Well, it looks like Europe won’t be the only region of the world to get the ‘Cross Buy’ promotion that Sony had recently revealed at Gamescom. Sony Computer Entertainment, president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida made a post on Twitter to clarify that the PlayStation 3/Vita promo is also headed to the United States. Japan, however, isn’t so lucky, at least not yet. ” PS Vita-PS3 Cross Buy price promo is coming to both Europe and North America. My quote by Famitsu was meant as ‘not decided for Japan yet,'” Yoshida said. The official tweet reads:
“PS Vita-PS3 Cross Buy price promo is coming to both Europe and North America. My quote by Famitsu was meant as “not decided for Japan yet.”
The first game that will be used for the promotion will be Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royal and if you buy either version of the game, you get the other version for free. A variety of other upcoming first-party Sony games also support the promotion. This is just the first game to do this as many other first party Sony developers games will have have the cross buy promotion. You could compare Sony’s cross buy idea to Kojima’s transfarring system that they used for the previous re-releases of Metal Gear Solid one through three and also Peace Walker.
Game director, SWERY, has shed some light on the possibility of Deadly Premonition 2 being in the works. In a interview given to EuroGamer SWERY said his team is working on a new project that will be released to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Access Games, the developer responsible for Deadly Premonition and Lord of Arcana.
SWERY said with regards to the new project: “We’re in talks with publishers at the moment, and we can’t tell you about the platforms. But by next summer, I think everyone will have a good idea of what it’s going to be.” When pressed if the new title was a sequel to cult favorite Deadly Premonition, SWERY responded, “Hmm. Maybe.”
Although SWERY never did say new game is Deadly Premonition 2, he went on to say:
“In Deadly Premonition I really tried to focus on lifestyle and the relationships between the characters and experiencing those things in the game, and there just happened to be a murder mystery going on as well. But what I really wanted people to experience was those day to day things. In the new game that’s going to be important as well. Plus some extra things I wasn’t able to do before, and new original elements like the coffee fortune telling.I meet once a month with the producer of Deadly Premonition and we talk about various things. There are things I’ve come up with the producer has said no to. I suggested Deadly Premonition 2 should be as though Deadly Premonition 1 had never existed. I wanted to do everything from scratch, but the producer said I couldn’t do that.So, for example, like with Spider-Man, you’ve got Spider-Man and the Amazing Spider-Man, so the same series but a different world. I wanted to do something like that but was told no. The producer said the fans love York, and so I have to carry on with him as the protagonist.”
SWERY also went onto talk about the idea of doing a Director’s Cut that he is currently about to start work on to celebrate the studio’s tenth anniversary:
‘We’re working on the Director’s Cut of Deadly Premonition, I am writing some new script and scenarios. Whether those will be used or not, and how they’ll be used, isn’t decided yet.”
No publisher has been chosen for the game yet but, they are currently in talks with a few options.
Director Tony Scott, who directed Top Gun, True Romance, and Man of Fire has committed suicide today at the age of sixty-eight.
It has been reported that Scott, jumped to his death from the Vincent Thomas Bridge near San Pedro on Sunday afternoon. A witness to this horrible death said the director pulled over to the side of the bridge, scaled an 8-10′ fence and “jumped without any hesitation.” He is said to have left a suicide note in his car. Sonar equipment had to be used to locate Scott’s remains in the water and they were able to find and recover his body at approximately 4:30 a.m.
One of Hollywood’s most successful directors, the British-born Scott was the brother and producing partner of Ridley Scott. His feature film directing credits include Enemy of the State, The Last Boy Scout, Days of Thunder, Crimson Tide, and Beverly Hills Cop II just to name a few. He was also an executive producer on many TV shows and miniseries including The Good Wife, Coma, World Without End, The Andromeda Strain, and Call of Duty ELITE: Friday Night Fights. Tony Scott produced many movies with his brother Ridley, including the latter’s most recent release Prometheus. Scott had been developing Top Gun 2 with Tom Cruise at the time of his death.
Scott’s family has made no comment yet but, we can only begin to imagine how bad they feel. Tony Scott will always be known and remembered as one of the greatest action directors of all time.
We have gotten our first bit of details about Dragon Age 3 thanks to a reportedly leaked survey. The survey includes an overall plot for the game and this is a summarized version:
“A portal between the worlds unleashes hords of demons in the land, civil wars rip apart nations and the corruption is limitless. Someone is behind the shadows, drawing the threads which destroy the world. Time has come for the Inquisition.
Take the Inquisitor’s cloak and lead the only force able of bringing light into the darkness. Choose the direct method and gather your armies, send spies into the shadows or engage in a political war, make friends and use your connections indirectly: it is up to you how you lead the inquisition. But you’ll have to take lead of it from the beginning. Make your player a rogue, warrior or mage and set up your crew from up to ten (!) complex companions to lead them against those who attack you by systematically spying on, revealing and destroying them.”
