Day one of SDCC wraps up tonight and what a day it was! My 6000km trek across the continent that was full of trials standing between me and Comic Con, from barely connecting flights to lost luggage and no hotel room. But, patience and perserverance wins in the end and I was able to join fellow con-goers in enjoying day one (and writing about it on no sleep. It’s all about the con experience!). On that vague note, please excuse any crazy spelling errors or icky photo placement. My SDCC posts will all recieve a cleaning up once I return home from my trip.
As today was preview night for 4-day badge holders, press and professfionals, there wasn’t anything in the way of panels occuring but that didn’t mean the thousands of people who flocked to San Diego to attend didn’t find exactly what they were looking for. Open to the public after a slightly disorganized, but still very smoothly executed, registration, Comic Con International’s exhibitor area (“San Diego Comic Con”) was officially open to its eager audience.
You can read about my initial manga finds on the floor and see some photos after the jump.
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The long-hinted at online game, OPlay, has finally been released today over at the Go!Comi website. Those who sign up (it uses the same log-in as the site’s forum and account system), can play the prolouge chapter for free, with a $7.99 fee for the first episode.
I think it’s a neat concept for sure and it’s fun playing that kind of choose-your-own-adventure-dating-sim-esque game with such beautiful graphics (Hunter and Julie did wonderful work on this) and with the ease of online play (no downloads required). But is it $7.99 an episode good? While I thought the prolouge was neat, the episodes are going to need to be a lot longer than that to come close to being worth the cost. Can this online-play manga be worth nearly the price of a regular manga book? I’m too broke to say for sure right now but if anyone else gives it a shot past the prolouge, I’d love to hear about it!
In celebration of the first volume release of Kosen’s new title, Daemonium, they’ve updated their website with a firey new layout. They’ve also created a mini-site dedicated to the series which can be seen here. There’s some info, artwork, downloads and a link to Tokyopop’s manga viewer with a look at the first chapter.
And over on DeviantArt the other day, *lone-momo posted some preview images of their work on GoComi’s upcoming online game, OPlay. You can see the pics here, here and here! OPlay, which stands for Online Play, will be a play-for-use game that will work in a similar fashion to dating sims/choose your own adventure sort of deals. The staff of GoComi plan to launch it in the near future and have told people to keep their eyes peeled for the “virgin episode”.
While I plan to write up a full review for this in due time, I’m taking a minute of this slow Saturday to plug one of the best games I’ve played in ages: No More Heroes for the Wii (nothing like you’ve ever played on the Wii, not for the kiddies!). You play as the main character Travis, a fan of anime and Mexican wrestling, on his way to becoming the top assassin. It’s a hilarious, beautiful stylized and over the top action game that makes great use of the Wiimote’s capabilities, taking the hack and slash action platform to a much more entertaining level. Extra recommendations if you like a challenge; this game has some of the toughest bosses I’ve ever faced in a video game. It’s also a bit of a parody, poking fun at the game genre stereotypes with both plot, dialouge delivery and in-game play actions. Much more shortly put: I loved it and cannot recommned it enough for a good time (and finally an anime fan representation whose really awesome, once you get past the 27 year old virgin part).
And completely unrelated but added for my purely anime/manga visiting fans: Amazon has a new listing for an exclusive complete Inu-Yasha series set, $419.99 f0r 3900 minutes of Shikon searching action. Glad I’m not really a fan. I have trouble enough getting past $70 boxsets! Ouch. Good for those who’ve been waiting to get it all in one go though I suppose.
Three new Kingdom Heart games were announced at Tokyo Game 2007 this passing Wednesday; one for PSP, DS and Mobile phones. More information on them and the trailer summaries can be seen here.
Fourth installment of the ‘Heavenly Sword’ anime-inspired movies has been posted. Watch it here.
Also apparently there’s rumours going around about a possible second season of Ghost Hunt. Let’s hope so, really well done series. The Ghost Hunt manga is currently being released in English by DelRey.
Third installment of the anime-inspired, Heavenly Sword, prequel animations is up for viewing. It can be watched here.
Company: Majesco
System: Nintendo Wii
Release Date: April 2007
Rating: E (Everyone)
Players: 1-8
Description: Launch colourful bubbles to make a match in more than 500 puzzles bursting with challenging fun! The ultimate 8 player bubble bursting bash!
Attempting to capitalize on the popularity of the Bust-A-Move franchise and integrate more of the Wii’s motion-sensitive capabilities into their sparse lineup, Majesco and Nintendo teamed up to give us this, Bust-A-Move Bash!
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The next seqment in a series of animated shorts for the upcoming PS3 game, Heavenly Sword, is now up for viewing. The stylized, anime-inspired, clips act as prequels to the much anticipated game.
Watch it here.
In a continued slew of media releases leading up to the highly awaited PS3 game, Heavenly Sword, the first of a series of anime-styled videos has been unveiled to the public. It acts as a prelude to the game, explaining the history behind the Heavenly Sword and its coming into the hands of mortals.
The video can be watched in high-definition here.
