This year’s Pokemon Video Game National Championships will offer special distribution of a Level 45 Shiny Metagross for participating attendees.
This Pokemon is similar to the one used by Masters Division player Ray Rizzo to win the 2012 Pokemon World Championships. It will have identical moves, held item, nature and ability.
The final European tournaments will be held in the UK on June 1-2 and they will decide who wins a free trip to Vancouver for the 2013 Pokemon World Championships in August.
The UK Pokemon Trading Card Game Tournament is open for free to players that have participated in at least seven events during the 2013 tournament season.
Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar Part 1 Studios:AIC, BeSTACK Publisher:FUNimation Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release Date: May 21, 2013 Price:$69.98 – Available Here
Overview Many anime fans have likely heard of the Tenchi Muyo! anime franchise. In fact, for a number of fans, Tenchi Muyo! may have been one of the first anime series they watched. The franchise saw multiple anime series, a number of movies, and even a Magical Girl type spin-off. Of these series, the creator Masaki Kajishima has mentioned that amongst the various series, only one should be taken as canon, the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki series which was followed up with Tenchi Muyo! GXP.
Now after Tenchi disappeared from the spotlight for half a decade, FUNimation has brought Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar over to North America. However with the focus entirely shifted away from the characters fans have come to love, does the first half of War on Geminar offer an entertaining experience?
Story Considering the fact that the Tenchi Muyo! series has spanned multiple series, movies and OVAs at this point, some newcomers may find themselves shying away from War on Geminar. However newcomers need not worry about any continuity issues thanks to the fact that while FUNimation did rename the series to place “Tenchi Muyo!” in the title, probably to help sales.
The reason for this being is that War on Geminar never features Tenchi Masaki and while fans will be able to recognize references made to Tenchi’s family in past series, the focus has shifted entirely to Tenchi’s younger half-brother, Kenshi Masaki so while newcomers may miss out on a few references to sisters and other members of Kenshi’s strange family, they will be able to enter the series with ease.
That being said, the story of War on Geminar sees Kenshi transported to a strange world called Geminar where humanoid mech-like weaponry called “Sacred Mechanoids” are used to fight in wars and to defend royalty. One such royal is the newly crowned Princess Lashara and her life is in danger as a mysterious organization would rather see her dead than alive. Kenshi finds himself on the wrong side of things however as he is initially part of the assassination team, thinking that if he is successful, he will be sent home to his own world.
When the assassination fails, Lashara and the rest of the crew upon her floating ship the Swan, take Kenshi in, believing him to be a valuable asset that will ultimately pay off for them in the long run. The reason for this being the fact that Kenshi is capable of piloting an incredibly powerful Mechanoid, a trait that is very rare in men on the world of Geminar, making him valuable both as a bodyguard but also as a potential tool for future power.
As such, Princess Lashara takes Kenshi in as her servant and when she arrives in the “Holy Land” a large academy that is seen as neutral ground for the world, the story shifts gears from one of assassinations and dark machinations to one of comedy, character introduction, harem antics and slice-of-life character development. You see, while there are various scenes presented throughout these first seven episodes that make up Part 1 that shine a bit of light upon the plot to take Lashara’s life and potentially even more than that, the series focuses almost entirely on your standard harem antics.
Practically everything from the second episode to the last contained on this release serves to build up the world, develop character relations and expand these characters into a cast that viewers want to care about. This is ultimately essential to a harem anime of any kind, as a simple cast of girls chasing after a male character becomes rather redundant and thanks to the amount of time spent building the characters in Geminar, even with the overabundance the series contains, the anime avoids that pitfall.
By spending this first part of the series focusing on the characters, each of them is given some time to shine and some actual development with Kenshi, making their affection for the man less blind than your standard harem lead. It also helps that although packed full of clichés, including a pillow fight wearing robes which involves stripping the rest of the players of their sashes, everything is played in a comedic manner and even Kenshi remarks about how it seems that the people before him simply did whatever they wanted.
