Sony and Guerrilla Games has released some new screenshots of PS3 shooter Killzone 2 which will take the game to a new level of muddy brown and grey colour schemes. Will it live up to the hype? You will have to wait until Feb 2009 to find out!
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Category: Videogames, eMagi News
ALcon is in it’s second year running as a smaller anime and videogame convention in Leicester! I went last year for its debut convention and due to the smaller amount of people then (around 200) and the events listed, I found it much more relaxed and easier to have fun and enjoy the company around me. This time out the capacity has been doubled to 400 and the events list has been spiced up, along with a new structure for the committee to help improve organisation. Much has been promised for this year’s convention and we hope it will deliver after Amecon! Here is the official blurb for ALcon by the Chairman Mike Towers:
Welcome to Alcon 2008! We are an extremely friendly anime convention running on Friday 5th- Sunday 7th September 2008 at De Montfort University in Leicester. It’s just £25 for three day entry, and just £21 a night for accommodation. As well as anime screening, there shall be a video gaming room, an Artist Ally, a Cosplayer’s Hangout, a Card-Gaming/Roleplaying room, an Anime Bar, a Dealers room and more special events than you can shake a stick at! Finally! Keep an eye out for the Pirates v Ninjas v Vampires clans as they battle! Which side wins? YOU shall decide!
The whole ALcon schedule is available here to view and as you can see, its quite a mix. A nice addition is the JDrama section showing some great series such as Gokusen, Nobuta Wo Produce, Akihabara Deep, My Boss My Hero, Stand UP! and the NANA movie.
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Category: eMagi News
There’s a lot to cover with the coming expansion from Blizzard Entertainment for their MMORPG giant, World of Warcraft. So, we’ll be looking at certain aspects of the game separately. The first – Hunter pets. Who doesn’t want to know everything from the fuzzy to the ferocious?
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Category: Videogames, eMagi News
When the Nintendo Wii was announced, this was supposed to be one of the launch titles that would help diversify and show off the unique controls offered by the console. However, I remember it being shelved along with HAMMMER but it seems to have survived.
Developed by Monolifh Soft (XenoSaga, Baten Kaitos) the game looks to have been slightly overhauled graphically since I last saw it, which is a good thing. The game is developed around surviving, in particular the natural disasters that occur during the game whilst fighting terrorists who’s aim is to secure a nuclear weapon to cause global chaos. Luckily for you, you control a character called Ray, a former elite task force member who is well versed in armed combat. (Read more…)
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Category: Videogames, eMagi News
Some new screenshots has been released for Gundam Musou 2, otherwise known as Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 for the PS3, XBOX360 and PS2. A new addition is the feature to fight against what is known as Mobile Armors which dwarf standard Mobile Suits in sheer size, of which should provide great boss battles. Other new features include certain Mobile Suits to be able to launch energy shields to protect themselves against enemy fire or transform into a Mobile Fortress.
I have yet to play the original game, however I can see it being a fun button basher as most of the Dynasty Warrior games are and since it includes Mecha, for me its a good thing! No word as of yet in terms of online or co-op modes but I will assume they are there and indeed a whole raft of characters to choose upon.
The visuals look sharp with the Gundam models looking pretty well modeled and rendered which should keep fans pretty happy. Hopefully the soundtrack will keep the blood flowing and the gameplay will be varied enough to keep things fresh.
The game is scheduled to be released in Japan in December 2008, but no word on a US or European release date just yet.
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Category: Videogames, eMagi News
This is eMagi’s roundup of the anime fall season for 2008! The way we have done this is like a roundtable where our staff all gather around and give our brief viewpoints about the given titles of which will hopefully help you decide if they are worth watching for you. Due to the sheer number of shows being released, it will be broken into parts to make it easier to digest. The information such as the summary and details have been taken from various sources like ANN, AniDB and other blogs, so full credit goes to them. So let’s the show rolling!
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Category: eMagi News
Nokia has recently announced the new generation of N Series mobile phones and for this post I will focus on the very sexy Nokia N85. It will run on the Symbian S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 which is the latest version of the flexible and popular operating system whilst supporting these features:
Yes you have read correctly - An OLED screen! Why am I happy about this? Well the technology is pretty new and I believe it is one of the first handsets to actually sport an OLED screen. The advantages are numerous from a better contrast ratio, brightness, sharpness and most of all it is much more power efficient.
The mobile will also come with 15 demo’s of N-Gage games which include:
With pretty much the same feature set though as the new N96, has this N85 pretty much killed it off? It has for me as I quite like the look of this phone. ETA on release date is currently unknown but will keep things updated as soon as I know it.
