The good folks at the Japan Foundation have so kindly provided us with two double-passes for the 16th annual Japanese Film Festival to giveaway to all of you lovely readers of ours. The Japanese Film Festival will begin this Wednesday the 14th of November at Sydney’s Event Cinemas George St.
We have a double-pass for the Saturday November 17th 3.30pm showing of Bunny Drop and a double-pass for the Tuesday November 20th 6.30pm showing of Space Brothers. So how do you go in the running to win a double-pass to one of these amazing films? Well it’s quite simple really, head over to our official facebook page and comment on the competition post telling us which film you’d like to see and why!
Unfortunately travel is not provided, so it’s best that you only enter if you have a way to get to the film screening. If you can get there, then get in quick as this competition won’t last long. Head over to the facebook page now and get in with a chance for a double-pass to one of these excellent film.
Ahead of its November 20 launch in North America, Sony Computer Entertainment have released the opening cinematic for Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale and have announced that the game has gone gold in a post on the Playstation Blog. The opening features each character fighting their rival in the game. The first rivalry that is shown is Jak and Ratchet. Other notable rivalries include Sweet Tooth and Kratos, Nathan Drake and Sly Cooper and even Sackboy and Big Daddy, which has to go down as one of the biggest mismatches in video game history. Also in the video is the final boss of the game. Check out the video to see who it is.
In addition to the opening cinematic, Seth Killen has revealed in the comments section of the post that the digital copy of Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale (both Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita) will be a day one release and a digital copy of the Playstation 3 version will still nab the purchaser a free digital copy of the Playstation Vita version via the cross-buy initiative. He also reveals that the game will have hundreds of hours of content, replying to a comment:
Beyond arcade mode with intros, endings, and rival cut-scenes for every character and all the multiplayer stuff, All-Stars has tons of interesting challenges and trials (both overall trials and character-specific stuff). Certainly it’s hundreds of hours of content there, and a very extensive set of unlocks, from titles, to taunts, to character-specific intro and outro moves, musical themes, badges, etc. Hope this helps.
Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale will see a release on November 20 in North America, with releases in other territories during that week. Japan’s release has now been pushed to January 2013, two months after the Western releases of the game.
After the major addition that was the Adventure Update for Minecraft XBLA news from the developers 4J Studios has been very quiet. Well the reason for this is because they are hard at work squashing all of the bugs that were introduced into the game with this update. The next patch that will be released contains over a dozen fixes to various glitches such as chest lids not working properly, various hitbox and creative mode issues and much much more which can be found in the list below.
It is worth noting that the company has revealed over Twitter that Golden Apples and Golden Pumpkin Seeds will be added into the game and will be crafted with a golden ingot, though gold nuggets will be used for the recipe once they are added into the game at a later date. Currently there is no release information for this patch so keep an eye out for more info soon.
Changes and Additions:-
– Added an option to clear the quick select bar in the creative interface.
– Added an option to enable or disable bedrock fog, and set to off by default.
– Added an option to toggle the HUD off/on.
– Added an option to turn the player hand off/on.
– Added a crafting recipe for Golden Apples.
– Added a crafting recipe for Pumpkin Seeds.
– Made cakes stackable.
– Added a How To Play page for Host and Player options.
Fixes:-
– Fix for a problem with signs in online games causing crashes.
– Fix for save renaming deleting the wrong save due to input received during the confirmation flow.
– Fix to the mob generation code to increase the number of animals in the world.
– Fix for chests being incorrectly lit, and rotated for maps from previous versions.
– Fix for problem with the eating animation being shown for players who weren’t eating.
– Fix for problem with chest lids not behaving properly.
– Fix for animals looking like they were taking damage when they shouldn’t.
– Fix for some sounds not playing when the player has an empty hand.
– Fix for lever sounds.
– Fix for fence gate sounds.
– Fix for splitscreen players sometimes having their settings zeroed.
– Fix for being damaged while flying over lava.
– Fix to stop lava, milk and water buckets being empty after use in creative mode.
– Fix for Leader of the Pack achievement being awarded incorrectly.
– Fix for leaderboard stats issue where value stored was incorrect.
– Fix for hitbox problems with glass panes and iron fence.
– Fix for small character display changing color to green.
– Fix for map rendering incorrectly in some situations with clouds disabled.
– Fix for block rendering problem at the edge of the map.