However it is worth noting that every episode in War on Geminar is roughly forty-five minutes long, so there is a lot of ground that could have been covered and by the end of this release, viewers are given a cliffhanger which sees Part 2 of the series rush into the true conflict of the series. It is unfortunate however that it took so long to get to that point, as while I’m more than a fan of harem antics and characters attempting to seduce Kenshi, even some of the most comedic moments of the series are padded in this first half.
Visuals When building up a cast of characters for any anime series, diversity in both personality and appearance is something that should be aimed for and Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar takes after its predecessors by offering a very diverse set of characters that, while a bit stereotypical at times, each feature their own unique design, personality and set of themed attire.
It also is worth noting that the facial animations in War on Geminar are absolutely priceless. Most of the comedic moments of the series usually revolve around the facial expressions of the cast as they react to ridiculous situations and other occurrences throughout the series. They are exceptionally handled and while they may enter the realm of over-exaggeration at times, it only helps makes their reaction all the better.
Outside of the characters themselves, the series features a number of gorgeous backgrounds that are nicely detailed and varied. The series also sports a nicely varied color palette and while minimal in this first half of the series, the combat sequences are nicely animated as well.
Now, Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar is absolutely busting at the seams when it comes to fan service. However before those squeamish on the subject turn away, it is worth noting that aside from some female and male butt shots, and some rather obvious attention to detail in some outfits, the series features no actual nudity, though it can certainly be gratuitous with how borderline many of the fan service scenes become.
Audio One thing that War on Geminar sports is a massive cast of characters and while the male characters may be rather sparse, FUNimation had to bring in a lot of female voice talent for the amount of characters in this series and amazingly it all comes together nicely. Each of the characters are nicely handled and their voicework matches their personalities to the letter, in fact they do a better job than the original Japanese voice talent for some characters.
As for the series’ background music, it is rather run of the mill and forgetful which is sad considering the amount of memorable tracks viewers were presented with in past Tenchi Muyo! series. As for the opening theme, we have “Follow Me” by Sound Around which is nice on the ears and enjoyable to listen to while the ending theme is “Destino” by Alchemy+ and serves as a great closing theme to the series in many regards.
Extras FUNimation decided to add more than the norm when it comes to War on Geminar’s special features. There is of course your standard clean opening and ending theme, trailers for other FUNi releases, information and sneak peeks at the episodes on the disc, and Japanese trailers for the series, but alongside these there are a number of bonus videos and a new take on commentary tracks.
Each of the videos are presented in original Japanese with English subtitles and these include the Making of the closing theme “Destino” by Alchemy+ which features an interview with the band, stills from the recording of the background music in the series and a recap that covers the events that occur in the first two episodes of the series.
As for the commentary track, the commentary is for Episode 1 which happens to be the longest episode in the series as it clocks in at fifty minutes long. The company has taken a new twist to their commentary for this one by featuring Joel McDonald, the director, as the host who talks with a number of rotating guests who worked not only on the dub but also on the behind-the-scenes tasks that help bring the series to fans. This is a nice twist but considering the length of the commentary, it did seem to last too long on the technical aspect without any of the standard comedic banter amongst the cast or discussion of the characters.
Overall Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar Part 1 spends too much time getting out of the gate when it comes to the actual storyline, but all of that time is spent wisely on making a cast of characters that are well-rounded and endearing to the viewer. It also helps that harem antics abound and there is plenty of fan service to go around for fans of the franchise and all of it is beautifully animated and voiced by a large cast that has done a great job bringing these characters to English shores. Now, with Part 1 building the world and the characters, viewers are left looking to Part 2 which will see the story kick into high-gear.
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After a mild hiatus we’re back again with another Anime Girl of the Week where we take one female character from a currently airing anime, usually not the main heroine, and give them some time in the spotlight by going over their personality and history as well as a number of images featuring the character ranging from official artwork to fan art.
