If you were hoping that the Yakuza series would continue then you have nothing to worry about. Despite what has usually been a lukewarm reception in the West (despite the stunning quality of the titles) the Yakuza series has done absolutely amazing in Japan, so much so that the men behind the Yakuza series are forming their own studio Famitsu reports.
Though at the moment they are developing Binary Domain, the studio headed by Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi, will be named Studio yakuza and they are goign to be working on two titles. One of the titles is named Yakuza 5 and the other is Yakuza Black Panther 2 for the PlayStation Portable which will be released in the spring of 2012. Now we just need to hope that these titles, as well as Yakuza Of the End will be released overseas as well.
Sega have released a wealth of new media for their upcoming expansion to Total War Shogun 2 – Rise of the Samurai. As well as a trailer there are screenshots featuring some of the new units and a gorgeous UK poster.
Set 400 years before the civil war of the Sengoku period featured in Shogun 2, Rise of the Samurai boasts a brand new campaign set in 12th century Japan. Three great families battle for control of the country, and players will lead one of six playable clans from the Taira, Minamoto and Fujiwara . Amidst the chaos, a new class of warrior emerges that will change everything – the samurai.
In addition to single player the campaign is also playable in multiplayer versus or co-op modes, and comes with 30 new battle units (including warrior monks and female samurai) and 4 new agents.
The release date is simply set as September 2011, although pre orders are currently still available on Steam. Keep an eye out for more news of a release from Capsule Computers!
Dead Island was originally announced back at E3 in 2006, but unfortunately it disappeared from the radar for many years until a very dramatic trailer reminded us of its existence. Afterwords it has felt like time had slowed down as fan excitement for the title kept growing after every piece of information released.
Deep Silver has taken advantage of this and released the launch trailer for Dead Island which only serves as a reminder that we have only one week left to wait until the title is released. The trailer shows off a bit of gameplay as well as cutscenes, and it is set to the same music from the announcement trailer. Techland’s open world zombie survival game could easily be the best zombie title in the past year, if not the entire console generation.
With the imminent release of Champion Jockey, KOEI have released a final batch of snapshots from in game play, seemingly making it very clear to fans that the game will indeed feature varying weather conditions. It must have been raining the day the photography crew turned up to take these shots, showing off majestic beast and rider from every different imaginable angle. If you havent seen the youtube or official trailers for this game I urge you to have a peek at them, if not even just for the entertainment value as some of the movements and energy required on the Move, Kinect and Wii are a sight to behold. Saying this, the gameplay looks fun and crisp, and graphically looks to surpass its predecessors by a long way.
Champion Jockey G1 will be released on the 2nd September so keep your eyes peeled if you are a fan of the genre of simply looking for something different in the workout department as this one looks like it has all the necessary elements to keep you active.
List of places to avoid in case they are infested with dinosaurs: portaloo, long grass, kitchens. Not a complete list I think you’ll agree, but those are the ones that the first Jurassic Park movie embedded in my subconscious as a small child(thanks for that Mr Spielberg!). It’s been a while since the reconstructed dinos have appeared on any media format, so before the fourth film appears (in 2 or 3 years time, according to the man himself at Comic Con), Jurassic Park: the Game will have to keep dino fans satisfied.
The newest trailer from Telltale games is packed with T-rexes and Velociraptors, and looks to have nailed the park environment perfectly. If the atmosphere and gameplay are up to the task, it should be a fantastic package for fans of the Jurassic Park universe.
The dino’s will be unleashed on November 15th, with the game available as a download on PS3, PC and Mac, and a full retail release for Xbox 360. Unlike some of Telltale’s other games, this one will be released in full across most platforms, with the iPad the only one set for an episodic release.
While the games may not officially be available on the 3DS eShop, you won’t have to wait any longer to give your 3DS plenty of more games to play. As Jed explained yesterday, 3DS Ambassador’s would have to go into their Your Downloads section in the Settings part of the eShop. Here you will be able to find all ten free NES titles for download.
You can download these at no charge and doing so takes zero time whatsoever. The games are a nice little addition and at least we didn’t have to wait one more day to receive some sort of compensation for paying full price when the 3DS game out. So now you can play it a bit before putting it back in its dust cradle.
Originally an arcade game, Brick People is coming to the iOS devices. A fun interactive arcade game that requires players to place blocks on a platform for the Brick People to climb. By climbing up the blocks, the cute creatures can gobble up fruit. Each level has a different fruit objective that must be completed in order to finish. Be quick to grab the fruit because the timer continually dwindles down.
