Let me say right now that this will contain a number of spoilers about the endgame of Batman: Arkham City so, if for whatever reason you haven’t beaten the game yet just skip the entire article. Those who have beaten the game may know that Batman: Arkham City presented us with the death of The Joker. Now Batman: Harley Quinn’s Revenge will take place a few weeks after the end of Arkham City and players will be taking control of both Batman and Robin.
Batman has disappeared and both Oracle and Robin are concerned about him because he has been acting differently ever since the Joker’s death. With Harley Quinn taking over the Joker gang and turning it into her own, Robin must try to save his partner and mentor. Those who wish to play as the caped crusader still will be able to as the DLC will feature flashback sections as well. The DLC will be available on May 30th worldwide for either 800 MSP or $10 depending on your console of choice.
Otterbox has released five new colour combinations for the Otterbox Defender line of cases for the New iPad and the iPad 2. Joining the Black case is White/Gray, Pink/Gray, and Blue/Black. Exclusive to the Otterbox web store is Yellow/Black and Sea Green/Gray. The Otterbox Defender is a larger case designed to provide your iPad protection from the worst of drops thanks to its multi-layered design. Three layers protects the iPad, starting with a foam interior for padding, a polycarbonate shell for scratch protection, and a silicone skin for impact protection and grip. The Defender has a built in screen protector for your iPad. The case also comes with a polycarbonate shield stand that has magnets that works in a similar fashion to the Apple Smart Covers and doubles as a stand for hands free viewing. When not in use, the shield stand can be snapped to the front or back of the Defender case for extra protection.
The Otterbox Defender is available online and in stores for $89.95.
After a nerve racking months and a bit, Republique finally gets Kickstarted with just a few hours to spare. Republique is developed by Camouflaj, an independent studio staffed by veterans who have participated in big name projects such as Metal Gear Solid and Halo, and Logan, an independent production house behind the iconic iPod commercials and the Skyrim TV ad. The team strives on creating an AAA quality game optimized for touch screens. Republique stars Hope, who makes a desperate phone call, begging the player to hack into the omnipresent surveillance system that traps people in a totalitarian state and assist her escape.
After a slow start, Republique managed to pick up steam after announcing an often requested PC/Mac version of the game and the addition of David Hayter of Metal Gear Solid fame and Jennifer Hale, the voice of FemShep in Mass Effect. Republique is currently slated for a June 2013 release.
Bracketron Inc has announced their latest product, the MetalDock. Slated for an end of June release, the MetalDock is a stylish, minimalistic, and lightweight dock for the iPhone 4/4s that can be used in both landscape and portrait orientation. With its three foot cable, the MetalDock can connect to any USB port , including the travel charger included with the iPhone. The MetalDock has rubberised feet to ensure a solid grip to what ever surface the MetalDock rests on. Due to its design, the MetalDock is most likely incompatible with most cases. The MetalDock is available for pre-order on Bracketron’s website for $34.95.
Very recently, Capcom have announced that their latest Street Fighter game, Street Fighter X Tekken has been made available digitally for the PC. The game features a robust cast of Street Fighter and Tekken fighters that duke it out in Tag-Team matches.
The game itself is quite pretty, running on the Street Fighter IV Engine. The cast consists of 38 Characters from both franchises. The PC version also includes all gameplay modes from the console versions, additional graphics settings and 3D capabilities, making this the superior Street Fighter x Tekken experience.
For more information, be sure to check out Capcom-Unity. The game is available through Steam, Origin, The Capcom Store and other leading online services.
NANA is, for lack of a better phrase, porn for the female psyche. The Anime series is an adaptation of the serialised Manga by the same name and follows the story of two Nana’s as they live out their new lives amidst the bustling city of Tokyo.
This series is a drama series aimed primarily at a female audience, which puts this in the Shoujo category of Anime. This category is something that many male anime fans tend to avoid, and after watching this series, it is apparent why this is the case. No male should be willingly subjecting themselves to large doses of this stuff as it may seem quite nonsensical, illogical and even degrading. Maybe things are over-exaggerated to appeal more to the target demographic (teenage girls), but it is still geared for the female id.
