Bonen no Xamdou: First Look!

Let me begin by saying I am a mega-huge fan of the BONES animation studio. In my mind, they have been constantly been delivering some of the best anime to date, and they are breaking ground in amazing and engaging sci-fi series. So, imagine my enthusiasm when I heard they were putting out a new series! With character designs like those in Eureka Seven (which is one of my favourite shows), robots, mysterious girls, possible explosions... Well. I nearly wet my pants. As of now, I can't wait for episode two!!

Bonen no Xamdou (or Xam'd: Lost Memories) is a feast of heavenly proportions for me. Everything about it is stunning, interesting. The animation is slick, in my preferred style and design. The story struck a chord with me right off of the bat. It left me desiring more. Desperately desiring.

The story goes like this. (And, because I feel lazy and my stomach is full of Subway, big thanks to MAL for the synopsis.) "Sentan Island is a small island surrounded by the Yuden Sea. It exists in a state of dreamlike tranquility, cut off from the war between the Northern Government and the Southern Continent Free Zone. Our hero, Akiyuki Takehara, lives on Sentain Island along with his mother Fusa. He is currently separated from his father, the town doctor Ryuzo, but the bond between father and son remains. One day, after taking Ryuzo the lunch that Fusa has made for him as usual, Akiyuki arrives at school, where he is caught up in an explosion along with his friends, Haru and Furuichi. The explosion produces a mysterious light, which enters Akiyuki's arm, causing him excruciating pain. He's given no time to understand it, however, as the white-haired girl who rode on the bus with him guides him to a power unlike anything he's ever known." It will apparently be twenty-six episodes long, which is a little bit of a shame. And yet... I'm in love!

The opening and ending animation has English themes playing along with it, which I find an interesting touch. Basic rock with guitar melody, a techno grove, echoing singing that makes your foot tap and makes you want to wave you r hands in the air, wave a cigarette lighter, or break out your rave gear. It's already making my head bob. The music playing during scenes instantly stole my heart away. Time to start hoarding money again for another soundtrack...

I am so ecstatic and excited for Xam'd. It has great potential to be one of the best shows of the season, or maybe the year, and I will be along with it every step of the way. I have the feeling Bandai Entertainment will want to pick it up... And I will buy it if things keep going this strongly. Totally.

So, if you are interested, well... America is getting this series two months before Japan. Go download it on your Sony PlayStation in high definition for $3.75, or standard quality for $2.82. It is reportedly the most-downloaded item on the American Sony store so far! It has Japanese audio and English subs.

I highly recommend this. Very highly. Uber-high. Go buy it now. Please.

Miss M ;D

Welcome 2 Da Family

We now have a new member of the HHA her name is Miss M. Be sure to look out for her work.

E3: Activision and Konami

Here's the last two events






P.S.
Activision isn't technically apart of E3.

The IPhone is hood

E3: Ubisoft and Capcom

Here's all two events

E3: Sony

Sony's Press Conference wasn't everything I hoped for, but it was better than Nintendo's bore fest. But anyway lets jump right into it.

First off lets start with the big announcement that the earlier games for the PS3 will get a price drop to 29.99. And there will be a Batman Lego PS2 bundle pack for $149, and there will be a Ratchet and Clank Size Matters PSP entertainment pack.

Speaking of Ratchet and Clank, there will be a PSN RC game called Quest for Booty. It follows what happens after the disappearance of Clank. And it will be available for $14.

There will also be a Resistance game on the PSP called Retribution. There was also gameplay footage of Resistance 2.

Also there were trailers for Infamous and God of War 3 that seem to be awesome games.

But on the online side of things there were trailers for to new online games for the PS3. DC Universe Online and MAG(Massive Action Game), both two excellent game.

And that was pretty much it.

E3: Nintendo

Today they had the Nintendo Press Conference, and to tell you the truth it was disappointing. I actually got a headache just watching. But lets forget about that and focus on the announcements.


