Pandora’s Tower was given a teaser website back in January by Nintendo but literally nothing else was said about the title besides the fact that it was close to being finished by the time it was revealed. It appears that they were right because Pandora’s Tower’s website was given an update today that shows a trailer of the game, which you can see below, that shows a release date of May 26th, barely under two months away.
Andriasang was able to get her hands on the latest issue of Famitsu and inside of its pages was some more information about the mysterious title. APparently the game will be a straightforward action RPG featuring Ende who has to skin the monsters that have appeared in the world or his friend Ceres will die from a curse she was inflicted way. It certainly sounds interesting; but as far as we know there has not even been a glimmer of hope for a Western release, though with The Last Story getting some attention for a Western release, one can only hope.
This week it is time to go back to the early 90’s for some totally radical boxarts. The Sega Genesis (or Megadrive to most of you outside the states) certainly had some classic cover designs from the likes of the Sonic series to Streets of Rage, but even at such an early time with new ideas flowing everywhere, we still seen quite a range of hideous art plastered on covers everywhere.
Join us as we go over the top 5 worst of the worst cover arts for the Sega System that did what Nintendon’t, the Sega Genesis.
Strider
In my opinion, Strider has earned his stripes in the world of gaming, but the first release for the game certainly didn’t try to appeal to much of anyone when it was first released. At that time, many gaming companies would try to westernize cover-arts to make them appeal more to gamers on this side of the shore. The problem is though that this character on the cover ended up looking more like an Arnold Schwarzenegger ripoff than the ninja that is in the game.
It wasn’t until the 2000 release of Strider 2 for the Playstation that we finally seen the true form of Strider appear on a cover art, and since then thankfully Strider is back to his ninja self and fans have a hero who they can be proud of.
Funny World / Balloon Boy
What in Pooh’s name were they trying to accomplish with this? This combo-cart featured two horrible arts in one. On one side we have a shotgun KILLING what appears to be a lovable bear as the other one screams out in horror. The other side shows that the bear is just screwed as he now has a redneck maniac with an obsession with balloons out to get him as well. This cover is the definition of tragedy but that’s ok! ITS A FUNNY WORLD!
Columns III
Ah yes, all those bright gems and jewels from columns. But WAIT! Why is there a strange little bald man sitting on them? And just what were Sega thinking when they made this art anyway? A lot of questions come to mind, but this guy angers me for his happiness. It is like they took a perfectly decent cover for the game and shouted “Hey Larry, you wanna be on tha cover?”.
Dynamite Duke
Dynamite Duke is a fantastic arcade-style shooter, but of course the man holding a gun surely told you that. What we don’t yet know is why Duke here is giving us his best impression of a villain from a cheap Disney flick for a game that looks like this:
Yes, the resemblance is uncanny, except for the fact that Duke has a buzzcut, and and orange suit, and a bionic arm, but who knows? Maybe there is a frown on his face right now from seeing what was done to his cover.
Crack Down
What do you get when you combine a storm trooper, an orangutan, a huge goat person, and two frustrated shirtless gunmen? You set the scene that is the Crack Down cover of course. While the guy on the right seems very focused on his target, the guy on the left seems to be angry that they are both on fire.
As for Sega, we are not done with you yet as next week, it is all about the Sega Master System.
Now as usual, you can tell us your favorite of these atrocities and feel free to mention what we may have missed in the comments section below.
Sacred Odyssey Developer: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft Platform: iPhone(reviewed)/iPad Genre: Action/Adventure/RPG Released: 02/02/11 Price: Free – Download Now – Or Buy NOW Price $8.99
Overview
Inspired by Nintendo’s Zelda franchise, Gameloft’s Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden, is a stunning action/adventure game for iOS. Unsuspecting villager, Ayden, has been chosen by the god Uryah to save the kingdom of Lasgalen from the Apocalypse (sounds familiar). While the narrative behind isn’t all that original, and is pretty typical of fantasy/RPG/adventure genre, the gameplay of Sacred Odyssey is what makes the game so impressive for an iOS based game. With impressive graphics, easily mastered controls and a reasonably engaging narrative, Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden is well worth investing some time in.
Gameplay
While saving the kingdom of Lasgalen is the ultimate quest in the game, along the way there are side quests. These are signified by different types of punctuation, question marks and exclamation marks for different types of quests and to indicate if the person is relevant to the current quest or not. In this sense, Gameloft have made it really easy to distinguish between important characters and non-playing characters. Some of the quests are a little annoying to undertake, such as finding people to give them items, while others are great fun, like smashing through hoards of Orcs while riding on the back of your faithful steed. While at times these side quests or even the main quests don’t really seem to contribute to the overall narrative, they really help to give the player that freedom that is so enjoyable adventure games – something that isn’t really done often enough in iOS based games.
