Yes it is as epic as it sounds. Weezer, that rock band you sort of know about but never cared enough about, have announced that in January 2012 they will be holding a rock festival on a cruise ship. They have already announced a line-up for the cruise:
Dinosaur Jr.
Sebadoh
Gene Ween
Dave Dreiwitz
Wavves
The Antlers
Yuck
Free Energy
Boom Bip
J. Mascis
Lou Barlow
Keepaway
Ozma
The Nervous Wreckords
Sleeper Agent
Yacht Rock Review
That is without a doubt an impressive line-up which of course will be opened and closed by the headlining act themsevles, Weezer. Fans will be able to chill out with the bands between performances and take advantage of all of the luxuries of the cruise ship as it travels from Miami to a Mexican island called Cozumel.
This may be the wierdest Weezer news in a long time, but they are certainly no stranger to the wierd (check out the cover art of their past two albums). If you want to set sail with Weezer and friends this January, prices start at $799 USD for double cabins or four people can travel togethor for $599 each. Pre-sale tickets go on sale here on the 21st of July and tickets for the general public go on sale on the 11th of August.
Get in quick, this is probably the wierdest thing Weezer has done thus far and probably will continue to be until they purchase the mexican island at the end of the cruise and force everyone to become part of their own sick recreation of the television series Lost. Oh and they will probably throw Hurley onto the island against his will as well.
If you want to be a part of this, get in quick, tickets will go fast and be sure to check out the Weezer Cruise promo below.
In a conversation over twitter, renowned nerd icon and actor, Bruce Campbell may have confirmed the existence of the Evil Dead 4 movie. This movie is likely under production, should the rumour be true and this will surely make all fans of both/either Bruce Campbell and/or Evil Dead.
In the responsible twitter post, Bruce Campbell expels his excitement over the project –
@TheMike31 Believe in the remake, dawg! The project is real. In the works. Cool as hell. Scary as hell.
Though, if you follow Bruce Campbells official twitter, it also brings up the possiblility that it could, infact, be a remake of the original movie.
@mondojay@reddit Good people. My tweet was about remaking Evil Dead – not Evil Dead 4.
If this is to be true, this is exciting news for all fans everywhere!
Bleach Collection 9 Tag Line: Goodbye, Halcyon Days Produced by: Viz Media (US) Madman (AU) Run time: 325 minutes in 13 episodes Language: English, Japanese Genre: Action, Adventure, Shounen, Supernatural Release Date: 15/6/2011 Available for purchase at Madman Online Store ($49.95)
Overview:
Bleach is by no means, a perfect series. In fact it’s so very far from it, that I have come to enjoy it simply for what it is: a fun action series. There is a stigma attached to Bleach that is by and large unwarranted or at the very least unnecessary. So often the series is put down for it’s minor problems or issues, however if it were in any other series, those problems would be ignored. The stigma attached is that Tite Kubo, the creator of Bleach is put simply, a troll. A creator who does not care for his fans and simply wants to troll them. I don’t believe this is the case at all, in fact it’s more a case of Kubo being a better artist than a writer.
Sure he can write, but more than anything he is an artist. By and large he does his art better than his writing, which is known for several plot-holes or an inconsistent pacing. But is there a way to enjoy Bleach on a more simpler level than applying such hounding expectations upon it? Why yes, yes there is. Bleach when it hits it’s stride can do great things and in some cases, astonishing things.
Story:
The overarching storyline of the chapter can be summed up by the arc phrase “Goodbye, Halcyon Days” which roughly means “Goodbye, Peaceful Days”, or more literally “Goodbye, Peaceful Days Before the Winter”. All of those phrases sum up the storyline of this collection which is all about saying goodbye to peaceful days.
Things in the world of Bleach have become rather heavy, with mounting revelations and new character introductions, it’s hard not to think Kubo has layed things on a little thick here. Which he has, there is little explaination, but plenty of questions raised.
The arrancar arc in general is comprised of new revlations and a large slew of new characters introduced. How many characters does Bleach have by now? We have hundreds of Human and Soul Society characters and now we have all these Hueco Mundo inhabitants? More doesn’t always mean better. Think of it like this, Kubo has created hundreds of characters. How many of them actually matter? Less than 10? That is a serious problem with the story-telling of Bleach and something that bogs it down from the flashes of greatness that it is capable of.
Sadly a large portion of this collection is dedicated to the series spinning its wheels. We have limp filler episodes that simply take any random character that I’d hazard a guess was simply drawn out of a hat and throws them into a random storyline that may very well also be drawn out of a hat. I mean, a random soul reaper from the research squad is sent to the human world for no other reason then to help a chef make a cake?
On top of these simply pathetic filler episodes we have the series spin its wheels even further with more random Arrancars come to the human world for a few episodes to fight and to slow things down even further. However, thankfully after this is all said and done, the story kicks into hyper speed and finally gets to the good stuff.
