If it was bad enough that Bleach and Beelzebub are also ending this week, TV Tokyo have dropped yet another bombshell – Gintama is also ending.
In what can only be called a shocking turn of events, in the latest edition of Weekly Shonen Jump it has been confirmed that Gintama will end this coming week on it’s 252nd episode which will be titled ‘Gomen Nasai (We’re Sorry)’. It appears that TV Tokyo has confirmed this last minute and no word of this decision was given to Sunrise (the studio who produce Gintama) ahead of time, evident through the next-episode preview of episode 251 which did not make any note of it being the final episode and listed the episode title as ‘Mitei (To be Determined)’.
This is certainly sad news for fans of this offbeat comedy anime series. It is unknown whether the anime will return from the dead like it had previously done before, but for now all that is confirmed is that the end of the anime. The series will be replaced by the Gon anime series.
What do you think of Gintama getting the axe? Let us know in the comments section below.
The Hunger Games Studio: Lionsgate Publisher: Lionsgate Format: Theatrical Release Release Date: 23nd March 2012
Overview: The pop-culture magnet may have attracted an anomaly with the 2012 film adaption of The Hunger Games. Based on the book of the same name, the film succeeds in creating a adequate mirror representation of society through a neo-dystopian viewpoint; Exploring complex themes contrary to the one-layered-ness of other popular literary adaptations. Throughout the course of the film you witness the brutality and hardships of life not too dissimilar to ours – With the idea of social division and subjugation by an oppressive government forming part of the necessary catalysts for action.
The Hunger Games attempts to dispel a lineage of youth oriented films that have come before it, breaking away from works that the general public have often associated it with – i.e. The Twilight Saga. It does this by overtly being a visual representation of many forms of ideals – ideals which aim to open eyes and minds to prevalent issues and consequently incite change.
In this particular instance pop-culture has retained its position as an effective tool for promoting a ‘teen-oriented film’- albeit a social discourse cleverly disguised as a film – to the dismay of many – who more than likely were expecting a simple love triangle with the watch words, sparkly sparkly.
The creator of the series Suzanne Collins states that if there was one thing that people take away from The Hunger Games is that they question how the story might be relevant in their own lives – and if they notice injustice; what would they do about it.
Story: The Hunger Games is set in a post-apocalyptic North America which has been reformed into the country of Panem. A civil war involved the thirteen districts of Panem revolting against the ruling order based in a futuristic city – known as the ‘Capitol’. As punishment for the revolt – the 13th district was destroyed and an annual event known as the ‘Hunger Games’ was created –(in the vein of gladiatorial games) The districts all pay a yearly sacrifice to the Capitol in the form of their tributes – children who will die in the Hunger Games – which is a televised event.
“Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill another while we watch – this is the Capitols way of reminding us how totally we are at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion. Whatever words they use, the real message is clear. “Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there’s nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District Thirteen” – Katniss Everdeen
The protagonist Katniss Evedeen a young girl from District Twelve – to the surprise of all becomes the first person to volunteer as tribute when her sister Primrose is chosen through a mandatory lottery known as ‘the reaping’. Her apparent sacrifice literally stops the world as silence spreads leaving only a poignant hand gesture – a three finger salute (District Twelve’s sign of respect/ farewell) to communicate the feelings of her people.
The same hand gesture is seen after the death of her ally Rue, a 12 year old from District Eleven. Katniss adorns her body with flowers, a symbol of her innocence and humanity. She leaves only turning back to say farewell using the hand gesture. Fittingly the entirety of District Eleven reciprocates the sign. Which from this moment on would be a sign of defiance against the oppressive government – An uprising begins as people are enraged by the senseless death of a child.
The films depiction of death is brutal. Collins admits that putting kids in violent situations, especially ones involving death is difficult. In the first day of the Hunger Games eleven tributes are killed, most within the first 10 minutes of the games commencement.
