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Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 5, 2012 in Videogames 
It’s been a while since the last official numbered sequel to Capcom’s courtroom drama game, Ace Attorney. Though the third game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, was released on DS in 2007, it was originally released only in Japan on GBA in 2004. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney hit America in 2008, and since then, there have been some additional rereleases and two spin-offs that served as interquels. Now, the time has come for the next Ace Attorney game, or Gyakuten Saiban 5 in Japan. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Ace Attorney, Capcom
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 5, 2012 in Videogames 
After the cliffhanger ending of Final Fantasy XIII-2, everyone expected another installment in what Square Enix has come to call the “Lightning Saga.” Of course, Square Enix seems to have a thing for convoluted names lately, which means that instead of calling it Final Fantasy XIII-3, they’re going with Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Oh well, there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on with the game, and Famitsu has just revealed a lot of it. Read more…
Tags: Final Fantasy, RPG, square enix
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 4, 2012 in Videogames 
Imageepoch is the Japanese studio behind niche yet well-regarded games such as Luminous Arc, Arc Rise Fantasia, Fate/Extra, and Black Rock Shooter. One of the studio’s major releases for 2012 is Sol Trigger, which some gamers hope may be a stand-out JRPG in a time of uninspired genre rehashes. The game will be released on PSP in Japan on October 4, but on September 6, a demo will be released on PSN. To help promote the demo, Imageepoch has revealed the opening movie, a fully animated sequence by J.C. Staff (Bakuman, A Certain Magical Index). Read more…
Tags: PSP, RPG
Posted by Bob Muir on Sep 4, 2012 in Cinema 
Rurouni Kenshin was one of my favorite mangas to come out of Weekly Shonen Jump in the 90s. When I started watching the censored anime adaptation that was broadcast on Toonami in the early 2000s, I didn’t realize that I would fall in love with Kenshin the repentent samurai enough to pick up every volume that came out, especially the third and final act that never made it into the anime. To say I’m excited for seeing the live action adaptation is an understatement, and now that the film has premiered in Japan, it looks like the rest of the world is on track for getting its own release! Read more…
Tags: Rurouni Kenshin, samurai
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 3, 2012 in Videogames 
Black Mesa Source has been around long enough to become a bit of a joke in the gaming community. The long-awaited fan-made remake of Half-Life has languished in development hell for years, leading many to give up hope or simply laugh. But now, at long last, will something actually appear? The modders’ site has updated with a countdown to the 14th this month, and they posted on their forums with full details: most of the game is coming out. The mod will contain everything up to the Lambda Core, which is roughly four fifths of the game. Pretty exciting! The rest will follow at a later date. I’m just surprised it really is finally coming out (unless…).
Tags: Half-Life, Mod
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 3, 2012 in Cinema 
You’ve probably heard that Warner Bros. loves money – er, I mean, Peter Jackson wanted to film more and expand the two Hobbit films into three. Well, they did, but that’s old news. What’s the new news? They’re moving thing around a bit in regards to naming the films: the second film will now be called The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and the third will take the old name, There And Back Again. Confusing? Probably, but it’ll be old hat by the time December rolls around. Also, after the break, take a first peek at Thranduil and the White Council! Read more…
Tags: Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 2, 2012 in Videogames 
For a while, several indie developers have complained that it’s been difficult to get their games on Valve’s Steam service. Given that it’s the most popular online games store, that can be a bit of a problem. Steam is now addressing this with Steam Greenlight, a new section in which indie developers can submit their games and the community can vote up what looks good. You game doesn’t have to be finished – you can use Greenlight to gauge interest in your concept as well. I hope this works out for people who want to get their stuff on Steam!
