The Assassin’s Creed Anthology has released and is up for purchase in some regions worldwide, particularly United Kingdom and can be purchased by retailers and Amazon. In honor of these 5 games plus their DLC, Ubisoft has released a trailer showing off all the assassins in the pack and their main motivations of duty, revenge, and freedom for each game.
A solid pack collecting all the console games of the series seems more for those that have been interested but haven’t gotten into the series themselves. The anthology boasts over 100 hours of gameplay for players to leap into as they explore the ages of the Third Crusade, the Renaissance, and the American Revolution. Even better, as the pack has the DLC included players don’t have to worry about missing any of the story or shelling out more cash for it either.
Players can check out the release trailer for the Assassin’s Creed Anthology embedded below and find the game from Amazon UK for PS3 or Xbox 360 HERE.
A fun running gag amongst those who enjoy the Cthulhu Mythos is the combination of the creatures and various themes surrounding the Mythos and Christmas, if only because the juxtaposition of horror inducing monsters and one of the premiere holidays is pretty goofy and fun.
Joining in Red Wasp Design, the makers of the Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Lands iOS game, have put together a fun little advent calendar to count down the days until Christmas with Cthulhu Mythos fixtures, such as the shoggoths sending out there letters to Santa above.
Even better for today only, December 1st, 2012, Red Wasp Design has the iPad and iPhone versions of the advent calendar free. Players wanting a fun and unique countdown to Christmas Day can download the iPad version HERE and the iPhone version HERE.
Time certainly flies when you having fun! Can you believe it another year has gone by and today us here at Capsule Computers we were back to cover at the annual ComicDive event, called yep that’s right “ComicDive 7” in Beijing China! For anyone not familiar on how Comic shows work here in China check out our coverage of last years ComicDive 6 here (event recap) and here (event info).
This year ComicDive 7 was hosted at the China World Exhibition Hall, in Beijing. The home of M.Y. Comic 3 event that took place in February earlier this year. As always with every major Comic / Dojinshi convention hosted in Beijing everything went down without a hitch, the organises for the event certainly put on a good show and with the thousands of people attending this one day event, everything fell into place and everyone had a great time.
As always along with picking up the latest and greatest comics and Dojinshi’s from your favorite anime and tv shows, you can also snap up a variety of other fan related toys, clothes and goodies as well. (make sure you check out the image gallery below or on Facebook for more detail/pics) This year the event organizers opened the doors 30 mins earlier (due to the extreme cold weather) which actually caught a few of the stall owners off guard as they were still preparing and organizing their comics / goods for sale. The mad rush was something we’ve come to expect from a comic book event in Beijing and within minutes the entire Exhibition Hall was jam packed with fans, and we were reminded what it felt like being in a sardine can all over again.
As previously mentioned in last years event coverage for ComicDive 6 if you wanted your favourite book or comic, the plan is and always will be to make sure you know were it is (stall location) by doing your research and then high tailing it over to the stall to buy it. Wasting time by looking at all the stalls one by one to see what they have will certainly on many occasions leave you very disappointed when you finally made it to the stall where your favourite book is, as it would certainly of been sold out by then. This year there were a number of stalls that had queues over 100 meters long!
With every comic book event the Cos-Players come out in FULL FORCE! And this year they certainly did not disappoint. As you can see with the pictures taken below (over 330 gallery images) a lot of effort and time has gone into some of these outfits which I must say were very interesting and amazingly well designed. Cos-Play here at ComicDive 7 once again was probably one of the best I’ve seen anywhere in the world.
The next major Comic Book convention will be Beijing Slash Only (will focus on comics / Dojinshi inspired from US and UK movie, tv shows and games) and will be held in Beijing on the 1st of January 2013 (HAPPY NEW YEAR!) For more details check out the link to the official website / weibo account here.
Check out all the great pics from the even below, let us know what you liked the most or which Cos-Play character you thought was the best dresses. Mine without a doubt was Saber from Fate/Zero.