They also went into from talking about if players would like to see an online/coop mode to a player controlled day and night modus.
Bioware has made no comment yet so we will have to wait and see if they will make a response to this supposed leak.
John Barrowman of Torchwood and Doctor Who fame has recently been found to have signed up on CW’s new series Arrow.
The new series, pegged as “action-drama”, is based upon DC Comic’s Green Arrow.Arrow would be the story of Oliver Queen, a rich carefree playboy by day, vigilante by night. If you’re reading this thinking that it is just Batman with bows and arrows, you might be mistaken. Within the comics universe and the DC Animated Universe, Green Arrow was known for his more grassroots connections and political/societal bend, often being sane man keeping the group grounded. It has yet to be seen whether CW’s Arrow would be the same way.
John Barrowman credentials on the Doctor Who and Torchwood sets have landed him a spot on the show with a recurring role as a “well-dressed, wealthy, and prominent figure of Starling City”, and “a good acquaintance” of the Queen family.
Arrow makes it’s debut on October 10 at 8 PM ET, having Canadian Actor Stephen Amell wielding the bow and arrow as Oliver Queen.
Shangri-La Part 2 Studio:GONZO Publisher:FUNimation Format: DVD Release Date: August 21, 2012 Price:$59.98 – Available Here
Overview: Only a few forms of media deal with real world issues and among these forms anime are probably the least recognized for their contributions. However with the release of Shangri-La by FUNimation at this point in time, not only does the publisher capitalize on a number of events that occurred since the series was first created back in 2009 but has so far seen interesting characters, with a so-far, muddled storyline. With Part 1 of Shangri-La already behind us, the review of which can be seen here, does Shangri-La Part 2 bring a satisfying end to this series?
Story: In the future, humanity has succeeded in bringing the world to the edge of destruction through heightened levels of global warming thanks to unrepentant business practices and humanity as a whole living carelessly. In an effort to try and put a cap on the deadly growth rate of global warming, the major countries in the world have established a CO2 emission economy. This means that every country has a certain carbon tax levied upon them, forcing them to restrict their growth in an effort to obey these taxes.
Shortly after the carbon tax is created, Japan is struck by a devastating earthquake which destroys most of the country and practically levels Tokyo. Due to the carbon tax however, the country is unable to recover and most of Tokyo is left to grow into a jungle wilderness. Only one organization has attempted to create a refuge for the people of Tokyo with their plan to create a new city for the public. This plan however, titled Project Atlas, only allows so many people within its walls while the rest of the people on the outside have been left to perish.
Immediately outside of the city of Atlas, a small community called Duomo has been established and in Duomo a group called the Metal Age has been trying to fight against Atlas and enter into the city which has been treating them like dirt and if they were non-existed. One young girl by the name of Kuniko stands amongst them, and when she is forced to take charge of the group she begins to discover secrets not only about herself but about the fortress city of Atlas as well. Will Kuniko be able to successfully create a place where everyone can live equally?
Thankfully, while the focus with Part 1 was a large amount of exposition and character development, Part 2 helps bring most of the story to a close by filling in almost every plot hole and even providing an interesting twist near the end. It is also worth noting that despite most of the story being resolved, it is also extremely complex and convoluted.
An easy comparison to a video game title would be something out of Metal Gear Solid’s entire series as a whole. As such, even with twenty four episodes to work with, there still isn’t enough time for most elements of the story to be absorbed the first time around, almost requiring at least one more viewing to be understood. This re-watching is helped slightly thanks to the colorful cast of characters that all seem to get their own share of the screen time, but not by much.
Visuals: While the animation quality for the first half of the series may have been a little hit and miss at times, Part 2 features some quality action-scenes and top notch animation as a whole. This is also quite obvious when the viewer pays attention to the characters themselves (especially when it comes to Momoko) as they are not only well detailed but their facial animations are absolutely wonderful to witness… especially Momoko.
One thing that has remained consistent throughout the series is the level of quality exuded from the series’ background segments. These environments are beautifully done and when combined with the title’s impressive character animation there are some very eye pleasing combinations.
Audio: Considering the title has been released by FUNimation, and obviously Part 1 was given both an English and Japanese dub, it is almost needless to repeat this information yet again, however Part 2 of Shangri-La has been given the full treatment with both tracks available for the viewer’s listening pleasure. As it stands the English voice work for the cast has been handled quite well throughout the series so far and Part 2 is no different.