Between levels there comes a bonus stage. The blocks that are currently on the platform drop and a evil laugh comes from a sinister devil looking person on the screen. The bonus stage consists of the player building a unique structure of blocks within a time limit. If successful, bonus time will be granted to the overall clock.
SEGA created a fun-filled arcade game that would seem to be a great fit for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. By incorporating a similar gameplay, the interactive movements should mimic the fun factor that has been instilled in the arcade. Take a look at the screenshots below to see the transition from arcade to iOS format. Be sure to stay tuned for Brick People‘s release this autumn!
Captain Sparklez shows us once again an epic mod. Given the ability to create different colored clay soldiers, he shows off the intense hatred between varying colored warriors.
The soldiers can be upgraded through several different items. Placing a stick near a clay soldier gives it a wooden weapon that increases attack strength. Additionally, the weapon will be edged if a sharpening stone is placed nearby. Upgrading armor works similarly but with a piece of leather.
Weapons and armor not enough? Adding an explosive to a clay soldier might catch your interest. By giving gunpowder to a soldier, you create a martyrdom warrior. Upon death, these tiny soldiers will explode devastating the world around them – destroying blocks.
If you are up for some explosive entertainment, download the Clay Soldier Mod. (HERE)
Creation of 4 Clay Soldiers: 1 Soul Sand, 1 Clay
Creation of 1 Blue Soldier: 1 Clay Soldier, 1 Blue Dye
Epic battle between colored factions: Priceless
Diary of the Dead Review
Genre: Horror
Director: George A. Romero
Running Time: 95 minutes
Available at: Madman online store ($29.95) – BUY NOW
Overview:
If you’ve ever even heard of zombies, then there is one man who is largely to thank. George A. Romero pretty much single-handedly brought the flesh-eating dead into popular culture with his 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, and decades later he is still leading the pack with his Living Dead series. Diary of the Dead (2007) is somewhat of a return to form for Romero after 2005’s Land of the Dead, once again producing the film independently, and it really shows that the story teller we fell in love with is back.
Plot:
If I were to try to describe Diary of the Dead through half-hearted analogies, I would probably describe it as a mixture of The Blair Witch Project and Night of the Living Dead. That description doesn’t really do it justice though, so let’s get into a bit more detail. The story centers around a group of college students from the University of Pittsburgh who are making a horror film as a school project along with their faculty advisor. During a late night film shoot, the exasperated actors hear news of some sort of disaster on their radio and decide to call it a night.
This is where everything really begins, as upon returning to the dorms with his camera still rolling, Jason (the student film’s director and cameraman) finds the building deserted except for his girlfriend Debra. The group decides that something serious must be going on and this sends them on an RV road trip east to Scranton, Pennsylvania to try to get to their respective homes and check on their families.
During this entire situation, which is quickly becoming more and more serious, Jason refuses to stop filming. He insists that he needs to capture what is occurring because it may be an important historical event and his ambition was always to be a documentarian. This causes a lot of tension among the group of survivors. As one can probably imagine, having your friend constantly filming during a disaster situation and interviewing you for your reactions would probably get old pretty fast.
Add to that the fact that the dead are coming back to life and you’re got the makings of a pretty shitty road trip on your hands. This all works excellently in the film however, as it forces a lot of dramatic interaction between the characters. At some points I almost felt like I was reading The Walking Dead, another zombie story which focused more on characters than gore. It’s because of this focus on character interaction that Romero really gave you characters that you care about and that you could root for their survival. That is also exactly what made Night of the Living Dead so great.
Characters:
Speaking of the characters, they are so important to this film and so central to its action that they deserve to be spoken of more in depth. Our protagonist is Jason, the man behind the camera and the determined documentarian who wills himself to record this cataclysmic event. Frequently at odds with the other survivors because of his stubborn refusal to stop filming, Jason on several occasions must defend his decision to document the beginning of the end of the world.
On the other side of the fence however is Debra, his girlfriend and former filmmaking hopeful who has since become disillusioned by their medium of choice. Debra is not only frustrated by the way Jason can so easily record the gruesome events that unfold, but she also shares her thoughts on the propensity of mankind to be more interested in watching a disaster than lending a hand to help.
