Nyu-media is a small startup game localisation company that is focused on bringing Japanese games over here to the west. Cherry Tree High Comedy club is one of those Japanese games. The game has been localised for western audiences, which means that it has been translated to fit western tastes.
Cherry High Comedy Club is about a girl named Miley Verisse who wants to start up a comedy club in her highschool. However, in order to do so, she needs to find another 4 startup members else Octavia Richmond will not allow for the club to be created. Here is a quote from the publisher about the game –
Comedy fanatic and high school student Miley Verisse has decided to set up a comedy club in her school, but her nemesis and the head of the student council, Octavia Richmond, isn’t about to make things easy… The school rules require a minimum of 5 students to set up a new club and Miley is 3 people short! Spring break has just started and Miley has until the end of April to recruit the 3 new members she needs to start the club or Octavia will have the last laugh!
The game has an amazing feature list, which involve things like levelling your character, exploration, recruiting additional members for the club and more. The game is also localised in conjunction with Tezuka Productions, so it’ll be pretty well done. Here is a reproduction of the features –
Build up your conversational skills to recruit up to 6 memorable characters, each with a unique storyline and interact with many more NPCs!
Hours of play – over 4,500 lines of dialogue!
Repertoire system of 12 conversational topics to upgrade and master, such as Video Games, Romance, Politics, Cooking, Sports or just good old chit-chat!
Explore Cherry Tree Town and perform diverse tasks to earn money and spend it on activities that improve your repertoire!
All original, high quality, colorful and warm anime-style graphics with one exceedingly catchy soundtrack!
Simple and accessible game mechanics and controls!
The game will be launching at $7.99 at the Official Website on the 27th of April, 2012 and will be coming to other distribution platforms later in the year. Be sure to check out the trailer embedded below.
We all knew it was coming, but most people probably believed that the reveal for the next God of War title would come from Sony themselves instead of from an Amazon listing that not only contains the box art seen to the right which is not the final box art, but a minute long teaser trailer which can be seen below.
The game appears to be a prequel to the God of War series, where players will take care of Kratos before he set his sights on revenge. Expect more details to be officially announced within the next few days from Sony as the cat is already out of the bag.
Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat just recently seen a release on consoles, marking the retail debut for the franchise while bundling in a ton of content for gamers to sink their teeth into. Carlos Giffoni, the Creative Director from 345 Games recently participated in an interview with yours truly to go over the developmental process behind bringing the popular television show to controllers nationwide.
Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat features both Deadliest Warrior: The Game and its follow-up, Deadliest Warrior: Legends. What were the differences in the development cycles for each title?
Deadliest Warrior: The Game was first, so it’s development cycle was longer as we had to come with every system and game-play feature from scratch and there was a lot of experimentation involved. When we created Legends, we had a clear vision of what the game was going to be and what we needed to improve in the fighting engine. Based on the first game and fan feedback, it was a shorter development cycle with more time to polish and improve everything: character models and animations, making the interface visually more appealing and even adding a new game within the game with Generals mode, opening up match options, increasing the number of environments, and even introducing new game mechanics.
For Ancient Combat we wanted to bring the ultimate Deadliest Warrior package to fans, so it was more about adding unique features and content and making each game work with their downloadable versions, but there are lot of details that come with making a retail title, so development time ended up being as much as doing a small game. I think the time and care we put into making both games and Ancient Combat comes across in how polished the game experience and the extras included are. I don’ think there has even been a compilation retail title with so many different extras on it, this is the ultimate Deadliest Warrior game package.
Did any experts get involved in the process? If so, what was that like?
Yes absolutely, we had all the data from the different tests done on the show on weapons and armor which we incorporated into the game. Additionally, all the motion capture for the warriors was done by the same experts recreating the attacks in the show. We also had the show look at the games every step of the way to make sure we weren’t missing any important details with the warriors and the way they fight in the game.
It was really awesome to have all that data as a base to create the game instead of just estimating values and to have access to the experts to keep us in check, pre-production and design was much smoother than usual thanks to this.
Ancient Combat also has quite a few extras. Just what can fans expect to see?
