Weekly Jump Rantings Round-up 07/04/2013

Hello, trust you're all enjoying/have enjoyed your holidays! Here a round-up of some of this week's news:

GAMES

• There are very strong rumours that the next system from Microsoft is to require an always-online connection in order to play games
• This has not gone down very well with gamers across the internet, but Adam Orth, Creative Director at Microsoft, was quick to damage-control, basically saying that "everything is always connected", and that people should move if they live in areas with poor connection, and that everyone should just "deal with it".
• Another rumour is that Microsoft's next system is to be revealed on May 21st, and will come with 2 models: A basic model for $500 and a subscription-based model for $300. A November 2013 release date is also being touted
• Nintendo are reportedly giving away free Wii U dev-kits to selected 3rd-party developers
• This conveys Nintendo's willingness to get 3rd-parties on board and should hopefully encourage development for the Wii U
• Early reviews of the Ouya console have been published - and they're not looking great
• Several reviewers have criticised the interface, and that while there are plenty of fun games, few will work well with the controller
• Project X-Zone will be coming to the 3DS in North America on June 25th
• The RPG crossover will feature characters from franchises such as Devil May Cry, Street Fighter and more from the Sega, Capcom and Namco Bandai universes
• The Pokémon Company has revealed a new Pokemon to be playable in the upcoming games Pokémon X/Y
• Kinda bears a striking resemblance to Mew and Mewtwo, no?

MANGA

• Yen Press has announced it will release the new Highschool of the Dead chapter simultaneously with Japan in the US
• Daisuke Sato and Shoji Sato's manga has been on hiatus since March 2011
• Chapter 30 will ship in Japan with the May issue of Dragon Age on April 9th

ANIME

• The new Dragonball Z film, "Battle of Gods" debuted at #1 on the weekend of March 30-31st in theatres in Japan
• The opening earned an estimated $7 million

• And I suppose this ties in with all 3, but Capcom have revealed a project called "Gaist Crusher"
• They are to be developing a game for it on the 3DS, and also a manga and anime based on it
• Here's the official synopsis:
• In the story, Gaimetal, a metal ore with high amounts of pure energy, was discovered 50,000 meters (160,000 feet) underground in 2047, and mining began all around the world. However, Gaist, metallic lifeforms whose bodies are entirely encrusted with Gaimetal, emerged in 2055 and began attacking people. In 2064, Rekka, Hayato, Kurama, and Siren are among those who suit up in Gaist Gear and battle over 100 varieties of Gaist creatures.

That's it for this week. Well, that's all I can be bothered to do for this week, anyway. Be sure to check out my main blog, Weekly Jump Rankings, where I post and discuss the ToC for manga in Weekly Shonen Jump. Thanks for reading!

Weekly Jump Rantings Round-up 31/03/2013

Hello all, welcome to a new weekly post where I give a summary of the past week's news regarding games, manga and anime that I've handpicked. Without further ado...

GAMES

• Battlefield 4 was officially unveiled by DICE at last week's Game Developers Conference, with a 17-minute long gameplay video
• The game will be powered by EA's new graphics engine Frostbite 3, and will be released for PC, PS3 and 360 this autumn with a PS4 and 720 release believed to be on the cards
• Strangely, the game won't be released for Wii U. Here's the reason the executive producer of Battlefield 4, Patrick Bach, gave:
• “The biggest problem we have right now is we don’t want to back down from what we see as our low spec machines. We right now don’t have support for the Wii U in the Frostbite engine. The reason for that is it takes development time. What should we focus on to create the best possible Battlefield experience? We are now focused on PC and the current-gen platforms, and then there might be other platforms in the future that we can’t talk about…”


• The Frostbite 3 engine won't be coming to the Wii U, giving reason to suggest that EA's future games which are powered by the engine, including Dragon Age 3 and the next Mass Effect won't be making an appearance on the Wii U either. My guess is that EA are still butthurt...


• Sony has revealed new details regarding the PlayStation 4 controller:
• There is a 2-point capacitative front touch-pad on which you can pinch, flick and twist
• It is equipped with digital face buttons, a headphone jack, accelerometer and gyroscope
• There will be an LED used to differentiate players, a share button to stream live gameplay to friends' consoles and a 3D camera for position-tracking
• Mark Rein at this year's GDC laughed at the question of Unreal Engine 4 being supported on Wii U, despite him last year saying the engine was scaleable, and that they'd be able to bring it to mobile platforms, which are weaker than consoles
• He later clarified his comments, stating that the engine COULD actually run on the Wii U, if developers chose to use it. He stated that Epic themselves had no intention of using it on the console
• He then apologised if he offended anybody with his comments
• The Wii U's UK sales have risen by 125%, according to MCV magazine. This is likely due to Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate's release and Lego City: Undercover also coming, in addition to a price drop
• Sengoku Basura 4 has been announced for a 2014 release on PS3

MANGA

• Mangaka Mizuki Kawashita, known for creating series such as Strawberry 100% and Hatsukoi Limited, will be starting a new manga series in the June issue of Jump Sq
• Naruto's Masashi Kishimoto will contribute a new one-shot
• As will The Prince of Tennis' Takeshi Konomi

ANIME

• High School DxD Season 2 has been announced for a July airdate
• The main cast and staff will be reprising their roles
• Risa Taneda will play Zenobia
• Maaya Uchida will play Irina Shido
• Haruka Yamazaki will play Aika Kiriyu
• The One Piece-Dragonball Z-Toriko crossover entitled "Dream 9 Cho Collaboration Special!!" will air next Sunday, April 7th in Japan

Wii U Preview

aklahf;kjsgk Today is the day that Nintendo are expected to release the final info on Wii U, which includes price and release date, and maybe a new game. Unfortunately, the Preview starts at 3pm GMT, which is when I finish college, so I may head straight over to the college library for the first time ever, and, er, use the computer for... Lots and lots of studying and research. So, any last minute predictions?

