Two new Chillingo published titles have just hit the iOS App Store: Swing King, developed by Zoink!, and Catch The Ark, developed by the Australian indie team at Playside Studios.
Swing King has the player touch and drag the screen, flinging the King into action and through obstacles as he ventures to save his furry Kingdom. Make use of rubbery, elastic-like physics capabilities as the King bounces around, gathering stars and power-ups on his way to his trusty unicorn.
The game features a kingly 92 puzzles and boss battles (one of which can be seen in the header image and in the gallery below). You may also complete a set of challenges during the campaign that will unlock new hats to decorate your liege’s crown. Swing King is available, right now, for $0.99 here on the App Store.
Catch The Arkis an addictive ‘endless runner’ title that chronicles the mad dash for survival of 3 oddball creatures, who were left behind as the Great Flood hit. The vibrant and animated journey has the group chasing down the Ark as a huge tidal wave approaches from behind.
You will have to avoid Krakens, sharks, dinosaurs and other monsters as you race down the rapids on your raft. Coins collected along the way can be put towards buying a hovercraft or other advantageous mode of transportation. Once missions are completed, you may check the Facebook-integrated leaderboards to compare with your friends. Catch The Ark is also available for the price of $0.99, right here on the App Store.
For a first look at the titles, check out our gallery below!
Get your shurikens and kunai ready! Namco Bandai have released a new trailer for their upcoming Naruto Spin-Off: Rock Lee and his Ninja Pals 3DS game simply titled Naruto Powerful Shippuden.
Naruto Powerful Shippuden adopts the comedy spin-off anime series’ chibi art style and unique sense of humour. There is a story-mode and endless battle mode for players to enthuse themselves with. You can play as both Naruto and Rock Lee and enjoy all of their comedic hijinks in the ninja world.
Check out the Naruto Powerful Shippuden trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments section.
Nintendo have released a brand new trailer for the hotly anticipated debut of the Fire Emblem franchise on the Nintendo 3DS, Fire Emblem Awakening.
The new trailer is 20 seconds of pure badassery that is sure to ignite a flame within the hearts of RPG fans. You can check it out below for maximum badass ignition.
Fire Emblem Awakening is scheduled to hit North America on February 4th and PAL regions in April. Be sure to check out the exciting trailer for this suitably exciting game below. Don’t forget to let us know what you think of it in the comments section.
thatgamecompany, as well as seemingly abhorring spaces and capital letters, aren’t ones for sticking to tradition. The marmite of the game developer world, their mission is thus – “Create timeless interactive entertainment that makes positive change to the human psyche worldwide.”
Whether that strikes you as refreshing or as pretentious, there’s no ignoring the fact that their projects strike a somewhat underused emotional chord in the gaming community. Flow and Flower both enjoyed critical success, but it has been Journey that has created the biggest waves for both thagamecompany and the PlayStation 3 and now the Playstation 4 now with stunning visuals in 1080p.
Story
The story of Journey is a simple one, told without dialogue or even facial expressions. Players are cast as a lonely, cloaked figure who finds themself in the middle of a desert peppered with ruins and other hints at a civilisation that once was. Far in the distance is a mountain top, split down the middle and shining a beacon over the wastelands. It’s unspoken but obvious – get to the mountain.
A handful of cutscenes triggered at ths shrines you discover along the way flesh out the story, but as with other games of this kind what you draw from the story comes largely from your own input. Luckily the surrounds of Journey – the music in particular – is incredibly effective at sweeping you off your feet and focusing your mind.
It isn’t the story of Journey that is particularly stand out, in the sense that the summarised plot is nothing remarkable. What it is that hits home is the world as a whole, and to bring things fully into corny territory – the experience and emotion that it all provokes as a package.
Gameplay
Walking is pretty much the name of the game in Journey. Getting to the mountain is the main objective, and you can also jump and – courtesy of a magical scarf – float. This highly useful garment can be extended by collecting glyphs hidden around the environments, and it plays into the magical aspect of the game perfectly. There are also cloth creatures throughout the world that will help you along the way, and these range from cute little kites to enormous whales.
