News:: FLCL sequel trailer is now here so you can ride that shooting star again

If you ever watched a lot of Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim for much of the early to mid 2000s, you may have probably seen an episode or two of the outrageous anime FLCL. This 6-episode anime OVA series is a much beloved anime by many fans so much so that there was news earlier last year about a sequel in the works that surprised everyone.

Cartoon Network's Adult Swim division have taken up the task themselves in starting the production of a sequel in collaboration with Production IG (the people behind the anime adaptations of Ghost in the Shell), who worked with anime studio Gainax for the original FLCL. It's also worth mentioning that most of the folks from Gainax that worked on FLCL  left that studio years ago to form Studio TRIGGER, who worked on KILL LA KILL and Little Witch Academia, and are not involved in this sequel in the same capacity as the original.

The band The Pillows are back with their iconic music that gave the original FLCL its amazing soundtrack that is a favorite of many anime fans. Supervising director for the series is Katsuyuki Tomohiro from Production IG, who was Chief Director for Psycho-Pass season 1 and did planning supervision for Psycho-Pass season 2.

There will be 12 episodes of this new FLCL series and will be divided into FLCL 2 and FLCL 3, which will come out next year in 2018.

While this trailer looks intriguing and is exciting many FLCL fans, I'm a bit wary of the the whole endeavor since most of the people who made the original aren't involved anymore as well wondering if such a classic like FLCL even needs a sequel.

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News:: New Five Nights at Freddy's game confirmed and canceled in the same announcement

We all know the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise. A series of horror games set in a spooky pizzeria with haunted killer animatronics, five entries were released within the span of two years created by a dev team of only one man. It would appear that the Freddy train has potentially come to a halt, as developer Scott Cawthon announced on June 30 via Steam update that he would be no longer working on the next main entry to the franchise.

Scott gave a number of reasons as to why he made the decision, citing the pressure to do better than the previous entries in the franchise, as well as neglecting other things happening in his life to try and meet said expectations. Unlike other smaller teams however, Scott will not be discussing or revealing anything about the cancelled game, and would prefer not to talk about it anymore.

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News:: Player discovers hidden area in Breath of the Wild DLC

This past Friday, the first piece of downloadable content for Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released. Aside from being able to terrify the denizens of Hyrule by dressing like Tingle, this expansion also includes the Master Trials. 

This challenge mode consisting of sixty levels and allows the player to upgrade the overall power of the Master Sword. Reddit user Sharksytheshotty was playing through this mode when they accidentally clipped through the environment and discovered an unused area.

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News:: Second season of Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt to receive English Dub

During its panel at Anime Expo, Sunrise announced that the second season of Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt would be dubbed into English. The dub track would be produced in cooperation with NYAV Post, however no date was given as to when the dub would be available. NYAV Post is a notable recording studio that has done work on numerous shows and video games, such as Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Your Name, and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Previously, Sunrise had worked with NYAV Post to produce the dub for Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky, which was a compilation film of the first season of the anime. During the panel, Sunrise teased that special guests would be present for the screening of the English dub of the film, which would be happening on August 15 in Japan during the annual Sunrise Festival screening series.

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News:: Dragonball: Evolution is one of the best-worst movies ever

It’s no secret that faithfully adapting any kind of property is a tall order. Adaptations often result in atrocious products, born from disinterested creators and corporate interests looking to make some quick bank. However, on the surface it isn’t immediately obvious why it’s so damn hard to adapt an anime, or a game, into a new medium. Why is it so hard? Well, in short, if the folks behind the adaptation aren’t prepared to deal with the expectations of fans, or challenges behind translating a work into a different medium, they’re already making something that’s garbage. Adapting a property is like climbing a mountain; sure, it seems easy and all, but if you rush yourself and go in unprepared, you’re doomed to lose your footing, and unwittingly plunge into the dark recesses of internet hate.

But sometimes, a miracle happens. Sometimes the people adapting a property don’t give a shit, and climb the mountain buck-ass-naked. Sometimes, they fall so easily and hit the ground so hard it inadvertently shatters the fabric of reality, leaving the world they tried to re-create unrecognizable from the original. Sometimes, they create a masterpiece of a disaster, leaving us with a hilarious movie on par with the The Room or Samurai Cop.

