As you may already know, Nyaruko-san: Another Crawling Chaos, also known as Haiyore! Nyaruko-san is getting a second season called Haiyore! Nyaruko-san W sometime soon. Well until that release date is announced or some extra information is revealed, fans are currently in limbo.
However all is not lost, as Nyaruko-San has taken some time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas in her modified Santa outfit. Then again considering she is from space, would it be something of a Space Christmas? Either way, you can find the image to the right (click for full size) as well as a slightly modified version of the main website here.
While many of us are scrambling around trying to finish up some last minute shopping and wrapping of presents, others are able to take some time and sketch out some special drawings and no one does it better than the creator of the Fairy Tail manga, Hiro Mashima.
Today Hiro, who often posts drawings of his characters on his Twitter feed, revealed the picture found to the right (click for a larger version) with Erza Scarlet wishing everyone a “Merry Christmas.” It is worth noting that Hiro Mashima’s Twitter can be found hereand anyone who happens to enjoy Fairy Tail itself or anime alone should probably follow him for plenty of great artwork of his cast of characters.
Sushi Hero Developer:Design Symphony Publisher: Ayopa Games Platforms:iPhone (reviewed), iPad Release Date: December 20, 2012 Price: $0.99 –Available Here
Overview
What do you get when you cross Plan 9 from Outer Space with Jiro Dreams of Sushi and set it all in a runner game? You would end up with Sushi Hero, the newest game from Design Symphony and Ayopa Games. Sushi Hero serves up something with bright flavors, though it may ultimately leave a bitter taste in the mouths of some.
Gameplay
Players take on the roll of a nameless sushi chef. Before each level begins, you’re given a shopping list of three types of fish to kill and how many of each breed you need to slaughter.
When the clock starts, you run continually from left to right, touching the left side of the screen to jump or double jump and the right side of the screen to chop away with your cleaver. As you progress through each level, you can earn point multipliers by stringing together kill combos.
You start each level with a full heart, but each hit from an electric eel, urchin, or poisonous fish will knock off a quarter of your health. There are hearts you can pick up to restore some health. You can also snag a bite of wasabi which will allow you to ‘spit fiyaah,’ taking out everything in your path for a few seconds.
There are twenty levels to play through, each with three difficulty settings. Each level takes around a minute to clear, so if you only have a couple of minutes in line at the supermarket you can finish a stage or two. Players should have no problem beating the game under an hour, but that will only get you a third of the achievements.
Taking down a whole string of fish and working up to an 80-kill combo feels great, and timing a couple of dodges in a row is quite satisfying. The problem is that the sushi list you’re given for each level feels virtually irrelevant. You end up running through each world trying to kill anything and everything that gets in your way, regardless of what breed it is. The only penalty you incur is that you must replay a level if you die or fail to kill everything on your list. It can also become blindingly frustrating to play levels with a dark background, especially later in the game, since every fish that can harm you is also black or dark gray.
Audio & Visual
Sushi Hero has an amusing visual aesthetic. Character designs feel like something from a Saturday morning cartoon, with bright colors and funny looking teeth and eyes. The animation also feels wonderful. Watching a pudgy sushi chef sprint across the world, legs flailing about as if independent from his body, helps reinforce the fun, lighthearted feel of the game. Each level has its own background art that helps it stand out. The only problem is that dangerous enemies blend into darker levels, making the game more frustrating than it should have been.
The music is fantastic. It does a great job setting up the idea that you’re getting ready to dig into something fast-paced and action-packed, with tight loops of trumpets, synth, and drums. Unfortunately there are only one or two tracks, so it will begin to feel old before you’ve beaten every level. The sound effects get the point across, but they do nothing in particular to add to the character of the game.
Overall
Sushi Hero is has a few shining moments but it’s not without a few flaws and frustrations. Levels will feel like they blend together and enemies blending into dark backgrounds becomes frustrating on more difficult stages. Unfortunately, Sushi Hero doesn’t do much to stand out from its competitors, but for those willing to try it out, they will find a fun, colorful, entertaining experience.
Just in time for Christmas, Rockstar Games have released five new screenshots for their highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto V, released over on their official facebook page.