The heartbreaking interaction between Orihime Inoue and Ichigo Kurosaki is without a doubt the series best moment thus far. That moment right there is proof that Kubo isn’t entirely without writing talent. Also the invasion upon Hueco Mundo was well done and absolutely overdue. The ending of this collection more than made up for the beginning which was dreadful. Thank god for that.
Characters:
Bleach has too many characters, its that simple. It’s so difficult to focus on what everyone is doing at one time, that eventually you decide to just focus on whomever you care most for and more than likely there is only 1 character you can truly identify with here and if they don’t get much screen time then all of this may seem somewhat monotonous to you.
This collection however took leaps and bounds with a few characters development, particularly ones who desperately have needed it for a long time (Orihime, Chad and Uryu). With the series defining moment in Orihime’s “Goodbye, Halcyon Days” scene and Chad and Uryu’s decimation of some lowly Arrancar in Hueco Mundo, Kubo has taken great steps towards better futures for these characters. However everyone else takes a back-seat to the action, as is the case in nearly every episode of Bleach since the Soul Society arc. Which is really a shame.
The fact that Kubo has accumulated hundreds of junk characters is more than anything the greatest flaw in the entire series, thankfully the characters who aren’t junk get time to shine this collection.
Artwork:
As usual the art and animation is particularly good, with fluid fighting scenes and great character designs. We got to see all of the Espada this time around and I have to say a lot of their designs were hit or miss. Thankfully though, they all looked interesting at the very least.
It is interesting to note the similarities between Hueco Mundo and the Shinigami world of Death Note, which are nearly identical. I’m unsure whether this is simply a common form of imagery for this type of world in Japanese culture, but it was hard not to make comparisons. Both worlds are suitably baron and desolate, however the physics behind the Los Noches fortress in the distance was completely illogical, but its nothing that bad.
Bleach has always had an interesting style, which is very distinctive and that has not changes in this collection. That is nothing but good.
Audio:
The music was great in this collection. I loved the incidental music in both the Orihime/Ichigo goodbye scene and the invading Hueco Mundo scene. Both fit the scene perfectly and raised it to the next level, from average into epic. Both scenes have resonated with me and I believe that the incidental music is a large part of that.
We also had a new opening and ending theme introduced in this collection both of a which were great and will be a great theme for the Hueco Mundo invasion and beyond.
The voice work was all on par, minus a few dodgy one off character voices (that Chef in the filler episode was terrible). As usual Johnny Yong Bosch owns the screen as Ichigo, but this time around Stephanie Sheh stole the collection with the series defining moment from Orihime. “Goodbye, Halcyon Days” indeed.
Special Features:
This time around we nothing new besides the regular Production art, textless songs and trailers. I personally wish that Viz would give us commentary on these Bleach collections. Imagine Johnny Yong Bosch and Stephanie Sheh doing commentary on the Goodbye, Halcyon Days episode? That would have been amazing, unfortunately that isn’t what Viz has in mind it appears.
Thankfully the production art gallery is rather nice and features some interesting concept art and sketches of characters and locations. Other than that we have Madman’s trailers for their other releases which are nothing too interesting.
Conclusion:
Bleach Collection 9 features the series defining moment, but it also features some pretty terrible filler episode. Regardless of the filler, that defining moment helped to raise this collection to the greatest heights the series has thus far reached and for that..
Today Ubisoft announced it’s acquisition of Parisian developers Owlient, and with them, their incredibly large Howrse Brand and it’s 2million+ playerbase. The devloper has been around since 2005 and is largely focused on MMORPG development.
On the Merger, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot had this to say –
“We are thrilled to welcome the talented team at Owlient to Ubisoft. Over the last five years they have developed an architecture dedicated to delivering and monetising games as a service, as well as the skills of attracting and retaining online communities,” said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “This acquisition is the next step in the acceleration of Ubisoft’s free-to-play strategy following last year’s launch of Settlers Online, CSI Crime City and heroes Kingdoms, as well as the recent beta launch of our ambitious title Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online.”
Owlient seem to be quite pleased with the merger, with their own CEO, Oliver Issaly responding to the event thus –
“Joining the Ubisoft team will allow us to accelerate our international business and to expand our expertise and our games to new platforms. It also lets us integrate our proven online services architecture with Ubisoft’s so that we can help grow their brands online,” affirmed Olivier Issaly, chief executive officer of Owlient. “We are proud of what our team has accomplished and confident that joining Ubisoft will allow us to continue that success. We’d also like to thank our shareholder Innovacom, who has accompanied the Owlient team over the years as we developed.”
The Owlient merger is the latest in a series of mergers by the Publisher.
During Comic-Con 2011, Konami will be holding a signing for esteemed video game creator Hideo Kojima. You may know his works, as they are incredibly popular. Titles such as Metal Gear Solid and Zone of The Enders are attrributed to this legend in game design. The Signing will take place between 1:30PM and 3:30PM, on Thursday the 21st of July, and will be located in meeting rooms 16AB. Hideo Kojima will not be alone however, as he will be joined by Yoji Shikawa, head of the Art Department at Kojima Productions, as well as Yumi Kikuchi, a talented Japanese actress and voice of Raging Raven.
