Despite the fact that pretty much every fighting game out there now has a story mode, including Dead or Alive 5, Persona 4 Arena, everyBlazBluegameand even Mortal Kombat, it looks like Capcom may finally be thinking about putting some sort of story in their fighting games.
Over on Capcom’s forums, when asked by fans about including story in the next few fighting games, Capcom USA’s senior VP, Christian Svensson responded with the following:
“The strategic marketing group here has for quite a while been pushing for our fighting franchises to have more and better single player content, of which full fledged story modes are one component.
How and when those requirements manifest in our future roadmap, I’m not prepared to speak about at this time.”
It is worth noting that at the moment Capcom has not announced the development of any new fighting games or even another “enhanced” port of Street Fighter IV, so it may be some time before we see whether or not a legitimate story mode will play into future Capcom fighters.
Today it was discovered that Sega Japan has launched a brand new teaser website. It is currently unknown exactly what game will be announced however it is very clear that the game will be something related to Hatsune Miku as not only does the URL for the website contain the word “Miku” but the article even features Miku’s picture as a shortcut icon.
The teaser website is set to launch on April 18th but the official Hatsune Miku Twitter has notedthat the announcement will first be made in this week’s issue of Famitsu which usually ends up leaking on Tuesday night, so expect more information about this mysterious Hatsune Miku game within the next 24 hours.
We’ve seen some of the enemiesthat will be appearingin Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen from various branches of Capcom but over the weekend Capcom-Unity actually decided to release a video providing some English narration and new footage of these enemies.
The video can be seen below and in it you’ll see not only the Pyre Saurians, and the Eliminator but also Death who has the ability to not only put you and your pawns to sleep, but can deal out high levels of damage and cause permanent death to Pawns in your party. However it may be possible to kill even death if you are crafty enough. Check out the video below and keep an eye out for Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen when it is released next week on April 3rd for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Today Sega has announced that they will be bringing a classic platformer many of us may remember fondly from the Sega Genesis to the modern era. To be a bit more exact, the company is making an HD remake of the Mickey Mouse platformer Castle of Illusion and it is currently set to be released sometime this summer.
To go along with this announcement the company also released a number of screenshots as well as some cinematic footage which you can check out below. Castle of Illusion has currently been announced for the Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3.
Today EA Sports announced that hockey fans can expect the next NHL game to be dropping in September this year. To be a little more specific, North American gamers can pick up the title on September 10th while those in Europe have to wait until September 13.
Interestingly enough, at the time of announcement the company has only announced NHL 14 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which is interesting considering the Wii U has already been released and other Next-Gen consoles will likely be dropping later this year.
Anyways, to go along with the release date announcement EA Sports also released the below gameplay trailer which shows off some of the enhanced features this version of the game will have, including a new “NHL Collision Physics” engine and an “Enforcer Engine” which are based off of the Player Impact Engine from FIFA and fighting system used in the Fight Night games respectively.
Infinite Stratos Studio: 8-Bit Publisher: Madman Entertainment Format: DVD (Reviewed), Blu Ray Release Date:March 20, 2013 Price: $59.95 – Available Here
Overview Infinite Stratos began as a light novel series written by Izuru Yumizuru, with illustrations provided by Okiura, though the mantle of illustrator has since been taken up by CHOCO. The series itself is a harem romantic comedy…that also happens to include mechs. Somewhat of a shift from other mech anime, focusing on romance more than robotic combat but hey, why not?
Story Infinite Stratos is centred in a world where weaponised mechanical exoskeletons, named Infinite Stratos (IS), exist. Due to the threat of the Stratos, the governments of the world penned the Alaska Treaty, prohibiting their use for military roles and requiring equal distribution of the technology throughout all countries. Eventually an international fighting tournament, the Mondo Grosso was created, for countries to show their skill and machinery to the rest of the world. However, due to the IS only being able to be piloted by women, the world underwent a shift into a female dominated society.
10 years later…Cue Ichika Orimura, our protagonist and the only male ever capable of piloting an IS. Ichika is thrust into a prestigious IS Academy where the worlds best gather to learn the ways of piloting in the hopes of contending in the Mondo Grosso…and hooking up with Ichika. Seriously, the minute he steps into the academy literally every single girl wants him, with the exception of his older sister who also happens to be his teacher (though her interest in him is disputed by some of the love struck students). Despite being one of the most oblivious, and apparently charismatic, protagonists of all time, Ichika is not very skilled with an IS, though over the course of the series his abilities do improve and sway more than a couple of girls over to his side. As the series progresses Ichika gains a harem of girls all vying for his affections and not subtly either. The school may as well be called Fanservice Academy.
