Madman revealed yesterday via their Facebook page that Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo is coming to Australia and New Zealand’s Reel Anime film festival late this year. It is the first of four titles announced for the screenings, with further reveals hinted at during the Supernova Pop Culture expos.
Evangelion 3.0 opened in Japanese theatres late last year and managed to garner $60 million at the box office. Drawing ire from some diehard fans, the film goes even further to distance itself from the original series. New characters, Eva Units and a fresh turn of events suggest an ending that might be wildly different.
Set 14 years after the third impact of the second movie, Shinji awakes in a changed world where he hasn’t aged a day. With widespread damage across the Earth and NERV shut down, people he once knew now harbour a new resentment. As Shinji befriends the engimatic Kaworu Nagisa, their struggles against the Angels continue towards the end of the world.
The movie is being released in Japan on BD/DVD on April 24 as Evangelion 3.33.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 Developer: EA Tiburon Publisher: EA Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PlayStation 3 Release Date: Out Now Price: $49.99 (Available Here)
Overview
I haven’t played a golf game in many, many years. But I always enjoyed them when I did, although I never owned one myself. But this year’s iteration – Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 – has been touted by many as the best overall golf game yet, and so I thought it timely to re-enter the fray, find my old caddie, pick my clubs and play some holes. EA Tiburon is back, giving us more content than you can wave a putter at! (so bad) Boasting the highest number of courses and players in the franchise’s history, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 comes closer to being as authentic as the real deal than any previous title. But, is it that elusive hole in one, or does it disappoint like a long putt that you just can’t sink?…
Gameplay
Again, having played for the first time in ages with this review, I was happy to see such an increase in gameplay options among others. You can customise individual aspects of the game’s difficulty, such as the Swing and Shot Shaping accuracy requirements. In virtually every mode you choose to play within, you can customise options specifically for that session – for instance, I can choose to turn off Ball Spin in the quick match’s dedicated menu, but have it on as default in the general game settings of the main menu. And depending on how hard you make it for yourself, your XP attained from playing a game will be multiplied accordingly. I’ve found success with custom settings giving me (only) a 1.45x multiplier. I know, I suck, but I am getting better!
The basics of the gameplay will be familiar to fans as even I jumped right back into it, although I forgot how to add spin to the ball when in mid-air. Now you can swing and follow through with either the right or left analog stick (set in options). A larger emphasis has been placed on the drawback and follow-through of your swing with meters telling you if you’ve under or over-swung and the speed of the stroke. An arc materialises based on your chosen club once you “address the bell” and get ready to swing. Follow this arc as closely as possible and the swing should be perfect. Wind also plays a heavy role, especially for high shots which are affected much more heavily. At the end of the day though, it’s still just golf. As numerous the modes I will detail are, mechanically, golf games inherently lack a certain versatility. It’s just the nature of golf simulations.
But I digress…spawning from the want to make every golfer feel unique and play as close to their real life counterpoint as possible is the new fade/draw functionality. Moving your stance left or right will position yourself for a fade or draw respectively (directions naturally change if you are left-handed). These shots are more successfully pulled off by skilled players and are good choices to battle heavy winds and curve a shot around a tree that maybe a problem obstacle. It’s also just more realistic to have it as every golfer in real life does not hit the ball straight every time, or even chooses to. Speaking of skill, characters also specialise in being either power or control types. These attributes also apply to your gear, which will have different qualities based on those traits as well as accuracy, workability, spin, recovery and putting.
After customising everything to fit your play style/skill level, don’t forget that you can also play the game using Kinect. It will track your hands and body movement, measuring your real-life swing (attempt at one, more like it) and translating that to your character’s swing in-game. Now, the results are going to be much more varied and less accurate than with a controller, as seeing as I’ve never played a game of golf in real-life, I didn’t find much success – I’m certain my form was atrocious. I also encountered issues with its implementation; navigating menus and aiming shots was an unintuitive mess. I’d much rather use the controller for this game, and honestly don’t think I’ll use Kinect for it every again. I appreciate the team’s efforts in trying to make it work, but maybe next year fellas. To skip you must swipe your hand left to right, and sometimes when sitting and watching the A.I.’s turn (perfectly still I might add) it would skip and I realised I had the Kinect on and it somehow misread me as performing that action. So all around, it’s a nuisance.
