Oh, Japan! is a weekly feature in which I chronicle the wierd, wacky and just plain crazy goings on in Japan. Because we all know, Japan is prone to doing things that make us Westerners say “Oh, Japan!”.
We have covered anime in “Oh, Japan!” before, but not when Japanese animation goes wrong. This week we take aim at one episode of the Naruto Shippuden anime which almost appears that the animators were all tripping on acid while creating this.
It seems as though the animators forgot that they were Japanese and instead made everything look like an episode of Looney Tunes, in turn ruining one of the Naruto manga’s greatest fights (Naruto vs. Pain). Not only that but they completely made the once intimidating villain, Pain, into what appears to be a boneless Sonic the Hedgehog-Wiley Coyote hybrid. But it’s still good for a laugh, a sigh and an “Oh, Japan!”
Welcome to Capsule Computers’ second Monthly Member Rewards Giveaway! Every month we plan to announce a member and send them aPRIZE from our lucky dip draw, to acknowledge them an active member and thank you for making us your #1 stop for video game and pop cultures news and reviews! We love to reward members by giving away games and other cool prizes to those who stick by us! This month’sWINNER was selected for not just being a loyal member who has been with us for a long time, but earlier this week fought off a few trolls in the shoutbox. The winner is:
cellophane-girl
Congratulations! Our Editor-In-Cheif MasterAbbott will be contacting you shortly. Be sure to check your E-mail, we hope you enjoy your prize! 🙂
WANT TO WIN COOL GAMES AND STUFF LIKE cellophane-girl?
We’re giving away various X-Box 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, P.C., iPhone, X-Box Live Arcade and PlayStation Network games as well Amazon Vouchers and we can’t wait to give them away!
All you got to do is register as a member of Capsule Computers to be in the running for a chance to WIN! For hints, tips and the rules go here for more info.
Be sure to stick around on the site as we do lots of competitions and giveaways as well as the monthly rewards, and do even more on our Facebook and Twitter, so make sure you follow us there and stay tuned for more awesome prizes!
UN-GO could potentially be one of the best new anime series to come out of this season, with an opener this strong. This was an episode in which everything went right. Characters, concepts and setting are all introduced and constructed superbly. There was no low point of this episode.
“Murder at the Ball” not only gives us a taste of what is to come with this series but it also is a great story in and of itself. When a series can pull off an episode that not only works as an episode of the show itself but also as a great piece of television in general. This episode is one of those very special episodes that encompasses the spirit of the show whilst working brilliantly as it’s own story and from the looks of things, this is how UN-GO will be continuing.
There was an episode of Bleach filler during the Bount arc that as a viewer resonated more with me than the majority of the canon material. The reason for that is that it was one of those episodes in which a perfect story was told. It was episode 72, an episode that almost existed outside of the realm of the rest of the series, an episode in which we got a version of the series that actually is what I feel the entire series should’ve been, straight up horror and suspense. It was a great episode with an incredibly unique concept with real stakes. That is exactly what UN-GO has done here from the get go.
With it’s first episode, UN-GO told a complex, engaging and involving story that most series never achieve in their entire runs. The central plot of episode focusing on the mysterious murder is both meticulously constructed and paced perfectly. There was not a single bland moment. Not to mention the final reveal regarding the truth of the murder was both touching and disturbing, a mix that is nearly impossible to capture.
I was left in awe at the way things twisted and turned until it reached it’s natural conclusion with The Defeated Detective solving the mystery. It is uncommon for anime series to feature writing of this quality, it’s honestly refreshing to watch something so well plotted.
Character-wise UN-GO was a gold-mine of memorable characters, each with their own unique personality. The intrigueing thing about UN-GO is the way it handles it’s cast. We are given the bare essentials in terms of their personality, yet we are given so many hints of other sides of these characters that are still to become apparent, without giving too much away. It’s the sort of characterisation you should get in a first episode, enough to understand these people but not enough that you don’t want to know more.
The animation was brilliant as you’d expect from Bones and the art style is absolutely unique. The character designs are very angular, giving a very original look to the series. The world itself is shown briefly for the most part but what is shown is both emotive and quaint, begging the viewer to explore it, but not delivering just yet. That is still to come in future episodes.
The music like the animation was great and really helped to push the story to even greater heights, by setting the perfect mood and atmosphere for the proceedings.
All in all, UN-GO episode 1 was a brilliant episode of anime that not only is a good series opener but also a great story in itself. If the series continues down the path this episode has set for it, then we are in for one hell of a ride with UN-GO, a ride that I’ll definitely be taking.
With Batman: Arkham City‘s early release in Australia, many gamers have probably also seen some Batman controllers floating around. At EB EXPO 2011, we were lucky enough to see the Batman controller as a part of the Bluemouth booth, and then some.
