Red Steel 2 to utilize Wii MotionPlus

In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Ubisoft’s Alain Corre revealed that the next Red Steel title is already in development and will make use of Nintendo’s new Wii MotionPlus add-on.

"Red Steel 2 has been in development for many months now, and [Wii MotionPlus] will help us be even more precise in what we do with the product. The Red Steel brand is strong - I think we released it on year one, and that people understood that it was a first try on new technology, technology that wasn't completely finished."

The Wii MotionPlus is a device which has caused quite a stir since its announcement at E3. It remains to be seen whether Nintendo’s latest peripheral will become the new standard for Wii owners, or if this device will segment the marketplace and place an unneeded strain on third party developers. Ubisoft seems to have cast their vote, now we shall wait and see.

[via GoNintendo]

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Peggle bouncing onto DS

Last week at the Casual Connect summit Popcap’s CEO David Roberts announced that Peggle would be coming to the Nintendo DS. The project is managed by developer Q Entertainment, who has a solid track record in handheld development between Lumines (PSP) and Meteos (DS). Q and Popcap have also announced that the title will feature both new game modes and touch screen integration.

For those of you that haven’t already poured hours and hours of your life into this title, Peggle is a game that capitalizes on a simple premise: clearing orange blocks. Each level is littered with various dots and platforms, and it’s your task to take out the orange ones by bouncing tiny balls off of them. Think of it as sort of a mix between the arcade classic Breakout and The Price is Right’s Plinko. Check it out now on Steam, or later this year on XBLA.

[via IGN]

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Digital manga to be released via WiiWare

As reported in the New York Times yesterday, four of Japan’s major manga publishing houses have come together to form Librica, which will distribute manga via the Nintendo Wii’s WiiWare channel. The four houses that make up Librica are Kadokawa (Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion), Kodansha (Akira, Sailor Moon), Shueisha (Death Note, Dr. Slump), and Shogakukan (Monster, Mobile Police Patlabor).

Very few details are available about the service; however, Librica has stated that it’s open to adding more publishing houses after the service has launched. There is also talk internally of expanding the service to including distribution on the DS as well. As for information on the pricing structure or release date of the service, no details are yet available. And if you’re wondering whether the service will be coming state side, just keep in mind that all four of these publishing houses have seen their works released in North America.

[via Kotaku]

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FUNimation licenses Baccano!, streams first ep online

In Monday's video update, American anime distributor FUNimation announced their license of popular 13-episode anime Baccano!. FUNimation is also streaming the first subtitled episode on their website, which can be accessed by inputting the password "Flying Pussyfoot" on this page.

Those looking for more on the Baccano! anime can read Uncle Yo's upcoming review of the series, to be posted in the coming days. (This post will be updated with the link)

[via Anime News Network]

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Dead Rising shambling onto Wii

Broken in this week’s Weekly Famitsu magazine, Capcom’s zombie-bashing extravaganza, Dead Rising, is making its way to a Wii console near you. It's strange that this announcement was absent from both Nintendo and Capcom’s press conferences, and even stranger still that this title still hasn’t seen a PC release (Devil May Cry 4 and Lost Planet say “hello”).

From what can be gleamed in the Famitsu article, the title will be a port of the 360 game, with an emphasis on maintaining the massive zombie hordes of the original given the Wii’s, well, limitations. Naturally, there is also talk of some Wii motion control functionally as well. Hey, a little motion control didn’t hurt Resident Evil 4 now did it!

[via Kotaku]

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Sony's E3 2008 Conference Highlights

President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, Jack Tretton, spoke today at the Sony E3 press conference in Los Angeles. The focus of his presentation was less on game announcements and more focused on the new features of the PS3 and PSP. With 2008 being hailed as the year of the PS3, lets take a closer look at the information given at this event. Starting with video games, most of the games shown where in the form of a brief montage grouped off by console. Here's what was shown:

Resistance 2 (PS3): hailed as the biggest FPS of this year, the demo for Resistance 2 was all about scale. 8 player online co-op, 40 player multiplayer, massive levels, massive bosses, you get the idea.