– Fix for splitscreen players not being able to mine in the tutorial.
– Fix for players not being able to sprint/sprint-fly in creative mode if the player was previously in survival mode with a low food bar.
– Fix for arrow damage not being ignored when PvP is turned off.
– Fix for activated pressure plates not working correctly.
– Fix for the low food bar hint appearing when loading a game in creative mode (usually the tutorial world saves).
– Fix to remove the player shadow when the Invisible option in the Host Privileges is used.
– Fix for Red Roses not being generated on the terrain.
– Fix for paintings being pushed by pistons.
– Fix so that players who can’t eat, due to the Trust Players option being off, do not get exhausted.
– Fix for the interface disappearing after a Share to Facebook action.
– Fix to limit the number of Slimes, Ghasts and Silverfish that can be spawned in a world.
– Fix for the cursor position in creative mode being able to go offscreen.
– Fix for players showing on maps when they should not be, after the player dies and respawns.
– Fix for capes displaying wrongly when sprint-flying.
– Fix for capes not displaying in the Nether.
– Fix for capes not displaying when the player respawns.
– Fix for tools taking damage in Creative Mode.
– Fix so Bows don’t need or use up Arrows in Creative Mode.
– Reduced the volume of the chest open/close sound effect.
Roccat Kone[+] Developer: Roccat Platforms: PC Price: $79.99 USD Find a Dealer Here
The Roccat Kone[+] is the first Roccat gaming mouse that supports the new Roccat Talk driver system. It sports a four way mouse wheel, five extra buttons, an ergonomic right handed design, an adjustable weight system, four customizable LEDs, onboard memory, and a 6000DPI laser sensor. The Kone[+] is designed to work with the Roccat Isku for an easy aim mode and interchangeable Easy Shift keys.
The mouse is extremely light weight and has a small chamber on the bottom of the mouse for four 5g weights. This can add a total of 20g to the Kone[+]’s light weight. Although I personally found the 20g to more weight than I cared for, some who enjoy extremely heavy mice may find the Kone[+] too light. Roccat lists the mouse weight excluding the cable as 126g but does not clarify whether or not this includes the 20g of weights. From the feel of the mouse, I assume that it does not include the extra 20g. There is a generous amount of cabling that seems to be standard these days in gaming mice. So unless your desktop tower is halfway across the room, there should be no problems with running out of cable.
The surface of the mouse is a soft material that is soft and smooth to the touch. It is extremely pleasing; however it feels like the coating is not absolutely perfect. There are a few bumps in the coating that are very minor. They cannot be seen except at extremely close inspection, but due to the extremely smooth surface of the mouse, these imperfections feel extremely obvious to the sensitive touch of a fingertip. I found the ergonomics of the mouse to be very comfortable, even with my small hands. It is a larger mouse so most users will be unable to use a claw grip to operate the mouse effectively. The thumb buttons are located in a very natural position and the two buttons located beneath the mouse wheel are also easily accessed. The button above the mouse wheel is a bit of a challenge to press with small hands.
The lighting on the mouse is at a good level of brightness. It is bright enough to be noticeable without being distracting in a dark environment. The drivers allow for a variety of colour options that can be associated with profiles, different colours can be assigned to each of the four LEDs, and the lights can cycle through the variety of colours with different visual effects. Unfortunately the transition is not always smooth. There is an extremely noticeable switch of colours at certain points as the colours cycle from one to the other.
The Kone[+] is armed with a 6000 DPI laser sensor with a maximum polling rate of 1000mhz. The driver provides options for adjusting the sensitivity of the laser sensor in both a general value and a specific value for the X and Y values of the mouse. It is possible to set exact values for each DPI adjustment setting. However to get a temporary DPI adjustment button where the DPI is temporarily lowered for the duration of a button press for short situations calling for high precision like sniping for long distances, a Roccat Isku keyboard must be used with the Roccat Talk drivers installed. I do not really understand why this button must be bound to a keyboard macro when it could just as easily be bound to a thumb button on the mouse.