You may recognize Bluemouth for their Cyberbikes that are great for exercise and fun, or their guides for various gaming titles. However, we discovered the company has so much more up their sleeve: think innovative and ergonomic controllers, and racing seats that contour to the user’s body. The Cyberbike 2 was a new product that is a fantastic way to get your heart pumping (I attracted a few stares while I was on it, though!), but our pick would have to be the Air Flo controllers. These awesome controllers look and feel great, and they also have a fan to keep your hands cool while gaming, which means no more sweaty palms!
One of our favourite booths at EB EXPO 2011 has got to be Nintendo. With a huge array of games on display (including The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – yes!), Nintendo’s booth showcased exactly what the brand was all about and reminded us again why we love Mario, Link, and all of the crew.
In this video tour, Jamie from Nintendo takes us on a look around the major titles that Nintendo had displayed. Skyward Sword was fantastic and set up on a podium so everyone could see what was going on; meanwhile, the 3DS games such as Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario Bros 3D were housed across sleek white tables.
The Nintendo booth was insanely packed at all times, and we have to say that we’re very excited at the games that are being developed for late 2011/early 2012. Check out the video tour below, and click here for other EB EXPO coverage.
A number of different developers and publishers were located at EB EXPO 2011, and one of those is none other than Mindscape, a software publishing company which distributes Konami and PopCap games.
This year at the expo, Mindscape showcased Karaoke Revolution Glee: Volume 3, the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2012. Having been located next to the EA booth, we were worried that Mindscape may get overlooked, but the booth got plenty of attention and had many gamers coming over to check out the latest titles (but really, we just love Solid Snake).
With EB EXPO 2011 spanning more than 10,000 square feet at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, the event was most definitely Australia’s largest gaming expo in history.
Over 20 exhibitors showcased their products and titles at the expo, so it’s fair to say the floor was jam-packed with gaming and gamers. By far, the most impressive booths at the expo were Razer (who were voted Best Non-Gaming Booth for 2011), Activision (a booth which boasted a massive Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 section), and Ubisoft (light-up dance floors for Just Dance 3? Yes please!).
We here at Capsule Computers know that a map doesn’t show enough detail on how the venue is laid out or what individual booths look like, so we’ve captured it on video instead for all of those gamers that couldn’t make it to the event. You can also click here to see the rest of our coverage for the event.
Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster Developer: Double Fine Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Genre: Kids Platform: Xbox 360 Kinect Released: 14th October
Sesame Street is something of an acquired taste for adults; those with children may be able to appreciate its finer points as they watch it with their children, whereas others could be driven up the wall by the high-pitched voices and tot-friendly demeanour. For kids, however, I’m not sure one exists who could resist the charm erupting from the colourful cast of characters, especially for the younger bracket of ages 4, 5 and 6. Despite being interested in the games their older sibling is playing, they are an age group that aren’t really catered for in the world of gaming, so it’s great to see Double Fine have recreated the characters’ diversities and qualities in this most interactive of interactive storybooks.
Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster’s lack of violence is refreshing; finally the underrepresented youngsters are being given a positive playing experience, because most of the games they resort to playing have cartoon violence – even if it is only bopping stereotypical bad guys with a plastic hammer – which send out the wrong message. With the Cookie Monster and Elmo as your guides, as well as doubling up as your onscreen avatars, a feeling of safety and welcome is projected upon you.
Kinect opens up lots of opportunities, and in spite of approaching its first birthday it is still full of untapped potential. Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster must be the first of its kind. It’s not an adventure game as you know it, and if you were to describe it in gaming terms you’d probably define it as being on-rails. It’s an interactive storybook, but with the help of Kinect it manages to be more interactive and more immersive than it could have ever been with a controller. You physically turn the page by lifting your arm and sweeping it across as you progress through the 6 chapters, meeting new monsters with problems for you to help them overcome along the way. You do meet old favourites like Grover, a character that injects plenty of all-ages humour into the story, and Oscar, a character designed to account for older siblings or parents watching or playing with the child. Other than that those two and the two you are playing with throughout, though, it’s a whole new set of characters invented for the purpose of the game. All have been well-designed so that you warm to them and see their cuddly side (except from possibly the last one you meet, Ramona, whose jagged teeth make her look a bit too sinister, even after you befriend her and learn she is a harmless, good-natured storyteller).
The monsters you encounter have problems ranging from confidence issues to losing band members, and each of their various dilemmas takes you on a miniature, multiple-page adventure consisting of different types of activity. Some of these activities are slower paced, such as ones where you have to dress people in outfits, whereas others require a higher level of physical exertion, like rhythm-action mini-games where you bang a drum, copying the moves of onscreen characters as you dance to music, flapping your arms to fly or leaning your whole body to decide your position onscreen as you dodge and collect all manner of obstacles and items. Given the unnatural movements brought about occasionally by Kinect, some of the activities that fall under the latter category can be excessively tiring, usually due to going on for ever slightly too long. One such example is when you are leading a march and you have to thrust your arm forward every few seconds for the duration otherwise your entourage will slow down and stop, although it is worth noting that most are absolutely fine and don’t suffer from similar errors in design. Another issue with movement, though not major, was that some poses and dance moves have you looking away or with your back to the screen, which, in turn, means you can’t see the next action you are supposed to be doing.