Little Big Planet (PS3): an interesting and well executed showing of LBP had one of the game’s characters, Sack Boy, running through a custom-made level while highlighting the speaking points that Jack Tretton was discussing at the same time. October 2008 set as the release date.

Buzz: Quiz Show (PS3): more of the same, slated for a September 2008 release.

DC Universe Online (PS3): an MMORPG for the PS3 and PC, very little actual information was given, save for the fact that you can be either a hero or villain. No release information given.

God of War III (PS3): a brief trailer was shown, no gameplay footage however. Release date set for sometime next year.

Infamous (PS3): this dark superhero title is set for a Spring 2009 release date.

MAG (Massive Action Game) (PS3): the last game shown at the Sony event, MAG is an online FPS which supports a whopping 256 players divided up into 8 teams. Skill trees for individual characters were mentioned, as well as a progressive campaign mode. Release information was missing.

PS3 Game Montage: Quantum of Solace, MGS4, Socom: Confrontation, Ghostbusters, SCIV, The Agency, Naruto: Storm, Mirror’s Edge, Resident Evil 5, SingStar, Guitar Hero: World Tour, NBA08: The Inside, Killzone 2. These titles are all said to be coming later this year.

Resistance Retribution (PSP): a brief trailer was shown which had you controlling your hero in a third-person perspective. The game was dated for Spring 2009.

PSP Game Montage: Patapon 2, LocoRoco 2, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Madden 09, NBA09: The Inside, Super Stardust Portable, Lego Batman, Buzz: Master Quiz, and Valkaria Chronicles. These titles are coming between this and next year.

Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty (PSN): this expansion for the original R&C Future will be available for download from the PSN store this summer for $14.99.

PSN Game Montage: Crash Commandos, Fat Princess, Pixeljunk: Eden, Pain: Amusement Park, Flower, Siren: Blood Curse, Ragdoll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic. No general release information given.

PS2 Game Montage: Madden 09, Tiger Woods 09, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Warriors Orochi, SingStar: Pop Star 2, Yakuza 2, Madden XX, Mercenaries 2. These games, Tretton said 130 PS2 games total, will be release in 2008.

Also announced during the conference was the formation of the PS3 Greatest Hits series. Greatest Hits titles will retail for $29.99.

Tretton also spoke at length about the streamlining process Sony has been doing with their PSN network. Now you will have only a single PSN log-in account to take you anywhere in the service whether you’re on your PC, PS3, or PSP.

Also unveiled for the PSN was a new video distribution service. This service will allow PS3 owners to rent or buy movies or TV shows on their PS3 in either HD or stand definition. Content that you’ve purchased can also be viewed on the PSP. (Ed: America's largest anime distributor, FUNimation, is listed as one of the partners bringing videos to the service)

A new pay-per-view automotive enthusiast channel was also announced as part of Gran Turismo V: Prologue. The service starts August 1st and will available within PSN, presumably, for the owners of GTV: Prologue.

The $399.99 80GB PS3 was also officially announced and is coming later this year.

Phew, that was a lot to cover, but now the big three are finished. It’s been an interesting E3 to follow thus far, with more to come both today and tomorrow. Personally, I’m going to go enjoy a little break from all the news and go play some games!

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Nintendo's E3 2008 Conference Highlights

Today Nintendo held their E3 press conference at the Los Angeles convention center where they displayed an eclectic array of titles for both the DS and Wii.

Reggie, Miamoto, Iwata, and Nintendo’s VP of sales, Cammie Dunaway, all made an appearance to talk about how Nintendo has created a “paradigm shift” within the industry. They also talked about how Nintendo needs to continue innovating and pushing the industry forward in the years to come. Here were the major gaming announcements:

Shaun White Snowboarding (Wii): an Ubisoft title using the Wii’s balance board which is set to arrive by the year’s end exclusively on the Wii.

Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii): set to arrive on the Wii by year’s end, the game will include a new “Wii Speak” voice chat feature as well as the ability to send messages using a full keyboard in-game.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Wii): slated for holiday 2008, light saber duels using the wii-mote were shown.

Rayman Raving Rabbits: TV Party (Wii): set to arrive Fall 2008, balance board integration was shown.

Call of Duty: World at War (Wii): "coming soon" says the trailer, co-op play was mentioned as well.

Guitar Hero on Tour: Decades (DS): set for sometime this Fall, the ability to share songs between the two DS titles was mentioned.

Spore Creatures (DS): touted as the only non-PC Spore title that will be available this year, includes the Spore creatures creator and the ability to trade creatures.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS): another title for this holiday season, this title will be set in Liberty City and feature the “free roaming” gameplay of the previous GTA titles.

Pokemon Rangers: Shadows of Almia (DS): release date set for November 10, 2008.

Cooking Navi (DS): set for November 2008, not so much a game as it is an interactive cook book.

Wii Sports Resort (Wii): plans are for a global release next Spring, the mini-games that were shown were: flying disk, a Wave Race 64-esq game, and a sword fighting game.

Wii Music (Wii): no release date plans were mentioned, the game was said to include 50 instruments, including drums, sax, piano, guitar, and violin. There can be up to 4 players at a time and no grades or scores are given during the game, it’s all about just playing the music and having fun with your friends. The ability to record video and create your own music video was mentioned.

To go back to Wii Sports Resort for a moment, a new device for the wii-mote was announced that will be included with this game: the Wii Motion Plus. Basically, it’s a small device that plugs into the back of your wii-mote and increases the precision and accuracy of the device.

Also worth noting was a comment made by Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata who said that the teams that brought us the Mario and Zelda titles shall “bring new titles to the Wii.” How will these titles manifest themselves, we shall have to wait and see.

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Microsoft's E3 2008 Conference Highlights

Yesterday, Microsoft flexed their gaming muscle during their E3 press conference in Los Angeles. Included in their showing were a few exclusive downloadable content deals, several release dates, and one big announcement that’s blowing up the internet (you know that one). Here are the gaming highlights from yesterday’s monumental event:

Fallout 3: exclusive downloadable content confirmed for 360 and Games for Windows.

Gears of War 2: release date set for November 7, 2008. The new “Horde” mode, a co-op endurance mode where 5 players are pitted against a relentless onslaught of enemy forces, was also shown.

Fable 2: release date set for sometime in October, 2008; online co-op was confirmed and will be accessed in-game by approaching floating purple orbs which represent the location of your friends in their game.

Resident Evil 5: release date confirmed for March 13, 2009; online co-op was confirmed for this title as well.

Lips: from developer iNiS (Elite Beat Agents), Lips is shaping up to be a karaoke game similar to Sony’s SingStar - with one little addition: you can use your own music! Wireless microphones were also used during the demo and there was talk of motion sensing functionality.

Rock Bank 2: the full song list was revealed. (Ed: over 80 songs!)

Portal: Still Alive: this pseudo-sequel was confirmed as an exclusive for Xbox LIVE and is set to arrive sometime in 2008. The game is set to include new levels, challenge modes, achievements (of course), and the original single player mode as well.

XBLA: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 set to arrive August 6, 2008 with a slew of new content including 4 person local co-op, along with 5 new game modes; Uno Rush was announced, Galaga Legions is coming from the folks that brought us Pac-Man Championship Edition, a South Park game (rumored to be a port of the N64 title), and Banjo-Kazooie (which really is a port of the N64 title).

JRPG’s: Infinite Undiscovery dated September 2, 2008; Last Remnant slated for a timed 360 exclusive for this holiday season; and Star Ocean: The Last Hope set for some time in Spring 2009.

Final Fantasy XIII: the BIG one, confirmed for 360 as Vampt Vo reported! While no official release date was given, the title is set to be released simultaneously on both the 360 and PS3 in Europe and North America. Interesting to note that Japan, which will be receiving this title first, was left out of this simultaneous launch window and it looks like there will be some delay between the Japanese PS3 exclusive release and the Europe/America duel release. Also worth mentioning is the Final Fantasy Versus XIII is still slated as a PS3 exclusive at this time.

