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Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 12, 2013 in Videogames 
With the way Square Enix struggles with any worthwhile HD endeavors, I’m always surprised to see them release a videogame, even when it’s an upgraded version of an older game. But putting my mild incredulity aside, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX is finally out in North America and PAL territories this week. The game collects the previously Japan-only “Final Mix” version of the first Kingdom Hearts, the PS2 remake of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and completely redone cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days on DS. Re:Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days both happen at around the same time after the first game but before Kingdom Hearts II, hence the “1.5” in the collection’s title. Everything has been remastered in HD, with some characters getting updated models and Kingdom Hearts I having some gameplay improvements. Now to wait for the inevitable Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX down the line…oh, and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD, which was announced well before this collection! Read more…
Tags: Disney, Kingdom Hearts, square enix
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 11, 2013 in Videogames 
Deep Down‘s name sounds a bit awkward, like other Capcom games such as Resident Evil. But watching this trailer, the name really fits, evoking a sense of dread as you explore areas deep below the Earth’s surface. Many are noting that it seems to take the oppressive atmosphere of From Software’s Dark Souls while mixing in a sci-fi future concept of exploring past memories, a framework used in Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series. The result is this trailer that has practically sold me on the PS4 exclusive. Admittedly, there still isn’t much concrete information on Deep Down‘s plot, gameplay, or release date, so there’s plenty of time for expectations to fall as more details come to light. But for now, consider me excited. Read more…
Tags: Capcom, Fantasy, PS4
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 11, 2013 in Tech 
In what is surely not a shock, Apple has announced the next version of their smartphone, the iPhone 5S. Coming in white, black, and now a slightly-trashy gold, the iPhone 5S looks mostly the same as the iPhone 5, just like the iPhone 4 & 4S before it. There’s a silver ring around the home button with a fingerprint ID scanner for security, but the main changes are under the hood. The new A7 processor reportedly makes this phone twice as fast as the previous one, while OpenGL ES 3.0 improves the graphical capabilities. There’s also the M7, a motion co-processor, used for motion-sensing apps. Read more…
Tags: Apple, iOS, iPhone
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 10, 2013 in Tech, Videogames 
If you didn’t get the memo, Sony really, really wants you to buy a PlayStation Vita. The ailing handheld is in desperate need of a good install base. In Japan, they just announced two new products that will hopefully help turn the tide for the system. The first is the PCH-2000, a slightly redesigned Vita that is 20% thinner, 15% lighter, and comes in six colors. The battery now lasts for 6 hours, you can charge it via micro USB, and it comes with 1GB of storage, though you’ll want to consider buying a memory card, like the new 64GB one that costs about $100. A key difference is that this redesign sports a LCD screen instead of an OLED screen, which is sure to help battery life and screen consistency, but is a shame for those of us who love the current OLED screen. This WiFi-only Vita will be out on October 10 and cost the same amount as the current model. But the bigger news is their other big Vita announcement. Read more…
Tags: Playstation Vita, Sony
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 10, 2013 in Television 
There are only three episodes left to go in what is surely one of the greatest TV shows ever made, Breaking Bad. If you haven’t been collecting the series on Blu-ray so far, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has a proposition for you. Check out Breaking Bad: The Complete Series, a Blu-ray collection of all 62 episodes and 55 hours of special features on 16 discs. Those bonus features include a two-hour documentary on the making of the final season exclusive to this set, as well as all other previously released bonus material, even the retailer exclusives. All the discs are housed in a replica barrel from the show. There’s also a Los Pollos Hermanos apron, a collectible booklet, and a Breaking Bad challenge coin for fans. The set looks great! Read more…
Tags: Blu-Ray
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 9, 2013 in Videogames 
Capcom’s Monster Hunter is still a huge series in Japan. The latest in the series is Monster Hunter 4, and will be showing up on the 3DS on September 14th… in Japan. Hopefully we’ll see it arrive on western shores eventually, but for now you can just drool over their cross-promotion with Nintendo: Mario & Luigi costumes for the Felynes, and Link armor and weapons for your character. Now you can slay monsters with the Sacred Bow or Master Sword while your assistants run around with mustaches on. I’m sure it’s been a long desire of yours. The trailer is embedded below, or you can watch the full Monster Hunter Nintendo Direct here! Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Monster Hunter, Nintendo
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 9, 2013 in Videogames 
I know Grand Theft Auto is big. You know GTA is big. But sometimes it’s astounding to just see how big. Scottish newspaper The Scotsman is reporting that GTA V’s total budget (marketing and development) is $265 million. That’s way over the previous record holder, (the massive flop) Star Wars: The Old Republic at $200 million, and encroaching upon the highest budget film ever, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End at $300 million. That’s big money right there. Rockstar certainly feels they can make it back, given that GTA IV sold over 25 million copies. I love big-budget movies and games, but I still worry about how large each budget is becoming. The bigger they are, the harder they fall — not that GTA V is in danger of this. Read more…
Tags: Grand Theft Auto
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 8, 2013 in Videogames 
While Plants vs. Zombies 2 is already out on iOS and its abundance of micro-transactions dividing the populace, there is another PvZ game on the horizon: Garden Warfare. Currently an Xbox One exclusive (but expect that to change eventually), Garden Warfare is a class-based third-person shooter, taking cues from a multitude of other shooters, and mashing it together into a silly bundle of zombies. It definitely looks interesting, and I hope it turns out alright. Check out the trailer below and some gameplay here. Read more…
Tags: Plants vs. Zombies
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 8, 2013 in Cinema 
It looks like with all his talk about film and movie creation, Keanu Reeves got the itch to direct his own film. Man of Tai Chi is his directorial debut, and is semi-based upon the life story of his stuntman pal, Tiger Chen, who stars. Granted, this looks like a very loose adaption, but I am interested in seeing Reeves try his hand at directing. Many actors have successfully made the jump before. Reeves still has a lead role in the film, but I imagine part of that is simply to use his star-power to help sell it. You won’t have to wait long to see it, too: it arrives on video-on-demand on September 27th and in select theaters November 1st. Trailer below! Read more…
Tags: Keanu Reeves
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 7, 2013 in Science, Tech 
People have been making Tony Stark jokes about Elon Musk for a while now. At first it was just an amusing joke, but now it appears Musk is leaning into it. He’s been creating a virtual workshop not unlike what Stark uses in the Iron Man films to create his armor, using a combination of a Leap Motion controller, Oculus Rift, a projector, and Kinect. Reaching your hands out to control the positioning and shape of a 3D model on the screen is pretty neat, especially being able to view it with the Rift, but I wonder how quickly your arms will tire. Creating more intuitive interfaces is definitely worthwhile though, and I think stuff like this could really explode. Read more…
Tags: Elon Musk, SpaceX
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 7, 2013 in Cinema 
Which one of you asked for this? Where was the demand for a Robocop remake? I’ll suss you out if it’s the last thing I do. José Padilha is directing this new take on the classic film with a ton of solid actors in tow: Koel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton, and Abbie Cornish. But despite a great lineup, I’m still not sure about the presentation of the film. It feels less like Robocop and more like a generic sci-fi action pic. Perhaps it’s just the way the trailer is cut. At least the important elements from the original are there! Watch the trailer below. Read more…
Tags: Robocop
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 6, 2013 in Fandom, Hobbies and Collections 
I think in the future, everything will be made out of LEGOs. Not just our silly online videos recreating a movie trailer or the crazy space ships from our favorite films, but LEGOs will form everything. Our cars, our buildings, the air we breathe, maybe even your children will be LEGOs. It’s really the only path I see towards the future. So the first step is to recreate everything from the past with LEGO bricks first — starting with Thriller. Annette Jung has created the opening scene of Michael Jackson’s iconic music video, Thriller. I’m gonna bet it took a long time to make this, because it looks amazing. Read more…
