Strumvogel

Not sure if this was discussed already but why do they(re:publishers) insist on still listing their products as "Software" when that portion of it are merely just a bonus part of the package(which they'll yank anyway after a certain amount of time) when it's really DVD/BRs.

That affects their o/s sales which for some reason they don't care about from their largest online retailers such as Amazon. I know CD Japan got hurt by that once with the first Frontier movie where they are restricted from selling software to overseas markets since it was listed as such. CDJ eventually said screw it and did it anyway probably because they saw that listing as making no sense.

Loved the place, though the place can be a bit of a headache to find, even with the youtube directions from the place's website. Fortunately I was staying nearby which gave me ample time to find it.

Btw, for those who didn't drink there, if you like cocktails he makes good ones. The first page of his drinks menu are supposedly his original creations.

I tried a few of them, the tosugeki love heart and the mylene one. If I go back there I'd invest some time there and try them all, unfortunately I don't think I'll be back to Osaka for a while though.

I was just there in November. Loved the place.

I don't hang out in drinking establisments but I'd happily do that in this place nearly every night.

It's just unfortunate that I only stayed for a little while as I had a early train to catch the next day.

Tochiro is just going "...meh" to the missile storm behind him.

Isn't winter too late? I thought this thing is over by the end of November.

They both do have their own charm and appeal to it I guess. The HD while not as sharp and detailed, it's also less clinical and has a warmer organic look to them from the screen shots there.

My copy finally is on it's way as well since the other product I bundled it with just got released. I'll get to finally see it for myself, hopefully on the weekend.

One company that is kinda making the right steps in this regard is Sony (though due to the turmoil and politics at the moment, that may very well change). They have been making pushes into the Western market and as a result providing products with good subs and in some aspects, good packaging as well. Of course most of these are on their newer products (Bakemonogatari,Space Pirates, etc). Best example of this is their release of Kara no Kyoukai (although they did mess up their BD release by still using the HD DVD resolution for them), but of course it isn't cheap.

They certainly thought the western anime market worth their while, yet Bandai who's been in that business longer doesn't. Might have something to do with their failed venture last decade in the US. That and the old guys still driving the business who are happy to rest on their laurels I bet.

Heh, I made a mistake and the other product I bundled my copy with actually doesn't get released until July. Ah well, I can wait.

Plus side is that with the discounts actually makes the shipping that little bit cheaper.

::Quickly skims topic::: What? No one's said it yet?! I just watched the movie edition, and all I can say is "THIS IS ANIMATION."

So I take it that it doesn't have the problem from the original release which had the picture a little bit darker than it should? As I remember it, even the LD version had that problem.

Mine is going to take till the end of the week to get to me, I had it bundled with another order.

It'd atleast mean I'll have the weekend to go over it.

My two cents: the far right on Treatment's post is the only one that *I* need... I prefer the "theatrical" version of the movie (i.e. no Flashback ending, and the nice mono mix of the soundtrack), and that's the best version of that.

I'm probably alone in this opinion, though.

No, I'm with you there. It was something I wished the BD release had along with with a digital 1080 remaster to go along with it. I was... disappointed.

I say, get all the official versions...

Where's the Laserdisc version?

That's actually the one version I wish I have actually.

Well that would have been somewhat of a downer of an epilogue. I mean who the hell dies as a test pilot anymore, then again we are talking about a guy who's known for being shot down repeatedly, even Misa got in on the act.

As it is Flashback 2012 makes for a better ending. How canon it is is up for debate.

Well, or halted for some indeterminate time. I am still wondering what's happening with Mikimoto's Gundam manga. I haven't seen a new volume in, what, some 2 years now?

Granted it's to work on Macross the First though.

Are you referring to the Japanese market, or overseas?

If it's Japan's, then there's a reason why developers here are focusing on portable game players, and not ones that are chained to a TV at one's residence: it's where the lion's share of the market is. Period.

Overseas.

Though I can understand why games are being developed for the portables, it's just that they're really shooting themselves in the foot (Sony's that is; third party developers, not so much. Their development can migrate to phones in the future) in the long run by doing this. Why does Sony even bother making a new home console in light of all this is beyond me.

But what is the point though? Sony may be worried about piracy for the PS3 but then again they don't have the numbers to back that up in the first place unless they're still using the PS1-PS2 numbers here. (Something of which I don't doubt coming from that mismanaged company of late)

Heck, they don't even really have develop enough games for it in the first place. Everyone instead was focusing on the PSP and Vita. (Disclamer: For which I'm still quite bitter about i.e. Valkyria Chronicles sequels anyone? No? Because they're all on the PSP instead... The series past the first game is dead to me as a result)

They're also blind to the possible fact that the casual gamers, which makes up the bulk of their market are pretty much beginning to feel burned out by consoles by now. Which is not helping.

