A handful of new screenshots and a couple of pieces of monster artwork for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. As for what these images all contain, the artwork below features the mighty primals Bahamut and Odin as well as one new monster players will encounter while the screenshots show off some of the locations players will find in the game.
To go along with the images, Square Enix also announced that the beta for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will be entering the third phase of closed beta testing in June. In this third phase PlayStation 3 users will have a chance to test out Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn for the first time ever and have a chance to play with PC users via the game’s cross-platform functionality.
Today Compile Heart released a new trailer for Hyperdimension Idol Neptunia PP and this time around they have included actual gameplay footage. In the video below you can check out Neptune as she sings and dances to the song “Fly High!”
To be a bit more specific, the song is actually sung by Neptune’s Japanese voice actress Rie Tanaka but anyways, it looks like the game is a bit on the cheaper side for a Vita title but for fans of the Neptunia series, this may be too much to pass up. It is worth noting that NIS America has currently announced no plans to release Hyperdimension Idol Neptunia PP in the West so importers may want to keep an eye out for the game when it is released on June 20th in Japan.
Bombcats Developer: Radian Games Publisher:Chillingo Platforms: iPod Touch, iPhone (Reviewed), iPad Release Date:May 15th, 2013 Price: Free – Available Here
Overview
Chillingo is pretty “Up There” when it comes to releasing pretty sweet iOS games and it’s safe to say that it’s release of Bombcats…is no different! Bombcats fits in well with Chillingo’s already crazy line-up and is guaranteed to keep you occupied and really hooked for a while. It’s a typical iOS game that I think works really well. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and is just quirky and fun; the way it should be.
Gameplay
The gameplay is pretty chilled out to be honest. It’s a game where you fling little cats around an area designed to be puzzling, that means a lot of loops, hills, crests and everything else. It’s a 2D, side scrolling, “Flinging” game much like Angry Birds. In fact the execution is much like Angry Birds too. Basically your cat starts off in a specific place on the field and you drag your finger across the cat and fling it! You have to collect little gems for extra points and three suns to get the best score at the end of the game with the main point of every level being to release a baby cat from a blue sphere. THAT is where the Bomb in Bombcats comes from; you have to land as close as possible to the baby cat and explode him out of the cage, if you’re good enough you can use the baby get to grab you some extra gems too. Pretty snazzy if you ask me.
There’s a tonne of awesome and interesting levels to play. I’ve played the game for about 3 or 4 hours in total and I am nowhere near the end of the game which is freaking awesome! They give you a chance to skip levels every 2 hours so if you do have trouble there’s a way around it. The other thing I like about this game is, although they have in-game purchases, they’re not frequent and they don’t take anything away from the game. I find that awesome!
Audio and Visual
The music in this game is great, there’s not a lot of variation to it but it IS a good little soundtrack, so to speak, that just fits well with the game. The type of music is extremely up beat and bubbly which rules when you’re playing a cute game about exploding cats! The only thing I can say I was disappointed with was probably how there wasn’t a lot of music variation. I did say it fit and I agree but two or three songs just gets old after a while. When it comes to THIS my problem isn’t with the way the songs sound but how there isn’t many of them. I just found that after about five minutes of playing I tended to turn the sound off because it actually got annoying and it doesn’t do the game justice for the player to be almost forced to turn the music off. Still the songs were cute and fit like a puzzle piece I just wish there was more. The actual sound effects were good, the exploding of the cats and the “bling” of the crystals you collect are actually really “rewarding”, so to speak, you feel good when you get the jewels and perfect the level.
Now Visually this game had no flaws at all. That’s completely honest. It didn’t look like it was lazily designed or rushed, each of the little cats looked adorable, the levels were well-planned and looked great, it was just an all-round, good looking game. The colours are so vibrant and it makes the game pop in really lasting way. It’s a game you will remember for it’s colours and style more than how it sounds. Everything looks great in the game. The level select menu looks good, although can sometimes be cluttered, it is set out well. What stood out for me was as you go through the levels the little cat that you will use will stand out really well on the menu, it’s just cool to know who you’ll be using before you’ve even clicked on the level. The animation is really well done and not at all choppy or dodgy. Well done Bombcats.
Overall
This game is top notch! There’s no story so it’s not a game for people looking to get sucked into a tale, what will suck you in is it’s simplicity and accessibility, the fact that you can pick it up and play it any time, anywhere is what will keep you around when it comes to this game. It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s exactly what you want from an iOS game. Don’t pass this one up!
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
As you may or may not know, Compile Heart has announced the first game under their new Galapagos brand of RPGs and that game is called Fairy Fencer F. Today the company launched the game’s full website and along with it come a number of screenshots of the game itself.