I found the tracking capabilities of the Kone[+] to be excellent on mouse pads and a variety of non-optimal surfaces such as books, wooden desks, and some slightly shiny surfaces. The drivers have two tools to further tweak the laser’s tracking ability. The first is the Distance Control Unit. For those who have a tendency to lift the mouse due to a small mouse pad or whatever reason, the Kone[+] can either track normally from a centimeter and a bit lifted from the mouse, stop tracking almost the same moment the mouse feet leave the surface, or somewhere in between. The Tracking Control Unit helps fine tune the tracking capabilities on certain mouse surfaces. This works best on matte single coloured surfaces. I personally did not find a noticeable difference with the TCU on or off the mouse surfaces I tested. In addition, several Windows mouse settings such as pointer such as double click speed can be tweaked from within the driver software.
The driver software provides a powerful set of macro editing features. All nine buttons on the mouse and the four way scroll wheel can be bound to a macro. The macro editor starts with a recording macro feature where the appropriate keyboard keys are pressed to record the macro. An advanced macro editor that looks similar to the timeline layout of an audio editing/creation suite or video editing software is available for fine tuning macros. The Easy Shift key can be bound to either of the thumb buttons or if the Roccat Isku Easy Shift key if the keyboard is used in conjunction with the Kone[+]. This almost doubles the amount of macros available on the mouse at the expense of one key of the mouse thumb buttons. The mouse lights up in a light blue to signify the Easy Shift mode is enabled. I really enjoyed the macro system for the Roccat Kone[+]. It is extremely visual and easy to figure out. My only disappointment was the fact mouse buttons such as left clicks cannot be bound to macros. Profiles can be set to trigger on specific .exes. I really liked the fact that three .exes can be set to each profile, allowing for multiple games with similar control schemes to use a single profile.
The drivers also have an option for audio alerts spoken in the Roccat Voice. The voice can announce profile switches, DPI changes, sensitivity changes, and volume changes through the system speakers/headphones. These can be turned off and on separately or the volume lowered in case you prefer a slightly quieter mouse experience. I did I found the announcement for volume, sensitivity, and DPI changes to be unnecessary, but I enjoyed hearing profile changes being called as I scroll through profiles with the mouse.
Overall, the Roccat Kone[+] is an excellent mouse. At $79.99 USD, the Kone[+] is priced competitively against mice from other manufacturers with a similar feature set. It is by far is on the higher end of the wired gaming mouse market. Although the mouse has some very minor physical imperfections and a few quirks, the powerful driver software, flexible macro capabilities, comfortable feel of the mouse, and strong sensor performance makes it a highly recommended purchase. If an Isku keyboard is being used or purchased at the same time, the Kone[+] becomes a must purchase.
Siren Visual have made some major acquisition announcements today as well as provided further details on the release of Tiger and Bunny. The two new titles acquired by Siren Visual are none other than Fractale and Princess Jellyfish. Both series are scheduled for a release in February 2013. Although it has not been confirmed one can presume that Siren Visual will feature the Funimation dub track on both of these releases.
In regards to Tiger and Bunny, Siren Visual have confirmed that after a long wait, the series will finally release in February 2013. It is still unknown what nature the release will be, but if Siren will be following Viz Media’s release, it will be with a full English dub across a DVD and Blu-Ray. But of course that has not been confirmed and is simply speculation on my part.
What do you think of this licensing news? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Under Defeat HD: Deluxe Edition Developer: Rising Star Games Publisher: Rising Star Games Platform: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PS3 Release Date:9th November (UK), 31st October (EU) Price: £29.99
Overview:
The current generation of consoles, specifically the Xbox 360, has proven itself to be a popular and simple means to resurrect a number of Dreamcast games; last year’s Dreamcast Collection being another that came on disc, not to mention HD remakes of games like Jet Set Radio and Ikagura ported on Xbox Live Arcade. Many of these games harbour fond memories from the cult console. Under Defeat, on the other hand, is a little different as, unless they imported it, it won’t have touched players’ Dreamcasts this side of Japan, so Rising Star Games’ release of the game carries extra significance.
Story:
What does that say…oh it’s gone. Like most of these older games, the text is a bit small for modern TVs so the brief backstory information is gone before you had a chance to read it. Not that you need a reason to blow up everything in sight with a blast ‘em up of this nature, here’s what the prologue says:
“For more than ten years, the continent has been divided as the way between the Empire and the Union raged on.
With casualties mounting and exhaustion at its peak, representatives of each side sought to reach a compromise, finally agreeing upon a date for a temporary ceasefire.
However, in the days before the armies were scheduled to lay down their weapons, neither side hesitated to continue fighting, unveiling new tools of war and experimental combat vehicles.