Tags: Steam, Valve
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 2, 2012 in Videogames 
Looking for a little more Lightning in your life? Rather than a XIII-3, Square Enix has announced Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, a brand new installment in the series, set for a 2013 release. It’s set hundreds of years after XIII-2, and features a 13-day doomsday clock, a little reminiscent of Majora’s Mask. The player can complete objectives that will decrease or increase the time left in their attempts to save the world. Read more…
Tags: Final Fantasy, Lightning Returns, square enix
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 1, 2012 in Videogames 
Given that Gearbox’s latest, Borderlands 2, is coming out in a few short weeks, their marketing campaign is kicking into gear… box. No no, that was poor. Ignore that. What you should pay attention to is that they’ve made an excellent promo trailer with Sir Hammerlock narrating all the new features of the game – and there are a lot. I have to say, the art style looks much improved from the first game, just in levels of readability. The fact that you can get way more guns and abilities is great, too – now I need to make my group of friends to tackle everything! Read more…
Tags: Borderlands
Posted by Ben Huber on Sep 1, 2012 in Videogames 
One of the most-requested features in Skyrim was being able to customize your house. Luckily, Bethesda has been doing an excellent job with making interesting DLC for the game, as well as listening to fan requests, so here’s Hearthfire! This update will allow you to buy tracts of land and then build your own house with material you collect. You can also adopt children to become part of your family with your spouse in the newly-built house, which I’m pretty sure was on the bottom of the list of “highly requested features.” Hearthfire will be out on Xbox Live September 4th and on PC sometime this year. Read more…
Tags: Elder Scrolls, Skyrim
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 31, 2012 in Comic Books 
Here’s some simultaneously awesome and depressing news: at one point, Phil Jimenez pitched a Justice League/Transformers crossover to both DC (Justice League) and IDW (owners of the comic license for Transformers). And while IDW was more than happy to get the ball rolling, DC didn’t seem to approve of the combo. Perhaps Hasbro had an influence in the decision too, we don’t really know. What an incredible shame! Who wouldn’t want to see Optimus Prime as a Green Lantern? That’s freaking brilliant! Thankfully, the flip side of this, is Brian Michael Bendis has released his art done for the pitch, so you can at least see some awesome art. Read more…
Tags: DC Comics, IDW, Justice League, Transformers
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 31, 2012 in Videogames 
The other day Konami held a press conference dedicated to Metal Gear Solid to celebrate its 25th Anniversary – and of course, to announce new stuff. Two big items of news? The Metal Gear Solid movie is, according to Hideo Kojima, on its way. Avi Arad showed up to announce that he is producing the whole affair, but given that he’s been producing lots of game-based films that are currently going nowhere, let’s just keep this one in “maybe someday” folder. The real news is a new game, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, a supposedly open-world stealth game in the Fox Engine. Read more…
Tags: Konami, Metal Gear Solid
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 30, 2012 in Anime, Videogames 
I’ve mostly outgrown my affection for the typical shonen genre exemplified by franchises like Bleach and Naruto. However, there is no way I can abandon One Piece, be it for the inventive action, energetic characters, and boundless enthusiasm on show. I think at this point I’m enough of a fan to even consider playing a videogame based on a series I’ve so far avoided. Part of that is how accurately One Piece: Pirate Warriors for PS3 depicts famous fights from the story. Read more…
Tags: Anime, One Piece, Videogames
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 30, 2012 in Videogames 
When companies talk about putting ads in games, there’s generally much gnawing of teeth as gamers envision a future where games are filled with pop-up ads. But what about getting to play high-def games in your browser for free with the support of interrupting ads? That’s Core Online, a new service from Square Enix, and it sounds pretty awesome. Read more…
Tags: Hitman, Ninja, square enix
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 29, 2012 in Videogames 
I’m liking this Nintendo Direct thing that the Big N has been releasing over the past year. It’s shows Nintendo is willing to actually tell gamers about the games it will be releasing, unlike the tight-lipped Nintendo of the past. And even if some of the presentations cater directly to the Japanese market, there’s still usually some interesting stuff for those of us in the US. Last night was one of those Japanese-only editions, but there was still some interesting news, so here’s a quick rundown of what was announced. Read more…
Tags: 3DS, Level-5, Nintendo
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 29, 2012 in Anime, Cinema 
The next installment in Studio 4°C’s adaptation of Berserk is coming soon to Japan, and the studio has released a brand-new trailer via Yahoo! Movies Japan. Titled Berserk Golden Age Arc III: Descent, the movie wraps up the planned trilogy covering volumes 3-15 of the classic manga. (Wait, does it count as classic if it’s still running? Author Kentaro Miura sure likes taking his time.) Read more…