This week we’re focusing on a character from Attack on Titan, also known as Shingeki no Kyojin, which is a very popular series and probably the breakout show of this Spring 2013 season. In Attack on Titan humans have been living behind a series of large walls as long as anyone can remember. The reason for this is due to the threat of monstrous Titans which roam the outside of the walls. These titans are nigh-invincible and are quick to regenerate any damage they receive and their voracious appetite to hunt down and eat any human near them have forced humans to remain caged from the world.
Now the girl we’re focusing on this week may be quite popular, however few may know much about the character besides her love for potatoes and food, which is why she is commonly called Potato Girl. Her real name is Sasha Braus and it is worth noting that some of the information below MAY CONTAIN SPOILERSas much of her background hasn’t been discussed in the anime yet and has only been expanded in the original manga.
Sasha Braus grew up in a small village that is situated in a forest covered mountain region within Wall Rose. Dauper Village as it was called relied on hunting for their food and refused to grow crops, however thanks to the fall of Wall Maria at the beginning of the series, refugees forced the residents of Dauper into a famine that nearly wiped out the village. This is due to the fact that their forests became over-hunted and their initial refusal to grow crops.
Growing up in this environment of near starvation has caused Sasha to become a compulsive food hoarder who steals food if possible and her lack of common sense often causes her to get into trouble when she is eating at inappropriate times. She left her village to join the military after arguing with her father and eventually graduated at the 9th position in the 104th trainee squad to enter the scouting legion.
Because of her country upbringing, she always talks very politely with others and uses formal words to discuss things in an effort to hide her country origin. Despite this those around her see her as a friendly girl who is simply lacking in common sense and adores food a bit too much. Since her personality is rather straightforward she is often a comic relief character, though in combat she is actually quite skilled.
As a fighter, Sasha has been described as one of the better trainees with the 3D Maneuver Gear with a great sense of balance and lightning quick reflexes. It is also shown that her time spent hunting in the woods has gifted her with the ability to use a bow and arrow skillfully and identify animals in the wild and even Titans.
Currently at the time of this writing, Sasha Braus is still alive in the manga series as she has rejoined her father and members of the village as they escaped a Titan onslaught. Attack on Titan has been licensed in the West by FUNimation and is currently being streamed in Japanese with English subtitles both on FUNimation’s website and Crunchyroll.
Marvel Heroes is the upcoming MMORPG from Marvel comics and developed by Gazillion Entertainment. At it’s helm is the creator of the legendary Diablo II video game, David Brevik, while the storyline is being penned by Marvel scribe Brian Michael Bendis.
Leading up to the launch of the game is a series of motion comics by Marvel and written by Brian Michael Bendis. These comics are to set up the premise of the game, which is the villain Dr. Doom’s rise to power over the Marvel Universe.
The first episode of the motion comics is called “Chronicles of Doom”. In Chronicles of Doom, readers will see the Fantastic Four in action as they chase Dr. Doom through their headquarters.
The game releases on the 4th of June. Be sure to check out the motion comic embedded below.
The third episode in a series of developmental diaries for The Last of Us, courtesy of Sony PlayStation and Naughty Dog, called “Death and Choices” is available to watch embedded below this article. These videos offer a glimpse at an extended behind-the-scenes look to be made available on the game disc come its release on June 14th.
We previously shared the first episode in the development series – “Hush“ – which gave insight into the design and creation of the infected, and then episode 2, “Wasteland Beautiful”, which focused on the environmental design in the game and nature’s reclamation of civilization as we know it. In “Death and Choices”, we investigate what it means to be a survivor in this world and how Joel and Ellie cope with the harsh realities of a post-pandemic society. We experienced this for ourselves, hands-on, when we previewed two levels from the game: Lincoln and Pittsburgh.
If you’d love the chance to see the design, technology, and ideas from both Naughty Dog and PlayStation that shape The Last of Us with a documentarian’s approach, you should definitely check out these videos as they are released. Watch “Death and Choices” below, and stay tuned to Capsule Computers as we update you on all future entries in the series.
