THQ announced a few days ago that they were planning on laying off a lot of employees from their company, however this did not include five main internal studios. Unfortunately it seems that one of the people who will be fired is the VP of tech Mark DeLoura. Joystiq found this information after an automated email response said bluntly “Mark DeLoura is no longer with THQ.”
Mark DeLoura was in charge of the upcoming Warhammer 40K MMO says Joystiq, which has already been rumored to be canceled and IGDA Mobile SIG chair Kevin Dent went further on his Twitter to say that the THQ restructuring has said that 174 employees have been let go. THQ has currently not responded to anyone about this report or made a statement regarding this issue.
EA Sports have released a Grand Slam Tennis 2 trailer, this time turning the spotlight onto the French Open and the Kings of Clay, the next grand slam for the year.
The trailer features Rolland Garros legends such as Navrotilova, Borg and the current King of Clay, Rafael Nadal. In Grand Slam Tennis 2 you’ll be able to relive classic rivalries or create new ones, bringing Nadal and Borg face to face or perhaps trying to take Nadal’s crown away from him with Novak Djokovic.
So if you’re a clay court junkie and you love to slide around and get your tennis whites dirty, then check out the trailer down below, and even if you don’t feel this way, check it out anyway.
Grand Slam Tennis 2 will be out on February 10th for PS3 and Xbox 360.
While rumors have been circulating for the past few weeks, Sony had adamantly denied that Kaz Hirai would be stepping up to take over the role of Sony’s CEO in the coming months. However it seems that all that denial was simply so that they could make the announcement themselves.
Today Sony has revealed that Kaz Hirai is taking over as CEO and president of Sony in April. This means that he will replace the current CEO Howard Stringer in April 1st and become the youngest CEO in the company’s history. Do you think Kaz Hirai will be able to take Sony and make it shine even brighter?
Sentai Filmworks have today confirmed that they have acquired the license for Getbackers, the 49 episode action anime series focusing on professional ‘get backers’ who recover stolen possessions.
The series was previously handled by the now defunct ADV Films who had released the series on DVD in 2004 (a release that is no longer in print). Sentai have revealed that they plan to release the series both digitally and physically later this year.
No word on whether they will be producing a brand new dub track for the series has come to light however, leaving that up to speculation of the fans. Regardless, I am sure many fans are pleased to hear that Getbackers is back.
Wadjet Eye Games is excited to announce that “Da New Guys: Day of the Jackass” is going to be available February 29. This point-and-click game is based around the world of professional wrestling appropriately named the Wrestle Zone.
Upon investigation of the free demo, we come to learn the main characters: Brain, The Defender, and Simon. Hardly amounting to any physical prowess, Brain must rely on his own wits and his experienced teammates to survive wrestling matches. The Defender looks similar to a Power Ranger, and Simon is the bald-headed badass. At the start of the game, you must utilize any item available to defeat your opponents. Once you have successfully knocked out both teammates and opponents, grabbing the title belt is almost too easy. The only problem now is keeping it…
From UK indie developer Chris Burton, the public is able to download the free demo or pre-order “Da New Guys: Day of the Jackass” (Here). The limited edition CD is available for $19.99, and the virtual download is only $9.99. Take a look at it’s debut trailer below, and decide whether or not Da New Guys grapple your attention.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s Gotham City Impostors has suffered a few delays in the past but it seems that they finally have a solid date for when fans everywhere can expect to be the best impostor they can be. Better yet that release date isn’t far off at all, it is set to be released next week on February 7th in North America on the PSN and PCs and worldwide on the Xbox Live and PSN on February 8th.
The delays will most likely fix up most of the technical issues beta testers found during the open beta that was held a short while ago.
Unfortunate news was revealed today for Bleach fans everywhere. In this year’s 10th issue of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine it was announced that Tite Kubo’s Bleach manga would be entering its final story arc and would be completed once it has finished. This would bring a close to a manga that began in 2001 and been published weekly for eleven years.
No word has been given as to what fans should expect the next arc to be about though fans will be able to learn for themselves next week. Now many fans wished that the series had ended at the conclusion to the Aizen arc, but it seems that the end is finally in sight for one of the biggest and most popular manga series in Japan today. It is worth noting that the last major story arc lasted for four years however, so don’t expect an ending to the manga any time soon.
The PC version of Microsoft’s family-fun filled device has hit store shelves, but with a rather different emphasis.
With the $249 USD price-tag associated with PC Kinect, Microsoft isn’t trying to woo the mass market of everyone and their netbooks just yet. Rather, they’re hoping the device will go “beyond the living room into other industries such as education, manufacturing, healthcare, and retail”. To encourage the developers planning on using Kinect to usher the world into a new Minority Report era, Microsoft have gone as far as to include a commercial license with the gadget, ensuring developers can make a bit of cash should they create quality content.
Though, with the high price of admission, and Microsoft focusing on the Xbox as its “all things gaming” machine, quality gaming content for PC Kinect is likely to be rarer still than quality gaming content on Xbox Kinect.
… To help combat obesity in children. The game will be launched at the CAHPERD’s state conference at Pasadena on February 23 until the 26th. The game from Konami is scheduled to be launched at the event at on Friday, February 24, 2012, at 7:00 a.m.
This should be an amazing event for people interested in the DDR franchise, as well as the parents of obese children who may be looking at ways to combat their problem. Of course, obesity is largely caused by over-eating and a lack of exercise, which is what the launch of this program aims to combat. Parents of large children should also look at altering their childs diets to include leaner meals and pay closer attention to the energy levels of foods and beverages being introduced into their childrens diets.
