifts in locale, World War Z does a great job at portraying a sense of urgency. The constant travelling lends credence to the notion of a planetwide panic, where battles rage across every country, creating one of the most interesting and well implemented elements of World War Z: that it is actually a world war. Unlike other Hollywood zombie movies, the plot moves outside of the USA and shows the pandemic’s effect on the rest of the planet. The film even presents details on how the virus spreads differently depending on the circumstances and how not everyone is properly equipped to fight back. This broad scale raises interesting issues regarding the actions of the world at large, rather than the vague exclusion that occurs in zombie films that focus on a small band of survivors. From the outset, the audience knows that this won’t be a traditional zombie affair. There will be no shambling, there will be no standing against the tide and there certainly won’t be any counting the number of enemies.
Quarterly projections aren’t looking good
The film also conveyed the worldwide reaction to the panic in quite an interesting way. Without going into spoilers, bureaucracy does play a role in the chaos and, fairly uncommon to the traditional tropes of zombie movies, actually continues to function somewhat. The remaining government continues to aid survivors whilst trying to figure out the cause of the zombies. It also provides a unique perspective in regards to survival movies, where the audience gets to see the side of the rescuing organisation, rather than the survivors who call out for help. Though this does provide a unique and worldlier take on the events of the film, it is mostly glazed over, opting instead for the focus on Gerry.
The notion of zombies itself is also interesting as, unlike other zombie and virus films, the term actually exists within the film. Taking place in the “real world” it is assumed that zombie literature exists, as the term is used, though sparingly, throughout the film. The fact that knowledge, or at the very least stories, of zombies existed places a sense of realism on the film whilst also somewhat undermining the complete sense of confusion and denial in some characters.
A helicopter tour of the chaos
The ending of the film itself actually differs a fair deal from the rest of the film. The pacing slows down and the film focuses on one particular area. An emphasis is placed on stealth and avoidance, rather than combat and defence, shifting away from the chaotic scramble of previous scenes for a much more suspenseful and tense endeavour. Â Though the final moments are not too far out of left field, more time definitely could’ve been spent focusing on the final moments. There is a certain sense of ambiguity left surrounding the conclusion. Though it does create a sense of continuation, it also feels abrupt in its resolution and not as thoroughly explored as it could have been.
Visuals
Two words: Kamikaze Zombies. The undead in World War Z are fast, furious and feral. In an absolute 180 from classic zombies, these creatures scramble en masse and infect in numbers. They aren’t nearly as fragile as old school shamblers, being able to slam into walls at top speed then get back up and start again. The fluid movement of each creature is amazing and each can range from running to a predatory pounce. The sheer number of zombies on screen is mind boggling at points and it is this scale that further adds to the sense of a planetary infection. The all consuming drive of the zombies culminates in the terrifying scene of thousands scrambling over each other in a tidal wave of chaos. When presented one on one, more traditional make-up was used to create the terrors. Clouded eyes and shattered teeth, scars and scratches – all the trademarks of viral terrors.
They’re just undying to get in
The film itself took on a fairly muted colour scheme throughout. The environments tended to lean towards browns and greys to push the sense of desolation and damage. Grey was prevalent in the falling cities and, in certain sequences, a lack of light was used to increase tension more akin to older zombie films. The cities themselves were true to form, varying from urban sprawls to sandstone cities. Each was constructed, then brutally de-constructed, beautifully.
The film is available to see in 3D, though this really isn’t necessary. The effect does create a sense of depth and scale, but it isn’t as fully implemented as it could’ve been. Apart from one instance where a zombie lunges at the screen, the film will not suffer from being viewed in 2D.
Expect delays on the highway
Audio
Right from the start World War Z uses sound to boost the tension and terror of the onslaught of creatures. Just as it was used in the trailer, the resounding and dramatic boom is used in the opening push to incite shock and panic. Throughout the film, the soundtrack is used to get the audience’s pulse racing, if it hasn’t been done so by the visuals. In particularly dramatic scenes, it is the lack of sound that can achieve the same effect, using suspense and anticipation
The zombies themselves add to the terrible cacophony with their own blend of terrible sounds. Rather than moaning, the World War Z creatures shriek and click, creating a far more bestial quality. The constant snarling continues this brutal theme and lends to the in film speculation that the pandemic is a mutated form of rabies. Unlike the traditional undead who sound like humans in pain, these zombies no longer sound remotely human in nature.
Welcome to the inhuman race
Overall
World War Z is a great film. Though the overall feel of the movie has more in common with an infection film, rather than a zombie one, it does a great job of creating a large scale story. In what is one of the rare examples, the worldwide catastrophe is actually shown affecting various parts of the world and to varying degrees. World War Z presents a world different to that of the book, the style of zombie is vastly different and it is set out in a different tense. Though it is an obviously Hollywood take on a unique story, the film is enjoyable to watch and a different experience to the more traditional zombie film.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
There has been a certain drought of information for Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z lately but thankfully Tecmo Koei has taken advantage of one of the biggest gaming events of the year, E3, to release two new gameplay trailers and a large number of screenshots, both of which can be found below.
For those who don’t know, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z features a new protagonist named Yaiba Kamikaze who is out for revenge against Ryu Hayabusa after he was killed by Ryu at the beginning of the game. Considering the amount of people Ryu kills, it’s a surprise that this hasn’t happened sooner.
