Supanova is a great place to see some cosplay, meet idols, and trawl the comic and anime stalls, but it’s also a good place to take a look at some of the indie developers that we have right here in our own backyard.
I got the chance to talk to Gonzalo Araya, the ‘task tetriser’ for Red Knight Games about the game they were showing off, Grapple Knight. Grapple Knight is an awesome throwback, as well as an interesting gameplay technique, it certainly looks like a game to keep an eye out for. With release due in about six months, on a few different platforms, its bound to be an interesting game to try out, especially with the initial chapter being free and the rest being available for a small fee.
Keen to try out the game now? Head on over to the Red Knight Games site to download a current build of the game.
Check out the interview below!
For more information on Red Knight Games, or other Supanova news, keep tuned to Capsule Computers.
It’s possible that Sam Fisher may sneak onto the silver screen sometime soon!
Deadlinereports that Splinter Cell could potentially get a live-action adaptation film in the near future. Apparently a few weeks ago Warner Bros were chasing Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell for a movie adaptation, however now Paramount Pictures are now more likely to ‘land the project’. If Paramount are confirmed to go through with a Splinter Cell film, apparently they are more interested in basing it from the Tom Clancy novel rather than the hit Ubisoft video games that revolutionized the stealth genre.
Fingers crossed this rumour is true, because a film adaptation of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell would be kick ass! In the meantime, you can look forward to the next installment of the video game franchise from Ubisoft Splinter Cell: Blacklist coming Spring, 2013.
With the Supanova 2012 convention in Sydney done and dusted, and the hardworking writers Capsule Computer making it out in one piece to fight another day, we now sit back and reflect on our experience at this gathering for pop culture appreciation. This year, our Anime Editor, Luke Halliday, lead the CC crew to a fine day of photo taking, hitting on cosplayers, and delivering the best coverage we can.
With that said, we each now share our impressions of the event. Take it away Mr. Halliday!
Luke Halliday
Boy oh boy! What do I think of Supanova Sydney 2012? Well it was okay. I honestly believe it could have been much better organised and there was some pretty disastrous occurences throughout the day that really could have been prevented. For instance there was a major mix up with the event schedule that really made things confusing and the floor plan was poorly thought out with next to no room to move and the crowding was pretty bad. I wish that there was a more clear entrance and exit to the venue because I found the entire place difficult to maneuver through in general and it was even harder finding the way out.
Other than that, I did enjoy myself at Supanova, there was a fair amount to see at this event, although I do wish there was a greater focus and emphasis on the celebrity panels and seminars instead of pushing merch. There was just too much focus on the large anime market that they had going on and not enough on the actual celebrities in attendance, which is really a shame.
All in all, I found the event to be a little underwhelming with too many organisation problems overshadowing the few good moments of this event. Hopefully next year they will be better prepared, but considering nearly every Supanova I have ever attended has been an unorganised mess, I doubt that will change.
Benjamin Webb
What an amazing year at Supanova for me. Not only was there a fair amount of awesome panels and highly attractive cosplayers, but the organiser had found a way to shake up the monotony of what their convention was becoming.
We arrived early on the Saturday and were surprised when we were ushered into the section that would become the main staging area for guest panels, signings and the cosplay competition instead of just being made to wait outside until the convention had officially started. What was significant about this was that the staff even got the crowd to participate in some chanting and cheering and really got the convention off to an amazing start that made it feel all that much more involved than it had in the past.
What I also really liked about this years Supanova was that the staff seemed much more organised than they had in the past, which was incredibly useful for us in the media as we often required very specific information that would not be something normally asked by members of the public. Another thing that I liked was that the stalls weren’t selling mostly junk, which has been prevelant in the past.
The Cosplayers at the event were simply magnificent and even the most basic of costumes had come out incredibly well. I remember meeting a guy wearing a box with ‘Gundam’ written on it, only it was crossed out and replaced with ‘Eva Unit 02’. I soon found out that the modification was done by one of the Anime guests, Tiffany Grant, who does the voice for Asuka in the series Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Of course, the above example is not the one I wanted to bring up, but it was the most hilarious example that I could immediately think of. My most favourite cosplayer for the weekend was most definitely the Zelda cosplayer from ‘The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword’ (not pictured) who seemed to have a little bit of trouble with her small key. Shout out to you Princess!