And though the sanction of peace lie just before them, a battle of unprecedented scale was about to begin…”
Gameplay:
Under Defeat is a scrolling shoot ’em up much like Ikagura if not for the 3D view and its implications. You control a helicopter with some serious firepower and can rain thunder down upon the enemy in one of three directions – diagonal right, diagonal left or straight ahead – while you move your aircraft around the screen. Though free to move within the borders of the screen, you are guided through the levels on-rails and you gun down anything that comes into view.
The two main weapons are a rapid fire chain gun which shoots in the direction the vehicle is pointing, and a bomb with a blast radius comparable to that of a small nuke which fills the screen with a fiery explosion. Going into the character selection menu reveals a choice of choppers of different shape and size, which come with their own variation of the weapons, including a new helicopter exclusive to this Deluxe Edition of the game.
It’s not clear whether you’re the good guy or the bad guy (I’m inclined to say bad given the fact you’re invading the opposition with a souped-up helicopeter, a destructive one man army from hell). Either way there’s a lot of casualties for both sides: them because of your superior weaponry; you because the game is tough as old boot leather.
It’s true that some people, the hardcore, as they are known, will probably enjoy this challenge and will have no qualms replaying the campaign repeatedly, starting from the beginning when they get Game Over each time with a new determination to beat it with what they learned from last time. They will make use of the practice modes to plan out the route through each level and each wave of enemy attack. It can be done; that’s why the practice modes are there. However, years of conditioning from modern games, which teach you you’re toughest thing around and if you fail you can just try again, have weakened some players. To this group, the game becomes misery.
To my opinion this goes back to its arcade roots where it was designed to eat up all your money. By being difficult you had to put in more money for extra credits. For no apparent reason, this has been carried over to this retail release in the form of a limited number of credits, effectively locking off the later stages of the game to less able players who won’t be good enough to reach them. What’s really ridiculous is how simple it would have been to have an option for infinite continues or at least greatly increased continues in there as well as the normal, difficult amount. I can only hope an online update could rectify this to allow all to experience the entire game.
False hope is offered in the form of co-op mode. A second player can easily drop by pressing start at any time. With double the firepower and twice as many continues you convince yourself it is possible, but then you realise you’re both eating into the same tight-fisted allowance of continues that a lone player would have. In fact, split between two players – despite being less swamped thanks to a second player to help out – the continues can be used up even faster. That said, the game is more entertaining played on local co-op, it’s just a shame the Game Over system doesn’t grant as much freedom as many players require.
Visuals & Audio:
The two main modes are New Order mode and Arcade mode and each come with their own ‘practice’ modes where you can play through any level you’ve reached in the relevant game mode. New Order mode features the upgraded visuals and the expanded 16:9 screen dimensions, around two times the size of the screen of the original arcade game. Arcade mode is a straight port of the original, featuring the narrow screen that would have been on the arcade cabinet. Both the original and the HD version aren’t lookers, although, like the story, it makes little difference as its value lies solely in gametal. The soundtrack is the brand of Japanese rock synonymous with arcade cabinets. Along with a digital art book, the soundtrack is present on a separate bonus CD in this Deluxe Edition, both of which you can appreciate after playing the game but are mainly there for the benefit of the most devoted of fans.
Overall:
Like most Japanese games, it’s an acquired taste. If you’ve got the patience to die over and over, restart from the beginning, and practice levels in the dedicated game modes to work out a way through enemy attack patterns, then maybe you’re one flight cadet who will make the cut and end up enjoying it. But if, like me, your attention span has been whittled away by the nature of modern games, you’re likely to concede defeat before making it to the end of the game. You’ve got to remember it’s from a time when you were the player not the winner: if you wanted success in this era of gaming you had to earn it through hard slog and weren’t just handed victory on a plate because you were the human against computers.
New details have surfaced in regards to the hotly anticipated 2013 Dragon Ball Z film as well as the films key visual art.
As you can see to the right, the film will feature a ‘battle of the gods’ with Goku taking on his toughest opponent yet in what appears to be the Egyptian god Bastet or alternatively a purple alien kangaroo. The film is said to take place following the clash with Buu in the 10 year void between that battle and the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament.
Akira Toriyama himself is penning the script and overseeing the production of the film. We will keep you up to date as more news on this film comes to light. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below.
