If you are one of the millions of people who went out and picked up a copy of Halo 4 today then you may be one of the millions of other players who are having issues connecting to the game’s multiplayer servers. A large number of users have begun complaining about a “server unavailable error,” which I myself am encountering, that prevents the player from reaching multiplayer matches.
Microsoft has stated that they are aware of the issue and that they are working on fixing these issues, but it is certainly unfortunate that many fans are unable to join games and play online with their friends.
If you were concerned that Watch Dogs wouldn’t be dropping onto your consoles next year then you can take it easy. Today during a financial call with investors CEO Yves Guillemot stated simply that “Watch Dogs will be coming next year.”
Ubisoft has stated that they are planning on bringing Watch Dogs to the PC, PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 next year but no word has been given about a possible Wii U release for the title at this time. For those who don’t know, Watch Dogs is a third-person action shooter that takes place in a futuristic world teeming with everything a science fiction fan would love.
In a rather strange turn of events, it seems that Dragon Ball Z Kai is actually going to continue past the Cell Saga and wrap up the series with the Majin Buu Saga. What makes this strange is the fact that according to the voice actress who provided this news, the show will only be released internationally and will not air in Japan.
As discovered first by Kanzenshuu, Mayumi Tanaka, the voice of Krillin in each Dragon Ball series, reported on her blog yesterday that she was recording more dialogue for Dragon Ball Z Kai and that she and other cast members were recording voice work for the scene where Goten and Trunks enter the adult competition of the World Martial Arts Tournament.
Today it was announced by Viz Media’s Neon Alley that the English dub of Bleach the Movie: Hell Verse, will be shown for the first time ever on the streaming service. The movie will appear on Sunday November 25th at 8:00 p.m. EST.
Interestingly enough, this stream of the show will occur before the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the movie hit stores on December 4th. As for the plot of the movie, a number of Sinners from Hell have discovered that Bleach’s main hero, Ichigo, could be the key to their freedom. In an effort to bring Ichigo to hell, the Sinners have kidnapped Ichigo’s younger sister and taken her to hell. Ichigo, his friends and a mysterious man named Kokuto venture to Hell to save his sister, but at what cost?
Hello everyone and this is your host speaking. Now I’ve been a host for this podcast for just around 20 episodes or so and I just wanted to say thanks for tuning in each and every week that we have done this show. Unfortunately for you, this will be the final episode to carry this podcasts format for we will be moving to a new format in the coming weeks.
Please enjoy our final show of this format.
Cast: Luke Halliday, Travis Bruno and Dustin Spencer, Phil Federico; hosted by: Benjamin Webb.
Music for this podcast is from: Pokemon Black and White 2
Thanks for listening and let us know what you think!
Thanks for listening. Copyright Capsule Computers Pty Ltd – All Rights Reserved. All Other Samples Are Copyright And Property Of Their Official Copyright Holders.
Frontier Entertainment have announced their kickstarter campaign to reinvigorate the Elite franchise of space simulators from the early 90s as Elite: Dangerous. This is something that many older generation gamers will appreciate as I’m sure a fair few of them have owned and enjoyed this title.
What sets Elite apart from its competition is that it uses procedural generation of galaxies, races and political systems to ensure the game is different and enjoyable on each approach. This means that two players may have entirely different gameplay experiences in the game.
The main objective in Elite is to accrue as much money as possible from the universe. The game has players beginning with one ship and 100 credits and they must take that and do the most that they can with it. This can come in the forms of trading, assassinations and more.
Be sure to check out the Kickstarter page here for more info.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz Developer:SEGA Publisher:SEGA Platform:PlayStation Vita Release Date:October 23, 2012 Price: $29.99 – Available Here
Overview: There are game series which seek to deliver a powerful storyline developed throughout many releases and then there are simple and fun titles which are improved over time into creating an experience that many people will enjoy. Such is the case with the Super Monkey Ball franchise which appeared on the GameCube back in 2001.
