Generation Mech

Voltron Movie: To make or not to make?

admin — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 05:13:01 +0000

Voltron.

Coming to a cinemas near you or not? That’s what some speculators from Variety are spelling when WEP were more interested in making the iconic series into TV format rather than its live-action film counterpart. But then a few days later, another source came up saying “Hang on a sec. We’ll scrap that scrapped idea with Voltron movie. We’ll planning to do it anyway?”

That’s very annoying after hearing for several months of hype for this. So why don’t we find out it’s true or from the this MTV interview with WEP’s thoughts for the blockbuster film.

MTV NEWS: So, right at the start, let’s clear up any confusion regarding the live-action “Voltron” movie. Where is it at, and what do you have planned?

TED KOPLAR: Well, Voltron is one of the great iconic brands from the ’80s, and a lot of people don’t know this but in its heyday it outperformed The Transformers. … We’ve had a lot of interest over the last couple of years in bringing back this franchise, and the movie has always been and still is the locomotive that’s driving our thinking. All this serves as a staging platform for the motion picture.

RICHARD SUCKLE: As a matter of fact, we’ve been working over the last several months meeting with various screenwriters, and we’re actually on the cusp of securing an A-level screenwriter who’s going to write the “Voltron” movie. That’s all part of the plan here: reintroducing the brand to the fans who’ve watched over the last 25 years and to a new generation. We are very close to securing a screenwriter who’s going to actually write the feature version — so that’s always been part of the plan.

MTV: This project has been in development for a long time now, with some starts and stops along the way. What have the difficulties been in bringing it to the big screen? Have there been some stumbling blocks, or a certain element of the project that you’ve really been taking your time with?

KOPLAR: The story’s been the critical part — that we come in with the right message for both the new generation and for the old generation. We’ve had some takes, but I think we’re getting close.

SUCKLE: In any situation when you have a famous piece of intellectual property, there’s always a responsibility and an expectation, but I don’t think there’s ever been a real stumbling block.

MTV: Well, there’s been some earlier drafts of the script, including one from Justin Marks that I know of. You mentioned that you’re bringing on a new screenwriter, so are you starting from scratch or building on an existing script?

SUCKLE: We are [starting from scratch]. As far as Atlas Entertainment, we’ve never been involved in any of the previous versions, so I can’t speak to them. We came in and said we want to talk about the property and build it from the ground up, because we have a particular way we want to approach it.

MTV: Can you tell me a little about that approach? Are you envisioning a big-budget, effects-driven blockbuster? 3-D, maybe? What’s your vision for the film?

SUCKLE: Those are all things we’ve talked about, but as much as it has a very strong robot element, this is a movie and a franchise that is driven by characters — these five people that in some or another are a representation of all of us. It’s really about how you have five different personalities working together in order to come together to form Voltron.

KOPLAR: The whole show is about teamwork — about a group of kids with various backgrounds who learn that the only way they’ll succeed is through the positive parts of each one’s background and bringing it together to make the robot work.

SUCKLE: It’s not like we’re doing anything far different from the source material other than to make it a character-driven film. The effects, the 3-D… The eye candy is the easy part. It’s got to be a movie that has really dynamic, interesting characters and a really strong narrative. You know the eye candy is going to be there, because it’s part of the fabric of the original material.

So that character-driven element is really what we’re focusing on, and that’s what the writers that we’ve been talking to have been told about what we want and what we’re looking for.

MTV: Do you have a timeline in mind for the live-action film? Are there certain marks you want to hit in the roll-out of the “Voltron” universe?

SUCKLE: You never can tell, but I think that if we’re lucky going into 2011, and in a perfect world, if we could have a “Voltron” movie sometime in the summer of 2013, that would be what I would consider a very likely timeline.

MTV: There’s mention of the new animated series receiving an “edgier” update, but what about the film?

SUCKLE: To me, you have to update it and give it a fresh coat of paint for 2010-2011 and beyond. At the same time, it’s important to have those certain nostalgic elements. It’s not that we have to hit those moments over the head, but there should be stuff within the visuals — if not also in the dialogue and the references — that make those people who grew up watching the show feel like we are taking great care to both satisfy you and introduce new stuff that feels like it lives organically in the 25 years Voltron has existed.

MTV: You said you’re about to name a new writer, but what about a director? How close are you?

SUCKLE: We’ve had a lot of inquiries, because there are a lot of fans who grew up with the show and see the potential like we do, but it would be premature for me to name any names.

MTV: Will there be any crossover between the animated series and the live-action film?

KOPLAR: Our hope is that the group of people we have are open to everybody sharing ideas, thoughts, whatever it is.

SUCKLE: It’s important that all these pieces are working together, because it is a specific plan that we want to realize. The cartoon, the new show, the Mattel deal — they’re just sort of springboards to ultimately what will be the feature. It’s always been about driving the feature.

KOPLAR: All these component parts are going to come together like Voltron.

So now we’ve been confirmed that the TV series remake and live-action movie works are in place, along with the host toy merchandise going about in place, we should be seeing more and more these developments coming into the horizon at a closer time. One would hope so!

Cause I would hate to see things just dropped out of the air like that, if nothing’s working out as it should be.

Source: Variety.com, SplashPage, Craveonline

Gundam Statue in Japan – Ready for Round 2?

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 08:07:15 +0000

Hang on a sec. Had they not already done this in Odaiba back in September last year?

It sure wasn’t that long ago when it was constructed as part of the Namco Bandai’s 30th commemoration of the Gundam franchise. And they had to take it off after a couple months of display.

