Nintendo have revealed the North American release date and price for their latest console the Wii U during their North American Nintendo Direct press conference.
They announced that the Wii U will release on November 18th, 2012 a month ahead of the Japanese release of the console. It will also be released in two different versions. The basic bundle which will retail for $299.99, and the premium bundle costing $349.99. The difference between the bundles is colour and storage space. The basic version will be white and include 8GB flash storage and the premium version will be black and include 32GB flash storage.
The premium version comes packaged with the Wii U itself, Wii U Gamepad, AC units for both the console and Gamepad, a HDMI cable, a Nintendo Network Premium Membership as well as a stand for both the console and Gamepad.
Be sure to let us know what you think of this in the comments section below.
Stunt Star is a new action packed game from developer Three Phase Interactive, merging an intuitive physics based system which involves players having to choose their own ramp trajectory with fun and inventive challenges, vehicles and gameplay. Published by Surprise Attack, the game puts players in the seat of a stuntman, with a massive array of vehicles and upgrades at their disposal with which to fly, crash and burn their way through the 70+ levels of mayhem in their path. Even after you have completed a level, return with your bonuses and upgrades and perfect it, and for those who do become stunt kings and crave more, Three Phase have hinted at plenty of extra content and levels coming soon for download. Stunt Star will be released late 2012 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch from Surprise Attack and Three Phase Interactive.
Rob Murray of Firemonkeys was on hand for the iPhone 5 launch to show off the first live demo of their game. Real Racing 3 has been optimized for the iPhone 5 to take advantage of the new 4″ Retina display and more powerful A6 processor. Real Racing 3 features graphics previously only seen on consoles such as dynamic reflections and a working rear view mirror that will give players better awareness during races. The game is also takes advantage of iOS 6 updates to Game Center by providing time shifted multiplayer capabilities. Real Racing 3 and several other key titles will be optimized for the iPhone 5 by spring 2013.
Are you excited for Rocksmith? Well you should be as it’s release is soon to take place on the 27th of September for Consoles and 18th of October for PC.
In anticipation of it’s launch Ubisoft have released a beginner and expert trailer that shows off the gameplay of the Rocksmith ‘game’.
The game revolves around players learning to play real guitar by playing the game. It is a very creative spin on the music genre that has gotten somewhat stale in recent times.
You can check out both tutorial trailers below. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below.
It is almost common knowledge amongst humans that rats are often considered vermin that should be eliminated at all costs. Well now you can do just that because in an effort to help promote their upcoming game Dishonored (which allows you to attach spring-razors (spike-grenades) to rats) Bethesda has released a new app on the iPad, iTouch and iPhone that allows you to slice and dice rats in sadistic fashion.
The app itself can be obtained here, where players can get a taste of some of Dishonored’s supernatural abilities such as Bend Time, Adrenaline Kills and more. As for Dishonored itself, it is currently set to be released to stores in North America on October 9th, while Australia is getting it on October 11th.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Hearthfire DLC Developer:Bethesda Publisher: Bethesda Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed) Release Date: September 4, 2012 Price: 400 MSP ($5) – Available Here
Overview: While players can do a lot of things within the lands of Skyrim, there are a few things that they cannot actually do. Sure they can come close to these things, like finding someone to marry, buying a pre-built house and settling down, but what about those who want a house of their very own that isn’t within a city? Better yet, what if you could even adopt a child or two to help establish your own homestead in the frozen tundra of Skyrim .
Well with the latest piece of DLC released by Bethesda, Hearthfire, you can do just that. However does Hearthfire inspire the builder within or should it simply sputter out and be forgotten?
Gameplay: As many of you have probably already assumed, Skyrim’s Hearthfire DLC will allow players to create a home of their very own out in the wilderness while also allowing them to adopt a few children and move their family into the house. Now how does this all go about you ask? Well… a little too simply and too quickly.
As the player begins Skyrim for the first time since downloading the DLC they will eventually be tracked down by a courier who will provide them with a few letters that notify them about land going up for sale in one of three different areas and the fact that the orphanage is now allowing children to be adopted. It is worth noting that players can actually acquire up to three different pieces of land from the Jarls of Morthal, Falkreath and Dawnstar, though these require some quests to be done in these holds while the first one is given for free (minus the cost of purchase.)
After acquiring a piece of land, the player will be shown where it is on their map, so unfortunately the player cannot simply choose wherever they would like their house as the plots are pre-planned. Upon arriving in your plot of land you will find a number of things already set up for you, such as a drafting board and a carpenters bench and even a few materials that will help you build up your initial house.
This is where one of the major drawbacks of Hearthfire kicks into play however. Just like not selecting your own plot of land, players are unable to provide much customization to each building. In fact, the only minor customization options the player has is what three wings they want to add onto their house, with things such as a kitchen, additional bedroom, smithy, alchemy room, storage, trophy room and more able to be chosen. However even these cannot be undone once the player has started building them.