The film makes allusion to constructed reality and the controlling nature of governments – namely the representation of a Big Brother form of government – through the Capitols own authoritarian rule. The film makes reference to the “Truman Show”, where like the Truman show, film makers secretly observe, plot and control the direction and actions of participants – altering the game world and creating an artificial sense of freedom. One instance being the lighting of fierce fires in order to guide tributes closer to each other – for the purpose of viewer interest and also to enforce the interests of the state.
Visuals & Audio: What the film does best is immersion. Every emotion and thought that the characters experience can also be felt strongly by viewers, the soundtrack acts as a cue for our emotions to evoke outwardly. In the scene where Katniss is waiting in the locker room; she grows more and more concerned as the countdown continues – to the point of prettification, we see this through her body language and facial expression – tight close ups accompanied by jarring audio carefully emulate the thought of death – the actress plays her role with precision. Another example is Katniss’ lullaby to Rue, who sings to the dying child as the camera in lieu of her eyes begins to focus and lose focus to represent her passing.
From many other scenes we see that an emphasis has been placed on realism. An example of this is at the start of the Games. From my experience in playing paintball; I faced a similar scenario where everyone was told to target a single person; who ran towards the centre, naturally everyone chased after him; immediately we were told that it was now a free for all – a quick bloodbath ensued. The quick deaths of the tributes in their corresponding scene and the fast handheld movements of the camera depicted battle honestly. You could be killed at anytime, from any direction and rarely shown mercy.
The horns that are sounded after the death of a tribute in all probability are an allusion to Gabriel’s Horn which is said to announce Judgement Day and can be heard anywhere and everywhere. With each blast of the horn, with every accruing death of a tribute, it signals that the end; whatever end that may be is coming closer. There is the possibility that it could be a personification of redemption, which is what the protagonists achieve after successfully winning and thus defying the government.
Overall: Certain aspects of the film stood out as somewhat intrusive, such as Katniss’ over acting after the death of Rue, she does one action being similar to the cliched “NO!!! cry” which ends in her hitting Rue with both hands and drowning her face on her body. The second is the marginalisation of the sponsors – the first half of the story involves the characters vying for support through television interviews and public appearances, however during the actual games, both and all packages which the protagonist receives are from her mentor Haymitch Abernathy or –H.
This may be due to the compression of time, in the book Katniss receives a package from District Eleven for her compassion and support of Rue, emphasising greater importance of sponsors.
The film as a whole is a beautiful piece that is a perfect example of a story with heart. The film has won our favour earning a strong recommendation.
Looking for a really tough case for your iPad 2 or your new iPad? The baseonelabs has announced the GunnerCase for the iPad. Based on the technology used in shotgun and rifle butt stock pads, the GunnerCase uses collapsing internal air cells to cushion the impact of a drop. This is a very similar idea to how modern cars crumple in certain places to protect the driver inside. This allows the GunnerCase to provide the same impact protection as a case twice as thick. Thanks to the special TPU used in the case, the GunnerCase feels like a rigid case while still providing its impressive level of protection. The icing on the cake is that baseonelabs is throwing in a free screen protector and micro cleaning cloth into the deal. No word on final pricing just yet.
Grubby Hands’ whimsical game Boy Loves Girl is getting a free Lite version. Help Boy along his journey to win the heart of his one true love. Help gather everything Girl desires to make her happy. The Lite version preserves the original full game play experience but cuts the levels down to 13 levels plus an unspecified amount of bonus levels. The game is retina ready, though no word if this includes the new iPad’s retina screen. If you have been sitting on the fence about purchasing Boy Loves Girl than this is your opportunity to give Boy Loves Girl a test run and decide if this is the game for you.
After an accidental leak about a possible LittleBigPlanet racing game back in February, Sony has chosen today to officially reveal the title under the previously rumored name, LittleBigPlanet Karting. The same developers behind Modnation Racers, United Front Games, is going to be handling the racer and promises the same level of detail that the original developers of LittleBigPlanet had.
Like past titles, LittleBigPlanet Karting will feature a full creation and customization system that will allow players to create new levels, racers and apparently even ” modify the rules of the game itself to create completely new modes and challenges” or so United Front Games senior producer James Grieve says. Currently the title has no solid release date beyond sometime in 2012 on the PlayStation 3.