Pokemon: Rival Destinies Collection 1 Studio:OLM Inc. Publisher: Beyond Home Entertainment Format: DVD Release Date: February 6th, 2012 Price: $23.99 – Available Here
Overview
The Black and White saga has seen a major revitalization of the long-running Pokemon anime series, breathing fresh new life into a series that had grown somewhat stale over more than a decade on the air. Here we are now in the second arc of the Black and White saga and the standard set in the previous arc continues on in strong force showing that what’s old is once new again.
Story
The general Pokemon episode formula has by and large been twisted turned and with a new lease on life Rival Destinies continues the impressive storytelling trend set by the Black and White arc. With an emphasis on overarching plot-threads and a greater variation in types of stories being told, Rival Destinies is a marked improvement upon the solid ground covered in the previous arc.
While the first Black and White story arc floundered under production issues and some false starts (the Venipede Stampede fiasco), things are back in full force here, with Ash and friends being confronted with all manner of new challenges in their way.
With hopes of making it to the Unova League, Ash battles Gym Leaders, faces fierce rivals and even confronts three Legendary Pokemon in what amounts to a very exciting series of Pokemon adventures.
What makes this particular collection of Pokemon special however is the emotional notes that it touches upon. The emotional moments were something that previous sagas in the Pokemon anime have lacked, thankfully the Black and White saga saw the return of them. There is a particularly poignant episode tackles the topic of pokemon abandonment. It was a touching episode that really showed that Pokemon as an anime is capable of being far more powerful than it often appears to be.
Ultimately the high point of Rival Destinies collection 1 is the way it develops the friendship between our three heroes and their pokemon. Ash, Cilan and Iris have become quite a tight trio, giving the sense that these three have all taken very different paths and been with many different people throughout their lives but everything has simply led them to each other. Their friendship has substance and that trumps most children series on TV these days.
It must be said, Pokemon is just as fun as it always has been and it remains one of the most enjoyable children’s anime of all time. It would be difficult to NOT recommend this to the kids of today. Pokemon is a series with a sentimentality and sense of adventure that will enchant children unlike any other anime will.
Rival Destinies is simply another chapter in this beloved series and that is perfectly fine. The fun of Pokemon is universal, even in its worst episodes it still manages to retain what makes it so much fun, that childish sense of adventure and curiosity for the world at large and the creatures and people that live in it. Pokemon may get older each and every year, but Rival Destinies shows that getting old isn’t always a bad thing. Pokemon: Rival Destinies is fun and that is really all the matters for Pokemon. As long as it is fun then Pokemon will never truly grow old, it will stay forever young at heart.
Visuals and Audio
In glorious high-definition the Pokemon series has never looked as good as it does here. The visuals are crisp and well animated, bringing the world of Pokemon to life in greater depth than ever before. The scenery of the Unova region is beautifully captured in all its vibrant wonder. The consistency in animation is impeccable, something that OLM should be commended for considering this is such a long-running series.
The soundtrack for Rival Destinies is likewise superb, taking many nods from the Pokemon: Black and White video-games in composition. We also see the introduction of a new opening theme song which is every bit as catchy as the last theme if not more. I can guarantee you will be singing along with it every single time.
All in all it a great production effort on Rival Destinies and it really goes to show just how far this series has come in its near 15 years airing. The quality of production is simply top notch.
Extras
It is somewhat unfortunate that such a brilliant release as this lacks any real special features across its three discs which it is comprised of. It is hard to determine why it is that Beyond Entertainment have repeatedly opted against bonus content on their DVD collections for the Pokemon series, but it is by and large a moot point when there is 25 episodes in one nice little package such as this. For the price point you can’t beat it. Beyond Entertainment consistently release quality products for incredibly reasonable prices, Pokemon: Rival Destinies collection 1 is now different.
Overall Pokemon: Rival Destinies is a fine direction for the Pokemon series to take. The storytelling is more detailed and features a sense of purpose that the series hasn’t had since the show’s first season. It knows what stories it wants to tell and it has a ferocity to it in getting them right. The overarching stories such as the one involving the legendary trio are well done and have level of grandeur that would feel very at home in a Pokemon movie rather than the Pokemon TV series, which shows just how greatly this series has improved over the years.
