Dirt 3 ships to stores worldwide today as the game is going to be launched very shortly! The game is the sequel in a highly regarded franchise and also boasts the most features in the franchise.
The title, releasing on PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, will have players racing in multiple environments in a wide array of game modes, “from traditional Rally to innovative freestyle Gymkhana events, plus Trailblazer, and multi-car Head 2 Head, Land Rush and Rallycross stages”. The game will also have the largest amount of cars seen in the franchise and will double the ‘track content’ of the previous title.
Dirt 3’s Extensive online component will be accessible via a special VIP pass included with a retail copy of the game. PC users needn’t worry themselves with the code. The code gives players access to various online components, such as the ability to upload Youtube videos of the game as well as 5 additional vehicles for your enjoyment.
The game launches this Thursday worldwide.
To mark the launch, Codemasters have released a new trailer; which is embedded below for your viewing pleasure!
Madman Entertainment has recently announced that they will be continuing their Anime Hour television block on the hilariously awesome Community TV stations around the country. Madman currently airs Gundam 00 and Gurren Lagann in the block and has announced that they will be replacing them with Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and Black Butler.
That’s right you can now watch anime about Alchemists and Butlers as well as handy-cam filmed Indian dancing, Powerpoint presentation commercials about STD awareness and the local butchers late night talk show. Is there anything you can’t find on Community TV?
Madman haven’t released a date for both series to begin besides a vague comment of “in June”, but it should be assumed that they will begin when the current shows end. They will be available on Community stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (sorry to the rest of the country). Check your local guides for channel numbers and programme times.
Online pre-registration for QuakeCon has begun for the year! While the event is free for all attendees, there are special things that happen for those who pre-register!
The event is going to take place at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas on the 4th of August at 10:00AM until the end of the 7th August, 2011.
There are three premium packages this year for the convention, which are: BYOC -Select-a-Seat package, Swag pack and the QuakeCon Done Quick Pack. The first package runs at $20 which allows you to reserve a seat in the BYOC area, as well as giving you some merchandise. The next is a little more expensive at $35, but you also get a bit more with a couple of t-shirts, a lithograph and some zipper-pulls. The last of the packages costs $50 and includes guaranteed reserved seating in the BYOC area, express access to panels and speakers, reserved seating at panels and some nifty goodies!
Be sure to attend QuakeCon this year, as it is known to be an entertaining outing!
There certainly has been a lot of Zelda news as of late, and honestly why wouldn’t there be? This is the franchise’s 25th year anniversary. Interestingly enough, the ESRB has rated a new game under the name of “Zelda Universe” recently, which has struck the curiosity of fans worldwide. An “online” platform for Zelda Universe is about all that is listed or known as of now, which baffles us a little more quite honestly.
Zelda Universe is the official website for the Zelda series as a whole, but the question is, why just now rate a website that is already fully functioning? Being such an anticipated year for the fans of the franchise, I really want to think that Zelda Universe is an upcoming online service, much like Pokemon’s Global Link – which has been highly successful for Nintendo since launch at bringing fans of the series together. Do I have the slightest idea of how this would work? No. Just pure speculation at the moment, but if you think about it, what better way to celebrate a milestone than with the fans all uniting in some unique way?
Zelda Universe’s rating could very well just be for the website for some odd reason, but being rated this close to E3 makes me think a new console will not be the only big announcement Nintendo have up their sleeve, and with Skyward Sword coming soon to the Wii and Ocarina of Time 3D launching next month, a sheer coincidence is looking less likely at the moment. What are your thoughts? What do you think Zelda Universe could be?
One Piece Collection 8 Tag Line: Here comes Chopper! Produced by: Toei Animation Run time: 300 minutes in 12 episodes Language:English, Japanese Genre: Action, Adventure, Shounen, Comedy Available for purchase at Madman Online Store ($49.95)
Overview: One Piece has proven time and time again that it’s world is ever-growing. It is perhaps one of the most expansive and well developed worlds in anime history. There have been series that take things far and wide, but the scenery usually is nothing more than a backdrop. However in One Piece, the world is on the forefront, as it should be, considering the show is about pirates sailing the vast sea in search of the fabled treasure known as the One Piece (left behind by the late Pirate King, Gold Roger).