And now they’re doing it again for the second time? Well. I’ve no problem with that if you ask me being a mecha fan…

But I just wish they should make things transparent with these. I mean I don’t see how taking it apart and then putting on it again would make any sense when comes to making a strong attraction for overseas tourists to see what Japan’s pop culture lifestyle is got to offer. Especially when it’s already that good to appeal with IN THE FIRST PLACE!

I mean it just doesn’tt seem to add up! >.< And now we have one here constructed in the Shizuoka city, home of 710,000 Japanese citizens, 5th largest city in Japan.

Here’s the conceptual art of the proposed statue design over in Shizuoka city.

Proposed Conceptual Art Design of RX 78 Gundam Statue

As compared to this one at the Namco Bandai’s actual model at their headquarters, with the up-close shot of the light-saber burning through the blue brick.

RX Gundam 78 statue model in Namco Bandai's headquarters on display

I supposed no human casualty is part of the plan too?

Image sourced from Ngee Khiong

Since the project’s completed few weeks back at beginning of this month. Said to have more lighting and special effects during its opening. So this is all part of the hopes of translating more visitors coming into the city, both local and abroad (last year 4 million people came to visit before it got dismantled back in October 2009). And the only the key thing missing from the statue is the completion of the light saber upgrade.

Thanks for Ngee Khiong’s sources, it said to be opened to the public from 24th July 2010 till 10th January 2011, located at East Shizuoka Square.

Source: Ngee Kiong, Escapist.com, Geek.com, Bionicbong.com, Endgadget.com, All images are copyrighted and belong to the rightful sources.

Chinese Transformers raised in Chinese University

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 07:30:57 +0000

A couple of university students from a local Chinese university went all this trouble to make their own life-sized Transformers as part of the graduation project, as far as what I heard. It’s a very interesting project for them to get into. And it’s a 4500 USD project too. That’s a great prize tag they put aside for this project’s funding.

Boy! They sure come out bigger than life, after looking at these amazing photos of 9-m tall monstrosity!

Such amazing detail of the character design based on one of the Chinese famous legends of “Romance of the Three Kingdom”. For those who are not familiar with the Chinese folklore legend, there’s this famous general from a Shu Army whose name is Guan Yu during Chinese ancient times. He’s one of the most powerful generals serving in the Shu army and many legendary tales have been fortold amongst the Chinese for many, many generations. Chinese have profound religious beliefs tied with him and you can find a lot of statues of him around China and other Chinese communities around the world. That’s probably why the Chinese students picked him as the favourite character.

If you ever played one of Koei’s infamous action game series Dynasty Warriors and you used this character. (see below)

This is him and that’s why the transformer’s color resembles a lot as the picture above, along with the halberd weapon.

And here’s the footage of the CGI animation of its transformation as well.

Pretty neat huh? ^^

Source: Kotaku, Gadgetsin, ClonedChina, All images and copyrighted by the source owner

War for Cybertron Game Review

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 03:37:59 +0000

Hey guys.

This just came in. It’s been a long while coming. Now it’s officially released yesterday and so I was eager to let you have a good read what the reviewers from TFormers.com have positively (thats right, positively)said about this game so far.

I wanted to express my own thoughts about this game too in this post… However due to the time constraint I keep having lately and realising how many fans are looking forward to what the game truly promises for the fans, I thought why not just let everyone have a quick peak what I’ve read in this review huh? ;)

Here’s the review.

At long last, Transformers Hypefest 2010 has come to a close as High Moon Studios and Activision have finally blessed us with the release of Transformers: War for Cybertron. No longer just the light at the end of the tunnel, War for Cybertron is on the shelves: ready to be enjoyed, judged, nitpicked to pieces, and reveled in by fans.

In a year filled with little other news than Transformers 3 eye candy replacement and the occasional webisode, Transformers fans, still licking the emotional wounds of Revenge of the Fallen and the cancellation of Animated, couldn’t get enough news about this new direction for the historically lackluster Transformers video game property. Until, that is, they had had too much, and hope gave way to hype. Now the question is: Can this game, this third-person shooter, live up to the mountain of publicity and speculation it has generated?

Honestly, it’s doubtful anything could.

That being said, this is a great game. Any gamer who enjoys a solid third-person shooter will have nothing to complain about here, and any classic Transformers fan should be overjoyed with the characters, context and dedication to the franchise that High Moon has shown our favorite bots. There has been no reason to expect to get Transformers games this good. It’s kind of a miracle.

The chief thing Transformers fans need to bear in mind here, though, is that this game is solidly placed within the context of the 1980s cartoon and movie. That is not to say there is 100% continuity with the original shows (like they had continuity…) but the characters, story, and feel of the universe simply ooze Sunbow. Homages to the film and show are everywhere.

Imagine this game as a revival of the Transformers made in a universe with no Transformer media between the end of Season 3 of the old show and today, and you’ll be on the right track. You can expect most characters to be almost exactly who they were on TV in 1985.

What color is Rumble supposed to be again? *Puts FIBRIR Helmet on.*

The Decepticon campaign is Megatron- centered, with the only significant deviation being a flying level featuring the original Seekers (Flight of the Repaints = Awesome). This is not the story of Megatron’s rise to power, nor the beginning of the war. It does feature some events that are formative to the story as we know it, but this is not an origin tale.

Neither so much is the Autobot campaign; as promised we do see Optimus take charge of the Autobots, but… it’s complicated. To say that you see him “become a Prime” here is overstating it as presented.

Characters meet for the first time, familiar items emerge and situations taken for granted are illuminated, but overall this game carves a comfortable place of its own near G1 cartoon Transformers lore, and makes it a more satisfying and compelling place. Frankly, the almost episodic nature of the story came as something of a relief – it left plenty of space for more game, more story, and didn’t offend any of my preconceived Transformers sensibilities.

