Episode 04 of CC: Anime is now live. Each month, thanks to our good friends at Siren Visual, we will be giving away a prize in a monthly competition held through CC: Anime.
To win, listen to the podcast for the question and once you have an answer email it in along with your name and address to[email protected]. At the end of the month, a winner will be randomly selected from the pool of entries. The winner will then be announced on the next podcast.
Welcome to another episode of CC: Anime, Capsule Computers Monthly Anime Podcast! In our first installment of the year, the CC: Anime crew discuss the latest anime and manga news, take part in the “Anime Anarchy” game show segment, as well discussing the state of the anime industry.
This month we had some fan art sent in from Sanjay from New Zealand, who drew an amazing artwork of the Ico video-game in manga style. You check out his fan art below:
Send all your anime, manga or podcast questions, hints, suggestions and feedback to [email protected]
In an industry where remakes, reboots and reimaginings are the norm, The Amazing Spider-Man took the biscuit by coming to life only four years after the credits of Spider-Man 3 had rolled. The inital reaction to this Spider-Man reboot was possibly one of the most unanimous in the history of the internet – ‘No! Why? Stop it Hollywood!’
Peter Parker’s story had already been told – why do it again so quickly? More bees were unleashed in bonnets as casting decisions were made, with the 29 year old British actor Andrew Garfield cast as a high school age Peter – too old! too English! Mary Jane was relegated in favour of Gwen Stacy, and the first trailer showcased a jarring change in tone and bothered some critics with a sequence shot in first person perspective – too much like a video game!
Well you know what, this second trailer looks fantastic. Yes, the tone is completely different from Sam Raimi’s trilogy, but refreshingly so. Peter Parker is a different animal, wisecracking with more wit than Tobey Maguire’s take was ever allowed. The mechanical webslingers make an appearance and there’s a brief glimpse of Rhys Ifan’s The Lizard.
The Amazing Spider-Man could revitalise a classic character much in the same way as Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, after all , Spiderman 3 led to the cancellation of Raimi’s take on the webslinger – Batman and Robin anyone?
So make sure and let the movie speak for itself, and check out the trailer below:
X-Men Wow… Comic book movies are awesome, give me more!
X2 Yes!
X-Men The Last Stand Where did Cyclops go? Why is Vinnie Jones here? What the hell? How many directors did this movie have?
X-Men Origins : Wolverine What have you done to Deadpool?! Since when is Sabretooth Wolverine’s brother? Why are Canadians fighting in all these wars? Why are the special effects worse now than nearly ten years ago? Is this supposed to be funny? I’m never going to watch any of these films in a cinema again.
X-Men First Class I lied. *peeks through fingers* Oh. This is actually quite good.
And thus we come to the next movie in the X-Men franchise – The Wolverine (assuming that First class director Matthew Vaughn finishes his other projects before starting on his sequel). It’s been struggling through production hell for the last few years, but finally has a release date: July 26 2013. This means that Logan’s latest outing will be joining Iron Man 3, Man of Steel and potentially Thor 2 in a truly blockbuster summer line up.
Of course it has a lot of convincing to do after the disappointment that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine, so scheduling it for such a competitive release date is a bold move. Also bold is the timing involved. Star Hugh Jackman is all set to lead in a film adaptation of Les Miserables, and that hasn’t made it’s way out of pre production yet. Throw in another Jackman musical due for release in 2013 and a long overseas shoot for The Wolverine (Darren Aronofsky was due to direct but left the project because of it) and a July release date looks incredibly ambitious. Is there really enough time for Jackman to work on two other movies, Wolverine to be shot and post production to be completed?
Until the cameras start rolling there is no way to know for sure. Here’s hoping that what could be a great X-Men movie- thanks to it source material- isn’t derailed by an overly eager production schedule.
Konami’s latest title NeverDead is all set to receive its first DLC pack on February 21. This bundle of costumes and characters is also accompanied by some new gameplay challenges set in the Asylum level.
