Activision have been preparing to launch 007 Legends later this year, but today it was announced that this new installment to the Bond franchise will have a lot of star power behind it. Stars including the likes of Daniel Craig, Michael Lonsdale, Naomie Harris and Richard Kiel will be featured in Legends, among others. Famous writers from the films have also been enlisted, offering up a story that ties together six missions that are straight from the flicks themselves.
Here are a few more details:
007 Legends will feature Daniel Craig’s (Casino Royale, SKYFALL, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) James Bond while Rory Kinnear (SKYFALL, Quantuum of Solace, Wild Target) voices Mi6’s Chief of Staff, Bill Tanner. The Moonraker mission features familiar Bond actors, including Michael Lonsdale (Of Gods and Men, Moonraker, Munich) reprising his villainous role as Hugo Drax and Richard Kiel (Happy Gilmore, Moonraker, The Spy Who Loved Me) as Drax’s notorious henchman – Jaws. Naomie Harris (28 Days Later, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, SKYFALL) and Ola Rapace (Beyond, SKYFALL, Together), both in this fall’s feature film SKYFALL, will also make their video game debuts in 007 Legends.
In addition, veteran Bond film and video game writer, Bruce Feirstein (The World Is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies, GoldenEye), pens 007 Legends’ overarching storyline while the acclaimed James Bond film composer – David Arnold (Die Another Day, Tomorrow Never Dies, Independence Day) – and established TV composer, Kevin Kiner (“Hell on Wheels,” “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “CSI: Miami”) lend their musical expertise and talent to the robust video game soundtrack. The 007 Legends’ talent roster will continue to grow as additional game missions are revealed.
Yes, the Bond games know how to bring in the talent, and it will be very interesting to see how this project comes together when 007 Legends launches on October 17, 2012.
The upcoming fighting game in the Tekken franchise, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, will be host to a new feature called the Fight Lab. The Fight Lab is essentially a way for players to quickly customise the skills and appearance of the sparring partner for training called the Combot.
The guys and girls over at Namco-Bandai have sent along a trailer that showcases some of the footage from the upcoming game mode that will be present within Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Be sure to check out the trailer embedded below for more info.
You know how it is, once a beta begins and files appear to the public there are always some people who will literally tear apart that data piece by piece until they learn everything possible about the game they are going to be playing. Well it just so happens that a whole slew of NeoGAFusers have done this with the PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale beta and boy have they found a lot of information.
It is worth noting that this could all be entirely false at the moment as Sony has not said anything about any of the information leaked, but some of the revaled information include fighters such as Dante from Devil May Cry, Spike from Ape Escape, Raiden from Metal Gear Solid, Sir Daniel Fortesque from MediEvil and Nariko from Heavenly Sword. A BioShock Infinite stage will also be included in the final product apparently.
The full list of leaked characters, stages, items and even support characters can be seen below:
Yesterday Tecmo Koei revealed some gameplay footage showing off the white “DOA Angels” bunny bikinis which will be given to those who pre-order Dead or Alive 5 from GameStop. Today Tecmo Koei Japan released a relatively similar video but this time around they are also showing off one of the “DOA Devils” bikinis.
The footage below contains Kasumi and Hitomi in their white bunny bikinis but instead of Leifang we have Ayane in her black bunny bikini outfit. It is worth noting that those who want to get the black bunny swimsuits will need to pre-order the title from Amazon in North America. Those who simply can’t make up their mind and want both sultry swimsuit collections should probably pick up the collector’s edition then, because both swimsuit packs will be included with said edition.
Fans of long-running games series always want something new – as long as it’s the same as the old stuff. The latest (and last) developer diary for Worms Revolution shows that Team 17 are doing their best to cater to these contradictory hopes for the upcoming Worms game.
The game will feature classic 2D gameplay presented in fancypants 3D graphics, and of course includes a roster of series-regular weapons, alongside newcomers that take advantage of Revolution’s new physics and dynamic water. The no-nonsense player can still rely on the faithful bazooka for ex-worm-ination, but how about creative use of the water gun, to push your enemies off the landscape, or slowly drown them in a pool? Or use Telekinesis to drop a vial of poison onto a swarm of enemies?