Like a fine wine, Pokemon has truly aged tremendously. It has gotten through its growing pains and has a level of freshness that has been long overdue for the series. The Black and White saga continues on in strong force, proving that while nothing is perfect, sometimes a spot of good fun can go a very long way and that is what Pokemon: Rival Destinies is – pure fun.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Gamers looking to purchase to a collectors edition for the latest Total War game, Total War: Rome II might need to consider getting around to it a little bit quicker than they’ve already been. This is due to the incredibly large amount of collectors edition pre-orders taking place with over half of all collectors editions having been already pre-ordered by gamers in the US.
Total War: Rome II is looking like it’s the biggest Total War game yet in terms of pre-sales, with gamers pre-ordering the game on a scale of six times more than they have for previous Total War entries. To quote Sega:
Today SEGA revealed that ROME II is already the fastest pre-ordered Total War game to date, with over six times the number of gamers ordering the title in its first official week as did for previous title SHOGUN 2.
Gamers should be sure to check out the trailer for the Greek Statues pack, embedded below, which comes free to gamers that pre-purchase the title before release.
I remember years ago when Cars first came into theaters, I was curious of just how far Disney would take the brand and if we would start getting animated feature films about grass, buildings, or planes. Well, that has been answered, as Disney’s Planes hits theaters this September, and it is voiced by none other than Dane Cook, who is known for his “comedy” and other films such as Employee of the Month.
Now, the good news out of all of this is that we are going to be getting a video game adaptation that is packed full of features. Here are the first details:
From above the world of “Cars”, “Disney’s Planes” video game takes players on a high-flying, action-packed, fun-filled adventure with Dusty, a big-hearted, speed-loving crop duster who is voiced by actor and comedian Dane Cook. Players will take to the skies with Dusty and other characters, including Ishani, voiced by actress Priyanka Chopra; Echo, voiced by actor Anthony Edwards; and Bravo, voiced by actor Val Kilmer, as they embark on global missions, air races and grand adventures around the world.
In “Disney’s Planes” video game, players travel through breathtaking environments and play as one of 10 cast of characters on console and one of 6 cast of characters on handheld in either single-player on all platforms, or race against one another in two-player drop-in and drop-out gameplay on console. Players will roll, turn and loop their way through mission-based objectives in exciting modes of play including a narrative based Story mode and a score-based mini-game that challenges the player’s precision flying skills called Balloon Pop. The exploratory Free Flight mode and racing based Air Rallies mode are exclusive to the consoles and the objective achieving Challenge mode is only offered via the handheld platforms.
You know what I smell? Potential. I love Diddy Kong Racing, and this is already giving me that kind of vibe. Disney have proven themselves as capable of making decent licensed romps in the past, and if they pull off a winner here, I might just go watch the film in celebration of their efforts as we need more adventure/racing games in the sky. You can expect Disney’s planes to hit all platforms this fall.
The two gave us their time to talk about the new academic partnership between the two entities as part of the PlayStation First Academic Partnership Programme. This is a big opportunity for higher education organisations (AIE being the first in Australia) to receive development kits from Sony to be integrated into the curriculum so that their students may acquire hands-on experience working with the hardware and learning about computer engineering, programming and software development in the process.
You may listen to the audio interview directly above to find out all there is to know about PlayStation First. The partnership officially launches today, May 20th.
Indie development company Nine Dots Studio isn’t completely new to the scene. They released their rookie game, Brand, in May 2012. Currently working on their sophomore release, GoD Factory: Wingmen is poised to do some interesting things.
GoD Factory is a unique blend of the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre and space combat simulation. Nowadays, it’s rare that you see a space simulation game come out at all, much less combined with another category. Still, with the recent surge of interest in MOBAs thanks to League of Legends and DotA 2, GoD Factory has a real chance to hook a core audience and keep them coming back.