To quote the press release –
The CAHPERD State Conference will also host the official, public, world premier/introduction of Konami Digital Entertainment’s new “DanceDanceRevolution Classroom Edition,” multi-player, physical activity game, on Friday, February 24, 2012, at 7:00 a.m. Like the traditional DDR experience of players moving to their favorite songs, the new DDR Classroom Edition can connect up to 48 mat controllers to one PC game for full class or after-school recreation participation. Research indicates that interactive, movement-based video games such as and especially DDR, greatly increases’ students’ Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity minutes, thus positively impacting students’ overall health and fitness, and decreasing the prevalence of childhood obesity. CAHPERD Conference attendees, regional students, celebrities and media representatives will be demonstrating the new DDR Classroom game for the first time in the Pasadena Convention Center.
For more information on the CAHPERD organisation, check out their official website. And for the health of your children, I suggest Googling ways of combating obesity, as well as consulting your doctor before undertaking any kind of steps to combat this epidemic.
Pretear Complete Collection Studio: Gonzo Publisher: Madman Entertainment Format: DVD Release Date: Out Now Price: $49.95 – Available Here
Overview
Pretear is an anime series published by Madman Entertainment over here in Australia. The DVD set collects the complete collection of 13 episodes that fill the complete series of the show. The series is a pretty decent show with a story that can be gripping to a certain audience. However there are a few flaws that are prevalent with anime from this era.
Story
Pretears story follows the quest of a girl named Himeno to become the Pretear and save the world from the evil Princess of Disaster. The story is told across all of the 16 episodes which are linked together across the entirety of the series.
What was particularly gripping with this story, wasn’t so much the story of the lead heroine herself, but rather the leader of the Leafe Knights, Hayate. Hayate is a quiet (and slightly douchey) male character with blue hair and a cruel demeanour. The way he initially treats Himeno and the rest of cast makes him seem very unlikeable and unrelatable. However, as the story progresses, you find out the dark secrets behind his demeanour, which helps you to sympathise with him and changes your view completely.
The above is just one example of why I quite enjoyed the story, however, there are a few flaws that I didn’t appreciate too much with the series. One of these flaws is that some of the episodes don’t have the same kind of feel as the series is trying to convey. This made me uncomfortable the first time it happened as it felt like I was watching a different show featuring the same characters and a similar story. However, episodes like these are pretty infrequent, so the negative isn’t as big of a deal as it could have been. But it is still pretty messy. The other negative that I disliked from a story perspective is the way battles are handled in the show. When you watch it the first time the battle shown is excellent and they warp the enemy into another dimension and everything.
But when that happens in every episode and the battles take less and less time to complete, it starts to feel like the show was cheapened and that the conflicts do not mean as much as they should have. What I would have liked to have seen instead of short-lived battles that are essentially useless to the plot, is more personal drama between the characters, and maybe prolonged battles between more significant foes once every few episodes rather than these small skirmishes every episode.
Audio
Pretear is audibly pretty good, which is the par for DVD releases such as this. The opening theme is incredibly catchy, while the ending theme is as boring as watching paint dry. It’s one of the things I’m glad anime has shifted from in recent times, as most modern endings are as catchy as the openings.
The English dub, I felt, was excellently done, with a few exceptions. The one main exception was the voice of Hayate. It felt like they were trying to push an Asian descendancy on to him and as such, he had an Asian accent that felt more like a parody than any kind of homage to any discernible Asian heritage.
This series has a pretty decent background soundtrack that never really feels repetitive or bland. This is good for this kind of series, where it could very easily have become such a mess. Thankfully the series is short enough for the background audio to remain fresh and there is enough variation to assist people marathon viewing the series.
Visuals
Visually the DVD copy of Pretear is pretty good. Obviously, a DVD is going to have a significantly lower display resolution than a Blu-Ray disc and it does show. However, the lower quality isn’t as much of an issue as it should be when played on a high-resolution display. I should also point out that on a standard definition television, the quality degradation is non-existent.
The visual style of the show is very similar to anime released in the late 90s to mid 2000s. This is largely because it was released in those periods originally, rather than being produced nowadays. Ultimately, it isn’t a detractor from the series, but fans that have started on more recent series may not find the more classic look as appealing as older fans of the genre.
Ultimately, the visual style of the show fits the series and genre quite well and I don’t think that viewers will be too displeased with the visual quality of the show.
Extras
Included in Pretear are a multitude of extras that come along in certain discs. Of these, I found that the most interesting feature was the “Behind the Anime” feature, which featured the English voice cast of the show.
Of course, there are other extras, which are –
Voice Actor Interviews
Production Sketches
Clean Opening and Closing animations
“Behind the Anime” with English voice cast
Japanese CD and DVD spots
The extras are an incredibly interesting watch and add much value to the already decently valued set. This makes the package that much more worthy of a purchase in my eyes.
Overall
Overall Pretear is an amazing DVD package that fans of the Magical Girl genre will certainly enjoy. Heck, I’m not one for Magical Girl series’ and I still would hastily recommend this series to someone looking to get into that genre, I liked it that much.
I think that Anime fans in general would be thrilled to have this show in their Anime collection and inventory, even if it is just to buffer their collection size after watching over once. But really, it is good enough to warrant a future viewing after the initial run of the show. I’d definitely advise fans of the Magical Girl genre to invest in this collection hastily.
