After some initial teasers, Square-Enix announced a browser based RPG called Crystal Conquest. Today they shared the very first trailer for this interesting 2D hack and slash RPG that looks a bit similar to Guardian Heroes. The game will have some deep strategy elements also as players will be navigating a huge map with several locations.
The trailer shows off a fair bit of in-game action with a good demonstration of how the multiplayer will function. It’s a fully online title that simply must be played with human players. Fans of games like Golden Axe and Guardian Heroes should keep an eye out for this fun and accessible looking MMORPG.
Madman Entertainment have announced that they will be adding Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere to their Madman Screening Room. They previously announced the license acquisition of the title for both physical and digital distribution.
As expect the digital distribution on the Madman Screening Room has come first. New episodes of Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere will be streamed in the Screening Room on Tuesdays. The first of which has begun today on the 10th of April. They plan on streaming the entire first series which will lead them up to the premiere of the second season in Japan which they have confirmed will be simulcast immediately following the completion of the first series.
You can check out the first episode now on the Madman Screening Room here, along side several other titles such as Guilty Crown and Waiting in the Summer. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Andriasang has just reported that a video game adaptation of the recent popular manga/anime franchise, Tiger & Bunny, has just been confirmed. The game is being handled by Namco Bandai and will be for the PlayStation Portable.
The official title of the game is Tiger & Bunny On Air Jack, and has been described as a ‘TV Show Action’. Players will be taking control of Wild Tiger and will follow the events of the anime. The game will recreate scenes from the anime and will be fully voiced.
The game is set to be released in Japan in the fall of 2012.
The latest entry in the Hyperdimension Neptunia RPG series has just been confirmed by Andriasang today. The next game will be called Neptune V, where the V does not indicate that its the fifth game in the series, instead it stands for Victory.
The game is set to take place in the 1980s, and so we can expect to see personification of consoles from that era, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Master System.
Like previous entries, this game will be exclusive to the PlayStation 3. A Japanese release is set to happen sometime in the Summer of 2012.
Some major details for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II have surfaced recently. First off the release date as been confirmed as the game is set to arrive on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network on May 16 2012, and it will be priced at 1200 Microsoft Points for Xbox Live Arcade and $14.99 for the PlayStation Network.
Gamers who have already purchased Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I will be able to unlock a new episode called ‘Episode Metal’, where they can take control of Sonic’s most famous rival, Metal Sonic.
You can see Metal Sonic in action in the images below.
Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat, is a disc based compilation of two popular digital download titles: Deadliest Warrior: The Game and Deadliest Warrior: Legends. The titles have sold more than 700,000 copies and this latest release will bring both together in one disc along with some extras.
345 Games have been doing a weekly series called ‘Battle of the Week’, they are now up to Round 4 where we see legendary Chinese strategist Sun Tzu and the legendary Zulu leader Shaka. You can check it out in the images below.
Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat, is a fighting game based on the popular television series of the same name where famous warriors from history do battle against each other.
Sentai Filmworks may have jumped the gun when they made an announcement at Sakura-Con regarding the Persona 4: The Animation dub earlier this week. Sentai announced that the original cast from the video-game Persona 4 (which the anime is adapted from) will reprise their roles in Sentai’s dub of the anime.
This news got a lot of the game’s fans excited as one may expect. That is until many of the game’s voice actors have spoke out on the announcement, with many claiming they have not even been contacted by Sentai regarding reprisal of their roles.
Yuri Lowenthal, the voice of Yosuke had the following the say,”I don’t know what Sentai’s up to, I’m sorry to say.” “Yikes, I’ve heard back from half a dozen cast members, and none of us have been contacted.”
Adding even more fuel to the controversy, Michelle Ann Durphy said, “To be honest, I don’t think Sentai has spoken with any of us,” “I’d be psyched to come back and play Margaret and Ayane again in the anime, but as of right now? I won’t count my eggs before they’ve hatched.” “I love how different these roles are, and hope that what Sentai says is true and that we’ll all be returning to our roles for the anime.”
Sentai Filmworks were unable to comment on the status of the Persona 4: The Animation English dub, leaving the status of the dub essentially up in the air.
We will keep you updated as more details on this controversial situation comes to light. Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below.
This week in our haphazardly appearing Capsule Theatre of Vision comes a rather interesting scene from the anime series Melody of Oblivion. This scene is incredibly odd and *really* borders on the perverse and the bizarre. Fortunately the scene is technically clean, meaning that there is no nudity involved, but it may still leave you feeling oddly aroused.
So what is it about human milking that makes this scene so appealing? Why does this kind of thing not occur as often as it should in reality? Does human milk even taste all that good? The answer to all those questions are not answered in this video, but it may answer the question of whether or not you’re turned on by the odd.
Country Dance All Stars Developer: High Voltage Software Publisher: GameMill Entertainment Platform: Xbox 360 Release Date: March 9, 2012 Price: $49.99 BUY NOW!
Overview
Since the launch of the Kinect, no other genre has been more successful on the device than the ever-popular dance genre. While simple in concept, these titles have delivered the goods time and time again, letting fans jam out to their favorite artists to the best of their ability. Country music honestly has a fanbase of it’s own though, and with the millions of Kinect units now in the wild, it was only a matter of time before we seen a tribute of sorts delivered to those who crave to boot scoot to their own flavor of music. That is exactly what Country Dance All Stars is all about, but does it leave it’s mark in the now over-saturated market, or is it just another dance game that even the most famished country music fans can ignore? Here is my review for Country Dance All Stars for the Xbox 360 Kinect.
