One of the most important thing about any title is to listen to what the community has to say. Football, with its large fan base, is notorious for its dedicated fanbase, and EA Sports is collaborating with fans in developing FIFA Manager 12.
FIFA Manager 12 has more than 700 improvements, and includes a full feature set, including features inspired and determined by the community. Through an online campaign called “Your Feature!”, thousands of fans contributed their ideas on what they’d like to see in the latest release of the franchise. Fans would suggest which features they wanted to see in the game, and community voting took over after that. Some of the new features include “Speeches Before The Match”, the tutorial “Manager Challenges”, and “Trial Training Day for Hobby Players”.
Other improvements in FIFA Manager 12 include enhancements in 3D mode, finances, transfers, the calendar, and online play. 3D Mode will see new logic and player AI, as well as improvements to tactics, substitutions, and the conduct of opposing managers. Financial mode will now have on-the-pitch success impacting revenue, and realistic differences between revenue generated in regards to different clubs. In transfer mode, managers can field players in training and in real matches.
The Melbourne Anime Festival – “Manifest” for short – is just around the corner and cosplayers are working hard making things slowly getting into panic mode as the convention draws closer (myself included) it isn’t Melbourne’s biggest anime and manga convention for no reason.
Big events running such as the cosplay contest that draws a huge crowd (get in-line early) along with the video game tournaments, games being played are still yet to be announced. Expect things along the lines of Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition and Super Smash Brothers Brawl to be playable throughout the day in the games section.
The convention is being held Friday 26th – Sunday 28th of August at the Melbourne Showgrounds, pre-registration has sadly closed as of now, but tickets can still be brought on the day a 3 day pass coming in at $55, a single day being $35 and Friday being $30.
Little Kuriboh is back for his second year in a row to manifest so if you missed him last year or at SMASH here is another chance to see him, he should be around for all 3 days.
Baka and Test: Season One Studio: Silver Link Localization: FUNimation Languages: English and Japanese Dub Release Date: August 2, 2011 Price: $59.98 DVD / $59.95 BLU-RAY
Overview:
Do you think that your school life is boring? Well it most likely is because it can’t be anything compared to what school life is in Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts Season 1. In the world of Baka and Test you are given grades, but these grades mean more than one thing. Does a normal school consist of battles between different classes? How about a school where you’re fighting power equals that of your intellectual power? If that sounds up your alley then prepare for Baka and Test.
Story:
On the outside, Fumizuki Academy may appear to be your average school, but it is anything but average. Fumizuki is a special battle academic school which means that students will be able to battle it out with other students using mini avatars in what is called a Summoner Test War. When the students enter the school they are given a test that will determine what class they will be placed in, anywhere from Rank A being the best students and Rank F being the absolute idiots.
The main protagonist of the story is probationary student and Grade A idiot (baka) Akihisa Yoshii. During this placement test he did so poorly he was placed in Class F. However something else occurred during the placement test, a girl who can be called one of the smartest in the entire school named Mizuki Himeji fell ill and could not complete her test, also placing her in Class F. Akihisa meets up with his fellow friends in Class F, including Class F rep. Yuji Sakamoto, Kōta Tsuchiya who has an extremely perverted nature, the ever feminine looking Hideyoshi Kinoshita, and the violent Minami Shimada.
Each class’ classroom is given equipment and learning utensils equal to their rank, meaning Class A has a luxurious mansion type learning area while Class F is forced to sit on empty cushions and wooden tables so old they break at the slightest touch. Because of these horrible learning conditions Akihisa is determined to provide a better quality of learning for Himeji. Because of this he goes along with Yuji’s plan to take on every class in school so that they can swap their equipment out with that of the best class, Class A.
As far as the battling goes, this means that usually the class with the higher rank is going to have a higher attacking power and therefore be nearly impossible for lower classes to defeat. This means that for nearly every single battle Yuji and Akihisa have to come up with some underhanded and brilliant strategies to try and outsmart their more intelligent counterparts.
Now the primary focus of the story is on these inter-classroom battles but that doesn’t mean that the whole focus of the anime is on that. There is also a heavy influence of a romantic comedy at work in Baka and Test Season 1. It is clear early on that Akihisa has some feelings for Himeji, though he never clearly states them besides looking to provide her with a better learning environment. On the other hand Himeji quite obviously shows that she has feelings for Akihisa. Put this together with the fact that her rival in love Minami is much more forceful in her approach the two often end up pulling Akihisa in two separate directions, both wanting him to spend time with them.
One part that I disliked about this element of the show however is that, despite their extremely obvious feelings for Akihisa, he is completely oblivious to the fact that these two girls are in love with him. This makes Akihisa not only the biggest idiot in the history of anime but also one of the densest.
