Apple iPhones and ipads are tough, but can they handle the bodyslams and raw power of THQ’s new release WWE Wrestlefest, now available for both platforms, and based on the WWE arcade machine game that dominated much of the 90’s. Full of current day wrestlers as well as WWE Legends the game is also jam packed with downloadable content, Road to Wrestlemania progression and multiplayer functionality. WWE Wrestlefest is now available through the Apple App store for $2.99(US) on iPhone and $4.49(US) for the Ipad.
For anyone wanting to experience the game and dont have or want an iPhone or iPad, THQ have announced that the title is also in development for XBLA, PSN, Android and PC so soon everyone can get in on the action.
“WWE WrestleFest greatly complements our WWE videogames portfolio by delivering a unique and captivating way for fans to connect with the virtual WWE experience,” said Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President, Core Games, THQ. “The game’s arcade-style play, combined with present day WWE content and hints of nostalgia, is a perfect fit for handheld platforms like the iPhone and iPad.”
Take note Steins;Gate and Chaos;Head fans, 5pb have announced the release date of their next visual novel game Robotics;Notes. The game which is set within the same universe as Steins;Gate and Chaos;Head, affectionately referred to as the Uni;Verse by 5pb fans, is set for a release on the 28th of June, 2012.
Robotics;Notes as you can probably tell from the title involves robotics in it’s storyline, you can find out more information on the official site of Robotics;Noteshere.
5pb’s Robotics;Notes will be heading to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on the 28th of June, 2012 across Japan. There is currently no details on whether the game will be localised to English speaking countries.
Besides the impressive fact that NIS America has managed to cram all of the content found in Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention onto the tiny cartridges used for the PlayStation Vita, Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention contains a large amount of content that was not available on the original release.
This includes all of the DLC that was released for the original PlayStation 3 version of the game as well as four new scenarios that include two brand new characters. With the official release of the PlayStation Vita only a couple hours away, it only makes sense that NIS America get fans even more excited for the system by releasing 47 new screenshots which can be seen below. If only we didn’t have to wait a few extra months for the release of Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention in April. I mean… Japanese fans have already played the game for 10 million hours already… we need to catch up!
While we’ve seen a brief teaser trailer and a few screenshots of 7sixty’s Kung Fu Strike: The Warrior’s Rise we’ve yet to see any actual gameplay from the game since it was revealed a few weeks ago. That is until today of course, when 7sixty released the below trailer featuring plenty of kung fu action.
It appears that players will have access to more than just the main character General Loh as multiple characters appear to be controlled throughout the gameplay video. Also it seems that these men characters have gained such a mastery over Kung Fu that they are able to reflect shuriken back at the enemies who threw them. Currently 7sixty still has not announced a release date nor a price for Kung Fu Strike: The Warrior’s Rise when it is released on the XBLA.
Atlus has decided that they had teased us enough with whether or not they would be bringing the Japanese fighting game Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena and have come right out and said it. Rejoice Persona fans because Atlus will be releasing Persona 4 Arena, the new shorter name of the game, sometime this summer.
The game will be released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as well as a new story and online mode. Persona 4 Arena has been developed by Arc System Works and will feature battles between Persona 3 and 4 characters in high-resolution 2D similar to what was found with Arc System Works’ popular BlazBlue series.
One may remember a certain game that was announced by Konami a few months ago called Blades of Time. Well, since that announcement there unfortunately has been very little news from Konami about the title, such as when we can expect to see it released in North America and Europe. Well at least half of that question was answered today, as Konami released the below trailer that contains a March 15th release date for Europe.
We’ve reached out to Konami in North America to see if they would be willing to shed some light on the release date in North America, until then you can check out the below trailer which features the same Ayumi from X-Blades, however with a more realistic look and more clothing, as she destroys plenty of enemies with fast paced combat featuring both guns and swords. Also she apparently has been spending quite a lot of time in the United Kingdom given the way her accent sounds…
For the ladies! Case Mate has announced a new coloring scheme for their Kayla Clutch series of smart phone friendly clutches. Following the trend of fashion, Case Mate is now offering the Kayla Clutch in bright and bold Color Blocked styles. Made from genuine leather, the Kayla Clutch can carry most smart phone devices in a magnetic closure pouch and has a zippered compartment for credit cards, ID cards, money, and anything else needed for an exciting night out. The Kayla Clutch can be carried on the wrist with the included wrist strap or across the body with the included detachable metallic chain.