With a simplistic goal and a unique look, it was unlike anything most of the world had experienced. Now over the last eleven years multiple titles have been released across a number of consoles and now Super Monkey Ball has made its way to the PlayStation Vita in the form of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz. Is it worth your time? Let’s find out.
Visuals & Audio: With the smaller screen and power of the Vita, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz is a gorgeous game full of vibrant colors, well-crafted levels with each stage featuring a special theme, such as a special toy level, a dinosaur level and more, that sets it apart from others. Also the monkeys that are trapped in their little balls are animated well, in fact this Vita version may have the best looking versions of AiAi and the rest.
It is also worth noting that the title does not feature any voice work, though it does feature a number of neat little monkey noises. As you make your way through each stage you are presented with a rather simplistic but enjoyable set of background music that change between worlds. These songs usually match the theme of each stage well and help sell the theme as you roll through it.
Gameplay:
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz is, at its very basic, as simple as many of you will remember. For those who haven’t played a Monkey Ball game before, all you have to do is roll a ball that contains a monkey through a stage to the exit. You can collect bananas in each stage and when you gather enough of them you gain an extra life. These stages range from very basic straightforward ones to complicated ones that require precision motions as you navigate a speeding monkey ball through half-pipes, sharp corners and various ledges in an effort to reach the exit in time.
Besides the time limit and the ability to try and set the best time possible, it is also possible to encounter a number of dangerous areas in the game which make up most of the difficult levels in the Banana Splitz. These dangers are things such as moving platforms that you have to carefully roll onto, sheer edges that have to be navigated and more. Tumbling off the edge of the stage will result in the loss of a life and the restarting of that level.
However as many may recall, the Monkey Ball series always contains a number of special routes that you can take on later levels, throwing yourself off a cliff in an attempt to reach the end of a stage faster, providing a risk vs reward section in some stages.
Outside of these standard levels players can also access a number of mini-games such as Monkey Rodeo, Monkey Target, Monkey Bowling and more. Interestingly enough, Monkey Bowling actually requires the player to play with their Vita held upright. Perhaps the most enjoyable of these is the mini-game called Love Test which assigns a monkey ball to each analog stick, making it so the player must reach the end of the stage with both of them. Unfortunately games such as Pixie Hunt and Monkey Rodeo are simple failures that provide little enjoyment either through boring concepts or impossible to handle controls.
Players can also choose to create a stage of their own by taking a picture of the world around them. This picture will then be transformed into a level that the player can play through. Obviously some creations in this mode fall flat, literally, but it is a nice distraction that can provide an endless number of stages to explore.
As for multiplayer options, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz features both online play as well as ad-hoc multiplayer. Interestingly enough there is also a mode that allows you to run through a stage, hand the Vita off to a friend and have them play through that same mini-game. That is right, unfortunately you cannot play through stages online with others, instead multiplayer focuses solely on the aforementioned mini-games, which is a severe limitation to what could have been a neat beat the time mode.
You may notice that I mentioned the analog sticks earlier and that is correct, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz can be played with the Vita’s analog sticks, but it also can be played using the system’s gyroscope. However it is highly recommended that you do not use these gyro controls as they make the game not only difficult to control but also nearly impossible to play unless you are sitting in one place with full concentration, a somewhat difficult task for a game that is meant to be portable.
As for the Vita’s touch controls, they are used to great effect in the aforementioned mini-games as well as for navigating the menu screens. Unfortunately the menus in the game are awkward and swiping at the screen makes for terrible navigation.
Overall: Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz has plenty of things for fans of the series to love as it creates a gorgeous looking game on the Vita that has a number of nagging issues which unfortunately lie with the Vita’s own touch controls and gyroscope. It also is worth noting that the game often has some noticeably long loading times for even the simplest of stages. That being said, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz is a nice return to form for the main Monkey Ball stages, while most of the mini-games fail at being enjoyable and more like wastes of time.
