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The bottom shot is basically stuff I received in the mail before and during my trip as well as Rival Schools #1B that i got today. As you can see the stuff includes: Karas vol.1 R1, My~HiME Senretsu PSP game, Rival Schools and Rei Hiroe's Shook Up and Hisui-kyo Kitan vol.1.
Impressions on Rey's Rival Schools #1: Being an Alvin Lee fan, I had to get this cover and decided to skip Rei's full wrap around cover since I'm not a big fan of his art. However, he did do a very good job for issue 1. To my surprise, this comic is in black & white, which one would think "WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG?" since they didn't really need any one for coloring. Anyways, despite me not digging Rey's art style, he DID do a very good job w/ the comic IMO. The fight w/ Batsu & Hayato was long and awesome. Rey draws some very sweet action scenes, better than some manga artists IMO. Dug the Ken Masters 'cameo' as well as 'Naruto'. Akira showing up at the end was sweet, thus, i look forward to issue 2 (whenever UDON releases it :P). What's also of interest is that in August, UDON will release a comic called Street Figther Legends: Sakura w/ Ken Siu-Chong and Omar Dogan at helm. While this is exciting, i just wish UDON would stop all these new projects (for now) and focus getting back on track and schedule w/ Street Fighter II and Darkstalkers. Speaking of SF2, the tradepaperback vol.3 will be coming out sometime in the Summer i believe. I saw the cover of it in Diamond Comics Preview. The paperback contains issues 0-6 (though the book is only up to 3 currently) and the gamepro sagat exclusive released a while back. The cover is done by Jo Chen (no Shinkiro this time :() who usually does the Powerfoil. On the cover is Rose, Bison (hat) and Evil Ryu.
For the other Rei news: Due to the black lagoon anime being so awesome, it has rejuvenated my interest in Hiroe's other works. Thus, i ordered some of his mangas. There's no Black Lagoon there cuz I've already been collecting the manga for about a year now, plus i took shots of them previously when i was at AoD IIRC. I still haven't gotten volume 5 cuz I'm waiting for the HK version which comes out 3-4 months after the JPN release. Anyways, Shook Up is a pretty intersting one shot manga, i haven't read it yet but there's quite a bit of nudity and violent action. Seems a bit like AMG but not. the art is good and up to Hiroe's Black Lagoon style (Revy makes sort of a cameo at the end :P). Hisui takes place in the past and deals w/ some more 'neo-nazis' ala BL. It's also got a mix Shook Up as it sorta starts off w/ the main character meeting a naked mystery woman w/ powers. This one will be more difficult for me to understand as it's in JPN and i'll be needing a dictionary. I just want to note that Hiroe uses a very old school and simple style of drawing. I was like, "is this hiroe?!" It does turn me off a bit as i don't really enjoy the art as much but there's only one more manga after this, so i ordered it anyways for completion's sake. Vol.2 should be coming in a couple of weeks. While i'm on Hiroe, i just want to mention that the Black Lagoon anime seems to have taken a different route from the manga now. They skipped the Roberta arc from vol.1 and jumped to vol.2 continuing w/ the neo-nazis (which makes sense and makes the show flow better). While this is also no surprise, there was no Revy nudity fanservice in ep.6 which the manga happily offered. Ep.7 will have my fave moment from the manga where Rock and Revy share a very cool ass "Smoke". Anyways, w/ Roberta given a voice actress, it'll be a couple of episodes before we jump back to vol.1 again.