The new screens show off the three new protagonists, a close up of a car, a fighter jet and…oh wait is that a submarine!? and a shark?!? and scuba gear?!?!
Well yes indeed it is! In the previews leading up to Grand Theft Auto V’s release, Rockstar Games have hinted at exploring the depths of Los Santos oceans, stating that:
“Grand Theft Auto 5 will display the game world’s largest and fastest growing we’ve ever made that set in wide the city start from Los Santos up to the top of the mountain for miles away and headed into the depths of the sea”
And now I guess that’s very much true, who know what other underwater vehicles they’ll included in the game.
Today, thanks to a new promo video released by 5pb, we now know when Corpse Party: Tortured Souls will begin to be released in Japan. Now as you may already know, this set of four OVAs is based off of the Corpse Party games published by 5pb in Japan and localized here in North America by XSEED Games.
Rather than being shown on television, the OVAs will be released in Japanese theaters and then will be available on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan. It is currently unknown if there will be any plans to release these OVAs in the West in any form. Though with XSEED bringing Corpse Party: Book of Shadows to North America sometime this Winter, anticipation for the series is quite high.
One of the Gameological Society’s Play the Year games is theStar Wars: Sequel Debacle Simulatron. Have you ever raged about how you could have put together a better Star Wars movie than the set of movies that shall not be named? Now is your chance to see just how wrong right you were. Made by Ben Johnson of Babycastles and Joe Kowalski of DoubleFine, this quirky flash game will give you a few laughs.
You can make a few selections of a screen writer, director, and actor from a drop down menu. Then, choose how much of each genre you want in your space opera and finally design your name from the preset combination options. Now watch as the fake cash comes rolling in, you Star Wars savant. In your fantasy, there will be no lore inconsistencies from your movie and the 37th Star Wars novel.
As for me, I have already made an international box office hit by the name of “Star Wars: The Queen of the Princesses”.
The 33D Invader Studio:My Way Film Publisher:MADMAN / My Way Film Format: Home DVD/Blu-Ray Release Date:October 6th, 2011
Overview:
The 33D Invader aims to be a comedic, sex-filled romp with a dash of science fiction action because why not? The film has an international cast that contains leads from China, Japan and Taiwan and was released on October 6th 2011 in Honk Kong. Only translated relatively recently to feature a range of languages including English, Cantonese and Mandarin sub-titles, The 33D Invader can now be watched and (hopefully) enjoyed internationally. Does the movie do enough to be worth your time or is it a mere time-waster for a lazy afternoon? Well, it turns out to be neither.
Story:
The 33D Invader starts off with some amount of promise. Three guys fighting over a telescope to get the best view of the local female inhabitants. And when they actually interact with them, they fall pretty flat on their face. Okay then, this is going to be one of those comedies where the guys chase the girls and attempt various schemes to go out with them. Fair enough. But then after the first five minutes you realize it is something entirely different.
Right on five minutes you cue the appearance of Future, a weird futuristic (inventive name right?) girl from the year 2046. Apparently at that time an alien race has rendered the majority of the male population infertile and so of course it’s her job to venture back in time and make sure the human race can continue. How does she do this you ask? Well obviously it involves sleeping with a lot of guys; because for some reason doing that in the past will help the people in the future? Don’t worry too much about following the storyline as it pretty much falls to pieces with any last vestiges of quality right when Future originally appears. After she’s successfully been around a few of the guys in the dorm she appeared in, elite naked assassins from the future (you just can’t make this stuff up) come to put a stop to her party.
These assassins although alien, appear in the shape of humans (probably not to put too much of a strain on the budget) and are basically tasked with hunting down Future and raping her, because that will make her infertile herself. Yep, that’s the whole set-up.
Seriously just try not to think too hard about what you’re watching and just wince you’re way through the whole affair. It doesn’t get any better.
Visual:
The entire film seems to be captured through a lens coated in sleaze and oil. Things get blurry on the edges of the screen, colors distort annoyingly any attempt at immersion is broken when camera angles just stare at walls instead of the character, showing how world the movie has been edited together. And with a focus on the female body rather than on any “performance” by the actors involved, the visual side of things just doesn’t properly add up.