Peter Molyneux the founder of studio ’22 Cans’ and creator of such gaming classics as Fable: The Journey has spoken out in a manner in which only he can, providing his opinion and deep analysis of the gaming landscape (a subject in which he is considered a pundit). In this particular case his opinion on the Wii U.
“I think the Wii U is good, but I don’t feel it’s great. I find holding the device in my hand — looking up at the screen, and looking down at the device — confusing as a consumer. It’s good, but it’s not great. And we really need these new pieces of hardware to be great in today’s world, because the competition isn’t just consoles anymore. The competition is everything, all the technology.”
It’s evident from his statement that the Wii U confused him a great deal. He can’t seem figure out which screen to look at and is clearly puzzled as to whether the console is good or great – something many of us ponder after making a game that isn’t on rails but is actually on horse.
Regardless of all that, it is genuinely odd that the same man who touted the Kinect as the next revolution in gaming would find playing a Wii U to be confusing.
Do you agree with Molyneux? Is the Wii U too confusing a console for it’s own good? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
GCB Studio: Darren Star Productions, Kapital Entertainment Publisher: ABC Studios Format: DVD Release Date: 17 October, 2012 Price: $32.98 – Available Here
Overview
Texas is a funny state, especially in their recent efforts to separate from the rest of America following Obama’s election. They’re very different and proud of that, there is a very certain type of personality that follows with being Texan, and that is what GCB is about
GCB stands for Good Christian Bitches, and that pretty much sums up this show. GCB is based around a town in Dallas that is full of Christianity, Texans and… Well, bitches. The South isn’t exactly the most popular area for American TV shows to be set, but the comedy of the show certainly fits well with the off-kilter way that ridiculously rich Texans live, talk and act. It shows off that crazy Texan way of life, and is tongue in cheek, as well as having a charm to it that makes you love it.
Story
GCB starts with the husband of the main character Amanda running off with millions of stolen dollars and her best friend. Amanda is then left having to move back to Texas from California since all of her assets have been seized. The fact that when she was in high school she was a cruel, popular girl means that her return isn’t exactly welcome.
GCB is quite hilarious, not only because of the writing, but the acting. Kristin Chenoweth, who plays one of the main characters Carlene, is hilarious and has the ability to really time her lines well. More than once I found myself cracking up more than once at a stunt, line, or expression that she’d pulled.
Not that Chenoweth is the only funny thing in the show, the whole main cast works brilliantly together. They all pull off their comedic roles and have great chemistry with each other, plus the characters are so different and yet they fit together brilliantly.
The storyline starts off fairly linear and without a whole lot of depth, but over time it unravels into a few different directions and the characters that may have been a bit two-dimensional at first, gain a lot more to them and you end up falling in love a bit with the characters and really caring for them.
Even though the show is based in Texas, the land of the male patriarch, the show is full of strong, successful women, and it manages to subvert such sexist ideals while somehow upholding them as well. It’s this great balance that doesn’t make fun of the Texan life, but makes you feel like you’re a part of the joke as well.
Even though there are only ten episodes, so much happens in them and it’s a shame that there are only the ten episodes. Each episode is themed after something Christian, but it never really gets preachy. The amount of religion that is in the show is also tempered with humour and a steady balance between genuine religious sentiment and laughing at it.
There are some story line which are brought up with no clear purpose and dropped afterwards, but that may have been due to the small amount of episodes that the show was given. It is never really allowed to take wing and develop as much as it could, and once it gets really interesting it ends.
Visuals
The set of GCB is breathtaking, absolutely huge and reflects the excess of the Texan nature. The sets reflect each character, as well as the absolutely ridiculous nature of the excessively rich society. Texas is a state with such a personality, and it is reflected brilliantly in the show.
Not only in the sets, but also in the wardrobe, hair and makeup that the characters go through. Everything that is worn by them, barring the California-influenced Amanda, screams Texas, as well as their own unique personalities.