Oh yeah, there’s mechs to. For a series set in a world of robotic invention there aren’t as many fight scenes as you’d expect. The ones that exist are done well but they are few and far between, even then most sum up to a battle vying for Ichika’s affections. Hell, one pilot even blasts through a concrete wall when yet another girl enters the romantic fray.
Whilst there is some insight into the characters themselves it’s done with very broad strokes. There’s generally a flashback narrated by a character explaining their past and motivations then, nope that’s it. You do understand the characters more for the experience but it seems a tad shallow, a majority of their personality comes from their unwavering devotion to this one guy they met a few days ago and their hatred of competition. In their IS combat, the sole reason they attend the academy? No, that would be crazy. In their attempts to quite literally force themselves onto a guy? Now you’re getting it.
Admittedly there is something going on regarding the Stratos themselves, but that plot is pushed into the background. Two fights are based upon the concept of the IS system being used for literal combat, but that’s it. That could have been investigated a lot more thoroughly in the series, it just felt like a wasted opportunity for some much needed Stratos action, but hey, I mean all you need is love right?
Visuals The animation in Infinite Stratos was done well. The characters moved quite fluidly, even in the non-action romantic scenes, emphasising their personalities well. The bulk of the compliments go to the fight scenes. Using a combination of CGI for the Stratos themselves and traditional animation cells for the pilots, the series does a great job of conveying the speed and less restricted movement style the Stratos have compared to traditional mechs. The CGI was done exceedingly well, most of the time you don’t even notice it, trust me it’s a compliment. There are a few occasions where it’s obvious that CGI is used for both Stratos and characters, though this is generally for wide angle shots where the characters aren’t actually fighting. The environment itself was also rather picturesque, featuring sunny beaches, artistic architecture and a few Japanese inspired areas, even the Academy dorm rooms were designed to look like fancy hotel rooms.
Audio I watched the English dub of Infinite Stratos and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The voice actors did a great job of playing their characters and expressed genuine emotion, something that doesn’t always happen in anime dubs. They sounded angry, nervous, happy or just plain insane. Something I was also particularly interested in was the accents. Yep. I haven’t actually seen too many series where a character has an accent from their country of origin. It definitely adds character to the mass of love struck females when amongst them is English, French and German accents. It’s a credit to an anime when you can close your eyes and still know who’s talking. The music was good too, it matched well with the overall upbeat theme of the anime. The J-Pop opening and ending themes were used a few times throughout the show itself and they just kinda fit with the whole relationship side. There were some instrumental pieces used, most notably was the theme used in the climactic battle, full of trumpets and orchestral vocals, it really set the mood for a fast paced final battle.
Extras The DVD features a few extras, mostly commentary from the Japanese voice actors on a few of the episodes. Also featured were two live action pieces: a filmed airing of Infinite Stratos Radio (two of the Japanese voice actors doing a radio show) and a behind the scenes where another of the voice actors interviews series director Yasuhito Kikuchi, before the series was released. The main extra would have to be the included OVA (it isn’t featured in the extras menu, but rather plays straight after the final episode) which is set after the series. Also included, of course, is textless versions of the opening and ending themes.
Overall Look, as much as I talked about the imbalance of romance to combat, and boy is there one, Infinite Stratos really isn’t a bad series. The fight scenes are done well and the Stratos themselves are awesome armour mech suits that are different from a majority of series out there. Even though some of the dialogue was pretty corny it was voice acted well enough that it was still interesting to watch. The main problem is that the series seems somewhat shallow and full of missed opportunities that could have made it great. Granted it is still a series for those who prefer romance and comedy (and a large quantity of fanservice), there’s still a little bit of action thrown in. Basically, you should definitely watch this series if you want to see a bunch of anime girls fawn over a guy, with varying degrees of intent and severity. But hey, even if that’s not your thing the series itself isn’t too bad.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
A Certain Scientific Railgun: Season 1 Part 1 Studio: J.C. Staff Publisher: FUNimation Format: DVD Release Date:April 16, 2013 Price:$64.98 – Available Here
Overview: Whenever a spin-off of a popular series is announced, many fans begin to worry about the quality of said spin-off. Could said spin-off overshadow the original work or could it be a terrible cash-grab by the studio? No one knows and it is always a risky endeavor. A Certain Scientific Railgun is a spin-off form the stellar A CertainMagical Index series and now that FUNimation has released the first part of Season 1 in North America, does Railgun offer a great experience on its own?
