The latest patch to fix up the large world of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been released to the Xbox 360 today. While PC gamers have already been able to bask in numerous fixed bugs and issues with quests, today the rest of the Skyrim loving crowd will be able to enjoy the fixes as well.
Bethesda still has to wait for confirmation from Sony for the PlayStation 3 version of the patch, though they are hoping it will be able to be released later today. For those curious about what is in the 1.4 patch they can find the full list of fixes here.
Funimation Entertainment have today confirmed the English dub cast for the hotly anticipated sequel to the popular Black Butler anime series. The following voice actors were cast for the series second season:
Alois voiced by Luci Christian
Claude voiced by Jason Douglas
Abberline voiced by Jonathan Brooks
Agni voiced by Patrick Seitz
Baldroy voiced by Ian Sinclair
Ciel voiced by Brina Palencia
Druitt voiced by Todd Haberkorn
Elizabeth voiced by Cherami Leigh
Finny voiced by Jason Liebrecht
Grell voiced by Daniel Fredrick
Hannah voiced by Caitlin Glass
Lau voiced by Jerry Jewell
Luka voiced by Lindsay Seidel
Mey-rin voiced by Monica Rial
Sebastian voiced by J. Michael Tatum
Soma voiced by Chris Ayres
Tanaka voiced by R Bruce Elliott
Black Butler Season 2 is set for a release from Funimation Entertainment as a DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack with 5 additional OVA episodes on the 3rd of April, 2012. Looks like it’s going to be one hell of a release.
Sentai Filmworks have confirmed that they have acquired the license to the cinematic debut of the Gintama anime series (which Sentai also hold the rights to). The film itself is titled rather simply, Gintama: The Movie.
The film itself is a retelling of the Benizakura story arc from the anime series, featuring an alternate ending to the arc (which is considered the true ending in the Gintama canon, if you want to acknowledge Gintama having some kind of canon).
Sentai plan to release the film digitally and in a physical release on DVD and Blu-Ray later in the year. It should be assumed that the movie will not be dubbed considering Sentai’s release of the anime was subtitles only.
There are many different kinds of box art out there. There are those who go a simple conservative route and those that try to cram so much detail into the image that it is awash with colors. Other times all it takes is a very iconic symbol to create a stellar box art.
Such is the case with Aliens: Colonial Marines’ box art which can be seen to the right. As you can see the game’s box art features a Xenomorph’s face with some Colonial Marines walking down a hallway. Better watch out though… the Aliens like to hide in the vents. Currently there still is no release date set for Colonial Marines but this box art reveal bodes well for those hoping for a 2012 release.
Double Fine revealed that they would start funding their next game, which will be an old school adventure title through Kickstarter donations. Now the initial plan was that the company would need to reach $400,000 within the next thirty-four days. However it took less than twenty-four hours for the company to pass that total. In fact the total is now over $1 million at the time of writing.
While this is thanks to thousands of smaller donations, a few notable souls have even donated as much as $5,000 or even one with $10,000 to the cause. To make things even better, Kickstarter has announced that Double Fine has broken the record for raising such a large amount of money in such a short time. It seems fans of the studio really want to see what their next game will be like… Perhaps this is a sign of things to come…
Toei Animation have filed a lawsuit against approximately 869 pirates of One Piece. No, not the pirates in the anime, real life cyber pirates who illegally downloaded episode 515 of the popular anime series, “I Will Get Much Stronger! Zoro’s Pledge To His Captain!”
Toei claims that these pirates acted in concert across various states of America through BitTorrent, to illegally download the episode that is actually available for them to freely watch at Funimation’s website.
Funimation had also previously filed a similar lawsuit against 1,337 pirates over the illegal downloading of an episode of the series back in January 2011. This resulted in Funimation dismissing their case, due to the incredible difficulty in proving that the pirates worked in concert.
It is unknown whether Toei’s Ninja Lawyers will be able to take down the 869 Pirates, but Capsule Computer’s Ben Webb and Travis Bruno will be competing in a Steel Cage match to finally answer the age old question of ‘Ninjas or Pirates?’ Place your bets.