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Category: eMagi News
Ever wanted to remote control your TV, Skybox and more with your mobile phone? Well now you can with a very impressive piece of software called irRemote from Psiloc. It couldn’t be easier to turn your Nokia N95 and any Symbian S60 mobile phone into a universal remote control, as long of course it has an infra red port!
The program itself is very easy to use, simply install and you will be greeted with this menu where you select what kind of device you would like to control, such as:
As you can see the list is quite comprehensive! The interface is easy to follow and so is the configuration as you can easily add more devices to control and switch through them in a list view. Just select the device and then the make and model of it and you’re ready to go! A nice addition about this piece of software is that if your chosen device is not available, you can actually program it to make it work. Failing that you if you have WiFi or Internet GPRS/WAP on your mobile phone, it can connect to the Psiloc website and download presets for such devices made by other users.
You can also rate these presets to help others know if they work well or are simply broken. There are two default skins depending on your preference however I tend to stick to the lighter, default skin because it offers the most clarity. You can though download additional skins from the website and import them into the program to use.
I have used it to control my bedroom TV in the comfort of my bed since I have lost my original remote so for me it is a godsend. It does what it says on the tin and is very straightforward to use. You can also press the Hash (#) and Star (*) Keys to scroll through additional options for Teletext and menu screens.
In terms of battery life, I have found it to be slightly draining on my Nokia N95 so if you were to use this program and for example would start to watch a movie, I would suggest loading it when required. While it will not eat your battery alive, most Nokia N95 users know that battery life is rather important so anything that can be done to save it is good practise.
Performance is very good only if you have direct line of sight. This is more due to the IR sensor on the mobile itself so it might vary with other handsets. However once a clear line is established, there is no delay upon button presses so it acts like a remote control should. Loading times are pretty fast, in under 5 seconds for me with the main delay being the startup screen. All in all it does exactly as it says on the tin and costs £19.99. If however you want a trial then one is available here with full functionality for 10 days.
Summary
Efficient, fast and does exactly what it supposed to do. Updatable with presets and skins. Is it worth £19.99 when you can buy a physical universal remote control for the same price? That would be down to you…
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Category: Mobile Phones, Technology, eMagi News, eMagi Reviews
The Dragon Emperor aka Han the First Emperor of China conquered all of his enemies, most buried under the Great Wall of China. He also mastered the five elements, but the one thing he could not conquer was death. He sought the help of the witch Zi Yuan who he told his second in command General Ming no man was to touch. But the pair fell in love. The Emperor agreed to let them be if Zi Yuan gave him the secret to immortality, however knowing that he would betray them she instead curses him and flees.
It’s 13 years after the events of the second film and Evelyn and Rick are bought out of retirement by the British Government. They are entrusted with the ‘Eye of Shangri-La’ a most precious treasure, which is to be returned to China as a good faith gesture. However their arrival in China is expected by some not so agreeable characters who use the stone to resurrect The Emperor Han from his curse. Once awoken his soul mission is to bathe in the water of Shangri-La to become immortal and then get his Terracotta Army to cross the Great Wall of China and become invincible!
What to say? I really enjoyed The Mummy and The Mummy Returns both for different reasons, The Mummy was unique at the time, a great and memorable film, The Mummy Returns was fun and full of action and adventure. After watching it’s predecessor I went into Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with high hopes, maybe too high? I was disappointed to be honest, the film was fun to an extent, but it was definitely lacking. I’d just like to point out first of all that Jet Li was absolutely superb as the bad guy, I’ve never seen him play a role as well as he did this one, so hats off to him for his performance.
Michelle Yeoh was fantastic as the witch Zi Yuan. Brendan Fraser and John Hannah on top form again.It was the new cast to the O’Connell family that disappointed. First of all I was one of the few people I knew who was a ‘Mummy’ fan that was willing to give Maria Bello a chance. Most of my friends said they should have written Evelyn out of it. But I was adamant that Evelyn stay, I said to everyone that brought it up, I’m happy they brought in another actress because I really don’t want her written out as dead. However within the first 20 minutes of the film I was eating my words. Kudos to Brendan Fraser who managed to act in the scene at the start of the film with just the two of them, because her acting was lacking to be blunt. I don’t like to be harsh and to be fair I blame her poor acting on the fact that for the whole movie she was trying to sound like Rachel Weisz and it just didn’t work, it was terrible.