Besides my dislike for the stupendous stupidity that Akihisa possesses towards both Minami and Himeji the series certainly has a lot going for it in storyline. Beyond that there is plenty of laughter to be had as the classes battle it out with one another and the students of Class F are put into compromising positions, namely involving either Akihisa or Hideyoshi.
Artwork:
The animation quality for Baka and Test is very well done. The backgrounds are very well drawn, especially when you compare the luxuriousness of Class A’s room compared to the condemned feeling of Class F. The color palette that they used for everything in the show is nice to look at, though some characters have very unique hair such as Himeji’s bright pink hair.
The character designs themselves can be warranted as a bit generic as they pretty much fall into your average anime designs. The school uniforms that the characters usually wear is nothing impressive, though their occasional appearances in casual clothing help alleviate this problem slightly.
The battles using the character’s avatars are rather simple in appearance. This is because for 90% of the battles that are shown the avatars are smaller, chibi like versions of their summoner though occasionally the action does flex its muscles by showing a heightened combat scene. I must make a note as well that the animation occasionally switches itself up completely, appearing as a very serious looking anime at times; although in the end it is for a comedic purpose and the extra seriousness only adds to the hilarity of the event about to occur.
Audio:
The background music that is presented during the show itself can be rather easy to forget at times and is your average slice of life school music except for when an avatar battle is happening. On the other hand the Opening song “Perfect-Area Complete!” is very enjoyable and cheerful sounding. The animation for the opening is also matched perfectly to the music which made me perfectly happy to watch the opening each time it was shown.
Baka and Test Season 1 has two separate ending songs which change up in the middle of the series. The first song is called “Baka Go Home” which is a more rock based song that is matched up to the male characters of the song while the second half of the series is given the ending “Hare Tokidoki Egao” which is a more pop like song that focuses on the female members of the cast, plus Hideyoshi. These ending animations are rather plain but still mesh together well with the music.
This release from FUNimation comes with both the English and the Japanese voice track which means you can choose which version you prefer to listen to. I would have to say that the English voice cast for the series did a well enough job representing each of the characters in the series. Akihisa and Himeji are voiced very well and Akihisa’s pain is very well sold by his voice actor, which is a necessity considering how often he is the recipient of a beating or two.
Characters:
Akihisa Yoshii is the main idiot of Class F and is the central focus of the anime. He is a probationary student which means that his avatar is special. This is joked about often as the only thing special about his avatar is the fact that it can interact with objects in the real world and any damage done to it makes Akihisa get hurt as well. He is very dense and, as I said earlier, I found myself growing a bit tired of his complete disregard to Himeji and Minami’s feelings.
Mizuki Himeji can be seen as either the main heroine of the series or rather the co-heroine. She is extremely intelligent but can be very shy at times. Her placement in Class F was due originally to her poor health though she found herself happy in the low ranked class thanks to Yoshii being in the same class with her. She has strong feelings for Yoshii and often displays this by going out of her way to be with him or becoming extremely angry whenever he is involved with another girl, so angry she borders on yandere.
Speaking of another girl we have the other co-heroine of the series, Minami Shimada. Minami was raised overseas for most of her life and because of this she placed low enough on her tests to be ranked in Class F. Minami harbors feelings for Yoshii as well, though she is very sensitive about her small chest and is also the tsundere character of the cast. This means that even if Yoshii compliments her appearance, she will still react violently towards him thinking he is mocking her.
Those being the only two female characters of Class F we also have Yuji Sakamoto, Kōta Tsuchiya and Hideyoshi Kinoshita. Yuji is the class leader who used to be a child genius and comes up with most of the strategies used by Class F. He is also constantly in fear of his life from Class A representative Shōko who persists to marry him and is extremely violent. Kōta is the resident pervert of the group. He carries a camera around with him constantly and consistently tries to see up girls’ skirts and take pictures. This is counterproductive to his nature however as he quickly suffers from nosebleeds that jokingly kill him from time to time.
Finally we have Hideyoshi Kinoshita. Hideyoshi is best seen as the trap character of the series, though this isn’t of his own choosing. Hideyoshi clearly represents himself as a male however he is constantly forced into crossdressing situations and treated like a beautiful girl, much to the delight of Kōta and Yoshii who both suffer nosebleeds whenever something fan service related happens with him.
Extras:
Those who pick up Baka and Test Season 1 will be happy to hear that the series comes with a multitude of special extra content. This includes your standard clean opening and the two endings cleaned of credits, but it also includes a number of extra skits. This includes a hilarious cooking special with Himeji which shows us exactly how she makes her food so deadly.
While the extras are enjoyable and will help extend fans enjoyment of the series, these extras are not English dubbed so anyone eager to watch these should prepare to read the subtitles provided to understand what is going on in each extra.
