A few months ago FUNimation announced that they had acquired the rights to distribute B Gata H Kei in North America and provide an English Dub for the series. At the time of localization they also revealed that they would be changing the name of the show to Yamada’s First Time, but they did not reveal who would be providing the English voices for the characters. Until now that is.
The cast of main characters voice actors is as follows:
Yamada – Brittney Karbowski
Yamada’s Eros Deity – Alexis Tipton
Kosuda – Scott Freeman
Kosuda’s Eros Deity – Greg Ayres
Miyano – Jad Saxton
Miyano’s Eros Deity – Caitlin Glass
Kanejo – Kristi Kang
Takeshita – Cherami Leigh
Chika – Emerick Jade
Also released was a trailer for the English dub which can be seen below. The trailer highlights a little bit about the story, where Yamada dreams of having 100 casual sex friends but is still a virgin herself, expect to see lots of comedy as Yamda tries and often fails in her attempts to flirt with her main target Kosuda.
Konami Digital Entertainment have recently outlined their plans for PES 2012 3D, which as you may suspect from the title, will be on the Nintendo 3DS. The game will have full support to allow 3DS owners to play with other users online.
Not just this, but PES 2012 3D will offer unrivaled realism, allowing users exclusive entry into the recreation of the UEFA Champions League tournament and to experience the thrills of South America’s high-intensity Cope Libertadores league. Players can enter both leagues safe in the knowledge that they will have full control throughout the game, with every pass, through ball, tackle and shot left to the player. Players have the option to take advantage of the Circle Pad and buttons or the new Touch Screen control system that uses the stylus to move players.
New intelligent camera views that pan and swoop to cover the fast paced on-pitch action show off the handhelds 3D power. Not to mention the popular Master League option made famous by the previous versions of PES is now back and playing a vital role of the 2012 title. This allows players to shape and develop a team of unknown, up-and-coming footballers, molding them into a dynamic force. Similar to this the game will have a Become a Legend option that offers a more personal look at the game, charging the player with the progression of one footballer on their journey to establish themselves as a world-class talent.
Konami have released even more details, revealing new League and Cup competitions, Free Training and even an Edit Mode for players to alter team members and their kits. All of which will be supported by a strong online element.
Players can now play against a friend in one on one games via both Nintendo Wi-Fi, as well as utilising a new StreetPass system of data exchange. Players can now exchange Master League team data to other 3DS owners, with players invited to take a CPU opponent using the team of other players. Let us know what you think about the soon to be released PES 2012 3D. Have Konami managed to kick a goal with this one?
Award-winning independent Texas-based game developer Twisted Pixel today announced that they are no longer independent: Twisted Pixel has been officially acquired by Microsoft Studios in a step to continue further expand on innovative game and entertainment offerings. Twisted Pixel are the guys behind many great games including Mrs. Splosion Man, Comic Jumper and more recently, The Gunstringer.
“Twisted Pixel has an incredible track record of innovative, critically acclaimed, and most importantly, fun, games,” said corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios, Phil Spencer. “Microsoft Studios is home to cutting-edge entertainment experiences, and the incredible creativity of the Twisted Pixel team will help drive further innovation around Kinect and Xbox LIVE.”
“It is really exciting for us to solidify our long-standing relationship with Microsoft Studios, who we consider to be the leader in digital distribution and creating new innovations in gaming like Xbox LIVE and Kinect,” said the co-founder and chief executive officer of Twisted Pixel, Michael Wilford. “As part of the family of Microsoft Studios we look forward to bringing even bigger and richer experiences to Xbox and Twisted Pixel fans around the world.”
This acquisition means that this studio who have been an independent studio since 2006 will now be
better equipped to create new IP and gameplay experiences as they are now an official part of Microsoft Studios, developing games exclusive to Microsoft’s platforms. Twisted Pixel have now joined along side other globally-recognized game developers such as Lionhead Studios and the legendary Rare Ltd. Congratulations Twisted Pixel!
The Tommy Wi-Show Episode One: Mortal Kombat
Platform: Webisode (Youtube)
Release: September 24th, 2011
Oh hai Mark*.
You may know him best for being the star, director, producer and writer of perhaps the worst movie ever made, The Room. But now, “actor” Tommy Wiseau (T. W.) has gone on to create a web based series, The Tommy Wi-Show. The series proves that the man, T. W. is not only capable of making the worst film ever made, but also possibly the worst gamer as well.