Level design is linear, but no more so than average. The scenery is so detailed, intricate, and on occasion spectacular, that you never feel like you’ve been somewhere before. Your objectives are dynamic enough that you feel propelled forward by the story, never corralled by the level walls.

The “defend this area full of turrets” scheme is a common occurrence, but most instances feel story-driven, and turrets usually equal fun. There is, however, a “Defend the moving elevator! With turrets!” sequence that just feels like busywork.

Cybertron is a rich and varied environment which will be recognizable to any longtime fan, and will be enjoyed by any connoisseur of gaming environments. You can be sure of repeat playthroughs revealing details and Transformers references that you missed the first time.

The setting is one of the game’s greatest features, so be sure to enjoy it.

Your weapons consume ammunition and not just for show, you’ll need to conserve ammo and place your shots wisely, lest you find yourself hip deep in laser-fire with out a pistol.

Those who played the multiplayer demo on Xbox Live may not have gotten the right idea about the game as a whole, nor even the scope of its online play. The multiplayer aspects were significantly more fun after gaining an organic understanding of the character abilities, weapons, and effects of alternate modes on combat in the single player campaigns. For instance, the ability to fly at the drop of a hat significantly affects strategic game modes, but leveraging that advantage takes practice.

Control for the most part is tight; aiming in particular feels well tuned. Transitioning from robot mode to alt mode can take some getting used to. Once you get the hang of it, though, it becomes a fluid and natural part of play that influences your strategic decisions and offers opportunities rarely explored in this genre. High Moon, rather that basing their game around the classic Transformers gimmick, have used that gimmick to add something dynamic and fresh to a tried and true game format. After all, adding “Hit them with a truck” to your list of solutions in a tense firefight is nothing to sneeze at.

In a move that I’m sure will worry many players, the transformation button is located at the L3 position initially, with the melee on the R3. Thumbstick buttons are not always our friends, but in this case, High Moon’s reasoning is sound. A player, using these buttons as placed, will be able to skillfully move, fire, steer, transform, accelerate, and utilize each character’s two special skills without moving a thumb off the controller.

However, “heavy stickers” (one of which the reviewer happens to be) will quickly want to switch to the second controller layout. It re-maps the button to the position formerly occupied by the weapon switch, moving that function to the D-Pad. If you can master the first layout, the advantage is clear, but if you’re one of the many who find themselves unexpectedly crouching when you mean to make a break for it in Call of Duty, you may want to save yourself the trouble and just change this setting at the outset. Sadly, the melee remains as-is.

More flexible are your Y-axis options. The Y-axis inversion can be toggled on or off for each individual alt mode separately, including your robot mode.

Teamwork is the watch word in non-deathmatch War for Cybertron multiplayer match. High Moon has crafted a set of customizable character types whose balanced interaction is remarkable. A team skilled in utilizing the unique talents of each kind of character to support one another is nearly unstoppable.

The characters have a limited selection of weapons, and upgrades for each class. The color scheme, while customizable, only provides a limited palette for each chassis. Online play allows your characters to level up as they are used, and the upgrades you receive rapidly make palatable differences in play.

This encourages play with multiple classes, which is worth mastering. Being a versatile player within this character set can be a great asset. Each character type has valid offensive and defensive functions. The victorious player will at least understand them all.

The most disappointing aspect of the multiplayer mode is the manner in which flying characters are limited. When a flier goes too high, they are simply stopped by an invisible ceiling. Invisible walls are always fail. Perhaps in future games when fliers affect multiplayer balance, it could be addressed more subtly, possibly through airborne weapon range limits or vertical visibility control.

War for Cybertron is the best Transformers game ever, and it’s a slaggin’ good game in general. While the base play is derived from some of recent years’ favorites, in sharp contrast with most licensed games (which are hobbled from the outset by a mountain of preconceived kibble, superfluous, or flat-out contrary to the play needs of the game), its subtle innovation comes from a masterful utilization of its license’s gimmick.

Perhaps the only like franchise to have video games conceived within it that were not intended to be tie-ins or a redux of existing media is Star Wars – a franchise which can claim some of gaming’s greatest achievements under its belt. War for Cyberton was built from the ground up to be a game; written, directed, designed, populated, rendered, and tested to be played; and it shows.

High Moon’s distinguished treatment of the franchise in and of itself is a distinct leap in the right direction for all of Transformers media. They’ve created one of the few, perhaps the only, piece of Transformers in motion media that could have stood on its own without the power of its name and history to justify it.

This game has what makes the Transformers great.

Source: TFormers.com

Towards the end of the review, they gave the game rating 9 out of 10. So that sounds good! Wouldn’t you think? ^^

Here’s the video review as well for those who like to get better idea via the visuals if words above cannot convince why the game is fantastically fun!

So what are your thoughts Transformers fans? Is this spectacular or what?!?!?

Source: TFormers.com, All images sourced and copyrighted by TFormers.com

Star Driver: Nagayaki no Takuto

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 10:31:45 +0000

I posted this no long ago on our Facebook fan page no long ago.

But basically, it’s a new robot anime show that’s going to come up this year. Rumours said it’s expected to fall in October 2010.

Not much info to reveal at this stage. But here’s what I managed to find online in the last couple weeks about this show.

In the director’s chair is mounted Taku Igarashi (Takuya Igarashi), has worked on the series Soul Eater, but the scenario will work Edzhi Enokido (Yoji Enokido), in the past giving birth to Revolutionary Girl Utena. For the design of the characters meet and Hiroki Midzuya Misa (Misa and Hiroka Mizuya), as well Eshiuki Ito adapt designs and is responsible for overseeing the animation. The music also write Satoru Kosaka (Satoru Kousaki), speaking earlier in the composer Bakemonogatari, Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumia and Lucky Star.