But more impressive than the abundance of different activities is the way in which, over the course of the game, Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster manages to use Kinect in so many different ways. There are sections which you will be frantically moving around in front of the camera, just as there are more subtle, clever movements, like turning a page and then spreading your arms out to enter the story, or simply something basic like leaning in to blow out a set of candles. It also doesn’t forget about the in-built microphone in the sensor, adding to sections of movement with sections where you have to speak aloud or provide the audio for something. For instance, towards the end when doing Ramona’s chapter you act as the narrator, recording your voice over a set of images in stages. Then your recording is played back to you as one continuous story.
The whole nature of the game creates an intimate playing experience – even the menu screen which gives an overview of the book, complete with comments from the Cookie Monster and Elmo based on the page that is currently open. The Cookie Monster-Elmo dynamic lends itself to co-op play, making the game ideal for a parent to play through with a child, and an uncluttered heads-up display means the transition from cutscene to gameplay is so seamless you barely notice the transition. Just about the only thing that’s displayed is a star rating (you are given a rating out of 5 stars based on your performance, although sometimes it’s simply story-based and it’s impossible to complete the level without earning all 5) which springs up each time you earn a star, but then disappears again.
Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster is a real breath of fresh air. It just wouldn’t be the same with a controller, as the unique idea to utilise Kinect to make the most interactive of interactive storybooks is a winner. It’s impossible to fail; worse performances are marked down on the scoring system, not given game over or anything discouraging, and regular compliments and reassurances of how well you are doing come from the funny, inviting pairing of Elmo and the Cookie Monster. A colourful, friendly visual-style contributes to make for a fantastic for kids – or to play with the kinds thanks to the option of co-op which allows you to be part of the enjoyable experience. It’s a beautiful game, not only visually but on the inside, and although it will no doubt prove too easy for older players, many will probably pick it up for a self-esteem boost – either from the constant compliments or from the Gamerscore hike owing to the way it readily dishes the achievement points.
Over in Japan, pre-orders for the highly anticipated Playstation Vita opened to the public. There were long lines at some stores, but other stores had no one. Some did not promote the pre-orders. The growth of online shopping might contribute to this as some would have decided to use sites such as Amazon Japan.
According to Sinobi, retailer and blogger, the 3G version of the handheld is the more popular version that was pre-ordered with 65%. The other 35% was the Wi-Fi only version. They have also provided details for memory cards. Out of all of the pre-orders, 82% had memory cards added to their pre-order. 72% of those who had added memory cards went for the 32GB storage option.
Software is a different story. The ratio (console to software), according to Sinobi, was roughly 1:1. Ok, it isn’t really the best figure, however, it is still too early to call on the reception of the massive launch lineup. Some of these people may be waiting for reviews or wanting more information.
By the way, I do believe the reason the 3G version is more popular due to the first 500,000 units having a 3G pre-paid card of 100 hours for free. It is a very tempting offer, one, it seems, people can not refuse.
Any urban planners out there best dust off their mega metropolis blueprints – there’s a new city builder on the way. Cities XL 2012 will be the second in the Cities XL series, boasting a huge amount of content and ‘close to photo-realistic quality’ visuals.
Cities XL 2012’s claim to the city building crown is ‘more variety than any other city building game’, and will try to fulfill that promise by allowing players to mod their own content. Despite the fact that the community has been crying out for these modding tools there has been no information on what they actually are – will players be able to design buildings from scratch? Meshes? Skins? It’s an unusual move given that this is the main feature that differentiates 2012 from it’s predecessor, but it looks like fans of the series will have to wait until release day to find out.
Newcomers to the series will find over 1000 structures on offer with 60 maps to arrange them on in anyway they please. Series fans will be familiar with most of the content however, as only 300 of these buildings and 15 of the maps are new to the game. 1000 structures is still one heck of a selection, so here’s hoping the interface is up to it!
Would be emperors will be able to take out a bit of their megalomania by linking together their creations to share resources and establish business links, and can even tinker with versions of cities like New York, Rio de Janeiro and Paris (complete with monuments) to shape some of the biggest cities in the world to their own ideas. The usual resource management and citizen pandering will feature too, and pesky residents will have different profiles depending on their education, expectations and activities.
There’s no denying that the eye candy factor is there, but given that only a fraction of the content on offer is new to the series Cities XL 2012 has a lot to prove. It’s predecessor has a reputation for being a bit on the buggy side, and fans will no doubt need some extensive modding tools to convince them to invest in a sequel that at a glance seems very similar to the original.
The game still has it’s own fanbase though, and since it’s previous release the franchise has changed development hands – this time being dealt with by Game of Thrones Genesis publishers Focus Home Interactive. You can see the CC review for that RTS title here, and Cities Xl 2012 will hit both retail and digital stores on October 20. Fingers Crossed!