There are modes a-plenty in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14: Career, Legends of the Majors, Quick Play, Connected Tournaments, Country Club and Xbox Live. Touching on Career mode, many fans may be pleased to discover that the LPGA has been integrated as an option. So female golfers/fans, you can now cease embodying a man in order to enjoy your golf games…and guys…don’t, just don’t. I started my career and was directed to choose between the British and U.S. Amateur Opens. From this point on you will enter different tourneys once you meet their qualifications. For the first time, all major championships are here: the Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship. If you deem yourself not… up-to-par (one in every review folks), then you can skip an event. The returning Boost Pins will be of great help here, your collection of which can be viewed in the Extras sub-menu.
Legends of the Majors is the much-touted addition that gives you a timeline of golf history and allows you to relive all of the most important moments of each era, dating back to the late 19th century. Legendary golfers Seve Ballesteros, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Sam Snead and Lee Trevino are playable, alongside some less-than-legendary ones who also played a part in making golfing history. Their, as well as current players’ biographies can be read in the Extras sub-menu in the main screen. True fans will value this mode, and it may also help others gain a better appreciation for the sport. Quick Play is a familiar mode for sports gamers which allows you to partake in the weekly Featured Event, enter Practice and play a quick, final round from a myriad of tournaments.
Connected Tournaments, Country Club and Xbox Live are all part of the same online eco-system. You can challenge others around the world to every manner of match type previously mentioned. Connected Tournaments entails you seeing up to 24 other live golfer shot arcs out on the course with you as you compete in custom tourneys at the exact same time. That might sound distracting, but it really isn’t. Online country clubs are back, with your present club’s (you can only have one at a time) stats being weaved into everything you do. The member limit has been raised from 25 to 100 and you can take them all down to earn the title of club champion if you so wish. There is also a dedicated club text-chat interface that can be accessed in the Country Club sub-menu.
That all sounds amazing, but I did run into some hitches. Firstly, I still get agitated by the seemingly constant loading screens in EA Sports titles. The game also froze, at which point I restarted my Xbox and started up the game only for it to freeze once again at the splash screen (probably a good idea to install to your HDD). I disconnected Kinect and it hasn’t happened again, although I doubt that had any bearing. I withstood some terrible lag during the weekly Featured Event and also had one of my shots deflected in mid-air due to what seemed (and sounded) like an invisible rock/hard surface; a really odd glitch. And while the online experience was smooth in terms of connection and lag, barring the top left-hand status box, the visual while spectating would freeze until my turn was up. Whilst being a spectator and watching your competitor’s attempt, the camera is stuck to one position behind them and can only be titled and zoomed in, making it impossible to accurately gauge where their ball has landed. All of these things were fairly substantial annoyances for me.
Visuals
For the most part, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 looks great, but this has been the case with every iteration. The courses look fantastic, the weather effects and lighting alterations caused by changes in the time of day are equally impressive. But then there are the same old visuals elements you’d expect to be improved, but still haven’t. Character models’ faces are nigh expressionless and extremely stiff. And try not to drive the ball out of bounds because you will catch a glimpse of the distorted, low quality textures of the sea-side rocks and fauna. The crowd looks just as bad as they’ve always been; being low-poly clones with rigid animations. It’s funny to see more time and detail put into something like a club’s grip then people.
Speaking of the clubs, because you can unlock and purchase new equipment, you are able to take a closer look at them in the appropriate menu and as I just mentioned, they are fairly detailed and realistic-looking. Presentation-wise, I had no real qualms with the U.I/menus’ looks. The sepia tone wash on the Legends of the Majors stages was not something I was expecting, not having looked at much promotional material for the mode beforehand. It’s an appreciated touch, as are the old clubs (although “the Jigger” made me do a double take) and period clothing the icons of the sport wear therein. I just wish there was some ragtime backing music during those levels…
Audio
With annual releases such as EA Sports titles, it’s common for the audio department to be the most neglected. If there’s nothing new that needs to be recorded in regards to sound effects (can the ball being struck sound any better?!), I can see how developers may not want to tinker with what they have just for the sake of it. The main issue every single gamer has is with the commentary however. Even in Fifa and other sports games, the commentary is repetitive, bland and at times downright poorly delivered. In Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14, it’s no different. You will hear the same lines over and over again – yet, there are a few rare gems – and I did encounter an isolated glitch where the commentary between shots was garbled. There are less character-specific phrases than you’d hope for also.