Anime will narrate about a boy named Takuto, control the robot with the name Taubaan (Taubaan).

Source: Animemaga

Exciting!^^ So watch this space!

Source: AnimeNewsNetwork, Animemaga, Imaged sourced and copyrighted by AnimeNewsNetwork

Votoms Producers: On Promo Video

Ex Zeus

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 10:21:34 +0000

Ex Zeus game on Playstation 2

Has anbody hear of this Ex Zeus game?

Never heard of it. Said to be made by a Japanese video game developer, HyperDevBox in Japan and there were released in the early 2000s, first in Japanese local arcade games market, then released on Playstation 2 consoles, as shown above.

According to the link, it’s kinda like a RPGish type game where you get a few robot characters to choose from and upgrade their skills and character attributes to level up as you progress the game. And everything’s in 3D as well so there’s plenty of action going on you’ll see just like Gundam arcade video game franchise you’ll get in your local gaming arcade store.

Here’s the video review of the Wii game Ex Zeus (also known as Counter Force).

The game is available for you to download on your Iphone or phones come with Google Android OS. There’s a price you have to pay for it, which works out to be around ¥350( or USD $3.80). You can get a 24-hour trial version of this when you first look up the marketplace. But after that you need to purchase it once the trial period’s up and you’ll decide to continue keeping it, if you like it.

So folks. Give it a go and see what you think? Do you think it’s really a great game for mecha gaming fans out there?

7 reasons why War for Cybertron is the best (and most decent) Transformers game to have

admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:00:26 +0000

Get ready for impact!

Looking back all the great visual highlights of the game, I was thinking at the back of my mind why this is GOING TO BE THAT AN AWESOME GAME TO HAVE to have. And I can only think of 7 very good reasons to have this game (and why every other fan should own this game as well)

1. IT’S INSANELY FUN.

With its stunning graphics, amazing 3D environments and character design details, one would find it very hard to disagree its fun factor this game provides, even though the critics review won’t be made officially after its 22nd June release date. You have so many of your favourite characters to choose from. Autobots, Decepticons, Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee, Megatron, Starscream and the rest; ready to take pounce at each other’s throats. You get to experience a lot of these Transformers in a very unique way from the first-person perspective such that you’ll get this total freedom to explore each characters’ unique fighting transforming abilities that you would never thought it was possible. With this much character interaction and four different classes to choose from,,

2. IT’S FAST.

Yes. Fast. Fast as in not the loading times (sorry)^^”. I mean given the nature of the game is action-oriented, you’d expect all the action sequences would go lightning fast! With background explosions, enemy atttacks, death beams and simultaneous transformers fighting/transformation sequences all happening in one game disk, what more instense action could a guy ask for?^^ (But hopefully the loading time won’t be painfully slow once you got the game as depicted above….)

3. IT’S SEXY.

Okay. Maybe not that kinda of sexy we oughta expecting from this game.

But we do know how to love our favourite characters transform into different types of vehicles we like to see (and play). So that’s what made a good game a good game. Game features, action sequences, cooperative team play, intense fighting atmosphere on Cybertron etc.. Everything’s just so sexy with it. Nuff said.

4. IT’S AVAILABLE ON ALL GAME PLATFORMS.

That’s a huge thing. So there’s no reason why every gaming mecha fan out there who shouldn’t be heading out to the game store (offline and online) and grab their copy of this game, irrespective of what gaming platform you have at the moment. PS3, XBox360, Wii, Nintendo DS. High Light Studio guys have done a massive good job of giving every Transformers fans (young, old and eccentric) what they want for their birthday or early Christmas presents.

SO GET OUT THERE AND START ORDERING THEM!!

5. IT’S MULTIPLAYER.

Yes. As far as I’m aware of the XBox360 that’s been going about for quite a while, they got the exclusive of the multiplayer functions within. So says their Highlight Studio’s press release

Exclusive to Xbox 360 owners, the demo will grant players early access to a deep Transformers multiplayer experience, offering fans a sample of some of the character classes and game modes that will be found in the final version. It will feature full, 10-player matches and drop players straight into Molten, one of the game’s expansive maps set on the Transformers’ home planet of Cybertron.

Source: TFormers.com

Comes with four modes of flavour.

a. Team DeathMatch

Just like any multiplayer games you ever experienced, your main goal was to head out and start eliminating random opponents, whether you’re on your own and playing in a team. And you have to complete the goal under some strict conditions of the game, usually time limit or maximum number of opponents killed. This game offers that too and you should have no problem getting used to this game format if you’re big fan of CounterStrike or Unreal game franchise. So the stage is all yours to set.

b. Conquest

Conquest is a capture and hold style game when you take your team to takedown your enemies stronghold that has their flag. To win this game mode, you use your men to eliminate the enemies and the enemies were busy guarding the their flag beacon. Once you eliminate them all and none survive, you take over their beacon and replace with yours and the match is yours to sealed.

c. Countdown to Extinction

This game mode has one simple objective, just like above. You take your bomb and place it at the enemy base and you’ll win. That’s simply it. You don’t necessarily have to detonate the bomb. You have to make your men stay alive in the game whilst carrying the bomb and no letting fall into the wrong hands.

d. Power Struggle

It’s an interesting one. One of type of gameplay is not commonly used in multiplayer games before. Hence this would be the first. The game style is similar to the concept of Capture the Flag, where is each teams’ have their own set of flags and your mission is simply to grab your opponent’s flags as many as you can and bring it to your own territory.

e. Code of power

A two-minute and half match where you and your opponents are fighting for a giant melee weapon.

6. IT’S FIRST PROPER TRANSFORMERS GAME WE HAVE FOR A LONG WHILE.

Well looking at the history pages here, I can see why it’s so (and here’s the part why I claimed it’s most decent game to date).