Audio
The soundtrack of GCB works brilliantly to emphasise and bring out the Texan, religion and comedic moments. Most of the scenes are accompanied by the Texan twang of guitars. Plus, you get a few great songs from Kristin Chenoweth, as well as Miriam Shor. These are done mindfully and are representative of their characters, rather than a show of their actual talent (especially as Chenoweth is a Broadway star and has a ridiculously strong voice for her tiny frame).
The Texan accent that is adopted by the actors works well, with Leslie Bibb’s transition from the Texan and California accent being quite good. It never gets overbearing or annoying, just gives it that little bit of Southern flavour, and all the actors pull it off in quite natural ways.
Special Features
There are a bunch of featurettes included in the DVD set about how they brought Texas to the show, which provide a good insight into the show as well as the cast (Miriam Shor is a particularly entertaining interview), as well as bloopers, commentaries and deleted scenes. It’s a well-rounded and interesting effort that’s enjoyable to watch once you’ve finished the series.
It also gives you that little bit extra of the show after you’ve finished the series, although the way that it’s spoken about is a bit depressing, because it is talked about like there will be more to it.
Overall
GCB is a really fun and entertaining show, unfortunately there are only ten episodes for the show, but it’s definitely something that you should watch. It makes you a bit depressed that you won’t be able to see any more of the show or characters.
While avoiding the show will save you the heartache of having a show you fall in love with not be renewed. However, you will miss out on a brilliant show with a stellar cast, great writing and a really lovely group of characters. Unfortunately a few storylines are left up in the air due to the cancellation of the show, but it’s still a good run while it lasts, and I can’t recommend it enough.
Note: The views expressed below are solely the views of the author and do not represent the views of Capsule Computers as a whole.
I am terribly engrossed in the #1reasonwhy campaign occurring on Twitter right now. For many, it probably isn’t a big surprise to read through the countless testimonies of misogyny and disrespect, all of them highlighting the backward view of women held in the gaming community. But for me, I really do find it quite shocking. I’m not afraid to admit that because I have been fully engrossed in the enjoyment of video games as entertainment, I have had my head completely buried in the sand when it comes to the industry’s shortcomings. This movement has forced me to examine all my behavior surrounding gaming, and my everyday life as well so I simply wanted to put down everything I believe that I’ve done wrong and provide my opinion as to how we can fix some things.
To give you some background, I am a 21 year old Caucasian male from a middle-class suburban family located just outside of Melbourne, Australia. I went to a nice school, have a nice part-time job and study at university. Aka the face you see when imagining a gamer-guy making sexist comments over Xbox Live. I don’t do that, mind you. Furthermore, I have plenty of female friends but none that would consider themselves ‘gamers’. To be honest, I have never had any experience involving sexism, or maybe I have and it is so enmeshed in my day-to-day life that I didn’t give it a second thought. Either way, it would appear I have very little authority to comment on the plight of women in gaming.
So what do I bring to the table? I bring some experiences of being a child gamer that then grew up playing video games as a teenager, and that has now grown into a young adult that plays and also writes about video games. Pretty generic, but perhaps this generic voice is one that should be heard as well.
Most of my pre-teen years were spent playing games like Super Mario and Zelda, all first-party Nintendo franchises that don’t showcase particularly tenacious women. I actually remember being pretty unnerved by Sheik turning out to be Princess Zelda. As an 8 year old boy, I didn’t really understand what a princess was doing by being all strong and independent. I was the boy hero; the man was destined to save the day. Also, Samus turning out to be a girl? I think the fact that I was so shocked says more than any words ever could. Of course, I was a young child so maybe you could forgive me.
One diamond in the rough however, was Perfect Dark. After playing my Goldeneye 64 cartridge into early retirement, Perfect Dark caught my eye as another quality FPS. It was fun and innovative, yet I was playing a woman, and an attractive woman at that. Yet, I don’t ever remember being at all disenfranchised by the fact I was playing someone without a Y chromosome, perhaps because there was no struggle for her as a woman in the game. And maybe that is the most troubling sign of all.