A few days ago we learned that Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe will be leaving Eat Sleep Play and moving on to work on creating a new studio based in San Diego. He will be leaving the company shortly after the release of Twisted Metal. In an interview with Joystiq he revealed that he is only still with the company through a “maintenance contract” that allows the company to make bug fixes and patches after the release.
Jaffe also revealed that there will be no sequel or DLC plans in the future for Twisted Metal, or at least nothing that is even being planned at the moment. In a statement with Game Informer he explained that “You never know what the future holds, I’d love to make another Twisted down the road with these guys one day, if that opportunity presents itself.”
While we attended the event, I was lucky enough to speak with Mike Jones of Slant Six Games, producer of Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City. Mike was kind enough to conduct a brief interview with us, discussing the story, multiplayer and various features of the game as well as exploring the rest of 2012 for the franchise. Check out the video below, and don’t forget to get your hands on the game March 22nd!
We were lucky enough to be invited to Capcom’s Ultimate Capcom Showcase earlier this month and alongside a bunch of other amazing titles, the one that was the most surprising for me was Resident Evil: Operation Racoon City. In all honesty, I’ve had some doubts for this game, but upon trying out the ‘verses’ multiplayer, I can confidently put all these worries to rest. Guys, this game has one hell of a multiplayer and is definitely something to be excited about! Filled with frantic and fun action, this is one hell of an epic third person shooter that’s certainly going to get a lot of love on the PlayStation Network/Xbox Live.
Before I do speak a word on this game however, I need you to do me a favour: take everything you know about Resident Evil and chuck it out the window. Laters! This is not your slow-paced typical horror RE title. This spin-off is letting you do what you’ve always wanted to do: cause a ruckus and blow some zombie brains out! While the controls aren’t too different from say RE 4 or 5, there are some obvious changes that make combat much more deeper, resulting in a more a faster-paced, action packed third-person shooter. So take out all that suspenseful, boring stuff…the multiplayer here is about killing dudes-and that’s exactly what you want to do when your online, right?!
Visually speaking, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has everything you want in a Zombie game, and while it does take place during some of the more classic titles, playing as the ‘evil’ Umbrella Corporation this time completely changes the atmosphere. The motto here should be “don’t be a wuss” because your never screaming at one zombie…your yelling in triumph as you unleash hell on hordes of zombies, AND other dudes shooting at you. Multiplayer accomplishes what no previous Resident Evil title has done before (although RE6 may do so later this year) and that’s make it actually feel like your smack dead in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. You’ve got innocent bystanders running around for safety and getting in the way while hordes of zombies chase them. You’ve got cities on fire, chaos surrounding you and high-def blood & gore everywhere you turn. It’s just like a typical zombie movie, and not like those sucky RE ones either where people do silly martial arts to fight zombies, I’m talking about the good stuff like Dawn of the Dead where your town has gone to hell and if you stop shooting your probably going to die! In one particular mode you even have to race towards an escape helicopter to evacuate the city, which not only makes for fun competitive play but also is a nice throwback to many plot points in various zombie films & games.
That all being said however, amazingly this title still stays true to it’s roots effectively. You still run out of ammo and need lots of green herbs, so that survival horror element still remains throughout. However amongst fighting for your life against zombies, you’ve got other humans shooting at you as well (because your the bad guy, remember?) so this competitive element of gameplay only enhances the survival element of RE, making it even more intense. My biggest concern for Operation Racoon City judging by trailers was mostly “what if it becomes TOO chaotic?”, but once I got my hands on the controller I felt totally in control. Yes a lot was going on, but if that wasn’t happening it’d probably piss me off. I mean come on, if I’m playing a game where the setting is a zombie outbreak, I want it to look and feel like hell on earth, and oh boy….this game delivers!
But don’t take my word for it, find our yourself and get in on the awesome multiplayer action yourself when the game comes out March 22nd!
Publisher: BulkyPix Developer: Egg Ball Games Platforms: iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone (reviewed) Release Date: February 2nd, 2012 Price: $2.99 (BUY NOW!)
Overview
This latest title from Egg Ball games is a platformer with heart. You play as Trump, a jazz trumpet player looking to make a name for himself. And with some interesting mechanics and a laid-back atmosphere, it’s well worth a look!