Each place Luffy and friends visit becomes another part of this ever-expanding world, with each episode the world grows and grows. Looking back on the past 7 collections and past 91 episodes the Straw Hat pirates have taken us to amazing places, whether it by a tropical island ruled by a murderous dictator-like Fishman Pirate, a prehistoric island full of Dinosaurs and Giants, an island forever shrouded in snow and even at one point the belly of a whale! Collection 8 however introduces us to the long anticipated Alabasta Kingdom, a desert country in dire need of rain and secretly being overtaken by a criminal syndicate.
That is what this collection of episodes centers around. The crew have to deliver Princess Vivi to her Palace, but to do that they must brave the harsh desert and survive the onslaught of the desert’s creatures. It probably isn’t the best place to jump on with the series as it is well and truly in the thick of it, but if you don’t mind jumping in mid story then you won’t have a problem here. Though I feel it is necessary to give a brief description of the series up until now for those just coming aboard.
What you need to know is this: Luffy want’s to be king of the pirates, to do so he has to find the One Piece treasure, so he sets sail to the seas and gains friends along the way and engages in some of the greatest battles in shounen anime history. Lets not forget that their are magical devil fruits across the world which give those who eat them powers. Luffy is one of those people. If that piques your interest, read on.
Story:
This collection of the series follows the crew across the desert kingdom and mostly consists of stand-alone episodes and build up to the nearing battle between the Straw-Hat Pirates and Baroque Works. If you have been following the series up until now, you would know that an evil organization known as Baroque Works, headed by the mystery “Mr. 0” or Crocodile, is planning a hostile take over of Alabasta Kingdom of which Vivi is the Princess of.
Vivi enlisted the help of the Straw-Hats Pirates a few collections back at Whiskey Peak and has since been traveling with them. But in what appears to be a growing pattern, Luffy, the captain of the Straw-Hats has gotten them lost and ends up taking them the longest and most dangerous way possible on their journey there. Along the way they made a new friend in the reindeer Chopper, who ate the Human-Human fruit giving him the ability to speak and walk like a human. He becomes the crews doctor after the events of the previous Collection and that brings us to where we are now, Alabasta Kingdom.
The crew spends the majority of this collection trekking across the wild desert. Most episodes stand alone such, but their is plenty of plot-meat to be seen, such as the pivotal introduction of Luffy’s brother Portgas D. Ace and Vivi’s discovery of the suffering her royal family could not prevent for those in the small desert villages. But unfortunately a fair chunk of screen time is given to fairly dragged out ‘oh no Luffy is lost again’ scenes. We get it, he is easily distracted and has the navigation skills of a 2 year old child. But despite those tedious scenes, this collection is pretty much all build up to the big battle, with foreshadowing of things to come, such as Crocodiles mysterious ability and the ongoing rebellion against the King of Alabasta.
It is all just setting up bigger things to come for the next collection, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work well on it’s own, because it does. The story arc of Ace’s arrival is executed perfectly and left me pining for more scenes of Ace. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long to see him make a return, his fight with Captain Smoker was well done, if a little understated. Once he takes his leave though, we return to the ongoing story of Baroque Works. The collection ends on a mighty episode in which all the members of Baroque Works meet at the Spider Cafe. We get a good look at them all and even a few of their abilities, it overall puts all the pieces into motion for what is no doubt going to be an epic Collection 9.
Artwork: When commenting on the artwork of One Piece, I always have to say that it is not for everyone. It’s an extremely unique style and some aren’t interested in something that deviates so greatly from the common anime style. Personally, I enjoy the artwork and have noticed an improvement of the animation quality and art over the series. It is interesting to note that whilst the artwork hasn’t changed so drastically, the budget has noticeably increased in the last few collections.
The episodes in this collection were released in Japan in the year 2000 and yet still hold their own against the anime of today. In some cases looking even better than some series released today (I’m looking at you Naruto Shippuden! Google: Pain’s Face from Naruto).