Of course the most fun we had at the event was just us guys and girls from the site goofing off and joking around. I think that that is what makes the convention experience for everyone. It’s not the guests, it’s not the panels, it’s not the quality of goods… it’s simply the people you meet and the people you hang around with that makes the whole experience worthwhile. Props to everyone I spoke with on both days, especially to that guy cosplaying a Wavemaster from .hack//.
Jahanzeb Khan
This is actually my first Supanova, not to mention my first pop culture convention. It wasn’t what I was expecting, especially since my expectations were based almost entirely on the coverage I’ve seen for other popular conventions such as PAX. It was a bit underwhelming at first, as all it really was in the end was a big market, with various retailers and companies promoting and selling their products, not to mention some colleges and universites were advertising their courses and degrees in game design and animation.
The event could have been better organised, as it all seemed to have been haphazardly put together. That said, the great thing about Supanova were all the pop culture enthusiasts that were present, and the sheer amount of amazing cosplayers. It was a lot of fun spotting all my favourite characters, and going up to these cosplayers for photos and a bit of a chat. Some of these cosplayers really went all out in their costume designs, a few ones that come to mind are the Predator and Alien (Aliens franchise), Master Chief (Halo), Pyramid Head (Silent Hill 2), Juliet Starling (Lollipop Chainsaw), and my personal favourite, Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Rodger Rabbit).
It was a lot of fun meeting all these people, and seeing such dedication and enthusiasm from Australian fans. A big highlight for me was the the presence of the Australian Wrestling Federation, as they had a whole ring set up and the AWF wrestlers put on a hilariously entertaining show for the people in attendance.
Jessica Barabas-Bui
Supanova 2012, the year marking Supanova’s tenth year, was certainly a blast to attend. A good portion of that was due to the amazing cosplayers that turned up, there were seriously some that just looked completely amazing and ridiculously authentic. Plus, the R2D2s that were wandering about doing their cute little beep-boop thing. Generally if there was a crowd of people, there would be an R2-D2 in the middle of it with everyone ‘oooh’ing and ‘ahhh’ing.
The guests were an interesting mix, with a heavy focus on the comic book side of things (AKA a lack of the bigger TV stars), but that’s not to say some really cool people didn’t come out. I mean, Christopher Lloyd! He is one of the most epic guys, and a personal hero of mine. Plus, everyone went a bit crazy for Jennifer Hale, AKA Fem Shep. The guests were all quite gracious and lovely, which is always great, and had a great sense of humour in the panels.
Overall, it was a fairly good experience, as long as you have patience with crowds and are able to make your way through a crowded room at a cracking pace while heading to a panel across the hall.
Claire Phillips
Supanova 2012 was the first expo I had ever been to, so on the one hand I had no idea what to expect, and on the other perhaps some unfounded expectations. It wasn’t the slickest event I’ve ever seen, but one that is fuelled by the creativity and enthusiasm of it’s attendees, whether they be a cosplayer or an exhibitor. I have a huge respect for the effort that some people put into their costumes, and even more for the ease with which they agree to having their photo taken by or with random strangers. There aren’t many times or places when it’s appropriate to walk up to someone, call them by the wrong name, and ask them for a photograph!
For me the stand out moments of my day at Supanova were two in number. The first, which was actually a rather unfortunate accident (in which no one was hurt, lest my entertainment from it seem a bit out of place), was during the Madman cosplay competition, during which one contestant managed to plummet through the back of the stage. Whoever she was, that girl will have a spot in the memories of hundreds of people for some time to come, and she was brave enough to get up and do it all again.
The second was without a doubt the wrestling match held on Saturday afternoon, which featured one guy in a leopard print leotard, and another larger gentleman in green and black spandex – it was so blatantly ridiculous that it created a great atmosphere in our part of the crowd, with a couple of tiny kids (dressed as Mario and Luigi of course) getting well into things and shouting “Kick his arse!”. Hilarious.
Annddd that’s a wrap folks! See you at Supanova 2013!
Supanova 2012 hit Sydney this last weekend, celebrating it’s tenth anniversary year in the city’s Olympic Park. Held over three days, the event is a pop culture expo that caters to a diverse range of tastes from anime and cosplay to indie game developers, comic book artists and even some robot builders who accosted people with their various R2D2 bots throughout.
