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'BlazBlue' Anime Getting A Fall Release In Japan

Charles Webb — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:15:04 +0000

Moetron reports that Arc Systems' magic/science/weirdness-based 2D fighter "BlazBlue" is getting an anime adaptation this fall from teamKG and Hoods Entertainment.

The developer made the official announcement over the weekend at the Arc Fes/Arc Revo event, while a recent "BlazBlue" light novel teased the series in a short strip, announcing that the series had been greenlit for production. The series is called "BlazBlue: Alter Memory," and although the report doesn't provide any details about the story, the show will retain the original voice cast from the games.

Let me try to parse some of the story details from Wikipedia and explain exactly what's going on in these games: after six magic/science-wielding heroes defeat something called the Black Beast during the First War of Magic, a second War of Magic was kicked off after society splintered thanks to those able to use the new fusion of powers grabbing a bigger piece of the socioeconomic pie. How does that lead to people punching and kicking each other in a fighting game? Well, years later, a disparate collection of characters goes after Ragna AKA the Grim Reaper, who's destroyed a major government facility and earned the ire of the ruling political faction, the NOL.

Yeah, I'm as baffled as you are, but somehow director Tachibana Hideki and writer Takahashi Tatsuya will be able to craft something out of it that people want to see. Hoods Entertainment is the animation house behind "Mysterious Girlfriend X" and "Attack on Titan."

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Kevin Conroy Confirms He's Voicing Batman In A New 'Arkham' Game

Charles Webb — Sun, 19 May 2013 23:30:43 +0000

Pretty much at the start of the video above from this weekened's Dallas Comic Con, longtime animated and video game DCU voice actor Kevin Conroy revealed that he'd spent the last "9-10 months" working on the next "Arkham" game.

While Conroy doesn't call out WB Montreal's "Batman: Arkham Origins," he says that the title he's been working on has already been announced, and that the reveal of the voice cast was strictly down to the studio attempting to control the flow of information about the project. If that's the case, then when a WB Montreal rep was speaking with a South African publication about the prequel, they were either misquoted or outright lying about Conroy's involvement in the game, saying that with a younger Batman taking center stage in "Origins," they wanted to go in another direction.

Conroy's been voicing the Dark Knight in some form or other for over 20 years now, across the award-winning "Batman: The Animated Series," "Batman Beyond," Justice League," as well as the theatrical release "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" and the direct-to-video "Batman: Return of the Joker."

We had our own thoughts about some of the villains who might show up to take out the Batman in October's "Batman: Arkham Origins."

[Source(s): Arkhamverse via NeoGaf via Go Nintendo]

Watch This: 'Street Fighter II' Characters Deconstructed Into Artful, Geometric Motion Sculpture

Charles Webb — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:45:31 +0000

Animator Dan The Ad Man created this fascinating tribute to "Street Fighter II" as an exercise to teach himself 3D animation programs. His "Street Fighter Mograph" uses a series of geometric and abstracted forms to evoke Guile, Chun Li, and Ken.

Street Fighter MO-graph from dantheadman on Vimeo.

On the Vimeo page for the video, Dan explains that he used a combination of Cinema4D and Wray, other miscellaneous software and the Kinect to create this striking animation. From the Ad Man himself:

Here's an animation I did in order to teach myself 3D software programs. I used Cinema 4D to build the animation and Vray to render it out. The animation is inspired by the work of Quayola & Memo 'Forms' as well as the Cadbury Olympics job in my 'Projects' section. I really loved the aesthetic of each piece and I really love Street Fighter, so I smashed them together.

[Source: Event Hubs]

Activision Teases 'Call of Duty: Ghosts' In A 7-Second Vine Video

Charles Webb — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:15:49 +0000

In advance of the full "Call of Duty: Ghosts" reveal on May 21 during Microsoft's big Xbox presentation, Activision and Infinity Ward released a tiny snippet from the next installment in the shooter franchise.

Tweeted via the "Call of Duty" Twitter feed, it's not a lot--mostly wireframe models and rudimentary environments, but hey, jungle locations confirmed.