Whilst reading everything else about it’s been mentioned why Transformers name was never meant to do well historically. When I meant by that is that given technology back then, everything was so simple and plain to program back then. Commodore64 was one earliest adoption for the game of Transformers G1. It’s not hard to see why they couldn’t resist the chance to make the game when everybody were so looking for it when nobody ever thought of an idea of having the game at home.

But sadly we were all mistaken to believe it’s going to be one of those pioneer games.for such fantastic cartoon series. Instead the game ended up as E.T 2 instead. If you take a video here of Transformers on Commodore64.

You can see that it’s a platform type of game. Which is pretty obvious since in those days, games were a lot easier to developed in that form during those days. Many people went out and expect to get plenty of games like this. Many except for one. Lots of complaints about the game being too buggy and it was a super hard to play with. It’s hard for many people to get around to understand how the game got involved when you have several Autobot characters to control but nothing of this video suggests you want to experience each robots’ unique strengths and weaknesses. Whilst I was looking for further criticism what made this game stink, I come across a retro link by a Transformers who remembered this game and this is his thoughts of the view.

Basically, Transformers is a platform shoot-em-up. You take on the role of a team of five Autobots (Optimus Prime, Jazz, Bumblebee, and two others that I can’t remember!) and you have to explore the games levels collecting pieces of the Autobots logo and returning them to your base, negotiating the array of platforms and avoiding the onslaught from the Decepticons who are out to stop you. Collect four pieces and the level is complete. Why they are doing it, is anyone’s guess!

To help you, each Autobot has three modes of transport – walking, flight, or vehicle mode. Different modes are best used to negotiate different parts of the levels with some platforms only being accessible through flight. Naturally, driving around is one of the quickest ways to explore the levels, but it is all too easy to drive too fast and end up going over the edge off a platform. You are open to attack in vehicle mode, but can shoot back in robot or flight mode, and different modes of transport offer different benefits and levels of control for manoeuvring around the levels themselves.

Each of the Autobots on offer gives different advantages and disadvantages to the player. It is possible to switch between ‘bots at any time during the game as long as you move into one of a number of pods scattered around the playing area. Naturally, Optimus Prime is the best for firepower and damage resistance, but he is rather cumbersome when it comes to negotiating some of the trickier platforms. By the same token, Bumblebee is not a ‘bot to use if you are expecting heavy combat, but because of his size, he can go where no ‘bot has gone before. However, Jazz would appear to be the best all-rounder.

The graphics in the game are something of a mixed bag. The sprites are well drawn and well-animated, especially the transformation sequences, but the background images are appalling. The platforms consist of little more than metallic pipes on a plain black background. Yes, the game scrolls smoothly enough, but when the screen doesn’t even look interesting, the gameplay has to exceptional to make you come back for that elusive “one more go”.

Special mention has to go to the music by Fred Gray. He has managed to produce a faithful renditioning of the Transformers theme for the game, although there isn’t a great deal of music during the game itself. However, the sound effects are rather sparse and what is there is rather pitiful!

Overall, this game is too damn difficult for it’s own good. It is a difficult game in it’s own right, but coupled with a lousy control system that is unresponsive and, and an icon system that makes the game a pain to play (not to mention making transforming your ‘bot difficult and not something that can be done in a hurry). Denton Designs were famed for their icon-based games for the C64, starting with their revolutionary graphic adventure, Shadowfire, but icons have no place in a platform game.

If that wasn’t bad enough, there is some dubious collision detection, and worst of all, it is impossible to tell what is coming from off the screen. All too often, you can be in flight mode and suddenly finding yourself crashing head first into an oncoming platform.

To be honest, this game never really set the world alight when it came out, and looking back at it now it has dated very badly.

Source: InfiniteFrontiers

A real bummer intro of Transformers gaming franchise to what’s supposed to be a very promising start of the franchise.

And…

Does anybody remember this NES version of Transformers game?

Another very disappointing and hard game for the fans to barely hate it, let alone enjoy it.

I remembered correctly a long time ago, this game only exists to be sold in Asian countries including Japan. But it was never set foot in the USA. Judging by the quality of the game and infinite source of its negative reviews, one could guess why. Since the title is in Japanese (Transformers: Convoy No Nazo or Transformers: Master of Convoy) and the contribution to this game came from the Japanese exclusive frontline of its own Transformers G1 series. The title really appealed to me to try this game out. My fingers were eagerly curious and eager to see if I’m going to get a great fun out of this.

But sadly, to my own disappointment, after seeing too many “Game Over” screens before even passing level 1 of the stage, I realised this game is was not really meant for kids at my age for fun (I was 8 years old that time). Moreover, I never heard any kid in my neighbourhood ever beat this game so easily. The game was said to be one on the extreme difficulty and you’re tested for avoiding enemy attacks and attack them when necessarily. Reading one of the commentator’s review on this, I’m glad to know someone out there who also shared my frustration over the years and left disappointed that it wasn’t going to be fun anymore. Or at all.

Another tragic tale of its cartoon masterpiece game plans for the franchise.

NB: Here’s another Transformers game you may be interested to watch. This guy managed to finish the game in 4:25, WITHOUT A SINGLE LIFE LOST! I couldn’t believe when I saw this!! This guy makes the game looks so easy to beat! Check it out for your viewing pleasure!

And but now we’re in the modern age where video game system are starting to evolve and they get more powerful and faster, and with recent PS2 titles of Transformers and Transformers Movie recently coming out the past few years, I’m noticing that this is beginning process of the Transformers franchise wanting to regain its lost reputation in not making the gamers for the Transformers fans several years since its 8-bit ugly intro.