The other new addition Alex O’Connell, now older and out in the world on his own, was nothing special. He wasn’t terrible but as a leading man he should have had more charisma and more appeal. To be honest I preferred the younger Alex portrayed in the previous film ‘The Mummy Returns’
The whole China setting was absolutely stunning, but no matter how beautiful it was I couldn’t get over the fact that I was watching a film called ‘The Mummy’ and my head kept telling me it should be set in Egypt. With the changing of the setting and our leading lady, plus the loss of Ardeth Bey and Imhotep and the rest of the Egyptian cast the film lost the great atmosphere it had in the first two films. As a stand alone film it would have probably seemed better, but when it had the two previous films to be compared to it ends up sinking into the shadows.
It wasn’t a terrible film, it just wasn’t great in my opinion. I am glad I saw it, as I mentioned Jet Li in particular was superb in it. But it’s not a film I’ll run out to see again anytime soon. Maybe wait until it’s out on TV or maybe until a 3 DVD box set is released.
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Category: Film and TV, eMagi Reviews
Ian Hasumi is special, he can see fairies. He can also see his twin Tokage who no one else can see. Tokage hates Ian and will do anything to get him into trouble. On Ian’s back were once a set of beautiful wings, however all that is left now are the scars where his father burned the wings off so the child could not fly away like his mother did. In the city a series of murders occur known as the Fairy Murders because the victims have their backs split open with blood spurting out in the shape of wings. When Ian’s childhood friend Rin returns to the city, the past begins to unravel and he begins to realise who he is and the mystery behind the Fairy Murders.
When most hear the name Kaori Yuki the first thing that pops into their head is her best selling series Angel Sanctuary. Many of her stories have gothic undertones and feature dark characters and forbidden relationships, e.g. Setsuna and Sara in Angel Sanctuary (Brother and Sister). Her art style is unique and extremely detailed and beautiful. Both of her artbooks have been released officially in the U.S. in hardback. She has admitted in the past that she believed her art influenced by western paintings and music from her earlier years. She also confesses to having a strong love for Alice in Wonderland and often uses reference to Alice in her own stories.
One thing Kaori Yuki can never be accused of is being original, her stories are always unique, detailed and filled with twists and surprises. Fairy Cube is no exception. Whilst all her mangas have one thing in common they are all dark, the stories are far from similar. Quite often you can make comparisons between her characters but for an artist who provides a huge cast in most of her mangas that’s no surprise (almost all artists are guilty of this anyway).
Although Angel Sanctuary is her best and most hyped work to date, I found myself much more interested and engrossed in Fairy Cube. A lot more compact spanning only 3 volumes rather than 20. One would be forgiven for thinking that Karoi cuts out on character development, you would however be mistaken; all the main cast are well rounded and interesting. The story is compelling and well paced jumping right into the middle of the story right away and throwing in a major twist about half way through the manga, which turns the whole story upside down. Although the twist takes completely by surprise it is this twist that gives us the premise to our story.
The art is absolutely breath taking, no detail is spared and the standard does not drop at all throughout the whole of the first volume. Just taking a minute to look at and admire the art gives you a new appreciation for her work, the time and effort that must go into each and every one of her drawings is unimaginable. The characters are all attractive and yet dark and disturbing where they need to be, the backgrounds and settings are outstanding.
Overall a superb quality manga, story, art and character development a plenty. Whilst aimed at the shojo audience much look her other mangas Fairy Cube doesn’t ever feel like a typical girl story, with the majority of the focus placed on the action and story and the romance developed nicely and subtly on the side lines.
This is one of my personal faves and something I’d definitely recommend to my friends.
Art - 10/10 Perhaps this is just my opinion, when I see her artwork it never falters to be amazing and inspiring. It does nothing but make a great story perfect.
Story – 9/10 I won’t give it top marks, it is only 3 volumes sadly and there is a lot to taken, it would have done better perhaps being spread out over a couple more volumes, however that may have slowed down the pacing and made it less interesting, guess we’ll never know.
Characters – 8/10 I’ll say 8 for Character development, there is only so much you can squeeze in, in 3 volumes but Kaori does a jolly good job of it with the room she’s given herself. The main characters are well taken care of, but there are a couple of sub characters I would have liked to have learned a bit more about… maybe in future volumes I’ll get my wish!
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Category: Manga, eMagi News, eMagi Reviews
Fighting the evil of boredom
A portal for the modern subconscious - With random rants, thoughts and questions about society as well as conveying the world of anime, videogames, technology, gadgets, music, fashion and more at your fingertips. Its version 2 baby!