The clutch has been featured in the fashion magazine InStyle. The Color Blocked Kayla Clutch is available for $90 USD from the Case Mate website. If $90 dollars is out of your budget or you are seeking a more conservative coloring scheme, the Kayla Clutch is available in black with out the metallic chain for $50 USD.
It seems that Street Fighter x Tekken is indeed coming to the PlayStation Vita, though those who are waiting to play the title on Sony’s brand new handheld are going to have to wait quite a long time. In fact, it will be such a long time that they will need to wait until the Fall of this year.
However that wait will not be in vain, because Capcom has announced today that the PlayStation Vita version will include 12 brand new characters that will not be available in the other versions of the game. From the Street Fighter side, we’ll get: Elena, Guy, Cody, Sakura, Dudley and Blanka. Newcomers from the Tekken side will include: Alisa, Christy, Jack, Brian, Lars and Lei. Currently there is no word if these characters will be released as DLC for the other versions of the game, or if we can expect an Ultimate Street Fighter x Tekken in the Fall as well.
Call of Duty Elite continues the 9 month long content season with the release of the map Overwatch. The map is located on top of a New York City skyscraper under construction. Fight your enemies on a near symmetrical map with multiple routes of attack. But be careful, one false step and you will fall 70 stories to your untimely death. This is the third content drop of twenty promised in the 9 month long Elite content season.
Overwatch is available to all Call of Duty Elite subscribers on Xbox Live. No word on a release date for Playstation 3 or PC. So Playstation 3 and PC players will have to wait a little longer.
Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge Premium Edition Studio: SHAFT Publisher: NIS America Versions: Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Release Date: February 7, 2012 Price: $55.99 – Available Here
Overview:
Normally when you look under a bridge you will find a number of things there. Most of these things will be garbage, some stray animals, somebody living there or if you happen to live in Chicago then maybe even some body down there instead. However one thing you wouldn’t normally find is a blossoming community full of strange people with hilarious personalities.
You see, under a bridge that spans the Arakawa river in Japan there exists one such community, where a musician wears a giant star on his head, a man believes he is a kappa and that barely scratches the surface of the strangeness occurring under the bridge. NIS America brought us the first season of Arakawa Under the Bridge, the review of which can be found here, during the summer of last year and has now brought us Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge. Is the second season of those who live under the bridge just as zany as the first?
Story:
For those who have never seen the first season, the story of Arakawa Under the Bridge follows a man named as Ichinomya Ko, the heir to one of the largest and most powerful companies in the entire world. However there is one rule that dominates Ko’s life and that is the fact that he refuses to owe anyone a favor or be indebted to a person. As such anyone who helps him out before he can deny it must be repaid in kind or else it would go against everything that Ko is.
However when his life is saved by a strange woman named Nino at the Arakawa River his life is changed forever as she requests that he become her boyfriend/lover. As such Ko’s life takes a drastic turn for the crazy as he moves in under the Arakawa Bridge, receives the new name of Rec (short for Recruit) and lives with a community which is home to some of the strangest people you will ever meet.
Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge starts off where the first season left off, with Rec continuing to live his life under the Arakawa Bridge and trying to co-exist with the out of control crazy actions occurring everywhere around him. While Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge doesn’t follow much of a story structure, instead most episodes, which themselves consist of multiple mini-episodes, serve very little connection with one another.
As such don’t expect to see too much story development here; in fact that is one of the drawbacks to the series as a whole. While the comedy of Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge is a shining star that would make even Hoshi jealous, the pacing of the story is dreadful and whenever a joke falls flat it crashes and burns in a spectacularly drawn out fashion. While most of the jokes will leave you laughing, there are a few scattered throughout that will feel like they have been extremely overused, especially ones which have carried over from the first season.
Now while some jokes may be overused, the heart of the show is still its diverse cast of characters that always have something unexpected up their sleeves. In fact the majority of the comedy you will experience is through the various cast’s interactions with one another and their daily lives while Rec tries to play the straight man to their random comedic antics. The first season of Arakawa served more as an introduction to all of the characters we are seeing in the second season, though a few more are introduced and given plenty of screen time. The second season focuses more on the interactions between those living under the bridge and provides plenty of side-splitting humor, though some of the jokes are obviously hit and miss.