The rest of the cast is almost equally complex and each has their own set of issues to deal with, other than the whole walking dead try to eat them thing. I can’t stress enough how well done the dialogue and development of the characters was pulled off by Romero and the entire cast. Then of course there are characters that serve a smaller role but are equally interesting to watch. My favorite of which from early on in the film is a deaf Amish man named Samuel that the survivors run into when their RV breaks down near his farm. I won’t spoil what happens with Samuel, but let me just say that it involves a zombie and a scythe.
Style
Shown from the perspective of Jason’s handheld camera, and sometimes from spliced in shots from cell phone cameras or online streaming videos, Diary of the Dead pulls off the documentary style really well. Even the music, editing, and narration are justified at the very beginning when Debra assures the audience that on top of preserving the truth with their movie, they want to scare you, and like so many film students are prone to do she even details what equipment their movie was filmed and edited with. It seems like Romero watched the Blair Witch Project and crossed out everything that didn’t work, and in doing so made the most plausible documentary-style horror film yet.
DVD Extras
There is a lot of content on this DVD. Seriously, a lot. Other than a fantastic horror movie, you also get loads of bonus features. If there is any aspect of this film you are interested in learning more about, there is probably a feature on it. The cast, make-up, effects, cinematography and design, and that’s not one featurette that includes all of those things. Each of those things is covered in its very own feature. There is even a video titled “The First Week” which details the first seven days of shooting. It’s like a mini film school on a disc. There are also several interviews with George Romero himself so you can hear from the master himself. The only other thing I would have liked on the DVD which wasn’t is a commentary track, as I love hearing what the cast and crew thought as they’re seeing the film.
Final Thoughts:
I have not really enjoyed a zombie movie in quite a while. I think the last one I really liked was Shaun of the Dead, because let’s face it, Simon Pegg is hilarious, and when I’ve got a new issue of the Walking Dead to read each month it sort of fills my zombie quota. I am so glad I saw this film though. It not only restored my faith that a good living dead movie can still be made in the 21st century, but I also thoroughly enjoyed it. If you have any interest in horror at all, or if you ever have in the past, this film is one to have in your collection.
Produced by: TMS Entertainment, Showgate Distributed by: Madman Entertainment Media: DVD Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-fi Runtime: 89 minutes, 1 DVD Rating: PG Available from: Madman $29
PREMISE
Everyone knows that Science Fiction is a genre that very often allows for a very high degree of creativity on the part of a creator or producer. There have been many visions of the future in science fiction that are often shared and displayed amongst popular media. Each has their own different take on the future, and each a different prediction regarding the fate of the Earth and Humanity. Entire facets of popular culture are focused around the genre. The creative opportunities that it provides however can be either liberating, or restricting, depending on the creative vision of the creator. As an animated anime series, it is quite obvious that TO (2001 Nights) is a series that attempts to follow in this stead. From the same creative minds behind animation series’ such as Appleseed and Vexille, TO (2001 Nights) tells two stories of humanity as it finally reaches the space-age, and how a few select individuals deal with the challenges along the way.
“The most dangerous thing in space – is MAN
Elliptical Orbit Fifteen years after its last contact with our world, a space freighter known as the Flying Dutchman requests permission to dock at a remote moon base. This mysterious ship carries liquid protons: a power source essential to the survival of Earth’s population. But before the precious cargo can be delivered, the base is ambushed by galactic terrorists who seek to destroy the new form of energy and issue a death sentence to all of humanity.
Symbiotic Planet Against a backdrop of peculiar alien life forms, Aon and Elena – star-crossed lovers from rival countries – struggle to build a life together despite the objections of their superiors. Their budding romance is thwarted by an outbreak of potent alien fungus and the interference of a cutthroat militaristic madman. To survive, the young couple must maintain their faith in each other… and learn to trust the unique creatures which inhabit this strange and wondrous planet.” -DVD Blurb
STORY
Immediately it should be noted that the story and plot-line of the DVD is divided into two separate stories. The actual story takes place within these two separate OVA’s and features completely different characters and events to drive the story. Named ‘Elliptical Orbit and Symbiotic Planet’ respectively, the two OVA’s display different themes that provide insight into two very different challenges that humanity will likely face in a day and age where expansion into outer space becomes necessary. Despite the fact that the two stories seem to be told within the confines of the same contextual universe and timeframe, the two different films feature almost no plot driven connection.