This gaming ‘culture’ that we are ascribed to seems to be appeased by putting things in neat little boxes, making sure everything is exactly where we think it should be. Strong men hold guns, win the day and return heroes while the girls look great at whatever they seem to be doing. Yes, this is a generalization and there will be exceptions, but unfortunately the exceptions aren’t penetrative enough and just aren’t changing perceptions.
When I became a teenager, those delightful chemical things started to happen. Video games and not bathing were pretty much my entire life up until then, and suddenly BAM! I like girls. As confusing and exciting as it was (if only 15 year old me knew how disappointing high school would be in terms of dating), I had to find a way to strike a new balance between my interests. So when I stumbled across girls that also liked games… dear good god, I had died and gone to heaven. And when I saw girls online in the gaming arena, whether they are reporters or fellow gamers, I was immediately captivated and did whatever I could to interact. Sometimes these were memorable, positive interactions but more often than not, I am sure I sounded like a blubbering idiot.
One such example of this is Associate Editor of Gamespot Australia, Laura Parker and how I was greatly interested in her from the time she commenced her career there in around 2008. Before that point, I hadn’t been overly exposed to a prominent female in the games industry and as a 16 year old, I became somewhat infatuated with her work, mostly due to the fact she was a cute girl that talked about games. I remember commenting things like “Laura is the cutest girl in gaming” and other such tripe, the sort of thing I now see and cringe. In a similar vein, if I ever heard a girl on Xbox Live, I would immediately ask her questions about why she was gaming and pretty much anything that had absolutely nothing to do with actually playing the game.
I am not proud that I was captivated by Laura’s work because she was an attractive woman, similarly I am not proud of harassing girls online, but I was young and had much growing up to do. I feel as though I was a product of years of male-orientated advertising, in which girls don’t play games however they do look fantastic.
Now, I am a young man and therefore must accept full responsibility for whatever I say and do, be it in real life or on the internet, a view that I believe man people do not share. Does that mean teenagers are able to say and do as they please online? No. It is strange however, because I would never dream of saying such things to a girl when in person. Growing up in the internet age has given us a false sense of anonymity that has frequently been used to discriminate and perpetuate ideas that are clearly not in accordance with progressive values in our time. If we are to change what teenagers, like me 5 years ago, are saying to each other online, we need to examine ourselves as adults and educate teens on how to appropriately and positively conduct themselves on the internet.
But that is sexual discrimination online, what of the countless stories being posted about real-life sexism, particularly in the work place? I really don’t have much experience with this but I imagine this problem is also part of a much broader picture, where the inequality between men and women still bubbles silently under the surface in many, many corporations. The video game industry, which generally prides itself on being an innovative and forward-thinking industry, should take the chance to be a forefront in equality and ensure that the #1reasonwhy campaign turns into a ‘1reasonwhy I love working in this industry’.
And I cannot imagine why women are still not respected in this industry, where vision and creativity are so highly sought after. Women represent just under 50% of the population in the entire world. That’s 50% of all the experiences, intelligence, ideas (both good and bad) that the world has to offer, so why are all these amazing resources undervalued? I legitimately do not understand this rampant form of sexism and feel as though combating it is going to be a slow process.
As I look over some of the responses to all the stories posted, I can see some trolls, some genuinely misinformed people, and everything in between. I am glad that this issue has been brought to the surface with such ferocity, as people cannot help but take notice. I’m sure some great change will come from this, because when the cat is out of the bag, it very rarely wants to go back inside. So next time you plan on making a ‘hilarious’ joke to a girl in CoD, stop yourself and have a read over the #1reasonwhy page, and remind yourself of the damage you’re doing. Help be part of gaming’s bright future and make sure that everyone can be part of it, no matter the gender.
