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(07/17/17 8:04pm)
by Sarah James
Disney’s annual expo, D23, wrapped up yesterday. There were plenty of massive announcements that came out of the event, so here’s some of the things you may have missed.
Movies
Two animated sequels got lots of love this past weekend. Incredibles 2 now has a release date of June 15, 2018, and will take place immediately after the events of Incredibles. Wreck it Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet, which will premiere November 21 of next year takes the concept of the first film and expands it on a massive scale, and includes a sequence poking fun at the Disney Princesses. The original actresses for the Disney Princesses were cast to reprise their roles for the film- a move that is sure to “break the internet.”
A trailer was also released for the live- action adaptation of the children’s book, A Wrinkle in Time. Directed by Ava DuVernay, the film stars Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling, Chris Pine, Reese Witherspoon, and Zach Galifianakis. The film is set to release next spring.
Speaking of live-action, Disney is not shying away from its live-action adaptations of its animated classics. Tim Burton is directing a live-action Dumbo which is already in production. The live-action adaptation of 1994’s The Lion King will animated in the same vein as 2016’s The Jungle Book, with photo realistic animals. Spectators were shown the opening sequence of the film and were blown away at the animation. The cast of the live-action Aladdin was also announced after rumors swarming the internet that Disney was having difficulty finding a cast. The film, directed by Guy Ritchie, will star Mena Massoud as Aladdin, Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine, and Will Smith as the Genie.
The two heavy-hitting, Disney-owned franchises, Star Wars and Marvel also had major announcements over the weekend. A behind the scenes trailer from Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released, as well as a series of new posters featuring the cast in red to prepare for the movie’s release in December. Not to be outdone, Marvel surprised everyone by bringing the cast of Avengers: Infinity War on stage. A teaser trailer was shown at the event and is expected to be released to the public this weekend at San Diego Comic Con. In this trailer, fans saw the meeting of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, as well of plenty of footage of Thanos beating down on our heroes. The third film to the groundbreaking Avengers story line is set to come out May of 2018, and with SDCC this weekend, the studio is sure to have plenty of updates.
Television
After its success in 2014, Big Hero 6 is getting an animated series for the channel Disney XD. The majority of the cast for the film is coming back to reprise their roles for the series. Disney released the opening title sequence, which showcases the entire team in a two-dimensional animation style as opposed to the three-dimensional animation of the film. The first season will premiere this fall and will have 21 episodes.
Games
After the release of gameplay footage at E3, Kingdom Hearts III, now has a trailer. The twelfth installment of the popular video game franchise will feature areas based off of Hercules, Tangled, Big Hero 6, and Toy Story. The game sees the return of Sora as the protagonist, along with Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and Riku as they continue their search for the Guardians of Light. After years of waiting, fans can expect the game to be released some time next year for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Parks
Last but not least, Disney announced a whole slew of new attractions and resorts for their parks. The upcoming Star Wars area now has a name - Galaxy’s Edge - and a scale model of the area was showcased at the expo. The land is set to open in 2019 in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Disney is also building an interactive Star Wars resort near Walt Disney World, where guests will be able to be a part of the Star Wars story. Two new rides are coming to EPCOT in Walt Disney World - a Guardians of the Galaxy themed ride in Future World which will be replacing the Universe of Energy ride and pavilion on August 13, and a Ratatouille dark ride in the France pavilion. The Great Movie Ride in Disney’s Hollywood Studios is officially closing August 13, but Disney announced its replacement; Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway will show guests the process of creating Mickey Mouse cartoons. The popular TRON roller coaster that debuted in Disneyland Shanghai is also coming to Tomorrowland in WDW’s Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom is also getting a brand new theater off of Main Street USA, which will house live entertainment.
D23 has been a wild ride for Disney fans, and the juggernaut entertainment company has a lot on its plate for the coming years.
Image: Inside the Magic
(06/29/17 8:00am)
by Nolan Leahy
ARMS is one of those games that merely looks like a goofy version of regular boxing. Numerous times when beginning to play the game, it was easy to think that this could very well be a glorified Wii Sports Boxing on the Nintendo Switch. A $60 price tag is a lot to ask for when deliberating on such a thought, but thankfully there’s far more to it than just smacking your opponent.