This final developer diary should provide some closure on what to expect from the game, which isn’t too far from release now. There’s no official word yet, beyond “Quarter 3, 2012”. Being the end of July already (!!!), the third quarter is well underway, so I’d guess at a September release, if they’re to make their own window.
We’ll find out soon enough, but until then, this and the other dev diaries should satisfy any Worms cravings you may have.
In e-mails sent by various people to Playstation Lifestyle, it seems that Superbot Entertainment will be conducting a Developer Beta for the Playstation 3 version of Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. This will be a very limited beta as it has been described as a closed beta. The purpose of the beta, according to the email, is to perform a “stress test” for the servers to see how it handles under intense pressure. The beta will also feature some in-game features for players to have a go with. This comes days after the fact that beta codes have been sent to PS+ subscribers in Hong Kong and Singapore.
With the game featuring online multiplayer and the fighting mechanics needing to be balanced, it isn’t a surprise to see a closed beta. With that said, an open beta or demo with consumer feedback should be further down the line. If there is an open beta, one should be coming very soon, as Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale hit stores over four days in late October, starting with the 23rd in North America, 24th in Europe, 25th in Australia and New Zealand and 26th in the UK and Ireland. It will be released for both the Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita. Below is a picture of the e-mail (click to expand).
In what may be a bit of a surprise announcement, considering just how gruesome the anime is, NIS America has announced today that they will be bringing over the anime Umineko no Naku Koro ni, under the name Umineko: When They Cry, to North America sometime in December. Interestingly enough, this anime release will be split up into two volumes, with the first volume containing 18 episodes while the second episode contains only 8 episodes.
Umineko: When They Cry will likely be given a premium edition release when it comes out in December, though the exact price and contents of this horror/mystery anime has not yet been revealed.
When E3 2012 ended, something strange happened. No immediate date or location was made for E3 2013 next year. Now almost two months later there still is no word about where the biggest gaming convention in the West will be taking place when 2013 rolls around.
Well that seems like it is going to change because the company vice president of the Entertainment Software Association, Rich Taylor, has stated “Hey guys. On Monday I’ll be making a big announcement regarding E3 2013, so be sure to follow me for updates and spread the word!” on Twitter. It’s worth noting that the ESA has run into issues with Los Angeles so perhaps we will see E3 2013 somewhere else next year.
Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror Studios: Production I.G, Dentsu Publisher:Madman /FUNimation Release Date: August 14, 2012 – US, November 28th, 2012 – AU Price:$29.95 – Available Here
Overview: While anime may be many people’s most favorite form of media coming out of Japan, the nation is quite well versed at providing entertaining computer-animated movies as well. As such FUNimation has brought one such computer-animated movie to North American shores. This interesting looking title may be unfamiliar to many anime viewers, but no one has ever said unfamiliarity is a bad thing. As such, is Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror worth a purchase?
Story: Nearly everyone has had things that they have lost over the course of their lives. In fact, I’m sure a few of you may even have lost something today and no matter where you looked for it you just couldn’t ascertain its location. Well, it turns out that there may just be a fox that has come and taken it from you because of the lack of attention and neglect the lost object has received.
Haruka and the Magic Mirror begins with a brief Japanese fairy tale being told by Haruka’s mother about how little fox creatures will come and collect various items that have been neglected and if you happen to pray to these creatures you may just end up getting your lost item back. Unfortunately Haruka’s mother passed away when she was a young child and one of her few mementos from her is a decorated hand mirror.
As time passes however and Haruka becomes a teenager and her family moves into a smaller house, things become forgotten and mistreated. However once Haruka begins to remember her long-dead mother she discovers that she unable to find the mirror left to her by her mother. Remembering the story once told to her by her mother, she visits a local shrine to pray for the mirror to be returned to her.