The newest anime distributor in Australia Hanabee have today announced several new title acquisitions at the Supanova Expo in Brisbane. Hanabee announced the following titles for distribution throughout Australia and New Zealand:
Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge (Season 2)
Ef: A Tale of Melodies
Alien 9
Bakemonogatari
The means in which each title shall be released is currently unknown. Hanabee noted that more details on the distribution of these titles will follow. They also promised more title announcements at Supanova Adelaide.What do you think of these titles being licensed by Hanabee? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Fafner: Heaven & Earth Studio:Xebec Publisher: FUNimation Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo Release Date: October 30, 2012 Price:$34.98 – Available Here
Overview: Back in 2004 a series was created by the name of Fafner and the anime was brought overseas to North America only a year later courtesy of the now defunct Geneon Entertainment. Since then FUNimation not only rescued the license to re-release the original series, the review of which can be found here, they have also acquired the rights to the anime’s follow-up movie, Fafner: Heaven & Earth. Now while the original series may have been generic to a point, does this movie fare any better?
Story: The story of Fafner: Heaven & Earth picks up two years after the final battle at the end of Fafner where the brave forces of Tatsumiya fought against the very core of the Festum invasion. With nearly two years of peace, the pilots and the rest of the people of Tatsumiya have begun to relax and return to a normal life despite Kazuki still waiting for the return of the missing Soshi and the mental scars everyone must bear from the horrible battles they faced.
However this peace is suddenly shattered when a new form of Festum appears and starts attacking the island with a new set of tactics that mimic those used by the military forces of the island. As the pilots return to the fight with a few new faces, a mysterious ship appears at the island and within it contains something they have never seen before. A Festum in human form. This Festum tells the humans that he is a messenger from Kazuki’s lost friend Soshi.
While this new Festum has appeared and begun living amongst them in an attempt to learn more about simple human life, other Festum continue to attack and lay waste to the island and it’s inhabitants. The people of the island have a critical choice to make, either work with this human-like Festum and try co-existing with the creatures or face being ground to dust by the constant attacks of the Festum forces. What will happen as the battle against the alien Festum continues?
Now it is worth noting that very little explanation is given regarding the events leading up to this movie, so it is essential that the viewer has seen the original series before trying to watch this, for if they were to try they would be so deep in the dark almost nothing in the series would make sense. That being said, Fafner: Heaven & Earth already has one thing that makes it a major improvement over the television series. A faster pace.
The original Fafner series was incredibly slow paced with any plot points taking multiple episodes to work themselves out. Now while it may have been a twenty six episode series, the story ultimately fell flat with more focus on overly-dramatic scenes than anything else. However with the Fafner: Heaven & Earth movie length limitations, viewers are instantly thrown into the middle of things with plenty of action sequences and a number of new developments to wrap their minds around.
Perhaps the most interesting part of watching the Fafner: Heaven & Earth movie is seeing the new Festum human interact with others and come to grips with various human emotions. While there is still plenty of drama for the returning cast of characters, witnessing this character undergo these experiences is something unique and worth watching.
That being said, Fafner: Heaven & Earth provides a rather solid series of events that lead up to the next final battle, though even those who’ve seen the original series may lose track of the story thanks to the fact that it still poorly delivered despite the faster pace. However with a few new twists and the difficult choices that Kazuki must make throughout Fafner: Heaven & Earth the movie holds itself together well enough throughout its hour and a half air time.
Visuals: it is very interesting to see the jump in quality that Fafner: Heaven & Earth sees now that it was created back in 2010 compared to the 2004 television series. It also helps that Studio Xebec, the same studio for the original series, has returned and spent a lot more time making sure everything presented in the movie is impressive.
There are plenty of quality fast-paced action sequences which are now presented in glorious HD and the mechs and Festum have never looked better. It is worth noting that the character designs have remained the same, so this means that they retain their relatively generic appearances but since the overall quality of the animation has improved, the character designs are more tolerable this time around.
Audio: Now one thing that any fan should know is that the original Fafner series was dubbed back in 2004 by an entirely different company. This means that now in 2012, FUNimation has had to try and bring back a cast of voice actors who haven’t worked on this project in eight years. Unfortunately only one member of the cast returns so there are some differences in the casting, on the other hand the new cast does do a great job selling the story and voicing the characters by not only doing their best to match the original cast but putting more effort into their performances than the original cast.