Silly strategic boxing
While difficult to see initially, the numerous options and strategies present are a pleasant surprise from ARMS and are a clever addition in reinventing the classic sport of boxing. There are ten fighting characters to choose from, and each has his/her own specific abilities that highlight a specific play style. Play as the Master Mummy to tank punches or as the hip-swaying Twintelle to hover above the ground and slow opposing attacks. While these characters are the foundation of the game, the interchangeable ARMS chosen at the beginning of the round can determine victory or defeat.
Within the game the left and right ARMS, the fighter’s weapons, are selected prior to the beginning of a round. They can be identical or separate weapons when choosing one of three for each arm. This choice is absolutely vital to the game, because these different ARMS determine attack speed, range, charging attack effects, and rush attack abilities. More ARMS can be unlocked for each character through spending in-game currency to complete GET ARMS challenges. With the combination of characters and weapons within the game in addition to the random bombs in every round, it has strategic depth that rivals that of other modern day fighting games.
It’s not just about the competition
Although ARMS proves to be a fantastic competitive fighter, it also has other modes for when the main game gets stale. There’s a Grand Prix mode, which is similar to a fighting ladder. There’s a 2v2 mode, where two players are tethered together to fight another team that’s in the same situation. There’s also V-Ball, which is simply volleyball but ARMS style, where players punch the ball. Skillshot is a target practice type of game where multiple targets are present, and you must hit more than your opponent. Then there is the Super Smash Bros.-influenced mode of 1-on-100, where the player takes on 100 slime monsters that are each taken out in one punch.
Each of these modes adds a good deal of fun and variety to the game, but one mode doesn’t quite hit that mark. The Hoops game mode, where players compete to grab and throw each other through a basketball hoop, just tends to be a repetitive montage of grab attacks.
Although most of these modes are a pleasant addition to the game, it does feel as though there needs to be more activities in the game. ARMS doesn’t need anything like a story mode to provide narrative, as the game functions extremely well without it, but there is still something missing to make it feel like a complete fighting experience that will keep the player consistently coming back. Despite this flaw, Nintendo does deserve a tip of the hat, because more DLC is coming to the game at no cost to the players with plans of adding a Boss and a Spectator Mode as the first batch of DLC.
Immersion vs. ease of play
One part that isn’t mentioned much within the marketing of ARMS is that there are multiple control formats to choose from. Any play style from the Joy Con to the Pro Controller are viable ways to play, but is it better to use motion controls or a typical controller format? It depends on what sort of experience the player desires. For one, motion controls are incredibly fun and makes the experience feel more real and exciting, but the learning curve is higher because aiming the punches with real life arms isn’t as easy as it sounds.
That’s where the button controller layouts come in. It’s definitely easier to play with any form of button layout in calculating your punch’s aim with a joystick than it is with motion controls, and it makes the learning curve much less steep. The motion controls felt a bit alien because your fighter's movement is also judged through the use of these controls unlike Wii Sports Boxing where only motion controls were required to attack.
All images from Nintendo, Game Informer, and Siliconera
(05/02/17 8:40pm)
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Fg33BEn3s[/embed]
Matt and Tt deliver the latest in entertainment news in the final episode of Checkpoint for Ball State's academic year. DC recently announced a live action Teen Titans series for 2018, and released more details for Young Justice season 3. Additionally, YouTube continues to upset content creators through advertisement and monetization restrictions.
Hosts: Tt Shinkan, Matthew Yapp
Producers/Crew: Michael Robb, Wesley Womble
Post Production: Michael Robb
Graphics: Sarah James, Daley Wilhelm, Tt Shinkan
Music: Jack McGinnis
(05/02/17 4:44pm)
Today:The winds will continue to gust up to 35 mph this afternoon, but will die down as the afternoon progresses. The high temperature will be 56° under partly cloudy skies.
(04/25/17 9:35pm)
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMNbgoY5E0c[/embed]
David and Matt give you the latest info in tech and entertainment! eSports are set to be included in the 2022 Asian Games, the new Marvel television series Cloak and Dagger released a trailer, and Facebook unveiled their plans for virtual reality integration with Facebook Spaces.
