You know how most gamers in the West watch Japanese videos for games and wonder what is being said? Well this time it looks like it is the Japanese viewers that are going to be reading subtitles, because D3 Publisher has released a very strange promotional video for their upcoming PlayStation 3 titles Dream Club Complete Edipyon! and Dream Club Zero Complete Edipyon!.
These games are only being released in Japan and there probably is zero chance for these titles being released in English, however the video below is in full English as two guys describe various things within the game and also act like the biggest otaku in the world. Check out the trailer below and who knows, maybe this is a good sign from D3.
Today 5pb. revealed that the popular Steins;Gate game as well as the fan disc Steins;Gate Hiyoku Renri no Darling will be released on the PlayStation Vita in Japan. Both titles will be released on March 2013 next year and will cost 7,140 yen and 6,090 yen respectively.
Famitsu has also detailed that a special double pack will be released alongside the normal versions and will include a secret item, a metal charm and a special ticket to the movie, Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryoiki no Deja vu. Unfortunately, it is highly doubtful that the titles will make it over to the West in any form, though importation is always a possibility.
With the recent rise of paid DLC for Nintendo titles, many people were concerned that Animal Crossing: New Leaf would be swamped with multiple DLC packs featuring new clothes or items. However it seems you will not have to worry about that according to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.
“We do not intend to make downloadable or add-on content available for every type of game. We would like to supply consumers with only add-on or downloadable content which they are happy to pay for as compensation for creative work.
“For example, some might say that it would be unbelievably profitable to provide paid add-on content for Animal Crossing: New Leaf, but we were concerned that a game in which you enjoy yourself more by the power of money would not be suitable, and we decided to avoid such a feature after an intensive discussion with the development team.”
Those looking to pick up Animal Crossing: New Leaf in North America and Europe can do so next year when the game is released exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS.
Today Namco Bandai launched a teaser website for the previously revealed Tales of Hearts R. The official website can be found here and in it we see one image of how the game will look on the Vita as well as a few Japanese specs for the title.
The game will now feature 3D characters rather than sprites and will include full voice work for story events, new events in general and a new character called Calcedoni. The game will be released in Japan in Spring 2013 and considering Namco Bandai is localizing Tales of Xillia early next year, perhaps there is some hope for this Vita remake to reach the West as well.
If for some reason you haven’t picked up Skyrim since it was released last year and happen to live in a few special European countries such as Germany and the UK, then you will be happy to hear that Bethesda has revealed that they will be releasing a Skyrim Premium Edition over in those regions.
The bundle includes a world map a T-shirt, postcards, physical novel and a bonus disk with special features. If you were hoping to pick up this package in North America then you will be sad to learn that the package will not be released in the States. It is worth noting that this version also does not contain any of the DLC released so far for the game, so there’s that.
Everyone Singfrom O-Gamesfeatures 35 tracks from current chart-topping artists such as Nicki Minaj, The Wanted, Taio Cruz, Michael Bublé and Jessie J and will get your party started for a night of belting, intense (or friendly) competition and loads of fun! Songs too new for you? Not to worry because hits from the last few decades have been thrown into the mix as well including Take on Me by A-ha, All Night Long (All Night) by Lionel Richie, Picture of You by Boyzone and Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus.
This party game which supports up to 4 microphones, features many modes to keep you and your friends entertained and singing all night long. The modes include Team Classic where two teams are pitted against each other with the song of their choice, the highest scoring team declared the winner; Last Man Standing where a team loses a life whenever someone from it sings badly so when a team loses all their lives, the other team wins; and Tug of War, where two teams sing simultaneously and when one gets “pulled” across the centre line for singing worse for too long, they lose!
Everyone Sing is out now for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii with bundle packs available for either one or two Logitech USB microphones.
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn Volume 4 Studio: Sunrise Publisher: Madman Format: DVD Release Date: August 1st, 2012 – OUT NOW Price: $24.95 – Available HERE
OVERVIEW
The Mobile Suit Gundam series is a franchise that has defined not only a viewing genre of its own, but also the tastes of many young anime fans in both eastern and western regions of the world. The concept alone has sold itself over the many years of production: Giant robots fighting in wars. In Space. The latest of these series localised and adapted to the western viewership is Gundam Unicorn, a series that returns viewers to the original continuity of the Gundam franchise. About a year ago, we reviewed the first volume of the series on this website. Despite a few minor misgivings, the first volume as a whole felt like a solid introduction to the brand new series.