Of course, this doesn’t always happen to be the case such as Transformers Beast Wars franchise on PS1 and Nintendo 64, for having one of the worst gaming platforms ever introduced on 64 bit gaming platform. But hey no one’s perfect right?

So it’s safe to say that things are getting better and better, not much worse, for today’s video game makers to push their boundaries to a whole new level of fun.

7. IT’S FOR THE FANS. WHAT ELSE CAN YOU SAY?

Lastly this game is made for the fans of who love robot shows for a long while now, not just for Transformers fans speficially specificially. I don’t know about you. But I’m pretty excited about this game coming up withing 6 days or so for now. My childhood life wasn’t that great in my days of the 80s, so hopefully this new game will help to replace old memories with some new fun ones! So yes. What else can you say for a mecha fan other than “YES! YES! YES!”.

So, fans! Let’s go and roll out!^^

Source: TFormers.com, All images do not owned by me and are copyrighted.

UFO Robot Grendizer

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:50:26 +0000

UFO Robo Grendizer TV Cover circa 1975

The 6th super robot TV production creation by Go Nagai. Again, it’s helmed as one of his great super robot anime works since produced for television in those days. I really loved it.

Though I remembered watching it on a different production crew ie the American version. They renamed it as the Force Five Series and this is one of the series that came out from this. I’d better check this one up before I give everybody the full story.

Here’s excerpt from the Wikipedia.org and MyAnimeList.

UFO Robot Grendizer (UFOロボ·グレンダイザー, sometimes romanized as UFO Robo Grendizer) is a super robot TV anime and manga created by manga artist Go Nagai. It was broadcast on Japanese television from October 5, 1975, to February 27, 1977, and lasted 74 episodes. The robot’s first appearance in the United States was as a part of the Shogun Warriors line of super robot toys imported in the late 1970s by Mattel, then in Jim Terry’s Force Five series, both under the title Grandizer. It is still widely popular in the Middle East and was especially popular in continental Europe and in the province of Quebec under the title, “Goldorak.”

Synopsis

The Vega homeworld has become unstable due to the exploiting of Vegatron, a powerful radioactive ore. Seeking to expand his militaristic empire and find a substitute planet to settle upon, the ruthless King Vega unleashes his armies — composed of flying saucers and giant robotic monsters — and turns first against neighbors such as Fleed, a highly advanced but peaceful world. In a tragically ironic twist, the invaders’ blitzkrieg turns against them: the once verdant, idyllic Fleed is turned into a radioactive wasteland. Too late, the only known survivor of the royal family, Prince Duke Fleed, manages to steal the Grendizer, the robotic embodiment of the Fleedian God of War, from the Vegan invaders who plan to use it to spearhead their invasion fleet. Grendizer is a giant robot that interfaces with Spazer, a flying saucer that enables the robot to fly.

Fleeing Vegan space by flying at faster than light speed, Duke enters our solar system and switches course to Earth, making a rough landing in Japan, on the slopes of Mount Fuji. He is befriended by Doctor Umon, a noted scientist who oversees a research laboratory called the Space Science Lab near a small ranch. The kindly Umon takes in the young humanoid alien as his son, under the assumed name of Daisuke, and assists him in hiding Grendizer. Taking the name Daisuke Umon, Duke Fleed works at the ranch run by Danbei Makiba (based on Abashiri Daemon of Go Nagai’s manga Abashiri Ikka).

Roughly two years later, Kouji Kabuto returns to Japan after studying abroad in a flying saucer he personally designed and built (called the TFO). He heads to the Space Science Lab after hearing of multiple sightings of “flying saucers”. He plans to contact the aliens if possible and make peace with them. Daisuke, however, scoffs at the notion and fears that these aliens, the Vegans, led by generals Blaki and Gandal, are preparing to attack Earth. Kouji ignores his warnings and flies out to meet the incoming saucers, only to discover the horrible truth. In order to save Kouji and protect his adoptive homeworld from destruction, Daisuke is forced to return to his true identity as Duke Fleed. He unearths Grendizer from its hiding place under the lab and sets off to fight his enemies.

The Vegans establish a base on the dark side of the moon and start to attack Earth from there. Kouji discovers Duke Fleed’s true identity and their bitter rivalry soon turns to friendship. The daughter of Danbei Makiba, Hikaru, also discovers Daisuke’s secret and becomes a pilot in order to assist him despite his objections. Later on, it is revealed that there were two more survivors from planet Fleed: Duke’s younger sister Maria Grace Fleed and a man who had rescued her and fled to Earth, raising her under the guise of her grandfather. Caught in a crossfire between Grendizer and a Vegan beast, he reveals to Maria that she is the last survivor of the royal family of Fleed (under the belief that Duke was killed) before dying from his wounds. Maria swears revenge on Grendizer and its pilot. She tries to ambush Duke, Kouji and Hikaru at the Space Science Lab, but the fight is short lived. Maria’s attacks brings Duke’s necklace (which is the same as the one she wore) into view and the truth is revealed. The lost siblings are reunited at last and Maria becomes the last addition to the team.

As the conflict nears the end, it is shown that Duke Fleed was engaged to King Vega’s daughter, Princess Rubina, prior to the attack on Fleed. When Rubina discovers that planet Fleed is no longer polluted with Vegatron radiation and that her fiancé is alive and well, she rushes to Earth to bring him the good news. Unfortunately, one of King Vega’s generals uses this opportunity to ambush Duke Fleed, and Rubina is killed when she takes a shot aimed at Duke. This makes Duke even more determined to wipe out the Vegan menace once and for all.

