Back in 1997, Oddworld’s Abe was shocked to discover that the New ‘N’ Tasty food products were to be made from the meat of his species, and it triggered his Oddysee to save his race.
Yesterday, Oddworld Inhabitants revealed their considerably-less-disturbing New ‘N’ Tasty product: the remake of the Playstation One classic, Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee.
The project was revealed a few months ago, but in that time fans had only been teased with the odd (sorry, couldn’t resist) detail and a couple of screenshots.
Even the remake’s title was a mystery until the Eurogamer Expo over the weekend, when the winner of a fan competition to name it was revealed. The official title is now Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee – New ‘N’ Tasty. Quite a mouthful, but hey: it’s a new and tasty and pretty appropriate mouthful.
Especially considering how damn good the game looks. CEO of Oddworld Inhabitants, Stewart Gilray, took to the stage to demonstrate it for the first time, and while it looks very familiar, a few key changes are apparent.
The HD suffix is deliberately missing from the title, as the developers wanted to highlight the fact that the game is not a simple “up-rezzing”, applying high-definition textures to the original game’s skeleton. Abe’s Oddysee has been rebuilt from the ground up, in a new engine, with fully 3D-rendered environments, while retaining the 2D sidescrolling gameplay.
More detailed and varied animations give the already quirky characters a greater depth and humour. Sound effects and voices have also been rerecorded to the same effect – the gameplay video below shows a bit more variety in the speech than the original’s repeated “Hello-hello-follow me-okay” pattern.
Besides the prettiness factor being cranked right up, perhaps the most obvious change to fans of the original is that the static camera angles that Abe passed through have been stitched together into a smooth, moving camera system. It’s something newcomers won’t even blink at, but long-time fans should find it a welcome modernization.
The developers explained that while the core game was the same, a few basic redesigns were implemented to account for the new camera system or to take advantage of the new engine.
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee – New ‘N’ Tasty will hit the PC, XBLA, Playstation 3 and the PS Vita in about a year’s time, but this New ‘N’ Tasty sample already has us watering at the mouth.
Besides being a portable version of Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland for the PlayStation Vita, Gust is adding a slew of new content to Atelier Totori Plus. Of course this not only means two new costumes for Totori in the form of a nurse costume and a bikini but also a new dungeon as well!
In the screens below you can find Totori in her new outfits as well as a glimpse at how nearly every aspect of the game will look in its new condensed form, as well as the Orthogalaxen dungeon which was previously revealed. Two new diffuclt looking enemies have been shown off for this dungeon as well. Currently there is no release date for Atelier Totori Plus in the West, though Japan will be getting it on November 29th.
As anyone familiar with the franchise knows, Senran Kagura isn’t the most modest series around and from the looks of these first screenshots of Marvelous AQL’s Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus, this PlayStation Vita game won’t be any different than it’s 3DS iterations.
As you can see in the screenshots below all new characters have been introduced into the game and there is more than enough fan service for those of you who enjoy seeing girls with their clothing ripped up during combat. Also shown below is the new 3D plane and what appears to be players fighting against one another.
Currently Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus is set to come out on February 28 in Japan and a Western release is unlikely at the moment given the franchises history.
Strike Witches 2 Studio: AIC Spirits Publisher: FUNimation Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release Date:October 2, 2012 Price:$69.98 – Available Here
Overview: Guns? Check. Alien invasion? Check. Aerial combat? Check. Panties? Check. Put all of that together and you can only get one thing… the Strike Witches are back. In 2010 FUNimation brought quite an interesting show over to North America in the form of Strike Witches… a series based around girls flying through the air with no pants on destroying aliens.
Unsurprisingly, this turned out to be quite popular here but even more so over in Japan. As such Strike Witches 2 was created and now FUNimation has brought this second season over to North America as well. Does the war on pants continue unabated?
