In a special edition of the somewhat unfrequent Capsule Theatre of Vision, I bring to you a message. That message, stop SOPA. For those of us in the know, SOPA is a huge piece of US legislation that basically wants to control the way we access the internet, the websites we browse and the content that we share between each-other across it.
While initially, the Stop Online Piracy Act may seem like a step in the right direction for the US, it also affects nearly every other country that relies on US webservices to exist. Why should countries like Australia be censored because the US wants to block half the internet? We’re already doing a fine job of censorship on our own, we don’t need some Act that’s out of our control to further throw us into chaos.
This is why I’m showing you this eye-opening video on the act and hopefully you learn why it is that you should be opposed to it. So be sure to check out the embedded video below.
Welcome to Capsule Computers’ weekly anime segment, Anime Say! Each week I will be diving into some of the biggest anime related topic of the week and having my say on anything that matters in the anime world.
This week, I go through my first impressions of the Winter 2012 anime season. What do I think of this season? You can check out this week’s Anime Say! below.
Got any questions for Anime Say? Send all your queries to [email protected] and I will do my best to answer anything you can throw at me.
What do you think of the ninth episode of Anime Say? Let us know in the shoutbox and comments section.
UPDATE: THQ have released a statement – click here for details
The internet has exploded with word that THQ have cancelled their entire slate of games for 2014 with a view to preparing the company for sale. But how much of this can we expect to believe? Here’s a rundown of the current situation including a look at the source of all the rumours Kevin Dent, and a general overview of why 2011 wasn’t a great year for THQ and maybe, there could be something in all of this talk.
It all started with a Tweet as video game industry veteran Kevin Dent revealed that the company had apparently cancelled ‘The Game workshops MMO’, most likely referring to Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online. He then went on to state that the company had in fact cancelled its entire 2014 line up and had begun returning IP’s to licensors, citing Disney as one company THQ had returned prepaid IP to without hope for a refund.
Dent is well enough positioned in the industry to know what he’s talking about. He is the CEO and founder of Tiswas Entertainment, a video game consultancy firm that helps companies ‘navigate the business side of the industry’, including contract negotiations and raising capital. Presumably there is a connection to a legitimate source involved and Dent isn’t just starting a fire for the sake of it. But who is the source?
THQ are showing no signs of any trouble on their assorted social networking pages and have confirmed none of Dent’s statements. In fact according to a recent update by Game Informer, THQ PR ‘haven’t heard anything’ about the rumoured 2014 cancellations. ‘Haven’t heard anything about it’ is by no means an end to the speculation, and given that there is no direct quote or official statement it looks like there’s still a bit of waiting to be done before the full truth emerges.
A couple of employees from the WWE development team have chimed in via Twitter, with community manager Marcus Stephenson opting for a simple – ‘rumours suck’. Such a response from a development team would seem to suggest that there is no official word on the whole thing, even for employees. Whether this is because the entire thing is nonsense or has simply been let out of the bag in a way the company didn’t expect is anyone’s guess. Twitter is something of a minefield when it comes to unofficial/early announcements, and it’s certainly going to take a lot of work to take control of the flood of Tweets repeating the rumours.
IP’s on the line besides WWE and Warhammer include Darksiders 2, Saints Row, UFC, Homefront and Metro. Other franchises and developments under the THQ umbrella include the suspended MX vs ATV and Insane, a horror project by Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro.
The publisher/developer shut down several of its studios back in August citing ‘restructuring’ for the loss of 200 jobs across Australia and America. An interesting point to note is the seeming lack of notice for the employees involved, particularly at THQ Australia and Bluetongue Entertainment.The annoucement for the closure and the actual shut down of these studios happened on the same day.