Capsule Computers attended the two main days of the event, bagging interviews with the likes of Jennifer Hale andTricia Helfer. Amongst the other pop culture stars at the event were Alfie Allen of Game of Thrones, Christopher ‘Doc Brown’ Lloyd and Verne Troyer, who made an appearance as a guest ring announcer for one of the Expos wrestling matches.
As well as some entertaining appearances in the ring from the Australasian Wrestling Federation roster, there was Madmans Cosplay Competition, which saw some of the best cosplayers of the weekend take to the stage in a bid to win some glory. When not up on stage there was a sprinkling of cosplayers to be found in the main halls, with a suspiciously large number of Pikachu’s and Doctors in attendance (that would be numbers 10 and 11, in case you were wanting to build a conspiracy theory around the strange omnipresence of electric rats and Timelords).
The Dome main hall was packed out with vendors of all things geek, with replica weapons, comic books and countless pointless but desirable things stacked just about everywhere. Nintendo stole a small corner and held a Kid Icarus Uprising tournament, and Old Snake supervised Young Snake whilst he sold some plastic guns…
Make sure and check out the full gallery of photos below, or check out the Capsule Computers Facebook page if you prefer viewing your pics on everybody’s favourite social network instead – if you see a cosplay you like then drop us a comment and hit that good old thumbs up button. Know somebody in the pics? Don’t be shy – grab that moment of minor internet fame and wring every drop from it!
Drop wringing aside, Supanova will hit Perth next weekend, so fear not WA, you have not been forgotten by the pop culture powers that be.
A new Batman game has been announced called The Fire Rises.
The Fire Rises is a free-to-play browser-based game that sets the stage for the upcoming film The Dark Knight Rises. Players play as henchmen who are encouraged to rob and riot in Gotham to assist the evil Bane rise to power. As criminals players can go on deadly crime sprees, looting, sabotaging, preforming bank heists and take out security officers. Cause enough chaos and you can even join forces with super villains such as Catwoman.
The Fire Rises is set to launch July 19, the day before The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters. Make sure to check this out for more information.
Michael Bay’s take on The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been postponed 10 weeks by Paramount Pictures. Ninja Turtles will no longer be looking at a Christmas Day 2013 release date, but now May 14, 2014 to rival Marvel Studios’ upcoming untitled film.
The Hollywood Reporter claims that the reason behind this delay is due to script issues. This isn’t surprising since the script involves changing the turtles from mutants to aliens, which would mean the entire back story of the Ninja Turtles will need to be changed as well. Damn you Hollywood!
Will this new adaption by Michael Bay be as successful as his take on the Transformers franchise? I guess we’ll have to wait until May 14, 2014 to find out!
Are you ready to swing through Manhattan like never before?
It seems the movie franchise isn’t the only Spider-Man getting a reboot – the games are as well! I’m sure we can all agree the make-or-break point in a Spider-Man game is when a developer fails to capture the feeling of you actually being the famous web-head and if Spider-Man 2 did anything right it was the free-roam sandbox feel of navigating a city.
Well Beenox are taking a risky move that could pay off splendidly – by completely rebooting and redesigning the way you navigate around Manhattan. In this new gameplay video Executive Producer Brent Nicholas talks about changing the camera and navigating the city with interesting new changes that focus on more adrenaline-filled and acrobatic maneuvers that look pretty bad-ass as well as an insight into combat as well. Make sure to check out the trailer below as it’s looking amazing!
The Amazing Spider-Man: The Video Game will swing stores around the same time as the film on 6/26/12 on PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.
The follow-up to Amnesia: The Dark Descent is a game we can only assume is so terrifying they had to give it a ridiculous name to take the edge off: Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs. Frictional Games are again behind it, but they’ve also brought in indie studio thechineseroom, the team behind the quietly moving Dear Esther.
I loved the first game, despite not being able to finish it. Not because it was particularly challenging, but because it was so stressful to play. That sounds like a bad thing, but I love the fact that a game can invoke such strong feelings – even “negative” ones – in a player. There’s a thick air of tension over the whole experience, which sticks closer to true survival horror than any other game that dares label itself as such.
The teaser trailer below shows A Machine For Pigs will feature the same mind-destroying scares: the disturbing last scene is reminiscent of much of the first game, which I’m still recovering from.
Gamescom, one of the worlds largest gaming events is held in Cologne, Germany from August 15th to the 19th and gets games and developers into the one room for people to preview from the media. At these events some of the biggest news comes out about upcoming franchises and sequels, as well as other big news.
