BitSnark

Word is coming out that The Los Angeles Times has run a report detailing venture by Microsoft to produce a seven part Halo anime series, intended to reflect a similiar storytelling approach to previous anime western collaborations such as the Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight.

The similarities don’t end there either as the report goes on to mention that five production houses in Japan; Bones, Casio Entertainment, Production I.G., Studio4 C, and Toei Animation shall be taking over the animation duties, whilst Microsoft’s creative staff is handling the approval for the visuals and storytelling

“It’s a wildly varied genre, but anime creators do things with weapons and vehicle and technology nobody else does and that marries very well with Halo,” stated Frank O’Connor, creative director for 343 Industries.

Frank went on to say; “It’s amazing to see some of the new stuff they’re introducing and how neatly it maps to the visual aesthetics in the Halo universe.”

Additionally, whilst details are thin on the ground at this point, Shinji Aramaki (director of Appleseed/Applessed Ex Machina), is working with Microsoft as creative director to create his own short that will shed some much needed light on the history of the Spartan warrior class.

Whilst another short from Studio4 C entitled “Origins” will be a two-part feature, each being roughly 30 minutes long, which “tells the entire 100,000 year history of the Halo universe.”

Warner Bros shall be in charge of the distribution, ensuring that it will be available on DVD, Blu-ray and through digital distribution in early 2010. Lucky Xbox Live fans are able to catch a preview of the anime this autumn.

Personally I have really enjoyed previous anime/Western collaborations (see Gotham Knight/Animatrix) and with Halo: Reach coming out (hopefully) a few scant months after the anime, it’ll be very nice to see some of the narrative groundwork laid down in traditionally stylish anime fashion.

Anyone else psyched for this?

With the director of the Evil Dead/Spiderman/Drag Me To Hell films behind this one, along with the studio that created 300 (Legendary Pictures) the prospect of a halfway decent live action World Of Warcraft film doesn’t seem so impossible now.

Aint It Cool News has the scoop on this one:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41761

Wow.

One of the best and most popular XBLA releases of last year is finally now coming to the PSN, as Castle Crashers developer The Behemoth announced that a PS3 version of the title would hit the platform later this year.

PS3 owners, be jealous no more.

I shall be taking a week’s worth of hiatus whilst I sort out my new monstrous new rig for enjoyable gaming consumption.

If I am back earlier, you’ll know 🙂

The headline says it all really; it’s a feckin’ steal!

*Tucks 800 MSP away in preperation*

PC gamers can also use Steam to pick up the title at about the same time for roughly eight quid.

So, how many of you lot are picking up this little gem next week?

You gotta love Twitter sometimes right? News reaches my ears that EA’s twitter feed yesterday morning posted the following:

‘EA LOS ANGELES ANNOUNCES THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMAND & CONQUER 4 http://bit.ly/LOk6R’

Anyway, in true corporate secret fashion said tweet was yanked and the usual ‘no comment’ was given regarding C&C 4 from the usual square-acting EA spokespeople.

This news comes on the heels of a UK survey that was conducted in June regarding EA titles which inadvertedly revealed a number of details about the new title.

Apparently the newest title in the series will incorporate a new MMORPG style persistent class system, full campaign co-op, 5 vs 5 competitive play and what was cryptically referred to as the ‘crawler’ – a mobile base of sorts that can be utilised.

Well, its time for EA to man up and admit C&C 4 exists, and bringing along a trailer and some screenies would be nice too.

Time to get your Microsoft Points/credit card out 🙂

Battlefield 1943 is available to download for 1200 Microsoft Points on XBLA or £9.99 from PSN.

Impressions shortly.

In an interview with videogamer.com, Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada claimed that the mechanic of players having to unlock characters with multiple playthroughs is “outdated” and “no longer useful,”.

He goes on to say:

“Why we locked the characters originally was that in the arcades, it was kind of to extend the life of the game by gradually unlocking characters. And also with the home versions as well, because you can rent games or whatever, it was to protect us against that.

“That’s kind of outdated now though, especially with online play. If we were to have locked characters it would irritate a lot of people, to be playing against others online and to not have all the characters available. So I think it’s no longer useful.”

As a result of this the latest instalment in Namco’s popular fighting series will have all forty of its combatants unlocked from the get go.

Personally I actually quite liked the original mechanic of playing through the single player mode to unlock characters, as not only did it provide added incentive for repeat single player gaming, but there was always a sense of achievement when you unlocked an uber-powerful secret character who was difficult to unlock (see Gouken in Street Fighter IV).

The news that we have all been waiting for has finally arrived. EA/DICE have confirmed that their highly anticipated FPS, Battlefield 1943, shall be getting a release next week for XBOX Live users on Wednesday with Playstation Network users getting it a day later on Thursday.

The download only shooter, which is a feature-lite yet graphically pleasing remake of series progenitor Battlefield 1942, allows players to pick sides and one of three classes with the goal of defending key territorial points on one of three maps. A fourth warplane only map can also be unlocked players if all players across all three platforms rack up a total of 43 million logged kills in multiplayer.

Battlefield 1943 will cost 1200 Microsoft Points and £9.99 for XBLA and PSN respectively.

It’s time to get your frag on ladies and gentlemen 🙂