Kevin Hart: Laugh At My Pain Studio:Codeblack Entertainment/Hartbeat Productions Publisher:Beyond Home Entertainment Format: DVD Release Date: November 1, 2012 Price: $22.95 – Available Here
Overview
Kevin Hart’s third stand-up special, Laugh At My Pain received a theatrical release in the U.S, garnering an estimated $15 million (although curiously, reports online state it’s domestic gross as reaching approximately half of that). The comedian is one of the busiest in recent history, featuring in multiple films a year for the last half decade, and Laugh At My Pain is our first look at his childhood with it’s semi-documentary style. The film will have you laughing, but will this DVD keep the laughter rolling until it hurts? Read on to find out.
Story
The first 14 minutes of the feature film takes a look at Kevin Hart’s childhood neighbourhood in Philadelphia, and his origins as a stand-up comic. Kevin takes us through his days on the varsity basketball team at George Washington High School, introduces us to his family, shows us his favourite spot for world-famous Philly cheese steaks and gives us some insight on his first gigs as a comic and the advice he received. Among the speaking guests on this portion of the film are Kevin’s childhood friends, the Philadelphia Department of Recreation’s swim coach Jim Ellis (whom Terence Howard played in the film Pride, which was based on Kevin’s swim team) and comedy pals Keith Robinson, Tu Rae Gordon and manager Dave Becky. This is a nice little spotlight on where Kevin came from and his roots as a comedian, and I always love learning of the backgrounds of these larger-than-life personalities.
Things are on the up-and-up for Kevin Hart!
After that, the stand-up begins. Kevin’s set only runs for about 49 minutes, which is surprisingly short, especially for a feature film. However, the opening and closing sequences – which I’ll mention in a minute – do fill out the overall runtime. I still would have like some more time on the stage, as that really is the draw for the film. Nonetheless, his set is very funny and deals, more than ever, with Kevin’s real life family issues – notably, those with his formerly cocaine-addicted Father. After all, this is the inspiration for the title and the show; to laugh at his pain. The bits about his Father are also the best ones, with some very crude, but hilarious jokes made at his expense. As much as they are crude, they are also all based in reality; a slightly distorted retelling of stories that I did not believe upon my first viewing. But, as would later be confirmed by Kevin’s Father himself in an exclusive Larry King interview, they are in fact the real deal. Henry (the Father) busting into a spelling bee “making crack-head noises”, and yelling at Kevin to “spell the shit out these motherf**king words!”, a perfect example of this.
As the show ends and Kevin descends from the stage, the film transitions from his stand-up to a skit that is a take on the Quentin Tarantino classic, Reservoir Dogs, called “The Plastic Cup Boyz” (don’t ask why, I still don’t know the answer). it’s basically about an all-African American group of bank robbers, and it becomes quite apparent that they might just be the most incompetent bunch of robbers in history. The skit has it’s moments, but is definitely not a home run. It also seemed weird to go from his stand-up to this…a very strange format, and unfortunately may just come across as filler, when I’m sure that a lot of effort was in fact put into it. The skit also gets intercut with a real Larry King interview with Kevin Hart’s Father, of which he joins soon after. This leads into the film’s credits, during which we see some extra footage of the interview, Kevin interacting with his friends and kids and him cracking jokes with his old school’s staff.
Visual
Working the room so hard, he’s sweating bullets!
Now, I am not sure if the actual comedy special was originally shot in HD, but with this being a DVD, the transfer is obviously not. As far as I am aware, the Blu-Ray version of this release was cancelled, so this is as good as it gets too. The film is in a 16:9 widescreen format, but as just alluded to, the video quality can not be expected to be great. The first 15 minutes of the film is also shot in a documentary-style, using a relatively inexpensive video camera, so it is what it is. There are also these lines, or artifacts, at the very top and bottom of the picture. They reach about 40% across the screen and are fairly noticeable. All up, the video quality is a disappointment, but it is a comedy concert film, so thankfully it’s not a genre of film that lives and dies by it’s visual flair (like Transformers, for instance).