Exclusive sneak peek from @infinityward of Call of Duty: Ghosts for our followers! RT to tell your friends ... vine.co/v/b9mjlbtxvgW

— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) May 19, 2013

Watch: Call of Duty: Ghosts Teaser Trailer

[Source: Game Informer]

Have Ubisoft And Fox Really Dated Their 'Assassin's Creed' Movie For May 2015?

Charles Webb — Sun, 19 May 2013 21:30:14 +0000

I'm trying to find some independent verification (and I have a mail out to Ubisoft to confirm), but a lot of sites are reporting that the Michael Fassbender-starring "Assassin's Creed" will be holding on to the Memorial Day 2015 release date.

It all stems from a release date posted on Box Office Mojo, which alleges that the feature based on the bestselling Ubisoft franchise will be out on May 22, 2015. That would put the still director-less "Assassin's Creed" within range of J.J. Abrams' "Episode VII" and Joss Whedon's "The Avengers 2." Now "Avengers 2" has a confirmed release date of May 1, leaving the Marvel franchise the better part of the month to earn all of the world's money before another blockbuster comes along, but would Ubisoft want to launch its first independently-developed film so close to the Disney/Marvel 800-lb gorilla?

If the date is real, then we should start hearing something about a director for "Assassin's Creed" in the next couple of weeks. The project has be through a lengthy development cycle, reverting from Sony back to Ubisoft who decided they didn't want any more "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" situations for their game to movie adaptations: i.e. a movie that made its money that no one anywhere is especially happy about. To that end, they've enlisted "Prometheus" and "X-Men: First Class" star Michael Fassbender for the unannounced lead role (we don't yet know what time period "Assassin's Creed" will take place in) based on a screenplay by Michael Lesslie.

Snake In A Box: Konami Dates 'Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection' For July

Charles Webb — Sun, 19 May 2013 20:00:18 +0000

The seven-game collection is headed to the PS3 in July, according to an announcement this weekend from publisher Konami. Sure, a lot of these titles have already had solid re-releases in the (very) recent past--specifically "MGS 2," "3," and "Peace Walker"--but now they're being bundled together with 1998's "Metal Gear Solid" for the PSOne alongside a 100-page art book.

Konami's not going the delicious, velvet-lined opulence route for the franchise's 25th anniversary the way Capcom did, but this will be a nice way to get all of the current and previous generation "Metal Gear Solid" games in one place.

Enjoy A Few Gifs From 'Super Time Force'

Charles Webb — Sun, 19 May 2013 19:30:36 +0000

What are you doing with your weekend? Is it coming to a good end? Well, it can't hurt to check out a couple of the enemies and characters from Capy Games' upcoming time-bending XBLA title "Super Time Force."

"Super Time Force" was one of the best titles I had a chance to get my hands on at last year's PAX Prime, and while I eagerly await its release, I've been keeping myself distracted with the developer's Tumblr, where they've been delivering regular updates for "STF" through Vine videos and off-screen pics of the game while it's in development.

I encourage you to head over there and check it out.

[Source: Capy Games' Tumblr]

The Top 10 Assassins We'd Like To See Go After Batman In 'Arkham Origins'

Charles Webb — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:45:59 +0000

We already know that Batman will face off against Deathstroke in this fall's "Batman: Arkham Origins." But who are some of the other hired guns that might end up with the contract to kill the Bat?

After the jump, see 10 candidates who might take the shot (and couple of who might even be able to pull it off).

10. Cassandra Cain

Why would I include a character who would ultimately don the cowl and become Batgirl/Black Bat for a few years under the instruction of Barbara Gordon/Oracle? Besides being one of the unsurpassed hand-to-hand fighters in the DC Universe, besides getting her start as a mute, socially broken murder monster, seeing Cassandra go up against Bruce would offer gamers something they haven't seen in the Arkham-verse to date: Batman's hope for the hopeless.

Cassandra was raised from birth by her assassin father David Cain to be the perfect killer. The only language Cassandra was taught was that of violence, growing up with only hand gestures and drawings to communicate with the world. This junior assassin--she made her first kill at the age of 8--has the preternatural ability to read the body language of her opponents, and would make a deadly match for a Batman still honing his skills.

9. Deadshot

Suicide Squad member Floyd Lawton's good at two things: having a sweet 'stache and shooting anything that moves until it's dead. He got his start trying to take out the Batman but that never goes well for anyone ever.