Story: In an alternative world where aliens called Neuroi have invaded the world and wrought destruction upon every city they come across. With standard military weapons incapable of inflicting any major harm to the Neuroi, only one type of fighter can destroy these creatures and potentially save the world… a witch. These witches are young women capable of using magic and controlling a “Striker Unit” and they may be the only thing preventing the Neuroi from destroying everything they hold dear.
Six months have passed since the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, also called the Strike Witches, were able to liberate Brittania from the Neuroi occupation by destroying the Neuroi Hive and most of the members of the 501st have returned to their own countries, with our main character Yoshika Miyafuji returning to civilian life. However a new and even greater Neuroi Hive has appeared in the skies above Venesia and with the local Striker force nearly obliterated by the new Neuroi, the 501st begin to assemble once more, with Miyafuji and the rest of the group meeting once again to take down the Neuroi together.
Ultimately, Strike Witches 2’s plot doesn’t play too heavily into the series itself besides set up a structure for the series to follow. While the Neuroi are a very real threat, their role in Strike Witches 2 seems to be more of an obstacle to overcome than anything else as the girls never truly feel like they are in any terrible danger despite how fast paced some of the battles can become. It also doesn’t help that any development the Neuroi previously received in season one is completely forgotten thanks to the new hive.
Instead of featuring an overarching plot with plenty of story developments and twists, we are given substantial character development instead. Nearly every episode in season 2 is devoted to one character or a pair of characters in the Strike Witches and while Miyafuji may be seen as the main character, each girl is given her time in the spotlight. This is handled well enough through the use of plenty of comedy and overcoming of limitations usually resulting in the girl’s new ability taking down the Neuroi threat that episode.
This wouldn’t work on your standard show, but thankfully Strike Witches 2 features a rather colorful and diverse cast of characters that will quickly have viewers picking favorites. Obviously those who watched the first season will be able to enjoy these character developments further as they are already familiar with the girls and know most of their personality quirks such as why Hartmann is always asleep or Lucchini’s attachment to Shirley.
Despite this however, newcomers should quickly discern the girl’s relationships with one another and thanks to the fact that nearly each one is highlighted in some way, no one feels left out despite the large cast. As such, the girls of the 501st grow on the viewer even more than they did during the first season through their interactions and familiarity with one another.
That being said, Strike Witches 2 is best seen as more of a lighthearted slice-of-life anime than anything else thanks to the fact that while viewers will be treated to plenty of action, most of the show is spent focusing on the girls and their daily lives with one another, with very little drama interlaced with the comedic actions of these pantsless witches.
Visuals: Let’s start with talking about the various set pieces and the non-girl segments of Strike Witches 2 first. As with before, the Neuroi are handled with CGI so they tend to look a little out of place in the world, but they seem to have seen an improvement since the first season, while the backgrounds and set pieces are still excellently handled. The battles themselves are similarly impressive with the studio making sure the various explosions and gunfire effects are handled well. It is especially worth noting that the war ships and various weaponry used by the Witches and the military seem to contain a rather extensive amount of detail.
As for the girls themselves, each girl is vastly different from one another both in appearance as well as proportions. Their faces are also expressive, though not quite as detailed as one would like. That being said, they are certainly cute in appearance and it is clear that the studio was aiming for this fact with their character designs, though they do seem to be drawn to a younger age than a few viewers will be comfortable with.
Now, on to the fan service aspect of Strike Witches 2. Now although their panties are described as “uniform” they are still panties in most cases. While the focus on this aspect of the show is slightly less than before, it is still quite an obvious factor, especially when most fighting scenes often feature camera angles behind the girls as they perform maneuvers, giving the viewer a clear shot at their backside.
It is also worth noting that Strike Witches 2 is uncensored so that means that there will be plenty of breasts and butts shown off during any bathing scene, which there happens to be quite a few of. As mentioned before, the girls all feature different proportions with each girl’s breasts matching their body size. Ultimately, this doesn’t really do anything to detract from the experience and those watching the series should know what to expect and will find that there is plenty of fan service available for those who are looking for it.