Of the newly introduced characters the Amazon who is built like a weightlifter with a personality of a maiden-in-love. The Amazon is also followed around by a group of three strange men who call themselves the Tengu that always watch out for her. These four join the regular cast who all have unique silly personalities who create most of the comedy whenever these personalities have to interact with one another. Unfortunately the poor pacing returns when it comes to the characters, as there is very little actual development here for any of the side characters as they are mostly there for pure comedy purposes.
Despite the heavy focus on comedy, two characters still sit as the stars of Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge and they are Rec and Nino. These two’s developing relationship with one another provides plenty of cute and enjoyable moments as their naiveté about how to handle a relationship creates plenty of funny moments throughout the series. As such the couple feels more real, despite the fact that both of them have their own unique quirks just like everyone around them and will leave you smiling whenever the two share a charming moment together.
It is worth noting that there is very little introduction or backstory given on Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge, so while it is potentially possible to enjoy season two as a standalone viewing experience, it is highly recommended that viewers watch the first season beforehand as they will get the most out of their viewing experience and more laughs as they understand a bit more about each of the characters’ personalities.
Visuals:
One of the highlights of the characters is that none of the bare any resemblance to one another in regards to character designs. Each character has their own, often strange, design that makes them who they are and are visually pleasing. This is only helped by the fact that the series uses a vibrant color palette which accentuates the well-drawn backgrounds.
The animation quality is rather consistent throughout the show with minor character deformations only used for sight-gags as well as multiple flashes to Rec’s face or other character’s faces in standard SHAFT fashion. The Premium Edition comes with both the Blu-ray and DVD versions, with the Blu-ray version of the show clearly superior as it emphasizes the vibrancy of the colors used throughout each episode.
Audio & Subtitles:
Now it is immediately worth noting that NIS America’s release of Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge, like the first season, does not contain an English dub which means those who are watching the show will need to leave the subtitles on to understand what is going on at any given time. The subtitles themselves are fairly accurate and translate what is happening well enough.
As for the Japanese voice actors, all of the characters have seen their roles reprised from the last season, which is beneficial to the series as the voice cast performs the same great job they did from the past season. Rec’s voice actor Kamiya Hiroshi provides excellent voice work and his interactions with Miyuki Sawashiro’s voice work for Nino work well together, though the Amazon’s voice-switching often seems out of place and her more girly voice is grating to listen to. As far as music goes, the background music is alright, but doesn’t do too much for the series as a whole. One thing that does stand out however is the opening song “COSMOS vs. ALIEN which is your standard J-Pop song, but set to a very strange opening sequence that works perfectly for the song. The ending song, “Red Coat” isn’t as intriguing as the opening but still does a fine job ending the show.
Extras:
As standard with NIS America’s Premium Edition releases, Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge comes with two slim DVD sized cases as well as a 32 page hardcover art book inside of an over-sized collectible chipboard slipcase. This collector’s slipcase features a glossy finish as well as artwork on both sides, with most of the main cast featured on one side and the other side featuring the new characters introduced this season, the Amazon, the three Tengu and the Creator.
The on-disc bonus features included are some TV spots from Japan, an end card gallery which features all of the artwork shown at the end of the show in a brief slide-show as well as commentary from the various Japanese voice actors for the first four episodes of the season. The audio commentary isn’t too simple to access however, as viewers need to watch the episode normally and then switch both the audio and the subtitles over to the commentary selection, as the commentary is still in Japanese and needs English subtitles to be understood.
The 32 page art book is likely one of the best that NIS America has released in quite a while. While it contains brief character summaries of the newly introduced characters and your standard episode summaries and a few pieces of artwork there are tons of interviews inside the book with the cast and production staff from Japan. These interviews contain nearly everything would want to know about the show, the actors and even the opening and ending songs. While there really isn’t as many pieces of artwork, the massive amount of interviews with the original staff and information about the show overshadows any artwork that could have been included in this version.
Overall:
While the story main progress extremely slowly and focuses more on making viewers laugh with comedy that always seems to come out of left field, this is beneficial to the series as a whole. While things could easily have gotten more serious from time to time the comedic essence of Arakawa Under the Bridge x Bridge would have been lost if things became too dramatic at any given time. As it stands however, Arakawa is still an original and funny anime that stands out from the rest by having unique anime characters with strange personalities that you won’t find anywhere else besides under the Arakawa bridge.