Each of the diverse areas is ended with a cut scene triggering shrine, and the level design keeps throwing out new ideas to keep the simple mechanics fresh. The whole thing only takes a couple of hours to complete, and whilst that is very short in the usual sense, the moments that Journey can offer in it’s brief run time will burrow into their own special space in your head and nestle there for a long time. It simply doesn’t need half a dozen hours to make an impact, although you can always go back for more. Surprisingly there is some replayability to the game, with Trophies to collect and the potential for a very different experience depending on who you run into along the way. Players with differing skill levels and/or moods can experience the game at their own pace.
The multiplayer aspect of the game is a lovely experience, totally anonymous and unannounced – indeed some may have no idea that it exists until the very end of a playthrough when the game lists the players you spent time with.There is every freedom to do what you like regarding other players – you can forge ahead on your own or stick together. Playing along with another person changes things drastically, as you develop your own means of communicating to each other using the characters tuneful little chime (anyone know Morse Code?) . Chiming at each other also restores the magic to your scarf, so exploring becomes all the easier together.
The gameplay is simple but well executed, but Journey’s true strength lies is in it’s presentation, which ties every element of the game together in a beautiful and affecting way.
Audio & Visual
Journey is gorgeous, that is quite obvious to see. From the opening desert through a monstrous cavern to the blizzard struck slopes of that mountain, every landscape is striking and beautifully lit. Sand swirls around the player and snow sticks to your cloak – Journey may look simple in style at first glance, but playing it reveals a surprisingly detailed world.
The sound in this game is also astonishing, the music is beautiful and matched to your action, turning the game from one with the potential to appeal to some into something that will affect the many. The best way to experience this game is with a big set and good quality speakers/headphones, have a few hours to yourself and let it grab you.
Overall
It’s not exactly news by now that Journey is a fantastic title. thatgamecompany have created a nigh on flawless experience that wraps up the player in a beautiful world for a handful of hours and leaves them with some great and lasting moments. The soundtrack is a massive stand out that truly makes this game more than a flash in the alternative pan, and despite cries of “It’s not a game!”, Journey is most definitely worth playing, keeping, and remembering.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Pikmin 3 has to be my most anticipated Wii U title this year. Commanding those little creatures in Pikmin 2 was quite a relaxing exercise compared to the much more hectic first title, and it looks like that element of stress is looking to make a return. Now, before any of you think this might sound troublesome, a new interview with Miyamoto has arisen, detailing why this challenge was brought back.
“Our main aim in Pikmin 2 was to get rid of any stress as much as possible, so that it would be very user-friendly. Well, I myself couldn’t agree with that direction perfectly. That kind of nature of Pikmin 1 was exactly what I wanted to reproduce and I was actually intentionally doing so, so that Pikmin 1 could be a strategic game.”
“When we started creating Pikmin 3 I gathered the main members who worked on Pikmin 2 and talked about how I thought it was important to get back to the basics of Pikmin 1. Or I should say that half of my job at that time wasn’t just to talk, but rather to persuade them to understand what I intended to do and to agree to my idea.”
A more strategic Pikmin sounds fantastic here. In fact, my excitement is only growing as we await that mysterious release date. Check out the full interview for yourself in the most recent GamesMaster magazine, which you can order for yourself by clicking here.
Jack Reacher (read our review here) is out here in Australia from today, but we’ve got another Paramount Pictures AU release to look forward to this month in The Guilt Trip.
The Guilt Trip will be released, nation-wide, on January 24th.
We’ve been covering the build-up to The Guilt Trip and today we have the latest Australian poster for the film – which you can see on the right – and two new clips.
The first is entitled “Want To Go”, and is the scene where Andy Brewster (Seth Rogen) ends up inviting his Mother (Barbara Streisand) on the road trip with him.
The other is entitled “Airport”, and shows Andy arriving back to Newark Liberty International Airport, where his Mother immediately embarrasses him.
Without further ado, here they are:
To keep up with all things ‘The Guilt Trip’ and Paramount Pictures in Australia, visit and ‘Like’ the official Paramount Pictures AU Facebook page.
Leading gaming hardware and peripheral designers and producers, Razer, have announced the latest in gaming hardware for Xbox 360 console owners. This new piece of hardware is a gaming controller build with the hardcore gamer in mind.