There is a pretty cool freeze frame effect on the first three male characters we meet where time will slow and their face will be framed on a yellow background with their name residing just beside (think Borderlands 2 character introductions). But this cool effect is ditched straight after we meet the three and every character from then on is introduced in regular movie style, which unfortunately just doesn’t work with the poor writing and bad acting given by every single cast member.
Audio:
The audio quality of The 33D Invader is also honestly pretty lackluster. The entire movie is spoken in Chinese with English subtitles for those not particularly versed in the language, but the subtitles themselves are pretty spotty. At times they work completely as intended, obviously showing what’s being said word-for-word and line-for-line but other times it just seems like they were forgotten about. One example is when a character would speak for twenty seconds straight and then after he finished the subtitle “Okay let’s do it,” would appear somewhat guiltily at the bottom of the screen. Obviously he said more than four words, but it seems that whoever wrote them just couldn’t be bothered typing every word out. This wouldn’t be such a terrible thing if it only happened once or twice, but consistently throughout the movie this same thing would occur over and over again in the same scene. Which just puts the already wafer thin plot in complete disorganization for any who don’t speak fluent Chinese.
Sound effects are the dollar a dozen variety that you’ll find in any B Grade movie which decides to presumably spend its budget on less desirable pursuits. While voices themselves sound fine for the most part, things like the alien noises and just the entire soundtrack in general are just abysmal to listen to.
Overall:
The 33D Invader is a movie you just plain want to steer clear from. It has no sense of taste or pacing, or even restraint in the more sexual encounters. The story is a patchy affair of sleazy camera angles and what seems to be little more than a fantasy driven script with less thought than a teenage dream. The numerous plot holes and lackluster visual style add up to a total mess of a movie.
The 33D Invader is the kind of movie that even the most lewd and tasteless will want to stay well clear from. With absolutely no redeeming qualities that I can honestly name, there are far more great movies that I can simply recommend off-hand. Steer away from this film even if it’s in the bargain bin, because there is a real reason it’s in there.
As you may have already known, Irrational Games offered fans a poll to select a reversible cover art for Bioshock Infinite after the initial response from the game’s official box art was practically 100% negative. Well today Irrational Games revealedwhich cover art won that poll and as you can see to the right, it is this artistic one.
This box art won with 38% of the vote and as such will be printed on the reverse side of the Bioshock Infinite cover so that fans can simply reverse the cover to choose their own. Levine also mentioned that the other covers which did not win will still be available to print from their website, which is exactly what I’ll be doing as this artsy looking one does nothing for me.
Adventure Time: The Complete First Season Studio: Cartoon Network/Frederator Studios Publisher: Madman Format: DVD Release Date:November 7, 2012 Price: $29.95 – Available here
Overview “WHAT TIME IS IT!?” If you never heard that phrase uttered before then you better strap yourself in for one hell of an adventure (time). Originally created by Pendleton Ward as a stand-alone short for Random! Cartoons on Nickelodeon, Adventure Time has grown into so much more, adored by fans both young and old.
Seeing the short’s potential, Cartoon Network then picked up the show in 2008 thus sparking the surreal, bizarre adventures of Finn the human and Jake the Dog, that make up Adventure Time. If you’ve never seen Adventure Time before then now is the perfect opportunity to see it with the release of the full first season on DVD.
Story On the surface Adventure Time seems like your average modern day cartoon, following the tales of two loveable heroes Finn, a 12-year old boy and his brother and roommate Jake, a 28-year old mischievous dog with magical stretchy powers, on their quest to become heroes in the magical Land of Ooo. Much of the humor and appeal of Adventure Time comes from the outright bizarreness of the show.
While the synopsis may seem quite simplistic, it would be wrong to write off Adventure Time’s overall story as so, because it’s hard to sum up exactly what Adventure Time is all about. Yes we are following Finn and Jake’s epic cartoony quest, yet on the other hand the story is a lot deeper than, that dealing with rather grown up and complex themes such as relationships, break ups, causality, and even existentialism in it’s own goofy way. No quite what you expect from a “kids show”.