Some of these wings are rather enjoyable to use, such as the kitchen which adds a few special baking recipes and the Trophy Room that allows the player to create stuffed versions of creatures they’ve defeated. It is worth noting though, that it is incredibly easy to build nearly everything in your house with the use of money. Since most players will be jumping into Hearthfire with a Skyrim character that is already well-established in the world, money and materials are probably a non-issue which means that even some of the rarer items may already be stashed away in the player’s previous house, allowing for almost instantaneous house building and decoration.
This also happens to be true with all furnishings inside the house as it is all pre-arranged when you build it and there is no way to get rid of something you dislike. The only minor customization option is re-arranging shelves and display cabinets with your own goodies.  In fact, each plot of land’s house will have a similar appearance to one another, with the scenery and extra outside selections such as a small garden, bee-keeping area or fish hatchery varying between land.
Now that you’ve built your three relatively similar houses that look similar to what everyone else’s look like, you can now choose to occupy your house with a number of people. As already mentioned, if the player has married someone already or wants to marry someone, their wife can be told to move to their newly built home. Also it is worth noting that almost any follower can also become your house carl, who you can tell to buy various items, decorate your house for you or even hire on a bard to sing in your house.
As mentioned before, players will also be able to adopt a child and have them come live in their newly established home full of arcane magic, swords capable of killing dragons and sweet rolls. Players can interact with their child in a number of ways, such as playing simplistic games with them, make them do chores or simply talk with em.
Players can experience a number of issues in their house as well, such as bandit attacks and the like, though these feel random at best. So unfortunately most of the time they will find themselves simply leaving their house as a larger and fancier storage shed for their equipment. It is also worth noting that around these new plots of land, the game’s performance can take a significant dive, with long load times, an occasional freeze and even a nigh-impossible to move slow-down.
Overall:
While Skyrim’s Hearthfire does offer exactly what it says it does, players will find the constrictive system far from adequate for their experience. While it may be a cheap add-on at only 400 MSP ($5), the extra additions to the player’s world feel rather slim. Still, players who do acquire Hearthfire will be able to carve out their only little niche in their world of Skyrim and begin a family in what can be the fanciest houses in the game, that look the same as everyone elses. Ultimately with a lack of customization and extra additions to these houses, Hearthfire is a bust, even at its budget price.
Children Who Chase Lost Voices Studio:Â CoMix Wave Films Publisher:Â Madman Entertainment Format:Â Cinema Release Date:Â September 13, 2012
Overview: ‘Hello’ is such an easy word to say. It’s easy to welcome new things into your life, but when we say ‘Hello’ do we ever consider how difficult it is to say ‘Goodbye’ to those things? When we lose something we once had, how do we deal with the emptiness left behind? Do we chase after those lost voices hoping that we can get them back or do we chase them in order to accept that loss? Such are the questions Makoto Shinkai poses us with his latest effort, Children Who Chase Lost Voices.
It is difficult to dispute that Makoto Shinkai is a brilliant film maker. With a short yet remarkable list of quality films with his name attached to them like Voices of a Distant Star and 5 Centimetres Per Second it was almost to be expected that his latest film would follow suit. And of course, it does.
Children Who Chase Lost Voices is an astonishing film that truly feels like the culmination of Shinkai’s entire career up until this point. It is his most ambitious work to date and quite simply his crowning achievement in the art form.
Story:
Shinkai has proven once again that he is a genius story-teller and it is for a number of reasons. Children Who Chase Lost Voices tells a story but not at all in the tradition sense of story telling. Sure there is a beginning, middle and end, but things do not exactly follow structure so intimately. This is a film that is truly about something. It like its world is incredibly deep and filled with unseen meaning and mystery. While at first it may seem rather simple, once you dig a little deeper you see what Shinkai is really trying to say here.
Lost Voices revolves around the themes of ‘life’ and ‘death’ in a way that has rarely been touched in this medium before. Much like Shinkai’s previous works there are heavy ‘distance’ and ‘separation’ tenets at play here, this time shown through the separation of the living and the dead. While it may say so on the surface the plot of this film is not a journey to a magical land beneath the earth’s surface but it is a journey to accept the separation between life and death and move on from loss.
At it most simplest, Children Who Chase Lost Voices is an epic fantasy adventure film that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. At its most complex it is a study of the meaning of what it means to be alive and what it means to be dead.
The central characters all have something that they need to resolve for themselves, that being the loss of someone important. This search for resolution is the driving force behind this film and is the true story at play here. I personally found the emotional journey’s of all 3 protagonists both compelling and touching. They are all chasing after hope for those who they have lost, but they have to dig deep to find the strength to accept things and move on. In anyone else’s hands this premise and message could easily have been over done or simply mishandled but Shinkai directs it with such nuance and subtlety that everything just comes together in glorious fashion.
We begin the film with Asuna saying ‘Hello’ to her friend Mimi, a small cat that she befriended in the forest and we end the film with Asuna saying ‘Goodbye’ to her Mother as she heads out to continue on living her life. The journey in between these two points that she embarks on is dangerous and filled with ever-present mystery. Many of the films mysteries are left unresolved, a decision for the best as it would have simply muddled what the true message of this film is. It matters not what happens to the mystical world of Agartha below the Earth, nor does it matter what happens to Earth. At the end of the day, life will go on regardless of whether we can accept it or not.