Overall:
Baka and Test may appear to be your simple high school slice of life anime from its description, but it is clearly far from that. With the constant avatar battles there is usually some form of action, though there is a heavy focus on comedy and romance at the same time. Despite the many themes that the series focuses on, nothing feels thinned out to make room for the rest. This means that fans of any of those genres should appreciate the series. With a storyline that is unique and characters that are both stupid and hilarious at the same time, Baka and Test should pass with flying colors in most viewers’ report cards. Which of course means a stronger avatar next battle!
Electronic Arts have recently publoished a trailer for their upcoming Basketball game for the Xbox 360 Arcade and Playstation 3 Playstation Network. This basketball game is titled NBA JAM: On Fire Edition, and it looks like a must have game any and all basketball fans.
The game has a pretty distinctive art style to it, being neither realistic nor cartoony, but somewhere close to the middle. This gives the game a dynamic and fluid feel to the game, while also making it look slightly deformed. Basketball looks amazingly fun in this title because of the artistic direction of the game.
Mystery Stories: Curse of the Ancient Spirits Developer: Cerasus Media Publisher: Avanquest Software Genre: Hidden Object/Puzzle Platform: Nintendo DS Released: Out Now
A string of disappearances linking all explorers and archaeologists who searched for Christopher Colombus’ lost ship sparks a sense of adventure in Virginia Carter, who along with her father, a famous archaeologist himself, embarks on to do what no one else has managed before them and discover the lost ship and return safely – setting the scene for this hidden object puzzle adventure.
In Mystery Stories: Curse of the Ancient Spirits, gameplay takes place in typical hidden object fashion, with you transitioning from hidden object scene to hidden object scene with a small amount of exploring and the occasional different style of puzzle thrown in for the sake of variety. The hidden object puzzles are laid out on the screen such that the top screen displays the information needed for the puzzle, like the list of items you need to be finding and an overview of the scene, keeping the bottom screen clear as a zoomed in view of the level which you use to gather items by identifying them from the background and tapping them.
The bright colour scheme, simplicity of the puzzles and blatant tips prompting you on what to do next go to show that it’s a game aimed at kids, with a young-ish lead character setting out with her father giving someone they can relate to. That said, although the actual text-based hints and suggestions courtesy of Virginia’s monologues tell you exactly what to do, the hint system operated by the X button is awarded far too sparingly.
Sometimes you really can’t spot an object from the scene due to the way that objects are all blended in with the environments; not only are all related to boats in some way or are things you would expect to find on a ship, but smaller objects and larger objects which are concealed by hiding all but a little section of the item can present a challenge. In this case, you have to wait for the hint meter to fully charge before you can use it to direct you to a missing item, and the recharge time takes a bit too long to recharge given the frequency at which you will be wanting to use it.
Found objects are greyed out (rather than collected as in most hidden object games) which makes more sense as you only make use of the useful items anyway – many are completely pointless. The few useful items are stored in your inventory, along with some or your devices which come into play during certain sections of the gameplay; for instance, a flashlight for dark areas and a pair of goggles to counter the fuzzy visuals effects brought on by entering mystical portals. The grey colouration even carries over into repeated visits of the same scene, meaning you won’t be forced to search for the same items twice. It is a shame that the game has to reuse hidden object levels in this way, but is forgivable as your adventure takes place on the rather confined space of a moderately-sized explorers boat, so some repetition was inevitable.
The sound does well to set the scene and create an inviting ocean atmosphere, avoiding any hint of anything sinister to suit the younger audience, despite the adventure taking place around a ghost ship with magical powers preventing the passage of time. Water lapping against the side of the ship, the wash of the waves and the squawking of seagulls all contribute to prevent you feeling like you’re in a bland object hoarding session, instead evoking a subtle feeling that you are actually part of the adventure.
On top of the main adventure mode, for some reason a ‘Freeplay’ mode rests on the menu screen for those who wish to revisit hidden object puzzles encountered in the main game. It seems a bit unnecessary as very few will feel the need to revisit particular puzzles as none are memorable and each ‘Freeplay’ version of a puzzle is exactly the same. There’s no backtracking in the story in a way that allows you to play the same puzzle, so I suppose the additional mode offers something that can’t be gained from the story mode, but its primary purpose is still not a relevant one.
Overall, Mystery Stories: Curse of the Ancient Spirits isn’t the strongest example of the hidden object genre as critically and to the player’s discontent, objects can often be difficult to distinguish from the scene at hand. It has a kid-friendly plot about a lost ghost ship but story events such as those involving portals are fairly naff. These may not be lost on youngsters, but even then they will probably fail to work wonders for the majority of them. It’s been well suited to kids with the accommodating level of challenge, but it can’t mask the fact that it is still a relatively short-lived game assuming you don’t get stuck.
With an emphasis on Xbox 360 compatibility, although it will still work on PC, the Ear Force X12 Amplified Stereo Gaming Headset is headed out to the broad spaces of the world this spring. This headset aims to give gamers with a budget a high quality pair of cans that won’t make them change batteries or have to turn down the volume. These new head accessories also add some features and continue the legacy started with the X1.