The backgrounds are suitably baron and desolate, yet maintain a sense of life that is unusual for a desert setting but works wonders here. I could almost believe that the desert has a life of it’s own. It has the same feeling that the series has given the sea, that it is a lonely desolate place, but from desolation, life springs forth. Whether this was their intention or not, it is pulled off brilliantly through the series’ artwork and in this particular case, the desert of Alabasta Kingdom.
Audio:
I have to say, I am a huge fan of the soundtrack of One Piece. Both the Opening and Ending themes through the series have been great. But it’s the incidental music that truly shines through in this collection. The scene in which Luffy and Ace reunite was beautifully done, and the score was perfect for that moment.
The current Opening theme “Believe” originally by Folder 5 in Japanese and translated and sung in English by Meredith McCoy really sets the mood for the series. It is all about believing in yourself and follow your dreams, which is exactly what One Piece embodies in each character (but more about that later). It has been the opening for a good 40 or so episodes now and hasn’t grown old in the slightest.
“But what about the voice acting?” someone shouts at their computer screen. The voice acting is brilliant, as is evident through nearly all Funimation dub releases. You’d be hard stretched to provide an example of a miscast or badly acted part in these 12 episodes. All the cast has evidently grown into their roles by now perfectly and they hit all the right notes. For this collection though the MVP for best performance has got to go to Travis Willingham as Luffy’s brother Ace as I mentioned earlier on. He perfectly encapsulates the character of Ace from the get go and provides an awesome counter-part to the empty-headed Luffy, who also is voiced superbly by Colleen Clinkenbeard, proving once again she has the proverbial balls to match the original Japanese voice of Luffy and come out unscathed.
Characters: There isn’t a lot to say about the characters of One Piece, because it’s well documented how great the characters are. They each are unique in their own right and have set the benchmark for shounen characters. The main characters each have their own personal and individual dreams and their own unique personality, sure there have been characters in other series since One Piece who have similar personalities but they are simply a carbon copy empty vessel in comparison. One Piece’s character have heart and a long history and fandom overseas. In Japan, One Piece has become the best selling manga of all time, outselling Dragonball, which many believe is due in part to the characters likability. I could talk for hours about the characters but I will instead focus solely on the major player of this collection.
Portgas D. Ace, the brother of Luffy, who makes his official debut after breifly appearing (albeit vieled in dark clothing to hide his appearance) during the final episode of the previous collection. His appearance sets off a several episode story arc in which he reunites with his brother after several years apart and then travels with the Straw-Hats across the desert for information regarding his search of a pirate known as Blackbeard (who was mentioned in the previous collection in Drum Island).
We are introduced to several things to come, such as Ace’s inclusion into the Whitebeard Pirates and the promise of more wild devil fruit users such as Ace, who uses a wicked Flame-Flame fruit power. The scene in which he takes out a fleet of Baroque Works ships with one fire fist punch was indeed epic and a great way to introduce his power.
As said above, Travis Willingham does an excellent job voicing Ace and I look forward to seeing more of his work, in particular an episode far off into the future of One Piece that followers of the Japanese version should know about. I suggest not looking that up if you want to watch the series spoiler free. Please refrain from posting spoilers in the comments as well.
Personally I can not wait to see where these characters take us in the future. Overall: This was yet another great collection of One Piece and another great job by Madman with this release. Overall this is an excellent part of the One Piece series albeit not the most ideal point to come aboard but a good enough part none-the-less. There is little to no issues with this series and the only thing that was a bother about this particular collection was the slightly dragging Luffy is Lost scenes. But they weren’t enough to derail a brilliant “piece” of One Piece (4kids dub reference! No?).
I highly and proudly recommend both this collection and series to any one of any age or gender, it is not to be missed!
The other day we brought you a nice BurgerTime World Tour trailer to munch on. While the trailer was meaty and a pure treat for those of us who were familiar with the classic, it didn’t really go into serious detail when it comes to the characters and the many worlds that make up the actual game.
To assist with that, MonkeyPaw have now launched an official website for the upcoming XBLA/PSN/WiiWare re-imagining that introduces the many edible baddies, shows off the scenery for each world, and of course the trailers that have been shown are all up an available for your viewing pleasure.