The official line was that the company was redirecting its resources to focus more on core IP’s like Darksiders over its bevvy of licensed and children’s games. Whilst no one lamented the loss of Spongebob Squarepants does something stupid version 7 , the closures were only one part of a bad year for the company. Saint’s Row the Third struggled in a quarter packed with AAA releases, and the uDraw tablet failed to make a mark, resulting in the loss of thirty staff. Since February last year the market value of THQ Inc has dropped from over $6 a share to $0.66.
Bottom line: no one knows for sure. The internet is an easy place to build a story, and the only real evidence to support this is THQ’s weakened financial position – which doesn’t necessarily spell doom. What we do know is that there are THQ employees out there waking up to a flurry of rumours that their jobs are on the line, so for their sake let’s hope for a resolution soon.
I just love it when people who have so much money they could use it as toilet paper get involved on issues relating to piracy and all the money these poor underpaid stars are losing when someone downloads their precious movies. Dont get me wrong, I agree on principle, I just wouldnt bother wasting my money or time trying to eradicate the issue. Using his newly activated Twitter account, News Corp chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch has accused Google of aiding internet film piracy, even going so far as calling them a “piracy leader”.
“Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them,” Murdoch wrote. He later went on a further rant, making the point that producing films was “risky as hell”, without having to worry about the piracy issue hurting actors and writers. Oh, how we all wont sleep at night until the pirates are locked away in their cells, lest Brad Pitt not have enough money to feed his wife and kids. While Murdoch did praise Google for being a great company, he says his one complaint regarding their so called pro stand on piracy is a major issue to the industry. Using the new Mission Impossible movie as an example, Murdoch seemed astounded that he found several free links to watch the not yet released to retail title. What pray tell was he expecting to find while using a search engine, a message telling him to stop being a bad boy and looking up entertainment mediums that are not legal.
Mr. Murdoch has taken to Twitter lately on many topics ranging from the mundane through to his views on many things relating to US politics, and now Google. And in response to complaints about his own self proclaimed useless spelling and typing; Mr Murdoch, we all actually care.
Who doesn’t love a good game about bumping a monkey up a ridiculously high forest so he can gather fruit, get the monkey girls, and explore as much as his little monkey heart desires? In Monkey Bump, that is pretty much the gameplay, aim and goal of the game. Get as high as you possibly can, bumping your little monkey and avoiding any obstacles that might get in your way. There’s only one giantly long level, with easy controls and leaderboard and achievements capabilities, Monkey Bump sounds like the perfect casual game to have tucked away in your phone for boring occasions.
Monkey Bump comes from PomPom Games, a charming indie games developer from the UK who seem to have as much of a sense of humour as they do developing skill. And that’s a compliment, not a stab.
Check out the gameplay trailer for the game below. What do you guys reckon? Will you be bumping monkeys on your iPhone soon?
Monkey Bump is available on iPhone and iPad for $0.99 – Get it HERE
Epically popular Habbo Hotel’s parent company, Sulake, today announced the release of Niko, a new gaming app for iOS devices. Niko is a freemium game, which will be free to get and play for the first six levels, with the full game featuring three worlds and 28 total levels, available for $1.99.
Niko involves some inventive sling shot action, and some pretty amazing platform level designs. You have to help Niko rescue his friends who have been captured in a mysterious Otherworld, racing through challenging levels, dodging traps, flipping over monsters, and collecting achievements.
And for you Habbo Hotel players, there is also some extra benefits and value you can get from Niko, similar to those experienced in Lost Monkey where users who finished the game were given a special reward for their Habbo Hotel account. Niko will have a similar, but more involved tie-in.
For more information on the game check out the site, and check out the trailer for the game below!
Niko will be available on January 19 for the iPhone, iPad and iTouch for FREE.
You guys ready for some food management hecticness? Well, good news for you, G5 Entertainment has announced that Stand O’ Food 3 will be released on Kindle Fire on January 26, 2012. The latest in a range of hugely addictive, time management games, this one is sure to be just as addictive, and just as fun, as its predecessors.