The common link that is shared between both films is that of discovery in outer space. Centuries from now, the Earth has finally reached its limit in which it was able to sustain the human populace. With natural resources running out and environmental degradation occurring on unprecedented scales, humanity has been forced to take to the stars. Those who have played through a Star Ocean game in the past will find this familiar territory. Both assume a contextual state of mankind’s first exploration voyages to explore and colonise newly discovered worlds. However, the two are completely individual, and might be viewed as such by some, and as a combination by others.
The first film: Elliptical Orbit centres around the topic of human concerns of moving into outer space, and features a much stronger focus on the human aspects of war and ageing. The movie is centralised around a resource transport station that receives an unexpected visit from a ship that had suddenly returned from a 15 year exploration mission. It is revealed that the ship contains a very precious cargo, vital to the survival of humans both on Earth and in Outer Space. The chief of the station, Dan, discovers that Maria, an old acquaintance of his is the captain of the vessel, and the two discuss how their lives have changed over the past 15 years. However, as the excitement over the shipment starts to build, the station suddenly becomes the target of a mysterious terrorist group, who hold a grudge against the notion of humanity moving into space and leaving Earth Dwellers behind to rot on a dying planet. The arrival of the precious cargo acts as a catalyst for their attack. A conflict erupts on the station and it is up to a select few folks aboard to defend the station and keep humanity’s dream of space exploration alive.
The second film: Symbiotic Planet concerns itself more with notions of both Romance and Environmental preservation. On an alien world, two rival alliances have set up colonisation operations, and both attempt to pave the way for the future of intergalactic development. Only problem: the two groups do not get on well. At all. However, between the tension and potential for conflict lies a very sci-fi style Romeo and Juliet story between two lovers from the rivalling groups, named Aon and Elena. During a meeting with the United Nations representatives to determine the future of the planet, a sudden outbreak of a strange alien fungus infects both groups, and suddenly all bets are off. Caught between their loyalties to their own countries and each other, the two must fight for not only their own survival, but for the fate of the planet itself.
It must be said, that even though Symbiotic Planet features a rather cheesy and overdone romance sub-plot, I enjoyed it more out of the two. While certain parts of the whole “fated lovers” plot gets a bit hard to swallow at points, I feel the story development that occurs within this film is far greater than that which occurred in Elliptical Orbit. Generally speaking, Symbiotic Planet is the better of the two films. The characters were more interesting, more plot development takes place and more context is provided. With Elliptical Orbit, the story flows really disjointedly. There are significant plot points and action sequences in the film that are completely left out. There are a few points where the viewers are told a gun-battle or scuffle takes place, but is never actually shown. In a sci-fi anime that attempts to sell itself in the sci-fi action-drama genre, the film seemed to do a bad job at nailing that second point. In the whole film there was one gun battle. One, and highly anti-climatic. Heck, even the first genre point was lack-lustre. The drama facet of the anime was only told through the rather rocky and ambiguously confusing relationship between the two protagonists. That said, Symbiotic Planet is not without its flaws. Without giving away much, the plot-twist that occurs close to the end is weak, and the flow of events painfully predictable given the many hints of conflict that are dropped throughout.
Overall, in terms of story, both film did a great job at establishing context and the universe itself, but were rather poor in their own delivery of their individual stories.
CHARACTERS
Within the confines of the two films, only the four lead characters are really worth noting:
Dan
The 1st lead character in Elliptical Orbit, Dan is the chief of operations aboard the Earth’s orbital transport station. He is a rather aged fellow that clearly retains the ability to hold a grudge. He commands a great deal of loyalty and respect from his crew. He is seen at the beginning of the film talking about the movement of comets and how their rare visits make him feel like an old man. It is revealed that he had lost his family either to sickness or war over the past 15 years, and the re-emergence of Maria from the depths of space triggers a feeling of both anger and regret. His relationship with Maria is ambiguous up until the very end. Despite the fact that Dan is one of the main characters, he really didn’t do much of anything in the whole film. He only really ever helped by distracting a single terrorist and provided Maria with a few tactical suggestions. Even though he clearly was not someone familiar with combat, his role as a protagonist should have had him playing a greater role in the grand scheme of the film. Overall, as a character, his performance was pretty forgettable.
Maria
As the other lead character of Elliptical Orbit, and the captain of the star ship ‘Flying Dutchman’, Maria probably plays the largest role in the story. Unlike Dan, her own origins are kept a secret until the very end of the film, which suddenly throws a real “What the?” moment in the faces of the audience. Her crew are loyal to her, but the reasons for gaining that loyalty are implied as being adult in nature. Her relationship with Dan often is clearly one with a history, and she has regrets about not being able to keep in contact. However despite her lack of back story, she feels a stronger character for it, and she take it upon herself to drive out the terrorists as a responsibility not only to Dan, but also to herself and humanity.