As you can see in the images below, the title looks very much like Hyperdimension Neptunia, in fact the blue-haired girl looks similar to the 5pb. character in Mk2. Anyways, what little we know of the story of Fairy Fencer F involves gods and goddesses which have disappeared from the world and have left their weapons behind in the form of “Furies.” Special soldiers with the ability to wield these weapons are called “Fencers” and when a boy named Fang saves a girl named Tiara, the two begin traveling together.
East to West Producer:Special Broadcasting Service Corporation (SBS) Distributor: Madman Entertainment Release Date: April 3rd, 2013 Price: $39.95 – Available Here
Overview:
Covering from 10,000 B.C. to the nineteen hundreds, East to West attempts to map the history of the Middle East. It’s the celebration of a cosmopolitan string of societies that sought to civilise the world through art, science and spirituality. Some people forget that while the West was going through the Middle Ages, the East was developing revelations in design, maths, medicine and empire building. Defining the ‘East’ only goes as far as pointing it out as an antagonist to the ‘West’; a tension that this series acknowledges but ultimately shuns. Instead of this bleak world view, we’re shown how interactions between the two cultures helped each one grow to new glorious heights. Ending on the final days of the Ottoman Empire, East to West is a history buff’s gold mine of information on the Middle East.
Story:
Seven fifty-five minute long episodes dissect definitive movements in Middle Eastern culture, roughly chronologically. Approaching such a vast topic means that functionally the production can’t just go from beginning to end. Organised as social movements that flow through the history of the East, each episode tries to capture the core tenets that defined society at the time. Episode one handles the task of geographically framing the fundamentally slippery concept of ‘the East.’ Much like the other episodes, these framing devices serve to create a thread from which the documentary takes tangents. For example, this episode uses the location of Mesopotamia as a rationale to explore the creation of writing which in turn allows the film makers to look at the Trojan mythos in an attempt to understand the mutual impacts each culture has had on each other.
After this establishing hour, we are then taken through the emergence of monotheism. Religion is at the forefront of this series as many of the principals behind modern religions find their historical antecedent in the East. Understanding the mixed emergence of the Abrahamic religions is of importance, yet we aren’t shown that growth for a few more episodes. Instead we’re taken to Egypt, where Akhenaten’s rogue leadership as Pharaoh creates a short lived monotheistic empire. Global cultural development is always considered intertwined here as the disparate development of ideas is plotted in a continuum of human development. In my opinion this is a very clever way to demonstrate this show’s core thesis – we are where we are today not because of the achievements of one culture but through the mutual development of technology and society.
With the appearance of Islam, the series ramps up to a new scope. Both empires and missionaries force the dispersion of the religion further east than India and as far West as Al-Andalas, which is now modern day Spain. Swapping between a bird’s eye view of empire after empire to every day urban life at the seats of power, a massive breadth of human experience is covered. Intriguingly, early Islam is defined by an acceptance of science at its very heart, as a form of adoration to Allah. As a result, during this period the East goes through a massive technological development phase, one that will set the scene for a European Renaissance several centuries down the road. The series wraps up dissecting the Asian Crucible and the emergence of the Ottomans. The vast expanse of the Ottoman Empire still resonates with me. In fact, the Ottomans are given two full episodes in order to cover their greatness. Considering the length of time covered within this documentary, the extended focus on the Ottomans shows the sheer importance of their culture on the modern world.
East to West is a tome dedicated to human progress. Each collapsed civilisation is mourned. Interaction between conflicting cultures is celebrated as an achievement of humans against cultural adversity. If you want to observe the grandure of the human will, you won’t want to miss this series. Evoking images of a life far behind us East to West is a thorough break down of our muddied past. A mix of our successes and our failures, the importance of the East in the arc of development cannot be ignored.
There are no special features in this package. With the wealth of content they’re put together in one box set I can see why it was excluded. Unfortunately when it comes to programmes this large my interest in how it was put together is always piqued. By the same token this is a very long series. After the eighth hour of info-dumping I imagine most audiences would be exhausted, hence not needing any special features. Personally, I can definitely feel their absence though. When David Attenborough has a making of for each episode in his documentaries there’s a standard created for others in the field. This exclusion really means I can’t see this DVD set as ‘whole.’
Visuals & Audio:
It’s impossible to find better locations than the ones found in this series. The nature of Eastern architecture certainly isn’t subtle, rather we’re shown ornate mosques, theatres and palaces from around the globe. Even if you weren’t interested in the content of this series I’m sure many would enjoy the lush imagery that is consistently pushed onto the screen. Often we forget that before many of our contemporary wars places like Iraq were oases, jewels in the crown of vast empires. Painstaking research and location shooting pays off massively for this series, as a large audience would be drawn to this series to understand the unknown. In some respects, this documentary is reminiscent of the curiosity cabinets famous in nineteenth century Europe, jammed with oddities from the East. The scale of this project will not be lost on anyone simply due to the clean manner in which it has been brought to the screen.
