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.
Last week, Level-5’s Time Travelers made its debut on the Playstation Vita and Nintendo 3DS, both doing enough to place in the top ten in the Japanese software charts. This week, the Playstation Portable version made its debut. It did not outperform the 3DS and Vita versions. In fact, the game did not chart in the top ten, according to the recent Media Create Software Chart.
The PSP version made the top 50, being placed at number 41. The Vita version is still the top version, placed at number 38, while the 3DS version ended up as number 40. Media Create does not give sale numbers for game placed outside of the top 20 or count online sales, so the number might be slightly bigger. With that said, it would a foregone conclusion that the PSP version did not top the 9,761 units sold the 3DS achieved last week.
Analyst Michael Pachter has spoken to VG247 about the Nintendo 3DS XL and the Playstation Vita. With the 3DS XL, he believes that the larger version won’t make a big splash on the market. He says,
“The larger [3DS] format is not all that compelling for the consumer and, although I think the XL will help sales, I don’t think that the impact will revive weak sales of handhelds overall.”
Although Pachter believes the handheld market is weak, it should be noted that the 3DS has outsold the DS in its first 12 months, even with the current climate of smartphones and tablets. Latest figures from Nintendo has revealed that 19 million 3DS units and 52.81 million games have been sold since launch, showing that the dedicated handheld market may not be in dire straits as many do believe.
He also spoke of the Vita. In his opinion,
“Vita’s too expensive for most, priced pretty much the same as the PS3 everywhere. While I think the Vita is a good value and a great device, when compared to the PS3 it’s pretty expensive. Also, there is not much of a library of Vita games, so sales will probably be slow until we see more content.”
Sony has yet to release the latest figures for the Playstation Vita, the Vita has sold over one million units since launch. Pachter does make a fair point with pricing in the eyes of the average consumer. However, he is comparing technology that was released back in 2006, which makes the tech at least six years old. The Vita sports more advanced tech that may incur an extra cost when it is on the production line. Sony is selling the Vita at a loss, so dropping the price in their current situation will increase the loss they are currently making.
Sega of Japan has revealed that there are 730,000 registered players since Phantasy Star Online 2 went live. The game launched for the PC in Japan three weeks ago on July 4. Before that, the game went through a beta phrase, which ended on July 2, two days before the launch of full service. The MMO will also make an appearance on the Playstation Vita in 2013. Before that, it will launch on both iOS and Android platforms.
Sega has also revealed the figure where there were the most players at the one time since the launch of service. There were 91, 513 users at the one time on July 7 at 11:00 pm local time. The MMO is free-to-play and only available as a digital copy. A retail copy of the game will be released in September 2012, however. Sega is also looking into starting services for international markets, suggesting that the MMO will be released in English and other languages.
Gran Turismo producer Kazunori Yamauchi had some time to talk about both Gran Turismo 6 and what the studio would do with a possible Vita version of the series at an event in Beijing, China. The producer attended an Q&A session as part of the Sony Computer Entertainment booth, where the company is showing different products to the Chinese public.
With Gran Turismo 6, Yamauchi has revealed that Polyphony Digital (the studio behind the GT series) have been working on the game’s framwork as soon as GT 5 was completed. He added, “We’re always aiming for the latest technology and the latest expression.” It is obvious that the studio want to push the technical limit when it comes to the racing genre. As with GT Vita, Yamauchi said, “If we were to make it, we’d like to make use of the ability to play anywhere and the ability to use 3G at any time.”
Outside of the future of the series, Yamauchi talked about the Shanghai Circuit, saying that he would visit the track to consider what could be included in the game. He also went into full modifications for GT 5, saying, “If we can find a good balance, we’d like to increase the areas where users can make modifications.”
Just because the lead Orc in Of Orcs and Men is always green, doesn’t mean he’s always angry. He just happens to be in all the latest screenshots from the game. Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studio have released 4 new screenshots showing off the lead Orc not only in combat, but carrying a young woman, though still looking pretty ticked off while doing so.
That big old angry Orc is of course the Orcs’ leader that players will be taking the role of in Of Orcs and Men when it releases this year for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Players can check out the 4 latest screenshots in the gallery below and try to figure out just what has him so P.O.ed about. High Cholesterol? Or maybe all those men aiming pointy things at him? Put your own guesses in the comments below.
Are you bored with that asinine waste of time known as Farmville but still want to farm crops and other menial duties attributed to farming? Well you are in luck! Focus Home Interactive have announced that they will be releasing the third instalment in the premier farming sim video game franchise, Farming Simulator 2013.
Farming Simulator 2013 is the perfect game for farming enthusiasts looking for a ‘real’ farming experience that isn’t actually the real farming experience. The Farming Simulator franchise made major waves in the gaming industry when it became a surprise best selling game in France and Germany in which it sold 500,000 copies as a whole.
So what makes Farming Simulator 2013 different to the past Farming Simulator games? Well this one has online capablities which for the first time will allow farmers to create and download mods, vehicles, tools and all sorts of other farming goodies. The game is set to hit the PC in October 2012 and Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in the first quarter of 2013. You can check out some screenshots of Farming Simulator 2013 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.