“Plot”
Episode One begins with thrice establishing that T. W. is not in his house, and then goes on to explain the purpose for his alien abduction. Scans reveal that he is the best gamer on earth and must therefore prepare for Mortal Kombat. Wiseau takes his time selecting a character and then (repeatedly) kicks arse, ‘that’s for sure ah-ha’. Not much else happens. T.W. takes a shot playing as another character, and proves again that he is the “best” gamer in the world.
Wiseau has become somewhat of a pop-culture star thanks to his horrendous acting. While the episode says that it has a writer, there appears to be no script at all. Wiseau rambles his way through what can be described in a Wiseau-level pun as a “lame play” video. If you thought that pun was bad, check out the video below. Wiseau single handedly challenges my preconceptions of what can be considering both acting and gaming, not to mention the poor set construction. With barely a shred of dexterity or eloquence, Wiseau somehow manages to create an enjoyable six minutes, in a kind of ‘so bad it’s good’ kind of way. Or at least he would if taste wasn’t linear.
Bonus Content
Being a web-based series, it is rather easy to add links to extra content that didn’t make the final cut of the episode. Strange to think that those six minutes were the best takes. In the bonus content, which can be found here, T.W. faces off against Freddy Krueger. Fortunately for us, Wiseau continues to display his lack of skills, both in gaming and for delivery of lines. The majority of this clip features Wiseau laughing sinisterly as Krueger slashes away at his character. Personally, I find his laugh a lot more unnerving than any Friday the 13th film.
A second bonus clip shows T.W. testing his might, to no avail yet again. T.W. accuses the game of cheating before getting eaten by a zombie, and accusing the game of cheating again. As the man says himself, “who fail at this game?” I think we can all safely agree that T.W. failed, and will continue to for our own amusement.
Conclusion
In the words of Mortal Kombat, “Finish Him”. Sadly, they do not. T. W. will be back in episode two. In an obvious self-mocking episode, Wiseau sets a precedent that will hopefully be followed throughout the length of the series, which is sure to turn stale very quickly. While the strange alien gives him three out of seven stars for his game play, I think I’d have to disagree and go with…
*Please note: ‘Oh hai Mark’ is a common utterance in the film The Room.
The Cursed Crusade Developer: Kylotonn Entertainment Publisher: Mastertronic/ dtp entertainment AG Genre: Action/Adventure/Hack ‘n’ slash Platform: Xbox 360 (PS3, PC) Released: 7th October (Europe), 25th October (US)
The crusades were a series of military campaigns for the cause of religion, with the noblest of knights setting out to holy lands such as Jerusalem in the name of Christianity. They took place from the late 11th century to the late 13th century. Although entirely fictional, it is in the late 12th /early 13th century that The Cursed Crusade is set, and the developers have seen to it that the period features have been observed and that the game’s weaponry is authentic.
After a brief prologue mission laying the foundations for the story, you inherit the role of Denz de Bayle, a young man whose father left for the crusades and never returned, and who is now setting off to Jerusalem to track down his father. Soon on in your quest, you cross paths with a Spanish chap called Esteban (the second piece of the game’s two-player co-op), and learn of a curse that runs in both your bloodlines which has been ingrained in your genetics as punishment for an unforgivable sin committed by one of your respective forefathers. This curse is The Cursed Crusade’s gimmick: pressing LB transforms the world, literally, into an apocalyptic hell-hole. A molten lava-like surface lines the floors and walls, pieces of scenery erupt into flame and even your appearance and that of your enemies takes a turn for demonic to reflect the change.
Almost like entering a ‘rage’ mode in many other games before it (to set the record straight, this idea is nothing new), entering curse mode increases your strength for attack, with your opponents armour diminished by the change so that, in turn, your weapon combos prove more lethal and efficient. Another benefit of the change is that you get powers associated with the curse, ranging from a healing move to restore health, to offensive magical powers to help dispatch the groups of enemies easier. Unlike you, however, enemies don’t have the same benefits of entering curse mode, although doing so does bring up new opponents, as there are then spirits lingering in the air as well as the original enemies, plus the constant threat of succumbing to ‘Death’ itself, who watches over you and is ready to pounce if you use the curse for too long and the adjoined meter runs too low. Conversely, some levels give you no choice in the matter and you play as the cursed version of yourself for the entirety of the mission.
Where The Cursed Crusade really falls down, though, is in its animation. In combat you are presented with a wealth of weapon choices from the era, from swords, maces, spears and axes, ranging from single-handed to double-handed grips. This means there’s a huge number of weapon combinations you can use, each with their own individual animations. But while the variety should be applauded as swinging the same sword in the same patterns throughout the game would be dull, this can make the combat look completely third-rate. It almost looks as if the developers haven’t bothered to adjust sequences to fit the dimensions of new weapons, meaning that although your swords have supposedly clashed, in actual fact they “collided” in mid-air still a good couple of feet away from each other.