In fairness, narration has been given to the Legends of the Majors mode and new tournament introductions have been recorded, which is nice. Crowd reactions adapt as your ball position changes, which I found hilarious in some instances where the ball would roll off the green at the last second, met with a polite clap turned disappointed sigh. The main menu music is very chill, with a few tracks almost sounding like part of a score to a sad film… may be appropriate as Tiger destroys you and dashes your dreams of becoming a Grand Slam champion! They are part of the familiar EA Trax playlist, that can edited in the main menu. In general, and I know golf is a quiet game, I found the silence in specific situations to be quite unnatural. In certain modes even the usual transitional filler moments (showing stats, etc) are missing their audio/could do with some sonic accompaniment.
Overall
EA Tiburon have done their best to pay homage to the history of the sport and deepen the gameplay experience with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14. With so much new content, from the Legends of the Majors mode to the inclusion of the LPGA, 5 new courses, a day/night cycle, full Kinect integration (as frustratingly inaccurate as it might be) and much more, this entry in the series is the most robust and complete. Unfortunately, technical hiccups, an uneven, lacklustre presentation and frequent load screens put a significant damper on the experience.
And with as many options as are included, there are still a few key omissions such as the ability to restart a tournament from the pause menu instead of having to quit and return to the main menu and change cameras as a spectator in head-to-head online matches. If you’re a golf fanatic, you’ll (mostly) love this game. If you enjoy a golf game but are merely casually interested, maybe wait for the price to drop, or even next year’s edition. It’s always hard to flat-out recommend a yearly release to a casual fan…
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge Developer: Team Ninja Publisher:Tecmo Koei Platforms: Wii U, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (Reviewed) Release Date: November 18, 2012 (Wii U) April 2, 2013 (360/PS3) Price:$39.99
Overview: A little over a year ago, Tecmo Koei and Team Ninja released Ninja Gaiden 3 onto the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. However despite this being the first numbered title in the series (not counting re-releases) in four years, both fans and I foundita lacking experience that suffered from terrible gameplay decisions which ended up ruining the experience for many. However now the company has brought Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, originally exclusive to the Wii U, to these consoles, has the company managed to salvage the Ninja Gaiden name?
Story: For the most part, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge continues to tell the same storyline of the original game. However a few aspects have been removed while a little bit more has been added in. For example, the game’s entire prologue sequence has been removed and although the title’s whole curse aspect still remains, it isn’t as ham-handed as before.
Anyways, the story follows Ryu Hayabusa who has being called out by a terrorist organization that is threatening the lives of a number of hostages. Upon investigating the situation, Ryu finds that a masked alchemist called “Regent of the Mask” is responsible for everything. This alchemist then curses Ryu with a curse called the “Grip of Murder” which fuses his signature Dragon Sword into his body and feeds upon the deaths of others. However despite this curse, Ryu continues to struggle against the alchemists and must put an end to their plans which will throw the entire world in chaos if they come to fruition.
One thing removed entirely from Razor’s Edge is the whole demonizing of Ryu’s slaughter. The original title featured enemies which would moan and cry for mercy after being critically wounded and even enemies begging for their lives and Ryu ignoring their pleas and murdering them in brutal fashion. This does create some disconnect from the game’s whole demonizing of Ryu’s murders though which can be a bit confusing and feels un-finished.
Outside of that, Team Ninja has also added a couple of new chapters to the game’s storyline which focus on the female ninja Ayane. Being playable for the first time in NG3:RE, Ayane’s storyline runs alongside Hayabusa’s and while it doesn’t add much to the storyline, it does help freshen things up for those who have already experienced NG3’s predictable and underwhelming storyline.
Visuals: As far as graphics go, NG3:RE remains as impressive visually as its predecessor with highly detailed character models and an actual increase to the amount of gore in the game thanks to the new executions and the various dismemberments that occur pretty much against every enemy. Ryu and the new girls added to the cast, Ayane, Momiji and Kasumi are well designed and features fluid move-sets which look great in action.
Unfortunately while the character models and enemies are great looking, the environments themselves are very sub-par in appearance and while they are varied enough to keep things interesting, every stage tends to feel very superficial.