KARA is one of the most popular Korean musical acts in Japan and it only seems natural that much like other popular girl bands (AKB48 anyone?) they would get their own anime based upon them.
The anime series is expected to air at some point in 2013 and will feature all 5 of the girls voicing themselves. The anime will tell the story of the KARA girls as they try to take on new careers. Gyuri becomes a police officer, Seungyeon an astronaut, Nicole a passenger boat captain, Hara will be security for the Monaco royal family, and Jiyoung a firefighter. All of which is expected to be both cute and sexy at the same time, the trademark of KARA.
For those unfamiliar with KARA you can listen to their hit song ‘MR.’ below. Be sure to let us know what you think of KARA getting an anime series based upon them by leaving your thoughts in the comments section.
The fifth and final video on how to dominate the battleground in Monolith Productions latest release, Guardians of Middle-Earth has just been released to the public. In this particular video we learn why teamwork is ultimately the best path to victory on the battlefield and how choosing complimenting classes on your team is a must. A focus on early, mid and late stages of play also helps players to prepare for what they might face and ultimately need to overcome. Early play being the time to take control of healing towers and allowing one player to defend the battleground’s central lane, mid play involves having to deal with level 6 opposing heroes and tough beasties, while later stages involve an all out push to the enemy’s base in order secure a final win.
Available on the 4th of December for PS3 (retail or digital) and Xbox Live, Guardians of Middle-Earth pits players against one another on battlegrounds where they control a hero (of a possible 20 choices) from both good and evil sides with the goal of crushing opposition in a tug-of-war style arena setting. Two teams of five strive for control of the conflict and only by combining all the skills already taught by the videos such as effective use of loadouts, classes, battleground control and of course the basics of combat will they become true Guardians of Middle-Earth.
BlastPoints Developer: Pub Games Publisher: Pub Games Platforms: iOS (Reviewed), Android Release Date: December 6, 2012 Price: $2.99 – Available Here
Overview
BlastPoints is a space-warfare dog-fight shooter for iOS and Android, made by Australian indie developer Pub Games, and funded by Film Victoria. Promising over half a million customisation combinations for your ship, and 9 different play types, BlastPoints sounds as deep as space is vast. So, will BlastPoints blow (blast?) you away or leave you stranded in the far reaches of space, where no one can hear you scream of frustrations? Read on to find out.
Gameplay
To control your ship in Blastpoints, you must use a virtual joystick on the bottom left of the screen. In the options sub-menu – which can be accessed in-game after pressing the pause button at the top right – you are able to lock the joystick at it’s default position or enable it to manifest wherever you touch on screen, as long as it’s within that bottom left quadrant. I chose to “unpin” the joystick, but every now and then when I would press and hold or just move left/right, my ship would do a barrel roll or 180 flip. This was completely unintentional. There is a brief playable tutorial that gives you the basics, but it never mentioned these manoeuvres. I eventually found that swiping in the appropriate direction from the middle of the screen would initiate these moves, so I got quite annoyed when they would inexplicably occur when I was using the joystick. There were also moments when the joystick wouldn’t move to the position of my finger and was stuck even without the locked setting on.
The weapons and boost/brake buttons are in the bottom right quadrant of the screen. Outside of the inadvertent usage of a special or secondary weapon, everything works just fine. There are 5 environments and 9 different game types – although a few of them are just rehashed, souped-up versions of others. The main ones are: Deathmatch, Time Attack, Survival, Waves and Assassination. Now, at any given point, four matches are available, which is potentially discouraging if you’re in the mood for a game type that is not listed at the time. As you beat each one, a new one will take it’s place…which one that is, however, is seemingly random. They all have a certain difficulty level attached to them, ranging from easy to medium to hard. There are special challenges that appear (reference “souped-up” versions) that may be tougher, but allow you the opportunity to attain more BPs than usual.