Story: Those familiar with A Certain Magical Index may recognize the name Mikoto Misaka and rather than following the life and events occurring around Kamijo Toma, the story of Railgun focuses almost entirely on Misaka and the girls that she is friends with. Knowledge of the Index series isn’t necessarily required to understand the events of Railgun, however those who have enjoyed Index will be able to recognize various characters, though it is worth noting that, at least in Part 1 of Railgun’s first season, the storyline has not caught up to any of the events that occur in the Index series, meaning everything portrayed here occurs before Toma meets up with Index. However Toma does appear and play a minor role in Railgun, so newcomers to the franchise may miss out on the this prequel-style relationship building.
Anyways, Mikoto Misaka is one of only seven level 5 Espers and she is nicknamed the Railgun due to her control of electricity and ability to fire objects at such a high rate of speed that they turn into destructive projectiles capable of destroying anything she wishes. Despite being a level 5 Esper, Misaka is friendly with those around her and has become friends with another girl who attends the same middle school as her, Kuroko. Despite Kuroko’s obsessive and possessive nature when it comes to Misaka, Kuroko introduces Misaka to her other friend and co-worker in Judgement, Uiharu who also introduces the level 0 girl Saten to the group. Thanks to various events, Misaka, Kuroko, Saten and Uiharu become fast friends and the story of A Certain Scientific Railgun follows the various events around this group of girls.
Similar to Index, Railgun follows a rather formulaic approach to storytelling, however unlike Index where the drama took dark turns and the story progressed between large story arcs and mini-arcs in-between, Railgun follows a more episodic format that feels more slice-of-life with bits of action thrown in here and there. You see, Uiharu and Kuroko are members of Judgement, which is an organization that protects the peace of Academy City by arresting criminals that use their Esper abilities to commit crimes.
Between solving cases and taking down criminals, the series focuses on the girls themselves and the fun times that they spend together. While this means that the series isn’t as plot heavy as Index, Railgun manages to pull this off quite nicely thanks to the charming personalities of the girls. Kuroko’s exuberant perverse actions towards Misaka aside, each of the girls interact well with one another and even Kuroko’s comedic fan-service can be welcoming at times.
While most of Season 1 Part 1 lacks focus by functioning on an episode to episode basis, it becomes clear that the number of Esper related crimes has been on the rise and Judgement’s database of Esper users has become increasingly unreliable when gauging the levels of these criminals. As such, when rumors of a “Level Upper” begin to circulate, Judgement and the girls may be in for more than they bargained for, especially when one of their own falls victim to the device.
Interestingly enough, Part 1 of Railgun’s first season ends rather concisely with no cliffhanger, though with Part 2 being released the same day as Part 1, this wouldn’t have been an issue anyways. That being said, the story of Part 1 offers a decent introduction to the girls by presenting viewers numerous episodes with cute girls doing cute things as well as humorous character interactions and then offering various dramatic situations that culminate in a master-scheme that highlights some of the sinister science taking place in Academy City.
Visuals: A Certain Scientific Railgun was originally animated back in 2009 and thanks to various issues on the Japanese side of things, FUNimation was forced to delay the release of the series for a few years before this eventual 2013 release. Despite being animated four years ago, the series is impressively handled at times. It is worth noting however that the release is fairly inconsistent with its visual quality, with some sequences being impressively well animated and the character’s being highly detailed and shadowed well, while other sequences can be rough looking, like J.C. Staff had issues allocating funding for specific episodes.
That being said, the action sequences are often the most impressive and real care has been given to making sure that the environments are impressively detailed. Fans of the original Index series will be able to recognize various areas and it is worth noting that Railgun features some of the most adorable facial animations I’ve seen. It is interesting to note that while some may find that Railgun contains a high level of fan-service, it is actually quite tame with no actual nudity. Usually this fan-service is delivered by Kuroko’s actions towards Misaka or Saten’s actions towards Uiharu, but it remains light and humor based so few should find issue with it while fan-service lovers will appreciate these moments, especially since they are often quite hilarious.
Audio: As one may expect from a FUNimation release, A Certain Scientific Railgun: Season 1 Part 1 has been given a complete English dub and the company has provided the Japanese voice track as well. The voice actresses and actors from Index have retained their character roles for Railgun while the new characters have been voiced well enough, though Brina Palencia as Saten does take some getting used to. It is interesting to note that while the English dub is nicely handled, the original Japanese voice work is very impressive, especially when it comes to Kuroko’s original voice actress Satomi Arai, so viewers may want to listen to both tracks to appreciate the series.