Editing choices is the only area which East to West falters in. There’s a terrible wipe transition that has poorly keyed out clouds in it that plays before every historical flashback. Considering how unnecessary the wipe is in the first place, I don’t understand why they went with it. A simple cut to is common in documentaries for a reason: clarity. Sure, they were trying to punctuate a shift in time periods and that’s a professional choice. It could have been a specific kind of fade or a wipe that didn’t have a graphic forced over it, yet they ran with the visual asset they had. I wonder if they really thought it looked good or if it was one of the last effects they added in, keeping it only so they didn’t need to return to the office. Other than this gripe most of the editing is clean, particularly the maps. Crucially, the maps aren’t only well laid out but are used as bookends to segments. This structural choice helps inform the audience of what’s coming next in a well articulated way.
Audio only serves a role in fleshing out the imagery on screen, nothing more. Music often defines a culture, and here they do explore that side. It’s never done in a way where they bring it to the forefront of their concerns however. For the makers of this series, music plays second fiddle to philosophy. Talking heads are selected for their academic skills which means all of the spoken content is relevant at all stages. A mix of Eastern and Western academics provides balance in understanding how the two cultures perceive their impact on each other. All of them speak with great reverence to the societies that have preceded them. It’s enough to make you go misty eyed over the success of human ambition, when you aren’t lapping up huge bulks of history.
Overall:
I have no doubt that this is exactly the documentary the makers set out to capture. From the opening sequence the audience can tell the massive efforts and international collusion that went into creating East to West. A more glorious story could not be chosen, and through the presentation style we are made acutely aware of that fact. If you want to witness the birth of civilisation you will want to watch this show. There is an audience I feel that needs to be exposed to East to West. My understanding of Eastern history and cultures was pretty narrow before watching this and I have to say I’ve changed my perspective on history. Some segments, such as the one that highlights the importance of Islamic scholars to the Renaissance, shocked me even though I was already aware of some cultural cross over. Documentary lovers will probably want this set in their collection in order to have a ‘definitive’ exploration of the East, if they’re the type that has a personal library.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
To the surprise and delight of many in the gaming world, EA’s senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg spoke with GamesBeat over e-mail and in this discussion the company revealed that EA will no longer be using the controversial Online Pass program.
To be a bit more specific he said that “None of our new EA titles will include that feature.” Rosenburg also mentioned that many of EA’s fans “didn’t respond to the format” which is a significant understatement. It is currently unknown if some other form of restrictive service will be applied to EA’s console games sometime in the future but for now, gamers who rent or buy used copies of EA titles in the future will no longer need to concern themselves with being locked out of multiplayer or single player content.
Today Atlus USA released another English trailer for Shin Megami Tensei IV and this one not only gives the player a bit of story information regarding the gauntlet the player character wears, but also a glimpse at the combat system and exploration.
The video can be seen below and in it you can also listen to the English voice acting for the game, which if the main character’s pronouncement of “Samurai” is anything to go by may be worrisome. Anyways, currently Shin Megami Tensei IV is set to be released on July 16th in North America exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS.
Patlabor: The Mobile Police – The Original OVA Series Studio: Studio Deen Publisher:Maiden Japan Format: Blu-Ray Release Date: April 30th, 2013 Price: $39.98 – Available Here
Overview:
Those unfamiliar with the Patlabor series may be surprised to learn that it dates back to the bygone age of the 1980’s. The Original OVA Series presented in this release was the first release of what would become two separate timelines spanning movies, anime series, and OVAs. Interestingly, this OVA series would be the first part of Patlabor’s so called “Movie Timeline”, that would continue into a movie trilogy. But what about this OVA series itself, does it stand the test of time worthy of being revived or best left in the fleeting memories of those that saw it back in the day?
Story:
Oh giant mechs, is there any problem you can’t solve? In the universe of Patlabor, the answer is an obvious “No!” As is quickly outlined at the beginning of almost every episode, after the development of mechs, called Labors, their use exploded into every applicable field for everything from heavy lifting to combat because like bacon giant robots can be applied to every situation with success. While mechs are not an entirely new concept, what gives the Patlabor universe it’s charm is the fact that where in other anime mechs were developed mainly for combat, here it was a complete afterthought. In this new Labor-filled age, the police are still playing catch up, formally with outdated re-painted work models, but now finally with brand new top of the line built specifically for police work, you know the kind of thing we still don’t have for police cars. The titular “Patlabor” being the shortening of Patrol Labor, which are the Labors the police force get to use.
