Kadokawa Corporation will release Street Fighter Memorial Archive: Beyond the World in Japan on March 24, to mark the 30th anniversary of the Street Fighter series. It will be priced at ¥3,900 (about $36, not including tax).
The book is currently available for pre-order on Amazon Japan.
Say whatever else you want about last year’s Ghost in the Shell adaptation, which pissed off most fans by changing the ending and allegedly missing the point. At least it looked great, sporting the budget, design, and effects it deserved. The same can’t be said for director Fumihiko Sori’s live-action Fullmetal Alchemist adaptation, which manages to feel cheap in every imaginable way.
Fullmetal Alchemist follows the Elric brothers Al and Ed in a pseudo-European world where the science of “alchemy” is nearly indistinguishable from magic. As kids, the brothers became disfigured after an alchemical ritual gone wrong–Ed loses an arm and a leg, and Al his entire body, his soul coming to rest inside a hulking suit of armor. Years later, the boys have joined the army as official State Alchemists in the hopes their adventures will lead them to the Philosopher’s Stone, which Ed can theoretically use to reunite Al with his real body.
The movie’s issues start immediately, as it brushes over the Elrics’ origin story in a weird hurry to get it over with. The scene of the ritual gone wrong cuts off halfway through, followed by a jarring jump several years into the future. Audience members unfamiliar with the source material are likely to simply scratch their heads at the ensuing action scenes, in which a young man in an ill-fitting blonde wig chases down a magic priest with the help of an empty suit of armor. When the movie finally revisits that opening scene, it’s as a flashback Ed sees while dreaming. And to add to the confusion, it’s the adult version of the character–not the child–who loses his limbs and strikes a deal to get his brother’s soul back.
There are some things that simply seem less plausible in live action than in an animated format, and Fullmetal Alchemist seems eager to brush past as many of them as possible. The movie uses multiple early scene info dumps to lamely get its core rules across: Alchemy isn’t magic, despite looking like it, because of the “law of equivalent exchange,” which doesn’t seem to have an actual definition except in rare instances the plot requires it to. Someone early on marvels at Ed’s ability to do alchemy “without a transmutation circle,” but characters throughout the movie snap their fingers to summon fireballs and perform other unexplained feats.
Fullmetal Alchemist is infinitely more interested in parroting the sights and sounds of its source material than in exploring the anime’s ideas or adding anything original to the formula. Unfortunately, those sensory elements are poorly imitated as well. The movie’s ample CG effects, from alchemical spells like rippling cobblestones to a goopy army of groaning golems, look so bad you’ll actually marvel that this was made last year and not in the late ’90s. Al’s suit of armor is the one exception, as it looks like they mixed some practical effects with the CG there.
Fullmetal Alchemist overall suffers from unimaginative visual design, particularly in the characters’ outfits and many terrible wigs, neither of which ever seem to fit right. The “Homonculi” Lust, Envy, and Gluttony–three ghoulish baddies whose motivations or purposes the movie never bothers to explain–are especially corny, with cheap-looking outfits and terrible CG “powers.”
To top it off, what little alchemy the Elric brothers actually perform in the movie boils down almost entirely to laying their hands limply on the ground and summoning barriers from the pavement. These boys–especially Ed–are supposed to be inhumanly skilled alchemists, and yet they remain totally unimpressive for the entire film.
This is more than just cutting things out to fit dozens of hours of story into a two hour-plus movie; what they did cram in meanders between poorly set-up, rushed emotional pivots, like the infamous Nina twist, to scenes that simply feel boring or pointless. There’s one extended fight scene between the brothers themselves that manages to simultaneously make no sense, feel completely pointless, have no bearing on the story, and break the already vaguely defined rules of this world all in one.
Despite its high profile and fan hunger, Fullmetal Alchemist is everything wrong with live-action anime adaptations. It both adds nothing to the original and does a poor job imitating it. If you’ve never experienced FMA before, go watch the anime (preferably the Brotherhood series); if you’re already a fan, boot up Netflix and watch the Fullmetal Alchemist live action movie at your own risk.
| The Good | Column Head |
|---|---|
| Al’s suit of armor looks good in most scenes | The world’s rules are poorly explained |
| Bad CG throughout entire movie | |
| Jams too much in while still feeling boring | |
| Adds nothing to the original | |
| Even the alchemy isn’t cool |
SuperGonk games, a studio made up of talent from studios like Codemasters, Bizarre Creations and Lionhead, announced Trailblazers, its co-op, arcade-style racer.
The game generates tracks dynamically, so each race is different, but the co-op twist comes in the game’s paint mechanic.
Similar to the playfields of Splatoon, laying down paint gives your team the advantage during races. You lay down your color, and the strips become boostable sections of the track. Strategic paint application adds a new wrinkle to the arcade-style racing formula.
Races are against the CPU, against up to 6 players online, or split-screen and 4-player local play with extra CPU or online racers.
Although the next Bond movie is currently untitled, we do know that Daniel Craig will return as the legendary superspy. With the director’s chair currently empty after the departure of Sam Mendes from the series, MGM is looking for a new director. It has now been reported that the studio has Danny Boyle in its sights.
According to Variety, Boyle is high on the studio’s list of potential directors. Although no formal offer has been made to the fillmmaker, the sites notes that “he has keen interest in the project and has always wanted to direct a Bond film.” Boyle is best known for the likes of Slumdog Millionnaire, Trainspotting, Steve Jobs, and 127 Hours.
This news follows the confirmation earlier this week that another high-profile British director–Christopher Nolan–will not be directing the 25th Bond movie. Despite meeting with producers last year, Nolan stated: “I won’t be the man. No, categorically. I think every time they hire a new director I’m rumored to be doing it. They don’t particularly need me. But I’ve always been very inspired by the films and would love to do one someday.”