For Ancient Combat we wanted to bring the ultimate Deadliest Warrior package to fans, so beside the full games, which are fully compatible with the digital versions, we added a new Graveyard environment which looks amazing, 30 new weapons, and 6 episodes form the show featuring the warriors in the game. All for $29.99, we really think that is amazing value for what you are getting.
Tell us about the roster and weaponry. Who is in, and what kind of tools of destruction do they have in their arsenal?
In Deadliest Warrior The Game we have the Ninja, Spartan, Viking, Centurion, Knight, Pirate, Apache, Samurai, Rajput, Zande, and Shaolin Monk.
In Deadliest Warrior Legends we have Alexander The Great, Attila, Shaka Zulu, Joan of Arc, Vlad the Impaler, William Wallace, Sun Tzu, Genghis Khan, Hernan Cortes, and Hannibal.
There are over 100 weapons in the game so I am not going to list them all but these are some of my favorites:
William Wallace’s Claymore, The Apache’s Horse Jaw Tomahawk’s, The Samurai’s Nodachi, The Viking’s Great Axe, Vlad the Impaler’s Military Fork, Ghengis Khan’s Mongol Mace.
When it comes to the in-game mechanics, what goes into making these battles authentic?
The spacing and strategy that has to go into each battle, along with the armor and weapons, are the main things that makes each battle authentic. Let’s say you are playing a lighter character with no armor or shield (a ninja for example) then is all about moving in and out and attacking quickly, dodging attacks and responding with quick combo’s. When you have a heavy armor character with a shield (Alexander, or a Knight) is all about closing the distance with your enemy, taking a few hits in the process but dealing major damage with your blows. Choosing different weapons and armor changes thing significantly as well, for example I could go with the lighter armor for the knight and use one of the longer range weapons to create a more agile, longer reaching version of him by sacrificing some of his defense. This is just one basic example, as the different weapons and armor combinations completely open up the possibilities for each warrior.
Deadliest Warrior is all about realistic fighting, so injuries, one hit death blows, bleeding, stamina, these all play a major factor in how you play the game, for there is no other modern fighting game like it.
Is any of the combat inspired by other fighting titles of the past, or was the aim to be as original as possible?
We wanted to make something unique but one game that we looked at a bit for inspiration was Bushido Blade, just the aspect of injuries and that feeling that one well-placed strike changing the balance of the game.
Fans of fighting games can be very picky. How do you appeal to such a diverse audience?
I am a huge fan of fighting games myself and what I do not enjoy is when a game is simply a clone of another game. In Deadliest Warrior you have a game that is completely different to anything out there, it will give fighting game fans a new experience and a new way of fight. Add to that the fact that these are real warrior’s and the armor and weapons are based on real research data, this is the most awesome way for a fighting game fan to take one of these warriors in their own hands and decide who the deadliest is!
For our readers who have yet to play Legends, explain the very unique Generals mode, and how it ties into the television show.
Almost all the characters in the Legends game were known for successfully commanding armies in battle, so we wanted to get that aspect of these legendary warriors in the game. Generals is a strategic game where you are trying to take over every territory in a map with your troops, with the twists that certain locations in the map are strongholds where you have to battle the other armies general in a one on one battle using our fighting engine in order to claim the stronghold.
We use the battle simulator from the show to determine the outcomes of the battles, using the x-factors to determine how things like terrain, training, and the general’s strategic abilities would play in a real battle and factor in the results. The simulation engine on the latest season of the show was created by Pipeworks as well and is based on the engine for the game, so both game and show are connected in a major way.
Name two Warriors from any other video game series who you would personally like to see go at it, and who would claim victory at the end of the bloody battle.
I would love to see Scorpio vs Akuma, two former humans that are now basically demons battling it out to the death. I think Akuma will edge Scorpio slightly, there is just something about him that screams pure evil power that I think would end up overwhelming Scorpio at the end.
Finally, what is the main reason everyone should pick up Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat when it released on April 17th?
If you have ever wondered who would win in a fight to the death between any of the warriors, if you are simply interested in the warriors themselves as a history buff, or if you are a fighting game fan that is looking for a unique game experience, this is a game you are going to enjoy.