Hosts: David Kinney, Matthew Yapp
Producers: Michael Robb, Wesley Womble
Crew: Sarah James
Post Production: Michael Robb
Graphics: Sarah James, Daley Wilhelm, Tt Shinkan
Music: Jack McGinnis
(04/21/17 3:58pm)
Today: We started out sunny today, but clouds have started to roll in and they will continue to build throughout the afternoon. Temperatures will top out at 60° this afternoon.
(04/21/17 2:00pm)
by Emily Reuben
From the studio that developed the Kirby games, Smash Bros, as well as Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Snap comes the new free to play game Team Kirby Clash Deluxe. This surprise title was announced the day it was launched directly after the 12 April, 2017 Nintendo Direct. Team Kirby Clash Deluxe features teams of four Kirbies fighting together to take down a large assortment of bosses. There are four different combat roles to chose from: Sword Hero, Hammer Lord, Beam Mage, and Doctor Healmore.
An interesting role-out
Each role has a different use in combat with Hammer Lords being the primary damage dealers, getting up close and personal with the enemies. Sword Heroes split time between being a faster yet slightly less effective melee attacker and protecting their teammates with their Hero’s Shield. The Beam Mage is a ranged attacker who can charge their beam attack to slow the enemy down, opening them up for more attacks and making them easier to dodge. Doctor Healmore can attack from a range or can charge their attack to throw down a healing ward onto the ground, allowing anyone who walks through the ward to regain some health. None of the roles feel like they are superior to any others, and having a mixture always makes for a well-balanced team. However, mixing up the roles involved in each fight can yield surprisingly fun and chaotic results.
Mechanically sound
The mechanics all feel tight, making sure that the fighters never feel out of control. Though the fighting controls could be a bit deeper, there is still enough versatility afforded each role so fights won’t devolve into rote button mashing. Once the enemy has been pummeled enough, they will drop Power Tablets. Once each fighter has a Power Tablet in their possession, the action stops momentarily as all the Kirbies attack together after a quick minigame to dole out massive damage. The game can be played either alone with up to three CPU allies or online with nearby devices. This feature makes the game come alive, because there is some great potential here when it comes to strategizing with friends about how to bring a particularly tenacious enemy to their knees.
As more bosses are defeated, the player will level up, permanently increasing their stats. They will also receive components that can be used to buy better equipment for themselves and their CPU allies. The game has a Vigor system to limit how many bouts the player can engage in per day. Every 12 hours, the player can open the game to receive 5 gem apples, a part of the game’s currency. Other ways to receive gem apples are to buy them with real world money or to complete quests. These quests act like traditional achievements, signifying that the player has achieved something noteworthy, and the game provides many quests to fulfill, so there is very little need to buy gem apples if the player can be patient.
Beggars can’t be choosers?
Though the game is free, that still does not absolve it of any faults. For all of the fun to be had, a bit more variance in the gameplay would have been welcome. With each fight taking place on the same flat, two-dimensional plane, some of the fighting can become repetitive after a while. Also, instead of keeping the roster of enemies stocked full of interesting foes, later fights in the game will feature the same monster with higher damage output and more health. The last problem is one of difficulty: no one will mistake Team Kirby Clash Deluxe for a Dark Souls spin off. While there is some strategy involved, many fights can be won by memorizing the attack patterns of each boss.
Though many fans are waiting with baited breath for the newly announced Kirby game coming Holiday 2017, Team Kirby Clash Deluxe will scratch that Kirby itch for a good while to come. The game is not long, but taking the time to collect all the equipment and to clear every quest should give gamers something fun and engaging to occupy their time with. This would have been a great value if it had cost $10 or $15, so the free to play model makes this game even better.
All images from Nintendo
(04/20/17 11:43pm)
Tonight: We'll see one more possible line of showers pass through this evening. We've had several lines of showers pass through, bringing over 3/10th of an inch into the Muncie region. You can expect calm winds with an overnight low of 48 degrees.
(04/20/17 9:45am)
by Lucas Miller
This review is based on the Playstation 4 version of Persona 5.