At this years Gamescom, EA are going to present, showcasing some of their upcoming titles such as – “FIFA 13, Medal of Honor™ Warfighter, Need for Speed™ Most Wanted, Crysis® 3, SimCity™, and others.” Keeping up to date with this event is going to be important to gamers who wish to learn more about those titles.
On Gamescom EA had this to say –
‘Gamescom is a pillar for our industry’, said Jens Uwe Intat, Senior Vice President of EA European Publishing. ‘The show is truly unique in its capacity to draw both industry and consumers to a showcase of the year’s hottest entertainment offerings and we’re looking forward to being there in force again in 2012’.
So be sure to check back here around Gamescom time for any updates and news coming from the event.
Adventure Time: Righteous Quest 2 Developer: Bamtang Games Publisher: Cartoon Network Price: FREE – Play Game Online Here
Overview:
Oh Adventure Time, probably on of the better absurdist shows on TV, which makes it easy enough to make games out of. Other shows have it hard as they are simple filled with throw away jokes and random situations, where Adventure Time will have random situations that are presented in a linear fashion that are actually building on each other. Adventure Time: Righteous Quest 2 is the sequel to Adventure Time: Righteous Quest that followed Finn and Jake on mini-adventures that came pretty much straight from the show. Those interested can find the review of the first HERE.
The first one was pretty decent for a flash game based off of a television property, but did it warrant a sequel and does the sequel warrant a view itself? To find out just what this game holds in store for potential players, read on.
Story:
As stated before Adventure Time is filled with plenty of random quests that Finn and Jake have embarked on, which makes it pretty easy to build a game around it. This time around though there are a lot more levels and a lot more material pulled from the show, though chopped up to fit in the confines of the games story. Levels begin with a one-panel run-down of what’s going on to explain not only what’s going on, but what Finn and Jake are trying to accomplish.
There are actually a total of 5 levels and a boss fight in the game, each level having really it’s own story and tie to the show with the boss fight related to the final actual level. Because of this, there actually is a bit more story than in the first game, and surprisingly doesn’t have anything to do with the Ice King. In total, the levels range from fighting Candy Zombies, saving the Hot Dog Princess, collecting Finn’s Power Rings, climb the highest peak in the Ice Kingdom, and retrieving Jake’s viola from Marceline, who is this game’s boss fight. So more or less the usual day for these two and actually pretty interesting range to keep players more or less entertained.
Gameplay:
Even more surprisingly than not fighting the Ice King is the fact that the game doesn’t just copy/paste almost everything from the first game. There are a lot more things to collect and even better a map to select which level the player wants to play as some areas are unobtainable in the first time through until Finn can collect some special abilities. Completing specific tasks in levels can open side/secret levels for Finn gain upgrades such as a rusty sword to replace the snowballs and finally the ultimate wizard power to basically become invincible and destroy anything until it runs out and has to recharge. These are very welcome changes and actually work a lot better than the system in the first game where you look for the same number and kinds of items in every level, so definitely better in that respect.
There is still a lot of platforming, Finn and Jake still have to go around levels finding things and unfortunately Jake doesn’t get anything new this time around, but in addition to the platforms to be traversed are portals that can take the two to different areas to collect more, without having to limit the full exploration to layers of floating platforms. These actually open up exploration a lot more than just having to systematically collect everything from the top level and work down or vice versa.
Audio and Visuals: Righteous Quest 2 kinda falls short on all things audio, but that can be pretty understandable in terms of space. The music is the solid acoustic guitar one would would expect of an Adventure Time game, but it can get a little repetitive as the same songs are on different levels. The game does also at least have voice clips from the show for when Finn and Jake do something special or simply progressing, but it’s really the same stuff that was in the first game. So, there really isn’t any solid improvement like in other areas.
The visual style fits the show perfectly as everyone looks exactly as they do in the show and there is quite a bit of range in terms of level designs and enemy types. There is a lot more variety in terms of enemies from those Candy Zombies, to some ninjas that Finn and Jake need to completely wipe out. It’s great to see a wide spectrum to fit the gamut of areas that players can gain access too, instead of only reusing the ones from the last game.
Overall:
This is a big improvement that fans of the first game should definitely look into. Fans of just the show should actually have some fun too as the gameplay isn’t nearly as lacking as it really could have been. As sequels go, there is plenty more added and everything that was added works a lot better than the first time around. I give Adventure Time: Righteous Quest 2