Gameplay
I really don’t have to introduce the whole point of Country Dance All Stars, as the name of the game states exactly what players can find on this shiny little disc. Dancing to some of the biggest country music songs of all time with the Kinect sensor tracking all of your own movements as you match the actions seen on the screen. Once you are actually playing the game though, things become fairly obvious quickly that this dancing romp only has it’s one purpose on display, and never takes the focus away from the genre of music it’s built around to take any other risks. Now, that may sound a bit bland to those of you who crave a ton of extras in your music games, but there are just enough modes included to make this one worth checking out, with all of those special techniques on display that you could only see at a hoedown.
The first mode to choose from is the very straight-forward “Play” Mode, which has players simply dance along with one track and attempt to match every move as it is shown on the screen. As the avatars perform moves, all the player has to do is mirror along with what is shown, while little cards pop in add assistance to show just how to pull each technique off successfully. The main goal to keep in mind while boogieing down is to avoid missing any steps and to get as many “Good” or “Great” rankings as possible in the process, which in turn raises your overall score. It’s nothing elaborate and a little too forgiving, but thankfully, it works and I rarely had a moment where the Kinect failed to pick up my own movements successfully.
During my outing with Country Dance 2 last year, my main complaint was that it took almost no effort to win at the game, as the most work that was needed was to simply waggle the Wiimote to the beat. That was my biggest worry going into to All Stars, and after many moments of just standing still just to see what would follow, I can easily say that this title demands your physical actions in order to be victorious, but still provides a good time to all rookies involved by never punishing the player for their own mistakes. Yes, you still need to mimic all of actions shown to get the best result at the end of a song, but All Stars seems to be content with being simple, and never puts any emphasis of winning over just having fun. Those who crave for a challenge might not be impressed, but the “accessible to all” nature of the game is sure to win those over who were born with two left feet.
If the 30+ routines and songs don’t fulfill your need for variety, you’ll be happy to know that some older modes from the franchise have been included to mix things up a bit in Country Dance All Stars. Freeze mode works exactly as it did on the Wii, but has the player completely freeze their entire body at the right time in order to score. These freezes are done at complete random and can catch you during some crazy poses, but much like the entire game, is a lot of fun to play with friends involved. Perfection mode is also as it sounds, and only scores movements that are considered “GREAT”. To add in a bit more involvement, players can also choose to add in lyrics to sing along while they dance, which is a light but effective touch in bringing about some extra interactivity for those involved. The centerpiece of the entire country dancing experience comes in Normal Mode, and has players pick out their own setlist of 3, 5, or 10 songs and then play them out until the finish.
Visuals/Audio
As solid as Country Dance All Stars is gameplay wise, it’s biggest flaws can be found in the rather boring presentation shown throughout the game. The avatars definitely fit into the whole country fried theme, but lack any charm to provide much entertainment to onlookers. I know most dance titles just feature generic models to begin with, but these western heroes of the dance floor are a bit hard to enjoy and look a bit too over the top when it comes to their southern attires. Thankfully, the animations these generic models perform are more up to par, and flow quite well with every song, making each selection feel unique as players get a completely different routine with each track they pick. Backgrounds are decently crafted as well, setting the stage for whatever song you may be playing, and there is thankfully quite a few of these opry-styled environments mixed in to please your eyes as you dance to your heart’s content.
Music is of course the biggest thing this title has going for it, and if you are a fan of any type of country music period, you will be pleased to know that Country Dance has covered all bases with this outing. Younger fans are sure to enjoy seeing more modern stars featured such as Blake Shelton, Miley Cyrus, and Carrie Underwood, while older players will surely have a nostalgia trip, dancing away to the likes of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and Brooks & Dunn’s “Boot Scootin’ Boogie”. These licensed tracks all sound clear and vivid, and with the large quantity of artists and variety involved overall, no one can complain that High Voltage didn’t pull out all their cards when it came to bringing in the heavy-hitting talent.
Overall
At first glance, Country Dance All Stars doesn’t look like it would live up to any of the Dance Centrals or other dance games that have already graced the Kinect. Underneath it’s rough exterior though is a simple yet enjoyable experience, jammed packed with all of the tunes that country music fans have been dying to shake their belt-buckles to. Yeah, you could easily say that the competitors have more to offer in terms of features by comparison, but High Voltage have made it clear that this franchise is not just about dancing, but also about having fun and being easily accessible to all that choose to join in, which is the exact type of experience that the Kinect is built for.
Its a sad day for all gamers today. Jack Tramiel, at the age of 83, has died. Tramiel was the founding father of Commodore International. In addition, he purchased Atari Inc. and helped to revive the company by launching the Atari ST, Atari 7800 and Lynx, plus other desktop comptuer systems.
In addition to being instrumental in shaping the games that we play today, Tramiel was a Holocaust survivor. He was freed from Auschwitz in 1945.
Atari Museum founder Curt Vendel stated: “Jack Tramiel was an immense influence in the consumer electronics and computing industries. A name once uttered in the same vein as Steve Jobs is today, his journey from concentration camp survivor to captain of industry is the stuff of legends.”