Although Gundam Unicorn as a whole has been receiving praise from both western and eastern viewers, the major concern commonly voiced about this series is the painstakingly slow release schedule. Each of the hour long episodes have generally been released six months apart from one another in Japan. Does that mean the series is bad? Not necessarily, but at the same time, can the content justify the stagnant release dates?
STORY
Like the previous volumes of the series, the fourth volume of Gundam UC is set in the Universal Century era, the same timeline from the original Gundam series. The series protagonist Banagher Links has found himself embroiled in the latest of many conflicts to break out within this continuity. After suffering numerous defeats at the hands of the Earth Federation, the space faring principality of Zeon has gone into hiding. When a rumour surfaces about a mysterious artefact called ‘Laplace’s Box’ surfaces, the Zeon remnants known as “The Sleeves” enact a plan to capture it, and harness its secrets to avenge their losses in wars past. As it turns out, Banagher’s late father was responsible for the development of the Unicorn Gundam, which serves as the “key” to Laplace’s Box.
After being captured by the Sleeves, Banagher is given a firsthand look at the lives of people who have traditionally been considered “the enemy” by the older series, and much of the current series up until this point. He spends time among the people and discovers that the people of Zeon are not all members of the terrorist or radicalist groups that the Federation described. Following the trail to find Laplace’s Box takes Banagher and the Sleeves to Earth, where he sees that both sides of the conflict have been equally capable of various horrors in war. He even befriends a few Sleeves members who share his attitudes on the current conflict.
As a large scale conflict breaks out in the Federation Capital at Dakar between the Earth and Sleeves forces, Banagher finds himself torn between the two groups. However, when the Sleeves deploy a massive destructive mobile armor, piloted by a not-so-sane Zeon pilot, Banagher takes it upon himself to fight for only one reason: to protect the lives of the innocent. However, in order to do so, he needs to master the control system of the Unicorn Gundam. To fight for his ideals, Banagher learns to take control of the Gundam, rather than idly letting the Gundam control him.
The volume also takes time to focus on members of the minor cast. One of Banagher’s Federation allies, Riddhe, takes it upon himself to look after the female lead Mineva Zabi in Bangher’s absence, despite her objections to needing protection. Again, with Mineva/Audrey I feel like her presence in the series at large is unnecessary. While she is an important character in terms of continuity, her screen time feels wasted a majority of the time. Part of it is her overbearing “anti-war” stance, and the other her uptight upper class mannerisms.
While I was personally disappointed that Marida Cruz got the short end of the stick in screen time, much of her back story was more deeply explained, which strongly links the continuity together, especially between the UC and ZZ series. However, I was definitely pleased to see the series return of Bright Noa, one of the series longest running characters, and CO of various past Gundam protagonists.
The story as a whole is well told, but the pacing of the presentation feels inconsistent. Too much of the screen time is devoted to Riddhe and Mineva’s own personal struggles. Banagher doesn’t even show up until partway through the second act. And while the action scenes are well developed, those featuring the actual Gundam of the series are lacklustre and bland. To the uninitiated, the series may also seem confusing as a whole, as even I found it difficult to keep up with who each of the characters are at points, and where the alliances currently sit. If you want to watch this volume, from a plot perspective, it’s strongly advisable that you sit down and watch the first three volumes first.
VISUALS AND AUDIO
One of the strongest indicators of the evolution of the Gundam franchise is the increasingly detailed visual quality. The character modelling and the environments are reflective of the series origins, while still showing a degree of fresh flair. But the real development comes in the form of the mobile suit modelling and animation. The 4th volume features a few scenes that serve as something of a “gallery” of vintage suits from the 70’s and 80’s series presented with modern animation. Of course, the presentation of the current generation suits and special effects is also pulled off very well. The combat animations are so fluid and well drawn that they exude a strong sense of realism.
The audio quality of this volume is also strong. The soundtrack, while not what one would call addictive, is strongly reflective of the philosophical back story that is portrayed in this volume. Volume 4 feels more like a drama for it, as opposed to action oriented. The pacing of the musical scores, as well as the new intro and closing songs are more tame than with the other openings and closings of the series. The voice acting quality has also improved a bit since the original volume 1, but mostly on the parts of the minor and support cast. To me, Banagher’s English transition still makes him seem less appealing as a protagonist, though he does have a few significant “man-it-up” moments this time around.
