Update: 04/01/15 Suikoden 1 and 2 are avialbale to download from PSN today, both are individual games at £3.99 each in the Uk playable on PS3 and Vita only (currently). Support cult classics such as this being brought to the UK by buying the game :-)
Konami Europe announced at 09.55 today on twitter that #Suikoden I and II will be available on the 4th of February on the EU PS Store! As a fan and playing the original series on PSOne and having seen the Sega Saturn version i am thrilled to play this game again and complete all the endings - since I'm hardcore like that :-p
The cult classic JRPG game that hit the Sega Saturn but got noticed on PSone Suikoden 1 &2 has finally been re released in America. After years of petitioning to Konami and the with the help of the Suikoden Revival Movement.
Game company Konami who have brought out legendary games such as Metal Gear Solid and Yu gi Oh series have always avoided porting Suikoden but never explained why. Today December 9th it has been released on PSN for the vita in USA and hopefully the EU will follow.
Suikoden Series Originally created by Yoshitaka Murayama, he based it loosely on the classical Chinese novel, Shui Hu Zhuan by Shi Naian. Shui Hu Zhuan pronounced is centered around politics, betrayal and revolution. Mystical crystals known as True Runes are dispersed in the world and whoever posessed one of them is considered "108 Stars of Destiny".
Though the Suikoden games do not follow a sequence of events, some are set in the past in different region and some far ahead in the future. The entire series (except for Tierkreis and Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki) takes place within the same world among continuing and overlapping histories where you even bump into a few characters along your journey. In some cases, several characters appear in multiple installations which is very rare including Jeane the Blacksmith and Viki the ditsy teleporting magician - both integral to the story and team.
These 108 stars possess powers to be used inside and outside battle as Jeane is not always a playable character but makes and upgrades weapons in your castle/headquarters as such. Viki can teleport you to places you have traveled to in the past to save time and can also teleport pots and pans to attack the enemy at random (which sometimes backfires.)
Also by gathering all 108 stars of destiny you can change the threads of fate and unloack a happy ending, will you save one of your loved ones? The politics aspect initially put me off but the art work grabbed me and you get so engrossed with the development of characters it becomes something of a mission to train characters learn joint moves and making the most of different possible conversations and unlocking special scenes.
(Originally this article was written for Anime Picks.)London MCM Expo 2013 really out did themselves as an expo for providing great anime guests this year including:
Wit Studio (Attack on Titan, Hal)
Ryo Mito (Saint Seiya Brave Soldiers)
Kunio Hashimoto (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z)
Hideo Baba (Tales of Symphonia Chronicles, Tales of Xillia 2)
Hiroshi Matsuyama (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle)
Troy Baker (Voice actor, Joker, Bioshock, Last of us, Trinity Blood, Tekken, Tales of Vesperia)
Richard Craig Smith (Voice actor, Bruce Wayne, Assasin’s Creed, Tekken, Tales of Vesperia)
Yuri Lowenthall ( Voice actor, Naruto, Obscure)
Tara Platt (Voice actor, Tekken, Naruto, Obscure)
Ellyn Stern ( Bleach, Patlobar, Ghost in the Shell)
One of the main highlights of the convention was the attendance of the creators of Attack on Titan, Wit Studio. We managed to get hold of the very busy guys to talk to them about the series, some changes, the music and their new anime Hal. Listen/watch our inteview with Wit Studio here.
Wit Studio
As much as everyone is willing to queue hours to meet their idols, it didn’t end well for everyone sadly. Unless you followed specific people on Twitter, aka Yuri and Tara who posted their signing schedules for everyone to come see them. It became a mission to find the stall to queue, or if you needed to get a wristband and timings. This is something companies need to liaise with MCM about so that MCM have a schedule to release to customers. These changes need to be made known before or on the day. We had many reports coming in of attendees missing their chance to meet certain guests including Wit Studio. The chances of this Japanese team returning is unpredictable.
My highlight was participating in the League of Legends UK cosplay meet, it was an experience I enjoyed through finding the ‘Fringe’ section on the London MCM Expo 2013 site. This page is a must for cosplayers, it has a list of all cosplay meets on all three days with locations, times and even links to Facebook groups. Especially since we have so many cosplayers attending the Eurocosplay awards that we need somewhere universal for people to connect through. Then the official Konami Cosplay competition where Konami sought out cosplayers to cosplay as Konami characters. A lot of Snakes surfaced with a Raiden, Female Dracula and myself as a retro character, Viki from Suikoden.
The lows were seeing the poor organisation of staff. Sadly there were reports of bad behaviour towards people in wheelchairs, no facilities or allowances were made to make them comfortable. Being in crutches and fighting my way through thick crowds of cosplayers, I can relate. Luckily the attendees were polite and understanding but looking at the MCM group from the amount of complaints shows the lack of training with London MCM Expo 2013 staff/volunteers.
Yugioh life size playing board
What added further insult to injury was if you were at the wrong place at the wrong time, dockland staff were confiscating cosplay weapons. With no justification cosplay weapons or props were taken away and destroyed. This is alarming, as London MCM Expo is known for cosplay, and staff around the area should come to recognise this. However precious works of art and hard labour were taken away and destroyed un rightfully. Please comment us with any updates on this controversial issues.
Founded May 1st 2001, Good Smile Company is a Japanese manufacturer of hobby products such as the Nendoroid and figma product lines. In addition to production and manufacturing, its business includes design, marketing and distribution. They have come back to the UK after two years as unsure of their popularity, this time around I personally made sure they knew how popular their products are. Releasing a new line of Attack of Titan figmas and an exclusive Europen Sakura Miku.