“As the record breaking sales of the X1 and X11 have already shown, avid gamers are serious about audio and will seek out equipment that will enhance their experience and skills.” says Michael Arzt, VP of Marketing and Sales for Turtle Beach. “Turtle Beach strives to support serious gamers of all levels by constantly refining and improving even our best-selling products and the new X12 represents this commitment to audio quality and high performance while still retaining the unmatched value that the X-series is known for.”
What are the stats and fancified numbers on the new duds? I’m so glad you asked:
·Amplified stereo audio for crisp highs and deep lows
·Premium 50mm speakers for highest fidelity sound
·Variable Bass Boost adds depth and realism to the game audio
·In-line amplifier that allows for independent control of chat, bass and game volume
·Microphone Monitoring so you never have to raise your voice to hear yourself
·Completely powered by USB so you will never need replacement batteries
·Lightweight design with breathable, fabric mesh ear cushions for enhanced comfort
·Fully-compatible with the DSS 7.1 Surround Sound Processor
Sanuk Games, publishers of some awesome games like Pix ‘N’ Love Rush and Twin Blades, is all set to release a sequel to the horror game Hysteria Project. Hysteria Project 2 is kicking down the doors and setting fires on the the European PlayStation Store on August 10th. The American release is slightly after that. Check the screenshots and trailer below.
Have you played any of the original game? Do you think the sequel can live to the standards set by first game?
Most importantly, are you ready to change your pants a couple of times in August?
To celebrate the Launch of the Xbox Live Arcade God game, From Dust, is a trailer of the game.The game itself is a visual feast that is also being pegged as the spiritual successor to the game Populous.
In this game a tribe of people summon a thing they call the breath in order to assist them in their quest to recover their lost memories and stay safe in the harsh realities of the planet. Conceptually the game looks interesting and fun enough, and our own reviewer seemed to love the game. So be sure to check out the review for the title here.
After a massive media summit over in Japan, the Phantasy Star Online 2 website has been updated with an amazing trailer and screenshots for everyones enjoyment. The trailer shows off the many improvements to the franchises playstyle, mechanics, graphics and other gameplay elements.
For those of you who have never heard of Phantasy Star before, it is a franchise originating on the Sega Master System as a solo J-RPG adventure which was a cross between fantasy and sci-fi. The franchise continued on in this fashion until the year 2000, when SEGA decided it was now time to update the franchise into a kind of Online RPG which was called Phantasy Star Online. PSO saw a couple of episodic updates and downloadable missions during its tenure as a game and was even ported to the Gamecube device in the early 2000’s, which also included episode 1 and 2. From what I understand, the Gamecube players may have been allowed to share lobbies with the Dreamcast players (someone a little better at PSO please correct me here if I’m wrong, I only played the GCN version solo and only played online with BB). At around 2004-2005 the title was ported to the PC as Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst and contained episodes 1 and 2 and all of the online content available at the time. It was also playable with the Keyboard, as well as a controller.
Since PSO, there has been PSU, or Phantasy Star Universe, which was seen on the PC as well as the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 devices. Though, the X360 community was not able to play with the PSN or PC community for reasons known only to the hardcore PSU fans. This version of Phantasy Star saw an expansion pack and a couple of handheld versions of the game.
From what I can tell with this trailer, Player MAGs either havent been developed to a point where they’re able to be shown, or they’re not going to be included in this version of the game. There is also what appears to be player controlled targetting with, what looks to be, a hotkey based activation system (I could be wrong about this though, they could be monomates and the like). A much longed for improvement to the game can be clearly seen, and that is the ability to jump. I can’t begin to describe how much of a wanted feature that is to the PS community. One of the coolest features I noticed though, was that there are clearly more than one party in an area at a time. This looks like it’ll be an awesome addition for competitve and co-operative reasons! Imagine a group of 2-3 parties taking on a huge boss together, that’d be amazing!
If you haven’t heard, an agreement was reached for the NFL’s 2011-2012 season to continue on as scheduled. While this is certainly great news for sports fans, EA want to celebrate with a deal of their own. If the recent posting on EA Mobile’s Facebook page gets 500 “Likes”, Madden ’11 will go on sale for the iPhone and iPad for just $.99.
Here is the posting in full that can be found on the Official Facebook Page:
The NFL season is on! To celebrate, we’re making a play to cut the price of MADDEN NFL 11 to 99₵ for iPhone and iPad – but we need 500 “likes” for everyone to score the savings. Are you ready for some NFL football? Then LIKE THIS POST!
Even if you are not a sports fan, a simple like can go a long way for those who are wanting Madden ’11 on the cheap, so follow the link below and take a second to click Like on the post.
The EA Mobile Facebook Page can be found by following this LINK.