First, let’s go through a brief overview of how GoD Factory works. When you enter a match, you’ll choose two different ships to take into battle with you. When the match starts, you’ll select one of those ships to take command of while the other sits in the dock, poised for combat. You’re free to fly back to base and swap if you ever have the need.
The ultimate goal of each match is to destroy the other team’s carrier ship while defending yours. This is easier said than done. Each carrier ship has six “integrity points.” These can be taken out two different ways. First, each carrier has a huge cannon that is set to fire every three minutes. When your carrier is hit with a cannon blast, it loses an integrity point. Those cannons can be damaged to slow the firing speed to five minutes, though.
Second, you can take out one of several other key areas on the ship, and these have other adverse effects. For example, taking out the hull of a ship will cause every other part on that ship to take 33% more damage, or taking out the shield generator will cause damage to each of the other parts of the ship.
Most every part on a carrier will require more damage be dealt to it than a single gunship can do before it runs out of ammunition. This ensures that players will either have to work together to take out opposing carrier parts or go back, restock on ammo, and makes multiple runs.
For a game that’s still in the alpha stage of development, GoD Factory looks fantastic. Each ship has an impressive level of detail, right down to the various moving parts on the ships’ wings. The skybox universe surrounding the battlefield feels completely engulfing and believable – almost like you could reach the planets in the background if you flew that direction long enough. Nine Dots claims there is still more work to be done in the graphics department. Given those claims, I can’t wait to see how the finished product looks.
The game offers up a wide variety of control schemes. While most MOBAs offer point-and-click with an isometric view, GoD Factory is, at its core, a space flight simulator. They offer the keyboard-and-mouse combo, an Xbox controller-compatible setup, and two different joystick configurations. Without access to a flight stick, I can tell you that the controller is easily preferred over the keyboard-and-mouse. Though I’m sure the folks at Nine Dots will tighten it up, in its current state the mouse just feels too floaty and unresponsive. Though the controller is preferred, you may have to do some tinkering with the configurations to find a setup that suits your style.
Control schemes aside, the flight controls feel great. Everything is responsive. Zipping around the battlefield doing barrel rolls and the like are spot on with other space simulation games on the market today. When you add-in the special maneuvers (side drifts, 180-degree turns, and more), the game starts to feel more and more like a Star Fox game, and that’s a good thing.
Arguably, one of the biggest draws to GoD Factory is the deep customization the game offers. Even with an early build of the game, the options are almost overwhelming. You can build four species, or archetypes, of ships. From there you’ll have access to several different options within eight different ship parts, as well as customization of special abilities and weapons. Take the fact that you’re going into battle with two different ships, and your options for the battlefield are tremendous.
LAN works well for this early build of the game. Given that, though, creating a match solo and jumping in (or playing “offline” for that matter) is a lonely venture indeed. It would be nice to see the bots to fill empty slots in the future. The inclusion of a few other game modes and single player scenarios (or even an entire campaign) would be an incredible boost in appeal for the longevity of the title as well. It would also be nice to see the ability to add space debris (wrecked ships, asteroids, etc.) to the map to change things up a bit.
Overall, the early look at GoD Factory: Wingmen proved to be an encouraging experience. It’s been a while since a good space simulation hit the masses. The design of the game promises to keep dogfights fast and intense while applying pressure with the carrier ships. The game also feels like it would excel with Team Deathmatch and a few other classic modes, but what Nine Dots Studio has put together so far is quite fun. Once online multiplayer is available, I could seriously see a core group getting hooked on Wingmen. When you toss in an upcoming shop, progression system, and more deep customization options, you offer something for fans to really cling onto. It’s impressive to see what can be done by a team of six in only nine months. We can look forward to release sometime this year.
If you’re interested in checking out more on GoD Factory: Wingmen, be sure to check out Nine Dots Studio’s official website here. You can also follow them on Facebook. The game is currently up for voting on Steam Greenlight, so be sure to head over there and vote for it as well. For all future coverage of GoD Factory: Wingmen, be sure to keep up with us right here at Capsule Computers.
Today we spoke with the Head of Academic Development for 
