3 Years and Still Counting

Wow, my blog managed to stay alive for 3 years now, and look how it just gotten bigger and bigger everyday.

Reimaru Files originally started as a Granado Espada fan blog, where it featured updates about the game and even hosted real-life community gatherings for the game. It even managed to be featured several times on the GE website. Then after a year and a half, it opened it's doors to console gaming and other MMOs, it even featured some wacky stuffs happening in the world wide web.

And after 3 years, I'm happy to say that my blog has evolved in which I never expected. Although this isn't as popular as some gaming blogs, this still encourage me to write more, as I still enjoy writing things about gaming and sharing stuff to gamers like myself.

So what's next to Reimaru Files? Well I can assure you that I'll continue writing and taking coverage of the latest gaming events. I'm also planning to add new features and surprises for the blog, so stay tuned for that.

And last but not the least, I would like to thank to all my friends for their never-ending support and also to the readers who still enjoyed visiting my blog.

Many thanks and game on! :D

Faces: X-Men Series

For this episode of Faces, we'll be focusing on the different animated series in one of the popular super hero team: The X-Men

The X-Men, as we all know, are a band of mutants formed by Professor Xavier to use their powers for the benefit of humanity. They first appeared on their very first comic book which was created by Stan Lee and published by Marvel Comics on September of 1963.

The X-Men has spanned different comics book titles, video games, action figures, movies and also animated series, which we are now focusing on this feature. Let's take a look on some of the different animated series of the X-Men along with their opening videos:

X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men (1989)

This was the very first animated series of the X-Men, although it was aired only the pilot episode. The X-Men arcade game from Konami was based on the said series.

X-Men (1992)

American Opening Theme

Japanese Opening Theme

Also called X-Men: The Animated Series, this the second attempt for an X-Men animation. Most of the episodes are faithful to the comic book arcs, including the Phoenix Saga. The series lasted for six years and spanned 76 episodes, this was the longest running series of the all the X-Men animations.

X-Men Evolution (2000)

In the third incarnation of the X-Men, majority of the members are teenagers (including most of the main members of the team) rather than in their adult form to give a new storyline to the series. X-Men Evolution lasted for three years with 52 episodes.

Wolverine and The X-Men (2008)

Wolverine and The X-Men was the fourth and latest animated series for the X-Men. The story focus more on Wolverine as the lead character. The series lasted for only for a year with 26 episodes.

Crazy Man plays MMO on a Giant LED Ceiling Screen

Are you bored and rich at the same time? do you want to show off your badass skills in MMO games in a crowd of people? and tired of playing games in your HD LCD TVs? Well you can try what this crazy guy did. A Chinese gamer tried to play an MMO for 10 minutes, in one of the second largest LED screens in the world.

This guy really needs to buy his own IMAX theater

The giant LED screen, measured around 80,000 square feet can be found in The Place in Beijing, China, the screen commonly shows scenery of oceans and other images for entertainment, and it even showed broadcast coverage during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The screen is marked as the largest in Asia and ranked second in the world (being beaten by Dubai's own giant LED screen) But one Sunday night of November 21, 2010, one gamer tried something different.

This is what the LED screen usually display in a normal day

Armed with his gaming notebook, he connects himself to the wireless network of the venue and stream his MMO gameplay on the massive LED screen for 10 minutes. There are unconfirmed reports that the man paid around 100,000 Yuan or $15,000 or around PhP 660,000 so he can used the giant LED screen for a short period of time.

Whether it is for a new kind of gaming experience or just to show off his high-level character, kind guy is definitely crazy.

You can watch the video on how it happened (uploaded by MMO Site)

source: mmosite.com

Dissidia 012 Update

After the success of Dissidia Final Fantasy; a fighting game for the PlayStation Portable that pits some of your favorite Final Fantasy heroes and villains in an epic deathmatch. Square Enix was given a green light to produce a sequel to the hit portable game, entitled Dissida 012 (012 is pronounced as Duodecim, a Latin word meaning twelve), the announcement was published on the popular Japanese game magazine Famitsu last September. Although it was already hinted the development team behind Dissidia is also interested in making a sequel.

The story of Dissidia 012 takes place before the events of the first game, making this a prequel. The game will also introduce new characters to add to the original 22 character roster, some say that the additional new characters will roughly around 4-10 characters, as of now, only 4 characters were revealed: Kain Highwind from FFIV, Tifa Lockhart from FFVII, Vaan from FFXII and Lightning from FFXIII. Aside from new characters, there will be new costume sets for each character, some are even from the original works by Yoshitaka Amano. There are plans of including codes to Kindgom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix and The 3rd Birthday to promote Dissidia 012, these codes gives access to Cloud's Kingdom Hearts costume and Lightning's Aya Brea costume.

A new gameplay feature was been added, called the Assist System, this gives you the ability to call out a support character to aid you in battle by inflicting damage to your opponent, but take note that your support character can be countered, making them inaccessible in a short period of time. Performing an Assist requires consumption of one Action Gauge bar for Brave damage and two Action Gauge bars for HP damage. Along with the new feature, new move list is added for the old Dissidia characters, giving you a chance to experiment new combos with your old favorites, as well as new maps and soundtrack.