The game itself has a nice flow to it. Often when moving across different areas the game will pause for a few seconds, if that, to load the next portion of the environment. This is the only lagging experience to occur throughout the game, which is perfectly understandable considering the size of the world the player is traveling through and the size of the device in which they are playing the game on. This is all helped by how easy the controls are to learn. To the left of the screen there is a V-pad to move the character, and action buttons on the right (usually sword and shield but you can change weapons later on). It doesn’t take long to master these basic controls and in a matter of seconds you can be out thwarting hoards or Ocrs to whatever villains cross your path. While the controls are easy, I take issue with the way the menu operates. It isn’t a particularly bad menu interface, I just feel it isn’t as user friendly or graphically dynamic as the game controls, but hey, that could just be me.
An issue I always had with Zelda game titles, especially the Twilight Princess, was that Link could store so many items, and yet didn’t carry a bag any bigger than a small handbag. Imagine my surprise when our hero Ayden could mysteriously store his horse for immediate access! Gaming paradoxes aside, the ability to quickly summon the horse and ride off into the distance is one of my favourite features of Sacred Odyssey and has really come in handy for just exploring the map and familiarising myself with side quests.
Graphics and Audio
To be brief, the graphics of Sacred Odyssey are brilliant. Gameloft have done a fantastic job creating such a stunning landscape and character models for such a limiting device in terms of graphics. I am so impressed with the graphics during game play that it is almost a shame to have to view it on such a small screen. The only concern I have with the graphics is the menu is a little lack luster in comparison to the rest of the game. In particular the map section, I often have trouble determining where I am meant to be going or how to get there through the map function. However, to end on a positive note in regards to graphics, I’ll repeat myself, brilliant!
The musical score of the game is great. It really makes the immersion into a fantasy world complete and pushes the narrative forward. The sound effects all fight perfectly to the games action. A plus is that key characters in the game will actually speak. While the dialogue might be a bit cheesy at times, it’s what I come to expect from game of this genre, and it fun when taken lightly. Characters who are just passers by however don’t have voices, and you are required to read the text.
Conclusion
What makes Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden particularly impressive is that it is an iOS based game. The graphics are spectacular and the action of the game is great fun. Despite similarities to Zelda in many ways, I still think Sacred Odyssey can stand on it’s own as a game without too much comparison. In fact, I would go as far to say that it’s completely possible to push this game past the limitations of iOS devices and put to good use on some consoles. I’d hate to repeat myself again, but I just need to reiterate that this is a brilliant game for iOS devices.
The main reason I decided to write this was not to start a debate over piracy so please keep any comments void of your opinions unless they are going to be constructive and informative. Any others I shall probably delete as I’m not planning to start an argument. It’s a very subjective topic and if you want to discuss it go to a hacking forum you won’t find any information on this site. The reason I am writing it is its importance to the industry as a whole and its outcome will set a precedent relating to intellectual property rights and laws regarding reverse engineering and the circumvention and bypass of patented security systems.
Infamous Jailbreaker George Hotz
Sony Vs George Hotz and others
Finding themselves in the middle of one of the most important cases in gaming and intellectual property rights law, is electronics giant Sony. While the court case documents and actual charges against the defendants are confusing I will break it down in a nutshell for you. According to the manufacturers even once you have purchased a PS3. Xbox360 or Wii, you do not fully own the rights to all aspects of the machine especially in relation to reverse engineering. Before you argue that this is a ridiculous notion exclusive to this industry it has variables (which shall be explained later) which make it vastly different in nature to most other industries. Recently a young well known hacker named George Hotz infamous for his work in ‘jailbreaking’ iphones and ipads began to focus his efforts on the PS3. For those unfamiliar the term jailbreaking refers to hacking the security system of a device to circumvent the need to be limited to running only authentic and signed applications and software. So, essentially George Hotz enabled a ‘hack’ for the PS3 that allowed users to install their own ‘homebrew’ software and applications. Interestingly he actually had written into his ‘hack’ anti-piracy measures that did not allow users to run backup copies of their games, but by then the damage had been done and by taking Georges work and the information he released to the public other hackers have enabled his hack to accommodate piracy. This brings the second defendant into the picture, a user known amongst those circles as Graf_chokolo, responsible for bringing back the OtherOS previously removed by Sony a while ago. Currently facing a 1 million dollar lawsuit this hacker still defies Sony and continues to release information to the public even without his computers which have all been seized by the courts.