In Stand O’ Food 3 Ronnie the Chef offers Tinseltown his services, combining forces with Nikki and Mr. Clarence to stop the dastardly Mr Torg’s revenge plans. Help Ronnie open up to 25 restaurants, serving clients fast and healthy food, and keeping the good folks of Tinseltown feeling well fed.
There are five settings to choose from, with over 75 levels and 12 bonus levels to unlock over 33 achievements and that shiny, shiny expert status sitting there, waiting for you to grab it.
Check out the trailer below! For more info on the game before its release head on over to their site.
OstinGames has released Zepi: Ultra HD 1.0, which features Rabbit Hole, an entry to the parallel world of TimePills and CrazyRockets. Because parallel worlds are far more awesome than this world like that. The power-ups are a huge advantage, giving you some awesome ways to totally own your missions of clearing the gaming field of same-colour skins. But in a totally not racist way.
Gamers can bring in TimePills and CrazyRockets into the session by pulling them out from behind the central ring with their finger, and these two bonuses have very different tactical advantages. TimePills stop new objects from coming onto the field, and will eventually blow up eliminating all nearby objects. CrazyRockets fly across the playing field, chaining skins and as it dies the combo burns and will take those unfortunate skins down with you.
Zepi: Ultra HD is suitable for both children and adults, improving playing style as well as strategy, awesome graphics and sound effects, multitouch, thirty unique achievements, and a simple-to-use menu and controls.
Zepi: Ultra HD is available NOW on the iPad for $0.99 – Grab it HERE
Hetalia Axis Powers Season 3 (World Series) Studio: Studio Deen Publisher: FUNimation Platform: DVD Release Date: January 17, 2012 Price: $34.98 – Available Here
Overview:
Anime come from many different sources, but usually they originate from a light novel or a manga and sometimes they are even created from scratch. However there are also a few anime created from a very different source, that of a webcomic. Hetalia is such an anime series which is based off a popular Japanese webcomic created by Hidekaz Himaruya where not only do countries come to life, the do so in hilariously stereotypical ways. Hetalia Axis Powers has seen two seasons already and now FUNimation has brought the third collection of episodes over, also called the first season of Hetalia World Series. Do these stereotyped anthropomorphic countries still retain their same hilarious qualities?
Story:
Hetalia has a unique format that many people may not be accustomed to. Each episode is roughly four and a half minutes long and each episode is then broken into a couple of various jokes or short stories that involve either a couple of the countries interacting with each other or various sight gags. So while the definition of a story really doesn’t apply heavily to Hetalia as a whole, there are a few running gags which hang around for a short period of time.
A handful of the stories which are followed and continuously made jokes of include Lithuania, who is being held as a subordinate of Russia, trying to warn a non-caring Poland that Russia is thinking about invading them. Of course it doesn’t help that Lithuania just hates Poland so much that he can’t stand it. To top it off there is the interactions between Boss Spain and Chibi Romano, the cat loving Greece getting close to Japan and America encountering Mr. Tonny the alien.
There pretty much is no overarching storyline for Hetalia World Series, though all of the characters have unique personalities and obvious stereotypical appearances and personalities that match the country they represent. Being that there is no real overall story, Hetalia is an easy show to start watching with very little initiation. Obviously a few of the characters may not be recognizable at first and some of the jokes may fall a bit flat to first time viewers but there is plenty of humor in each short episode that they won’t care about understanding every little thing that is happening.
Visuals:
With such a vast amount of characters to work with, it may be a bit daunting to make sure each character looks different in some way, but thankfully the simplistic art style and animation techniques used in Hetalia work wonders. Studio DEEN has incorporated plenty of rather low quality segments where either the characters become chibi-like or even turn into white blobs. Also there are plenty of segments where there may not even be a background to go with what is happening at any given time.
As a whole this doesn’t lend itself to a very visually appealing show, there are plenty of other areas where the artwork takes an upswing. This includes the bright coloristic style, character design (though some newer characters begin to be difficult to tell apart) and a large number of areas to work with. While there are some shortcuts taken with the chibi-like characters, they are still visually appealing at times but those expecting a fancy art style won’t find one here.
