Join sisters NinJaSistah and Pandalicious and the rest of the ESH Crew each day as they discuss video games, tech gadgets, anime, manga... pretty much everything within the geek chic lifestyle.
From Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PC game reviews, previews, news, and gushings to audience questions and rumor mill seeding galore you'll find it here at ESH!
If you think Final Fantasy XIII is just more of the same, you are so wrong! With the latest in the Final Fantasy series, the way you advance your party may be a thing of the past.
Final Fantasy XIII will not be using EXP as your method of leveling up. Instead, there is the Crystalium system. When you win battles, you gain Crystalum points.
These points are used to enhance your abilities, all to make a better you! It sounds like a dash of FF X, a sprinkle of FF 8 and a helping of FFXII. So, is it simply trading one term for another, or will this leveling system lead to breathing new life into the genre? Playstation 3 gamers (and Xbox 360, too!) will find out soon enough.
Ladies and gents, I am happy to report that two of the best animated comedies of all time are coming to the US on DVD! One comes from the great nation of Japan, the other from the great nation of America.
I'll first talk about the Japanese one. This year's Anime Expo in Long Beach, California had many great surprises for everyone; but no surprise was greater for me than this announcement on Anime News Network:
The North American distributor Bandai Entertainment has announced at its Anime Expo panel on Friday that it has acquired the Hayate the Combat Butler! [anime].
So some of you are probably asking, "What the hell is 'Hayate the Combat Butler?!'" Well King Baby Duck is here to tell you.
"Hayate the Combat Butler" (or "Hayate no Gotoku!" as it's known in Japan) follows the story of Hayate Ayasaki, a poor boy whose parents sold off to some "very nice men" (AKA the yakuza) to pay off their debt. After running away from the nice men, Hayate meets Nagi Sanzenin, a rich 13 year-old hikikomoroi. Hayate comes up with a plan to kidnap her, but miswords the plan to Nagi; who takes it as a love connection. After rescuing Nagi from really bad kidnappers, Nagi hires Hayate on the spot as her new butler. What follows are some of the most funniest moments in recent anime history.
I have watched all 52 episodes in this series (and will definitely tune in when Season 2 airs sometime in the next few months), and I can say with confidence that everyone will be in for a big treat. "Hayate the Combat Butler" is filled to the brim with humor, from the pop culture parodies (like when Hayate sneaks into Nagi's school in Solid Snake's trademark box) to the surprise guests (anime director and self-proclaimed "sex god" Nabeshin appears in episode 32). Now some of the humor might go over the heads of some new to the anime world, but even so you'll be laughing your ass off. Expect "Hayate the Combat Butler" to be released sometime early 2009. Until then, I present you with Part 1 of Episode 1 (and yes, children, Santa Claus is a bastard in real life!):
Now for the American cartoon. In the 1990s, Steven Spielberg was not just a big film director, but also a producer of some of the best cartoons in American history: "Tiny Toon Adventures," "Animaniacs," "Pinky & the Brain," and "Toonsylvania" to name a few. On July 29, his most brilliant of them all will finally be seen on DVD: "Freakazoid!"
Dexter Douglas was working on his computer, when all of a sudden the high schooler is zapped into his computer; giving him powers of the Freakazoid. With these powers Freakazoid makes the villains' lives a living Hell, thanks in part to his lunacy.
Like "Hayate," "Freakazoid!" has a chunkload of pop culture references. One of the funniest ones I will share with you now (which features Ed Asner as Cosgrove and Late-Night TV's Craig Ferguson [AKA the one that's Scottish] as Roddy MacStew):
I've watched that clip hundreds of times, and I still fall off my seat laughing!
What shocked me the most about "Freakazoid!" was the fact that, despite being the funniest of the Spielberg-produced cartoons, its length was the shortest of the cartoons (lasting only two seasons before being cancelled); but perhaps if DVD sales are good enough, maybe the folks at Warner Bros. will revisit this hilarious superhero. That will make at least one little duckie a happy bastard!
Here's one of the more clever episodes for you all to enjoy (featuring the great Ben Stein): "Relax-o-vision."
This is King Baby Duck saying, "THAT'S A GUY IN A SUIT!!!!"