Add to that all the extras and the episodes from the show, at just $29.99, this is the ultimate gaming for anyone interested in Deadliest Warrior.
One of the best and most favourited cartoons this generation, Ben 10, has its movie coming to DVD this June for us Australians thanks to Madman Entertainment. The series premise is that a boy named Ben Tennison has the power to transform into varies Alien creatures to defeat other invading Aliens thanks to the power of this device called the Omnitrix.
The movie is completely done in CGI and follows one of the adventures of the younger versions of the cast (as opposed to the current season where they’re all pretty well grown) as he explores the galaxy with his friend Tetrax. However things go awry when they crash-land back on Earth with a broken Omnitrix, leaving Ben stuck as an Alien. To make matters worse an evil Alien has appeared hellbent on destroying all Alien life in the universe.
The movie comes to DVD this June on the 20th at $24.95. Keep an eye on your local retailers for more info. You can also pre-order the movie here.
Trials Evolution, the sequel to the hit bike game Trials HD, was released today on XBLA. To promote the game, and to launch their Arcade NEXT promotion (four new downloadable games released every Wednesday from April 18 through May 9) Microsoft has “teamed up with several popular YouTube gamers, known as the “Arcade NEXT All-Stars,” to host a live streaming gameplay event showcasing each week’s new release. ”
The Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition hit store shelves for its Xbox 360 release a couple of days ago, and to get it off the ground with a bang, CDProjekt, the developers of the epic fantasy RPG, have released a launch trailer full of stirring vocals and dramatic cutscenes.
The Enhanced Edition of The Witcher 2 features new cutscenes throughout the game to better explain the story, four hours of new gameplay content, and various gameplay tweaks and bug fixes. The update is free to all PC owners of the game (and Xbox owners get it right out of the box).
Check out our review of The Witcher 2 and be sure to watch the launch trailer below!
Indie Royale is kicking off Spring with their Spring Bundle. Indie Royale bundlees are a pay what you want with a moving minimum price. The more you pay for your bundle, the lower minimum price drops, pay the minimum and it will go up for everyone else. All games are available through Desura, while a few come with redeemable Steam keys too.
The Spring bundle features the tower defense game Unstoppable Gorg, action RPG Depths of Peril, 2D platformer Tobe’s Vertical Adventure, twin stick shooter Inferno+, block based puzzler Slydris, and twin stick shooter Geometry rounds the bundle out. Pay a minimum of five dollars and get one of 2011’s biggest chiptune albums, Danimal Cannon’s album “Roots”.
Black Butler: Complete First Season Studio: A-1 Pictures Publisher: FUNimation Format: DVD & Blu-Ray Release Date: April 3, 2012 Price: $69.98 – Available Here
Overview:
The late 1800’s in England is an interesting time in history. There was Jack the Ripper, Queen Victoria had lost her husband, World’s Fair was happening across the channel in France, and apparently supernatural beings were very prevalent. Okay, maybe that last one isn’t much of a historical fact, but it was one of the main aspects of the Black Butler anime series.
So, how is this first season of Black Butler as a whole? Does it provide an adequate story with characters you want to know more about? Does it provide more than just a unique take on a historical period most only know a little bit about?
Story: Black Butler is the story of a young British noble named Ciel Phantomhive, who has offered his soul into contract with a demon in exchange for one wish. The wish Ciel choices is to get revenge on those that had humiliated him and killed his parents, with the demon acting as his butler in order to aid him however he needs. The overarching plot of the series builds across the 24 episodes with a few several side stories that don’t directly forward the plot.
Several of the plot arcs told throughout the series are multi-parted, having two or sometimes even three episodes in the arc, which works much better in the disc format than it may have as the series aired. The non-plot stories aren’t distracting either, nested between the different plot related arcs. They provide good character development and/or background on the other characters, which is very welcome just to know more about them. The series covers a wide variety of ground from Jack the Ripper, to opium smuggling, to Ciel’s wish of revenge.