Strictly a hired gun, Deadshot will be out of there in a minute if it seems like the job is getting too messy or complicated or weird, which puts him a little further down on the list. Still he makes the list because he seldom misses, using his wrist-mounted guns along with a collection of pistols and rifles.

Honestly, though, he'd probably be the first to go down.

8. Lobo

Lobo is technically a bounty hunter, but he's more of the "dead or alive, more likely dead"-type.

Being a planet-slaughtering alien, Lobo is maybe too much of an oddball fit for the Arkham-verse, but it's fun to imagine a completely physically outmatched Batman having to find a way to counter the last of the Czarnians, but also problematic given the scope of the "Arkham Games."

There's also no head game or interesting pathology to Lobo for Batman to exploit or really the writers of "Arkham Origins." Lobo's essentially a violent joke that's gone on for 30 years, tossed into stories as a way to ramp up the chaos and the action or give Superman someone that unequivocally deserves punching.

7. Rag Doll

Villainous team the Secret Six's contortionist killer seems like an odd one to throw at Batman, and it's likely any fight between the two of them wouldn't go more than a couple of rounds. But the sheer oddity and perversity of Rag Doll earns him a spot on this list.

The scarred and tortured son of the original Rag Doll, this one can take a beating and keep on bending, twisting his limbs around his opponents while whispering vile, insane things into their ears. As a member of the Six, he'd often provide dark comic relief to the team while tending to the corpse of his best friend, an Apokaliptan Parademon.

Consider having a level where Rag Doll could be hiding any place, at any time, ready to uncoil his body and curl himself around Batman's throat.

Note, he has an even more twisted sister named Alexa/AKA Junior who once nearly killed the entire Secret Six, but Junior's not the type to take a contract, so I went with her relatively more stable brother here.

6. Merlyn

This expert archer might spend most of his time trying to kill/defeat/kill some more Green Arrow over in Star City, but for the right money, I could see him joining the effort to kill the Batman.

In fact, the first time Green Arrow went up against Merlyn was when the latter was attempting to follow through on a contract to kill Batman, that failure earning Merlyn a pink slip from the League of Assassins.

He's got the trick arrows of his rival GA but not the compunction about shooting someone through the throat with them. Plus, he's motivated: in their fictional history together, Merlyn's already failed to kill Batman, meaning he's going to want to finish what he attempted all those years ago.

5. David Cain

Why not pit the Batman against one of the men who trained him? Cain, the father to Cassandra, was one of the many martial arts masters that young Bruce Wayne encountered during his journey around the world to become Batman. Cain taught Wayne a handful of brutal, lethal techniques that the would-be Dark Knight ultimately chose not to use.

Unlike some of the more specialized fighters on this list, Cain is proficient with everything from his fists to explosives to guns, he's a killer for the sake of killing.

He's so good at it, that he hoped to pass along his skills to a child, kidnapping and brainwashing children to reach his level of proficiency before abandoning that plan altogether and helping to conceive his own murderous moppet, Cassandra. While he's a little one-note as a villain (compared to Batman's usually colorful rogues gallery), he's a driven doer who Batman would be hard-pressed to take down.

4. Bane

The "Arkham" games haven't been great to Bane. He was all jacked up on Venom and mute in "Arkham Asylum" and chained up for a portion of "Arkham City," before finally helping Batman complete a side mission (and subsequently getting beaten down when he attempted to double-cross the Bat.

Still, this is a guy who was created specifically to take down Batman and as originally conceived, he's a brilliant strategist in peak, chemically-enhanced physical condition who was smart enough to discover the identity of the man behind the cowl, show up in his home, and snap his back like a twig. That version of Bane is an alpha predator, single-minded in a way that many of the villains in the DCU are not while possessed of his own curious code.

A head-to-head matchup between Bane and Batman that went beyond the typical dodge and attack gameplay of the previous two games would be thrilling and intense stuff.

3. Talia al Ghul and The League of Assassins

This one is kind of a non-starter given the relationship between their leader and Batman, but it felt weird to include a list of "greatest assassins" without including Talia and her League of shadowy mercenaries.

Used as the protective force for immortal villain Ra's Al Ghul, they've fallen under the command of his daughter, Talia, after his most recent "death." A villain looking to wipe the Batman off the map could do worse than to enlist Talia and her infinite band of endlessly loyal ninjas.