There aren't really that many note worthy announcements. They really just focused on sales and casual gaming. First off they showed how they used the balance board for Shaun White Snowboarding. The board seemed very intuitive to your movements, in fact there are a couple more games that use the balance board. Like the new Rayman Raving Rabbits game where, from what they showed, you hold the Wiimote and Nunchuck as handlebars and you sit on the board to direct the rabbit. You also use the board in Nintendo's big game Wii Music. In this game use over 50 instruments to play music all with the Wiimote and balance board. Now unlike normal music games you don't have to cue up your button presses with the notes. Actually there are no notes at all. There's also a new Wii Sports game called Wii Sports Resort. In this game you play a lot of summer activities with the Wii. But the big thing about this game is the fact that it comes with Wiimotion Plus. Now Wiimotion is an add on to your Wiimote that enhances the response of your movements. Another game that uses a new feature is Animal Crossing: City Folk. What really makes this game special is the fact that it uses a mic called Wii Speak. It's not a headset, it's an open room mic. I really hope they use this one with Super Smash Bros Brawl, so that I can trash talk some seven year old kid in front of his mom. Also another game I'm sorta excited for is Star Wars Clone Wars. This game doesn't have a light saber controller, but it seems that you really use the controllers as if were a real saber.


Now for the DS. The only game note worthy on the DS is Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. A GTA game for the DS not much is known about it yet.


So that's pretty much it not much else.

EA Press Conference

Here's the full version of EA's Press Conference.

E3: Microsoft Part 2

Now it's time for part 2. In this post I'll be talking about the upgrades to the 360, and the new partners of Xbox live.


First lets start out with the upgrades. When I first saw these I almost screamed in joy. The upgrades includes a sleeker version of the dashboard, a new gamers card, and new avatars. Now the avatars are basically upgraded versions of the Miis. You will have more options available to you. The upgraded system is very smooth you can go from chat to stream photos to playing a game.


Now lets get to the new partnerships. The first big partnership is NBC and Universal. But the one I'm most excited for is the partnership with Netflix. This new partnership will allow you to watch Netflix movies directly on your 360 at no extra charge.


These announcements make me happy that I own a 360.

E3: Microsoft Part 1

Since the Microsoft Spotlight was filled with so much goodness this post is a two parter. This post will be all about the game, and the second will be about the upgrades.


Okay lets start off with the Fallout 3 demo. It was awesome it met all of my expectations and more. It was so amazing to watch body parts flying in the air. I have no complaints for this game so far.





Now lets sink our teeth into the Resident Evil 5 demo. The demo really showed off the the co-op element of the game. Since I've never played a Resident Evil game, I can't say much else that would give it the credit it deserves so here's the demo.




Next up the infamous Fable 2. The demo looked great, I loved the the fact that you can walk up to one of your friends and invite them into your world. But I don't plan on playing this game. It's just not my type of game.




Now it's time for a heavy hitter Gears of War 2. This demo was simply wonderful, the graphics were amazing. The combat was mind blowing, and the sheer chaos of it was tempting. I'm definitely pre-ordering this one.




Now with new upgrades comes new features, and one of those features is a new game. This game is called Primetime it's a game where your avatar can star in a game show such as 1 vs. 100.


Now lets move on to the new games in the Arcade.

First off we got Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2. This Geometry Wars still has all the fast paced action and seizure inducing graphics we've come to know and love.


Next we got a 'true' sequel of Galaga which basically looks like a rip off of Geometry Wars.


They've also announced a South Park game on the Arcade.


But the game that made me giggle with glee is Portal: Still Alive. At E3 the game was announced by everybodys favorite homicidal AI GLaDOS. This game is said to have new levels and achievements.



Also there will be an exclusive Grand Theft Auto 4 episode on Xbox Live. And on the new Viva Pinata game you will be able too use your Pinata trading cards to put Pinatas in the game. Guitar Hero World Tour will ship with more than 85 games, and Metallica put have there whole album up for download on the game. But on the other side of the coin Rock Band will exclusively premiere on the Xbox 360.

Speaking of music games Microsoft answer to Sony's Singster is Lips. Lips is a singing game where you can use your own music collection to sing to. I'm looking forward to this one.

Another party game is You're in the Movies. In this game you use the camera they provide you with to do little mini games like dancing. Then the game compiles these games to create a little movie. But if you don't want to just sit back let the game make the movie you can take over, and make it yourself.


Since we got that stuff over with lets get to Microsoft's big announcement. Final Fantasy 13 will be released on the 360. Now I know how major this is, but let me dip into why I think Microsoft made this there big announcement. I think they did it to say 'Look Sony we're taking all your big titles.' I mean they have Guitar Hero, Madden, and now Final Fantasy. Microsoft is not to be fucked with.