Story
Jazz: Trump’s Journey presents the story of Trump, a lone trumpet player on the search for recognition in the Jazz musician world; overcoming social issues, building up a band, and getting the fame he deserves; and it is an ambitious parallel to Louis Armstrong’s life.
It tells this story through a smattering of cutscenes, some “boss” battles, and brief pieces of dialogue in certain levels; and it tells it well. The characters are cartoony and larger-than-life, the writing is near perfect, and the plot itself, while not affecting the gameplay all that much, is nicely woven in; pleasantly playing in the background as it were.
Gameplay
The title features the usual 2D platformer trappings; sliding on and bouncing off of walls, pushing and pushing boxes, pressure switches, moving platforms, and spikes. There are even collectables in the form of musical notes, and hidden areas where you can pick up photographs. You can bounce on the heads of some enemies to kill them, or simply to get to a higher area with others. There’s even a few teleportation doors here and there!
But there’s an interesting original mechanic they’ve added, too. At the tap of a virtual button, Trump blasts out a little riff on his trumpet, and the world time stops. You can use this to stop a falling box in mid-air, creating a platform, or to stop a platform from moving so you can aim your jump easier. This adds another layer to the levels, making you have to think, at least a little, on how to get to the next screen.
The checkpoints are placed liberally, and for the most part feel like they’re in just the right spot. Anything you collected will be kept even when you die and respawn, which is a nice little feature.
The controls are, virtual, on-screen buttons. They are well placed, and don’t feel like they’re cluttering or obscuring the view of the action. There are times when, for aesthetic reasons, the camera puts Trump on one side of the screen, or in the corner somewhere, where your fingers can blind you, but the camera soon puts Trump back in the centre of the screen and you can continue without too much annoyance. The icons for these buttons are bold and easy to understand, and some only appear when you can actually use that ability or whatever, which also keeps the screen uncluttered.
At first, the controls are a joy. The levels are pretty simple and gameplay is filled with wonder at the art style and animation as your traverse the levels. Once you hit the harder levels toward the end of the game, and the twitch factor comes into play, you can soon find yourself missing a button at a crutial moment and plummeting to your doom. Because there is no tactile physicality to the button you’re trying to press it can, at times, become frustrating when you die for the tenth time on the same part of a level.
There are also a couple annoying things built-in to the mechanics of the game, however. For example, when you reach the top of a ladder, Trump bounces into the air (one can only assume he’s happy to have made it), which in most of the game is a fun little animation to add to the general feel of the game. This can be a problem, however, when there’s a row of spikes above your head.
There are a few bugs here and there, collision errors and the like, but they can easily be forgiven when you see the better part of this game in action. Most of the little puzzles are fairly straightforward to figure out, and not too taxing to put the solutions into practice. There is a rising curve of difficulty, but until the last couple of levels, things start getting really, really tough; a real change of pace from the bulk of the game, which is nice and gentle in it’s little challenges.
Audio & Visual
The visuals in this games are wonderful to behold. The painted world has a sweet bluesy/jazzy vibe to it, and has a good level of detail throughout. The objects you can interact with are more bold and cartoony, but still keep that level of finesse the rest of the game has.
The characters are simple, vector-based works of art, and their animations are exadurated and fun to watch. They remind me of the old betty boop cartoons; the old-school feel and wavy arms really bring these characters alive.
The music is of course jazz thoughout. And while I’m not all that into the genre of music, it compliments the game’s art style perfectly. If you get stuck in a particular level, though, you may find it starts to grate the third time you start listening to the same track. But again, this’ll likely only happen towards the tail end of the game, and the rest of the time, it was fun to listen to something out of the ordinary, especially for a platformer.
The sound effects are good, adding to the cartoony animations of the world. There is a bug with certain sounds being heard from way over on the other side of the level, but for the most part they simply enhance the already pleasurable experience.
Overall
At the end of the day, this game is fun to play. With a passable story, stylish presentation, and some cool music, Jazz will be a pleasant excursion for any platformer-fan. And while the virtual-button controls may become troublesome at certain points, most of the time they work fine.
Whether you like the Jazz genre or not, the game is a great excursion for anyone to pick up.