Audio:
While the various jokes made by the characters and the sight gags are part of the humor, some of the best jokes come from the way the characters themselves are portrayed. Every character is given amazing over the top voice work including various accents and tone of voice to match the countries personality. While the Japanese cast is alright in some regards, the English dub goes above and beyond the call of duty that provides amazing quantities of laughter.
Now occasionally there are a few hiccups with some of the accents used by the characters but they are more or less flawless with their consistency. Besides the voice acting there are a few rather hilarious ending songs sung by the original Japanese actors, these vary slightly depending on what country is singing the ending and they alternate between the various main countries such as Italy, Germany and others. There is also a rather funny English song at the end sung by the English voice actor, Todd Haberkorn, though sung is a term that should be loosely applied here. Other than that, the background music in the series is rather plain and usually doesn’t stand out often except whenever it is used for a quick laugh.
Extras:
Now it is worth taking note that while the whole of Season 3 comes on one disc, another disc comes with the package that is quite literally full of Extras, but there are even bonus features on the episode disc as well. This includes three episode commentaries for Episodes 1, 4 and 6. Each commentary has the English voice actor for the various countries focused on in that episode as well as the voice of the Narrator, Jamie Marchi who also worked as the director and writer for the series.
These commentaries range from being hilarious to a few laughs but usually don’t focus on the episode itself very much. They are a nice little distraction and help provide a closer look at the voice actors working behind the show.
On the second disc there are a slew of other extras, though they mostly focus on Japanese events for the Hetalia series and thus use English subtitles for viewers to understand what is going on. They are quite long in length and fans of the series may enjoy the additional content but it could easily be passed over. There is your standard clean textless songs for the ending of the episode, though only one country is given a clean version.
Now while those may sound rather simplistic and not worth much time, there is a final extra which is just as hilarious as the rest of the show and that is the Outtake reel which is full of the actors messing up their lines. The outtakes are quite lengthy and worth a few laughs though some mistakes grow to be a bit too commonplace to be funny during the six minute clip.
Also worth mentioning is a very large and extensive explanation of all of the historical references that are made during the show itself. While there are a few references that may be picked up by those who know their history, a lot of what is mentioned is very obscure but is actually based on historical occurrences. This extra provides a great look behind what we’re seeing on screen and a decent enough explanation for those interested in learning more.
Overall:
There are plenty of anime out there that try everything to make you laugh. Whether it be sight gags, situational jokes, puns or even basic jokes there are plenty of ways to generate a chuckle from even someone with the worst sense of humor. Thankfully Hetalia Axis Powers Season 3 has so many jokes working for it that even the most jaded person will be laughing a few times nearly every five minute episode. Sure there are a few jokes that fall flat and the series may not be for everyone as there are a handful of mature jokes, however with a very low barrier of entry this anime creates a very accessible show that provides plenty of laughs from memorable characters. Or should I say countries?
If you haven’t here the buzz about Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, you might be the lame duck. But do not worry because you will be able to find out all the information you need and be able to pre-order the game with some exciting extras.
First off, EB Games has a special pre-order available for the special edition of Operation Raccoon City. The special edition will include the following:
Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City game
6 x Umbrella Security Soldier Team Profiles A6-size Art Cards
8 x DLC Weapons
Special Edition packaging
Next up is JB Hi-Fi with a pre-order exclusive wall scroll. The wall scroll features members of the Umbrella Security Services along with one bad-ass tyrant in the center. Who told Spectre that a zombie makes for a meaty bullet shield? Cheers to that fellow!
Last but not least is the pre-order special from GAME. By pre-ordering through GAME, you will receive Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City along with a “Raccoon City All Stars” tee-shirt.
How about those deals? Stay tuned for upcoming news of Operation Raccoon City, and prepare for its release on March 22, 2012!