The conclusion to this film was wholly satisfying and the effect it had on me was monumental. I feel that anyone that has ever suffered a loss of someone important to them will find a lot to relate to in this film. Shinkai captures the raw emotion of that feeling and explores it in painstaking detail.
Truthfully I left this film somewhat changed, like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. In what way, I do not completely understand just yet. But much like Asuna I will keep chasing that voice deep below until I know. All I know now is that when I can connect with something on such a intimate level, it has done its job, exceedingly so.
Visuals and Audio:
What can be said for the aesthetics of Lost Voices besides that it is one big moving masterpiece. Some of this imagery could be framed and hung in an art museum and no one would know that it was taken from a film. It is just a stunning visual experience that must be seen in motion to be fully appreciated. The depth and vibrancy within the world that Shinkai has created is utterly immense. I found myself lost within the world he has breathed life into. I actually felt somewhat solemn when it was time to leave this beautiful place that had flowed out of this brilliant man’s mind and onto the screen. While we see so much of his world, we know there is still so much more that not even he himself has explored. Quite simply Shinkai has fully realised the universe he has created with Children Who Chase Lost Voices and being able to spend 2 hours exploring it was nothing short of a pleasure.
Aurally Lost Voices does just as good a job as it does visually. The soundtrack is simultaneously touching, adventurous, gleeful and harsh. There is a great wealth of tracks used in this film that never once misses a beat, everything clicks and the flow of the action on screen with the flow of the music is as perfect as humanly possible. The most memorable track is of course the film’s theme song ‘Hello and Goodbye’ (no not the Beatles song) which is put to great use in the film’s very emotional conclusion.
Overall:
This is perhaps the most important anime film of the new millennium, because it marks an important changing of tides. If it wasn’t evident by now Children Who Chase Lost Voices solidifies it, Makoto Shinkai is innovating animated films and has blazed a trail that none have managed to do since Hayao Miyazaki. It is films like Children Who Chase Lost Voices that remind us of how magical anime can truly be. Films like this is what made me fall in love with anime to begin with.
It is safe to say the Shinkai has spent the better part of the last 15 years pioneering a new and exciting type of anime films and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that  Children Who Chase Lost Voices is the pinnacle of his creative brilliance. But much like the recurring presence of trains throughout his films, there is always something else upon the horizon. With that said, if this was any indication, I can not wait to see where Shinkai’s train of thought stops at next.
This was a film that I honestly didn’t want to end, but it’s the experience that it gave me that I will never forget. Although the journey may be over, I am thankful that I watched this film. Children Who Chase Lost Voices was a blessing. So until we meet again, just for now, I leave you with this, ‘Goodbye.’
Nintendo has finally revealed details of the Wii U’s launch date with the company revealing specifics on the Japanese release of the console through their Japanese Nintendo Direct conference.
They confirmed that the Wii U will release on December 8th, 2012 in Japan and will be released in two different versions. The basic bundle which will retail for  ¥26,250 (roughly$335), and the premium bundle costing ¥31500 (roughly $400). The difference between the bundles is colour and storage space. The basic version will be white and include 8GB flash storage and the premium version will be black and include 32GB flash storage.
The premium version comes packaged with the Wii U itself, Wii U Gamepad, AC units for both the console and Gamepad, a HDMI cable, a Nintendo Network Premium Membership as well as a stand for both the console and Gamepad.
Nintendo has not detailed anything further than that but there are plans for other Nintendo Direct conferences across the globe including an American Nintendo Direct and a European Nintendo Direct in which they will detail the consoles release in those regions.
Ed Boon, Creative Director of NetherRealm Studios and co-creator of the controversial fighting game franchise Mortal Kombat will be headlining EB Expo 2012 in Sydney to introduce the upcoming 2013 DC Comics fighting game, Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Injustice: Gods Among Us wil be playable throughout the duration of the show at the Warner Bros, Interactive Entertainment booth. However, Boon will only be appearing on Friday, October 5th for a public demonstration of the game at 11am.
EB Games Expo is an annual three day vidoeo game / trade fair convention.  EB Games Expo 2012 will be held October 5-7 at Sydney Showground, Olympic Park.
While we’ve known for quite some time that New Little King’s Story would be released sometime later this year, we never had a specific release date from Konami. However it seems the wait for a release date is over, and the release date itself is less than a month away at this point.
Today Konami revealed that New Little King’s Story will be released on the PlayStation Vita on October 2nd. For those who don’t know about the title, a handful of screenshots and a trailer were released recently, both of which can be seen below. As for the game itself, New Little King’s Story features a revamped visual style, touch screen functionality and also a brand new storyline.
Are you excited for Rocksmith? Well you should be as it’s release is soon to take place on the 27th of September for Consoles and 18th of October for PC.