As for the story of the new Macross game: Whatever. They've rarely been good anyway. Won't be surprised if I see a Dynasty Warriors: Gundam getting pulled here.

Any idea on how the game controls are? If they're like the one's in the Hybrid movie releases I just might give this a miss. They're not very intuitive to me and half the time I'm wondering what the hell am I doing, and still getting "A" or "S" ranking anyway.

I would even say that as mediorce as the VFX games were, they at least still feel quite natural, so long as you're not stomping around in a gravity enviroment, compared to the hybrid games.

As for the state of the franchise overseas, well I keep complaining that people outside of Japan want to give them money but they just don't want to take it. Just look at the the major Japanese online sites and you'd see that they refuse to ship game software overseas, not because they don't want to but because the companies publishing them are telling them not to in some sort of agreement clause.

Something of which screwed some of the online retailers over during the first Frontier movie release because it's a Hybrid release. CDJapan for instance comes to mind, though they since changed that eventually but the damage was done and they lost sales because of that. Amazon Japan however are still held captive by that agreement though from my last check.

Then there are BD release which for some reason are listed as software when they're nothing but proper OVA releases that gets caught in the mix (re: Carnival Phantasm) and you begin to get the idea how insane things are and you'd just have to make the conclusion that well, the companies really don't want the money that'd come from overseas.

That's Roy isn't it?

Not just Roy, but Roy piloting hammered.

After watching the magnificence that is Yamato 2199 (something that updates the designs without completely changing them, and stays true to the original story with just minor modifications) i'd be all for an update to SDFM.

Chris

That maybe so but even with the success and popularity of Yamato 2199 thus far, the production company I hear are still having trouble securing enough money to continue beyond what they done.

I can only imagine the uphill battle Macross will have in comparison.

I have probably watched that close to 200 times and it is still amazing. I am currently trying to find a 16:9 Anamorphic DVD of it. The one I have is 4:3 letterbox.

I stopped counting when I hit 90. That was well over a decade ago so it would be the same ballpark range by now too. I still can't bring myself to watch the new BD release of it all the way thru though. What a way to ruin what could have been the best release of the movie since it came out on theaters close to three decades ago.

Made it through Virgin Road. Man that is still hard to watch. Got through the big battle and now we are in my not so favorite episodes of the series.

But hey, you got to love the knife fencing right? It still makes me laugh after all these years.

Newtype Ace 2012 Vol.13

Foldout poster is an announcement for a new manga by Shirow Masamune (!!!) and Rikudou Koushi, starting from NA #14.

The next issue blurb at the back of the magazine has a little bit more info:

Shirow Masamune (original work) x Rikudou Koushi (manga)

The two well-known artists are a dream tag-team!

So how does this work? Shirow comes up with the concept and story and Rikudo the actual manga?

I'd also say Shirow hasn't done anything relevant with a story for the past 10 years now.

What's the work called anyway?

so is this pretty much impossible to get now? anyone know where a late comer to this might get his hands on one?

Long shot: An online store may still have a copy floating around. I won't hold my hopes to highly on that though.

Otherwise it's Ebay and Yahoo online auction sites, etc. at prices I don't even want to think about.

The other remaining way is to find them in secondhand stores in Japan or have someone find it for you there.

Just saw an article on Anime News Network saying that the Gold Book is coming out in a digital version.

http://www.animenews...digital-edition

It's just not the same, unfortunately.

I'm actually still trying to track down another proper copy. One that still has the VF-1 poster and filmstrip.

I still haven't opened my copy yet to see what I got. After the debacle of the edits the urge to do so just isn't there. If it wasn't for that the darn thing would have been popped opened in an instant I have it on hand. Maybe later today or this week, I have to do it sometime.

What's the bet I'm something weird? It'd be the greatest irony(am I using this word right? Eh...) if I ended up with the strips of the editied scenes.

Some carriers wait until they have a whole stack of parcels going the same direction before sending it on the way as it's more cost efficent. So it's not unlikely that you'd see your package near the end of the 14 day period as a result.

I think I got one of the better film strips. Hard to get the thing off the backing.

One of the better way of doing it is to put it on a white piece of paper and hold it with a light source behind it. Can be a bit awkward when trying to take a pic of it that way though.

Did anybody else pre-order from Yesasia.com? I pre-ordered the LE back in March, and it shipped on July 27, but I still haven't received it yet. Feeling pretty dumb right now for over-paying for it, paying for it in full up front, yet everybody and their brother seems to have got theirs before me! No tracking on the shipment either...

What carrier and which service? Most people here used an express one, which is why they had tracking on some of them.