Yeah, that’s Dragonball: Evolution, and here's why it’s one of the best-worst movies ever.

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News:: Halfway through the year, what game is your early GOTY?

As June fades away and we enter July, I'm reminded that we've passed the halfway point for the year. But the first half of the year has been absolutely bonkers for good games. Throw a rock in any random direction and you hit a highly acclaimed game, in addition to probably earning a ticket for public nuisance. In fact, asking about it now is probably perfect while all these great games are still recent, because I struggle to think of what else is on the horizon for us in the second half of the year.

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News:: The Xbox 360's original code name was a nod to The Matrix

Microsoft's home consoles represent a blind spot in my video game knowledge. For one reason or another, I've never owned one. But even though an Xbox has never graced my television screen, I've still spent countless hours playing 360 games with my friends.

The Xbox 360 has a memorable legacy. Following a meteoric rise in popularity during the seventh console generation, it often felt like everyone in the world owned one of Microsoft's white boxes. It was the de facto home machine for most console gamers, despite initial hardware issues and a larger-than-expected system failure rate.

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News:: Brotherly Love

_{[Dere proves once and for all that children are terrible and the only good taste in the world comes from adults. ~Strider]}

These past couple months, between the craziness that is work and the craziness that is my home life, I've had some time to myself to play video games and contemplate. During these contemplative times, I've done a lot of thinking about my relationships and friendships I've developed and lost. Thinking about the reasons that precipitated these friendships. One of these relationships I've been thinking about recently is my friendship with my brother. A relationship that started rocky, but has developed into a closeness that I'd be lost without. My brother has become, what I consider, my best friend. At least in part I have my old Xbox 360 to thank.

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News:: PREPARE TO FRIENDSHIP: Dtoid's Master Gaming Contact List

_{[The end is nigh! The sun has emerged, rendering my domain into a blasted hellscape. Only the power of your friendship can sustain me! The List will be updated in perpetuity -Panda]}

Good morning/afteroon/tomorrow, my friends/robots/Gardevoir

It has been made aware to me that, just perhaps, you all enjoy video games. It might even be said that you... like to game with others? Now now, don't be that way, I don't mean to lump you into some sort of box. You're all just such lovely folks, it pains me to watch you, struggling in vain to connect with each other, striving to engage in...

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News:: Check out the amazing cospaints of Kay Pike

Kay Pike has a talent, quite an astounding one. Kay has been covering herself in swaths of colour in order to recreate comic book, cartoon, and video game characters for an ever-increasing Twitch audience, and the results really have to be seen to be believed.

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News:: You know what would make a great fighting game? Rick and Morty

For over two decades, people have played Capcom's brand of crossover fighting games starring Marvel and Tatsunoko. But Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite crashed and burned spectacularly over the course of E3 with its play-it-safe character roster, bland visual direction, ugly graphics, and its devastatingly terrible demo. But hope was not lost as a new star simply Instant Transmissioned into our hearts.

We've had Dragonball Z fighting games before, and they were all fine and dandy, but this new iteration from Arc System Works brings it to a whole new level. So much of what makes Dragonball Z unique is recreated in Dragonball FighterZ. Environments being destroyed when ki blasts are deflected, a rush of strikes being exchanged in the blink of an eye, and even high speed movement, directly behind your opponent, is something you can do for the cost of a bar of super meter.

Seeing Dragonball Z recreated so faithfully, and excitedly, had me thinking like most people obsessed with fighting games. What else could become a fighting game? The wonders of a big budget would be awesome, and I make that statement because we co-exist with M.U.G.E.N.

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News:: bHaptics' TactSuit is VR haptic feedback done right

Every now and then, we come across a new attempt to bring haptic feedback to VR, but we've yet to see one that's fully convincing; those that are still around tend to be both pricey and far from ready for the market. Well, this is apparently no longer the case thanks to bHaptics. At HTC Vive X demo day in Shanghai, I got some hands-on time with this Korean startup's TactSuit, a wireless kit consisting of a haptic mask (which is a rarity), two haptic sleeves and a haptic vest. The fascinating part here is that it comes with a total of 87 feedback points, which is a lot more generous than what the other suits offer. It'll also cost less than its direct competitor, Nullspace VR's $549 Hardlight suit which only has 16 feedback points.

