Despite winning an award for perhaps the most muddled video game name ever, Arc System Works has announced that they will be bringing Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus to the Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade sometime in the summer as reported by Famitsu magazine.
The game will have two versions of online play, which are your standard ranked matches and player matches alongside other content that gamers know and love. While it hasn’t been announced for a Western release, one can expect to see some sort of announcement in the future regarding Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus’ release in the West. Or at least that is what Guilty Gear fans are hoping for.
Deadliest Warrior fans, now is your time to go to battle! After a bit of a delay, 345 Games’ compilation of Deadliest Warrior: The Game and Deadliest Warrior: Legends has now hit stores everywhere. Of course there is more to this on disc release than just the original two titles though, which is what makes this the more definitive package for any interested parties.
Here is all that is featured on Ancient Combat:
The brand new “Graveyard” arena exclusive to “Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat”
30 new weapons, including a “Lockbar Axe” for William Wallace, the “Monk’s Spade” for Sun Tzu and a “Tsonga Battle Axe” for Shaka Zulu
Both digital titles and all DLC included for only $29.99
Cross-play with consumers of the original digitally-distributed titles
Hidden zombie mode allows players to keep on fighting even headless, armless and torso-less
Never-before-released episodes of the show exclusive to “Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat”
You can pick up Ancient Combat wherever video games are sold for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, and stay tuned, as our review will be out soon once we have a chance to give it a whirl.
Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte Studio: AIC Publisher: FUNimation Format: DVD Release Date: April 17, 2012 Price: $64.98 – Available Here
Overview: While many people would wish to have a beautiful girl fall out of the sky onto their laps, it is a bit different when said girl literally falls from the sky and creates a crater in the ground. FUNimation previously released Heaven’s Lost Property late last year, the review of which can be found here, and now they have brought us the second season, Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte. While the first season contained plenty of off the wall and hilarious comedy alongside plenty of fan service, does the second season deliver the same enthralling experience?
Story: Tomoki Sakurai may have wanted to live a peaceful life, spending his days thinking of perverted things, harassing all of the girls in his school and getting karate chopped to death by his childhood friend Sohara Mitsuki, but that all changed in the first season of Heaven’s Lost Property. A mysterious winged girl named Ikaros crashed down to Earth and began calling Tomoki her master.
Ikaros revealed herself to be a “pet-class” Angeloid and could grant any wish her master wanted. With Tomoki’s perverted mind this led to many instances him of spying on girls, stealing their panties and even becoming a girl himself to peep without restraint.
When we last saw Tomoki and his friends at the New World Discovery Club had just saved Nymph’s life from the evil and mysterious man of the Synapse. With this threat gone and Nymph free to live her life as she please, it seemed like Tomoki’s days may just become peaceful once again… that is until the blonde bombshell Angeloid type Delta, also known as Astraea, is sent to kill Tomoki and prevent the humans from learning more about the Synapse through his dreams.
However there is one small problem with Astraea… unlike the emotionless but well-meaning Ikaros and intelligent Nymph, Astraea is a complete idiot that is incapable of even finding food, let alone killing Tomoki. While the main story for Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte follows the storyline of the first season very closely, one of the main highlights of the series is Astraea’s stupidity and inability to take care of herself makes her the butt of most of the jokes this season.
Besides that we see plenty of perverted humor and plenty of strange moments as entire episodes are devoted to off-the-wall events that the whole cast takes part in no matter how nonsensical it is. A fishing contest where you must catch girls with the biggest breasts? A snow war referencing Sengoku period warfare? How about a wrestling match with a grope-happy masked wrestler?
All of these things may seem strange and out of place, but with Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte each occurrence flows fluidly alongside serious plot development and drama. For with Astraea’s failure to slay Tomoki… the man of the Synpase has unleashed a new, slightly insane, Angeloid that dwarfs past Angeloids in power and she has set her sights on killing Tomoki and defeating Ikaros.
As mentioned before, Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte follows the story of the first season very closely. More mysteries of the Synapse are revealed and the mysterious man of the Synapse’s intentions are revealed and even the creator of the Angeloids are revealed. Of course the series doesn’t answer every question and leaves plenty of questions unanswered for a potential third season.
Now while Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte may be a comedic powerhouse, there are still elements of romance as this is indeed a harem comedy. In the previous season the aspect of Tomoki’s feelings for Ikaros and Nymph was barely explored, though it was hinted at. In this Forte however this is expanded upon slightly, though nothing actually comes to fruition as far as the relationships go which is disappointing to say the least.