The five environments are called Squid, Pipe, Refinery, Gyroscope and Cage (basic, right?). Each map has an invisible barrier that the playable will be warned to turn back from once they get close enough. They each also have particular moving parts in them that will force you to dodge and time your path around them as they will do damage if you collide with them (be it a man-made structure or travelling asteroid). As enemy ships enter your shooting range, they develop a red reticule around themselves. There are multiple types of enemies that have their own unique secondary weapons, such as one that sucks your energy away. Whenever you destroy an enemy ship, they will leave behind either battlepoints or special drops. These vary from shields to extra damage bonuses.
From the main menu, you can access the garage. The garage is where you can buy all sorts of upgrades using, you guessed it, battlepoints. These upgrades apply to your weaponry and ship, even allowing you to buy new ships all together. Primary weapons up for sale range from Machine Guns to Rail Guns to Burst Lasers. I actually went back to the game today and found that my Machine Guns, which I used 5,500 BPs for, had re-locked themselves. Very annoying, and hopefully not a common sight for players. Secondary weapons includes Lightning Beams, Proximity Mines and Cluster Missiles amongst others. Special abilities can also be bought, although they will run out and you will have to pay to restock them if you are particularly fond of them. Faster engines with better braking capacity can be purchased too, and if you run out of BPs, you can buy more with in-App purchases. Now, I never buy resources in a game when I can earn them by playing it instead, but I must say that certain parts/upgrades can be quite expensive and it takes too long, in my opinion, to earn the amount of BPs needed sometimes.
Visual
For a mobile platform game, BlastPoints looks fantastic. It utilises Unreal Engine 3, which can scale very well to iOS and Android, and so graphically it can provide like few other engines for these platforms. The presentation is very nice; there’s a great consistency in colour and theme across the board, and the menus are simple. An odd choice is having the images used during the very short loading screens centered in a 4:3 aspect ratio, while the overlay that says “Tap To Begin”, once the game has loaded, is not and extends beyond the borders of the image. It’s not hard to fit an image to a certain aspect ratio, so I believe it would have been a conscious decision, although I don’t know why.
The ship models are well defined, as are the environments. Although, some are very basic, such as the ‘Cage’ level, which basically features the shell of a ship with some rubble floating throughout the area. There’s a good amount of visual differentiation between all of the weaponry, with flashes of green, blue, yellow, red and every colour in between. The same can be said for the environments themselves, with each one made to look more unique through their individual colour schemes. The screen never feels too busy, and the action reads quite well.
Audio
The music is appropriately science-fiction based, with electronic tones used throughout. And that’s just in the menus. The action tracks maintain those same qualities, with much faster, energetic beats and a larger emphasis on the pounding of drum sets. I only came across two unique tracks during actual gameplay and they didn’t seem to have designated environments, play-types or difficulties that they would play on. The sound effects include your typical phasers, “pew-pews” and such for it’s more high-tech laser/energy-based weaponry. All in all, very much in keeping with the genre and elements on screen.
Overall
BlastPoints’ presentation is great, however issues with the controls hurt its score. One of the most frustrating, and damaging occurrences in a video game is inadvertent actions that are not at the fault of the player. They’re rage-quit inducing moments, and unfortunately, with the sensitivity of a touch screen, they were present for me in BlastPoints. Other frustrating issues like miraculously re-locked weapons and restrictions of which game-types you can play at any given point disappoint me, but it’s still a fun game. Once it gets patched re-locking will hopefully, at the very least, be fixed. Regardless, give it a shot, and maybe it’ll win earn some points with you.
Trine 2: Director’s Cut was marked as a launch title for the Wii U, seeing a release already in the states. Australian Wii U owners will have to wait just a bit to grab their beauty from the eShop though, as the game has suffered a slight delay as it is currently awaiting to be approved for the Australian and New Zealand online store.
Worry not however, as by mid-December – Trine 2 for the Wii U will be readily available, and you can see one the most stunning launch titles the platform has to offer for yourselves then. Stay tuned, as once the game goes live for the region, we will bring you an update.