Konami will also be hosting a Cosplay competition, which arte always popular at any convention, which is likely to bring out the best and most attractive of cosplays. The Cosplay contest will be held on the Saturday between the times of 11AM and 2PM. Judging will be held from 12PM to 2PM. So be sure to check this event out, or if you’re cosplaying, take a chance and enter!
Showcasing some rather remarkable gameplay, Ubisoft have released a new alternative E3 walk through demo of Far Cry 3. Far Cry 3 takes place on a lawless island, beyond the limits of civilisation. A place ruled by piracy and misery. The walk through demonstrates a variety of weapons, such as pistols, machine guns and snipers, and shows you how to navigate your way through the dangerous terrain of the game. While only showing a glimpse of the gameplay and the capabilities you have at your fingertips, the game itself looks rather impressive; from exploding bridges to firing wildly while using a zip line. Far Cry 3 will be out in 2012 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. Check out the video below and let us know what you think.
The year 2027 is slowly creeping up on us. What is even closer is the date August 25, which is the official release date of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. To give you a little peak at what the game will have in store, a new trailer has been released with an emphasis on the storyline, and the conspiracies surrounding Sarif Industries, the company at the centre of much debate. Check out the trailer; become immersed in the compelling narrative and amazed by the spectacular graphics. The year 2027 is closer than it seems.
If this isn’t enough for you, and you want to see behind the scenes of the richly detailed game world, check out the accompanying video. The previously exclusive, ‘Cities’ video in the series ‘Behind 2027’ is now available for public viewing. Cities: Behind 2027 can be found here.
Care for some cheese on your iPhone? Well, you will have to sneak around in Firemint’s new title Spy Mouse to get it. Spy Mouse is the third big title from the creators of hits such as Flight Control and Real Racing. In Spy Mouse, players take control of Agent Squeak as he attempts to outsmart cats, tackle traps, and utilize an array of power-ups on this quest for cheese which spans 70 levels across six worlds.
Firemint had this to say about their new mousey title:
“SPY mouse is the third big original title from Firemint,” said Rob Murray, Director of Firemint. “It’s simple, compelling and surprisingly deep. SPY mouse is a really big deal for us, which is why it has been two years in the making. We wanted to get it just right, and we think it will be the must-have iPhone game for 2011.”
I was reminded a bit of Sheep Raider (which I loved back in it’s time) for the Playstation when I first heard of this title, just out of concept alone. Being that Spy Mouse has been 2 years in the making though has certainly makes me a bit curious if this could be the next “Angry Birds” or something of that caliber for the platform. You can check out the trailer below to get introduced to Agent Squeak, and Spy Mouse is due out for the iOS later this summer.
Those of you waiting patiently for some sort of new information, possibly even a release date on the mysterious FF Versus XIII, may just have to keep waiting. Square Enix’s Tetsuya Nomura’s anticipated interview in Japanese magazine Famitsu has revealed only small amounts of information, no screenshots and news that the game is not even in “full production”. Final Fantasy Versus XIII missed E3 earlier this year and Square Enix hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with details on the title, but as the Tokyo Game Show nears; anticipation for the games appearance grows. I’ll be there to find out and hopefully the game isn’t in question of actually being produced.
Details emerged that the player will able to move the camera during cut scenes, something that hasn’t really been done in FF games, but hey they started making sequels to sequels so something needs to give. Nomura also compared the “event scenes” to that of the FPS genre; obviously Square Enix is looking to make some changes, given their performance of late.
Keeping with the theme of vague and frustrating, combat was touched upon in the interview, described as “dynamic” and constantly changing to keep things fresh. The cut scenes were shown to the interviewer in real-time and apparently, they were so detailed and impressive, it was difficult to believe. However they won’t be revealed to the public, which is a shame. Nomura did mention some small information would be revealed next week, whether or not something major comes out of the Tokyo Game show is another question. Hopefully come September when I’m there, I can get my hands on it, I’m really interested to see what Square Enix will be doing with the JRPG.
There has been many charity video game marathons in the past, ranging from gamers jumping their way through all the Mario games to even speed-runs of Metroid games.
But with this particular charity marathon, these gamers won’t be just completing games, they will be attempting to successfully capture all 649 Pokemon across 8 different Pokemon games in the span of a mere 72 hours.
The group attempting this feat are known as Pro3Studios. The games they will be playing through are as follows:
Pokemon FireRed
Pokemon Emerald
Pokemon Diamond
Pokemon Pearl
Pokemon HeartGold
Pokemon SoulSilver
Pokemon Black
Pokemon White
During the marathon attempt to catch em’ all, Pro3Studios will be accepting donations through Paypal with all proceeds going to the Children’s Miracle Network.
They will attempt the catch all 649 Pokemon on the 15th of July. For more information visit their offical facebook page here.
Special thanks to Gamemarathon.com for the banner.