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News:: Zero Time Dilemma for PS4 unlocks on August 18 in North America

Following the conga line of localization news, Aksys Games announced during Anime Expo 2017 that the PlayStation 4 version of Zero Time Dilemma will launch in North America on August 18.  The game will launch on August 17, In Japan, but there's no date given for a European release yet.

Our own CJ Andriessen reviewed the game when it launched last year on the Vita, 3DS and PC. Giving the game a 9.5, he had high praise for it, calling it "one of the greatest experiences he's had in his 27 years of video gaming." He warned newcomers to play the first two games in the series first, however, which are also available on the PlayStation 4 as Zero Escape: The Nonary Games. For those that need a refresher, check out the game's original launch trailer below. 

Zero Time Dilemma for PS4 launches August 18 in North America [Gematsu]

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News:: Pathfinder: Kingmaker is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of tabletop RPGs

All I want from a modern Dungeons & Dragons video game is a virtual approximation of the tabletop role-playing game. We already have hack-and-slash games, we already have dungeon crawlers, that road has been well-tread. I want a god damn D&D game; a sprawling, epic campaign with plenty of dialogue and a veritable spreadsheet of numbers hovering over me like a mathemagical Sword of Damocles.

So, hey, good news. Pathfinder: Kingmaker might not be an exact 5e Dungeons and Dragons video game, but it's close – it's a Pathfinder video game. You know Pathfinder, that old standby of tabletop fans who never really let go of D&D 3.5. Pathfinder is to D&D what ARMA was to Call of Duty, in video game terms.

But while D&D is out here remastering old video games and enjoying the tabletop renaissance, Pathfinder is going after the interactive entertainment market while the CRPG iron is hot. Kingmaker plays fine, and it has many of the underlying systems I'd want from a tabletop adaptation, I just don't know if the full game will be able to hang with actual Pathfinder or the other Kickstarted CRPGs floating around.

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News:: Watch favorite games finished quickly in the name of charity

It's a long July holiday weekend, and that means something big for gamers: it's the start of Summer Games Done Quick, the second of two annual livestreams for charity. As of 1PM Eastern on July 2nd, you'll witness a slew of top players rushing through games for nearly a full week to raise donations for Doctors Without Borders. It starts with a one-handed (!) speedrun of the recent hit NieR: Automata, and wraps up the night of July 9th with a glitch-free blitz through the classic title Earthbound.

Source: Games Done Quick

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News:: License for Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans obtained by Funimation

Funimation announced during its panel at Anime Expo that it will be licensing both seasons of the hit anime series Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans in partnership with Sunrise. The first season will be released in two parts sometime in late 2017, while the second season will be released at some point during 2018.

Of course it's not a Gundam release unless there's talk of merchandise. Funimation and Sunrise also plan to release a special limited-edition that comes with an exclusive "High Grade 1/144 Scale Gundam Barbatos + Smoothbore Gun [Metallic Gloss Injection]" model kit. This variant will be exclusive to the home release of the anime, and will not be available be any other means internationally, including in Japan. Also included will be an artbook and a chipboard box with space for when the anime's second season is released.

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News:: Destructoid Book Club - Prologue

Welcome to the prototype of Destructoid's [now semi-official] Book Club. Here we'll work out the kinks of this club. The Dtoid Book Club, which was partially inspired by DaddyZ and his #librarybookoftheday, is my way of sharing my love of books and reading with the Dtoid community. Even though we're here because of our love of games, we all have different interests and books are one of mine. Many of our favorite games would not even exist if it weren't for books. It's a medium that has been inspiring people for centuries.

Let's get the formalities out of the way. Here's the details you need to know if you would like to participate:

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News:: Looks like the .hack//G.U. remaster is going to be digital only

During the initial reveal for the .hack//G.U. trilogy HD remaster, there was no mention of whether or not we'd be getting the game on physical media. While Gematsu stated we'd be receiving a boxed copy, according to a panel at Anime Expo this weekend, that isn't the case. Bandai Namco confirmed to the attendees that the only way you'll be reliving these RPGs is with a digital version.

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