Tags: Lego, Michael Jackson
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 6, 2013 in Cinema 
Alfonso Cuarón’s latest film, Gravity, is arriving October 4th. That means you can probably just skip this trailer and wait until the movie comes out in a month. If your excitement for the Children of Men director’s next film hasn’t reached a fever-pitch (like me) then perhaps you should watch it. Just get a handle on things, you know? I love the attention to real detail here. There’s no sound in space. Finally! The only sounds you hear are what Sandra Bullock and George Clooney would actually hear in their helmets. James Cameron called this the “best space film ever,” which is clearly hyperbole, but still makes me even more excited. One month, people. Read more…
Tags: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 5, 2013 in Videogames 
Kickstarter seems like a good fit for indie developer WayForward. Though they’ve worked on some big titles like DuckTales Remastered, Contra 4, and Adventure Time, it seems like they always wanted to do more with some of their original ideas. WayForward has created a Kickstarter for Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, to develop the game and bring it to every current console (except Wii), next-gen console, and Steam. If you’re into obscure games, you might recognize the game’s name from the critically-acclaimed, but very rare Game Boy Color game. A DSiWare sequel came out a few years ago, with a 3DS eShop sequel also on the way. But this is an all-new, HD game for consoles! Read more…
Tags: Kickstarter, Shantae
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 5, 2013 in Videogames 
Nintendo released another Nintendo Direct, holding a rather self-congratulatory roundtable to discuss more information on Pokemon X & Y. First of all, it was revealed that you would get your starter pokemon from your friend, not a professor. The professor will actually offer you a choice soon after of one of the starter pokemon from Pokemon Red & Blue, meaning you’re basically getting two starters. Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle’s evolved forms also have new Mega Evolutions, a temporary battle state triggered by a Mega Stone and a trainer’s Mega Ring. Charizard’s looking pretty good! Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Nintendo, Nintendo Direct, Pokémon
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 4, 2013 in Videogames 
Contrary to popular belief, Disney and Harmonix’s Fantasia: Music Evolved does have some classical music in it. Just look at this gameplay demo of part of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in the newly revealed section of the game called “The Haven.” I’m not sure how much the area is incorporated into the actual game, but it has plenty of charm, including some sort of fantasy snow creature. I’m hoping the game is filled with many of these realms, though I’m sure there are multiple songs featured in a single realm. Hopefully there is the option for even more classical music as DLC. Read more…
Tags: Disney, Music, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 4, 2013 in Cinema, Comic Books 
Were you one of the many people upset by the changed ending in the movie version of Watchmen? Personally, I thought that the new one worked rather well and tied Dr. Manhattan into it to boot. But I did miss the squid, and I forgot just how graphic the original ending was in comparison. It turns out there was a reason it was changed besides studio executives thinking that a giant squid might be a little out there. When David Hayter was asked about writing the script, he explained that the studio was very sensitive to 9/11-esque imagery that may offend viewers in such a big budget film. It makes sense, and the Hiroshima shadows were a good way to underscore how many people died without showing their bloody corpses. Read more…
Tags: Watchmen, Zack Snyder
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 3, 2013 in Videogames 
Speaking of Square Enix, they’re rolling out the preorder content for Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. We already know that if you preorder the game in the US you get Cloud’s outfit and sword. But in Japan, you can also get various feudal Japanese armors as well. This latest video shows off some battles, and a lot of the samurai outfits do look admittedly cool. I’m less into the same victory pose over and over again, but I suppose you might not notice if you’re sticking to one outfit most of the time. Read more…
Tags: Final Fantasy, square enix
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 3, 2013 in Videogames 
