Are you a fan of Japanese Akiba culture? How about math? Who am I kidding, everyone loves math! If either of these apply to you, then you should probably take a look at Althi’s App, CalcGirl (Android title) or Calculator Girl (iOS title). Calculator Girl is an interactive calculator application with a bit of a twist. Instead of the normal interface, Calculator Girl features, surprise, a girl. The anime character has a variety of different outfits for you to choose from, or purchase from within the App. This is done by swiping left or right on the screen. Here you can alter wallpapers, purchase outfits or swap them around. The Calculator Girl will also recite the buttons you have pressed, as well as the answer to your equation (in Japanese of course). She will also begin to speak if you don’t interact with the App for a few moments. If you like your anime, and are bored of your phones average calculator, then take a look at this App either here for iOS or here for Android. Best of all, it’s free.
Calculator Girl for iPhone and CalcGirl for Android
Battlefield 3 Exclusive EB Games Pre-Order Bonus
The Battlefield 3 Limited Edition: Physical Warfare Pack is now available for pre-order exclusively at EB games in Australian and New Zealand. This limited edition version of the game includes both, exclusive and early access to weapons and items including the Type 88 light machine gun, the SKS sniper rifle flash suppressor, the versatile DAO-12 semi-automatic shotgun and armor-piercing flechette ammo.
Also included in this pack, is a collectible Battlefield 3 Steelbook and the Battlefield 3 Back to Karkand map pack which includes four remastered classic maps from Battlefield 2, which include Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman and the Sharqi Peninsula. As well as this, players will also receive access to SPECACT Kit and five unique Dog tags to customise their in-game avatar. All this content will be available at no extra charge for players that pre-order Battlefield 3 Limited Edition: Physical Warfare Pack.
Battlefield 3 will be available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC on October 27th
Frogger Leaps onto the 3DS Next Spring…
With Dragon Quest, Zelda, and several other series turning the big 2-5 this year, 2011 has became the year of the anniversary. Frogger is a bit older than 25 though as this year marks the mascot’s 30th year in the gaming world, in which Konami are celebrating with the series first true entry into 3D. Frogger 3D looks to hold to the roots of the series in place, with players attempting to cross busy roads and avoid the traffic along the way.
Featuring a new coat of visual paint and “60 uniquely challenging stages”, players will assist Frogger as he attempts to cross many roads in his hometown as well as exotic locations such as New York, the Far East, and even other dimensions. Quite a huge step for our small, hoppy friend.
Players can also team up with Frogger’s friends, destroy obstacles, absorb damage or illuminate dark spaces as they progress through the game. A Street Pass function has also been added via the game’s Forever’ mode, where players must avoid being road-kill. To up the competition even more, up to four players can battle it out on the streets in Frogger 3D’s multiplayer mode.
It is great to see Konami offering up even more love with the Frogger franchise, and hopefully Frogger 3D will ring in this mascot’s birthday with a bang. Oddly enough however, Frogger will have to wait to celebrate his birthday in 3D as Frogger 3D is scheduled to release in Spring of 2012.
Utah Congressman stops support of violent game law after Supreme Court ruling
After the Supreme Court struck down a California law that would fine retailers for selling M rated games to minors, a Utah representative has said he will not make the passing of a similar law in his state a priority. The law, passed in 2008 and drafted by Jack Thompson, allowed parents to sue stores for false advertising if they sold the violent games to tykes.
The rep, Michael Morley, says that he still wants the law to be supported but that continuing to try to make it enforced will most likely not bear results, as the courts will likely consider the precedents set by the Supreme Court as correct and throw the Utah law out.
“It’s not on my radar to fight that fight,” he stated. In the bill’s defense, he said that his bill was designed to facilitate parental lawsuits, and not impose a fine as the proposed California law would have.
Mario Marathon Raises $110,000 for Charity
This past weekend, a group of friends in Indiana, USA, played their way through most of Mario’s platforming adventures, in a marathon lasting a hundred hours straight.
Why is this newsworthy? Because it was a charity event, and the guys and girls raised over $110,000 for the Child’s Play Charity.
This Mario Marathon was the fourth annual marathon that these guys have held, with last year’s raising $82,000.
They played their way through ten Mario platform games (from Super Mario Bros. on the NES right through to Super Mario Galaxy 2 on the Wii, and everything in between) and set donation amounts to specific levels; when the total donations hit that amount, the level specified was added to their playlist. The players were only allowed to stop once they completed all the levels in the playlist – no easy feat with people constantly donating and extending the playlist.
As a result, their session lasted from 11am Saturday until Tuesday.
Their progress was streamed live on their website, showing the game being played, and the costumed participants in a room decorated with Mario-themed everythings. Viewers were able to communicate with the participants directly via Twitter, and watch as the sleep deprivation slowly takes hold.
$110,000 for playing Mario is a damn good effort, and will not only help the kids benefiting from the Child’s Play charity, but also help to bring video games into wider acceptance as an important medium.
The marathon may be over, but there’s no reason you can’t still donate! Head on over to mariomarathon.com or childsplaycharity.org.
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D’s Features Detailed…
Back when the 3DS was first announced last year, a 3D remake of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater was also shown at E3 2010. Since then, we haven’t really heard too much about the game aside from a few event showings, but Konami have finally detailed some of the new inclusions that this 3D remake will offer, and by the looks of it, this may be one of the finest 3DS offerings to date.