Audio
The audio is in 5.1 Dolby Digital, and sounds fine. Everything is clear and crisp, with the only takeaway being the actual audio capture of the stand-up event itself. The theatre that the stand-up was filmed in projects quite an echo. Of course, after a few minutes, your ears will get used to this fact, and there’s not much that could have been done about the acoustics, so there’s no point in dwelling on it. So, just to reiterate, this is not an issue with the DVD’s audio quality, but is something worth noting. Otherwise, no complaints on the audio front.
Extras
The Plastic Cup Boyz!
When I look to purchase a DVD, the special features are what hook me. I love seeing the behind-the-scenes footage, the deleted scenes, the blooper reel and listening to commentary. With a comedy concert, I don’t expect nearly as much content…but, this release is extremely bare. “The Plastic Cup Boyz” is essentially the same skit that plays at the tail end of the film as it is, the uncut “Larry King Interview” expands upon the snippets that were used in the film, but don’t add anything substantial to the proceedings, and the “sneak peak” – yes, peek is spelt wrong both on the box, and in the special features sub-menu – of the film “Think Like A Man”, with an introduction from Kevin Hart himself, is hardly a special feature. Actually, on my copy, there was a write error and the wrong trailer was put on the disc. Upon selecting the sneak peek, I was treated to a trailer for this very DVD. I contacted Beyond Home Entertainment and alerted them to this error, to which they quickly responded that “the product manager has reviewed the item and there does appear to be an error, this will now be corrected”.
Overall
The Kevin Hart: Laugh At My Pain DVD is a disappointing package overall, but for fans of his, the stand-up is what’ll justify it’s purchase. The full theatrical release is intact, which is what matters, but the special features are really bare-bones. Even being the only true extra on the DVD, the full Larry King interview does not add much value at all…half of it was played during the film anyway. Maybe I’m even being a little generous with my score, if only out of respect for the man who has been dubbed “the hardest working comedian today”. Too bad there couldn’t have been some harder work put into this DVD release.
Hideo Baba, the Tales series producer, has revealed in an interview with Playcommu that Namco Bandai was in fact working on the next installment in the Tales franchise. He was asked to respond a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to a variety or questions, the most interesting of which was whether he had started working on the next Tales game, to which he responded with a ‘Yes’.
When asked about the work process for the Tales franchise he had this to say, “Within the basic flow of making sure we complete one game at a time, we are always thinking about the concept of the next title,” he continued on to mention the next installment of the franchise, “As a matter of fact, I’m thinking under the surface of various ideas for the [Tales] series 20th anniversary title.”
Tales of Xillia 2 was released in Japan today, with the first Tales of Xillia title set to see release in North America in 2013. What do you think of news that another Tales game is already in the works? Let us know in the comments section below.
Overview
Professor Layton has to be one of Nintendo’s biggest achievements this generation. Since launching back in 2008, this franchise has bloomed into full form, offering up unforgettable plots with rich storytelling, with a smooth blend of clever puzzles. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask marks the first title in the series to hit the 3DS, and well – not a lot has changed other than a few details. Does this 3D offering of the series deliver up to standards, or is Layton starting to grow some grey hairs under that famous top hat? Let’s find out.
Story
Even though it is technically a sequel to Last Spector, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask is the first title to finally give us some background on who Professor Layton was before he was off solving puzzles and mysteries. With that said, this title is still all about telling it’s own story, but uses Layton’s own past to help solve a mystery involving a masked antagonist that has been causing chaos in a charming little city.
If you hadn’t guess already, this Layton title plays out about the same as previous installments, with Emmy, Luke, and the Professor himself slowly piecing together clues to solve one large mystery. The intertwining plots do a lot for the series as a whole though, as they show us a more human side of Layton, while still keeping his full – gentleman-like character intact. Of course this game is about more than the same ol’ puzzles and adventures.
Just like every game before it, this title’s atmosphere is painted by the absolutely endearing cast of characters that roam about as you progress throughout the main story. Most just offer a puzzle or a few clues, but they do it with such a sense of individuality and charm that it would be a crime to ignore even one of the random conversations that can be had. This time around, there is more interaction – which paints this tale vividly and makes the player feel as if they are right beside Luke and Emmy, roaming those crowded streets of mild chaos within Monte d’Or.