Technically, getting a Western release of Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, Square Enix’s critically-acclaimed so-far-Japan-only JRPG, in our native tongues counts as an improved version to me. But while it’s great that Squenix finally confirmed the 3DS game for Europe in 2013 and America in 2014, gamers were slightly concerned when the company announced an updated version with expansion content, misleadingly titled Bravely Default: For the Sequel. It features better battles, better UI, better graphics, and more content in general that may hint at a sequel. Interestingly, it also has multiple language options (including English), which made everyone concerned about whether or not this better version was the one the rest of the world would also be getting. Read more…
Tags: Bravely Default, RPG, square enix
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 2, 2013 in Videogames 
I have to really respect Keiji Inafune, he really seems to love what he does. And he really wants to make a new Mega Man, but since he’s no longer at Capcom that’s not possible. But what about a spiritual successor to Mega Man? That’s where his new Kickstarter for Mighty No. 9 comes in. It’s a side-scrolling action game where you play as Beck, the 9th robot in a series, who can pick up enemy weapons and abilities to enhance his arsenal. A lot of the staff working with Inafune are Mega Man veterans, with music done by Manami Matsumae and localization by 8-4! They’re asking for $900,000, which at time of this writing is already up to almost $600,000. I have no doubt Inafune will reach his budget and more. If you’re interested in backing it, click here, or check out the amazing pitch video below. Read more…
Tags: Keiji Inafune, Kickstarter, Mighty No. 9
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 2, 2013 in Anime 
At the Venice Film Festival, Studio Ghibli’s president Hoshino Koji officially announced some sad news: Hayao Miyazaki will be retiring. It was implied that Miyazaki would stick around at Ghibli to offer mentorship and possibly work on small projects, but his time on large films is over. Granted, this is not the first time Miyazaki has attempted to retire — but it’s also the first time a press conference has been held to announce it. Hoshino Koji said there will be another press conference next week to provide more details. Will The Wind Rises be Miyazaki’s final film? It sure seems that way. Miyazaki has had a long and prosperous run at Ghibli, I don’t fault him for wanting to retire now, though I will certainly miss his filmmaking. Now the real challenge: Ghibli must find suitable directors to take up the mantle. Give Hiromasa Yonebayashi another feature film! Read more…
Tags: Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 1, 2013 in Anime 
This past week, it seems every anime studio wanted to get their trailers out in front of the world! First up we’ve got out first real look at Kill la Kill, Trigger’s October anime series featuring dueling ladies in a fantasy school (made by Gurren Lagann director Hiroyuki Imaishi!). A clear look at Space Dandy also showed up! This is a January 2014 series from Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe, featuring… well… a dandy guy in space! Both look really impressive. Lastly, a short trailer for Ghost in the Shell Arise: border 2, Ghost Whispers was uploaded, which is the next chapter in the direct-to-video reimagining of the series. Check out all the trailers below! Read more…
Tags: Ghost in the Shell, Kill la Kill, Space Dandy
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 1, 2013 in Cinema 
Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro’s crazy giant robot film, was doubted by many analysts as being able to be a profitable endeavor. A new IP, combined with “robot fatigue” from Transformers, and fear that it wouldn’t connect with audiences were cited as some of the reasons it wouldn’t be a box office success. And while it’s performance in the US wasn’t spectacular by any means, it’s overseas pull was much larger and has put it over the $400 million mark, making it del Toro’s highest-grossing film ever. Legendary hasn’t made any statements about profitability yet, but I imagine it is much closer now than before. The home video release should do wonders, and I predict it’ll thrive there. Now, Legendary, let’s get Pacific Rim 2 going, ok? Read more…
Tags: guillermo del toro, Pacific Rim
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 31, 2013 in Television 
Season 4 of Game of Thrones is shaping up to be very exciting, but it looks like some big changes are happening as well. Daario Naharis, originally played by Ed Skrein, will now have a different actor taking on the role: Michiel Huisman. No word on why Huisman is replacing Skrein, but as it becomes a more important part perhaps they wanted someone else to tackle the growing role. Also, replacing Ian Whyte as The Mountain will be Icelandic strongman Hafþór “Thor” Björnsson, and replacing Callum Wharry as Prince Tommen will be Dean-Charles Chapman. Quite a lot of toss-ups, but it’ll be exciting to see everything fall into place! Read more…
Tags: Game of Thrones
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