Anonymous
The latest update in this saga comes from a group of hackers known only as Anonymous. According to reports they have openly threatened Sony in relation to these current lawsuits, warning of future attacks and actions against the company. Apparently the sony.com and playstation.com domains have already been attacked but are back up and running as usual which is good news for everyone and PSN has been reporting intermittent down time which could be totally unrelated. I wanted to break down the reasoning behind this ‘groups’ motives which are somewhat ridiculous. Nevertheless I would say Sony are taking these guys quite seriously as they have responsible for the takedown of MPAA and RIAA websites, as well as MasterCard and the Church of Scientology to name but a few. They go on to accuse Sony of abusing the judicial system and trying to censor information as well as victimising their own customers.
This is where I refer back to the variables that set this type of industry apart from most others. You don’t see Sony trying to stop people from opening up there LCD screens to see how they work, nor would they care if you found a way to make it fix your coffee for you. In the same manner, they really don’t care if one of these guys has found a way to play his old SNES games on the PS3, but what they do care about is when these guys release this information to the public with the end point most often than not being the ability to pirate software.
Customers of Sony have not been victimised in any way by these court proceedings nor have they abused the judicial system to my knowledge. Attacking the PSN is pointless as they are only hurting legitimate customers who are not abusing the system. Consoles that have been modded are not able to access the PSN or online play. Emulators and PS3 development for personal use has been around for years, it was only with the release of the PSJailbreak dongle that Sony rightly decided to take action. According to ISuppli who provide free market research, Sony has been losing money on PS3 consoles from its launch relying on software sales to make profit. Sony would expect roughly 10% of all games sales and 100% of exclusive titles like God of War and Killzone.
While I’m not taking sides imagine if it was your product, you had spent countless man-hours and millions of dollars developing and fine tuning for the enjoyment of your consumers. Then someone stole it or a trusted source leaked it. You would also fight hand nail and tooth to take action against those involved. With most industries the developers encourage users to better understand their product and the gaming sector is no different. What they object to is their security and anti-piracy measures being infiltrated on a mass commercial scale. Anonymous seem to be getting involved in something for the sake of it, and the outcome will surely do more damage than good to Hotz’s case. Sony have acknowledged the threats and apologised to users for any interference on their networks.
Ipad Jailbreak
Right from the beginning of gaming consoles emergence onto the market, there have always been groups and individuals who for some and reason or another have wanted to find a means to either bypass or remove the security from their consoles. Many of these ‘hackers’ are genuinely anti-piracy in nature, and their actions are purely done in a quest for knowledge, but the vast majority of them are in it purely for the ability to play backup or copied games. They have been around since the days of the Super Nintendo and they aren’t going away anytime soon. So called popular hacking forums whose names I shall not mention, while being incredibly informative are also very contradictory. Of their hundreds of thousands of members you could count on both hands the number of guys who actually would have the knowledge or understanding to hack anything. The rest of them are simply hanging around waiting for information on how to play their games. Added to this is many of these sites anti-piracy stand yet showing ads for illegal hacking devices and (the one that made me laugh the most), a 2Tb HDD PRELOADED yes I said PRELOADED with games. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me but hey no-one ever does.
I believe piracy to be akin to walking into a shop and outright taking the product. I also believe that more than often companies are getting away with letting down gamers and the industry with subpar games sold for exorbitant prices. What needs to be implemented is a system that allows gamers to trial full versions of any game of their choice before they buy it. Games that are worth anything would not be at risk of being completed within the trial period and would leave the player wanting more. I don’t disagree with what Sony is fighting for or standing up for but I do disagree with the way in which they are doing it. History is not in their favour in these types of cases, and they are spending vast sums of money fighting what may be a lost cause that could hamper any future proceedings of a similar nature. George Hotz has already been through courts with major corporations, successfully defending himself against Apple, resulting in the jailbreaking of phones being deemed legal in the United States. In a similar case, a UK modder of Xbox360 consoles was cleared of all charges brought against him by Microsoft regarding the direct modding of their machines by way of an external chip. Of major concern for Sony is that they have targeted the wrong people. Why are there so many who were overlooked even though they are still directly contributing to future development hacks and continue to disable security patches. A loss for Sony in this case could have disastrous effects for them and the entire gaming industry.
