I think it’s time to get a little… cRaZY! Made by foreign developer FAKT Software, Crazy Machines: Elements tests your mind thoroughly to see if you have what it takes to solve over 100 puzzles. The elements factor is brought in by fog machines, lightning generators, rain drops, and lots of flammable items. If you ever need a good *kick*, just drop some nitrous fluid – explosions equal awesomeness.
Better yet players are able to create their own awesome inventions to get the party going. Unlock challenge mode where you can attempt to solve the most difficult inventions online! Gather your nuts and bolts, this game is getting a little screwy.
Finally, One Piece fans get their first look at the upcoming One Piece Gigant Battle 2: New World game for the Nintendo DS. Namco Bandai Games have released an incredibly in depth trailer that not only shows off some of the gameplay but it also reveals that the game will be backwards compatible with the original One Piece Gigant Battle in some capacity.
Also featured in the trailer is a perculiar new theme song, which many fans have begun to speculate could very well be the new opening theme song for One Piece once the series moves into the New World on the 2nd of October, 2011. Only time will tell. For now you check out the epic trailer yourself below. Leave a comment letting us know your thoughts.
Proving that you can never have enough preview trailers for something, Persona 4: The Animation has now got it’s 12th trailer out on the web and boy is it a doosy. The trailer weighs in at 32 seconds long and shows more than we have seen from any previous trailer. We get to see clips of some nifty action sequences as well as several character designs.
So if you are at all interested in the upcoming anime series adaptation of Persona 4, aptly titled Persona 4: The Animation, then gives the video below a spin what is definitely some interesting 32 seconds of viewing for Persona fans. Leave a comment below letting us know what you think of it.
Darker Than Black is a series that is well, pretty dark, as you can tell from it’s title. Season 2 otherwise known as “Gemini of the Meteor” takes the series in a new direction, to some controversy from it’s fans.
Funimation recently acquired the second divisive season along with the OVA series that conncets season 1 and 2 together. They will be releasing both bundled together on the 11th of October, 2011.
In anticipation of Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor’s release, Funimation have begun streaming a trailer for the upcoming dub release. You can check it out below.
Yes I was tempted to put “ranga” in the title, but we all know that’s offensive, plus I love redheads. Looks like I’m not alone in this, after the uproar about the blonde being chosen, they had a revote. Now that the blatant marketing exercise of picking a default hair colour is over, the redhead was the clear winner. No doubt not many people will actually pick the default character, they’ll probably just go with their original character from the previous games.
This was probably a pointless hype exercise on facebook, who knew hair colour would make people fire up so much? Apparently it was sexist and subsequently everyone voiced their opinion (hatin’ on blondes), at the end of the day it’s a good thing for female gamers and gets people interested in picking a female lead, instead of the typical male lead. Having a redhead femshep is less offensive and more dynamic apparently, also sexier IMO and it sells! Let me know if you disagree. Fire up!
Street Fighter III: Third Strike: Online Edition Platform: XBLA Publisher: Capcom Developer: Iron Galaxy Studios, Capcom Genre: Fighter
Overview:
They say that the third strike is what counts. That rings very true with Street Fighter III, which is widely considered to be the most underappreciated Street Fighter game in the franchise. It is what you could call the black sheep of the franchise, it has a different vibe and feel, is missing many of the popular characters from Street Fighter II that preceded it and was originally released in what can be called awkward timing. However with current revival of Street Fighter III on the arcade, does the game fianlly recieve the justice is so long has deserved?
Gameplay:
Street Fighter III: Third Strike: Online Edition, plays the same as other Street Fighter games, with tight combat and emphasis on button combinations that have captivated fans since the first Street Fighter. The feeling of pulling off a difficult combination move is indeed a feeling of satisfaction. That is Third Strike succeeds. It leaves the player feeling satisfied.
Not only does it leave the player satisfied but it also provides a great deal of challenge. Now, Street Fighter games have never been easy, but even veterans may struggle at moments with this game. The game has been polished to the bone and is put simply, a perfect version of Street Fighter III.
With the addition of the Online mode, Street Fighter III succeeds at bringing the nostalgic old school Street Fighter style online with intense clashes between players world-wide. The online system works perfectly, however I was somewhat disappointed that I couldn’t bring my local player 2 online with me into a lobby. But that’s only a minor gripe.
I know I may cop some flack for this, but character-wise I believe Street Fighter III, has the most diverse and well rounded cast of any Street Fighter title (my personal favourite is Yang, who doesn’t appear outside of this game, but don’t call me biased). The cast just feels most complete here, even though it does miss out on some from Street Fighter II, I don’t believe their absence was distracting or disappointing as many said about the game when it was originally released.
Overall the gameplay is astounding and has rejuvinated the original Street Fighter III to the point that this could have been a full retail rerelease. The gameplay has been polished to perfection and the new online mode as well as challenges adds so much more playability to the title, in comparison to the original release.
Visuals:
The graphics appear to be a slight update on the original release, however largely retains the same quality, which is brilliant. It is a mixture of the old style with the new and it pulls it off effortlessly. The character models are much crisper this time and and fighting animation seems more smoother as well. Making fights much more visually impressive.