As far as background music goes, there are a number of themes that are played during suitable moments in the series but they tend to be very forgetful. That being said, the opening theme, “Only My Railgun” by fripSide is a joy to listen to and I found myself watching the opening theme and listening to the song for every episode thanks to the song alone. The ending theme, “Dear My Friend” by Elisa is a nice soft ending theme focusing on the girls, but it is fairly unimpressive.
Extras: The bonus features offered for A Certain Scientific Railgun Season 1 Part 1 are pretty much what fans have come to expect from a FUNimation release. We have a clean version of the opening and ending themes, trailers for other FUNimation products and two episode commentaries.
The first commentary is for Episode 3 and it features the aforementioned Brina Palencia, the voice of Saten, and Cherami Leigh who voices Uiharu. These two discuss Uiharu and discuss the various events that take place during the episode. While not very comedic, it is nice to get a look at what these two thought of the series.
As for the second commentary, this time for Episode 6, we have Brittney Karbowski the voice of Misaka and Alison Viktorin who handles the voice of Kuroko. The two talk about the episode in a manner similar to the other commentary and also discuss the relationship between the characters they voice.
Overall: A Certain Scientific Railgun may not be as plot heavy as A Certain Magical Index, but Part 1 manages to offer a mostly light-hearted experience that still has its share of drama mixed in with a charming cast of characters. In fact, the four main girls and their interactions with one another are the biggest highlight of Railgun. With Part 1 ending things on a rather solid note after successfully introducing the cast and having viewers fall in love with them, the biggest question is, what will viewers find in the second half of season one?
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The anime series, Another, has been recently acquired by the anime publisher Hanabee here in Australia. This was brought to our attention via a press release that we had received a little earlier today, however, fans of the company that were in attendance at the Melbourne Supanova event will have heard this announcement at a panel at the event.
The events of Another take place when a student in the class is killed suddenly and unexpectedly. However, instead of accepting this loss, the class and its teacher decide to carry on as usual, allowing the deceased student to graduate along with the class. Around 26 years later a new student joins this class and notices that it isn’t quite normal.
The series, Another, will also be having a Blu-Ray Disc and Digital Video Disc release, which is great for the modern Anime fan as most Anime is best suited for High Definition displays in the modern era.
To quote the Press Release –
SYNOPSIS
Denying Death Is a High Stakes Game
In 1972 Misaki suddenly passed away. The student’s death was so unexpected that the classmates and teacher had decided to pretend the incident never happened, allowing for Misaki to continue attending class and graduate with them. But in doing so they had unwittingly set a curse upon the school.
26 years later, Kouichi Sakakibara transferred into the very same class and it is clear something is amiss. A tense atmosphere has engulfed them and the answer may lie in the hands of an aloof classmate who no one appears to be aware of.
The release looks like it will be filled with special features, such as the following:
FEATURES
DVD & BluRay Release
Dual language – English dub & original Japanese audio.
OVA included.
Clean Opening & Ending
Another releases on the 3rd of July, 2013 in Australia and New Zealand. Be sure to check in stores around the date to grab your copy.
It’s been over a month now since Tomb Raider‘s release (andour review), and the team at Crystal Dynamics have been reflecting on their own personal favorite moments from the game.
About 10 days ago, we shared with you a video of the “Scaling the Zigurat”gameplay segment – Crystal Dynamics’ most memorable climbing-section in the game. Now, we have their favourite combat sequence; the “Oni Warrior Battle” – one of the most intense combat stages of the game against the mysterious Oni, where we experience just how dangerous Lara Croft can be after being hardened by her tumultuous journey.
The trailer, which you can view below, is narrated by Animator at Crystal Dynamics, Kym Brainard, and shows Lara entering the Chasm Stronghold to take on a horde of Oni warriors: guardians of the Sun Queen Himiko and protectors of the island of Yamatai. Also, all launch exclusive DLC is now available on the PSN Store and Steam, so visit your respective client to download a range of weapons packs and multiplayer characters, including the cunning Scavenger Scout and Hitman: Absolution themed weapons.
Writing has become an integral part of the game making process since the inception of the medium. Sure, a lot of the narrative work came in physical booklets during the arcade era but as computing power has ramped up so has our ability to insert narrative into game play. As a result video game analysis has hit a level of critique similar to that of film.
The New South Wales Writers’ Centre is covering this phenomena with a panel discussion titled “Narratives and Storytelling in Video Games” as a part of their monthly “Talking Writing” series. The panel will be lead by the New South Wales Writers’ Centre’s Rose Powell, with Darren Wells of Xbox Magazine and PhD gaming ethics student Dan Staines filling out the remaining spots.
If you’d like to book tickets you can book here or look at the NSW Writers’ Centre website for more information here. Members can email the centre directly to book.