Piracy and the Law
Nintendo – Nintendo have had their fair share of lawsuits in relation to both piracy and patent rights. In 2008 they lost a 21 million dollar case to Anascape regarding the use of controller sticks on GameCube and wii classic controllers, and have also been involved in cases with individuals regarding technology used within the DS touchscreens. (Although many of them seem like goldiggers with not much more than vague blueprints for a touchscreen based computer). In relation to anti-piracy cases they have been somewhat more successful than the others in keeping the law on their side. In 2009 they successfully had devices that allowed pirated games to run on their handheld console the Nintendo DS banned in many countries and states as well as recuperating massive amounts of money in fines from individual sellers and providers of the devices. Recently they also successfully sued a man for uploading a leaked version of Super Mario Bros Wii resulting in a 1.5 million dollar fine in their favour.
Microsoft – This giant is also no stranger to the inside of a court room and has been involved in cases ranging from anti-competitive and monopolistic business behaviour through to piracy cases. In the late 90’s the US Government went to court with Microsoft regarding their monopoly over Operating systems and Web browsers, eventually coming to a complicated settlement involving close monitoring of the company as well as having their source code monitored. They have been the target of many individual cases regarding ‘bricked’ consoles from glitches in firmware and dash updates. Late last year Microsoft took to court, Matthew Crippen, a young British guy accused of installing chips into XBox360 consoles for the sole purpose of playing illegally obtained games. Due to lack of evidence as well as the way in which it was collected the case was dismissed and Crippen allowed to go free after facing a possible 10 years in jail.
Sony – Just like the others Sony has spent hundreds of millions in legal bills fighting patent and piracy cases. LG and Sony are currently in court in 2 separate cases relating to Sony’s phone technology in LG phones and LGs Blu ray technology patents in Sony PS3. On top of this they are fighting consumers who fell they have broken the law by removing the Other OS from their PS3 console, a feature they said they would never remove and a key selling point and reason as to why many bought the unit. They are also suing George Hotz and Alexander Egorenkov, the former for jailbreaking their PS3 console, allowing the use of unofficial applications and piracy, and the latter for reintroducing the previously removed OtherOS.
The reason I think Nintendo are successful where others have failed is that they can prove a direct link to piracy and base their cases around this. The R4 and Acekard cartridges which they have successfully had removed from sale in many parts of the world and online had only one purpose which was to enable copied software. It was easy to argue this in front of a judge and the cases were quite clear cut. Again with Super Mario they argued loss of income from an individual releasing a copy of a game to the public for free and well before the street date release. The defendant didn’t have a leg to stand on and had to settle. Sony seem to have opted for a different defence, arguing rather the legalities of circumventing their devices, an argument Apple and others have lost in the past. They also seem more intent on keeping players with illegal firmware on their consoles off their online networks rather than keeping them from playing the copied games in the first place. I have often wondered why these companies simply don’t take action against many of these known websites that are hosting literally millions of dollars of illegally obtained software. The answer lies somewhat in the location of many of these websites, the local laws applying to them and Sony’s jurisdiction in that area. Microsoft probably would have won their modding case had they not been hampered by a witness and employee who admitted to modding consoles in his uni days, as well as being accused of setup tactics to obtain much of their evidence.
Does Piracy really cost the industry that much?
Last Year Japans Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association did a study based on over 100 of the most notorious sites for illegal downloading. The conclusion was a whopping $4100000000 loss in the last 5 year period of sales….. and this was on the DS and PSP alone. Add in the Wii, Xbox360 and now the PS3 and the figure will generously inflate. I think there are a few factors regarding this that should be considered. Many people download games prior to spending over $100 per title. The majority of these games are played for 10 minutes and usually deleted as they are not what they player is looking for. The games that they enjoyed they went out and purchased. I would imagine that as many as 60% of these downloads fall into this category and do not result in a loss of sale as the person had no intent of ever purchasing the product. As mentioned above, a system implemented by the companies themselves could easily eliminate their need to be doing this. Sure they could rent the game but that still doesn’t give any money to the developers or producers and has the same end result. So the figures are somewhat skewed and over inflated as they presume that every download is a lost sale.
While I was going through sites and researching a lot of this, one interesting point that kept coming up was that pirates spend more money on media than non pirates. This demographic is very particular in what they purchase and refuse to spend money on something that they haven’t tried and tested. But after all is said and done they end up giving back more to these companies they are stealing from. Again let me stress I don’t think this is a legitimate excuse for piracy. Going through a few sites some of the statistics are startling. Some sites which I cannot mention are carrying hundreds of titles each downloaded thousands of times.