Visuals: Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte is a feast for the eyes in more ways than one. Sure there is plenty of fan-service that litters the show as most of the female cast possesses breasts that range from large to unbelievably large, but that service never actually reaches the point of nudity. As far as the character designs themselves are concerned, all of the characters are well detailed and feature a wide arrange of costumes that are changed regularly.
The anime does take pride in its chibi format however, as the characters will quickly shift to chibi form when something comedic happens on screen. In fact, Tomoki often remains in chibi-style throughout most episodes which is a bit of a detriment as it begins to wear thing towards the end of the series. Thankfully it seems that all of the extra effort that was saved by the chibi artwork has been transitioned to the fight scenes as Forte features fluid and fast paced combat featuring plenty of explosions and intense action as the Angeloids battle with one another.
Audio: As per usual with a FUNimation anime release, Forte possesses both the original Japanese dub as well as an English dub for those who don’t want to read subtitles. As one may expect, the Japanese voice work is superb. On the other hand, so is the English dub. In my previous review for the first season of Heaven’s Lost Property I took issue with Greg Ayres portrayal of Tomoki.
In Forte Greg offers a much better performance as Tomoki and it feels like he has truly captured the character properly this time, making him sound less whiny than in the first season. Another performance worth mentioning is Carli Mosier’s portrayal of Astraea. As mentioned before, one of the highlights of Forte is Astraea’s idiocy and Carli provides an excellent voice for her as a character.
Those who appreciate Japanese music will be pleased to know that rather than take the standard route of having only one opening and one ending song, Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte actually features a different ending song for every episode. These songs usually are related to whatever the plot was for that episode and range in quality from being excellent to bad. There are also two opening songs, with one comedic opening and a main opening song “Haato no Kakuritsu” which is performed by Blue Drops.
Extras: As mentioned before, Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte features a different ending song for eleven of the twelve episodes that make up the series. To top it off, it also has two opening songs, though the one is only used once throughout the series. The best part of all of these different openings and endings is that FUNimation has included a clean version of all of them for the viewer’s pleasure.
Alongside the multitude of clean songs there are trailers for past and upcoming FUNimation releases as well as the trailer for, Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte and the first season. Closing out the extras we have two commentary tracks, one for episode 04 and one for episode 09.
The audio commentary for Episode 04 features Christopher Bevins, voice director, Greg Ayers, voice of Tomoki, Trina Nishimura who handles the voice for Sohara and Jamie Marchi, the voice of Mikako sitting in. This audio commentary is very funny and will provide plenty of laughs as the crew spends most of the commentary commenting on the episode and their roles.
Episode 09’s commentary also features Christopher Bevins, voice director, as well as Jamie Marchi, the voice of Mikako, and Carli Mosier the voice of Astraea. This commentary will provide a few laughs, though it is worth noting that as mentioned in the commentary it is the first time Carli Mosier takes part in a commentary and they spend most of said commentary discussing Astraea and the episode itself.
Overall:
Now obviously some people may disregard Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte as being just another harem comedy, this time with wings, but they would be mistaken. Of course there is plenty of fan-service in Forte, but nothing that would ruin the experience for a prudish viewer. Below the breasts lies a hilarious comedy that can’t help but put a smile on your face with its random events as well as a storyline worth following that any anime viewer would be irresponsible to pass up.
MacGuffin’s Curse Developer: Brawsome Games Publisher: Ayopa Games Platform: iPhone/iPad(Reviewed)/PC/Mac Release: 19/4/12 Price: $4.99 – Available Here
Overview
Everyone likes a werewolf right? Well Brawsome games and Ayopa Games have developed a werewolf game unlike any you may have played before. With a unique blend of comedy and mystery, MacGuffin’s Curse is a dark horse waiting to be unleashed on the world April 19th.
Story
The game begins with a poor man attempting to pay the rent. Doing what anyone would do, he tries to rob a museum. Things go incredibly wrong when an amulet he tries to steal transforms him into a werewolf. The story is a little bizarre, and may not be the tightest narrative ever told. But it’s certainly original. Moreover, the idea of tying this story to the gameplay style of MacGuffin is rather interesting. The werewolf’s rage and strength, elements perhaps one may think are better suited to an action game, work well in this puzzle based strategy title. The story has more elements to it that unfold in a deductive way as you play through the game. Crimes have been committed, a city is in lockdown and everybody is looking for answers. To reveal anymore really takes away from the story, but I will say this. MacGuffin’s Curse takes some rather, unorthodox, elements; a werewolf, a detective story, and puzzle based-strategy gameplay style, and creates a rather title that may surprise you.