So… with another racing game with customization coming to the PlayStation 3 will it be too similar to Modnation Racers to justify purchase or will the combination of LittleBigPlanet and racing be too much to resist? Check out the trailer below to see just how superior LittleBigPlanet Karting looks already.
It was always sort of expected that Square Enix would be bringing Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy to North America and Europe, but the company had never officially confirmed anything until now. Today Square Enix has revealed that they are planning to localize the game and they are currently aiming for a Summer release window.
For those who haven’t been paying attention, Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy is a rhythm-action game that uses “more than 70 musical scores” from past Final Fantasy titles including the most recent releases as well. Players will use the Nintendo 3DS’ touch screen to tap and drag their stylus to the beat of the music during field sequences, events and even battles. Alongside this announcement Square Enix released a slew of new screenshots which can be seen below.
Yesterday it was revealed that Bayonetta would be in Platinum Games’ upcoming action game, Anarchy Reigns. At that time however the company had not revealed how exactly she would be in the game, but today they have chosen to not only reveal her as a playable character in the game’s online modes but also revealed the below trailer.
Those who have played Bayonetta will recognize nearly every move Bayonetta unleashes as it seems they have held nothing back from this fan favorite. Gamers who want to play as Bayonetta, at least in Japan, will need to pre-order the game to play as her but fans in the West will be glad to know that Platinum Games has already revealed she will be available overseas as well, though no details were given about how she will be obtained when the game is released in North America on July 3rd.
Last year there was a significant gap in XBLA promotions from Microsoft as gamers had to wait nearly six months between the House Party and Summer of Arcade promotions. Today however Microsoft has introduced a new promotion which they are calling “Arcade NEXT.”
Why should you care about this promotion? Well it brings with it at least two titles which fans have been dying for, Trials Evolution and Minecraft. The promotion begins with Trials Evolution on April 18th, Bloodforge on April 25th, Fable Heroes on May 2nd and finally Minecraft on May 9th. Fable Heroes will run you 800 MSP while Minecraft will break your little MSP bank at a cost of 1600 MSP, those concerned about the rest of the games will be happy to see they only cost 1200 MSP. It is worth noting that every single one of these games will support the new 400 Gamerscore limit as well.
An all-new Angry Birds short film, “Angry Birds Space” is coming to a television screen near you. Nickelodeon has exclusive global rights to be the first to air the short film, which it will do on Friday 23rd March at 6 p.m.
Six new birds will be revealed in this animated short film which tells the story of how the Angry Birds end up in space. It begins on a day much like any other, but suddenly a cosmic vortex appears and brings visitors from another galaxy with some unfriendly intentions. This means the heroic birds have to slingshot themselves into a new adventure – space.
Angry Birds are the most downloaded games ever, with over 700 million downloads in the two years since they launched. The Angry Birds Space game will be available worldwide on from today too.
Nickelodeon is available on Sky 604, Virgin 712 and TalkTalk 315.
Shoot Many Robots Publisher: Ubisoft Developer:Demiurge Studios Platforms: Xbox 360 (Reviewed), PlayStation 3, PC Release Date: 14/03/2012 Price:800 Microsoft Points
Overview:
Shoot Many Robots is a 2D action shooter title developed by the same studio that has quite the impressive resume in working with other major developers, helping develop several high profile titles such as Mass Effect, Bioshock, and several Rock Band games. Shoot Many Robots is the latest from the company, and unlike their previous projects which were mostly done in collaboration with other developers, this shiny new shooter is their independent project. The game is a digital download purchase on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, with a PC release on the Steam platform to follow after.
Visuals and Audio:
Shoot Many Robots has a very cool and laid back art direction. It has this goofy western cartoon look to it with some offbeat character designs and such. The general demeanor and style of the game is just very American, with a strong and stereotypical American country life vibe. The characters are hillbilly and redneck types, with a fun and laid back attitude. Graphically it’s a decent looking game with a very gritty look and good use of rusty colour tones in the environments, which include locations like scrap yards, forests, and factories. The 3D graphics are decent enough and have an interesting stylisation.
