Welcome to Sakuga Summit, each month we will be delving into the world of Sakuga Animation. For those who do not know, Sakuga Animation means Full-Motion Animation.
Each episode of Sakuga Summit will feature footage of the most stunning Sakuga Animation of the month for your viewing pleasure. This month’s Sakuga Summit, features clips from a few series finishing their run from the Fall 2011 season and some starting off for the Winter 2012 season.
Sakuga Animation is a testament to the true capabilities of anime as an art-form. Find out for yourself by watching the Sakuga MAD below. Feel free to let us know your thoughts on Sakuga and the Sakuga Animation on display this month in the shoutbox and comments section.
Wargame: European Escalation is a PC exclusive real time strategy game developed by Eugen Systems, the team behind Act of War and R.U.S.E. Taking the good old ‘what if the cold war got hot’ set up, the game boasts it’s own powerful engine that can run maps of up to 150 square kilometres in size and display hundreds of units and millions of background objects.
To show off all this processing power Eugen Systems have just released a new trailer created entirely from in game footage – makes a change doesn’t it? If you’re a fan of this genre at all then you could do a lot worse than check out the trailer below, which gets pretty epic just after the one minute mark.
Wargame: European Escalation will be released on the PC in February 2012.
While the fighting cast of characters in Phantom Breaker is nearly 100% original, a couple of characters should be very familiar for a number of anime viewers. That is because it has two guest characters that can be unlocked from relatively popular anime series. This includes Steins;Gate’s Kurisu and Chaos;HEAd’s Rimi, which the attentive anime viewer will realize are both anime licensed by FUNimation.
As such the 7sixty crew decided to take a stop over that the FUNimation office and offered the guys there a chance to try out the game early on an Xbox development kit. While the footage of them trying out the game wasn’t released, the below gameplay trailer was which shows the battle between Rimi from Chaos;HEAd and Kurisu from Steins;Gate. Also released was a small handful of new screenshots which can be seen below, also featuring Rimi and Kurisu. Expect Phantom Breaker to be released within the next few months as it is slated for release early this year.
EA and Bioware have announced that all PC copies of Mass Effect 3, whether physical or digital, will require Origin to play.
The announcement, coming from the Bioware Social Network, clarifies that the singleplayer portion of the game will simply require a one-time Origin authentication; players will not have to be perpetually connected to the service. However, the multiplayer portions of the game will require a constant connection.
The statement goes on to clarify why the game will not be available on the most popular PC digital distribution service, Steam:
During initial release Mass Effect 3 will be available on Origin and a number of other 3rd party digital retailers, but not on Steam at this time. Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers.
WIN: Afterfall: InSanity PC Digital Download Copy!
Afterfall: InSanity was one of the most hyped indie titles of 2011, and with good reason! Afterfall: InSanity is one heck of an awesome survival horror filled with epic brutality. Don’t believe us? Read our review. Still don’t believe us? Play it for yourself! We have a truckload of Afterfall: InSanity codes to give away for PC gamers and we want YOU to win a copy!
So how do you win? It’s easy! Just follow these simple steps:
The competition ends on the 22st of January! We’ll be picking a bunch of random winners, so keep an eye on the Capsule Computers’ Facebook pageas we’ll be announcing the lucky winners then on the 22nd!
Don’t forget-youNEED to post the code phrase on the Capsule Computers Facebook wall in order for your entry to be considered. The phrase is:
UPDATE: Winners have been announced! If your name is CW Young, Kevin Grimes, Load Banks, Kathy Hanley, Viki Ashford or Julia Davis, congratulations because you’ve won! All you have to do is send an email to [email protected] to claim your prize! You have 1 week to claim it otherwise your entry will be considered VOID. So be quick about it! Congratulations to all the winners and good luck next time to everyone else!
Yes MasterAbbott is back (like it or not) for this week’s iOS Game Suggestions. If you missed out on last week’s suggestions, click on the link below and check what cool games you should be picking up for your iOS along with the introduction and disclaimer on how my suggestions work, as I’m not going through the same old intro every week.
It’s been a busy week in the iOS department. For this week’s suggestions I’ve added a few fairly old games into the mix once again as there are so many awesome past titles that need to be mentioned. Of course there are more newer titles suggested and moving forward I’ll be focusing only on what’s new and noteworthy to spend your hard earned iTunes cash / time on. Unfortunately there arn’t as many free titles up for suggestion as there were last week. So if you want a good game to play this week you’re going to have to cough up some cash, but trust me it will be well worth it.