Audio: Like one would expect with a release from FUNimation, both the original Japanese dub and the English dub are provided with the release of Strike Witches 2 and the company was able to retain the same voice actors that handled characters from season one so there is no inconsistency in performances. As such, the English cast seems to have done a decent job with voicing each character, with the girl’s voiced by some of the more veteran female voice works in the field such as Jamie Marchi (Shirley), Trina Nishimura (Lucchini) and Cherami Leigh (Miyafuji).
As far as background music goes, Strike Witches 2’s soundtrack is relatively tame as most of the background tracks are hardly noticeable. On the other hand, the series’ sound effects are handled well with the sounds of gunfire, explosions and Striker Units all creating the feel of a dogfight in the sky.
The series features an opening song called “Strike Witches 2 ~Egao no Mahou~ by Yoko Ishida which unfortunately leaves very little impression on the viewer, while the ending “Over Sky” is sung by a different set of characters each episode, though it is still rather forgetful. The singing is performed by the Japanese voice actresses and usually the song is performed by the character or characters highlighted that episode.
Extras: As far as bonus features go, Strike Witches 2 comes with your standard collection of bonuses in the form of trailers for other FUNimation releases, a clean opening song, rather impressively, a collection of each ending performance by the cast with the names of the characters performing said song and commentaries for episode 5 and 9.
Episode 5’s commentary is hosted by Scott Sager and he is joined by Jamie Marchi the voice of Charlotte “Shirley” Yeager, Trina Nishimura voice of Francesca Lucchini. These two often work together and they discuss how they usually play opposites of one another and how it is nice to be friendly this time around. They also discuss how they deal with being typecast for specific characters. The commentary is nice and comedic as the two girls crack each other up throughout the commentary.
Episode 9’s commentary follows the episode a lot more than episode 5 and is still hosted by Scott Sager, though this time around he is joined by Scott Sager hosts Anastasia Munoz the voice of Commander Minna, Jad Saxton the voice of Perrine Clostermann. Interestingly it is both Jad and Anastasia’s first time on commentary and they do mention a few spoilers about later episodes so this commentary would be best left for viewing after finishing the season.
Overall: Strike Witches 2 continues to do what it does best this season, give viewers a fun and enjoyable show with very little drama and plenty of comedy. While it’s paper-thin plot leaves the series without any real substance, the cast of characters helps make up for this. There also happens to be so many bare breasts and countless panty shots that Strike Witches 2 succeeds on providing a fan-service laden show with impressive action sequences of girls flying around in their underwear that many will find a guilty pleasure.
The latest and final trailer for the upcoming web series, Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, has been released. Titled, “Squad,” the video takes you into the lives of each of the members of Hastai Squad. In the video, which you can watch down below, you learn more about each one of the cadets background, what year they are in at the Corbulo Academy, and so on.
On another note, this is the last trailer they will be showing before the first episode of the web series launches on October 5 on Machinima Prime.
You can pick up the game, Halo 4, this web series is apart of when it launches on the Xbox 360 on November 6, 2012.
A new game mode for the upcoming game, Halo 4, was outed last week by a French game magazine. Since then, 343 Industries has officially revealed the game mode. What is the game mode you may ask, it is, “The Flood.” The Flood is the new replacement for the old game mode infection.
The following changes have taken place that truly make this game type live up to its name:
– It is now only 10 players per a game (replacing the amount of 12 in the previous games).
– 2 of the 10 player will start out as the flood.
– They people who are infected with the case of the flood will now use claws instead of energy swords.
You can check out to see the gameplay video down below to further understand the changes made to the game type and how it will play in Halo 4. Halo 4 will be releasing on the Xbox 360 on November 6, 2012.
So it’s finally here, the Nintendo Wii U, and as such we have dedicated this podcast nearly entirely to it. So join us as we discuss all of the biggest news from Nintendo in regards to this latest and greatest console from them. Also we have the game show, which is awesome.