What homebrew and hacking does enable is game modding which in turn heavily affects online play. With the ability to become invincible, see through walls and what not, many online gaming rooms have turned into a joke. Recently Sony went through their COD Black Ops rooms, banning any players running modded firmware and game hacks, which is a positive move towards keeping online play free from cheats. Hopefully they can come up with a system to filter out these players across their entire network.
How to combat piracy?
If it was really that simple then every console wouldn’t be a victim of it, but there are a few measures that companies have taken to better protect their systems.
1. Activation codes – already in place in most of the newer online games, it requires players to register a unique code that can only be found with the original copy. Unfortunately it cannot be implemented for offline play as it raises too many issues such as lending games to friends as well as destroying the second hand games market.
2. Concentrate on Game security – Once a console has been hacked it is very hard and expensive to be constantly trying to patch up the security on it. Think of the time and money Sony must have spent updating the PSP firmware to stop pirates stealing their games only to have hackers find a way around it quicker than it took them to develop it. This is harder than it seems and has been blamed for many developers abandoning easily pirated PC titles and moving towards console development.
3. Take more action against uploaders. Nintendo have proved that the courts are generally not too lenient on people stealing and uploading major titles especially before their release date, a practice which is becoming more common as groups compete for notoriety amongst the pirating community.
4. Firmware and Dashboard updates, which unfortunately are patched by hackers not long after they are implemented
Conclusion
All of these court cases cost money and what can be gained from them has to be weighed up against what has been lost. Sony obviously feels that they are fighting for future protection against console hacking as well as loss of income. When it comes down to it there should not be any real argument when it comes to pirating any kind of media, be it movies music or games. The fact that we view online and offline behaviour as 2 seperate existences bound by different laws is intriguing and contradictory. Internet behaviour is harder to monitor but easier to track, giving many people the illusion that what they do is invisible to prying eyes. Pirating games costs the developers money regardless of the amount. These are the companies whose games we all hang out for, waiting in anticipation as they are delivered on their day of release. Eventually smaller independent developers may close, and larger companies not hit quite as hard may reduce their R&D budgets and concentrate their efforts in other areas or only on the mot secure console.
The author wishes to say that they do not in any way condone piracy which should be evident from the article. I am not a lawyer and have not read the mile high court documents from any of these cases nor do I wish to. It is merely an informative article with topics you can make your own minds up about. All this information was obtained from personal research across various internet sites.
Featuring 4 player mayhem, Red Faction Battlegrounds has finally hit the PSN network and should be available for download sometime today. The game is played from a slight aerial view, but from the screenshots seems to also have elements of controlling a vehicle in a FPS. And awesome news for those with a 3D setup is that the game is completely 3D enabled. Players will control a multitude of up to 8 vehicles in an attempt to destroy enemies in team based or free for all encounters.
The game is set in the 50 year gap period between Red Faction Guerrilla and Armageddon, where players will battle across a Martian environment complete with new enemies and featuring the typical destroy everything in your way shooting style we have grown to love from Red Faction titles.
Other features include
– Complete online multiplayer with XP and rankings
– Local play for up to 4 players
– Multiple game modes, 16 single missions and 9 multiplayer grounds.
– Exclusive 3D play on PS3
Players also have the opportunity to unlock bonus content for Red Faction Armageddon released on the 31st May on PS3, Xbox360 and PC. Other bonuses include the ability to upgrade and gain bonus weapons.
Red Faction: Battlegrounds is brought to you by THQ and Volition and will be available for $9.99 from the Playstation Network or is apparently free as an incentive to PS+ members. It will also be available on Xbox platform.
It seems Nintendo might be in a JRPG kick. They published Square-Enix’s Dragon Quest IX and Europe has got confermation that Xenoblade is coming out, could Nintendo have another RPG waiting to spread it’s wings and come across the ocean? There maybe some more good news as a French gaming site stated that the domain thelaststory.com has been registered to Nintendo of America.
After checking a domain register it does confirm that the Mistwalker RPG was indeed registered by Nintendo. No official word from Nintendo if we will see this game outside Japan or if Nintendo is just cybersquating. We may have to wait till E3 rolls around for any new details. We will keep you posted on further updates.
