… 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.
It was revealed in the recent issue of Jump Square Magazine that the stage play adaptation of the recent popular manga/anime franchise, Ao no Exorcist, will be happening in 2012.
Also, with regards to the upcoming movie of Ao no Exorcist, it was revealed that the assistant director of Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli) and Rideback, will be serving as the director.
Finally, Aniplex will be releasing the series in four DVD sets this year, and Viz Media will be publishing the sixth volume of the manga in English next week.
It was reported by online retailer, Right Stuff, that anime publisher, Funimation, has delayed the release of two upcoming anime DVDs.
First off is Fairy Tail Part 4, which was originally scheduled for a release on February 28 2012, but will now be released on March 20 2012. The other delay is for the complete Season 2 collection of Heaven’s Lost Property, originally set for a March 20 2012 release, it will now be released on April 17 2012.
No reason has been given by Funimation for the delay of both releases, ultimately leaving many fans in the dark.
In case you missed it, EA Sports released a video the other day, giving us a glimpse of how Tiger Woods’ PGA Tour 13 is going to utilise Xbox 360’s Kinect.
The video features Mike DeVault, one of the game’s producers as he takes us through all the Kinect features which the game explores. PGA 13 is the first sports simulation for Kinect and it tracks full body-movements whilst taking golf gaming to an unprecedented level of control.
If the game plays as well as it appears to in this video then it’s sure to be a huge success. Check out the trailer down below! Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 comes out on March 27th for Xbox 360 and PS3.
Imagine if you were to play Mario and as you collected coins, more goombas and koopas started to appear. Sound like a great idea? Well, Kid Icarus Uprising will include such a setting with the Intensity difficulty. As players collect hearts, the game will become progressively harder as more enemies will spawn and the action will become more hectic overall within each level.
Do well, and you will reap the rewards as new items and weapons will come available, with the better of the lot going to those who braved the higher levels of intensity. Yes, this sounds amazing, and to see it yourself, check out the new trailer detailing “Intensity” levels in Kid Icarus Uprising down below.
Xbox Live is celebrating the release of yet another new multimedia app. This time it’s Sony Pictures Entertainment’s video entertainment network Crackle. The app is free to download from the Xbox Live Marketplace from today in Australia, the US, UK and Canada.
So what will Crackle give you? If you have an Xbox Live Gold Membership, Crackle will allow you to stream TV shows and full length movies for free: the trade off being that everything is ad supported. Some of the content on offer in Australia includes the movie Sniper, various anime including Blood Plus and Viper’s Creed, and a host of original programming designed to hit the apps target market – that’s right “18-34 year old males with internet enabled devices”, they’re looking at you.
The app also integrates some Kinect functionality, so you can command your Xbox 360 to play your Crackle content using only the power of your voice (and a few random movements of course). Users will also be able to search Xbox Live for content, which will be regularly refreshed with premiering movies and shows.
The Humble Indie Bundle has embraced Android with its hug of cheap but great game awesomeness. The latest special from the folks over at Humble is the most cross platform deal yet, offering titles that will run on Android mobile devices, Windows, Mac and Linux.
The games in the pick your price bundle are:
Anomaly: Warzone Earth Osmos EDGE
And as per usual, if you have a generous soul and give more than the average contribution, you’ll get your mitts on a bonus title – World of Goo. Everything is DRM free and can be redeemed via Steam, and a portion of the purchase price can be donated to charity.
Interested? Head over to humblebundle.com and grab some quality games for a great price.
Square Enix modern day producers of the Final Fantasy series are celebrating the franchise’s 25th birthday with a special release of merchandise.
They are releasing promo goods with art from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, and also some classic chocobo and moogle artwork with the 25th anniversary editions.
The promotional goods include tumblers and sets of playing cards, using classical character and classic-style chibi characters. For the traditional Final Fantasy fans this is a must have, as they go back to the absolute first games, when the company Squaresoft was still producing the franchise.
Personally these collectables could not be shipped to my house fast enough.
The Darksiders universe is going in for a bit of rapid expansion. Appearing on the horizon shortly before the highly anticipated Darksiders II (currently scheduled for a July release) is a novel – Darksiders: The Abomination Vault.
The tale will take place millennia before the events of the first game, and see Death and his pal War attempt to keep the peace between the forces of heaven and hell. The world is threatened by a plan to resurrect some ancient weapons of devastating power, and the two horsemen must track down and defeat the mysterious group behind the plan before the entire universe is thrown into disarray.
The book has been written by Ari Marmell, a freelance RPG writer who has revealed a little of his experience writing the book on his intriguingly titled ‘Mouseferatu’ blog:
This book was an absolute blast to write. It’s easily the most cinematic/action-oriented of my books thus far, and I’ve tried to make sure it’s accessible even to people who aren’t familiar with the games. I really hope you guys have as much fun with this as I did.
In addition to the novel, Random House are also developing an ‘IP bible’ for the Darksiders universe, with more details on said compendium to follow. The Abomination Vault will be released in May.