Cast: Luke Halliday, Travis Bruno and Dustin Spencer; hosted by: Benjamin Webb.
Music for this podcast is from: Megaman Zero.
Thanks for listening and let us know what you think!
Send all your video game or podcast questions, hints, suggestions, answers to questions and feedback to [email protected]
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
NEW PRIZE ANNOUNCED
Each week, thanks to Razer, we will be giving away a prize a week competition held through Capsule Computers Gaming Podcast.
To win, simply listen to the podcast for the weekly question and SPECIAL CODE, once you have it send us an email with your name and address to [email protected], make sure you include the secret code. At the end of the week, a winner will be randomly selected from the pool of entries. The winner will then be announced on the next podcast.
This week, we’ll be giving away the awesome Razer DeathAdder, thanks to our good friends at Razer.
Thanks for listening. Copyright Capsule Computers Pty Ltd – All Rights Reserved.
All Other Samples Are Copyright And Property Of Their Official Copyright Holders.
Konami has announced that Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 is now available at all retail stores across North America. This comes five days after the Australian release, which was September 20. The European release date for Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 was also September 20. Japan won’t be receiving the game until October 4. This release date is only for the current generation release of the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
PES 2013 will feature three major club competitions: the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League and the Copa Libertadores. PES 2013 will feature ‘PES Full Control’, allowing full control of aspects of the game, Pro Active AI, where AI will react as in a real football game and PlayerID, where the world’s greatest players are instantly recognizable by how they look, move and play. Our review of PES 2013 is now live. You can check it out here.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Platforms: Playstation 3 (reviewed), Xbox 360, PC, Wii, Playstation 2, Nintendo 3DS, Playstation Portable Release Date:25/09/2012 Price: $46.25 (Available Here)
Overview
Pro Evolution Soccer has always provided an alternative for football fans everywhere. This year, it returns as PES 2013, offering improvements to gameplay over previous entries, or so I have been told. The gameplay is quite solid, as well as elements off the pitch, such as Football Life and the UEFA license. The visuals and audio have their positives and negatives too. But is it enough to change the allegiance of the FIFA faithful?
Gameplay
PES 2013 presents football differently that FIFA. Rather than being ultra realistic or downright arcade-style, it brings both realism and arcade gameplay into one bundle. PES pulls it off like the Wayne Rooney bicycle kick against Manchester City: sheer excellence. This is the first time I have encountered PES on console (you may remember my review for PES 2012 PSP) and, being someone who has always stuck with FIFA, I did not know what to expect. The basics are nailed, like a free kick hitting the top right (or left) corner. Passing is accurate and fluent. Teammates are actively giving the player a chance to execute an attack by looking for space. The player is given absolute control once they have the ball. It feels right. It brings it back to the basics of football, beating the player in front of you and stringing passes together in order to score a goal.
While Konami does quite a lot right with some aspects on the pitch, others require some attention. Shooting comes into play right here. Shooting isn’t broken, but the ‘Knuckle Shot’ always hits the target but rarely produces any goals, even if you are within shooting range. Speeds for some players are quite unrealistic. I would expect a winger to be able to fly down the pitch, but a defensive midfielder shouldn’t match that. Heading is also a problem. More often than not, any attacking headers my player executes results in one weak, off target header. I do not know if I am doing something wrong or it is the game itself, but the feeling of actually getting a powerful header into goal is gone. The referees are also quite whistle happy and yellow card happy. They are very harsh for the softest of tackles, which involved me scratching my head and shouting at the TV like a regular couch analyzer.
Then there are the great modes off the pitch. Football Life is the strongest and best feature of PES 2013. Football Life is divided into two modes: Master League and Become a Legend. Master League allows the player to take the reigns of any club they wish, whether they are part of the English Premier League or La Liga. Become a Legend is all about developing as a player on the pitch. There is quite a bit to do in both modes and one can earn items such as boots to improve player statistics. International duty is included in Become a Legend, although it seems that it is based on the current customised squad. With that said, it is disappointing to see that there are a few flaws within both modes. The one major problem is that, most of the time, all one would see is the calendar and menus. It would have been nice to actually play one’s created player (or real player) through training, where the performance affects the statistics. Still, it is worth checking out.