Story
The story of NANA follows two young women named Nana, each with almost polar-opposite personalities. The first Nana we meet is the Nana that seems like a normal girl, she’s cute, charming, boy-crazy and is obsessed with her friends. The second Nana is almost completely different, she’s in a punk rock band, aloof, not at all girly but at the same time, is completely badass. The two of the Nana’s meet one fateful day on a train heading into Tokyo, where they both plan on moving for reasons of their own (hint, both are for guys).
Unlike most other Anime series that I have seen, NANA’s storyline arcs follow sets of relationships that Plain-ordinary Nana, nicknamed Hachiko (which I’ll be using from now on to differentiate her from the cooler Nana), has with the people around her. I don’t want to spoil the story too much, but it is literally just as I described, by episode 30, Hachiko has switched guys 3-4 times and even falls for a big-time player who adds a crap-tonne of emotional drama to the series.
Actually lets talk about that player for a bit shall we. He’s the a guitarist in one of the main bands in the series, Trapnest, and is a well known philanderer. Now, everyone tells Hachiko this, yet she still falls for this guy. A known player, someone who uses women for sex, and she was still deluded into thinking this was a good thing. There are even multiple scenes in the arc where she constantly rationalises her involvement with the guy. Why couldn’t she just be all like “Hey, this guy wants me for the sex, I want him for the sex, so we’re sleeping together”. But no, this doesn’t happen, instead she focuses on how this will affect her relationship with those around her and her own image within her group of friends. Look, if you don’t want to look so promiscuous, then keep your legs closed. Simple.
Opposing Hachiko and her man-eating ways, is Punk-rock Nana. She is an incredibly loyal woman, a bit of a tomboy at times and throughout the series she is really only with one guy. Her boyfriend from back home, Ren, the lead bassist for Trapnest. Sure she seems a little hot-headed at times, but I think these traits are played up for comedic value as her friends and Band, Blast, seem to remain friends with her. Though, this becomes more apparent throughout the series, Nana is a pretty possessive woman in that she literally has a chain around her boyfriends neck as a symbol of ownership. She even refers to Hachiko as her pet numerous times.
Many times throughout this series, I often asked myself whether this show was serious or not. I mean, the way the characters behave, think and feel are all almost completely alien to me. Nothing is rational, organised or logical, nearly everything is designed to hit you emotionally. Now, I’ll admit this freely, I actually thought that I was watching a bad parody of female stereotypes and was laughing so hard for the first 15 episodes or so. Past that point, it became rather apparent that it was taking itself seriously, this is really how women view the world… I mean I really hope it isn’t, but it really seems like it was designed to fit their perspective.
What I really hated about this is that the men are made to fit the way women see them. The author, or writer, or whoever, seems to have a harder time entering the male mind-set and as a result all the men are presented mostly by their actions or what the author has experienced of men. When it comes to the male homelife, many of the guys seem to have very bare rooms, and do not behave typically the way myself or probably most other men behave. It seems that they only exist to placate their female love interest.
Visuals
As a series from the early 2000s (2003, if I recall correctly) the visuals may look a little dated compared to the Anime of today. However, this does not mean that they are inferior to the Anime series of today.
I found that the backgrounds and a lot of the objects found within the series had a lot of detail put into them. I think this is because the series revolves around so few locations, it’s not like a fantasy series where characters are visiting a new town in each episode. However, opposing this, is the characters.
While each character is quite detailed, they are also very unrealistic looking. They are rather disproportionate, almost to the point of looking like they’re all just skin and bones with extremely odd looking limbs. I mean, out of the main cast, the biggest character only looks that way because he’s in a suit.
Actually, the series’ visual style really reminded me of a Shounen series by the name of One Piece, but only a little. The characters in this show are much more pretty, almost unnaturally so. It’s almost as though they’re a fashion accessory, used to gain some kind of social advantage over other women.
Audio
To quote myself in conversation about this series – “… NANA has an amazing soundtrack”. I will standby that statement until someone can prove me wrong using evidence and sound logic.
Even though the series is pretty light on tunes from either of the main bands, the ones that we hear are quite significant and sound quite amazing. The only thing is, you really, and I mean really, want to hear more songs from both of the bands. If the producers put in more concerts, they could have made a killing selling copies of both of the bands albums out here in the real world. I would buy the crap out of them.
However, the amazing soundtrack kind of ends with the bands. Most of the background tracks seem to be constructed from a generic score, I think that a Punk Rock style score would have fit the show much better than the backing tracks that we were given.