Gaming announcements aside, Microsoft also announced a deal with Netfilx which will allow Xbox Live Gold members, who are also Netflix subscribers, to access the entire Netflix movie database from the console at no additional charge. A reworking of the 360’s dashboard was shown, as well as the new Avatars which shall function pretty similarly to Nintendo’s Miis (you’ll be able to customize them and use them in certain games).

It was a strong showing by Microsoft indeed.Now, how will Nintendo and Sony stack up?

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Final Fantasy XIII coming to Xbox 360

At their E3 press conference today, Square Enix officially announced a port of Final Fantasy XIII (that's thirteen FYI) to Microsoft's Xbox 360. Why is this important you ask? Well, the central Final Fantasy games (yes, excluding Crystal Chronicles, etc.) have been exclusive to Sony's consoles since the iconic Final Fantasy VII. This marks the most notable RPG to be released on the Xbox 360 since Microsoft began actively seeking out the genre on their console.

This announcement, which has been discussed for months as a strong possibility, means that Microsoft is now in a position to combat the Playstation 3's growing sales numbers, seeing as the latter only retains one major, established exclusive franchise: Metal Gear Solid. The problem? Japan, the country in which Microsoft is seemingly unable to sell Xbox 360 consoles, will not get the Xbox 360 version, at least not according to the information Square has released. Since Japanese gamers are the primary and most vocal fans of Final Fantasy worldwide, this is sure to hurt Microsoft's plans for dominating the Playstation 3 and building its status in Japan.

[via Joystiq]

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ADV's PiQ Magazine ends after 4 issues

Mere months after the abrupt end of ADV's Newtype USA magazine, its successor, PiQ magazine, is reportedly ending its four-month publishing career. ICv2 reports that the primary reasons for the magazine shutting down are "low advertising revenue, poor business management, and a lack of proper marketing and promotion."

Regardless of PiQ's more diverse, less anime-centric approach and the fact that Newtype subscribers carried over to the new mag, it apparently failed to achieve a large enough readerbase, and the magazine's staff calls it "an exercise in futility."

ADV's website is under maintenance right now, so we have yet to hear from them on if they will be replacing PiQ with yet another magazine. However, prospects seem grim for this once-giant of the American anime scene as it grasps to make some sort of revenue from a sinking market.

[via ICv2]

(Sorry for the lack of images, but Blogger is being dumb right now)

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Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-Chan licensed by Media Blasters

Media Blasters, the dubbers of Rurouni Kenshin, recently announced they have received licensing rights for the OVA Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-Chan. For those who do not know what the show is, it is essentially everything that people say makes up anime. It is about an angel sent from the future to kill a boy whose destiny is to make a machine that will keep all the girls in the world "loli"-fied. However, she feels that she cannot kill him so instead she becomes his guardian, hitting on him a lot then killing him when he gets too far, bringing him back to life with a nonsense magic spell. I kid you not. The resource link makes it sound far cleaner.

The series is short, only 8 11-minute long episodes. There is also a TV version that is made up of 4 11-minute episodes, which has not been confirmed for licensing with the OVA.

[via Anime News Network]

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Tokyopop splits company in two, halves production

Tokyopop, among the top manga publishers in North America, announced yesterday that the company would split into two distinct entities: Tokyopop Inc. (for manga publishing) and Tokyopop Media LLC (for comics-to-film and digital media). Both companies will be held by the "Tokyopop Group."

Stuart Levy, CEO of Tokyopop, Inc. and Chief Creative Officer of the Tokyopop Group, also announced that the publisher would cut its publishing output by 50%, in order to "overcome current market challenges" and avoid "cannibalization at retail." Additionally, the companies will lay off 39 employees (presumably due to the production cut). Japanese operations will also be split, but European ones will remain the same.