Perhaps "Arkham Origins" could give us the beginnings of the twisted romance between Batman and the Daughter of the Demon--or it could be yet another in the endless chapters where it appears that Talia is going to kill Batman when in reality, we know that she's too in love with him (or too needlessly circuitous) to pull the proverbial trigger.

2. Lady Shiva

A master of multiple forms of martial arts, mother to Cassandra Cain, and the woman so deadly that her enemy Black Canary went to her for help in developing her hand-to-hand skills.

With Cassandra and David on the list, Lady Shiva might seem redundant, but there's something so fascinating about this woman who grew up in village designed to create the perfect combatant for the League of Assassins. She's another character who helped make the Batman who he is, allowing him to re-cultivate his skills after his back was broken by Bane. Like her daughter, she has the added skill of being able to preternaturally read her opponents through their body language.

Her whole thing is being addicted to the act of combat, seeking out skilled combatants between hands-on assassination gigs in order to hone her skills and prove her own martial supremacy. How would she react to meeting a man who's traveled the world training under some of the greatest martial arts masters?

1. KGBeast

This ruthless, physically imposing killer cut a bloody swath through Gotham on a series of KGB-sanctioned assassinations, handing Batman several punishing losses. Whereas Bane simply wore the Batman down, broke his back, and sent him on a path to physical recovery and self discovery, the KGBeast was so hard to take down that it seemed that in the conclusion of their final major encounter, Batman ignored his whole "no killing rule" to allow the villain to starve to death beneath the streets of Gotham (this was later retconned out).

How hardcore is the KGBeast? Rather than be captured by Batman, someone he's already proven he can beat within an inch of his life, the KGBeast lopped of his own hand with an axe. Sure the Soviet Union collapsed, but the looking like nothing so much as an S&M luchador, the KGBeast wasn't about to abandon his branding just because the nation he worked for doesn't exist any longer.

That's hardcore.

***Bonus****
Tommy Monaghan

Comic writer Garth Ennis' Irish antihero isn't strictly someone who would go after the Bat, but he did once throw up on Batman's cape and I think that would be hilarious to see in a video game.

Watch: Batman: Arkham Origins Teaser Trailer

'Pikmin 3' Characters, Plot And Control Schemes Detailed

Don Hatfield — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:43:25 +0000

Nintendo had already revealed that players wouldn't be controlling series regular Olimar in the upcoming "Pikmin 3" for Wii U. Instead, according details announced during this morning's Nintendo Direct, players will be managing a total of three different characters, all at the same time.

The game picks up as new playable characters Alph, Brittany, and Captain Charlie recruit the Pikmin to help them gather giant fruit. Their home planet, Koppai, is suffering from a food shortage and they want to take seeds from the fruit home. Unlike previous Pikmin games, players will be able to divide different tasks among the three characters, exploring separate areas in the same map with different groups of Pikmin.

In the game the Wii U GamePad controller is referred to as the KopPad, which allows players to view the entire map, checking in on what each character and Pikmin is up to. However, players will have a choice when it comes to control options. If you're more accustomed to using a Wii Remote and Nunchuk combo, the option is there. Interestingly, you can also play off-tv, using the GamePad as a monitor while controlling the action with a Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Those of you looking to play with only the GamePad are covered as well.

"Pikmin 3" will be available for the Nintendo Wii U via the eShop and retail beginning August 4th.

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Nintendo is Bringing Their E3 2013 Lineup To Best Buy Stores

Don Hatfield — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:38:48 +0000

The Electronic Entertainment Expo is one of gaming's biggest events of the year, but a lot of gamers don't have the opportunity to attend. To give fans a taste of the action, Nintendo has announced a partnership with Best Buy, essentially bringing Nintendo's E3 booth right to your local store.

Taking place exclusively at participating Best Buy locations in the United States and Canada, Nintendo's E3 demo stations will give fans the opportunity to check out some unreleased games that Nintendo plans on showing off at the event in Los Angeles.

Unsurprisingly, Nintendo is being pretty tight-lipped on what exactly will be on display at these Best Buy locations for the time being. However, the Big N has noted that details about specific Best Buy locations and the games on offer will be revealed in the coming weeks.

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