Watch our Interview with Mr O about GSC and figuring out a fake here..
Launched by fashion icon and lolita Pixie late who has sold various products in the past but know has her own Pixie Couture line. The many facets of Tokyo street fashion have influenced her shop’s cute, fun and unique aesthetics. Pixie believes that style is a combination of makeup, hair, clothes and accessories, which is why Pixie Bunny strives to be your one stop shop for the hottest kawaii looks and trends. Pixie Couture sprinkles a bit of magic and fairy dust to whoever wears it. The debut line focuses on the preppy cute look of Japanese school uniform (seifuku) and plaid patterns because she adores that look. The shop currently stocks quality Japanese cosmetics, fashion accessories as well as one of a kind hand crafted fashion goods but there will loads more to come!
Kekiko’s founder also has a passion for pandas like Anime Picks. She sells cute stationary and fashion items, one of the popular ones being the car ear clips, light and real for kids and adults to enjoy for casual day or cosplay. The online store should be up and running by the end of November, you can visit it at: www.kekiko.com. The headgear were the top sellers at the Kekiko stall, these included the kitty and bunny ears, the tokidoki snapbacks and the bunny ear beanie hats. Everyone loved them and thought they went well with almost any outfit. Pandas are Amy’s all time favourite animal. They are cute, huggable and just adorable fluffy creatures. This is why she chose to have them as her mascots.
The widely anticipated gaming convention, Eurogamer Expo 2013 had a lot of game previews to offer but let's look at the most outstanding previews that wowed the attendees at the con.
Surgeon Simulator
Surgeon Simulator 2013 is a surgical simulation game by Bossa Studios. The initial version was created in a 48-hour period for the 2013 Global Game Jam, but the developers continued and spent 48 days creating a commercial version released in January 2013. The game works with you actually operating on a realistic body. Through a first person perspective the player can attempt to perform various surgical procedures, an example of which is a heart transplant. The full version was released via Steam on 19 April 2013.
The Oculus Rift is a next-generation virtual reality which you enter by putting on the headset designed for immersive gaming. Be part of history by getting your own Oculus Rift development kit. This can be just the headset or go for the full harness and platform where you feel like you in the actual game. For now movement is captured by the Xbox Connect but in the future you can use any peripherals with a camera such as a phone.
Konami has completely reinvented the Castlevania series, keeping with the story and characters, while finally entering the world of 3D. Since the introduction of 3D environments the character is not playing a platform game, it has more of an RPG feel to it. The graphics are beautiful and rival that of Bayonetta and Final Fantasy. A must for Devil May Cry fans as there is a lot of hack 'n slash gore with gorgeous scenery and costumes.
Have you ever wanted to punch a bear in the mouth? When Tim Burr's family disappeared and his house spontaneously burst into flames he thought his day was as about bad as it could get. That's when his hand became self-aware and broke the horrific news that the world was now ruled by bears. Join Tim as he embarks on an epic battle across time and space, unravelling the bear-ridden damage to Earth's timeline. It's a bit like Quantum Leap but with more bears and lumberjacks. Fist of Awesome is a heartfelt love-letter to golden classics like Double Dragon, Streets of Rage and Final Fight. Prepare yourself for the most epic time-travelling-lumberjack-em-up of all time.
Fist of Awesome is released 17th October 2013 on iOS (Universal App), Android - Phones & Tablets, OUYA, GameStick, PC and Mac. For more info go to: fistofawesome.com
Do you agree or think there are others games that shone at Eurogamer Expo? Take a look at our video below for more Eurogamer highlights:
Since the arrival of Big Bang, Kyari in the UK even classic indie rockers Asian Kung Fu Generation came to town. For £18 (per ticket, standing only) Asian Kung Fu Generation performed to a packed out O2 Islington Academy venue. The Queue spanned from the door, to outside the mall, to the street. If you were one of the lucky go-ers then you will shout "Naruto" with pride.
ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, is a Japanese alternative rock band formed in Yokohama, Japan, in 1996. Formed with the members band Masafumi Gotō (vocalist), Kensuke Kita (guitarist, Takahiro Yamada (bassist), and Kiyoshi Ijichi (drummer). The band's musical style is influenced by seminal Western punk and alternative rock acts in conjunction with their own local Japanese indie rock background. As a result, their songs maintain a balance of various aspects of the genres, most typically expressing fast-paced tempos and prominent, hard-edged guitar riffs as well as rhythmic flow and emotional lyrics.
Despite the indie nature of their music, the band has enjoyed worldwide commercial success in addition to critical acclaim. They have done songs for anime such as: Naruto, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist and many more. They have even featured in Nintendo and Konami musical games.
The venue itself was intimate which was perfect. You felt so close to the stage and band. If you had queued early to get a good spot near the front then eating would of been an essential. Casually strolling in McDonalds you would have bumped into the band themselves having a quick burger before the show with their entourage.
The gig started promptly at 6:30 with a mixture of hits from all their albums with a lot of otakus pleasers, it had a great vibe - everyone was head bopping and foot taping on the second floor, looking from the balcony to the stage. A great addition was a TV screen for the 2nd floor s if you wanted to rest on the sofas you could still watch the show.
Then a great keepsake of the event was to use the 02 Academy Islington photobooth, where you could get photos with your friends to remember the event. It was an event where you would bump into your anime community friends and catch up. You also had access to two bars, upstairs and down with the usual refreshments including jelly shots for just £1.
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