As with any new device or technology, there will always be those who will want to take it apart piece by piece in an effort to better understand its design and how it works, and the Kinect for XBox 360 is no different. Since its initial release back in November, hackers from around the world have been studying its depth perception and motion detection engines to put them to use in other projects. And for once these actions have been welcomed by the developer. Originally planning to take action against anyone ‘reverse engineering’ or tinkering with their devices, the company has made an exception for the kinect, realising its potential and use outside of the gaming industry. Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer expects a “huge explosion in interest”, which is something they “welcome and support”. The head of the companies’ interactive entertainment division, Don Mattrick sees it as a “great way to build momentum, intellect and creativity of that particular community”.
The most impressive of hacks so far has come from Kinected Conference by MIT media labs which I am guessing is a bunch if MIT students judging from their website. The main features of their conferencing development are
Talking to focus – Effectively the system recognises who is talking and puts them in focus with the ability to blur out everything else. They also have incorporated contextual bubbles providing valuable information such as the person’s name and any files they might be sharing with the group as well
Freezer Former Frames – allows the user to pause themselves while everything else continues on as usual. Valuable for those toilet breaks in meetings.
Privacy Zone – Allows the user to make themselves or specified areas invisible to the viewer. Very useful for hiding other in the background or things going on close by due to space limitations.
Spacial Augmenting Reality – Bit more complicated but allows users to click on objects in an augmented space and gives them real time position and distance figures.
This would be of great interests to many businesses and could offer a superior conferencing system for a lower investment.
Microsoft themselves have announced a Kinect Software Development Kit or SDK which they say will offers drivers allowing users to utilise the Kinects motion detection, video, voice and depth perception features at levels not available through the current hack. Currently the Kinect is being used across many projects by a multitude of groups, ranging from its use in old games like Super Mario Kart, real time video manipulation and what wouldn’t be complete with at least someone combining it to enhance, play with and control female breasts. There have also been plenty of people who have seen the devices potential for use in simulated sex games.
Microsoft have been quick to go on the record saying any such games will result in immediate action from the company to have them banned. They pride themselves on being a family oriented company especially in relation to the Kinect and do not support any such behaviour. The most impressive stuff is coming out of MIT Robotics which has seen robots using the Kinect for movement and obstacle recognition.
The official kit will be available sometime in April for non-commercial use with plans for a commercial license to be sold for its use in profitable industries.
The Sacred Blacksmith Produced by: Manglobe Inc. Tag Line: Can a naive Knight overcome the power of a devil’s sword? Run time: 300 minutes in 12 Episodes Language: English, Japanese Genre: Action Adventure, Fantasy, Anime Available for purchase at:Madman Online Store ($59.95), Amazon US ($27.99), Amazon UK (£42.23)
Overview:
Fantasy series can sometimes be seen as a dime a dozen but in the anime world this is far from the truth. Many fantasy series often based around historic Japan or China with few focusing on creating a new world all of their own. The Sacred Blacksmith sets itself apart by creating a fantastical world set in medieval times. Originally created as a light novel series by Isao Miura, The Sacred Blacksmith was adapted into an anime back in 2009 by Manglobe. Now that it has been fully dubbed and released by Madman Entertainment, does The Sacred Blacksmith forge a powerful new show?
Story:
Nearly fifty years ago a great war occurred. Named the Valbanill War it was also the war where the use of something called a Demon Contract was common. A Demon Contract sacrificed a human’s body to summon forth a powerful demon or create a devastating weapon. These contracts were banned once the war ended in an effort to create a peaceful world.
Now we join our main heroine Cecily patrolling the streets of Housman as usual but she is attacked suddenly by a crazed veteran of the Valbanill War who destroys her weapon and has to be saved by a mysterious man named Luke who wields a katana that neatly slices through the veteran’s weapon and causes him to run away. Despite her quick defeat and loss of her weapon she quickly finds herself fighting against a monstrous Demon that attacked a caravan carrying precious cargo and is again saved by Luke who demonstrates surprising magical powers and forges a magical katana that defeats the demon quickly.
Cecily consistently goes to Luke’s house and asks him for a katana of her own and is turned down consistently. Then she is shown that she will be the protector of a magical sword known as a Demon Sword, only it is much more than a simple sword. The knights around the city of Housman are on the lookout for someone that is called the “Man in Black” who seems to be in the center of every demonic appearance and with more wielders of Demon Swords showing up in the city things quickly become hectic in Cecily’s knighthood.