First and foremost, the new character: Nikki Summerfield, popstar. The fashionably dressed diva will be available for use in the multiplayer mode, bringing some outfits of questionable practicality to bear with some heavy use of firearms. Leading man Bryce will also receive two new costumes.
The main selling point here however is the expanded gameplay, with three new challenges coming to the Asylum level. The first, Fragile Alliance, is a simple race through checkpoints with added environmental hazards and enemy spawn points to keep you on your toes. Onslaught tasks players with clearing the Asylum of enemies one section at a time, and Egg Hunt has you running around collecting ‘collectibles’ and stashing them in designated score zones.
The game has had something of a rough ride since arriving at the end of January, so can some extra outfits and a popstar keep NeverDead alive?
Bandai Visual have confirmed that the Japanese Blu-Ray and DVD releases of the first volume of The New Prince of Tennis will include special original video animation episodes.
No details on what each OVA episode will entail has come to light unfortunately. The New Prince of Tennis series has been airing for the past five weeks in Japan and streaming for Western viewers through the Crunchyroll anime streaming service.
The series itself is adapted from the manga series of the same name which is a sequel of the manga The Prince of Tennis. New Prince of Tennis takes place several months following the first series.
Stay tuned as more details on The New Prince of Tennis OVA episodes come to light.
PopCap Games, masters of the addictive, are bringing a new title to Facebook. Currently going through a gradual beta launch and releasing in full in March is Solitaire Blitz. Of course this is a new riff on the always installed card game, and looks to bring a social aspect to the game thanks to the Facebook platform. No longer will your solitaire days be long and lonely!
They will be underwater. That’s right, not only solitaire in a “fast paced, social setting” but an underwater one at that. As you can see in the trailer below, the underwater theme has resulted in a ton of cute creatures bobbing about (gotta love the catfish) and some fishy designs for the playing cards.
Like other PopCap titles so titled (Bejwelled Blitz for example), Solitaire Blitz will have it’s gameplay torn into addictive sixty second chunks, and see players competing against the rest of Facebook for leaderboard glory.
If you’re looking for something to make Facebook even more of a time sink, you can access the beta now – just plug ‘Solitaire Blitz’ into the good old search box, and the app will pop right up.
Last year Toei Animation announced that they had green-lit a CG animated Saint Seiya film. Today roughly a year since Toei made that announcement, they have revealed the director for the hotly anticipated film.
We can now confirm that superhero anime Tiger & Bunny’s director Keichii Satou has been tapped to direct the film for Toei Animation. The film itself has no other details revealed other than that it is most likely a retelling of the events of Masami Kurumada’s original manga series of the same name.
A promotional image for the CG animated Saint Seiya film can be seen above. No release date has been confirmed with a mere listing of ‘coming soon’ on Toei’s official website.
New screenshots of 2K Games and Digital Extremes’ The Darkness II have today been released, just in case you weren’t already convinced about checking out this game. The Darkness II is set to continue the story of the current Darkness wielder and Mafia Don Jackie Estacado, who now faces a new enemy known as The Brotherhood. An ancient secret society bent on controlling and using The Darkness for themselves.
With only a few more days till The Darkness II gets released in Australia on February 10 for Xbox 360, Playstaion 3 and PC. It’s safe to say that it’s going to be one hell of a game.
If you are excited about Gravity Rush (Gravity Daze in Japan) and want your Playstation Vita to reflect that excitement, then Japanese console and handheld skin creator Dezaegg have two skins up for pre-order. Each are also a protective sheet for your touch screen and come with matching wallpapers. To access the wallpapers for your Vita, you have to download them from here and transfer your chosen wallpaper to your Vita.
The two screens will not see a release until March 1 for ¥1,480 (US$19.30/AU$17.90). If you are in Japan at the moment, then standard retailers will stock the two skins. For the rest of us (which will be most of us), then you have to order them from Dezaegg official site. Gravity Rush/Daze is out now in Japan and will be ready for launch in the West. You can check out the skins below.