Extras
The series includes many extras, but my favorites are the animated video for the song Lucy and the clean opening and closing segments. The complete list is this –
Clean Openings
Clean Closings
Directors Interview
Music Scene Selections
“Lucy” animated video
Line-Art galleries
Overall
NANA is a fairly average series that probably wouldn’t interest too many guys. Fortunately, there is a massive fanbase for this kind of material and for them, this show would be ideal. The kinds of people that would love this series are people that have read the Manga, love Shoujo stories and are massively into gossiping about drama. I would also like to say that any guy looking to try and catch a glimpse of what it’s like to exist in the mindset of a woman to check this series out. In small doses.
A brand new trailer for final downloadable chapter of Batman: Arkham City “Harley Quinn’s Revenge” has today been released. The DLC pack contains two hours of brand new content set to expand on Batman: Arkham City’s original ending, with Harley Quinn now taking over as the new boss of Arkham City.
In this new final chapter, players interchange between playing as both Batman and Robin in certain parts of the game, similar to how gameplay was swapped between Batman and Catwoman in Batman: Arkham City.
Harley Quinn’s Revenge DLC pack is set to be released on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on May 30 for 800 Microsoft point/$9.99 respectively.
Alternatively, gamers can pick up Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition which features Harley Quinn’s Revenge along with all previous released downloadable content (Catwoman Pack, Nightwing Bundle Pack, Robin Bundle Pack, Challenge Map Pack and Arkham City Skins Pack) on September 7.
Rockstar Games has today revealed that Max Payne 3 will have a bonus Arcade Mode. Alongside the game’s single-player campaign, the new Arcade Mode will feature “Score Attack” and fan favourite “New York Minute” from Max Payne and Max Payne 2.
Each level of the game’s campaign can be replayed in Score Attack, where players will be able to fight it out for the highest score via the leaderboards. Points are awarded for more stylish kills and are deducted for killing civilians, using painkillers and taking damage.
Similarly, the New York Minutes mode pits players against the clock. In this mode, players only have 60 seconds to kill as many enemies as possible with additional time granted for each enemy that you kill.
Max Payne 3 is set to be released for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on May 18 and PC on June 1.
The sports/fitness sub genre of gaming has become well trodden ground of late. With the motion detection capabilities of current gen consoles, all and sundry have been releasing exercise and fitness titles to get us lazy gamers and our fellow non-gamers to work up a bit of a sweat.
The latest title to the party is adidas miCoach, a game that hopes to bring a more technical and sportsd training orientated approach to the genre. International publishers 505 Games have just entered into an agreement with adidas to publish the title, which will be coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in winter 2012.
With over 400 exercises suitable for all ages, gender and skill level, miCoach will take full advantage of the Kinect and Move technology associated with each system. Players will be able to create bespoke exercise plans, with some exercises and routines even coming complete with appearances from international sports stars currently signed up to the adidas brand. Jose Mourinho, ana Ivanovic and Brazilian footballer Kaka are just some of the 18 big names that will all provide masterclasses for their sport.
If miCoach sounds like something worth getting pumped about (sorry), then head over to www.micoach.com for more info.
The release of the Game of Thrones RPG is drawing ever nearer – particularly for North American fans who will get their hands on the game in a few days time on May 15. The rest of the world has to wait for the first week of June to appear to get their mits on a copy of the title, which will drop on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
It can be no coincidence that the game is releasing during the run of season two of HBO’s acclaimed TV adaptation of the series, and unlike the previous Thrones game produced by Cyanide Studio (the less than exciting Game of Thrones Genesis), this one has the co-operation and success of the show to bolster its credentials.
With the release so close to hand developers Cyanide Studio have released a behind the scenes feature appropriately named Behind the Wall. In the video Project Director Thomas Veauclin and Lead Game Designer Slyvain Sechi discuss the birth of the game, working with author George R R Martin, and how the TV series has influenced the project.
I must admit to having a lot of hope riding on this one, and some of the chatter seen here is certainly adding to that. The RPG genre fits extremely well with the universe that Martin has created, and even though the game is more low budget than some fans would like, it will be the story and atmosphere that mark this game as a success or failure.
Make sure and check out the four minute video below, and keep an eye out for the CC review of the Game of Thrones RPG.
