Madman regularly hold competitions in the fanzone section of their site and recently began two new competitions, in two separate categories – Art and Cosplay. Want to jump in on the action? Read on.
What would your favourite anime character’s look like as babies? That is the question Madman poses you in this months art competition. Compose your artwork displaying an anime character as a baby for your chance to win Madman store vouchers (1st Place is a $150 voucher!) Enter here.
With the upcoming release of K-ON! volume 1 on DVD and Blu-Ray, Madman is holding a K-ON! themed cosplay competition to celebrate the release. Madman is tasking you with the challenge of taking a photograph of yourself or with your friends, cosplaying as characters from K-ON! in either an original image or a recreation of a scene from the series for your chance to win some great K-ON! prizes. Enter here.
Here’s an idea for a recreation cosplay.
The art competition comes to a close on the 10th of July and the cosplay competition ends on 31st of July. Be sure to check back here at Capsule Computers for updates on the competitions and the winners announcement.
505 Games and NaturalMotion Games have announced that Backbreaker Vengeance will be coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade on 29 June, 2011, while a PSN version will also be released later this Summer.
Using the euphoria engine, Backbreaker Vengeance features hard-hitting tackles with a different outcome each time. As well as the popular ‘Tackle Alley’ game mode, new modes and moves will be making their way into the game.
No price has been revealed for either version as of this moment in time.
Any American Football fans prefer Backbreaker’s more arcade approach to some of the more simulation-like portrayals of the sport out there?
Publisher Mastertronic has unveiled a new trailer for its upcoming puzzle adventure game called May’s Mysteries: The Secret of Dragonville.
Although the trailer doesn’t show a great deal of continuous gameplay, it displays extracts from a selection of the letter, number and logic-based puzzles, as well as giving a look at a number of the 13 rhythmic mini-games. The video also shows a whole host of intriguing character that you will meet across the 80 locations as you complete over 270 puzzles, as stated in the trailer. Developed by V5 Play, May’s Mysteries is looking like a heart-warming adventure in which the titular hero must try to find her lost brother.
May’s Mysteries: The Secret of Dragonville is to be released on exclusively for Nintendo DS this August.
Funimation recently acquired the popular anime series Fairy Tail for dubbing and distribution. The series follows the adventures of the Fairy Tail Guild in a world of Wizards (a broad term for magic-users). Funimation today announced the main cast for the series which includes some of their all-star voice actors, from works such as One Piece, Dragonball Z and Soul Eater, just to name a few.
The following actors have been tapped to play the following characters:
Todd Haberkorn as Natsu Dragneel
Tia Ballard as Happy
Colleen Clinkenbeard as Erza Scarlet
Cherami Leigh as Lucy Heartfillia
Newton Pittman as Gray Fullbuster
R. Bruce Elliot as Master Makarov
Monica Rial as Mirajane
Christopher R. Sabat as Elfman
To promote the upcoming English dub release of the series, Todd Haberkorn, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Cherami Leigh and Newton Pittman will be making an appearance at New York Anime Festival and New York Comic-Con this October. So be sure to check them out if you are in the area this October.
It is as of writing still unknown when we will see a release of the series’ English dub. However with a cast as good as this, we can safely assume that it is in good hands, while we await it to be released.
A new video for Duke Nukem Forever entitled ‘History of a Legend’ has been released by 2K Games. It is the third episode of a behind the scenes series aiming to inform about the roots of Duke Nukem Forever now it has finally made it to the public- the game everyone said could never be released.
The video features interviews with our good friend Randy Pitchford, as well as plenty of other designers and developers, taking a look at their history with the game and the impact it has had on them. The near-10 minute trailer also takes a look at how Duke Nukem Forever has evolved over the years to become what it is today.
It may have got mixed reviews, but if you liked the Duke’s recent offering or are just a big fan of the legacy of the series, this is well worth a watch with some interesting comments from those behind the game.
Good news everyone! Recently revoked game Dead or Alive Dimensions for the 3DS has recently been reclassified to a newer and more relevant rating. This rating? It has gone up from a PG to an M rating, which is actually not that much of an increase.
You see here in Australia, anything with a rating of less than MA15+ is an unrestricted category, which means that anybody can purchase the title without proof of identity or parental consent. So really, the reclassification has bumped the rating upwards, but not in any significant way to affect the player base. Thank the gaming gods for the classification bodies decision not to cave into these highly moral and illogical complainers and releasing the game at a classification that fits the content.
I admit, there are plenty of moments when I still get starstruck and meeting Barbara Eden at Supanova 2011 in Sydney was one of them. Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie was an iconic part of my childhood when I was growing up and getting the opportunity to interview the woman behind the character was an absolutely incredible opportunity.
Barbara Eden…still as beautiful as ever.
Barbara Eden has played her fair share of roles over the years, including roles in The Stranger Within, Dallas, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. She has also created a memoir, titled Jeannie Out of the Bottle, which was released in 2011. We got the quick opportunity to chat with Barbara about her career, the character of Jeannie, and Australia.