The characters are almost all deeper than originally expected. There are only a few secondary characters that only really maintain their initial appearances. Sebastian, the Black Butler himself and the master of understatement, is an amazing title character that while lacking a character arc, surprises the audience with how faceted his character is. Ciel on the other hand is an almost single-faceted character whose arc takes him from seeking revenge to questioning if he has thrown his life away for it. The other servants of the House of Phantomhive gain their own arc, from comic relief to true pawns in their masters game in a single episode that will be touched on more later.
The show also gives a perfect ending to the season, that is in no way forced or contrived. The ending works so well that without knowing about a second season it leaves an impression of finality, so it really depends on the quality of the second for how much of a story is left to tell.
Visuals: Black Butler is an amazingly beautiful anime that has an large amount of detail packed into almost every frame. Because of this, almost any frame could be taken out and used a picture by itself. There are a few moments of chibi style artwork that persists for the sake of some of the comedic scenes, but every dramatic and serious scene is golden in a way that A-1 Pictures really lives up to their name.
With the subject matter though, it hopefully goes without saying that it does get dramatically dark. The show doesn’t shy away from violence and there are plenty of times when it gets a bit graphic. They even make it a special point to warn away younger views in the preview for the next episode. So, it is probably a good idea to keep the viewership of the series to at least teens.
Audio:
The music of the series is very fitting for the subject matter as a whole. There is only one opening theme, “Monochrome Kiss” by Sid, simply getting new title sequence about halfway through, but it fits the premise to the point of not needing to be changed. There are two different ending themes, the first being “I’m Alive!” by Becca that fits Ciel’s living and building towards his revenge and the second “Lacrimosa” by Kalafina that fits the bittersweet realization of his throwing his life away. The music through the actual show however better fits the period and mood, with sorrowful strings and piano.
The voice acting is also impeccable, even the dub, which even a lot of other good series tend to miss on. With the England setting, the focus on dialects is done well enough that I would suggest giving the dub a try. Some voices at first seem creepily out of place, but then you realize it is the point of the character. Though the Elizabeth voice can be too accurately shrill for an English Lady of the time demanding her wants.
Extras:
Packed on the DVD are a handful full of special features. There are a few commentary tracks on select episodes, all being side stories, non plot. There are also the different openings and closings sans titles for those interested in just seeing the art. There is also the OVA on the final disc that fits in somewhere between episodes 15 & 19, that includes a preview for Black Sushi Chef, a fake sequel series, simply for a laugh.
The most unique special feature however is the commentary track for episode 21, “His Butler, Engaging Servants”, what I had earlier mentioned I would touch on. This is the episode focused on the servants back stories and what makes this commentary track so unique is that the commentary is done by Finny, Mey-Rin, and Bardroy (seen below).
Yes, the commentary is done by the characters, more specifically the English ones. It is the most interesting, perplexing, and hilarious commentary, I’ve ever enjoyed, where they comment on everything from the opening titles, to “Ding!”, to how Sebastian wont let them out until they’re done. If you don’t generally listen to commentary, do so for this one.
Overall: Black Butler is an amazing series that plays host to a lot of awesome characters and suspense through the show. This is a show for people that love dark and comedy mixed together, with meaning sprinkled upon the top. It is also now one of my favorite animes and really only begs where it can go with a second season. But, I can assure that Black Butler Season One is definitely worth a look.
Don’t have an iOS device? Don’t fear or at least for too long, Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted Land is coming out for PC through Intel’s AppUp marketplace. After lots of coding,chanting, and sacrificing goats, the team at Red Wasp Design are prepared to launch come May 5th. Call of Cthulhu: The Wasted is a strategy RPG set in the gritty trenches of World War I.
Players will lead their team of British Army soldiers and occult investigators against the Cult of the Awakening and their German Army protectors. Here the dangers that they are not only to their bodies, but their sanity as well.
Namco Bandai officially announced Tekken Tag Tournament 2 for home consoles last week and yesterday they released a brand new trailer which summarizes a multitude of details for the game. In fact, the trailer, which can be seen below, states that there will be over 50 fighters to choose from.
Also shown off in the trailer is a Pair Play mode that allows four fighters at one time to battle against each other. The title will feature the standard 2 on 2 and 1 on 1 modes, as well as some handicap fights featuring 1 on 2 battles. Currently Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is set to be released in September on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