Personally, I think it'll be in between £250 and will release in mid-November. But if the rumours are anything to go by, maybe December for Europe. The new game will also be a 1st party title. If not, a blockbuster 3rd party title that's either a port or an upcoming game in a blockbuster series.

Mario and Pikmin 3 at E3

Nintendo have confirmed that Pikmin 3 Wii U will be shown at E3 2012 as well as a new Super Mario Bros. game. This is based off the demo that was shown at E3 2011. I can't wait! MY BODY IS READY!!!!!!


Source:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-04-17-nintendo-confirms-pikmin-wii-u-reveal-at-e3-reckons-youll-enjoy-playing-it

Wii U power rants

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/04/06/wii-u-competitive-position-has-deteriorated-says-japanese-analyst-dont-invest-in-nintendo-stock/

That's the link to an article from My Nintendo News about another genius analyst saying that Wii U can't compete, it's underpowered compared to PS360 and one shouldn't bother investing in Nintendo's stocks until after E3. Well, it's past 3am in the UK and I want to go to sleep, but I can't help myself...

Ok, we've been seeing articles about claims from anonymous developers that Wii U is not as powerful as current-gen systems, which completely contrasts claims made by actual legit developers saying that Wii U IS a true next-gen system, and that games released on it may the definitive version. And I just have to question the stupidity of people's reactions to the anonymous claims. What. The. Fuck? Why are you Nintendo haters believing claims from unnamed, dodgy sources and ignoring actual legit claims from developers who are actually known for using powerful graphics engines in systems? You guys are so fucking pathEric and sad, it's unreal.

And the media. Why are so many mainstream sites like IGN posting these fake claims? Oh, that's right, because they want the hits AND to fuel fanboy wars.

Now let me get to the actual link I posted. The "analyst" claims that Wii U isn't worthy of current-gen systems. Well I've just talked about why he doesn't know shit, so I'll move on.

Next, you are likening Wii U to the iPad, which doesn't even make sense. Just because it has a tablet CONTROLLER, doesn't mean it's not a GAMES CONSOLE. If Microsoft or Sony came out with this, nobody would give a shit. But because it's Nintendo, "Oh, they're only for casuals, they can't compete with Apple". FUCK OFF! Apple cannot compete with the gaming companies, so that very notion is ridiculous. The gamers will not move onto iPads, iPhones and mobile games.

Finally, he says the Wii U'll only be good for a year, and that once PS4 and Next-Box come out next year, debs will abandon Wii U for the more powerful systems. Right... Now, if this guy had actually done some research, Sony has already come out and said that PS4 won't be necessarily more powerful than PS3, and reports have emerged that Durango may only be 20% more powerful than Wii U. Now if you look at those claims, there's very little reason why debs would abandon Ninty when there may be lite difference in power between the consoles!

I can't believe this guy has the balls to dissuade people from not investing in Nintendo. It seems to me that nowadays, bashing Nintendo seems to be hip right now, and people aren't acknowledging Nontendo's influence in the gaming market anymore. Why can't people sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up and wait till E3, when Nintendo will ACTUALLY reveal how powerful Wii U will be? I want to know what other people think about these issues, ease leave comments! And now to get some schleep!

Michael Pachter Rant

Ok, I thought I was done for the day, but I just couldn't help myself. Michael Pachter, analyst dumbfuck extraordinaire, recently stated that:

"I think the idea that we don't know the price point yet, but we do know what the console is, is just sad," he said. I think they've completely blown that. It's gonna launch at $249; because it has to. They're dead if they launch at $259, I think they're toast then. I think they're toast anyway."

" Nintendo is in disarray because they waited too long to launch the Wii U. I know that this sounds like (and is) sour grapes because they didn't launch the Wii HD in 2009 or 2010 as I "predicted". They should have, and because they didn't, the decline in Wii and DS hardware and software sales drove them into generating LOSSES. For those of you who aren't financial analysts, losses mean that the company is worth less than it was before. Nintendo stock has dropped by over 80% in the last few years, and the market has appreciated over the same period. I'm paid to advise investors, and none have made a profit owning Nintendo stock. I don't think that many will make a profit over the next few years, because I don't think Nintendo's strategy will return them to profitability."

"I believe (and please feel free to disagree) that a large portion of the Wii audience comprised casual gamers--those who bought one or two games a year the first two years, then put the Wii aside--and that those casual gamers moved on to another platform. The "other" platform may have been Facebook games, smart phone games, tablet games, or one of the other consoles, but once they moved on, they are not likely to come back."

I mean, does anyone even take this guy seriously anymore? Dude, your predicictions are WRONG 99% of the time, you contribute NOTHING to gaming other than wrongly predicting doom, mostly for Nintendo, and you still get paid for all of it. Does anybody see where this makes sense, 'cos I sure don't. He completely ignores the fact that the Wii is the market leader, and has the most sales, and has the audacity to say that Wii U will fail because it's pricing hasn't been announced yet, AND that Nintendo won't return to profitability? Honestly, I could see better predictions from some 12-year-old's blog. How that guy even thinks he's right is beyond me.