While the executive and corporate changes might not directly affect consumers outside of us seeing more comics-to-film and other material from Tokyopop, the production cut will surely be felt in bookstores everywhere. Tokyopop currently controls a large portion of the manga market, so halving their production will definitely mean considerably less manga for consumers to buy at bookstores.

[via ICv2]

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CrunchyRoll and ADV partner to stream dubbed Welcome to the NHK

I can't believe that we missed this rather important bit of news, but a big announcement came out on May 22 in the long line of CrunchyRoll evolutions. ADV Films, one of the largest anime distributors in North America, announced their agreement with online video streaming website CrunchyRoll, in which the site will stream the official ADV dub of the GONZO anime Welcome to the NHK for free. This means that anyone in the United States, United Kingdom, or Canada can watch Welcome to the NHK on CrunchyRoll for free, and ADV will make money through ads included in the video and its enclosing page.

Just months before, GONZO (creators of WttNHK) formed their own agreement with CrunchyRoll to allow streaming video of their newest television anime, The Tower of Druaga and Blassreiter, to be published on the site directly after they air on Japanese television.

This new agreement will likely face similar criticisms as the former, due to concerns over the clearly illegal business practices of much of CR's site. (They feature fansubs but make money off of site ads, which is both illegal and contrary to the "Fansub Code of Honor") In addition, it seems that the only Japanese animation studio willing to make the jump to digital distribution as of yet is GONZO, prompting fears that, at the end of the day, the controversial studio may fail in this ambitious experiment.

Nevertheless, this deal makes ADV the first North American anime company to distribute an anime title over a third-party video-streaming site. It is the hope of many fans (including myself) that this will put pressure on its competitors (namely FUNimation and BANDAI) to move into the same realm of distribution. This change could potentially turn around the faltering worldwide anime industry, and might specifically help ADV Films move out of the seeming rut they have been in since canceling many of their titles this past January.

[via Anime News Network]

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Ubisoft announces Beyond Good & Evil 2

After waiting five years for news about the possible sequel to the 2003 cult hit video game Beyond Good & Evil, patient fans have finally been delivered thanks to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot's final presentation at the company's Ubidays 2008 event. He started up a video (embedded above), claiming that it was the newest project by developer Michel Ancel, but declining to provide a title (the trailer has no title either).

It wasn't long before the audience realized what they were seeing: confirmation of the long-awaited sequel. Beyond Good & Evil 2. There is no confirmed release date as of yet, and console choice is similarly vague at the moment. If you haven't played the classic original, though (which is somewhere on my "To-Play List"), get on that ASAP.

[via Joystiq]

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Guitar Hero: World Tour (aka GH4) to include drums, vocals

If you're a subscriber to GameInformer magazine, you have most likely received a wonderful little present in the mail this month, in the form of confirmation of Guitar Hero: World Tour, or "the game previously known as Guitar Hero 4." Unsurprisingly, this newest iteration of the immensely popular Guitar Hero franchise will feature a Rock Band emulation engine drums and vocals as well as the traditional guitar and bass.

In addition to the full band confirmation that we all saw coming, Activision also let GameInformer know about a couple exclusive bits of info, like the inclusion of a create-a-song mode in the game, a drum kit with cymbals, and fully customizable characters. In create-a-song mode (Activision called it "Studio Mode"), players will be able to choose a scale, record music, and send it to others online in a YouTube-esque social networking system that comes built in with the game. The drum kit looks suspiciously similar to Rock Band's, albeit comes with only three drum pads, has two cymbal pads, and will presumably be more durable than its competitor's. Finally, to the glee of many Rock Band-ers and Guitar Heroes, all of the instruments will be wireless.

Another big part of this game will be downloadable content, as Activision will be releasing new songs more frequently, possibly even weekly. Plus, Activision Blizzard's music library will quickly match MTV Games' thanks to owner Vivendi Universal's huge music label. Finally, the folks at Activision have announced that Guitar Hero: World Tour for the Wii will, in fact, have downloadable content.