King Vega decides to gather his remaining forces and make an all-out attack on Earth, destroying the Moon Base to coax his troops into fighting to the end and finally succeed in invading Earth and taking it as their new home planet. Duke and company go out to intercept them in Grendizer and the newly-designed space combat Spazers. After a fierce battle, they finally manage to destroy the Vegan mothership along with King Vega himself. Soon afterwards, Duke and Maria bid a tearful farewell to Earth and their friends and return to help reconstruct planet Fleed.

TV Opening Theme – Grendizer

Production

The original concept was shown in a 1975 30-minute pilot movie War of the Flying Saucers. The movie had the same basic plot, with a few changes: Daisuke appears as the Professor’s biological son, the enemy was Princess Teronna from Planet Yarban, and the robot’s original name was Gattaiger (gattai is Japanese for “combine”). The series, which started later the same year, is considered another sequel to the Mazinger series, partly because of the inclusion of Mazinger Z’s pilot Koji Kabuto, and having giant robots, which made it a “Super Robot” mecha anime.

The Grendizer robot and Daisuke have been included in two short Go Nagai cross-over features: UFO Robot Grendizer vs. Great Mazinger, and Great Mazinger, Grendizer, Getter Robot G: Decisive Showdown! Great Sea Beast., in which the various super-robots combine forces to take on the seemingly indestructible Dragonsaurus which emerges from the sea and proceeds to destroy Tokyo; even Boss Borot makes an appearance.

Grendizer is best remembered as one of the first anime shows to have a huge success in Europe and Canada, particularly in France and Quebec (titled Goldorak), Italy and Malta (titled Goldrake), where it holds a strong following even today. Grendizer was also one of the most popular anime series ever shown in Arabic countries. Grandizer is also popular in Russia.

The French version of the show has the characters named after stars, planets and galaxies: Duke Fleed becomes Actarus (from the star Arcturus), as both his alien and Earth name; Kouji Kabuto is Alcor, Doctor Umon is Professeur Procyon etc. The Italian version, which uses the French adaptation, uses almost all the same names.

Although set in Japan, which can be seen from the air on several occasion, the series was given an American Western feel by including a ranch where Duke Fleed and Kouji Kabuto would work in their spare time. The ranch owner, Danbei Makiba, and his children would dress in cowboy/girl outfits (though they also appeared in traditional Japanese clothes on occasion) and even had a neighbour who wore a Mexican sombrero. In spite of this the series was not a success in the US. Only twenty-six episodes of Grendizer were shown on American TV as part of the multi-mecha show Force Five, out of the total of 74 in the original series. Many character’s names were changed: Grendizer spelling was changed to Grandizer; Duke Fleed was Orion Quest, and his alias was Johnny Bryant; Planet Fleed’s name was changed to Antares, and so on. This corresponds to the first season and story arc (ending with the death of one of the main villains, who is replaced afterwards). Although Mazinger Z was later imported to the United States, Kouji’s character appearing in both Tranzor Z and Grandizer was not acknowledged.

War for Cybertron – Further news

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:26:57 +0000

Image sourced by GameTrailers.com

With the all the latest hype going on with the upcoming Transformers: War for Cybertron that went on for a few months or so, I decided to go and snap what great juicy news we got with this crazed gaming development for the past few days of this month. (And I’m sure many of you Transformers fans out there are keen to see what’s going on^^)

First stop, it’s the introduction of Trypticon into the gaming mix.

Trypticon making his behemoth debut

TFormers.com’s been slowly releasing some incredibly nice visual footage of Autobots and Decepticons, along with our usual favourite heroes (and villains). You know, Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee, Megatron, Starscream and what nots. And now we have Trypticon making its huge explosive entrance to give us fans what we’re craving for when getting the game.

Here’s Trypticon’s main entrance.

And here we have extra visual footage of the game itself (Images are copyrighted by TFormers.com)

A video footage of Transformers War for Cybertron on XBox360, commented by one of its lead game designers at High Moon Studios, explaining their inspiration making the game, especially giving us fans intriguing storylines about this game is a actually prequel to the classic 80’s cartoon classic Transformers G1.

Check it out!!

And finally, do you know that (besides XBox360, Playstation 3, Wii) they’re planning to release this game on Nintendo DS platform too?

Here are some screenshots of the DS version of the game.

And here’s the video coverage one of the lead Nintendo DS game designer for War for Cybertron on DS.

Thanks for TFormers.com for providing these excellent coverage of the game. My blog post would have made without their supplied input on this.

For those who are interested (and THOSE WHO CAN’T WAIT!!) to get your pre-orders of the game , you can check out on my site, on the right handside of page and you will see a couple of ads showing picture links of War for Cybertron games.

Available on all platforms. Playstation 3, Xbox360, Nintendo Wii, DS, PC etc. Currently, priced at US $59.99.

Oh man… I feel like I should grab this game as well.

Source: TFormers.com, All images are copyright by TFormers.com

Great Mazinger

admin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:41:03 +0000

The Mazinger Z sequel, also produced by Go Nagai. A slightly stronger version of Mazinger Z with many mechanical functions that are superior to Mazinger Z’s fighting abilities (see weapons statistics below).

Said to be not as successful as the original series. For its obvious reason since we never seen much return of the original characters. Personally, it does ruin the entire process of enjoying the Mazinger Z franchise, when fans of the orginal series were really pinning hope of getting Kabuto Koji and his gang to ready to take on world of baddies. Not much a good move. But hey! It’s still remembered as one of Nagai’s great works.

Here’s the excerpt descrption of the series (sourced from Wikipedia.org)

Great Mazinger (グレートマジンガー Gurēto Majingā?) is a manga comic book and anime television series by manga artist Go Nagai, made as a direct continuation of the successful Mazinger Z series. It was aired on Japan in 1974, immediately following the end of the first Mazinger series. It lasted for 56 episodes.