above news & shots added as of 6:50 PM EST
currently just a game update of interests. i'll post my real update later w/ an edit (photos of stuff & RS comic). yeah, i know i can do 2 posts but i don't really want to. i like to make "one" post a day sorta thing. So yeah, as you can see from the above image, i got the ffxiii lady because ruliweb has got some big famitsu scans of the game/e3 trailer. Gametrailers also has an HD version of the trailer up now (as well as vids of FF Crystal Bearers and DQ Swords for the Wii). Very awesome everytime i watch it. HOWEVER, i must say that in the camp that find the designs 'meh'. Nomura really has no talent in creative character designs IMO. His designs of FF characters are all too familiar (w/ the exception of FFVII facial art where he uses a more traditional anime style). There just isn't anything special to his art IMO after FFVIII. They all look similar and lack the special FF feel that i felt Amano did so well. This could be due to the fact that basically most of Nomura's work have been on the futuristic side (save for FFX...sorta) whereas Amano has been mostly medieval-fantasy. Most of his characters all possess the androgynous look, they're all frickin' Gackt where i just can't decide the gender. I swear, before i saw the trailer, i saw that screenshot first and couldn't decide if it was a guy or a girl (also reminded me of Gackt), it wasn't until i saw the body that i was able to figure it out. His characters also possess (the traditional anime) spiky hair or hair w/ MANY layers. Also, wha't up with the gunblade from 1999? Seriously, come up w/ something new and give the main character a new hybrid of a weapon! Yeah, so those are my qualms i feel about Nomura and FF series currently. They're only using him to cater to the massive FFVII fans, anime fans and they're using him as a tradition/superstition ("every first new FF on every new Playstation must have Nomura, thus, success", is what they think). While I like his designs on the KH series and PE series, I don't think he fits in the FF series anymore. I was happy to see Yoshida on FFXII (though i can't say i dug his designs for Vaan...gay). So I really hope SE finds a new talent or a more respective artist for the rest of the main FFs. /end FF rant.
Famitsu Scores:
New Super Mario Bros. (NDS, Nintendo): 9 / 9 / 9 / 9 - (36/40)
Magna Carta Portable (PSP, Banpresto): 8 / 7 / 7 / 7 - (29/40)
Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable (PSP, Square Enix): 8 / 8 / 7 / 9 - (32/40)
Samurai 7 (PS2, Idea Factory): 7 / 7 / 6 / 7 - (27/40)
Shin Gouketsuji Ichizoku: Bonnou Kaihou (PS2, Noise Factory): 6 / 6 / 6 / 7 - (25/40)
Mystereet (PS2, Yeti): 7 / 8 / 7 / 8 - (30/40)
KimiKiss (PS2, Enterbrain): 8 / 8 / 7 / 8 - (31/40)
TT SuperBikes (PS2, Taito): 7 / 6 / 7 / 7 - (27/40)
Soshite Kono Uchuu ni Kirameku Kimi no Shi (PS2, Datam Polystar): 6 / 6 / 7 / 7 - (26/40)
Uchuu Keiji Tamashii (PS2, Bandai Namco): 5 / 5 / 5 / 6 - (21/40) Ouka (PS2, Pione Soft): 5 / 7 / 6 / 6 - (24/40)
Tsuyo Kiss: Mighty Heart (PS2, Princess Soft): 8 / 9 / 7 / 8 - (32/40)
Simple DS Series Vol.8: The Kanshikikan - Kinkyuu Shutsudou!! Jiken Genba wo Touch Seyo (NDS, D3): 7 / 7 / 7 / 8 - (29/40)
Daisenryaku DS (NDS, Genki): 7 / 7 / 8 / 7 - (29/40)
Ultimate Spider-Man (NDS, Taito): 7 / 6 / 6 / 8 - (27/40)
Mawashite Tsunageru Touch Panic (NDS, Nintendo): 7 / 7 / 7 / 8 - (29/40) Sugar Sugar Rune: Queen Shiken wa Dai Panic (NDS, Bandai Namco): 6 / 6 / 5 / 7 - (24/40)
Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (NDS, Ubisoft): 5 / 5 / 4 / 6 - (20/40)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Interview
Guilty Gear Judgment will be released in August in JPN.
7 mins of Dead Rising
Suda 51 Heroes Interview
so yeah, that's the news as of 10:30 AM EST.
other game news i want to add as of 6:50 PM EST:
Super Mario GC preview
"Wii to cost $200" says Analysts
Keiji Inafune Megaman interview
Wii to be packed w/ Opera Web browser
Immersion Corp to comment on lack of rumble on PS3 controller
DMC4 on X360?