Some confirmed artists are The Eagles, Linkin Park, Sublime, and Van Halen, hopefully a sign that Guitar Hero will be moving away from its metal-centric roots toward more varied types of music. There are also a couple of strange statements that have been thrown around about the game, including the promise of "local content" from "local bands" (possibly referring to small-time indy bands?). The game will release this fall on Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360.

I have my doubts that World Tour can size up to Harmonix's Rock Band, but who knows? Perhaps Neversoft can drag Guitar Hero out of the inferior position it has occupied after the release of Guitar Hero III. If it's cheaper than Rock Band, I can guarantee that it will be dragging my money out of its inferior position in my wallet.

[via GameInformer and Joystiq]

Links:
The new drum kit
First trailer of the game

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Rare goes "nuts" with Banjo-Kazooie

What do you do with a franchise that has been dormant for nearly ten years? Microsoft-owned studio Rare Ltd. has decided to resurrect the Banjo-Kazooie franchise after its unforgettable success on the N64 in 2000 with Banjo-Tooie. Ever since Microsoft purchased the promising development team back in the early days of the original Xbox, Rare has failed to deliver a title that lives up to the quality that Rare was once known for. While games like Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero were by no means bad, they did not deliver the quality that one comes to expect from the team behind Goldeneye. Will the 360's new Banjo game do justice to its N64 predecessors or once again miss the mark?

Based on what was revealed of the game last week, the hope for something superb was shattered. Rare decided to take the franchise in another direction and do something new, which don't get me wrong is a good thing, but not when you turn a platformer into a digital erector set. That's right kids, vehicle construction is the name of the game in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Before I go any further let me make myself clear, this is by no means an attack on the creativity or quality of the game; the only question that plagues my mind is why Banjo? In all honesty, Rare should have poured all of that creative genius into creating a building game separate from the Banjo universe, or at least created an authentic platforming sequel and then released this as a spinoff sometime down the road. Banjo needs to be what Mario Galaxy has been for the Wii, and right now I'm afraid this idea has forced the series to take a turn for the worst. Please Rare, prove me wrong.

[via GameSpot]

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Gears of War 2 gameplay

Sorry I've been so out of the loop! This gameplay footage should have been posted here yesterday, but I guess I just got busy with some real life obligations. No matter -- here's the new gameplay footage for Gears of War 2, scheduled to launch this November... and some of my thoughts!

There's a couple things that seem to stick out most; better FPS, more weapons, more up-close combat variables, and a larger, more epic scale. It's sad, however, that the overall graphics are unimproved and nearly identical to its predecessor; the Xbox 360 peaked several months back -- not that big of a deal. Still, Gears of War is one of the best, if not the best looking game in the Xbox 360 library, give or take a couple other titles. So it's mind-boggling how Epic Games managed to smooth things out even a little and keep its same dashing, handsome graphics! So, what the heck? I guess there will be more about it later on, I hope.

This gameplay footage allows for a good amount of dissection and speculation. The new weapons, generally look the same, but with some added features. For instance, there's a new pistol that looks like its rate of fire is dramatically fast, and brings down its enemies to near-death. And that brings me to the subject of up-close-and-personal combat. It looks like you're going to be allowed more choice when one of these moments occur. In the gameplay video, we see Marcus lifting up the downed Locust as a meat shield -- which is great! I never thought Locust would really think twice about shooting their own kind, as vile as they are. Anyway, after your done with your meat shield, you can go ahead and slit his throat... or twist his neck? Something like that.

Finally! The feature that made this game 10% more fun is still in full effect: chainsaws and ramming them across Locust personnel. The Gears of War 2 teaser provided two glimpses of chainsaw work: ramming it inside Locust from the behind, and having a chainsaw lock-on battle to see who can amputate who first.

[via GameTrailers]

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GTA IV ... leaked?!