Gameplay
I won’t go into what kind of gameplay Layton has too much – as if you have played even one of the past entries, you know exactly what to expect. Players still can solve puzzles around every corner, which of course ties together the entire plot along the way. That same feeling of satisfaction still is as relevant as ever when a brain teaser is solved as well, so get ready to feel joy when you hear praise upon completion of even the easiest of riddles. As far as the puzzles go, expect well over 100, which are all completely varied and come ready to have you get out that memo pad to do a bit of math or logic work from time to time. As the game progresses, so does the challenge of these puzzles, but nothing ever becomes to overbearing and as I mentioned, the simple rewards of solving every puzzle is sure to hook even the most casual of players.
Being on the 3DS, Professor Layton had to make a few adjustments to the way the game is played. Yes, the same concept still remains unchanged, but the way you go about exploring the world is quite different this time around. Instead of seeing one still image and tapping all over with your stylus for input from the Professor, the world is now much more alive, featuring a new “3D” like perspective where everything appears in first person and the camera can be turned via the touch-screen to get a full scope of the environment. This of course makes the game feel bigger, while adding in more room for interaction and movement.
Miracle Mask also offers up a good batch of mini-games to break up the pace from time to time, with each still following the same robust, “use your brain” formula to fit in within the main gimmickry that this classic franchise has always offered. Now and then, the player will also need to participate in an action sequence of sorts, such as chasing down an enemy. As an example, early on in the game, the Masked Gentleman will make a dash, and Layton and company make chase on horseback. The player will needs to take control of the horse during this bout, moving the stylus to control their movement while dodging barrels and collecting boosts along the way. It may sound unorthodox for a series that is known for sticking to it’s formula, but trust me on this – these sequences are perfectly at home within the Layton world due to their utter simplicity and clever usage of the 3DS’ features.
After the main quest is a thing of the past, there is some replay value to be had. No, not in the main game unless you are an ultra completionist, but in the full year of downloadable puzzles that Nintendo will be offering. Every day a new riddle, puzzle, or logic problem can be downloaded, which offers plenty of reason to keep going back into the game. Yes, I do miss “Layton’s Life” from Last Specter, and it would be a shame if we didn’t see it expanded upon in future installments, but for now, these daily puzzles do a fine job at keeping those brain cells active.
Visuals and Audio
With Level-5’s beautiful past productions of the Layton games, it comes as no surprise that Miracle Mask has some of the most stunning and eye-pleasing visuals on the 3DS to date. Everything appears to look the same aside from the new “psuedo-3D” format, but interactions are almost always fully animated with 3D models now, adding in even more character to the colorful personalities in the game. It might not be a huge step up, but it’s enough to set Miracle Mask apart from it’s predecessors and set groundwork of what we should expect from future entries.
The soundtrack is also superb. From the joyous or eerie tunes blaring while traversing the city to the full form cutscenes, a lot of work went into making Miracle Mask a top shelf production – and as always, the quality is nearly flawless in that area. Minor sound effects such as wind, birds, and hooves stamping come together to make this city come alive, providing the most atmosphere that a Layton title has seen to date. Even some of the puzzles make use of these sounds, and that is certainly another worthy upgrade that will surely be improved upon even further in the future.
Overall
I honestly love the Professor Layton series. Every game is ready to strap the player in and not let go until all of the clues are put together and the mystery is solved yet again. Miracle Mask does all of this and more to not only match it’s predecessors, but take it one step further to keep the experience fresh. The fact that so much character, life and action have been packed into a what is advertised as a puzzle game proves that age is not a factor with Professor Layton, as this title’s form of reinvention comes in small, safe steps that cater to the “more” crowd, while staying true to the roots with all of the charm and puzzle variety that have kept the fanbase of the franchise coming back for more. This may be the Professor Layton’s 5th game, but for a new platform debut, you can’t do much better than than what’s behind this mask of mystery.
Working the room so hard, he’s sweating bullets!
The Plastic Cup Boyz!