You can visit the new website at burgertimeworldtour.com and once even more information on the game releases, we will be sure to bring it to you.
That’s right a new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time 3D, has hit the web. It features a whopping 2 minutes and 23 seconds of footage that will tell you pretty much what you already know about the game – it’s going to be good. Damn good.
The new trailer appears to be a Japanese commercial of the game and features some new unseen footage, unless you’ve played the original Nintendo 64 game, then this is probably just a great nostalgia trip for you. There is plenty to be seen in the trailer to hopefully quench your thirst for your daily intake of Zelda related entertainment.
The game is set to be released locally on the 30th of June, 2011. So get those pre-orders ready (if you haven’t done so already), this ones gonna sell out fast, bank on it!
KAMI RETRO is spelled in all caps. There’s a reason for it. It’s because it demands your attention. Unable to be contained by a single device, KAMI RETRO has spread it’s love onto the delicious tenderness that is iPad. Optimised for the increased resolution, KAMI RETRO is perfectly suited for the larger real-estate.
KAMI RETRO burst onto the scene and was immediately highlighted as iPhone Game of the Week on the US App Store, being the envy of all other apps. But it didn’t let the fame go to it’s head, instead KAMI RETRO focused on an awesome retro-3D look, 8-bit inspired soundtrack and a unique spin on platforming and puzzle-gaming.
Featuring more than 60 stages across five worlds, platform-puzzle game KAMI RETRO HD will challenge players’ smart thinking and quick fingers.
I can’t recommend KAMI RETRO enough. It’s a fantastic title and worthy of your time. The HD iPad version is available on the App Store now for $2.99 and the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad version is still available for $0.99.
KAMI RETRO and KAMI RETRO HD are developed by Paw Print Games and published by GAMEVIL.
Did you hear that? That loud roaring applause? That, my friends was the sound of zillions of Uncharted fans rejoicing aloud because David O. Russell, Destroyer of All Things Uncharted, quit. If you were unfamiliar with this travesty, Mr. Russell decided to horribly miscast (Mark Wahlberg as Nathan Drake!?) and opt to change virtually everything that makes Uncharted, Uncharted. Which brings to question, why even make the movie if you’re just going to change everything? Why not just call it something else? Well, I’m just going to assume that logic set in.
Don’t get me wrong, David O. Russell is a fine filmmaker. But I can’t help but think he was horribly misguided in his decision to make this picture. Crisis averted. The Internets can now calm down.
Variety had the exclusive report. No reason was given. None is needed.
Capsule Computers were recently invited to preview Alice: Madness Returns, where we were lucky enough to rub shoulders with one of the gaming industry’s legendary game developer and Creative Director on Alice: Madness ReturnsAmerican McGee.
Some of his early works include involvement in the creation of the classic video games Doom, Doom II, Quake and Quake II, these achievements really speak for themselves.
However with the release of ‘American McGee’s Alice’ back in 2000, McGee has since become somewhat of a cult figure/cult game developer among many gamers around the world.
So with this in mind, I was very fortunate to of interviewed American McGee and gain his insight into the games he has created.
Interview Begins
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1. I find that both Alice and Alice: Madness Returns seems to be defined their very unique art style/direction and equally for their dark, macabre and twisted reinterpretation of Wonderland. How did you first get the idea/inspiration to create this video game adaptation of Alice In Wonderland ?
McGee – The inspiration came to me while driving along the coast of California (Highway 1) and listening to a song by the Crystal Method (Trip Like I Do).
The word “wonder” struck me and stuck in my head – that, combined with the surrounding scenery, speed and my general mindset, set off an series of creative bursts in my head which largely resulted in the core concept for the game and its story.
2. Why did it take so long (more than a decade) for an Alice sequel to be made?
McGee – There was really nothing special about the timing – I just needed to be in the right place at the right time (again) for everything to align so that a sequel could be made.
I’d spent the previous 10 years travelling the world, making other games, moving to Los Angeles, Hong Kong (then Shanghai) before starting a studio (Spicy Horse Games, Shanghai) which I felt had the ability to tackle the creation of a sequel.