The storyline seems to have a lot of trouble on finding a place to settle down unfortunately. Despite plenty of plot points being introduced over time the series perhaps falls victim to its limited airing schedule of 12 episodes. What I mean is that story arcs often feel very rushed and the series loses focus quite often. The arc featuring Charlotte E. Firobisher takes a lot of time to get going and develop, only to quickly get resolved when the arc finishes up. This then leaves only a few episodes to close out the series with the “Man in Black” being revealed and Luke and Lisa’s past coming to light. Lots of plot holes were left open which could be resolved in a second season but unfortunately The Sacred Blacksmith leaves a lot to be resolved in the end.
Artwork:
The Sacred Blacksmith is very well drawn with character animation being fluid even during some of the heavy combat scenes. It is obvious that Manglobe spent plenty of time with the battle scenes themselves as the special effects for the battles are top notch. Whether it is an elemental attack from one of the Demon Swords or the magic used by Luke to form a magical katana the animation is quite striking and pleasing to the eyes.
The characters themselves are drawn well with unique clothing, although it is hard to believe Cecily would receive much protection from her armor. Plus the breastplate is literally a breastplate. Moving on, the demons that appear from time to time are very well drawn considering they vary between complete monstrosities to simple mutated animals. At times the designs of the demons strike a large contrast between the humans fighting them which help create the atmosphere that the humans truly are facing powerful foes.
Audio:
The background music is rather forgetful and at times the viewer will find themselves barely remembering that there was background music other for some of the more important fights. The opening and the ending are an extreme contrast with one another as the opening song “Justice of Light” is more dramatic and serious compared to the very lighthearted ending “Miracle Happy Day.” The opening isn’t quite as memorable due to the animation used but the chibi Lisa that goes along with the ending Miracle Happy Day helps it stand out. The opening and ending weren’t translated but did have subtitles to let watchers know what was being sung.
The Sacred Blacksmith has received a full English dubbing. The Japanese voice actors are still there for those who would enjoy that version. The English voice actors provide a great job with the characters that they provide the voices over. I didn’t find any contrasts between character personality and the way that the voice actor portrayed them which is certainly a highlight. Aria’s voice actor is a treat to the ears and Cecily’s shifts between tsun and dere are captured perfectly.
Characters:
Cecily Cambell is a 3rd generation knight from the Cambell household. Despite the fact that her father and grandfather were both well-known knights in the city she has yet to prove herself as a soldier. At the beginning of the series she has little true combat experience and is quickly defeated by a veteran of the Valbanill War and has to be saved by Luke Ainsworth. Cecily is often seen as a bit of an airhead but stays strong to her beliefs that the job of a knight and her sword is to protect the people of the city. Her flame red hair can symbolize that she is extremely brave despite the fact she has little to no combat experience, though she does progressively grow stronger as the series progresses, and refuses to give up even when facing overwhelming odds. After being saved by Luke she constantly pesters him into creating a katana for her and always is around him she eventually shows tsundere like qualities when around Luke. She is often the source of many jokes in the series either due to her large breasts, which do get shown at times, or her beliefs as a knight. As a whole Cecily becomes a hindrance to the story as she is the given the most screen time but also can try the viewer’s patience due to her annoying mannerisms and pestering of Luke even though she only shows that she should deserve a powerful weapon at certain times of the series and the rest find her being more of a joke than a knight.
Luke Ainsworth can be seen as the other main character of The Sacred Blacksmith and is the actual blacksmith whom the series revolves around. Luke is a very private person who can be seen as insensitive to those around him due to his arrogant demeanor. He is an exceptional blacksmith who lives in the countryside away from the city that Cecily protects. He is the only blacksmith that is able to create katana in the region but is also able to forge a powerful magical katana in the middle of battle with the help of his assistant Lisa through a contract (spell). He sees Cecily as a pest as he constantly turns her request to forge a katana for her down. He is very quick to comment on the fact she lacks skill as a fighter and is usually on the receiving end of her anger. Despite all of this however, Cecily begins to remind Luke of someone in his dark past which is explored as the series goes on. Luke is an odd one to accept at first glance due to his attitude towards the other characters in the series. He can be seen as mean towards the other characters but eventually is fleshed out a bit thanks to being around Cecily, although he still feels out of place among the other characters.
Lisa is Luke’s assistant and lives with him in his house in the countryside. She is also his main assistant who helps him with his blacksmithing but also pretty much does everything for him. Lisa looks like a girl in her young teens and quickly becomes one of the most likable characters of the series with her adorable ways. She is always there to help Luke when he needs her but stands firmly with Cecily in any argument the two get into when she is around. There are a few odd things viewers will notice about Lisa, other than her ability to begin the contract with Luke to create the magical katanas and cannot remember ever being separated from Luke in her life. Her past is a mystery that is explored later in the series but is hinted at throughout many episodes as her ability is used again and again.