Ironically, the opposite can be true too, and instead of colliding too far away your weapons merge with one another so that your sword will have melded with your opponents weapon. The likelihood of this, with respect to quantum physics, is the same as that of the particles in your chair momentarily giving way to leave your buttocks merged with the seat, which makes it all the more alarming that this problem happens so readily in-game. It’s not just limited to weapons either; it happens with skin-to-weapon on the character models, too. It becomes particularly apparent when running someone through with your sword, as they way the blade glides through the flesh with no resistance whatsoever looks rather unnatural. These shortcomings aren’t limited to swordplay though, as during gameplay you can sometimes see enemy forces springing out of thin air, and lazily on the creators part, background models enact the same synchronised gestures.
These animation flaws aren’t even cleared up for the cut scenes. In fact, this could be where it’s worse, as the lack of button-pressing to distract you and close-up camera angles make it even clearer. Moreover, although the voice-acting of the main characters is relatively good (some of the casting doesn’t suit the character types and anonymous extra characters aren‘t well-voiced), problems with the lip-synching become evident when watching the cut scenes. The lip movements don’t appear to have been tweaked to match the performance, nor the performance timed with the lip movements – there are even occasions when the lips remain perfectly still despite dialogue coming from them. During my time with the game I also encountered an odd issue where the volume controls reset themselves to zero after each play session, and although it isn’t a huge problem, nor is it one that every buyer of the game is likely to experience, but the fact that errors such as this can crop up goes to show a lack of overall polish.
The cinematic camera angles of cut scenes are carried over into gameplay, which combined with the dramatic zooming in of the camera on certain combos, gives it an interactive film type of feeling. The ever-changing camera angle does create problems of its own, though, where the sudden change of angle can disorientate your movement, bringing up navigational hiccups of not knowing where to go as you have no map.
The game is strikingly linear; where many games these days give you a world in which to roam, The Cursed Crusade sticks to a menu-based mission structure, where completing a level consists of chopping down bad guys as you walk along a fixed path until you reach the end, even if there are hints of something a little deeper via an upgrade system where you spend Victory Points earned at the end of each level. Some may even appreciate the straight-forwardness, as a badly-made open-world scenario isn’t much fun at all and The Cursed Crusade is playable in its own monotonous sort of way, especially if you are willing to overlook the steady stream of visual and audio bugs. Most of the major problems are superficial and aren’t particularly harmful but nonetheless all culminate to the feeling that The Cursed Crusade is an unfinished product.
Without a doubt, Battlefield 3 is easily one of the most anticipated games of this year. However, amongst all the excitement players have heard little to nothing about the campaign itself-after all it’s main selling point is it’s multiplayer, but DICE have really stepped up the campaign in this installment. EA and DICE have kept much of the information under wraps, so you can imagine my intrigue and excitement when I was given the opportunity to go through the campaign last night.
The first major thing players will notice is the outstanding graphics, some of which are the greatest I’ve ever seen. Lip movement in-game appeared quite accurate and all this hype about the animation-believe it. The way NPC’s walk and interact with their surroundings feels so fluent and accurate that when combined with such realistic rendering and textures with such smooth frame rate it’s hard to believe your playing this on a current generation console. However what really makes this realism feel so life-like however is the attention to detail. In Mission 2: Operation Swordbreaker there is a section when you are required to take out a sniper with a rocket launcher, and after witnessing a truly beautiful explosion I couldn’t help but to take out my Sniper Riffle and quickly zoom in and admire all the tiniest details fall, and the beautiful smoke that moved so smoothly that seemed as if DICE had animated every individual tiny particle of smoke and dust. All that hype you hear about the destruction in this game-believe it. It was even the most unnoticeable features that surprised me the most. In Mission 4: Going Hunting when entering a fighter jet simply by looking around the cockpit’s glass you could see tiny scratches showing that this aircraft had previously seen combat, and even tiny rain particles falling on it as well. This is easily one of the most beautiful games ever made, in level 4 I actually died at one point because I was too busy admiring the textures on an enemy fighter plane, but trust me, it was worth it!