As for the title’s soundtrack, the background music has seemingly improved from the first half of the series as it helps accentuate the scenes they are accompanying better. As for the second half’s opening and ending theme, they are still the same as they feature simply “Kimi Shinitamou Koto NaKare” by May’n as the opening and the two ending songs “Hajimari no Asa ni Hikari Are” and “Tsuki ni Kakuseshi Chou no Yume.” Both of these are performed by Midori, though now feature alternate visuals, and feature a slow pace and dramatic tone which works well as the series’ ending themes.
Extras: With the release of Shangri-La Part 2 we see some of your standard bonus features, which happen to be trailers for past and upcoming FUNimation releases, a clean version of the opening song and both clean ending songs, with their updated visuals. Along with these inclusions are two commentaries for episodes 15 and 23.
Both commentaries are hosted by Tyler Walker the ADR director of the show, while episode 15 features Patrick Sights, a lesser episode writer and Jay Michael Tatum who is a lead writer on the series. These three spend most of the time talking about their past experiences and how they enjoyed working on the series, with mildly comedic results. As for episode 23 listeners are treated to Jad Saxton the voice of Karin and Jennifer Semen who happens to voice Ryouko. This one is a bit funnier than the first and also more entertaining overall, especially for those who happen to enjoy Jennifer’s work.
Overall: Shangri-La Part 2 was left with quite a daunting task, to try and close up all of the plot holes left by the first half of the series and bring the story around to a satisfying conclusion. Thankfully the series has done a relatively good job with its overly complicated plot, though it still suffers from being unnecessarily obtuse. As it stands though, the series is enjoyable to watch, with the second half improving greatly over the first half of the series, not only with story progression but visually as well.
It is also worth noting that those who have been paying attention to recent events in the world such as the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the “Occupy Movement” which occurred around the world in recent years will appreciate the series even more.
Welcome to Capsule Computers’ weekly anime segment, Anime Say! This week, I dive into the latest news in the world of anime as well as discuss my favourite anime fights of all time. So sit back and relax and get ready for a extra long episode of Anime Say!
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Yes, all of you school goers, it’s that time of the year. Time to grab the books and head back to the daily grind for education. It’s not all bad though, as some developers are making life away from school a bit easier. Scribblenauts Remix just happens to be getting an update in celebration of the occasion, and all of you can now grab it while it’s up for download.
The “Back to School” update includes “a free playground where players will be inspired to make wildly creative school related objects such as a “squeamish, psychedelic, school bus,” a “candy-coated, rainbow, chalk board,” or maybe even an “evil, triskaidekaphobic, math teacher.” “. Sound good? Well, if those contraptions make you chuckle, you will also be happy to know that players can access World 9 at no extra cost if they have previously purchased the World Pass. So go, download, and make some chaotic school-themed devices.
In a new statement, Konami have revealed some more details about their upcoming Castlevania game, Castlevania Lord of Shadows – Mirror Of Fate. In the statement, Konami have stated a few new details about the game. On the game representatives had this to say –
“It’s been two years since the enormous success of Castlevania Lords of Shadow, and with this next installment, we want to take the necessary time needed to give fans a handheld title unlike any other,” said Dave Cox, Producer of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and Head of Product Planning and Development for Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH. “Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate will bridge the storyline to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, also planned to release in 2013. Both titles will reveal the shocking fate of the Belmont Clan in a dramatic culmination of the Lords of Shadow saga.”
Castlevania: Lord Of Shadows – Mirror Of Fate takes place 25 years after the first Lord Of Shadows game, Castlevania: Lord Of Shadows and is set 25 years before the sequel: Castlevania; Lord Of Shadows 2. It follows the characters Simon and Trevor Belmont who are decendants of the great Gabriel Belmont. The game is scheduled to be released early 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS.
ASTRO Gaming announced the launch of their latest headset the ASTRO A50 in Australia and New Zealand through their distributor Bluemouth Interactive today. The ASTRO A50s is a fully wireless headset system that takes ASTRO’s famous Mixamp 5.8 and builds them right into the A50’s headset. The headset is engineered to provide audiophile grade Dolby 7.1 and 5.1 surround sound in a light weight and comfortable package. The ASTRO A50s is compatible with the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, the PC, and more through a wide range of input options. KleerNet 5.8GHz wireless technology is used to ensure the least amount of interference with the highest quality sound. ASTRO is adding the ASTRO Audio Profiles with their product for the first time. This new feature allows users to tweak their sound to best suit their activity. The added ability to create and share their profiles online is currently in development.
The ASTRO A50s are priced at $349.99 in Australia and $449.99 in New Zealand and will be available at EB Games and JB HiFi.
Welcome to Capsule Computers’ weekly anime segment, Anime Say! This week, I dive into the latest news in the world of anime as well as discuss my favourite anime fights of all time. So sit back and relax and get ready for a extra long episode of Anime Say!