For The Cheapskates – FREE GAMES
Chef Story Premium– Price : FREE – Publisher – Yiyong Wang ( Have you ever wanted to open up your own restaurant, well good old cooking bear can help you out. In Chef Story you can decorate your restaurant, buy wallpaper, flooring, decor accessories,tables, chairs, stoves etc, and of course prepare and create delicious food.) runs on both iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Quexlor: Lands Of Fate – Price : FREE – Publisher – Bullets in a burning Box Inc. ( Quexlor is an old-school action RPG similar to Zelda / Diablo, you play as a Barbarian King or Queen on a mission to destroy the evil Dragon Lord Nain!.) runs on both iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Marathon 1– Price : FREE – Publisher –Daniel Blezek/Bungie ( Marathon 1 is a First Person Shooter / FPS that redefined the genre, experience pulse pounding action as you defend the Marathon from the alien Pfhor. ) runs on both iPhone & iPad. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
Hidden Objects: Gardens Of Time – Price : FREE – Publisher –Disney ( If you enjoyed the Gardens Of Time on Facebook then today is your lucky day Disney have ported this great title over to the iPad, with over 30 Hidden Object scenes and 16 millions players playing online, do you have what it takes to preserve the flow of History? ) runs on iPad only. GET IT NOW FOR FREE
For The Bargain Hunters – 99c Games
Shine Runner– Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Vector Unit Inc. (Throw your flat-bottomed boat into high hear and slip and slide through the muddy waters of backwoods bayou. Pack your cargo hold to the brim with moonshine and other contraband and sell them tot he highest bidder for profit and glory. Shine runner features some super realistic water physics that must be seen to be believe for such a small price and download) – runs on both iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Bring Me Sandwiches!!– Price : $0.99 – Publisher – Adult Swim/Turner Broadcasting System. (Play as Jimmy Nigget a lowly fast food employee, charged by president to save the planet from invader Gourmo a huge, ugly and very hungry alien that promises to destroy the world if his simple demands are not met and that is BRING HIM SANDWICHES. Even though this game is original it reminds me of Beautiful Katamari, this is a must if you’re a fan of that series. ) – runs on both iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
Run Roo Run– Price : $0.99 – Publisher – 5th Cell Media. (CRIKEY A Dingo Stole my ROO!.. umm.. well no not really but seems like someone stole Roo’s little Joey and are taking it to Sydney Zoo. Roo must embark on an epic journey that consists of single screen/micro platforming levels filled with fun obstacles, sounds simple and looks simple at first but as you make your way from Perth to Sydney the levels get much more challenging and harder, a great pick up and play game.) – runs on both iPhone & iPad. BUY NOW
For The Millionaires – All games over $0.99
MASTERABBOTT’S PICK OF THE WEEK
FINISHED IT AND LOVED IT!
Star Marine: Infinite Ammo – Price : $1.99 (Publisher – Glitchsoft (Star Marine is a fantastic Run n’ Gun 2D side scrolling patform game. You play as ARC a tough as nails Marine who is captured by an alien race in the depths of space. The Aliens have plans for ARC, but he to has a plan of his own, and that is take them all down in a fury of bullets.) – runs on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
Street Wrestler – Price : $2.99 – Publisher – Chillingo Ltd ( Take to the streets and administer your own brand of masked vigilante justice as you punch, kick, throw and slam any brain dead thug that gets in your way, great easy pick up and play action that doesn’t require too much thinking.) runs on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
Mini Motor Racing – Price : $1.99 Publisher – NextGen Reality/Binary Mill( Mini Motor Racing is cool little game with little cars but results in Big Fun! Take control of your favorite little min car and race in campaign competitions for big rewards or against friends in multiplayer, there’s even a special track and car dedicated to Fruit Ninja.) – run on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
Evertales – Price : $2.99 Publisher – Crescent Moon Games (Once upon a time, there was a tale of mighty heroes, protectors of the realm, and the saviors of many damsels in distress. This my friends… is not that tale, Evertales is a tale of unlikely Heroes on a journey not-so-epic proportions, you play as Sir Jogin, the noble knight, Arwich, the ladies man elf, and Taragon, Wise, old and a little lost in the head wizard. Now trust me these 3 might not be your regular heroes but they are fun bunch none the less.) – run on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
Dungeon Defenders: Second Wave – Price : $2.99 Publisher – Trendy Entertianment ( The insanely popular Dungeon Defenders has made its way to the iOS for both iPhone and iPad this game doesn’t need any introduction at all. If you’re a fan of the Tower Defense game, then look no further, the love of your life has just arrived and together you can embark on a fantastic adventure thought a massive campaign. collect loot and level up along the way. You can also compete in a new online PvP mode as well. ) – run on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
Silversword – Price : $5.49 Publisher – Mario J Gaida (Silversword is a fantasy RPG similar to the old school classics like The Bards Tale, Wizardy and Might & Magic. Silversword takes you to the mysterious island of Tarnak, a world far beyond reality, here you must gather band of heroes and take on the evil that is about to destroy mankind. A must for any old school RPG fans out there. ) – run on both iPhone and iPad. BUY NOW
There you have it folks, these games should keep you busy for quite some time. I’ll be back next week for another dose of iOS goodness, in the meantime if anyone would also like to suggest their own suggestions, please feel free to share them in the comments section below, and on the 17th of January 2012 the Capsule Computers forums will be launching so can all share your suggestions in there as well.
