Aniplex of America have announced that they have licensed three new anime series for distribution. All three series are currently airing in Japan and are licensed under Aniplex in Japan, so it only make sense these series would be picked up by Aniplex of America.
The three newly licensed titles are:
Sword Art Online
Magi: Labyrinth of Magic
Blast of Tempest
All three series have received critical acclaim since launching and mark some great pick-ups for Aniplex of America. What do you think of these series being licensed? What one are you most excited for? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below.
That’s right legendary anime-visionary Shinichiro Watanabe hot off the heels of the success of Kids on the Slope has announced that he is currently working on two new series launching in 2013 and 2014. Watanabe made the announcement in an interview with Spanish anime website koi-nya.net at Granadas Ficzone.
The first of which series is slated to be produced by BONES and was described by Watanabe as “a space-travel action comedy”. This particular series is due to launch in 2013 and is being considered the spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop, Watanabe’s most famous work.
The second series is being produced by MAPPA/Tezuka Production (Kids on the Slope) and is said to have a more serious realistic tone and setting. It is scheduled for a 2014 release, nothing more is known on this series however.
What do you think of Watanabe working on more anime series? Are you excited for his next ventures into the work on anime? Let us know in the comments below.
A new trailer for Halo 4 has been released today and gives us some background information on the SPARTAN program Dr. Halsey created. There is a mystery man who is interrogating Halsey about the program and he has not yet been unveiled but, many believe that he is actually an older Thomas Lasky.
As it is revealed in the trailer, the Spartans were never meant to be a group of soldiers that were going to face the covenant but instead they were supposed to be an elite unit of soldiers who would be able to rid of any major human threat. You later learn that they are wanting to replace the famous helmeted hero John-117 (Master Chief) because they now see him unfit for his role in the military.
You can learn more about this and the SPARTAN program when Halo 4 launches on November 6 exclusively on the Xbox 360.
Way back in 2004 a space game by the name of Nexus: The Jupiter Incident was released to some pretty good reception. It wasn’t surprising then that in 2006 a tech demo of a sequel got leaked, but what was surprising that after the tech demo there was pretty much nothing to say about a second game. Well at least until now. With the success of Kickstarter the developers of Nexus have decided that now is a good as time as ever to try and get Nexus 2: The Gods Awaken funded, so that they can get it made.
Set 25 years after the original game, the sequel will include more races and ships, as well as features to improve gameplay. Where in the first game players could target specific weapons and shields on enemy ships, the second has plans to allow specific systems of the ship to be targeted and when disabled or destroyed deactivate everything connected to that system.
But, that’s just the beginning of what they are hoping to do with Nexus 2, but with plenty of ideas takes a lot of cost and they are trying to find backers to reach their goal, which is starting to shape up nicely though only has 2 weeks remaining. With more funds they will be able to add even more races and ships and features. Players can check out some of the concept art in the gallery below and those interested in backing or learning more can check out the Kickstarter page HERE.
The latest addition to the Fable franchise has just been released to the public. This particular entry is in the form of a Kinect title and is set 50 years after Fable 3. While some gamers may be against this change of direction for the series, it is good to see that Lionhead are trying new angles for the title. Each Fable release so far has been met with mixed reactions all across the board, but it’s hard to argue with the actual commercial success of the series as a whole.
The Fable franchise is a flagship exclusive to the Xbox 360 console, along with other series including Gears of War and Halo. However, after the very lukewarm reception of previous game, Fable 3, only time will tell if Fable: The Journey will be able to successfully reinvigorate fans and finally encourage them back to adventuring in the land of Albion.
Fable: The Journey released commercially on the 9th and the 12th of October, 2012 in North America and Europe respectively.
Play a Name that Tune-like game on iOS devices with Hum a Song and a bonus that comes along with it is that it’s free! Yes, this music trivia game is free to download on the App Store thanks to Hibernum Creations.
To play the game is easy. Simply select a song from the songbank of more than 2000 songs, listen to a clip (powered by iTunes), hum (or whistle) it and submit! In the Duet game mode, your friend will then receive a notification to guess the song. If it gets correctly identified within three attempts, the two of you will receive coins and then it’s your friend’s turn to hum! Easy as that! The other two game modes are Ensemble party mode where you can play with up to three friends and Random where you compete with players from around the world.
Hum a Song is now available on the App Store for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.
Get your chef hat on and run your dream restaurant with Vertigo Gaming’s “Cook, Serve, Delicious!”. In this fast-paced celebration of all things food, you start off small; you use a few thousand dollars to start your restaurant business and your job is to turn it into a successful five-star eating experience for your diners! To get there though is definitely not an easy task. Can you manage your restaurant and keep customers pleased with great service and an updated menu while succeeding in your love life at the same time with the use of “Cook4Luv” dating service?
Can you bring glory to your restaurant by participating in the Iron Cook tv show (who hasn’t dreamt of fighting against the best on Iron Chef?)? Will your next remodeling and set of new restaurant upgrades to heighten its capabilities take you to the next level of success or bring your enterprise crashing down? Find out with “Cook, Serve, Delicious!” which is available now for PC through Gamersgate, Desura and Vertigo Gaming’s website where you can also download a demo.