Back when you played Jeannie, obviously you influenced her character and she influenced you. To what degree do you think it happened either way?
Well, that’s hard to say. I don’t think an actor can ever tell you that. You’re always pleased when you get something as clear as Jeannie, so you know the ballpark of what you’re doing. But every part is different and you can’t divide it up and say “Oh, it’s 20% this and 30% that!” [laughs]
What is your favourite role that you’ve played besides Jeannie?
Oh my goodness! [laughs] I have several, but I think the one that I really enjoyed – and which my husband likes a lot – is a movie I did for television called Your Mother Wears Combat Boots. It was about the army – the army air force, in fact – and we shot it [at Fort Benning] in Georgia. I think it’s the biggest one in the United States, and you can see it from the satellite station. We had the 101 Airborne shooting with us, and I really liked it: wearing uniforms, and jumping out of airplanes, and doing silly things like that! [laughs]
With Jeannie as well, I guess you had to do a lot of silly things too!
I did physical things! Silly and physical.
Do you feel as though you ever get typecast into one character?
I really don’t know…I don’t think so. I never was in the past. I may be now, but never in the past. I’ve played all kinds of different characters.
Do you prefer playing the fun one or the more serious roles?
I like them both. It depends upon how well they’re written. That’s what makes the difference.
On another note, I was actually talking to a girl outside. She’s about 13, and she’s such a massive fan of yours! What do you think it is about Jeannie that transcends time?
Well, she was so powerful. What little girl doesn’t want to have magic, and be able to change things and live in a bottle with purple pillows? Of course. She’s a powerful figure.
And you think that makes her timeless?
I do…I do. Genies are timeless!
Last question…how are you enjoying the convention?
Oh, I’m loving it! We have the best fans. We really do. They’re just the nicest people, truly.
It must be great to meet your fans. Some people fly from all over the world to meet you.
Here, of course, people have flown in from all across Australia. In the States, I have – interestingly enough – met people from Australia [laughs]. They came to my book signing at Barnes and Noble in Los Angeles. It’s awesome.
Us here at Capsule Computers would like to thank Barbara Eden for her time in this interview. She’s an absolutely lovely person, and somehow has managed to preserve all of her beauty throughout the years.
If you would like to see more coverage from Supanova Sydney 2011, including interviews with Sean Maher, Amy Acker, David Nykl, and Neil Kaplan, you can check them out here.
One of the perks about writing for Capsule Computers is that we get to meet awesome celebrities, and Supanova 2011 in Sydney was no exception. Ben Webb and I got to speak to David Nykl, who plays Dr Radek Zalenka in Stargate Atlantis.
In this interview, David talks to us about his role on Stargate Atlantis, his time in Australia, his roles across different shows, and his Czech background. David most recently featured as Lance in the new TV series, Mortal Kombat: Legacy. He was a great guy in person and we wish we could have had more time to chat to him about his life, but alas – there were too many fans waiting.
I know just about all of you are probably playing Zelda if you own a 3DS right now, but Namco have their own unique title that just launched today by the name of DualPenSports that is certainly worth a look. This title is a sports game with quite a unique control scheme as players will use two styluses to play classic sports such as Soccer, Boxing, Archery and other activities with the 3D effect in full display.
Don’t have two styluses you say? DualPenSports has you covered as it comes bundled with two special sports styluses, themed to fit the game. On top of the sports in the game, DualPenSports offers up two training modes, Daily Challenge and Touch Exercise Mode, dedicated to improving players’ stylus coordination. Daily Challenge does as the name states and provides a different sport to practice your touch screen coordination each day while Touch Exercise brings new sports into the picture to better get adjusted to the unique control scheme.
Customization is also a huge factor with the title, as players are able to change characters’ clothing, expressions, and overall appearance to better fit their own personality. Normally the thought of a sports title is commonly snubbed by core gamers out there, but due to the interesting control method and surprisingly vast amount of content, DualPenSports may be the sleeper hit of the 3DS’ library this year. Check out the trailer below for a better look.
Supanova is a great place to catch up with some of our favourite sci-fi and fantasy celebrities, and 2011 saw Sean Maher as one of the Supastar guests who came to meet his fans. Sean Maher plays Simon Tamm in Joss Whedon’s series Firefly and the subsequent film Serenity.
Ben Webb/LinkageAX looking absolutely starstruck.
In our interview, Sean mock punches Ben in the face (when he fell over, he actually broke his sunglasses that were sitting in his pocket), talks about Firefly and Serenity, working with Joss Whedon, and his time in Australia. Sean is currently on the TV series, Make It or Break It, where he plays Marcus.
Sean is an absolutely awesome person and such a joy to talk to. The only reason we actually wrapped up the interview where we did was because we had run out of time, otherwise I’m sure we could have easily talked for an hour! Again, apologies for the occasional cuts on the video and the sound – the camera was a nightmare. Leave us any questions or comments below, and check out the rest of our Supanova coverage here.
