Bandai Namco announced today that a sequel for the hit arcade game Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. was in development. While no further details were given, it's currently aiming to launch in Japanese arcade centers in 2018, with a location test this summer.
You can check out the teaser trailer below.
In case you thought not nearly enough indie developers and publishers were jumping on that sweet Switch money train, tinyBuild announced today it's bringing some of its most popular games to the system. During a short, audio-malfunction-riddled live stream, the publisher confirmed it's porting over six titles to the handheld hybrid. Those games are:
Each game announced will retail for $14.99 except Hello Neighbor which will go for $39.99. The first of the bunch, The Final Station, is expected to release this month with The Final Traitor DLC included. I've heard nothing but good things about Punch Club, so no doubt I'll be picking that one up this May. After watching the trailer for Party Hard, I doubt I'll be able to ignore it once it hits Switch this Summer.
Video game merch company Algernon Product have released images of an upcoming set of soft toys, designed after the hipster heroes of Persona 5. The quirky spherical plushies are part of the "Cocorot" range.
Measuring an adorable 70mm in height, there are nine characters available in all. Each plushie is magnetised so they can be perched without rolling away. Although they will be sold via that monstrous method known as "Blind Boxes", it is possible to just purchase an entire set. Early runs of the the complete set will also come with an exclusive Phantom Thieves calling card.
The Cocorot Persona 5 Plushies can be pre-ordered from Amazon.jp or the Japanese Atlus store and are expected to release in May. A Blind Box featuring one character costs ¥950 (or just under $10) while a full set of nine characters costs ¥8,554 (or around $80) not including shipping or customs charges.
It's important to begin this review by acknowledging the incredible heroism displayed and embodied by Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, and Anthony Sadler. What they did on August 21, 2015, thwarting a terrorist attach on a French passenger train, is the sort of stuff that restores and augments faith in humanity. It's a story that deserves to be told. When Clint Eastwood decided to cast the three Americans as themselves in the film, it set a tone of recognition, but also of realism that was, likely, acted upon to such a degree that it may hurt the movie going experience for some viewers.
Is it an experiment to cast non-actors in a major Hollywood production? Yes. Is it unprecedented? No. However, in addressing an incident like this, it's only possible for a couple of reasons: first, the event occurred less than 3 years ago, meaning that the stars haven't aged or changed very much, so it's plausible casting. And second, no one was fatally injured during the attack. Because it's a triumph of heroism -- an averted tragedy rather than a tragedy -- the filmmakers were able to turn it into a fictional portrayal nearly immediately, thus allowing those who were there to play themselves. In this sense, The 15:17 to Paris is a film unto itself.
Whatever faults are leveled at the movie have little to do with the heroes whose life stories it's based on.
Official controllers come in one shape, and one size. Most of us either aren't bothered by the fact, or have learned to work around it over the years. Being in the former camp, I've never really considered the need to help extend the grip of my standard controllers - after all, I have the small, soft hands of a pampered middle schooler. But the need is out there for some folks to find solutions that don't give their hands cramps during extended gaming sessions.
Enter Playbudz, a company aiming to find solutions to crampy hands with their rubber grip extenders. Just take note that your mileage may vary depending on the size of your paws.
Around this time last year, NIS America made a big splash in the niche gamer community when it announced the 19 games it was localizing throughout 2017. Some we knew about, like Danganronpa V3, others came as a surprise, like Culdcept: Revolt and Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. Last night, the company held it's 2018 press event, again at the Folsom Street Foundry in San Francisco, but there was something missing from this year's show. Namely, a knock-out title.
Going into the event, I expected news on the recently announced Liar Princess and the Blind Prince, the FMV horror title Project Nightmare, and the Disgaea remake. All three were absent, however, as NIS America instead chose to focus on games we pretty much already knew about. There were one or two that hadn't appeared on my radar before the press event, but otherwise, it was a pretty safe and predictable presentation. Also delicious. I don't know who catered the event, but those burger sliders were the best I've ever had.
To recap, here is everything NISA presented in its 2018 press event:
One of the defining additions to games this generation has been the "photo mode". This quickly accessible option removes all HUD information and lets players line up the perfect shot for sharing on social media or with friends. The recently released Shadow of the Colossus remake puts this to great use, but there are a handful of other games that also have this option. The Division was not one, but a modder thought he'd fix that.
Matti Hietanen has been creating something known as "Cinematic Tools" for games on PC. His tools work with Battlefront II, Battlefield 1 and The Division, but apparently Ubisoft's auto-banning system wasn't having any of that. A few days ago, Hietanen Tweeted out an e-mail indicating that he had been permanently banned from connecting to The Division due to repeated infractions from his account.
While this sounds ridiculous, Hietanen's tool does utilize a program known as Cheat Engine to manipulate games into providing access to different variables that are otherwise locked off. This would let Hietanen pause time, change weather conditions and even add filters to any image he was taking. To try and counter any possible banning, Hietanen locked the mode to PvE encounters, but that wasn't enough to sidestep the issue. The story doesn't end on a sad note, though.