And it is already reported that the local version of Dissida 012 is already in the works, and it is expected to be release in Q1 of 2011.

While there are still some characters that haven't been revealed, I will be making a Dissidia 012 wishlist in the coming days to check out which characters do you wish to be included in the sequel (or rather prequel) to Dissidia Final Fantasy, so stay tuned for that.....

sources:

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com

http://www.siliconera.com

Hobby Expo 2010

8th National Scale Model Competition

Last November 19 while strolling at the SM Megamall, I noticed a small exhibit at the Event Center in the mall. Turns out that it was an exhibit for the 8th National Scale Model Competition by IPMS Philippines, which ran from November 15 to 19 , all the entries of scale models from Gundams to Macross to tanks, fighter planes and even table top figures were showcased on the said exhibit. Some scale models are customized from the designs up to the paint job, which looked really spectacular.

Here are some pictures that I took during the exhibit.

More screenshots at the Slideshow

Event Aftermath: UP AME Track 10

Sorry for the long delay, I was sick from the past week, so I have to pause for a break in blogging, but now I'm feeling a bit better, let's get in on!!

Last November 6, the University of the Philippines Anime Manga Enthusiasts (UP AME) held their 10th annual event entitled AME Track 10 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia.

The event started in the afternoon, with enthusiasts of anime, manga and gaming all gathered for the one day only event. One problem here is that the venue was so small, it wasn't able to accommodate all of the attendees, which flooded the lobby of the convention center, and add to that, the whole center is jam packed with events, leaving you with no options to stay if you weren't lucky enough to get a ticket.

But anyway, the event is still packed full of activities and booths despite with the small space for the venue. From beef bowl eating contest to Takoyaki food stalls to Cubizone free play booths up to cosplay competitions, and there's the usual merchandises like the Chikara hats, Anime figures and Gundam model kits and many other merchandises all in a discounted price.

Overall the event was still a success, there will still be a part 11 for UP AME but I hope they try to get a bigger venue and beef up the security in the entrance to avoid another major headache like what happened from their last event.

Cosplay pictures courtesy of Ken Acosta

Marvel Vs Capcom 3 Release Date and Update

Capcom has once again revealed two more characters for their much anticipated fighting game Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. Instead of revealing it on a major gaming convention, they now decided to reveal it via from popular gaming portals sites, namely: Gamespot and IGN. Each revealed one character trailer; Zero from Megaman X was revealed by Gamespot and She-Hulk (The Hulk's sister) by IGN.

Zero Character Trailer

She-Hulk Character Trailer

And aside from the character revelation, Capcom just announced that they will release the game in an earlier date, instead of the supposed Spring 2011 release, they will now release it in a much earlier February 15, 2011 date. and not only that, they'll also be releasing a Collector's edition.

The package includes a steelbook with an exclusive art work, exclusive comic book written by Frank Tieri and an art box that features a selection of fan arts, free 1 month subscription to Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited and 2 exclusive DLC characters (Jill Valentine in her RE5 outfit and Shuma Gorath) which will be available on the package 4 weeks earlier from its original release. The Collector's Edition's retail price will be at $69.99

Fans of the fighting game series will definitely go frenzy with love this February when Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is out for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. You can check out the character images of the upcoming DLC characters below:

Dragon Age Joins the Social Game War

You've already heard that Square-Enix just released games for Facebook. But now there's a new game coming to the social network giant. Electronic Arts (EA) will release the strategy role-playing game Dragon Age Legends on Facebook, this is a promotion for the upcoming release of Dragon Age 2 next year.

You will take the role as one of the trusted ally of Ravi, The Viscount of Kaiten, as you ventured into quests, battle Darkspawns (along with your Facebook friends) share loots and you will be able to unlock epic loots for your characters in Dragon Age 2 (for the PC/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3)

This isn't the first time EA has developed a browser game for Dragon Age, they also released Dragon Age Journeys as a promotion for the release of Dragon Age: Origins last 2009, completing the flash game will also enable you to import exclusive items to Dragon Age: Origins.

Players can sign in for a beta test at the Dragon Age Legends website and can receive info about the beta release. You can also visit the Official Facebook page here.

Dragon Age Legends will release its full game application on Facebook on Febuary, 2011, Dragon Age 2 will arrive on March 11, 2011

Social Game for Square Enix

Square Enix, famous for their popular games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, has finally join the social gaming world at the most famous social network Facebook, their new social RPG is called Knights of the Crystals, from the title logo, you can sure that it has the Final Fantasy treatment.

Knights of The Crystals will let you venture into different quests, pick different job classes, battle against other players and join boss battles with your friends and share loots from battles. The game will also remind you of a certain social RPG but with better graphical presentation. Game artworks was designed by Ryoma Ito, who also made the character designs for Final Fantasy Tactics A2.

Knights of The Crystals was first released for GREE, a social network in Japan, similar to Facebook, this is not the first social game that Square-Enix has developed, they also released Chocobo's Crystal Tower which is a pet simulation game and Sengoku Ixa (Japan game only), a browser simulation game based on the Sengoku era in Japan.

To know more about the game, you can try it out for free at Facebook (Facebook account is required to play the game)