EXTRAS
With only a single hour long feature episode to the DVD, one would hope that there would be an abundance of extra features. Thankfully, volume 4 delivers on that.
One of the concessions made for the slow release schedule of the series is the addition of a summative “Story So Far” selection on the extras menu. If you’ve happened to have forgotten what happened in the last few volumes, this feature allows for a quick catch up of the events of volumes 1-3. A handy feature for those uninitiated to the series, or those who want a quick refresher. There is also a ‘highlights’ reel of the previous episode, which shows off the best bits of volume 3, for those curious about the fine details glossed over in the ‘Story So Far”
Other extras featured on the DVD include the standard Madman recipe: promotional trailers for other Madman published series, as well as promotional clips and TV commercials released in Japan to advertise the release of this fourth volume.
OVERALL
When it comes down to it, Gundam UC is a series best watched not as an ongoing series, but rather as a successive set of OVA releases. To its credit, any viewer can pick up any one of the volumes and still find it enjoyable. If you’re the kind of viewer that gets joy out of seeing things get blown up frequently, and enjoy thoroughly animated action sequences, then Gundam UC is worth a watch. However, for those looking for a strong ongoing story, my recommendation would be to at least wait until the whole series is completed before you decide to pick up one of these volumes.
Over the weekend IO Interactive and Square Enix released a new trailer for their upcoming game Hitman: Absolution. The trailer is short but very sweet as Agent 47’s brutal efficient killing is all set to a remix of the song “Roadgame” from Kavinsky. Those who like the song will be able to pick it up in his album which will be released later this year.
Those who want to check out the trailer can see it below and the game itself can be picked up worldwide in less than a month on November 20th when it will be released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Dragon Ball Z for Kinect Developer:Spike Chunsoft Publisher:Namco Bandai Platform:Xbox 360 (Kinect Required) Release Date: October 9, 2012 Price:$39.99 – Available Here
Overview: Dragon Ball Z is probably one of the most famous anime series in the West and you would be hard pressed in finding a person who hasn’t seen at least a part of this legendary series. Over the years Namco Bandai has brought us a number of Dragon Ball Z fighting games and now the company has chosen to take advantage of the Kinect’s unique capabilities. I mean, who hasn’t pretend they could shoot a kamehameha? The question is, does the Kinect work well with this game or has it become something that should be erased with the Dragon Balls?
Story: Now while fans of the Dragon Ball Z series probably could recite the entire story of the series by heart at this point, there are a number of disappointing issues with the way Dragon Ball Z for Kinect handles its story arcs. Now players will be happy to hear that the game does cover everything from when Raditz lands on planet Earth, to the Freiza saga, the Android and Cell battles and the finale with Majiin Buu.
Unfortunately while the game does include all of these major story arcs, the term “arc” should be used very loosely with what is presented in the game. While players will be able to experience every key battle in the each story arc there is practically nothing done to flesh out these storylines and even with the focus solely on major battles, gamers are given only a small glimpse of the each battle, with only one or two brief cut scenes displayed before a battle.
As such this game’s storyline is at its best only when those playing it simply want to fight the major battles in the series and simply want a no nonsense fight with almost no storytelling whatsoever or even a set up for some battles. The fact that the series’ memorable storyline has been reduced to such a simple stub of what it used to be will be a major disappointment to fans of the series and anyone who may be introduced to the series through this game.
Visuals: It is interesting to note that Dragon Ball Z for Kinect is an absolutely gorgeous game as far as graphics are concerned. The cel-shading in the game is absolutely great as the characters have never looked better. The same can be said for the environments you will be duking it out in.
While players do miss out on how great their fighter looks during combat it is interesting to see how these fights occur from a first person angle. Various punches and kicks will be thrown from this view and impact your opponent, while you will have to defend standard attacks with block or swaying motions. This new perspective is certainly a nice take on the fighting found in DBZ, though players will often be thrown out of first person mode for any combo attacks or special moves which will then be relegated to simple quick time event motions, which is sad as the various attacks would look very interesting from this new perspective.
Audio: Considering the wide reach that Dragon Ball Z has had and how the English dub for the anime series has become something that almost every anime fan in North America has seen at this point, many fans of the series will be disappointed to hear that a large number of the original voice actors do not return to reprise their roles in Dragon Ball Z for Kinect.