Just who will be the lucky officers to use these spiffy new Labors? Anyone who guessed the best the police force has to offer obviously doesn’t know how anime works. No, the ones with the shiny new mechs are the Second Division of Japan’s Special Vehicles Section 2. Composed of a rag tag group of the most colorful of officers, the OVA series rounds out its cast of characters with a woman more concerned with her Labor than actual police work, trigger-happy gun nut, reluctant officer/son of the manufactor’s president, to the strong silent type, etc. In truth this selection of characters makes more sense as the series goes on, as the episodes form less of a overarching story and more of a basis of establishment. Where other anime would focus on the combat itself, Patlabor is more interested in the world it exists in. What if regular police officers did have to deal with giant robots just as much as speeding and other everyday crime?
Interestingly enough, the series plays more on its consciousness of itself as an anime than trying to tell a meaningful story or pretending to tell a meaningful story. With homages to other anime, as well as other pop culture like Godzilla, the seven episodes tell six stories that explores the world they live in more than the characters themselves, though this character development is still present just not as the central focus. Luckily, the world presented is deep and interesting enough to provide an enjoyable experience making it a great introduction to the world of Patlabor. The stories are varied from ghost stories, to routine patrols, to city-wide coups all creating a solid diversity. No two stories follow the same style of genre, showing off the potential of the universe as a whole.
Visuals:
For being drawn and animated in the 1980’s, the series itself still does a great job holding up visual wise. Even when viewed on Blu-Ray the picture is smooth without too much grain. Whether the quality simply holds up over the time or perhaps from the added benefit of having an OVA budget the first time around. Still utilizing the animation style of the time, there are a lot of pans shots to save on having to animate, but the are is still detailed enough to look good at high resolutions, but still in 4:3.
The Labors of the series being the main-ish focus, the diversity of the different types is interesting to see. Since Labor development came from serving different purposes first, the different types vary based on this as well from bulkier models for heavy lifting to more exotic types. While it would have been interesting to see more of the exotic types, since the vast majority are bipedal, even the bipedal ones vary enough amongst themselves. Though nothing can really top the look of a Labor holding a giant revolver or pump shotgun.
Audio:
The voice acting is probably one of the few things that doesn’t hold up quite so well over time. Rough in some places, the lower quality may stem from it’s original release or the transition of media, regardless this is probably a better anime to lean towards the subtitled version. While all the characters stand out as their own, the best performances seem to be Noa and Asuma as the rest come off as a bit more flat, though this might have been on purpose as the others are more 2 dimensional as well.
When it comes to music the opening is as 80’s anime as anything can get, a love ballad between the police woman Noa and the Labor she named Alphonse. Completely irrelevant to everything besides Noa’s quirk for being over-protective of her Labor, it still manages to capture the essence of the time as well as being lighthearted, but enjoyable. The other music throughout the series is simplistic, but does a good job expressing the scenes from patriotic when heading towards victory to mysterious as they seek out an unleashed sea monster.
Extras:
Unfortunately, time does not bode well for additions for a Blu-Ray release as production is long since over and unless it happened to be saved somewhere by someone, who then makes it available for inclusion. With that in mind, the fact that there are no extras related to Patlabor is no real big surprise. The disc does include a preview for Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, but other than that nothing else. Not even a clean opening. Though the lack of a preview for the other Patlabor release coming from Maiden Japan this year is probably the most surprising of all and seems a missed opportunity.
Overall:
Coming straight from the 80’s to today, Patlabor: The Mobile Police – The Original OVA Series is a solid series that holds up pretty well despite the time and advancement of technology. With only seven episodes the series might not seem like a good first entry, but it provides a great set of stories that paint a pretty detailed picture of their world with a few jokes to boot. While the audio may be a step below par, the visuals hold up better than some might expect with their age. Fans of the series from its original release should certainly find what they’ve been looking for and newcomers should enjoy themselves as well with a different take on a mech filled world.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
It’s been quite a long time coming but the Xbox 360 patch for Skullgirls has finally gone live. The reason I say it has been a long time is because the PlayStation 3 version of the patch was released in November of last year but thanks to some problems with Microsoft, the 360 patch suffered quite a long delay.
The patch is called “Slightly Different Edition” and frankly fixes so many issues that listing them here would be pretty unreasonable. As such you can check out the official patch notes here. It is also worth noting that some character costume/color swap DLC has been released at $1 a piece or $8 for the whole pack.
If you simply cannot wait until Capcom brings Ace Attorney 5, or as it is known in the West now, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, to the West in English sometime this fall, well you now have a chance to play the game, albeit a limited version of it.
The Japanese website for Ace Attorney 5 has placed a demo of the game up on their website. Unfortunately it is a Flash browser-only demo that seems to take forever to load and it is also in Japanese only so that may be yet another sticking point. Anyways, you can find the demo here and keep an eye out for Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies when it is released on the 3DS eShop sometime this fall.
To the surprise and delight of many in the gaming world, EA’s senior director of corporate communications John Reseburg spoke with 