Audio: Thanks to the revision in enemy behavior, the enemies that the player fights against no longer will simper on the ground or beg for mercy repetitively, however instead they will now often repeat the same lines in combat, usually cursing the player after critically wounding them and setting them up for an obliteration technique, so ultimately the company has traded begging for cursing in this regard.
The game’s background music is mostly forgetful though the overall sound effects of combat are rather impressive. Unfortunately the game’s voice work is still very underwhelming and although Ayane has been given more of a role, her voice actress is actually a bit of an annoyance more than anything else thanks to the way that the character is voiced.
Gameplay:
One of the biggest issues that many took with Ninja Gaiden 3 is that everything in the title simply was mainstreamed to the point where it wasn’t even the same game fans had come to love. Players were saddled with only one main weapon, one room clearing Ninpo attack, a number of little QTEs and various other combat choices which ultimately led to a poor experience. However Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge rectifies most of those issues and offers a brand new experience that fans of the series will likely be accustomed to.
Instead of one simple sword, some shuriken and a bow and arrow, players are now able to use a large number of weapons for melee attacks, though the way that these weapons are added to the player’s inventory are shoddy. Since the company chose not to design a shop system, though they did design upgrades and skill unlocks which I will mention later, the various weapons and Ninpo abilities the player obtains are usually dropped off from a Falcon at a save point or unlocked by collecting Golden Scarabs which are scattered throughout the level.
These weapons, including familiar ones such as the Lunar Staff, Eclipse Scythe, Falcon’s Talons and more, all have unique combo-strings and are a joy to wield. In fact, each weapon is so different it is possible to simply play through the game simply to enjoy using one of the newest weapons you’ve unlocked. The aforementioned skill and weapon upgrade system is handled via “Karma” points which are obtained for performing stylish kills and various actions in the game and provide the player some form of customization to their playstyle, which was something that NG3 was sorely lacking. These upgrades often unlock more combo chains for the weapons you are wielding, new skills for combat or provide stronger versions of the three Ninpo abilities that are now in the game.
Perhaps one of the biggest highlights, especially for those who found the lack of challenge in NG3 a major sticking point, is that Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge has seen a significant increase in difficulty. Enemies enter suicidal states when critically wounded and no longer beg for their life, which means that they can deal high levels of damage if the player doesn’t finish them off quickly and the enemy AI has been revamped as well. So much in fact that almost any foe you face off against has to be seen as a legitimate threat, especially since there still are no healing items in NG3:RE. Instead, the only way to heal is to use Ninpo or Ki with an unlocked skill which makes some of the revamped boss battles all the more difficult and frustrating, however that frustration and difficulty is something fans have been asking for. Of course there is a “Hero” mode that often prevents the player from dying by auto-blocking and avoiding strong attacks automatically. This is great for those who simply want to enjoy the game but may not want to sample its biting difficulty and often terrible camera.
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge retains the various multiplayer modes all held within the “Shadows of the World” option and these have gone largely unchanged. Players can still take part in clan battles where they battle against other players in what can best be described as a chaotic mess, however finding a match, let alone one with a full set of players, is relatively impossible.
What has been added in is the ability to access a number of Ninja Trials with your customized ninja, Hayabusa, Ayane, Momiji and Kasumi. These trials can be done in co-op and actually these manage to work quite well with a number of active players eager to join. Ayane, Momiji and Kasumi are also playable in the game’s Chapter Challenge mode which has returned for Razor’s Edge. In this mode players are able to run through a level using any of the characters they feel like and this certainly help’s the game’s replay value as playing as Kasumi (a first for the franchise) and Momiji are a breath of fresh air for those who may have grown tired of Ryu and Ayane.
Overall: Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is everything that fans of the series probably should have been expecting back when Ninja Gaiden 3 was released back in 2012. That being said, the game’s storyline still is very predictable and now various missteps are quite obvious where Ryu’s cursed nature was not properly re-worked to fit with the new attitude of enemies. Still, not only has the game’s combat system been entirely overhauled and expanded but the cruel difficulty has returned for those who want it, and a number of gameplay modes and characters expand the game’s longevity which creates a truly enjoyable experience that was sorely lacking in the original release.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
The long-awaited premiere of the anime adaptation of Shuzo Oshimi’s dark romance manga Aku no Hana (The Flowers of Evil) has been marred in controversy. Many fans of the manga as well as the uninitiated caught a brief glimpse of the Aku no Hana through a surprisingly reserved trailer which didn’t happen to feature any actual footage of the anime itself in action. This raised some alarms, but it was the studio’s refusal to disclose character designs that was most concerning. It’s now clear why. Aku no Hana is very different – the worst kind of different – the bad kind.