3. The game is quite dark and delves into mature themes, was there anything that too “full on” to make it into the full game and was removed during development?
McGee – Content in the game is driven purely by Alice as a character. We had a rule during development – everything seen in Wonderland had to come from an experience Alice had in her real-world life. That constraint forced us to think of interesting ways to present really fantastic or horrifying themes using only the elements of Alice’s imagination.
So most everything we created “fit” within the constraint, but we still ended up with a lot of content that we just couldn’t find room for in the game. A lot of that ended up in an art book recently published by Dark Horse Comics (The Art of Alice: Madness Returns).
4. So what can players expect coming from the original to this new game?
McGee – We’ve had the luxury of ten years’ feedback from audiences around the world. They’ve told us about those things they loved in the first game, and those things they didn’t love so much.
We’re presenting a pretty classic formula in terms of what made the first game work – but we’ve also taken that feedback and improved things like combat, which many people felt was too one-dimensional.
5. Also what can newcomers expect to see, playing this game series for the first time?
McGee – What made the first game so successful was the blending of narrative, art and game play – along with the tremendous amount of variety found in the characters and locations of Wonderland. People who didn’t have a chance to play the first game will find that the sequel delivers on all those things; this is in many ways the ideal vision of what the first game was trying to be.
We’ve also just recently announced the re-release of the original game for those people who purchase Madness Returns, so there’s no reason why newcomers can’t enjoy the new AND the old game.
6. What to do you think the future of video games is? Is the industry moving to more independent developers, user generated content, community driven content or other?
McGee – The industry is definitely in a transformative phase – so much content is being pushed to new online and mobile platforms and the traditional ideas of game development are shifting to match.
For developers and audiences these changes will be mostly good – resulting in a wider range of audiences and more innovative game types across more platforms.
7. What is your option on video gaming piracy and are you worried about your video games being pirated?
McGee – Piracy is a complex problem created by a combination of factors such as price per entertainment unit, distribution platform limitations, player/consumer expectation and psychology, developer constraints/goals and monetization issues (payment, pricing, etc).
There are platforms and regions where many of these problems are being tackled simultaneously – or were alleviated/eliminated early in the formation of the market – and in those places the question of piracy is basically non-existent. The model needs to adapt to make piracy pointless while benefitting the consumers and producers.
All that being said, I am concerned about our games like Madness Returns being pirated – because it’s tied to a legacy distribution and monetization model.
But we’ve created some online hooks and incentives that we hope will inspire consumers to value the product more and thereby support our efforts more efficiently. Beyond that, the studio is moving away from retailed-based boxed product and focusing 100% on free to play online games.
8. Should gaming companies take more anti-piracy measures to protect their games or is the issues one that lies with gamers themselves?
McGee – Companies should change the model so that piracy becomes a non-issue. If you leave your car sitting in the street with keys in the ignition can you really blame people for taking it on a joy ride?
Build a better system which encourages the sort of consumer behaviour you want – no point in punishing people for taking advantage of a broken system.
9. The Alice film adaptation has been rumored/in development now for more than a decade, would you be like to see your video games adapted into films and do you think Alice will ever hit the silver screen?
McGee – Of course I’d love to see it – just not holding my breath. Hollywood can be unbelievably slow at times and blindingly fast at others; I’ve yet to figure out where the controls are, so I’ll continue to focus on our games and let the film stuff take care of itself.
10. So what’s next up for American McGee?
McGee – Spicy Horse just announced the signing of a development deal with PopCap, whereby we’ll be adapting one of their existing IPs for the 3D free to play online market – and we just received investment funding from Shanghai-based Vickers Ventures, which we’ll be using to develop our own original IP for the free to play online market worldwide.
It’s a very exciting time for the studio, we’ll be able to combine our experience with online games and AAA console games to produce really high quality free to play online games using 3D art assets. It’s a direction we think the industry will soon turn towards, and we want to be there and ready when it happens.
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So all up some very thoughtful answers from American McGee. Alice: Madness Returns is set to be released on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC on June 16th & 17th in Australia and New Zealand.
Check out our preview of Alice: Madness Returns along with Shadows of the Damned here