Aon
The male lead of Symbiotic Planet, Aon is an American biologist from the allied American base situated on an alien world. He is a determined and clever young man, and he clearly harbours strong feelings for Elena. This is reflected in both his determination to see her while keeping her safe, and his scorn at the insistence of his superiors that seeing her will be a liability to their cause. It is Aon that first discovers the outbreak of the alien fungus which causes a dramatic lock-down of the American station during the UN talks. In an effort to see that their safety is not compromised, Aon shows that he is willing to risk his life to research the planet better to avoid humanity exploiting it, as it has done with countless other worlds. Overall, his role in Symbiotic Planet was well tuned and well executed for a futuristic Romeo and Juliet plot.
Elena
The female lead of Symbiotic Planet, Elena is a diplomatic representative for the Eurasisan colony. Like Aon, her superiors believe that her infatuation with Aon will jeopardise the goals of their nation’s development in outer space. She too clearly thinks that a potential for violence may arise. It does sooner than expected when she discovers that Aon has been subjected to the outbreak of the alien fungus. Determined to see him safely through his ordeal, and hopefully stop an armed conflict between the two nations, she risks her own life to brave the fungus spore and find her lost love. Elena most certainly takes a back seat in terms of plot focus in this story. Most of the plot focuses around Aon as opposed to her. That said however, the scenes she is present for do helpfully establish the context of tension between the two factions, as a diplomatic representative. While not the best developed story-wise, she does provide Aon a reason to keep going.
AUDIO / VISUAL
The visual stylings of this anime are actually very unique and well animated. Returning to the idea of creative freedom in terms of the sci-fi genre, the creators have clearly made the most of the opportunity. The three-dimensional character and environment modelling is a unique animation style. As it stands, it does not look like the strictest definition of the “anime” framework that many viewers come to know. The construction of the environments provides a very high-tech, and otherworldly feel to both films. The level of detail made in this respect is a little overwhelming. Along a similar note, the character modelling was very interesting to see. Even though the animation in terms of characters was not done in the same two dimensional style of anime, it still very much felt like an anime given the pallet of cell-shaded colour schemes. A cell shaded three dimension anime in essence. It is clear that a lot of attention has been paid to creating a really strong and really well honed visual experience.
While watching, especially the character models, I could not help but draw a comparison in my head to the same visual style that was recycled from Appleseed. While doing animation in this style is not the most original of concepts, visually, it still provides a pleasant viewing experience. But most of all, I found myself comparing the two TO films to Fire Emblem of all things. OK, one is sci-fi the other fantasy, but the visual stylings of the films were IDENTICAL to that of the animated scenes in Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn (Wii) and Path of Radiance(Gamecube). After a little checking, I found that even some of the voice actors are the same! Turns out that the creators and development groups also dabble in video game production. Who’d have thunk it?
The only issue I have with the visuals of the OVA’s is that they were focused on a little TOO much. Even though they were very well developed and neatly displayed, it felt like the storyline and plot flow in both films was being sacrificed for it. This is more so in Elliptical Orbit, but both films had this issue. No matter how good a visual presentation may be, it should not take precedence over other facets of the film. I think too much pride may have been put in this unique visual presentation, and as such, the story’s of both suffered.
As for audio quality, the music pitch and regulation was quite decent. Not anything fanstastically mind blowing or disappointing. I felt that the music selection was well chosen to endear a sense of wonderment at galactic exploration, and yet still retained the appropriateness of human-earth-like situations. The voice acting was also well chosen and well executed to provide a strong sense of engagement with English speaking audiences, however I did notice that voice match-up between the English voices and the original Japanese facial animations was poor at some points.
CONCLUSIONS
Overall both films were ultimately enjoyable to watch. Both were a great and unique visual experience, but I do feel that the suffering of the story behind the overwhelming importance of the graphic presentation hinders the credit I can attribute it. The disjointed pace of story flow is a significant criticism in itself. Symbiotic Planet is most certainly worth viewing on its own merits. But the films do come in a double pack, so one might as well take a look at Elliptical Orbit too. Ultimately, I feel that TO (2001 Nights) was a decent animation presentation, but it could have been so much more if a few story and plot details were better attended to.