People keeping a close eye on sites like IndieDB will no doubt have come across King Arthur’s Gold, a retro platformer with a menagerie of game modes and features that already boasts a considerable following among the indie community. If reputations are anything to go on, then KAG is set to become something really rather incredible, with a development team that boasts the talents of designer and coder Michal ‘MM’ Marcinkowski (creator of cult classic 2d action shooter Soldat), brilliant pixel artist Max ‘Geti’ Cahill of 1BarDesign, and composer David Pencil of Penny Arcade. Having watched the game grow for some time now, I decided to get in touch with these fine gentlemen. Here’s what they had to tell me;
Capsule: King Arthur’s Gold really is a jack of all trades; strategy, castle building, zombies, multiplayer combat, real-time destruction, the whole shebang! How exactly do you go about creating a game with quite such abundant and varied appeal?
Michal Marcinkowski: Probably the ghost of King Arthur or the magic of Merlin is guiding us… If that’s not the case I think, well, I’ve been making games for years now so I know how to build each part. The trick is to make them work all together. We do that by making one part at a time, releasing it to the public, getting feedback from the fans and tweaking it. If it’s perfect we move on to the next thing.
Capsule: Another one of the game’s big selling points is the wonderful pixel art, but when low-fi graphics are common in so many indie titles, what do you think sets KAG apart visually?
Max Cahill: The art in King Arthur’s Gold is not retro or simplified – rather than the solid colour symbols of the arcade games of yester-decade I’ve leant towards getting as much meaningful detail into each and every asset in the game while trying ensure the art is still as clear as possible. Hopefully that’s paying off and giving KAG a unique vibe.
Michal Marcinkowski: Right, I wouldn’t call it retro but 2x scaled beautiful pixel art.
Capsule: As you yourselves admit, the game is of rather convoluted inspiration, drawing on elements from Soldat, Minecraft, Dungeon Keeper and Ace of Spades to name a few, but if you had to point to a single game and say “that, that is what started it all”, where would you point?
Michal Marcinkowski: Well after playing Ace of Spades I said to myself “I want to make a game LIKE THAT”. I know it’s two different games now but I really got inspired by the building + fighting aspect.
Capsule: The game is still in relatively early development, and there are many features (such as the aforementioned zombies) still to appear. What, if anything, can you reveal you have planned for future versions?
Michal Marcinkowski: It’s not just zombies. It’s a little gamemode that will allow players to make their own stories in the game like: “how we built a castle and survived for 10 days” or “how we found the zombie portal and destroyed it with Excalibur”. The thing I am drawing here from the King Arthur’s legends is that the final game will be a story/legend generator. Each game will be unique and a different experience. After the zombies mode there will come a full Adventure mode that will have everything we made all in one world for the players to explore. So there will be war between teams, zombies, sieges, castles, secrets, underground dungeons, treasures and so on…
Capsule: You guys are also supporting users on PC, Linux and Mac, and this is becoming an ever more popular strategy, particularly amongst indie developers. For you personally, what are some of the challenges and benefits of cross-platform development?