Tags: Anime, Berserk
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 28, 2012 in Anime 
In case you missed the boat, Hatsune Miku is serious business. The virtual music star started out as a mascot for a certain Vocaloid voice synthesizer and grew to be a legitimate pop idol that swept Japan. After even getting her own live concerts thanks to 3D projection technology, it’s time for the next step in her musical career: teaming up with an orchestra for a symphonic concert. Read more…
Tags: Hatsune Miku, Music
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 28, 2012 in Anime, Fandom 
Recently a friend dropped an interest factoid onto my Facebook page: Thirty years ago today on August 28th, 1982 as part of the Creation Summer Expo*NY comic book con there was a mini-convention held inside which was called the Star Blazers Mini Con. Up until that point there were gatherings of anime fans in New York City thanks to the local chapter of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, but this was the first time that anime fandom found a place inside of a larger convention. My memory is fuzzy but the event lasted two full days, had about 100 people hanging around at any time and featured a mix of videotapes being played along with panel discussions. Read more…
Tags: Anime, Star Blazers
Posted by Bob Muir on Aug 28, 2012 in Tech, Videogames 
One of the most intriguing things to come out E3 2012 was Square Enix’s realtime tech demo Agni’s Philosophy. (You may take that as a sign of how comparatively tame E3 was this year, but I’m still legitimately impressed by the footage.) Square Enix has never been a slouch when it comes to graphics; say what you will about Final Fantasy XIII, but it pumped out some really impressive visuals on the PS3, blurring the line between prerendered cutscenes and in-game cutscenes. Now the company is showing off what else the tech running the demo can do. Read more…
Tags: square enix, tech demo
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 27, 2012 in Television 
Ok, maybe you wouldn’t want to look at this wallpaper all the time, but next time you get to remodel, wouldn’t you want to throw it in the pile just to see your significant other’s reaction? It’s bloody wallpaper – what’s the worst that could happen? Explain it away easily: you slipped and cut your finger open. Really badly! Or maybe your dog got into the jam. And… threw it on the ceiling! It’s easy, see? Better yet, secretly install the wallpaper in your basement and wait to see how people react. Even better: install it in someone else’s basement! Endless laughs! Until you get in trouble for trespassing. Buy it here, on PIXERS online store. Read more…
Tags: Design, wallpaper
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 27, 2012 in Cinema, Comic Books 
With the release of the Avengers’ Blu-ray and DVD coming up in September, the marketing is in full-force with videos teasing the special features and deleted scenes. Below the break we have Bruce Banner asking about a Commodore 64, actors singing the praises of Samuel L. Jackson’s skills, and Joss Whedon explaining some of his method to making the film. I suppose the marketing is doing its job, because now I’m pretty interested in seeing more of these deleted scenes! Read more…
Tags: The Avengers
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 26, 2012 in Television 
Playing cards are a dime-a-dozen, so you have to really stand out with cool artwork or designs to catch people’s attention. Jim Tuckwell did just that, with his excellent and stylish Game of Thrones-themed playing cards. He’s only just begun, with Ned Stark, Daenerys Targaryen, and Tyrion Lannister, but they look great so far. His plans include all four card suits, with Varys and Littlefinger as Jokers. I hope he finishes the whole set – because I’d like them! Click through to see the cards he’s done. Read more…
Tags: A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 26, 2012 in Star Wars, Television 
That new Star Wars TV show is starting finally! No, not the live-action one. No, not that other one with the seedy underbelly of Coruscant. The one from the Robot Chicken guys! But CGI! Remember that one? …No? Oh. Well, here’s the trailer for it. Honestly, I’m sure kids will eat this comedy up and enjoy this more than I ever will – because I’m not the target audience, clearly. But it just looks so average, with nothing really new brought to the table. Many of these Star Wars jokes have simply been done to death. Oh well, at least Seth MacFarlane seems to still be doing a good job as the Emperor. Read more…
Tags: Star Wars, Star Wars Detours
Posted by Ben Huber on Aug 25, 2012 in Videogames 
NeoGAF user Durante was annoyed that the PC version of From Software’s popular Dark Souls wouldn’t run in 1080p, so he modded it to work as desired. The catch? The game just came out. His fix involves an “interception .dll framework” that he developed in a week of preparation for the game’s release. Using this, he then was able to successfully mod the game to run in 1080p (and higher!) in just 23 minutes after its launch. Talk about speed! You can check out the details of the fix in his thread, here. And check out some of those high-res screenshots! Read more…
Tags: Dark Souls
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