There’s little continuity between each episode, as they are all (mostly) self-contained, the main focus of the show is put on the characters themselves and their surreal adventures in the short 10 minutes episodes. Yes you read correctly, each episode of Adventure Time clocking in at around 10 minutes only. But that isn’t necessary a draw back but rather due to length of the episodes, the show is incredibly addictive to watch and leaves you wanting to watch another, and another and another.
While there’s a typical set up to each episode, for example, Finn and Jake must help out a group of villages from an ogre (who’s kind of a jerk) or save various princesses from The Ice King, the episodes don’t progress as you typically expect. Rather expect the unexpected when watching Adventure time. There’s almost always a surreal twist or some crazy outlandish thing that gets in the way of normality in each episode, and that’s part of the whole fun in watching Adventure time.
You don’t know what’s going to happen next, whether it’s the sudden and unexpected, random episode endings or the memorable one-off characters we meet in an episode. Again because of the short length of the episodes, an episode’s climax and resolution usually occurs within the last few minutes. And likewise, each episode’s set-up only takes less then a few minutes to get into the action. Making for a no-filler approach to anime, a welcome relief for fans of Japanese anime who’s eyes glaze over the usual filler episodes.
Visuals & Audio Adventure Time is wonderfully colorful and has a minimalistic yet very distinctive look. Its visuals are a joy to look at and are instantly recognizable as Adventure Time’s. If you look beyond the magical Land of Ooo and pay attention to the background, you’ll notice something off or just not quite right with Adventure Time.
The creators have put a lot of subtle detail into the show’s setting the Land of Ooo, which may or may not have take place after an apocalyptic war, after effects of which filled the land with magic and created it to be what it is today. Subtle nodes to this premise are ever so present with in the show, but usually go unnoticed due to the story at hand. It’s the small things to look out for in Adventure Time that makes the show what it is, for example there’s a hidden waving snail in every episode of Adventure Time; and why? It’s a running gag.
Audio is crystal clear in this DVD package. Voice acting is spot on from all voice actors. The main leads Finn voiced by Zack Shada and Jake voiced by John DiMaggio (better know as Bender from Futurama and Marcus Fenix from the Gears of War series) are perfect in their roles with their unique use of language – “Dude that’s algebraic!”
Music in the show is also of particular note. The theme song at first catches you off-guard with its off-key vocals and simple ukulele, though after a few episodes you’ll be wholeheartedly singing along with it. Occasionally the show will throw in the odd musical number, and much like the show itself they’re weird, wacky and you’ll love them regardless.
Extras As you would expect from a two-disc bundle, there are a range of extras to explore. Audio commentary for four episodes are included and for those that skip this feature or don’t usually listen to it, I must say it’s well worth it. Also included in the extras, is probably the weirdest behind-the-scenes video ever made. Filmed by Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward on his phone, this 10-minute video takes us behind-the-scenes of the Adventure Time studios where, going by the video, explains a lot of the show’s weirdness.
And guess what? Included on the extras is a making of that very extra. A making of the behind-the-scenes extra…yeah it’s weird man, featuring a guy in a full body motion capture suit. Trust me it will all make sense. Alongside these are some featurettes and storyboard animatic with voice over by the show’s creators.
Overall If you haven’t caught on by now, Adventure Time is not your average cartoon. It’s filled to the brim with wacky characters and offbeat humor, making it a complete joy to watch. The great strength of Adventure Time is that its episodes don’t have to be watched in order to fully understand the show, meaning that anyone can get into the show.
Adventure Time is a show for kids both young and old with its unconventional storytelling and (there’s only one way of putting this) uniquely Adventure Time characters. For fans of Adventure Time, which there are many, or new comers to the series Adventure Time: The Complete First Season is clear choice with all 26 episodes together for the first time with a ton of extras to boot.
On December 20th, 2012 the creator of the now cult classic Earthbound (Named Mother 2 in Japan) Shigesato Itoi announced on his twitter that there may be a re-release of mother in the works. In the tweet, he he says that the re-release of Mother that he spoke of before is making progress. In another tweet he explains that it will not be a sequel, just a re-release.
A re-release could be made for current gen consoles or handhelds, a wish that many earthbound fans have been wishing on a star for years. If this re-release does come outside Japan, this could be the first time non-Japanese gamers could play the official first Mother game without unconventional help.
As you may have already known, Irrational Games 