That being said, a Japanese voice track is still available for those who prefer that route. As for the background music in Fafner: Heaven & Earth it is rather generic with standard music tracks that viewers will feel like they have heard a million times before. Unfortunately the same can be said for the movie’s theme songs performed by Angela only the one dramatic insert song is worth listening to and really helps the scene have a deeper impact, while her other songs sound similar to many other action-type songs in the past.
Extras: As far as bonus features go, Fafner’s movie is rather scarce. There are your standard promotional materials such as trailers for various FUNimation releases, a trailer for the movie and a selection of commercials that were aired in Japan before the movie’s premiere, as well as a commentary track.
Considering the only thing in this release is one singular movie, the commentary track is actually the full length of the movie which means you will be listening in to Jeol McDonald, the director and voice of Misao and Micah Solusod who provides the voice for Kazuki talk for a full hour and a half. The commentary is rather informative as the two discuss the difficulties of working with an already established product with a new cast, their starts in the industry and more. It is certainly an interesting listen and is mildly comedic and the amount of information provided with this extra-long commentary is something that cannot be found in your standard twenty-four minute commentaries.
Overall: Fafner: Heaven & Earth is still plagued by a number of issues that resounded within the Fafner anime series, but a few small issues have been resolved to make the experience enjoyable despite these flaws. Returning fans will be eager to see what will become of the cast now that two years have passed and the newly introduced human Festum provides a new and enjoyable plot point. While it may contain some very high quality battles, Fafner: Heaven & Earth resolves a number of problems but still falls short of standing out from the rest of the pack, but not by as much as before.
Roccat Isku Manufacturer: Roccat Platform: PC Price: $89.99 USD Find a Dealer Here
As a writer, a good keyboard is worth its weight in gold. We spend hours on these things, typing away as we practice our craft. As a PC gamer, a good keyboard is just as important. We also spend hours on these things, using fewer keys at much higher repetition. Thankfully, the latest technological space race in the PC Gaming peripheral market is the humble keyboard. There are plenty of options to choose from, a far cry from the old days of the beloved grey IBM keyboards.
Roccat’s new top of the line gaming keyboard is the Roccat Isku. It is an illluminated rubber domed type keyboard with medium height keys, eight physical macro keys, a large wrist rest, and eight media keys. It features a powerful set of drivers and it is the first Roccat keyboard to support the Roccat Talk feature. Paired with a Roccat Kone[+], Kone Pure, or a Kone XTD, the two devices are able to work together to create macros that can perform functions on both devices at the same time.
Physically, the Roccat Isku is a large keyboard. Although not nearly as large as the venerable monster sized original Logitech G15, the Isku takes up a lot of physical space with its large non-removable wrist rest. Those with small desk areas will need to measure their free space ensure there is enough room for both the keyboard and mouse. The angular looking keyboard itself is a mixture of glossy fingerprint absorbing black plastic with a textured wrist rest. The wrist rest is at a perfect angle for comfortable typing marathons. The bottom of the keyboard has channels in the plastic to assist in cable management and extremely grippy materials. Even with the keyboard feet popped out, I found the keyboard did not move a millimeter in regular usage.
Typing on the keyboard was an extremely enjoyable experience. Although I consider myself a fan of mechanical keyboards, I found transitioning from the extremely low actuation forces of Cherry MX Blue switches to the Isku to be rather pleasant. The force needed to depress the keys are slightly higher than the Cherry MX Blue mechanical switch, but are still within a comfortable range to allow for fast and comfortable typing for extended periods of time. The keys feel extremely sturdy and do not have the loose feeling of cheaper keyboards. I personally did not find a major difference typing with the medium key height and a regular key height. However the shorter height provides a smoother aesthetic look and may be more familiar for those who mainly work on laptop keyboards.
A small touch that I really appreciated was the home key ridges. Traditionally ridges are placed at the F and J keys to help touch typists find their home keys. On the Isku, an additional ridge is located on the W key. I have extremely small hands so reorienting my keyboard hand after physically moving my hand to reach the 6 key is always a difficult problem when playing RPG games like Torchlight or World of Warcraft. This extra ridge on the W key made it extremely easy to find my way back to gaming home keys without having to quickly glance down on the keyboard.