As expected, the top screen on the 3DS will be utilized to display all of the action in the game while the bottom screen is used for Snake’s inventory. The main game itself doesn’t look to change too much as the famous jungle setting and 1960’s set storyline are relatively unchanged, but now featured in 3D, an element that looks to define this version. While Snake is being stealthy, crawling through the jungle, the camera will go into a first-person view. During this view, foliage can be seen brushing past, giving off a more atmospheric tone to the environment around the player. Boss battles also will implement the 3D function, creating a more in depth and exciting scene for the player.
The most interesting addition to this version is the all-new camouflage photography system. This feature will let Snake take a picture of his immediate environment and literally blend into whatever setting he is currently located at with his attire. The extent of the photography system’s effectiveness will be up to the player, varying on how well the picture blends into the environment. Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D will also utilize the gyro sensor, with details to be released later on.
I have to say I am really pumped about this photography system as it sounds fantastic and completely fitting for Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D’s stealthy gameplay style. After seeing how well the gyro controls complimented The Ocarina of Time, that will be yet another feature we will sure to look forward to as well. For now though, it is simply a waiting game as Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D is scheduled to release in late 2011 for the Nintendo 3DS. We will continue to bring more updates as they are released, so stay tuned!
Game TV episode 3 the Supanova episode
As a lot of people might know, GAME Australia have recently began a kind of TV show for gamers here in Australia and around the world. The third episode of this has recently been put online for everyone to enjoy.
The video chronicles the travels of Phil (not MasterAbbott) who travels across Supanova in search of James Masters and gets into sword fights and makes out with a Wookie in order to achieve his goal. I don’t want to spoil it, but he kind of gets to at the end.
Also, make sure you look out for the Cameo appearance of esteemed Capsule Computers editor Kelly Teng at the 1:46 mark.
Check out all the action from Supanova with Phil. He managed to even get an interview with James Marsters who plays Spike from Buffy.
Be Sure To Check out GameTV.
Galaga Legions DX Now Available of the Xbox Live Arcade!
If you are reading this, there is a good chance you have played some form of Namco’s classic space shooter Galaga. Fans of the classic will be pleased to know that Galaga Legions DX, the upgrade of sorts to 2008’s Galaga Legions is now available on the Xbox Live Arcade. Galaga Legions DX is set to be the largest and most improved version of the game to date.
Using the age-old shooter formula that fans are familiar with, Galaga Legions DX will also include several updates and new features that are sure to make the game even more hectic and action packed as players aim to blast away at every alien in the galaxy. One of the most prominent updates included in the DX version is skins, where players can customize their game by choosing from a selection of visual settings, including ships and Galaga alien sprites from past games in the Galaga series. Offensive and defensive upgrades have been added in as well, such as focus fire which lets the ship’s rate of fire to increase the closer they are to the enemy, allowing for infiltration of alien swarms. Two special satellite guns have also been added to each ship, enabling two firing modes to be switched between at the press of a button.
Galaga Legions DX is now available for the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points and will be “coming soon” to the Playstation Network.
Assassin’s Creed Revelation’s fan trailers are funny, awesome & epic
The Assassin’s Creed: Revelations trailer at E3 got all of us here at Capsule Computers fairly excited. The return of Altair and the grizzled look of Ezio all congeal to hopefully make the game like a worthy sequel. Some fans of the game though wanted to show their personal excitement in a different, blocky, way. User namwwe24 created a Lego trailer of the game with the entire trailer animated with only Legos. All in all, he did an awesome job. If your looking for a funnier version of the trailer, check out the literal trailer done by the always excellent Tobuscus. The real trailer is also embedded below.
Literal trailer:
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKrtbUinWOU[/pro-player]
Real trailer:
[pro-player width=’530′ height=’253′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCTtIIW1WA0[/pro-player]
Lego trailer:
Xenoblade, Pandora’s Tower & The Last Story will Not be Coming to America…
If you have been one of the many that have been either a part of or following “Operation Rainfall“, this is news that is sure to be disappointing. After an intense effort that shot “Monado: Beginning of the World” (a.k.a. Xenoblade) to the top of Amazon’s pre-order charts as well as the mass amounts of physical letters, Facebook messages, and e-mails sent, Nintendo of America have finally commented on the release of Xenoblade, Pandora’s Tower and The Last Story for North America. Sadly, this update was not exactly what the fans wanted to see.
Here is the post in full that can now be seen on Nintendo’s official Facebook page:
Thank you for your enthusiasm. We promised an update, so here it is. We never say “never,” but we can confirm that there are no plans to bring these three games to the Americas at this time. Thanks so much for your passion, and for being such great fans!
This certainly is disheartening news for everyone as the Wii certainly could have had it’s lifespan lengthened greatly with a localization of the trio, but as of now a North American release for any of these RPGs seem to be out of the picture. I can respect the honesty on Nintendo’s part, but it just seems that Skyward Sword is the main focus for the company at the moment. As of this posting, over 3000 fans have responded to the message, voicing their disappointment in the decision.
Operation Rainfall is still underway despite this news and I completely support all of you to continue emailing, messaging, and sending off letters as if a title like Duke Nukem Forever can see a release after 15 years of chaos, these three still have a small chance of finally crossing over to America. Xenoblade is still scheduled for release Europe with a yet to be announced date. I guess if we learned anything from this though, it is that Operation Rainfall was a success due to the professional manner that was used and giving that Nintendo actually responded to the cause may completely change the way online movements are executed in the future.