Michal Marcinkowski: I want everyone to play KAG no matter what hardware they have. The biggest challenge is to make all 3 versions work exactly the same. There are always some different ways of handling little things on the different OS’s that are annoying. Like what happens when the mouse gets out of the game window. Every OS has to be thoroughly tested. That is a challenge too. And finally deployment of the game installers and patches. Every new version is not just a single zip uploaded to a server, it’s 3 zips + 3 patch updates.
The benefits are obvious however. I estimate Mac players are about 15% and Linux 5% of all players. These numbers will certainly grow. I want EVERYONE to be able to play KAG, that is my main motivation for doing this.
Capsule: What are each of your favourite classes in the game? 😉
Michal Marcinkowski: Builder. This is an aspect of the game that cannot be found anywhere else. No other computer game has achieved this kind of control over the battlefield from the perspective of a single unit. Playing as builder feels like you’re controlling a huge force, for example one well placed ladder will let you flood 20 knights from your team over the wall or blocking a strategic entrance will allow your team to move the battle quickly to the other side. Changing from defense to offense and vice versa happens all the time in KAG and builders are mostly responsible for that.
Max Cahill: Definitely the builder, I enjoy feeling like I’ve got some control over the battle. That and it means I can contribute something to my team even with the unholy latency from Australia to EU and US servers!
Capsule: In this stage in development, and particularly with the wide range of features you’ve already included and the open-ness of the project, there are many places that KAG could go from here. How exactly do you envision the final version of the game?
Michal Marcinkowski: The final version of the game will be 3 things; 1. Adventure 2. War 3. Rapid matches 1) Adventure will be a multiplayer story where you can do anything you want. Mostly build an empire and explore the world. So you will be able to build a gigantic castle with multiple rooms that will allow the castle to function on its own. The castle and its habitants will need food, armor, weapons and machines in order to survive. If that is done you will be able to explore the world. Find resources, treasures, dungeons or a team of other players that have built a castle. You can also wage war on them. 2) War is similar to Adventure but with war already declared between two teams. So it will have all the castle systems and war machines. but the goal won’t be exploration and survival. It will be defeating the opposite team. 3) Rapid matches is what you can see currently in the alpha: Capture the flag and Team deathmatch. These are quick matches that allow to have some fun in under an hour. The castle building things and siege machines are limited. But that way its easy to play and most importantly we can treat this as a demo for the game. Rapid matches will always be available in the FREE version of KAG.
We at Capsule Computers would like to thank Michal and Max for taking the time to answer our questions, and we wish them all the very best with this project. You can track the development of King Arthur’s Gold on IndieDB, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the game’s official website.
Capsule Computers is proud to announce the launch of the newly re-branded forum,CC FORUMS, which will be available to users as of January 17.
In a brand new teaser video, Matt Vella – Editor & Social Network Community Manager at Capsule Computers’ provides an exclusive sneak peek of the upcoming CC FORUMS, providing all the details of everything you need to know discussing how easy it is to sign up and log in (which can be done here), it’s sleek presentation, upcoming competitions & giveaways as well as it’s epic ranking system.
Check out the sneak peek video below and see for yourself!
CC FORUMS will go live on January 17. Register as a member now so you can begin talking on the launch date!
If you haven’t heard of CRUSH3D before, then the title of this game is probably a bit puzzling. That’s all well and good, because that’s generally the idea. An inventive dimension squashing puzzler from SEGA, CRUSH3D sees players help Danny find his marbles by ‘crushing’ between 2D and 3D worlds. If the idea is familiar then you’re probably remembering the PSP title Crush, which worked with the same gameplay concept but had a much darker tone thanks to it’s insomnia suffering teenage protagonist.
To mark CRUSH3D’s launch on the Nintendo 3DS SEGA have just released a new trailer for the game which you can catch below, so make sure and have a look to see some of that ‘crushing’ in action.
Here’s a mildly terrifying fact for you -Super Monkey Ball has been around for over ten years! First debuting on the Nintendo Gamecube all the way back in 2001, SEGA’s primate franchise will be heading to the PS Vita for it’s latest entry in summer 2012.
Subtitled Banana Splitz, the game has just received it’s first trailer. There isn’t any actual gameplay on show here, just a quick look at all the familiar faces and some groundwork for the time travel set up.
The game will feature over 100 stages and comes compete with an online Wi-Fi enabled multiplayer mode. Creative types will be able to create their own levels using the Vita’s camera, with several control options available that take advantage of all the Vita’s input tech.
Check out the attached trailer below for your daily dose of monkey business.