Rounding out the main characters is Aria. Aria may appear as a normal, albeit beautiful woman but she is actually one of the most powerful swords in existence known as a Demon Sword. Aria is the Sword of Wind and has the unique ability to change into human form despite the fact that most Demon Swords cannot do this. She has had many previous wielders who have used her to murder and kill thousands of men in the past but has fallen under the protection of Cecily. With Cecily’s beliefs the two form a strong bond and Aria allows Cecily to wield her power whenever she is in danger. Despite being a sword in human form Aria is quick to pick up on the romantic feelings that Cecily feels towards Luke and often teases her about this but retains her kind and caring personality always.
Some side characters that show up for their own personal story arc are Charlotte E Firosbisher and her three followers; Margot, Penelope and Doris. Each of these girls wields a powerful Demon Sword of their own but only one holds a sword powerful enough to take human form. Charlotte is the illegitimate child of the Emperor and may appear as a spoiled princess initially but quickly develops into a warm character that is willing to work alongside Cecily. Her three followers are often the source of comedic relief as they grow angry anytime anyone says anything detrimental about Charlotte. Unfortunately these characters are given a rather abrupt ending and do not see much story development beyond their arc, instead being pushed out of the picture entirely and forgotten once it finished.
Overall:
The Sacred Blacksmith does indeed forge an interesting story with plenty of unique characters and unique plot points but the blade that came out of the forge is marked with imperfections. The pacing of the story is unfortunately not well handled and important plot holes are left wide open at the end of the last episode. There is a decent amount of fan service but nothing overly exaggerated and the action is certainly a highlight to the series. In the end The Sacred Blacksmith was an enjoyable watch with lots of comedy and action but can leave the viewer disappointed at the ending.
If you are reading this, there is a really good chance you have played at least one version of PopCap’s Bejeweled. The music in Bejeweled is one of the small elements in the game that goes unnoticed while us players are zombies, smashing gems until the break of dawn, but when I actually sit and listen to the music over the gameplay, it is one of the most relaxing and harmonizing soundtracks in the video game world period.
PopCap are now allowing players to download soundtracks for both Bejeweled 2 & 3 for free via download due to two newly remastered soundtracks that have been released by composers Peter Hajba and Alexander Brandon, better known as Skaven 252.
Now you Plants vs Zombies fans will also be happy to know that the soundtrack (composed by Laura Shigihara), is also up on Bandcamp.
So now this is where you get to downloading and enjoy playing these tunes as you sleep and dream of Gems raining down on zombies.
Red Faction: Armageddon doesn’t release until June, but THQ have now shed light on what those who order the game early will receive. Those who decide to head to EBGames will be able to get an instant upgrade to the collector’s edition which is packed with all sorts of goodies from extra armor and guns to even the full version of the downloadable XBLA/PSN title, Red Faction: Battlegrounds.
Here is the full list on contents that have been revealed for this collector’s edition:
Red Faction: Battlegrounds
A free downloadable copy of Red Faction: Battlegrounds arcade game on either Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, or PlayStation®Network for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, a $15 value.
Recon Pack
Players will also receive the Recon Pack that includes the clandestine Recon uniform, constructed specifically for Red Faction snipers and spies. Unleash two new weapons on your foes, including the Arc Welder, which immobilizes and electrocutes clusters of enemies, and the XNG-5000, which launches devastating Nanite-filled projectiles that seek out targets and dissolve them.
Commando Pack
This pack includes the armored Commando uniform and adds two new weapons to their arsenal. Players will spray an unforgiving stream of destruction with the Plasma Thrower, or slice and dice the infestation with dual Laser Pistols.
A3 Poster
Lastly, players will receive a large A3-size Red Faction: Armageddon poster – perfect for the lone survivalist looking to display their allegiance to the colony of Mars.
For those who typically shop at JB Hi-Fi, don’t feel left out as THQ are offering a different bonus of a 24-page illustrated comic book which follows Darius Mason as he chases down a gang of murderous bandits in a tale that takes place just before the events of Red Faction: Armageddon.
After how much fun Red Faction: Guerrilla was, I am ready for this sequel and it is nice to see these incentives now being announced as it is always nice to get some extra swag with any gaming purchase. Red Faction: Armageddon officially hits stores June 2nd for the Xbox 360, PS3, and Windows PC. Keep checking back as we will keep you updated with more news as this release draws closer.