The Razer Sabertooth controller features many game enhancing things which will add to the experience of many games on the Xbox 360 console. The features are as follows:
Six additional remappable buttons – two at each shoulder of the controller and two removable rocking switches at the bottom – allow gamers to re-bind any choice of buttons on the controller for easy access. A built-in OLED screen is also included, which allows customization of the controller’s many features. Gamers may remap the multi-function buttons, adjust the analog stick’s sensitivity and save profiles: the display visualizes their modified preferences.
Outside of the technical additions, the Razer team have adjusted the look of the controller slightly to better fit the ergonomic needs of gamers. They state that it will fell much more comfortable and natural feel because it “encourages natural hand posturing for a more precise and comfortable gaming experience”.
The controller launches worldwide this month and will retail for $79.99. Check out the official site for more info.
The following is a quotation of technical specifications –
2 shoulder multi-function buttons (MFB)
4 removable multi-function triggers (MFT)
4 backlit Hyperesponse action buttons
OLED screen for feature customization
Non-slip rubber surface
Quick-release USB connector
Detachable 10 ft./3 m lightweight braided fiber cable
Carrying case
2.5 mm microphone jack
Approximate size : 110 mm / 4.33 in. (Length) x 154 mm / 6.06 in. (Width) x 57 mm / 2.24 in. (Height)
If you’re the type of person that likes to pick up older games for cheaper, such as those yearly sports games, don’t be expecting to be able to go online for any multiplayer for any of EA’s 2011 or older. Server space is of course finite, so EA is having to go through with another batch of server cuts to games this month. Unfortunately, while the majority of the games losing their servers are sports games the PC/Mac The Sims 2 is not, but still suffering from EA’s lack of space along with the iOS Trenches II.
A complete list of the games losing online servers, dates, and systems is as follows, so those looking for any possible online achievements should hop to it:
As was expected from their filing of bankruptcy in mid-December THQ has now been delisted from the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. Another blow to the company as it continues through the bankruptcy process, while delisted from NASDAQ the stock itself is still technically tradeable under the stock symbol THQIQ (the additional Q denoting the bankruptcy). What does this mean for those currently holding stock in the company? Trade them while you can, as after the bankruptcy is approved it will be privately owned and will likely be worth nothing, though at the time of writing THQ stock is only worth 22 cents a piece.
While the future of currently in production games is supposed to be secure in their development and release, only time will tell what will come of the company after the bankruptcy is approved and owned by, hopefully, people that know how to make money.
The Winter 2013 anime season has already begun partially and as such, Luke Hallidayand myself have chosen to share what we will be picking up, at least to start with, for this Winter season. While some may say that this season is very weak, I’ve found plenty of good looking shows to pick up and of course, plenty of romcom and harem shows! Here are the series that I will be picking up this season:
Puchimas! Petit Idolmaster If you enjoyed the original iDOLM@STER anime series then you may want to keep an eye out on this simplistic show focused around the daily lives of the 765 Pro idols with the added additions of creatures called “Puchidoru.” These little things are chibi creatures that resemble their idol counterparts not only in appearance but also in personality.
The show is unfortunately a mini-series that lasts only a few minutes each, but it will be aired daily on NicoNico. I adored the original iDOLM@STER series and the fact that so far this mini-show has had me laughing often and while the show may not interest most, it is a cute show about girls doing random things with their chibi-selves and a great way to spend a couple minutes each day.
Mangirl! This is certainly a strange title at first glance, considering it’s name but thankfully it is not a series about a hermaphrodite. Instead it actually promises to tell the story of female manga editors and how they have entered the field with almost no experience.
While this series may not have been something I would originally check out, the fact that this is again only a few minute long episode per airing makes it worth giving a shot. Plus with the promise of plenty of comedy in each episode, it’s worth at least checking out, even if it will be a cute girls doing cute things type of series.
Ai Mai Mi There really is something about five minute shows this Winter season, as not only are there quite a few airing this time, but a number of them have caught my eye. Ai Mai Mi will tell the story of a manga club with girls named Ai, Mai Mi and Ponoka as they deal with strange situations that apparently involve aliens when they aren’t working on manga.