The various characters that have had their voice actors replaced are still voiced well and are mostly close to the originals, meaning newcomers may not notice anything different. That being said, the game does feature some decent sound effects to go along with all of the fighting and explosions that occur within each battle.
Gameplay: Dragon Ball Z for Kinect allows the player to step into the shoes of some of their favorite fighters through only two gameplay modes; a story mode and a simple score attack mode where you try to top your score from the story mode in each fight. As such, anyone hoping to fight side-by-side with another member of the household will be disheartened to hear that there is no such option in the game.
Now battles are fought in a first person perspective and the way to win is simply to drop your opponents health number down to zero. This can be done through a variety of different attacks that all must be performed using the Kinect. When the player is within strike range they can throw punches and uppercuts as well as kicks to the enemy and whenever they are out of your range you can perform ki blasts that fly towards the enemy simply by punching.
You won’t always be on the offensive however as you will also have to use your arms to block incoming attacks and sway forwards, backwards, left or right to dodge certain attacks as well. You can even jump in separate from an up-close battle and move into ki-blast range. It is worth noting that as you perform standard punches and kicks, you will raise a small combo meter that, when filled, will enter a quick time event sequence where the player must rapidly punch forwards to perform a string of combo hits.
Now while basic attacks may work fine, there are some issues with your super attacks. Anything done with the Kinect boils down to how well it can read the player’s motions and while basic attacks and dodging work well enough, performing a super attack can be hit and miss with the way the Kinect tracks the player. Some super moves such as Goku’s signature kamehameha or Krillin’s Destructo Disc work well enough, while other special moves are nearly impossible to perform thanks to the fact that the Kinect has issues recognizing some of the poses. It is also worth noting that actions that require rapid punching, such as combo attacks or pulling away/defending from incoming opponents, often fail simply due to the Kinect not picking up the rapid motions.
Though you shouldn’t be too concerned about how the Kinect picks up your motions as simply performing the most basic of punches and kicks is pretty much what Dragon Ball Z for Kinect boils down to. The fights are very repetitive and often extremely easy to win as your opponents are not only hesitant to defend themselves but any of their attacks are easy to block or dodge. Meaning that for nearly all of the fights you will play will simply involve constant punching, a few kicks, a few blocks and maybe a special attack if you want to spice things up. This quickly becomes repetitive and bland with barely any challenge.
As mentioned earlier, the game’s story mode is very short thanks to the fact that it lacks substance; players will find themselves a rather short game here. While there is some replay value to be found in the Time Attack mode as you try to best your scores, these are rather anemic inclusions. It is worth noting that there is an anime OVA included on-disc with this release in the form of the never before released in America Episode of Bardock. The episode is twenty minutes long and deals with a what-if scenario involving Bardock. This is a nice inclusion but one that barely pads out the games limited play time.
Overall: On paper Dragon Ball Z for Kinect sounds like it may be one of the best Kinect experiences you may find outside of a dance game. However it simply boils down to being a bare-bones offering that provides simplistic and repetitive fights against some of the biggest opponents in Dragon Ball Z with absolutely zero build-up. To top that off, anything that spices up the action usually is met with the Kinect failing to recognize your motions. Dragon Ball Z for Kinect could have been something great, but ultimately is something that should be passed up unless you are dying to see how Episode of Bardock turns out.
RollerCoaster Tycoon has been a fan favorite franchise for over a decade, and finally, we can play it on the 3DS thanks to Atari and Namco’s new re-imagining for the platform. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D features the same gameplay we all remember, but with some new features added in to compliment the 3DS’ built in tech, making the experience brand new for all involved.
Features include:
An entirely new gameplay mode called “Coaster Story”, which blends together tutorials and park challenges into a cohesive and entertaining narrative and offers players tons of special unlockable content
The first-person view for coaster rides fully immerses players with the innovative 3D display exclusive to Nintendo 3DS
The ability to freely customize the design of roller coasters and theme parks with the use of a stylus and the touch-screen interface
Just like at a real theme park, take a snapshot of yourself on a ride and share it with your friends
Gyro sensor allows players to look around their theme park by simply tilting their Nintendo 3DS
Create the ultimate coaster and easily share it with friends through StreetPass
·Invite your StreetPass Mii Plaza friends to your theme park
Yes, it sounds great, and the final product isn’t too shabby. We will have our own review going live soon enough, but for those who are hardcore fans of the coaster park builder, you can pick up your copy as of now.