Robert Hayes, the former Managine Director of Asia Pacific and Vice President of Glu Mobile, has announced the formation of his new company Fei Hu Interactive. He has hired Simon Slee who has worked at Glu Mobile, THQ Wireless, Atari, and Sega as his Vice President of Publishing. “I am incredibly fortunate to find myself surrounded by a team of talented, passionate and experienced staff,” says Robert Hayes. “Our strategy at Fei Hu Interactive is simple, develop and publish best-in-class cross-platform games with multi-language support for distribution worldwide.”
They are currently working on a social RPG called Prisonhood, slated to be released in November for iOS and Android. Check out their new website here.
Grow Away! Developer: Soco Software Publisher: Chillingo Platforms: iPad (Reviewed), iPhone, iPod Touch Release Date: October 4th, 2012 Price: $0.99 Get it Here Overview
Chillingo has brought Soco Software’s, a Chinese game developer, latest game to the English market. Grow Away! pits a legion of vegetables defending themselves against twisted animals looking to snack on them. Players are armed with a variety of power ups and vegetables willing to fling themselves at the enemy with spirited kamikaze vigour. Does Grow Away! have what it takes to become the next Plants Vs. Zombies?
Story
There is not much story involved with Grow Away! Monsters have eaten so much junk food that they have gone a little nuts and now are trying to break through the garden fence to eat vegetables. Now, the vegetables have decided to hurl themselves at the monsters. I suppose this is the valorous suicide of a few vegetables for the greater good of the rest?
Gameplay
Players fire vegetables with a help of a slingshot to attack a variety of enemies and bosses in Grow Away! The normal ammunition is the humble tomato (which technically is a fruit by the way) and players will have access to a variety of special vegetables with special abilities that have a short cool down. Players will drag the vegetable back and angle their shot and release to fire. Hold the vegetable back long enough and the shot will be powered up and provide a special bonus ability that will send enemies flying. When in a bind, players can deploy a variety of special items to turn the tide of the battle and buy some extra time. At the end of the level, players are ranked based on their accuracy, speed, and remaining health of their fence.
The enemies are varied with special abilities and different statistics, requiring different tactics to combat them. This actually required a good bit of strategy to deal with depending on the size of the attacking group. However, eventually some parts of the game required the extensive use of special items rank well in the game. This would not be a huge issue if it was not for the fact beyond the fact four basic items are the only items purchasable with the common gold coin currency. The rest need to be purchased with the much rarer red gems that drop once every five to ten levels. These gems are often horded to purchase extra slots for special vegetables and items. I get the sinking feeling that the game is nudging me to make an in app purchase of gems.
The gameplay itself is rather enjoyable as a casual game if you are not playing for perfect three star rankings. It’s great in short bursts in story mode and there are two other options to play. There is a short gambling type mini games that give opportunities to earn bonus coins and red gems at an entry cost and there is a longer survival mode available that removes the ability to select your vegetable. You simply fire away until your defenses are gone.
Visuals
Grow Away! features a fun cartoony visuals that is family friendly. All the units, both friend and foe, are unique and very easy to spot. Visually, this game is perfect for kids and adults alike. The graphics scale well for Retina displays, even up to the new iPad’s monstrous sized display. There are no graphical slowdowns and the animations are smooth as butter. The UI is smartly designed for the most part, however I found myself bumping into the pause button a few times when franticly flinging fruit into the enemy. Placing the pause button on the top of the screen rather than the bottom would have been a wiser choice.
Audio
The sound effects are fun enough to listen to, but play Grow Away! for more than 3 minutes and you will come to realize that you are listening to the same song on loop over and over again ad nauseum. There is one tune for the menu and one tune for the game. For the first ten minutes of playing or so, the song is pretty catchy. But put in any more time and you will find yourself muting your device’s sound. Two different songs for each zone would have been really nice.
Overall
For $0.99, I cannot recommend this game. Although the graphics are decent, and the gameplay decent albeit slightly repetitive, the game seems to be rather bent on encouraging in app purchases. It seems practically impossible to nail perfect scores as the game progresses without spending some money to purchase a quantity of red gems. On top of it, the soundtrack is so maddeningly lacking, I found myself muting my iPad after a while. If this game was more reasonably priced as a free to play game with an emphasis on the in app purchases like similar games on the App Store, then I’d be more compelled to recommend this game as a coffee break time waster.
It looks like gamers in Europe are going to be receiving a special version of the Wii U when it launches in their region. Today Ubisoft and Nintendo revealed that they will be releasing a limited edition ZombiU bundle which will be released alongside the standard packages on November 30th.
The difference between the ZombiU Wii U Bundle is rather minute, but still worth purchasing for those eager to pick ZombiU up when it is released. This bundle includes ZombiU rather than Nintendo Land and comes with a Wii U Pro Controller. Those looking to pick up this version of the game will have to buy it for £329 while the regular Wii U Premium Pack costs £299.