Unless you have been living under a rock this past week, the anime community has been embroiled in heated debate over this anime series. The question of discussion being whether or not Aku no Hana’s unique style is a good thing or a bad thing. In case the title of this article didn’t make it clear, I am firmly seated in the latter side of the argument. I strongly believe that the Aku no Hana anime is a terrible mistake on the part of Zexcs and a disservice to the excellent manga upon which it is based.
It is easy to pass off this series as simply an ugly anime series that falls deep within the uncanny valley due to its terrible use of rotoscoping, but the problem with Aku no Hana is far deeper than that.
Zexcs have devoted a lot of their time to creating a certain atmosphere with Aku no Hana. It walks far over the borderline into the uncanny valley which creates a repulsing vibe, as well as utilising a dark soundtrack, mute pallette and a snail’s pacing, a lot has been done to convey a tone and atmosphere. But scratch at that surface even a little and the shallowness of it all is clear as day. It is all atmosphere no substance. So much time is devoted to creating a mood yet Zexcs fails to do anything with it. It is certainly disappointing to see this coming from the studio responsible for the excellent and truly moving Mushi-shi anime series.
The worst part of it all is that the entire aura of disgust falls apart due to the often ridiculous facial expressions created by the poor rotoscoping effort, resulting in anything but the intended tone of the scene. The substance is missing, the emotion is non-existent, the spirit of the manga is lost.
Of course though for many people it is the art alone that will drive them away. Rotoscoping is a technique most often used for animating fluid natural motion. It isn’t often used is such a lazy way as witnessed in Aku no Hana, this is as sloppy as it gets. Some may claim that the characters look more realistic and move more naturally in this instance, I’d counter by saying that it is far more unreal than your standard anime series. People just don’t look like that, there is a faint resemblance and that is where we fall into that all too familiar valley. It’s uncanny isn’t it? Those blobs in Aku no Hana look almost human, except they are not.
Here is comparison between the manga and the anime series:
What happened?
So why was rotoscoping used in the anime series? Well many would claim it to be intended. I don’t feel that was the case. This really appears to be a situation in which the studio had little faith or confidence in this production and opted for the cheapest alternative possible. Some call it art, I call it lazy and cheap. The animation, if you can even call it that, is simply awful by all counts. The fact that the studio refused to reveal character designs or any substantial art before was not a sign of confidence, it was anything but.
There is no denying it, Aku no Hana is different, it is unique among its peers. But it is a perfect example of different and unique not always being good, because Aku no Hana is anything but good and that is sad. The manga upon which this series is based is considered a work of twisted genius, this anime is just nothing. It is empty, shallow and void of any of the depth found in its brilliant source material.
Different is something that we associate with something new and fresh. Unfortunately while many things one would call different are good, Aku no Hana is evidence that being different does not always equate to being good.
It goes without saying that the Aku no Hana anime series is not my cup of tea. What I see is a mess of an anime, that probably should never have been made. What do you see? Do you view things differently? Maybe you even enjoy this series? Whatever it may be that you think of Aku no Hana, sound off in the comments section below what you think of this controversial anime.
You can check out my Aku no Hana first impressions video here.
Publisher Konami has announced that PowerPros 2013 World Baseball Classic has just released onto mobile devices. The only world baseball championship authorized by the International Baseball Federation, World Baseball Classic now features 28 participating countries and regions and PowerPros 2013 provides a way to play most of them to try and reach first place.
With 3D graphics, touch screen controls, and containing actual players to utilize on the path to number one. Available now for both iOS and Android devices, those that want to experience WBC action in PowerPros fashion can find it here for North America, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Holland, Czech Republic, and Australia.
Anyone wanting to download PowerPros 2013 World Baseball Classic can find it for $4.99 from the iOS App Store HERE or from Google Play HERE.
Capcom have released a brand new trailer for the long-awaited HD port of the SEGA Saturn classic Dungeons & Dragons: Collection, a game which collected the two brilliant beat-em-up games Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom and Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara.
The HD port is set to be titled Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara, a brand new trailer for which can be seen below. The trailer focuses on the fighter class of character in the game.
Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara is slated to hit PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U e-Shop, and PC this coming June. ‘The Fighter’ trailer can be seen below.
This is no laughing matter! Or perhaps you would like to take this topic over to Laughing Jackal? After some hard months of laboring, Laughing Jackal is happy to announce that they will be heading the development of OMG HD Zombies! for the PlayStation Vita. For those that have not followed the company, OMG HD Zombies! will be a revamped version of their 2011 title OMG-Z that debuted on the PSP. To take it a step further the title holds a spot on Metacritic’s Top 10 PSP games of all time. Who said a jackal can’t boast?
Without further delay, here are the new additions that OMG HD Zombies! will receive:
More Graphics! – ALL background, character and menu artwork has been redrawn from scratch. Plus there are a ton of extra zombie death animations.
More Zombies! – We’ve thrown three new zombie classes into the mix (say hello to the new Runner, Taser & Mortar zombies!)
More Levels! – We added 19 brand new levels, so now there’s 100 brand new level layouts of zombie-slaying action.
More Upgrades! – We have 100 upgrades for you to buy at our all-new Upgrades menu.
Prestige Mode! – Something extra for the completionists out there. Complete the game to 100% Platinum standard and you can Prestige the game and start over again, boosting your leaderboard scores as you go.
Trophies! – 12 bronze, silver and gold Trophies to unlock.
Online Leaderboards! – Now you can compare your skills against the best zombie slayers around the world.
Touch Controls! – Choose between the traditional control method or new touch screen controls.
New Comics! – As well as 2 new endings, we reveal more of the back story to the zombie outbreak in our specially extended comic book intro.
Follow Laughing Jackal’s Twitter – @Laughing_Jackal – to get further updates for their upcoming Vita title.
Eugen Systems and Focus Home Interactive have already shown off the English units in the last set of screenshots Wargame AirLand Battle, so now they are giving a look at another country, Germany. Playing its part as both NATO and Warsaw Pact, the divided Germany features two different lines up with the FRG (Federal Republic of Germany) and GDR (German Democratic Republic). The screenshots show off both sides, so let’s take a look at some of what each has to offer.
Showing off the FRG’s air units, players can see the F-104G “Starfighter” and the Panavia Tornado, while the GDR features a heavy Soviet influence. The GDR shows off both air and land units, such as the T-72 main battle tank. Since they’re mostly Soviet the air craft the GDR are toting include several Migs, including the Mig-17 and Mig-21.
Players interested in checking out what German units they can see from both sides of the conflict in Wargame AirLand Battle can view the full-sized screenshots by clicking on the images in the gallery below, while waiting for its release sometime this year.
Ahead of the launch of their upcoming anime streaming service with will be starting SPRING 2013, I had the chance to speak with DAISUKI’s Eri Maruyama about Japan’s first anime streaming service. We discussed the goals of the service, whether it plans to compete with other services, the availability of DAISUKI, what content we can expect to get with DAISUKI and much more. Read on for our exclusive interview.
Q. Could you tell us a little about what DAISUKI is and what its goals are? A. DAISUKI.net is a website that provides anime streaming to anime fans worldwide. The main purpose is to provide legal content to fans.
Q. What do you believe sets DAISUKI apart from other services such as Crunchyroll? A. DAISUKI.net will not have a paid subscription system. Some premium content may be fee-based but basically you can watch anime for free. Also, DAISUKI.net will offer an online shop with exclusive goods and opportunities for fans to give feedback to Japanese production companies directly. By doing so we want to build up an exchange between overseas fans and creators in Japan.
Q. So DAISUKI will be a completely free streaming service? A. Basically all content (except for some content) will be free. You can register as a user – the membership is free as well.
Q. Is Daisuki trying to compete with other anime streaming services or work with them? A. DAISUKI’s main purpose is to provide legal content to overseas fans. Our aim is not to earn users exclusively for DAISUKI.net. So as long as they watch Anime on other legal sites we are happy with that. We want to build a good relationship with other legal sites.
Q. Will other services continue streaming titles from companies involved with DAISUKI? A. Yes, other sites may continue their streaming services. The streaming on DAISUKI.net has not to be exclusively limited to DAISUKI.net.