The keyboard lighting is lighter blue, probably closer to a dark powder blue than the more traditional royal blue lighting. There is a physical button that allows users to cycle through five different brightness settings, but the driver software provides a slider to set the keyboard from 0-100% brightness. Additionally, the level of lighting after a set period of idle time can be set to save power or lower the amount of light in a room if you sleep in the same room as the keyboard. I found the brightness levels to be bright enough to be obvious without ever getting bright enough to be distracting. I really appreciated the ability to turn off the keyboard when the computer is left idle.
There are five keyboard style macro keys on the far left of the keyboard and three mouse style keys right underneath the space bar. Additionally, the Caps Lock key has been completely removed in favour of an Easy Shift key. Yes, let me repeat this brilliant miracle that should have been done years ago. The caps lock is removed from the keyboard. Let that sink in for a moment. No more accidently doing the internet equivalent of standing up in the middle of a coffee shop and SCREAMING TO THE WHOLE WORLD WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY followed by a sheepish apology for accidently depressing the caps lock key. I absolutely love this. I cannot figure out why on earth manufacturers have not removed the Caps Lock keys from keyboards sooner. For those who still feel the strange need to have a caps lock key, one can be easily macroed to one of the many macro keys on the keyboard.
The Easy Shift key effectively doubles the possible amount of macros available then turns every letter and number key on the left hand side of the keyboard into a macro button. This provides a grand total of 36 macros all easily in reach of the left hand. Additionally, the 8 media keys and all twelve function keys can be bound to more macros. The amount of options on macro key placements the Easy Shift key brings is a God send for button intensive games such as World of Warcraft PvP. I found with most traditional macro keyboards, the more macro buttons added, the further distance my small hands has to travel to hit said macro key and the longer it took me to reorient myself. By being being able to macro all the keys around my WASD key, I found myself suddenly able to react quicker and recover faster from drifting from my default hand position. Unfortunately, those who favour the directional arrow keys are out of luck as the rest of the keyboard keys are not programmable.
The keyboard supports five different profiles loaded up at the same time and can record macros on the fly with an easy macro record button. The keyboard is also paired with the excellent Roccat drivers. For those who are using a Roccat Talk supported Kone mouse, an extra Roccat Talk driver will need to be downloaded to allow the mouse and keyboard to interact. Having both devices allows the Kone’s Easy Shift button modify macros on the Isku and vice versa. As an added bonus, the Isku can macro keys to temporarily lower then sensitivity of the mouse to make finer adjustments while sniping long distances. Although it was a little strange to me that only the keyboard could bind such a key, the ability to do so was a pleasant bonus.
The driver software is a little intimidating at first glance. The amount of things that can be adjusted, tweaked, and fiddled with is absolutely impressive. Once I got over the initial intimidation, I found a powerful macro editor that allowed for automatic profile switching based on .exe’s being launched. Macros can be finely tuned in a regular recording mode that can be triggered with a keyboard press or through the drivers. The advanced macro editing provides a macro editing UI that will be immediately familiar to anyone who has used an audio editing or creation program or a video editor. Within the drivers, it is possible to disable the right and left Windows key, the application key, the tab key, and the left shift keys. This is set to a per profile basis. Finally, sound feedback can be enabled on the drivers. The Roccat voice heard in all their advertising can declare which profile number is selected on profile changes, announce the beginning of an on the fly macro recording, and call out countdown timers. Although this can be a little gimmicky at times, I appreciated having the audio cue as an assurance that my game specific macros were loaded correctly. I have been floored by the quality of Roccat’s drivers for the Isku. It is hands down possibly the best driver software I have experienced to date.
My only disappointment with the Roccat Isku is that it is not a mechanical keyboard. Although the Isku is priced competitively to similar keyboards both mechanical and domed, I believe there is a large growing market for mechanical keyboards. The Isku’s features would lend itself well as a mechanical keyboard, even at the cost of a higher retail price for a mechanical Isku. Roccat has created a sturdy keyboard that is visually appealing, solidly built, pleasant to type on, has enough macros to appease the biggest addict, and a killer driver set that has set the bar where other driver software should be compared against.
Siren Visual have made some major acquisition announcements today as well as provided further details on the release of Tiger and Bunny. The two new titles acquired by Siren Visual are none other than Fractale and Princess Jellyfish. Both series are scheduled for a release in February 2013. Although it has not been confirmed one can presume that Siren Visual will feature the Funimation dub track on both of these releases.
New details have surfaced in regards to the hotly anticipated 2013 Dragon Ball Z film as well as the films key visual art.