Sega Sammy profits jump 31%
Sony caught faking Blu-Ray demo
Yes, I'm back after my trip to Vancouver. the trip was quite good and the city was much more beautiful than i had in mind (from my memories when i went as a kid). Heh, i spent quite some time at the arcades at one of the malls there, playing KoF XI, FotNS, RF2, and obviously T5DR. ahh, felt just like home, sadly, there's not much of a scene there. I guess i didn't go at the right times or there just isn't many hardcore fighters in Vancouver. anyways, i'm a little tired and got some catching up to do, so expect various updates later. oh yeah, sorry bakabb seems like RS #1 is coming out this week instead....aahhhh UDON and their messed up schedules.
I've been getting into a console gaming mood since i'm back and summer is here. been playing lot of Winning Eleven 10 (due to World Cup hype) and for some reason, Naruto Narutimate Hero 3 w/ my buddies (Anko...u rule...me wuv). This reminds me that i should start playing my other backlog of games (especially rpgs), however i don't see that happening when KOF XI comes out next month :P.
One of my most anticipated JPN RPG this year received a site overhaul w/ a new look and some added movies (anime cut-scenes in the Character section and Keywords section). Only 3 characters have movies so far, sadly Mitsuru (whom i wuv) doesn't have one yet :(.
More Pokemon DS
Konami releases a couple of E3 trailers for download (yes, full 14:50 MGS4 trailer)
Namco's Culdcept Saga Famitsu scan from JF
and that's game news of my interest for 10 o'clock EST this morning. might update if something else catches my eye later on in the day. meanwhile, i'll probably get some more shut-eye since my sleeping schedule is so messed currently.
since i don't do r2 cover updates anymore at AoD, here's two (amongst hundreds of others) that might interest some, which were unveiled also while i was away.
yesh rideher
oh yeah, the pic is an oldie that Hisayuki put up a while ago (while i was away) and as usual, expect more HiME/ZHiME things to come.
(12:50 PM EST edit)Bleach Heat the Soul 3 official website updated today w/ several new characters (obviously w/ movies) including Rangiku(!yesh yesh!), Nemu, Yachiru, Bankai Hitsugaya and Aizen. Group Battle has been added to the section showing off that you can use other characters powers during battle. This game's been up for preorder for a bit now, so hopefully bleacheads already pre-ordered this ;). Can't wait to get my hands on this!
Been busy packing as i'm leaving for Vancouver tomorrow, so yeah, don't expect any updates for a week or so. i'll be back when E3 ends, so i won't have the pleasure of posting any game news of interest (shaaweet) or any anime stuff till then. Wish i was actually going to E3 since i'm in the western part of the continent anyways. So i'm gonna finish my Jingai Makyo theme today. See y'all later.
SNKP USA's PR. The King of Fighters 2006 includes KOF Another Day!!!!! SWEEEET. Sorta glad i didn't get the JPN version, though i have played a backup version :P.
Nintendo's E3 site
Oh yeah, of note, Rival Schools #1 by UDON FINALLY comes out next week (May 10th), so go git it (bakabb). However, the powerfoil has been cancelled (WTF?! i preorderd that shit for that awesome cover).
That's really the only main news for me this morning. the rest are old from yesterday in which i was too lazy & busy to post about:
Mai-HiME Senretsu updated w/ videos and system. I got the game today, though i won't be playing it anytime soon. And as i predicted at AoD, Haruka was the other secret character.
Chou DBZ hands-on and videos. JF shots w/ Box art (JP) and more shots of exclusives (ie. videl & mecha freezer). While the game plays like crap as it's trying to adhere to the more hardcore fighting game fans (like me) and failing, i'm still looking forward to it being a big DB fan.
Jeux France posted these around midnight eastern time - Sonic, next-gen pics
The official Bleach PSP site hosted a mini streaming ad for Bleach HtS 3. It doesn' contain any new footage if you've already been to it's own official site. Meanwhile ITmedia posted more shots and art here (gotta luv orihime everytime in Chinese outfit ^_^).