This series was something I was about to pass over thanks to the first promotional video that was released. Not only does it contain some sub-par looking animation but the story itself sounds rather strange. However the strange off-the-wall humor, plus the fact that it’s advertisement shows what appears to be an octopus in a pot, makes me want to give it at least a few episodes before dropping.
Cuticle Tantei Inaba After looking at the summary of this anime, let alone the promo videos, have made me nominate Cuticle for perhaps the strangest sounding show of this season. The anime follows the story of a werewolf detective called Inaba Hiroshi who has a hair fetish. He is a private detective that has two assistants, a sadistic traip called Sasaki Yuuta and a partially-normal Part-timer Nozaki Kei. Not only does the group have to investigate a number of strange occurences, but they also have to hunt down a goat named Don Valentino that likes to eat money.
This show is absolutely nuts sounding and thanks ot the fact that there are some crazy looking characters and situations, I’m picking up this show for a number of reasons. Mainly thanks to the fact that it looks like a rather simplistic and fun show with off-the-wall situations and over-the-top character interactions.
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha A hero hunting down and killing the demon lord is something common amongst both anime and video games but would that really put an end to the fighting forever? The series Maoyuu Maou Yuusha seems to tackle that issue as the human’s strongest warrior enters the Demon Queen’s castle to slay her. However the Queen asks the hero to work together with her in an effort to bring peace to both sides without causing more conflict, because the sudden stop of war would ultimately lead to fighting amongst the victor.
I’m often one to pass over some of the more dramatic series when possible, however Spice and Wolf was one of my favorite series of all time, and now that promotional videos and more information for this series have been released, the anime feels similar to Spice and Wolf in quite a few ways. There is a lot of potential here and new situations that can be explored, so I cannot wait to see where this series may end up even though it is only twelve episodes long.
Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru Perhaps contender for the longest name of the season, I’ve actually been following the OreShura a little bit over the past few months and the story follows a group of highschoolers unlucky in love, though mostly through their own means. Eita hates everything to do with love and spends all of his time studying, however when the most beautiful girl in school Natsukawa confesses her love to him, he must accept. Though when Eita receives this confession, his childhood friend Chiwa is so annoyed that she will not give Eita up without a fight. Then when two new girls appear, this man who hates love suddenly finds himself in the middle of a love pentagon.
This type of series is bread and butter for me with it being your classic harem romcom and thanks to the fact that all of the girls in OreShura seem to have great characteristics and personalities, the series should shine. With Masuzu’s mysterious and theatrical side paired along Chiwa’s energetic loyalty and the fact that one of the girls suffers from some chuunibyou issues (looking at you Chu2Koi), there is plenty of great situations waiting to happen.
Senran Kagura Bouncing breasts. Well… I suppose I need to go into more detail than that. The Senran Kagura series is actually based off of a video game series of the same name. The story follows a group of ninja girls who attend Hanzou Academy, with the five girls being Ikaruaga, Katsuragi, Asuka, Yagyuu and Hibari, each of which fits your standard moe personality such as tomboy, stoic, clumsy and others.
The game series is known for its high levels of fan service and ripping clothes, but never any nudity. However now that the series has an anime, that will all change. Senran Kagura will sell itself on the high levels of fan service, bouncing breasts and panty shots as well as plenty of action. Pretty much anyone who enjoyed Freezing or Sekirei will find themselves enjoying this series, then again anyone who loves fan service and ecchi situations will be pleased. That is, if it isn’t obscured with horrible To-Love-Ru Darkness censorship…
Love Live! School Idol Project Love Live! School Idol Project is a unique sounding anime experience thanks to one thing. Audience Participation. Love Live! will allow Japanese fans to actually vote on what will happen to their favorite idol characters as the anime progresses, though how drastic these votes may change the direction of the anime are currently unknown. Either way, the story of Love Live! follows the story of a group of nine high school girls who want to become idols in an effort to boost the popularity of their school so that it will not be shut down.
Considering I already mentioned how I enjoyed the IDOLM@STER series, this should come as no real surprise. The few promotional videos I’ve seen so far as well as a couple of musical performances released for the band that this is helping promote, Muse, show that the JPop performances should be rather enjoyable and considering the fact this is, at least of the time of writing, the only anime of this season licensed for release in the West, it is certainly worth paying attention to.