Another excellent feature of PES 2013 (and one that has been part of the PES library for quite some time) is the inclusion of the UEFA club competitions (Champions League, Europa League and Super Cup) and the Copa Liberatores. For those who are new to football (or soccer, whatever one’s preference is), the UEFA club competitions are the premium club competitions in Europe, while the Copa Liberatores is South America’s premium continental club competition. Everything that has to do with both competitions is there, recreating the excitement and feel that both competitions bring to the world. However, not everything is included.
I refer to the licensing of teams in PES 2013. Whether it is a problem for one is their opinion, but, compared to the opposition, the licensing does lack in some ways. Mind you, PES 2013 do include teams that FIFA do mot touch at all (like two Ukrainian club teams), which is great and it is worth noting that Konami’s bank may not challenge that of EA’s own bank. With that said, there could be certain leagues Konami may want to bring to their game. Konami holds the license for the J.League, Japan’s premium football competition, yet they don’t include it in PES. Other Asian leagues, like the Chinese Super League, could also feature in PES, bringing more exposure to these two leagues. However, the lack of licenses should not be the deal breaker, as the gameplay offers enough for a purchase.
PES still offers deep customisable options, like changing settings for any league or cup in the game. They also offer stadium creation, which allows players to import any images for use. Creating a stadium is quite easy and it can turn out excellent for the player. It helps that it can become a home for that created team the player creates. PES also offers training exercises for those who need to acclimatise to the PES controls and the new features the game offers. The training is a hit and miss, as one will discover some tasks are too easy and others require excellence in execution. But that is how one becomes a master of the virtual round ball game.
Visual and Audio
The visuals of the game could have been worked on, but we all know the budget PES 2013 received compared to the other game. Credit has to be given on the player models. The big stars like Rooney, Messi and Ronaldo do look like their real world counterparts and that includes their animation, thanks to PlayerID. However, I don’t particularly like the animation for the celebrations. They look quite robotic and artificial. Stadiums look excellent and the menus are quite neat and easy to navigate. It is just too bad that there are quite a lot of menus to navigate around.
Whether the crowd is alive with excitement or it is hearing the words of Jon Champion, the audio of PES 2013 is quite a mixed feeling. The soundtrack is left to be desired. It is a great thing, then, that any music stored on your console can be playable in menus and other parts of the game. Konami has also included tracks from the 8-bit classics, such as Contra and Castlevania. Then there is the commentary. The team this year is the same as previous years, Jon Champion and Jim Beglin. You might have heard of Jon Champion. That is because he does call games for the Premier League in Europe, so you know he is quite an excellent commentator. It is too bad that the commentary isn’t quite the best.
Overall
PES 2013 is definitely worth checking out. While it may have some problems with certain elements of the gameplay and lacks the licensing that FIFA has, the basics bring an excellent gameplay experience. Football Life and other modes add to the awesome experience. The visuals are nice but animations for celebrations could have been worked on. The soundtrack isn’t the best, but one can make their own. Jon Champion and Jim Beglin are also not at their best compared to listening them commentate an actual match. With that said, PES is coming back and is offering an excellent alternative than FIFA.
Not too long ago, Stone Cold, Mike Tyson, Dolph Ziggler, and several other top names came together for a panel for the upcoming WWE ’13. Today, the final two videos were released, and both should give fans something to chew on until the actual game release in November.
The first video (which is technically the second part) has all of the stars discuss memories of the Attitude Era, which is a large part of WWE ’13. The second video…or the third part continues CM Punk and friends’ discussion about video games in general and this newest installment. You can check out both clips below, and let us know what you’re looking forward to trying out in WWE 13 in the comments down below.