Lego Star Wars II hands-on
Gradius Collection hands-on
Xenosaga III pre-E3 2k6 and interview
Alone in the Dark 5 pre-E3
DBZ BT2/SN pre-E3
And here's a dirty NSFW Ignis shot to end it ^^.
A gaming post but since i've skipped my Jingai theme lately, i decided to add Ignis today.
Namco Bandai officially announces R7 and T6 for PS3 w/ this press release:
"Leading video games publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. announced today its plan to be a key industry force in the next generation market with the unveiling of its next generation line-up at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo. NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.'s highly-anticipated content offerings for the next generation of consoles will include a variety of its signature franchises as well as introducing some new and exciting IP's into the HD era.
Triple-A franchises including Tekken and Ridge Racer will both be making their way to the PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system. Ridge Racer(R) 7 will bring racing excitement to a new level when it ships to PLAYSTATION 3, while TEKKEN(R) 6 will pack a punch as an acclaimed fighting franchise.
Taking full advantage of the Xbox 360(TM) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, MOBILE OPS(TM): The One Year War will take mechanized warfare to the next level as the player enters the intense battlefields of The One Year War as a soldier who fights by foot, in vehicles and in a wide array of mecha. Boasting online play and high definition graphics, Mobile Ops: The One Year War will bring the battlefield into the player's living room in the most immersive mech-action game to date.
Also making its way to the Xbox is the newest installment of the popular card battle series, Culdcept Saga. The popular puzzle series' latest installment is being developed by Omiya Soft and will feature exciting online battle via Xbox Live.
"As a recently integrated company, NAMCO BANDAI is excited to demonstrate our new publishing strength within the industry by unveiling our next generation line-up at E3 2006," said Genichi Ito, president and CEO of NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. "We are looking forward to supporting the next generation of consoles and being at the forefront of delivering quality content for all gamers to enjoy."
A bit more details on the MGS movie from Kojima...Strider as Snake eh? Wouldn't be the same w/out Hayter doing voice over :P
A game that i'm highly anticipating...Persona 3 scans
IGN's updated E3 list for May 1st
some slightly old news:
.hack//G.U. gets a number
Tokobot for ps2...sweet.
not much else right now, i might update if there's anymore interesting news throughout the day.
Anyways, time for some rant: Very excited about Tales of the Abyss being announced for NA...yesh Tear...yesh. You can check out endings and vids at Holystar's site (as well as other games).
I ordered the 2nd My-HiME PSP game off NCSX (spoilers) this time, they informed me yesterday that they didn't get any FP items w/ the game (which i had thought would include a poster), so if NCSX didn't get any FP items, then it's most likely there wasn't any. Oh well, they shipped the game today. Also, related to gaming is, I saw Silent Hill. Good movie and one of the best game to live-action movies i've seen since Mortal Kombat 1. A little slow, but i loved how they recreated the town just as i remembered from the game ( SH 1 being the only SH game i watched/played years ago) and it's mostly based of SH 1 story-wise. Kinda sux that Boromir (Sean Bean) was so underused.
Since it's a new month, my spendings for this month will be sorta high (for me) but not as heavy as last month's since i don't have any R2 dvds or books from JPN coming. What i'm expecting this month:
R1s: some non-anime movies, Kannazuki no Miko v.1, My-HiME v.2
Manga: a couple of Rei Hiroe books
Games: haven't decided, but Senretsu ships this month instead of last and thus will be charged this month
Figs - the heavy hitter and the END: Alter & Alpha Sei PVCs (cuz everyone knows i'm a Sei lover ^^) and MH Rangiku
Also, been preordering some more books like the Hidero Horibe Yours Art Works, Eiwa's second Queen's Blade book and F.S's Queen's Blade book. However, i don't expect to see these stuff in quite A WHILE just like how i haven't gotten my other Queen's Blade books (which i'm considering combining w/ this order). Meh, i got the scans to tide me over for now ^^.
Lastly, might be taking a trip out west of Canada for family reasons. So yeah, that's somewhat of a hit on the account.
7:09 PM EST edit: Old Tomy Naruto games come out for US Gamecube and GBA
Another new NSMB gameplay vid
A couple of .hack//G.U. vids