Synopsis

The story centers on Tetsuya Tsurugi (剣鉄也 Tsurugi Tetsuya?), an orphan raised by none other than Kenzo Kabuto (兜剣造 Kabuto Kenzō?), the once thought dead father of Mazinger Z pilot Kouji Kabuto. Kenzo Kabuto is the creator of the new, improved version of Mazinger, made by refining his father’s Chogokin Z (Super Alloy Z) into a new, stronger form, designed to fight against humanity’s new enemy, the Mikenese Empire, led by the Great General of Darkness and his army of Warrior Beasts. Kenzo gives the Great Mazinger to Tetsuya to pilot, who is accompanied by a new token girl, Jun Hono (an orphaned half Japanese, half black girl), in her female robot Venus A.

Both Great Mazinger’s and Tetsuya’s training are completed just in time to come to Kouji’s aid as the Mycene Battle Beasts overwhelm Mazinger Z. With the original Mazinger destroyed, Kouji went to America to study space travel and left Japan’s defense in the hands of Tetsuya and the Fortress of Science. Tetsuya battles the Mycene Battle Beasts and even their mighty generals, cumulating in a bitter final battle with the Mycene’s military leader, Ankoku Daishogun (Great General of Darkness). After the Great General of Darkness’ defeat, the Mycene forces are led by Doctor Hell, the villain from Mazinger Z, back under the guise of the Great Marshall of Hell.

The series also includes some cast members the original Mazinger Z show, like Shiro Kabuto (Kouji’s little brother), and comic-relief robot Boss Borot. The series was not as successful in Japan as the original, and it was never shown in the United States. It was however shown unedited and in its entirety, like Mazinger Z, in Italy, Mexico and some other Latin American countries with great success, and occasionally footage from Great Mazinger’s sole appearance in the final episode of Mazinger Z would be shown in Tranzor Z.

Great Mazinger was also the star of the short theatrical “team-up movies” features released in Japan like Great Mazinger versus Grendizer, Great Mazinger versus Getter Robo G, etc., based on anime crossovers of the manga creations of Go Nagai.

Tetsuya and the Great Mazinger are featured, along with Jun in the Mazinkaiser OVA and movie Mazinkaiser: Death match! Ankoku Daishogun. The characters have been also a mainstay in Banpresto’s Super Robot Wars, a popular battle-simulation/RPG series of video games based on many anime mecha shows, including the original Mazinger Z and many others like Getter Robo, the Gundam series, and Neon Genesis Evangelion among others. Tetsuya also appears in Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z Hen.

Tetsuya also pilots an earlier version of Mazinger Z called Energer Z

Great Mazinger Z TV Opening

Statistics
Power Source: Photonic Energy
Armor Materials: Chogokin New Z (New Super-Alloy Z)
Dimensions
*Height: 25 meters
*Weight: 32 tons
*Neck Circumference: 6.2 meters
*Chest Circumference: 18.5 meters
*Arm Circumference: 6.5 meters
*Leg Circumference: 7 meters
*Arm Length: 9.8 meters
*Leg Length: 13 meters
*Foot Length: 4 meters (approximate)
Performance
*Walking Speed: 70 km/h
*Running Speed: 450 km/h
*Swimming Speed: 25 knots
*Flight Speed: Mach 4
*Flight Speed (docked with Great Booster): Mach 5
*Ceiling: 50 km
*Maximum Jump Height: 30 meters
*Maximum Dive Depth: 8 km
*Output: 90,000 horsepower

Weapons and Attacks
Navel Missile
Just like Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger mounts a missile launcher in its stomach.

Atomic Punch
Great Mazinger also possesses a Rocket Punch-like attack, though its fists spin while in flight, giving them extra force.

Drill Pressure Punch
It is like the Atomic Punch, except that the forearms sprout drill-like blades that add to the damage as well as the speed of rotation.

Great Boomerang
Great Mazinger can take the heat sink fin off of its chest and throw it as a giant boomerang.

Scramble Cutter
Just like Mazinger Z’s Scrander Cutter, Great Mazinger slashes the enemy with the Scrander’s wings while flying at high speeds.

Great Typhoon
Just like Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger uses turbines to generate powerful wind attacks. However, Great Mazinger’s attack is simply a wind-based attack, lacking the corrosive properties of Mazinger’s attack.

Knee Impulse Kick
Great Mazinger can sprout a spike from its knee, making its kick attacks more lethal.

Backspin Kick
Great Mazinger can also sprout a curved blade on the front of its leg for stronger kicks.

Mazinger Blade
The flanged compartments on Great Mazinger’s legs hold a pair of swords. Tetsuya typically uses the Blades for melee combat, but on several occasions he threw them at the enemy.

Breast Burn
Like Mazinger Z, the fin on Great Mazinger’s chest doubles as a heat sink and a weapon, unleashing incredible thermal energy.

Thunder Break
Great Mazinger can release energy into the atmosphere, stimulating the process that creates natural lightning. Great Mazinger then calls the lightning down onto the antennae on its head and redirects the energy towards an enemy. In the Super Robot Wars series, Tetsuya can perform this alongside the Grendizer’s Space Thunder or another Great Mazinger unit’s Thunder Break to perform the Double Lightning Buster.

Thunder Blade
A one-time attack where Tetsuya channeled the lightning from the Thunder Break through one of his Mazinger Blades.

Double Thunder Break
Similar to Thunder Break but Great Mazinger uses both hands to redirect the lightning.

Breast Burn Special
Basically a powered-up Breast Burn, almost akin to the Kaiser Nova of Mazinkaiser but with detrimental effects to Great Mazinger. Used in the manga to destroy Gilgilgan from within.