Gameplay
The gameplay is predominately puzzle based, featuring point-and-tap movements to get around. Tapping elements can interact with them, like tapping during moonlight to transform into a werewolf. Puzzles will require you to switch between werewolf and human to interact with certain objects and complete the puzzle in time. The werewolf utilises his superior strength while the human form has nimble hands and can swim, rather than sink. It took some getting used to, but the method of moving by dragging across the screen is well executed. Traditionally, there would be an on screen directional pad and possibly some on screen buttons – but MacGuffin’s Curse utilises the whole screen of your iOS device. The puzzles do become rather difficult, and new characters appear with new missions for you to complete. It may come as no surprise, but completing new missions unlocks new areas in the town, after all it has been locked down due to your thievery. This is where the story gets played out rather well. Areas are sandwiched between two doors. To get to the next one, you will need to complete the puzzle and give power to the door in order to escape. There are a few inventory items that make moving through the world a little easier. Items such as the map, and the quest log help you stay on track of your newly assigned goals. A nice little feature too is the collection of comic book sections, although I have not collected all and don’t know what the ultimate goal of these are. Just one more layer of mystery to the title!
Audio and Visual
The visual quality is a little irregular. On the one hand, the comics are magnificently drawn with a watercolour style. Although, this doesn’t come into effect all that much as viewing them is up to the players digression and not directly engaged with in gameplay. The elements in the world seem to sit oddly together at times, having a strange, layered look about them. This does help when completing puzzles, but the attempt to add depth to the ‘everyday’ game environment falls a little short of perfection. The character sprites seem a little strange when moving through the game. However, when engaged in conversation they come to life with a wonderful hand-drawn look. The colour schemes are well done for the theme of the game, with slight differences between areas but an overall sense of gloom. The music does well to work with the visual themes of the game, and each area has slight variations on similar tunes to give them their own unique atmosphere. Sound effects are not overly obvious, but this is a nice touch. They appear when necessary and are never thrown at you with too much force.
Overall
MacGuffin’s Curse is a bit of a dark horse. If you’re the shallow type who is going to judge a game on it’s visually appearance straight away, then I implore you to take a second look. As I said, the graphics may appear irregular, but there are some fantastic elements lying around within the game. Give it that extra few moments and let the puzzles develop into challenges. The game starts slow, even in terms of the story being a little perplexing, but once the mystery elements begin to integrate with the games puzzles the title comes to life. It may be a small title, but it has the power to keep you engaged and continuously playing.
Ahhh, the smell of untouched plastic and aluminium, theres nothing quite like it, well petrol and paint thinner are up there but just dont quite cut it with us technology geeks when it comes to ideas for a new fragrance. In a bizarre experiment, a team of Australia artists based in Melbourne have teamed up with Air Aroma, a leader in the field of Aromatherapy to create the aromatic essence of a newly opened Apple product.
The team sent a new Macbook Pro to the professionals in France to be analysed, and along with samples taken from newly boxed products created a scent which was sent back to Australia to the artists. They will be showcasing the new scent at an art show in Melbourne, diffusing it around the room via an Aroslim device. The fragrance will not be on sale to the general public so dont expect it to show up on the shelves of your local store but its an interesting idea that could have a niche market if the correct target market was met.
Does this sound like something you would ever consider buying for that geeky friend who can recite star trek episodes and owns part of the moon landing set. Also can anyone who can actually open a box and tell that its an Apple product please send a message and tell us how.
Nintendo have finally confirmed what many of their more vocal fans have desperately speculated in hope that saying something in mass unison would make it a reality. Low and behold that mass unison of salivation and behaviour likened to that of a common beggar, Nintendo have revealed that there will in fact be a third Pikmin game for the Wii U and they will show it off at E3 2012.
That’s not all though, Nintendo will also be presenting a new Mario game for the Wii U, which is supposedly somehow linked to the New Super Mario Bros. Mii ‘thing’ that you seen at last years E3. So there is that as well, if you are interested in it.