Several things on the Internet are fake, and usually just simple musings to entertain, or tickle or tease the community of people who are involved. In this case, the groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto IV has been supposedly leaked and exposed by one YouTuber codenamed 'TonyWarner21,' by posting a video of GTA IV's intro. The post was made on April 11th, 2008 which was suspiciously the same day he joined. The user doesn't appear to have any previous videos, any information about himself. It's clear his business on YouTube was only to show the introduction of Grand Theft Auto IV to the world -- but mystery continues to ensue, and many questions are still unanswered:

1. How did he obtain this copy?
2. Is the copy real?
3. Is he real?

I'm not one to start controversy or conspiracy theories...actually, yes I am, so these are my thoughts on what this may be:

1. If it were real, there's only three possible ways, one of which is absolutely ridiculous. a) Rockstar is playing a prank on GTA fans and this all planned. Someone from Rockstar is pranking Rockstar and GTA fans. Or, finally, some punk just stole this copy.
2. It looks genuine, and unless someone made a exceedingly intricate burned CD that will run a fake intro on the 360 -- this could very much be real.
3. Obviously, he appears to be flesh and bones, though it's clear that he is trying to keep his identity a secret, which hopefully supports my above theories; note that there is 1 profile found on the Xbox 360 console, but he is logged off of it. Interesting, huh?

One other thing I would like to note: I'm sticking to my theories here, so answer my question: If you had a copy of GTA IV before every other normal non-game industry person, a video camera and the Internet...what would you do? Exactly: gameplay footage. Rockstar has been very, very secretive of gameplay footage, but if this video were genuinely some random dude who scarfed a copy of it, why would he just show us the introduction? Food for thought.

[via YouTube]

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GONZO premieres first ever simultaneous anime releases

As mentioned in a previous post, Asian media streaming website CrunchyRoll received over $4 million in funding, and has announced its partnership with oft-criticized Japanese anime studio GONZO (Gankutsuou, Trinity Blood, Samurai 7).

GONZO planned to release their new series nearly simultaneously in English and Japanese on various streaming websites, and on Friday, April 4 they did just that with the release of The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of URUK (pictured). The three lucky(?) websites that streamed the subtitled first episode were YouTube, BOST TV, and of course, CrunchyRoll. In addition, GONZO released another anime (Blassreiter) in much the same way, utilizing all three services to deliver the first episode.

If anybody didn't catch that, that would make these two series the first ever anime to be released (essentially) simultaneously in both Japan and the United States.

While many critics (i.e. Daryl Surat) are apt to decry the alleged vapidity of GONZO's plotlines or shadiness of CrunchyRoll's business practices, one cannot deny the important impact an event like this will have on the domestic anime industry here in America.

Two things are (hopefully) about to happen here: One, legal releases will mix with illegal ones until the unwashed masses will end up watching predominantly licensed anime, paid for with online advertising. Two, GONZO will force the hands of not just other Japanese anime companies, but American companies like FUNimation (who they essentially screwed over after having years of licensing deals) as well. Now, even though these companies don't appreciate GONZO's backstabbing, they will be forced to enter the new realm of digital distribution or face the uncertain future of continued physical media distribution.
[via Anime News Network]

The Tower of Druaga: BOST TV - YouTube (CrunchyRoll's video is currently down for unexplained reasons)
Blassreiter: BOST TV - CrunchyRoll - YouTube

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CrunchyRoll Acquires $4Mil in Funding

Sometime last week it was announced that CrunchyRoll, the popular Asian media streaming website, acquired over four million dollars of funding, most of it from Venrock, whose partner David Siminoff will join CrunchyRoll's Board of Directors. According to an interview with blog Kokoro Media, CrunchyRoll has been negotiating licensing deals with a "select number of Japanese firms" in order to legally license the anime content that is often posted illegally to their site.

So what does all this business jargon mean for you, the average anime fan? Well, it means that the anime episodes you're watching on CrunchyRoll will now most likely have ads either at the beginning or in the middle of them, but the huge upside to this is that you will be watching your anime legally. If CrunchyRoll can market themselves well among major Japanese anime companies, they could easily help springboard the anime industry into the world of legal digital distribution. And that, my friends, means more anime for you, licensed quicker, and sold cheaper (if not totally free). Future of the industry, here we come!
[via Kokoro Media]

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