Shoot Many Robots has a very groovy and lazy southern American rock soundtrack, the tracks in the game are scattered with some rather chill and slow guitar tunes that don’t necessarily provide an adrenaline rush, but still compliment the rather rusty and robotic wasteland look of the game’s levels. The simplistic guitar tunes do pick up in speed and aggression during the more intense sections of the game.
Aesthetically and aurally, it’s a rather cool looking game even if it isn’t anything mind blowing. However, it’s still a bit refreshing game because most games in this genre have mostly been developed by Japanese game studios and as such have that strong Japanese and anime vibe to their sound and visuals, so it’s pretty cool to see a very American comic book style aesthetic and hearing a southern rock style of music.
Gameplay:
Shoot Many Robots is a 2D shooter platformer in much similar vein to the Contra series, and perhaps the most recent game that’s most similar to Shoot Many Robots is the amazing Hard Corps Uprising.
In Shoot Many Robots, as the name suggests, is about a small band of humans battling an army of robots (or as the game likes call it, ‘murdering’ robots). There are three main maps each consisting a set of worlds and levels. Each of the maps offers a different level of difficulty, being Normal, Hard, and Insane. You’re forced to start from Normal, and unlock new levels by earning stars in each level.
Levels generally come in two types, survival levels and standard action levels. In the survival levels you have to survive an onslaught of robots, and after surviving the primarily wave, you then get a chance to take on some bonus waves which you don’t have to survive but doing so will increase your score and such. The standard action levels involve you to progress levels in a typical 2D shooter platformer fashion, taking on hoards of enemy robots and working your way through some obstacles, traps, and typical platforming situations. The levels are fun, nothing too intuitive or crazy in terms of design and such, but they offer a nicely paced action and enough enemy and design variety to keep you entertained, as well as some conveniently placed checkpoints.
There are boss battles too, and while they’re not nearly as crazy as the brutal behemoths that can be found in Hard Corps Uprising, they are actually a lot of fun in terms of their design and pattern. The enemy variety is decent but the bosses are actually really good and represent some of the best moments of the game.
Mechanically the game is sound, as your character comes with all the essential skills such as double jump, dash, melee strikes, and others you can unlock. One of the coolest things you can do in the game is literally punch these red bullets right back at the enemy. You can carry up to two weapons, a primary weapon that carries unlimited ammunition a much powerful secondary weapon that carries limited ammunition but carry quite the big punch. The controls work well and it plays really well overall.
The best part of Shoot Many Robots is that you get to pretty much build your character and customise him with in variety of ways. While the main focus is obviously to rack up a high score for some bragging rights, you also need to try collect as many nuts and bolts from fallen robots. These robot parts serve as the game’s currency, with which you can purchase all sorts of new weapons such as flame throwers, grenade launchers, machine guns, shotguns, and numerous others. You can also purchase some really useful attire upgrades which include hats, shirts, and pants, with each offering some stat improvements and in some cases even new abilities such as a power slam. You can’t just purchase what you please, as you need to discover some of these weapons within the game’s stages, and also level up your character in order to be able to purchase them. Leveling up also helps to improve your health and offensive strength.
The deep customisation alone is what makes Shoot Many Robots such an accessible experience compared to most games in the genre, and gives the game a very natural progression and also does wonders for its replay value. While the game obviously gets harder as you go along, you can still work to increase your character’s level and collect more nuts to purchase more weapons. It’s just a matter of making your character strong and figuring out the ideal combination of weapons that suits your play style or nature of the level. The challenge is therefore, usually under control and manageable because of this.
There is an online multiplayer component too, allowing up to four players to play co-op, but at the time of review I was unable to find any players to test this.
Overall:
Shoot Many Robots is a really entertaining shooter adventure that adds quite the modern twist to the Contra style of gameplay that it draws upon. The actual game itself will offer you a ton of great action, fun bosses, and lots of levels with a natural progression in challenge. The best part is that you can level up your character and customise him with a ton of upgrades and weapons. It’s a great shooting experience, and for its price you will definitely get plenty of bangs for your buck.