AMNESIA We’ve already seen our standard harem romcom and ecchi packed shows of the season, now we have our standard otome video game adaptation and after checking out Arcana Famiglia this Summer I feel like checking out yet another otome style game. This time around, AMNESIA follows the story of a woman who wakes up one morning with no memory of who she is or anything around her. As such she must try to remember who she is with the help of a spirit called “Orion” while also trying to meet up with her boyfriend who she has no recollection of.
Considering outside of Kimi ni todoke and Arcana Famiglia, I haven’t had much experience with the otome genre, so this may be something that will likely only be given a few episodes and dropped if it does not turn out to be interesting very quickly, though the basic premise is intriguing, especially with all of the supernatural elements.
GJ-bu (Good Job Club) The origin of GJ-bu is a bit strange, as it is actually based off a novel that consists of 4koma… which is something I’ve never heard of at this point. Thanks to this and from what the promo videos have shown, the story of this anime is literally no story. Instead of that the show will directly focus on the life of the various characters and that is pretty much it.
GJ-bu seems like one of your standard shut your brain off and enjoy anime and I’m perfectly fine with that. The character designs aren’t especially attractive, but still something I feel like enjoying mostly thanks to the fact it will be slice-of-life comedy with cute characters doing cute things for a half hour every week, which at times is good enough for me.
Sasami-san@Ganbaranai Tsukuyomi Sasami is a hikikomori who has zero motivation to actually do anything and instead spends her days watching the outside world through her computer. Through this survelliance she kjeeps an eye on her brother as he encounters a number of girls who all seem to draw him into your standard harem romantic comedy.
Thanks to the fact that this is a romcom I’m already intrigued, but considering the fact that Shaft is working on the anime this is a must watch for me. This seems like a standard romcom that actually will be anything but thanks to the fact that the harem candidates look to be about as far away from run-of-the-mill as you can get.
Vividred Operation This is an original series which usually would give me pause except for one thing. Vividred is being directed by the same man who handled the Strike Witches series, Takamura Kazuhiro. As such this is already ranked highly with me and if promo videos are anything to go by, the series seems to be quite similar to Strike Witches in a number of ways, though it has seen an upgrade from flying panties to short shorts.
Either way, in the world of Vividred there exists a machine known as the Manifestation Engine that makes energy consumption a thing of the past and the world is at peace, however when aliens invade Earth to steal the Engine, they must be fought off with powerful weapons known as Palette Suits. As such, Isshiki Akane, Futaba Aoi and other girls must work together to hold off these aliens that have been dubbed the “Alone.” Thanks to the pedigree of the series and the number of well-known staff behind the project, Vividred looks like it just may be the best show this season.
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT The second season to the original which aired last year, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT is an easy pick up for me thanks to how much I enjoyed the first season as the antics of the Neighbors Club are just too much to avoid. It looks like the story will pick up with the same pace as before, with the now short-haired Yozora butting heads against Sena as Kodoka gets stuck in the middle of the two, while also having to deal with a boys-love loving mad scientist Rika and the maid-trap Yukimura.
This second season looks to continue the same exact type of antics, though obviously with more story development as the characters grow closer together while trying to make friends with others. As such, I’m looking forward to this unique romantic comedy once again.
Mondai-Ji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru sou Desu yo? Actually, take back what I mentioned about OreShura, this series has the longest name this season. The story of this anime follows a group of three problem children who have been sent letters by a mysterious bunny eared girl. These letters have been sent to them because they happen to possess powerful supernatural abilities and when they open these letters, they are transported to a fantasy world where they will have to battle against a number of evil creatures and eventually even fight the Devil King himself.
This story is actually an adaptation of a light novel series and with it comes a great sounding plot that is a bit similar to a few shows in recent memory. The closest of which would be Dog Days, and it should really come as no surprise that the same director behind that series, Kusakawa Keizou, is helming this anime as well. The story looks like it may develop into a harem of some kind, though that may not be the case by the time is all said and done. Either way, this one is another highlight for me and a good one to finish this list with.