Creative Director for Ubisoft, Julian Gerighty, Tweeted at Hietanen saying, "I'll check this out today. Love your work and would like to see more," so the hope is that Ubisoft will soon add an official photo mode to The Division with Hietanen's work included. It only makes sense, seeing as how people on Twitter were very impressed with that Hietanen had come up with.
SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy is coming later this year to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, and it may have a hard time getting noticed. Between Dragon Ball FighterZ, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Soulcalibur VI, Fighting EX Layer and all the other games Virtua Kazama wrote about, 2018 is packed for fighters. Judging by the reveal trailer for the game, it kind of looked like Tag Team Frenzy just couldn't compete. But looks can be deceiving.
At the NIS America press event in San Francisco on February 9, I got my first chance to sit down with the game and see what it is all about. The demo was limited to six characters announced so far with a new character reveal promised soon. Though I tried them all, I found myself most comfortable teaming up Fatal Fury's Mai and Samurai Shodown's Nakoruru. Right off the bat, I can choose from one of three costumes for each girl and one of four colors for those costumes. Mai's are predictably skimpy but some of the other costumes are just fun, including a belly dancer getup and a "Swan Lake" outfit. There is a lot of T&A here, but not everything is in-your-face sexuality.
There is something endearing about the graphics to this game. Make no mistake, they're not top quality. This is some early PlayStation 3 stuff we're working with here. And yet, I think the chintzy look of it actually adds to its niche appeal. It's bright, it's colorful, it's silly and it all just works in a way that wouldn't if this were going for top-of-the-line visuals. This choice of art direction will also help people come to terms with just what type of fighter Tag Team Frenzy is.
SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy is coming later this year to the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, and it may have a hard time getting noticed. Between Dragon Ball FighterZ, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Soulcalibur VI, Fighting EX Layer and all the other games Virtua Kazama wrote about, 2018 is packed for fighters. Judging by the reveal trailer for the game, it kind of looked like Tag Team Frenzy just couldn't compete. But looks can be deceiving.
At the NIS America press event in San Francisco on February 9, I got my first chance to sit down with the game and see what it is all about. The demo was limited to six characters announced so far with a new character reveal promised soon. Though I tried them all, I found myself most comfortable teaming up Fatal Fury's Mai and Samurai Shodown's Nakoruru. Right off the bat, I can choose from one of three costumes for each girl and one of four colors for those costumes. Mai's are predictably skimpy but some of the other costumes are just fun, including a belly dancer getup and a "Swan Lake" outfit. There is a lot of T&A here, but not everything is in-your-face sexuality.
There is something endearing about the graphics to this game. Make no mistake, they're not top quality. This is some early PlayStation 3 stuff we're working with here. And yet, I think the chintzy look of it actually adds to its niche appeal. It's bright, it's colorful, it's silly and it all just works in a way that wouldn't if this were going for top-of-the-line visuals. This choice of art direction will also help people come to terms with just what type of fighter Tag Team Frenzy is.
Have you ever wanted to watch General Hux at his most detached strangle the life out of realistic looking bunny while he curses him for driving him to murder? Or maybe you've had a desire to see a weird love triangle between a rabbit, a man, and a fiction stand-in for children's author Beatrice Potter. Or perhaps you've just been itching for a chance to watch a beloved childhood character turned into an awkward money grab that no one asked for.
If so than Peter Rabbit is the morbidly violent, patently unfunny family film for you. Except take out the family part because your kids won't like it either.
How the Olympics got Disneyfied
Michael Weinreb,
The Atlantic
No matter which country hosts the Olympics, the Opening Ceremony is always jam-packed with over-the-top futuristic visuals and tons of culture. It's a display "financial and cultural excess," as The Atlantic's Michael Weinreb describes it, and it all got started in the US during the 1960 Winter Games in Squaw Valley.
Every time I see a new trailer for Kingdom Hearts III, it reminds me I've still only completed Chain of Memories on the Game Boy Advance like 13 years ago. I need to get my butt in motion and get through the series if I want to be all caught up with the III hits later this year. I'm super excited about making my way around Toy Story and the recently announced Monsters Inc. world could be very, very good.
Also very good? The theme song of the game. At D23 Expo Japan, Square-Enix released both the English and Japanese versions which you can hear below. Sung by Utada Hikaru, the piano ballad is a pleasant break for most video game theme and is something I won't mind hearing each and every time I boot it up.
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.
It's been a busy week, with a successful SpaceX launch, Uber and Waymo's legal tussle, and guides to both smartwatch buying decisions and cameras. Snap is now doing better business, and Twitter finally made a profit.
D23 Expo Japan is kicking off this weekend and what better way to celebrate everything Disney than with a new Kingdom Hearts III trailer. The last time Square-Enix dropped fresh footage on us it revealed the Toy Story world as Pixar franchises make their debut in the series. In the trailer released today, the Pixar love continues with our first look at the Monsters Inc. world, complete with monster makeovers of Sora, Goofy, and Donald.