Q.What anime titles can be expected to be found on DAISUKI? A: Confirmed titles are Madoka Magica, some sequels from the GUNDAM series, ONE PIECE, Lupin the 3rd and the new TV series of THE PRINCE OF TENNIS. We are planning to add more series: not only new and well-known anime series but also older ones, classic ones, nostalgic ones… by doing so we hope to offer a great variety for introducing all kinds of Japanese anime to all fans over the world.
Q. Will there be content other than anime on DAISUKI such as drama series or will it be anime only? A. We are also planning to show content related to Games and Anime music. Maybe there is even more to come.
Q. Can you tell us what led to the creation of the DAISUKI service? A. Anime productions in Japan have of course noticed the popularity of Japanese animation outside Japan in recent years. But, it is also true that there is much piracy. Delivering content is much easier online, while at the same time it gets more difficult for licensors to sell anime content for airing on TV. Also, older fans tend to watch content on their PCs rather than on TV. So Japanese contents holders started to plan how to provide legal content to those fans. We have realized that there is no use in competing against each other between the companies, it is time to work together if we want to deliver good and legal content outside Japan. So the different companies and production studios came together – this is the story of DAISUKI.net.
Q.Why do you feel that anime fans have such a strong desire for online content? A: Maybe this is not just limited to anime fans but just a usual phenomenon of our modern times. Older fans tend to spend more time with the PC than watching TV. Also, of course the online route is faster, easier and often cheaper (talking about legal service, of course). When it comes to longer series it is easier to have it in your virtual library than to complete the series by buying numerous DVDs with few episodes.
Q. What regions will DAISUKI be available in? A. The website will be available worldwide. We try to provide our streaming service worldwide but there may be exceptions for some areas. This will depend on the series, for example if a licensee in this region already has “exclusive rights” for a specific title.
Q. Will there be any differences in content for each region? A. Apart from the availability stated above we are not planning to change any content depending on the region. The subtitles will be the same (in English) for all areas. (We are considering adding more languages though some time in the future, but for now we have to focus on English)
Q. Will the DAISUKI service be available on smartphones or other devices? A. Yes, in the future we are also planning to offer applications for smartphones, tablets and also game consoles.
Q. Can you explain what the name DAISUKI means and why this particular name was chosen? A. “Daisuki” is Japanese and means “loveable”, “to be fond of” or “like very much”. The name was chosen because we hope that many people from all over the world will enjoy our service and will “daisuki” Japanese anime even more through our service/website!
Q. What direction do you believe the anime industry in heading towards in the future? A. I think that in the future, the producing side/anime industry will become more and more aware of the foreign market and their fans. Also because of the technical possibilities fans can expect worldwide simulcasts in the near future (for example DAISUKI.net is planning this also). So I think overall, it becomes more international. For example, if you think of the Japanese popularity you can estimate how many percent are “anime fans”. It may be a limited number. In other countries and regions it’s the same (though the number may be less than in Japan), but, you can say for sure that there ARE fans worldwide. It would be great if the anime industry can reach to each of the fans all over the world. And we want to help with that.
Q. Why do you feel that anime fans should use DAISUKI for anime streaming? A. While DAISUKI.net’s service is for free, fans can be sure that all content on the website is legal. Of course all merchandise is authentic, too. A big problem about piracy is that the actual creators do not get any revenue from the selling. So the culture and industry will shrink eventually. This has to be stopped. Fans at DAISUKI.net can be sure that everything is original and directly from the contents holders. Of course to make our service attractive for the fans we are planning special and exclusive content that can be only watched at DAISUKI.net. Please stay tuned!
Q. Do you have anything you would like to say to anime fans around the world reading this? A. Thank you reading, thank you for your interest in DAISUKI.net and Japanese anime overall! Please enjoy our service.
Q. Thank you for your time. A. Thank you!
You can check out the DAISUKI anime streaming service on the official website DAISUKI.net when it launched SPRING, 2013.
Today it was announced that the retail version of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition will be released later than expected. Originally it was meant to be released on April 30th but today Microsoft announced that, to “include the very latest content” the game has been delayed.
Now the physical copy of the game will instead be released on June 4th, though it is currently unknown if the international release of the game in Australia, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan, which was originally slated for release in June, will be affected by this delay. The physical copy of the game does not come with any special bonuses nor will it cost any less than the digital version of the same game.
Today it was announced that the retail version of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition will be released later than expected. Originally it was meant to be released on April 30th but today Microsoft announced that, to “include the very latest content” the game has been delayed.