Regardless of the long anticipated announcement of Pikmin 3, fans continue to salivate and desperately speculate, now with their speculations aimed towards both games being launch titles. Who knows? Do you know? Speculate below in the comments section.
Oceanic players of Star Wars The Old Republic will be pleased to know that they are now eligible to submit an application to have their characters transferred to the newly released Oceanic servers across from the US servers. The applications began earlier today and are open until the 24th of April at 2:01PM EST. After that time, players may not submit or edit their applications.
There is also a massive list of disclaimers which we have reproduced below for your perusal –
If you choose to move your character to a new Asia Pacific server, please be aware of the following:
If your character name is already taken on the Asia Pacific server, your character will be transferred, but you will be prompted to choose a new name for the character when you log into the new server.
You cannot exceed 8 characters (including transferred and non- transferred characters) on any given destination server.
If you have unlocked a Legacy name on the Asia Pacific server, any characters transferred to that server will use the Asia Pacific server’s Legacy name.
If you have not unlocked a Legacy name on the Asia Pacific server and the transferred character is eligible for a Legacy unlock by completing Chapter One of their class stories, you will be prompted to choose a Legacy name when you log into the new Asia Pacific server.
The character will no longer be a part of its guild – Guilds and guild membership will not be transferred to your new server. You will need to create or join a new guild on your new server.
Your Friends and Ignore lists will be reset – These lists are server specific, so you will need to repopulate your lists with players from your new server.
The Asia Pacific server of your character transfer request does not need to match the server type of your original server.
Before you transfer your character, it is important to ensure the following:
The character has no items listed on the Galactic Trade Network (auction house) – active Galactic Trade Network listings will not be transferred to your new server.
The character has no items or credits in their mailbox – In-game mail will not be transferred to your new server. Make sure you have removed everything in your mailbox before initiating the transfer. Otherwise, the contents will be lost.
For more information, please check out the character transfer form here.
ROCKSTAR Games today have Announced a 3-part original Max Payne 3 comic series created in partnership between Rockstar Games and Marvel Custom Solutions – to be released as a digital graphic novel and in limited print editions.
Written by Dan Houser and Remedy’s Sam Lake, and featuring cover art from Greg Horn and pencils and inks by Fernando Blanco, this original Max Payne 3 comic series will delve into Max’s troubled past – exploring the events that occurred in and around both Max Payne and Max Payne 2, leading up to Max Payne 3 while also shedding new light on Max’s early years.
Look for Issue #1: “After the Fall” to be released in the next few weeks for free via the Rockstar Newswire, the Max Payne 3 Official Site and additional digital comic channels. Stay tuned for more updates.
EA Games have today released the second helping of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning downloadable content. The second instalment of DLC is titled The Teeth of Naros, with the previously DLC being called The Legend of Dead Kel.
The Teeth of Naros focuses on a new area called the city of Idylla which hovers in the sky above the fearsome Teeth of Naros. Players can explore this new location in the Teeth of Naros DLC available now on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 points and the Playstation Network, Origin and Steam for $9.99.
What do you think of the new Reckoning DLC? Let us know in the comments section below.
Over the past weekend news broke of the founding of a new anime distribution company within Australia and New Zealand. That new company formed at this past weekend’s Supanova Melbourne. The company is founded by former CEO of Siren Visual Eric Cherry.
This new anime distribution company is titled Hanabee. At this point in time the company holds the license for two non-anime series, The Guild and Red vs. Blue (which Cherry himself has brought over from Siren Visual). However Cherry has gone on to state that Hanabee will indeed be licensing and distributing anime titles, “Definitely! After being involved in licensing some really interesting stuff while at Siren including Dennou Coil, Kaiba and The Tatami Galaxy it became obvious that there’s a really rewarding challenge in trying to make the anime market down under a more interesting one. I like some of the innovative ways companies like NIS America and Aniplex of America are navigating through the USA market, and Hanabee aims to expand on that down here. ”
Since the companies first appearance at Supanova Melbourne this past weekend, Hanabee has opened both it’s official website and facebook page. They are both however currently scarce in terms of details on the companies future. Cherry did however confirm that title announcements are forthcoming, so definitely keep an eye on those two pages.
It is without a doubt a pleasure to see more companies forming with the intent of bringing anime down under and with the founding of Hanabee, the landscape of the Australian anime industry has been changed dramatically.
What do you think of the emergence of this new anime company? Let us know in the comments section below.