The menu’s are surprisingly visually pleasing as well. With the stream-lined design and smooth transitions, it looks as good as the fights and provides a nice visual experience whilst traversing possible gameplay modes and options. The graphics all in all are well done and provide a crisp, smooth design through-out.
Audio:
One of the first things you notice with Street Fighter III, is it’s instantly memorable theme song “Knock You Out” performed by Canadian rapper Infinite. The song embodies the concept of Street Fighter III and provides the quotable line “You know what they say, the third strike is what counts”. That line along makes that specific song resonate with the player and is sure to pump them up for some ass-kicking in the streets.
The entire soundtrack in general is so well done and sticks with the player long after they turn off their console. When a game can have you humming it’s tunes as your walking down the road or catching a train, or whatever else you do besides play it, you know that it had one hell of a soundtrack. That is the case with Street Fighter III. It simply has an amazing soundtrack.
Conclusion:
Street Fighter III: Third Strike: Online Edition, does a lot of things right. It does little wrong as a matter of fact. It is a game that has been completely polished to perfection and given new life on the Xbox Live Arcade. It plays just as well as it use to, if not better and is simply a testament to Capcom detesters claiming that all these updates of older games are unnecessary. I say, take a look a this game and tell me it shouldn’t have been made. The sheer amount of polish applied to this game is evident and puts the original to shame.
If you have yet to pick up Street Fighter III: Third Strike: Online Edition, do yourself a favour and do so. It is a brilliant game on all accounts and deserves to be played, en masse.
I give Street Fighter III: Third Strike: Online Edition:
Prepare for another potential legal battle as the hackers are at it again, this time assaulting the XBox360 and essentially jailbreaking it to read unsigned code. According to those responsible the exploit the have found is unpatchable by microsoft. Earlier model XBox consoles were also vunerable to the so called “jtag” hack but Microsoft have eliminated the ability to do this in all current models. Even so, the hacking scene behind the XBox360 seems relentless and have managed to appease the appetites of internet pirates worldwide through hardware modifications allowing them to play stolen titles.
How will Microsoft react to such news especially with the amount of time and effort they have put into the security measures on their new dashboards which rewrite modded DVD drives back to official status. There are a handful of legitimate users who will use the hack for their own homebrew and to fully utilise their systems while others will simply see it as another form of piracy. Microsoft can only try come up with some kind of security measure to stop it, I guess the saving grace is this isnt anything new to them, just another way to hack their already hacked console. Expect some kind of retaliation from Microsoft especially with the success Sony had in the GeoHot case.
Hugely popular Japanese rock band, The Pillows, known for their works on several anime soundtracks most notably for FLCL, have announced that they will be touring the United States next month. They have previously toured the United States in the past but not in such a grand capacity.
This tour will see The Pillows traversing the country with 5 shows, the first being held on the 5th of September and the last being on the 13th of September. Joining The Pillows on tour will be two other bands, however they have yet to be determined as of posting.
You can check out tour dates and purchase tickets here. Leave a comment below letting us know what you think of The Pillows U.S. Tour.
Madman Entertainment made their presence known at Manifest 2011, with the premiere of Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing, before it even hits Japanese screens. Not only this but Madman even gave fans a chance to record lines for the upcoming Last Exile series.
But wait, there is more! Madman even filmed some fans and interviewed them following the premiere screening of the first episode of Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing, some of which will actually make it to Japanese television during the Last Exile TV Special that will air a week before the series premiere in Japan.
This is simply huge for the Australian Anime industry and is once again a sign of Madman Entertainment making leaps and bounds in advancing the industry on Australian shores.
Now onto even more interesting news, the acquisitions! Madman revealed some really killer titles here, some that had long been speculated. Check out what was announced:
Fairy Tail – First collection to be released on the 18th of January, 2012.
Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing – To be simulcast from Japan in October and will have it’s retail release once a dub has been produced by Funimation in the U.S.
Rosario + Vampire and Rosario + Vampire Capu2 – To be released at some time during 2012.
Patlabor, Patlabor 2 OVAs and Mobile Police Patlabor – To be released as one collection with a date still to be confirmed.
These are all heavily requested titles and it’s great to see that Madman listens to their fans and delivers thusly. Leave a comment below with your thoughts on these monumental announcements.
Let’s Create! Pottery is now available to the Nindendo DSi and Nintendo 3DS systems. Originally an app for iOS and Android devices, to date it has been downloaded more than 2 million times! This clay spinning game shot to the charts and was a number one app in the entertainment category of App Store, topping in 50 countries including the US, UK, Japan and China!
In Let’s Create! Pottery you do just that, create pottery, without all the mess and money spent on materials and instruments. Have your own ‘Sam and Molly moment’ from the movie, Ghost, with your special someone in the comfort of your own sofa, sans the sludge, dirt and heavy clean-up! When you embrace your artistic side, you can craft items themed to your individual delights. Fancy a sleek modern piece of art? Or how about Ancient Egyptian pottery? Not far back enough? You can even add elements from the caveman era!
Let’s Create! Pottery is available through the Nintendo DSi Shop on the Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL and the Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS.