Believe it or not, this game is can get quite cinematic and this is what surprised me the most about Battlefield 3-it’s pretty good at telling a story. Admittedly it’s not the greatest plot ever told in a video game or even a first-person shooter, but it’s much more than what you probably expect. With everybody making such a fuss over the multiplayer, the fact this game also has a single-player mode has been almost forgotten, and this sucks cause it’s pretty damn good! Unlike a lot of FPS titles that focus on just multiplayer in recent years, Battlefield 3 has a campaign worth playing and worth paying attention too. Sure the graphics in the gameplay look great, but the game looks its best during the campaign’s many cut scenes. These are so realistic you’ll be squinting at times trying to tell if these are real actors or 3D models-they’re that good! Voice acting is really great as well, much like the rest of the audio in Battlefield 3. One thing I should point out that these stages play VERY DIFFERENT to the multiplayer. In multiplayer, it’s all about large battlefields, but the campaign is more about missions, not wars and battles. Therefore many of these levels I got to try out were inside, meaning much smaller areas for combat. It’s ok though, it’s still amazing, just in different ways. During these levels you’ll face some pretty memorable moments, some of the most amazing take place in the first level, but I won’t ruin any surprises just yet, but it’s a intense start to the game.
To be honest, other than the mind-blowing graphics and attention to detail there wasn’t anything too revolutionary that stood out with the campaign of Battlefield 3, just in general it was really good. The game seems really well polished and everything is just done very well, resulting in a very top quality game. It didn’t just have those tight controls, impressive graphics, loud sound effects…level design was constantly changing up and staying fresh making for a really enjoyable experience. After this, I’m really excited to play through the campaign in it’s entirety just much as I am for the multiplayer, and you should be too!
You too can enter the Battlefield as well when it comes out on October 27.
Further coverage of the Battlefield 3 Hands On Campaign Event:
After releasing many drool-worthy trailers, Capcom have finally announced a date on Resident Evil Revelations. European layers will be able to board the abandoned cruise ship on January 27th of 2011. Yes, JUST 3 MONTHS AWAY!
Now if by chance you have been living under a rock, Revelations will follow Jill Valentine and her new partner Parker Luciani as they search for Chris Redfield, who was last seen on the ship. Jill and Parker are not alone though, as a “menacing new enemy” is also aboard this freight and will be quite an obstacle to stand in the path of this duo’s mission.
I honestly was expecting Revelations to not come out until mid 2012, but after seeing this new date, I can easily say that January is looking to be a huge month for the 3DS as the first true Resident Evil game is sure to turn heads when it arrives.
A new installment to the “Pretty Pet” time-management series has come out on Android and iOS, Pretty Pet Tycoon. Pretty Pet Tycoon follows the hero Piglina and her adventure from resigning as the manager of a pet grooming salon to a nice, quiet little farm. Except some mysterious stranger wants a slice of your farm, and is trying to build himself up into a tycoon.
Pretty Pet Tycoon asks the player to utilize quick reflexes and time management skills in order to make as much as possible without wasting any money. You can recruit helpers, purchase and upgrade equipment, and manage fruit-processing facilities.
Pretty Pet Tycoon is up for free on both platforms, so nothing’s stopping you from grabbing your copy and getting your time management gaming on!
The iOS version can be found HERE
The Android version can be found HERE
Jonah Lomu may have broken through our tackle once (as is customary for the big man) when he slipped through our grasp and the release date of Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge was delayed, but it seems we’ve finally managed to bring him down; Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge will be coming to stores in Europe on 14th October for Xbox 360 and PS3, and a week later on Friday 21st October for PC.
With the backing of one of the most exciting to watch rugby players of all time, in my eyes, at least, although I’m sure many will agree, a New Zealand based development team, and the most licenses ever in a rugby game, Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge could well play a fine game of rugby. For a start, it’s the spiritual successor to the last decent rugby game released, Jonah Lomu Rugby on PS1/PC.
Nippon Ichi has been busy with its latest Disgaea re-release, Disgaea 3 Return (to be known as Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention in the West). However, they took some time off and gave Dengeki PlayStation some notes on how the Vita’s main features are going to be used in the strategy game.
First up are how the touch controls will be implemented. Both the front touchscreen and the rear touchpad will be utilised but for different functions. The touchscreen can be used to scroll the multitude of windows in the game, presumably status menu and attacking options. The touchpad will be the camera control of the map. Players will be able to rotate and scroll the game map. Zooming was not mention but could be a possibility.
These next two relate to the network capabilities. One of the uses will be the ability to accumulate points that help gain more experience and mana via the positional information capabilities. This might be done via Near, which is the location based software of the Playstation Vita. The other use will be known as “Everyone’s Record,” a mode where one can check out their fellow player’s play time and damage stats. More elements could be added, but those two are the only ones.
Disgaea 3 Returns will launch with the Playstation Vita in Japan on December 17. The West will receive in the spring of 2012.