Here she encounters a small masked creature that she follows to follow into a mysterious world where all mistreated and neglected things end up. With only this little fox creature to help her, Haruka not only must try to find her lost hand mirror, but also overcome the wicked plans of Oblivion Island’s Baron.
Considering Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror is simply an hour and forty minute movie there isn’t too much room for character development or too much of a depth to the show’s plot, it is interesting to see the way Haruka’s personality towards her father change from the beginning to the end of the movie. Haruka and the Magic Mirror does offer an interesting interpretation about the things that people lose that, at least I have never heard of before. On the other hand the movie’s storyline is quite predictable and loosely held together, though these issues are alleviated slightly with the amount of charm that Oblivion Island exudes.
Visuals: If there is anything that will ensure you will never forget Haruka and the Magic Mirror, it is the movie’s visuals and animation. Oblivion Island has some of the most breathtaking anime-styled CG that I have ever seen. The amount of details in the world and the characters is absolutely wonderful. Considering Oblivion Island occurs in a world full of lost and forgotten things, the amount of little objects and items worked into the environment is stunning.
What makes this visual style work even better is the fact that the character animations are handled so well. Not only are the characters’ faces very expressive but they also are well varied, with the foxes of Teo’s world coming in all shapes and sizes, each one designed as impressively as the next.
Audio: As one would expect, FUNimation has provided both the English voice track and the original Japanese voice cast for those who would prefer that option. The English voice actors have done an adequate job with their performance, with the lesser known voice actor, Christine Marie Cabanos, providing a believable performance as the teenage Haruka, though Teo’s voice actor Cassandra Morris attempts to perform what sounds like a male voice for the character but simply makes him sound effeminate.
On the other hand Haruka and the Magic Mirror contains some rather amazing background music throughout the movie. There are a few segments of the movie where certain scenes are made all the better thanks to the impressive background noise. To top this off the show also contains an abundance of background noise and sound effects which are handled well throughout.
Extras: Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror contains a large number of bonus features, however except for the US trailer and previews for past and upcoming FUNimation releases, everything bonus feature is in Japanese only. This is a bit of an issue for those who don’t enjoy reading subtitles or listening to the Japanese voice track.
As such, the Japanese bonus features are things such as original teasers and commercials as well as promotional materias. Along with these simplistic features is a rather informative and enjoyable explanation of fox folklore that many may want to watch before actually watching the movie itself.
Overall: Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror takes the interesting concept of lost and misplaced items and puts a new twist on things while following the journey of a teenage girl as she remembers how important memories of her mother and family truly are. While the storyline may be a bit predictable the absolutely stunning visuals will leave a lasting impression on those lucky enough to experience Oblivion Island.
This weekend at Otakon 2012, Funimation Entertainment made what is undoubtedly the biggest acquisition announcements they have made all year. The have listened to their fans and have decided to give them what they wanted. They have confirmed the following titles have been licensed for distribution:
Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar (Digital, Physical and Broadcast release)
Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection (Physical release)
Akira (Physical release)
Aquarion EVOL (Digital and Physical release)
Lupin the 3rd: The Woman named Mine Fujiko (Digital and Physical release)
Maken-Ki: Battling Venus (Physical, Broadcast and Pay Per View release)
Sankarea (Digital, Physical, Broadcast and Theatrical release)
Fairy Tail Season 2 (Digital, Physical and Broadcast release)
Fairy Tail: Priestess of the Phoenix (Physical release)
One Piece Season 5 (Physical release in Summer 2013)
One Piece: Strong World (Physical release)
This is simply an incredible line-up of titles that Funimation has licensed. We will keep you up to date with details of the release dates for these titles as they come to light. What do you think of these acquisitions? Are you excited? Let us know in the comments section below.
In what may be a bit of a surprise announcement, considering just how gruesome the anime is, NIS America has announced today that they will be bringing over the anime Umineko no Naku Koro ni, under the name Umineko: When They Cry, to North America sometime in December. Interestingly enough, this anime release will be split up into two volumes, with the first volume containing 18 episodes while the second episode contains only 8 episodes.