Mendes directed the previous two movies in the series–Skyfall and Spectre. In 2016 he announced that he would no longer be involved with the franchise. “It was an incredible adventure, I loved every second of it,” he said. “But I think it’s time for somebody else. At the end of the day, I want to make stories with new characters.”
Bond 25 hits theaters on November 8, 2019. After some amount of uncertainty, Craig will play Bond for the fifth time, following on from Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre. Veteran Bond writers Robert Wade and Neil Purvis have been hired to work on the film.
PUBG is getting ’70s and ’80s-inspired outfits in its new cosmetic crates, going live on February 22.
The new crates, called Fever and Militia, were announced today. The Fever crate’s retro fashion items can be unlocked with Early Bird keys and purchased with BP.
The Militia crate contains “the Erangel resistance force outfit and Miramar frontiersman outfit,” and is dropped randomly. And what’s more, it’s free.
As with the Gamesom Invitational Crate, it’s possible to get the entire set of outfits in the Fever crate – if you’re lucky.
Netflix’s reboot of Lost in Space will launch on April 13 on Earth, the streaming network has announced — although in a typically Netflix twist, the company has apparently already made the series premiere available in space. According to a press release, Netflix gave NASA early access to the pilot episode, which was “transmitted 12 days ago to the International Space Station for astronauts to view during their leisure time.”
Us earthbound viewers will have to wait a little longer, but Netflix did soften the blow with eight first look photos from the new show, which stars Black Sails alum Toby Stephens as patriarch John Robinson, Deadwood favorite Molly Parker as his wife Maureen, Taylor Russell as eldest daughter Judy, Mina Sundwall as middle child Penny, and Max Jenkins as Will (as in “Danger!”).
In December it was revealed that a new big-screen adaptation of the classic role-playing game property Dungeons & Dragons was in development. It has now been reported that Paramount is looking to bring The Lego Movie‘s Chris McKay on board as director.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, McKay is in negotiations with the studio to helm the film. McKay was the animation director on the hugely successful The Lego Movie, and was a producer on last year’s Lego Ninjago Movie. He is also developing a Nightwing movie at DC.
The Dungeons & Dragons reboot currently has a release date of July 23, 2021. Baby Driver lead Ansel Elgort has reportedly been in talks to star, but beyond that, no further news is known about the project. An earlier Dungeons & Dragons movie was released in 2001, but it was a commercial failure and poorly received by critics.
McKay’s Nightwing movie hasn’t currently got a release date, but the director has previously spoken about his plans for it. In December he explained why he was drawn to the character. “I think that [Nightwing] is so unique in the history of comics, because no other character really grows up,” he said.
“Spider-Man kind of perpetually stays within an age range. All these other characters–Reed Richards’ greying temples are always that. Robin grew up from being a kid and working with Batman, and then leaving Batman, and then going off and becoming his own thing and several versions of his own things.”
Tim Schafer will receive the BAFTA Fellowship in April.
The Fellowship is the highest accolade from BAFTA and recognises “an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, games or television,” by an individual. Previous recipients from the industry include Shigeru Miyamoto, John Carmack, Gabe Newell, and Peter Molyneux.
“I am surprised, humbled, and honored to be receiving the BAFTA Fellowship this year,” said Schafer. “BAFTA’s long-standing support of video games and championing of creativity and strong storytelling in that medium, have had an extremely positive impact and I’m very grateful to be recognized by them with this Fellowship.”
Schafer is best known for his work at LucasArts, where he worked on the Monkey Island series with Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman. Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango were among his other contributions to the studio’s impressive lineup.
Bandai Namco has released a couple of very short teasers for Broly and Bardock, the first DLC fighters for Dragon Ball FighterZ. There’s no combat gameplay but we do see the legendary Super Saiyan and the father of Goku gearing up for a fight. These short animations look to be pre-fight intros which have been edited down.
For fans of Dragon Ball Z the inclusion of Broly is exciting, as he’s incredibly powerful and, in the series’ lore, is believed to be a mythical warrior that only appears once every 1000 years. No doubt there will be some awe-inspiring combo videos made with him. It’ll be interesting to see his fighting style as, despite his overwhelming size, Broly manages to remain quite light on his feet.
Bardock, meanwhile, is the father of Dragon Ball Z protagonist Goku, but hasn’t had as many opportunities to show off his fighting ability. In Dragon Ball FighterZ, however, not only will he be able to take on some the series’ most iconic fighters, but he’ll also be able to transform into a Super Saiyan.
Images of both characters as well as some brief details (below) have also appeared on the Japanese Dragon Ball FighterZ website. Broly is described as being super powerful with long reach and has his signature energy attack: “Eraser Cannon.” Bardock, meanwhile, is a rush character that combines speed and power. He excels in close distances and has a move called “Riot Javelin,” which is likely similar to his Final Spirit Cannon from the series.
Broly and Bardock are included in Dragon Ball FighterZ’s season pass, along with the other six yet-to-be-revealed DLC characters coming to the fighting game. Bandai Namco hasn’t announced individual pricing for the two fighters, but the season pass costs $35 USD / £29 / $52.95 AU.
Dragon Ball FighterZ is available now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Critic Peter Brown awarded the title a 9/10 in GameSpot’s Dragon Ball FighterZ review and said, “Even if you think Dragon Ball is old hat, and even if you’re intimidated by fighting games, there’s a good chance you’ll be drawn into the explosive action and personalities that expertly evoke the anime’s infectious spirit.”
If you’re still new to the Dragon Ball fighting game, we’ve put together a guide of tips and everything you need to know about Dragon Ball FighterZ. We’ve also detailed how to find all the Dragon Balls and summon Shenron during a match, as well as how to unlock Android 21, Super Saiyan Blue Goku, and Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta.