Games

Xa Colors Art Book Overview

xa colors

Xa is a french artist and the main designer behind the strategic MMORPGs Dofus and Wakfu. Xa Colors is his first commercial art book. Care to have a look? Continue reading »

.hack//Versus Unlocks A Secret OVA Called The Thanatos Report

Yes, you are reading the title right. By playing the free game .hack//Versus, which is included on the .hack//Sekai no Mukou ni (Tentatively: “Beyond The World”) disc you can unlock an OVA called “The Thanatos Report”. According to a recent trailer (see below) the OVA will connect the events of the game with the events of the movie and “reveal the last truth”. It is not yet clear what are the conditions that must be met in the .hack//Versus game in order to unlock the bonus OVA. The trailer did not reveal which animation studio is behind “The Thanatos Report”. The length of the OVA also remains unknown, but judging from past iterations of .hack media it is expected to be presented in short movie clips, similar to the Online Jack OVA that was included in the .hack//G.U. games.

In addition to promoting the movie and introducing the OVA the trailer also shows how the online system for .hack//Versus will work. The game will advance it’s plot based on online battles. Players will be able to not only watch but also comment on other players’ battles in real time. By playing against other players online and commenting on other battles you will be able to “unlock further secrets”.

Update: unfortunately the original trailer that was embedded here has been removed from YouTube.

.hack//Sekai no Mukou ni will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on June 28th. Do note that only the Blu-ray version will have the game and OVA bundled on the disc, and that some retailers (such as Amazon) are currently listing the Blu-ray version in their games category instead of their movies/series category. The movie will not have English subtitles available on the Japanese disc and Bandai has yet to reveal any plans for a U.S. localization of either the movie or the bundled game.

Update: According to a report by the online Famitsu Magazine website players will be able to watch the Thanatos Report by clearing the game’s main scenario. The protagonist of the OVA will be Dave, who also appears in the main movie. The OVA will take place in both 2024 (the year in which the movie takes place) and 2025 (the year in which the game .hack//Versus takes place).

Atelier Rorona & Totori & Meruru Premium Art Book Overview

I’ve always had a sweet spot for art books, specifically manga-style art books. I also love the Arland Trilogy, which consists of the PS3 games Atelier Rorona, Atelier Totori and Atelier Meruru. And since Atelier Meruru’s English debut is right around the corner I pampered myself with the Atelier Rorona & Totori & Meruru Premium Art Book – an art book which conveniently packs the art of all three games together! Continue reading »

Upcoming .hack Movie Blu-ray To Bundle Fighting Game For The PS3?

According to the latest news by Famitsu the Blu-ray of the newest .hack movie Sekai no Mukou ni (Tentatively: “Beyond The World”) will include a PS3 fighting game titled .hack//Versus. Details on the game are scarce at the moment, but it seems to be either a fighter or a brawler. Since the .hack game franchise is handled by Cyber Connect 2- the studio renowned for its Naruto Shippuden games – some have speculated that .hack//Versus will be a “Naruto game clone” with .hack characters. Famitsu has also kindly revealed the release date of the movie’s Blu-ray – June 28th. The movie will be released in two editions: a regular edition that will retail for 7140 Yen, and a limited edition that will cost you back 1050 Yen. The limited edition will include an additional DVD (titled .hack//Extension Disc), mini posters, an art book and an art box. Both the regular and limited editions will bundle the .hack//Versus game. Both the movie and the game will support stereoscopic 3D via the PS3 firmware.

The limited edition will have many goodies for the avid collectors.

That settles it then. Get ready for a big .hack celebration on June when the movie + game combo arrives on Japanese store shelves. Be sure to check back here in early July for my review of the movie (and maybe a short POV about the included game as well).

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Official Guide Collector’s Edition Overview

As promised in an earlier post today I am going to do a quick overview of the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Official Guide Collector’s Edition. There is a little story behind this guide book, and it begins in March 2010 when Piggyback published the collector’s edition of Final Fantasy XIII’s guide book. Piggyback is not a new company, and obviously it wasn’t the only company to release a guide book for Final Fantasy XIII. What Piggyback did, however, was understand that Final Fantasy fans don’t want a simple book devoid of pictures and filled with gray pages of walkthroughs – we have the internet for that! No, Piggyback understood that we fans want a book that will be collectable in itself. They made a superb collector’s edition guide, using premium glossy paper, tons of full-page colored pictures, a hard cover, all the tables and graphs we FF fans so love, and not a page in grey. Continue reading »

Final Fantasy XIII-2 European Limited Collectors’ Edition

I just received my Limited Collectors’ Edition of Final Fantasy XIII-2. As all you Final Fantasy fans probably already know, FF XIII-2 had tons of DLC content and some pre-order bonus items that came along with it. The problem with these DLC and bonus items was that each retailer handed out a different DLC or bonus to those who bought their game through it. This in turn made it harder for Final Fantasy fans to decide where to place their order. To avoid this problem I went ahead and pre-ordered from game.co.uk – the only place that offered (if you pre-ordered) all the bonus content and DLC available…and then some. Now would be a good time to mention that game.co.uk offers only the European version, and FF XIII-2 will probably have lots of DLC coming up, so this deal would have been good only for those of you who have European credit cards. So anyway, since pre-orders are already over here’s an unboxing video of the collectors’ edition for all those interested:

I’m very satisfied with the limited collector’s edition and the pre-order bonus. In fact, the only better version available is the crystal edition (that has the full OST which I don’t need). As for Impressions about the game itself? I don’t have the time to play it yet
I’m also waiting for the Collectors’ Edition of the game guide (I’ll post a separate review for that of when I get it). In the meantime, Happy gaming!

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