Persona 5 finally brings the dungeon crawler/social simulation franchise to the latest generation of consoles after a long absence, with the previous mainline entry originally debuting on the Playstation 2. After a number of delays (the game was originally supposed to come out in winter of 2014) Persona 5 is finally here. Was it worth the wait? Yes. Yes, it was. Persona 5 offers an expansive and enthralling JRPG experience that is hard to put down.
Visuals
One of Persona 5’s greatest strengths is in its visual presentation. The game is filled with a number of small visual flourishes that liven up the gameplay experience. Silhouettes of the game’s protagonist adorn the game’s menus, and they animate as you navigate through them. Skipping a cutscene literally crumples up the picture and throws it away. Little touches like these, combined with the game’s detailed, anime-inspired visuals and gorgeous animated cinematics, create a striking visual style that continues to impress even after 90 hours.
Story
The narrative of Persona 5 starts players off in the thick of things, having them navigate through a casino in a daring heist that eventually goes awry. This bombastic introduction, while entertaining, is a bit misleading, as the story jumps back in time and the frenetic pace of the prologue gives way to a much slower burn. Players take on the role of a (mostly) silent protagonist, a typical Japanese high schooler who, shortly after being put on probation and moving to Tokyo, learns about a mysterious alternate dimension called the Metaverse, where the twisted desires of certain corrupt individuals manifest as treasures in grandiose Palaces. After awakening to powers that allow him to enact change within this alternate world, he and others like him come together to form a group called the Phantom Thieves, vigilantes who steal the treasures in these Palaces in order to make these individuals confess their crimes and halt their despicable actions. Though it deals with a supernatural premise, Persona 5 is not afraid to confront mature topics such as suicide, sexual assault, and more, and it does so in a surprisingly nuanced way. The game takes time to explore its twisted villains, be it an abusive teacher or an artist who profits off his pupils’ work. There’s also an interesting moral question at the core of the narrative. The question of whether the Phantom Thieves’ particular brand of vigilante justice is truly just or not is a question that the game explores throughout the story. The narrative is consistently engaging, though the finale feels a bit bloated as the game’s plot enters its final act.
Gameplay
Persona 5 may a story-driven game first and foremost, but thankfully the gameplay doesn’t take a backseat to the narrative. It features a deep turn-based combat system with plenty of elements to juggle. Navigating through a Palace is a pretty straightforward affair. Players fight enemies, solve puzzles, and eventually make their way to a boss, which usually has an interesting gimmick to overcome in order to secure victory. After the Palace is cleared, it disappears, and the search begins for the Phantom Thieves’ next target. Combat itself is a speedy, slick affair, with each action being mapped to a specific button on the controller. Battles in Persona 5 revolve around exploiting enemy weaknesses in order to knock them down and put them in a vulnerable state. This is done via elemental attacks, and the game features a host of different elements, such as fire, ice, electricity, bless, curse attacks, and more. Once all enemies are knocked down, players brandish guns in order to hold up the enemies. From there, players have a few different options on how the rest of the fight proceeds. They can choose to extort items and money from the enemy, or unleash a devastatingly powerful (and flashy) All Out Attack. Another option is negotiating with the enemy for a chance to unlock a new Persona. These creatures determine what skills the players are able to use, and there are over a hundred to collect within the game. While other part members are able to use one Persona, the protagonist is able to switch between a number of them on the fly in order to adapt to enemies’ strengths and weaknesses. Players can even fuse together multiple Personas to create even more powerful ones, leading to a wealth of strategic decisions.
The dungeon gameplay is only half of the game, though. The other half of the game is a surprisingly deep and rewarding social simulator. Players don’t just have to worry about overcoming the dangers of the Palaces. They also have to maintain their social and school lives, as well. Persona 5, at its heart, is about managing one’s time wisely. The game is broken up into in-game days, which are split up into different sections. Players must first attend school, where most of the story content unfolds, and occasionally answer a quiz question or take exams. After school, players are free to spend their time however they want. They can either go into the current Palace, explore the extensive, procedurally-generated dungeon of Mementos, or engage in a number of activities around Tokyo. The wealth of options for how to spend your time in Persona 5 is staggering. You can work a part-time job in order to get extra money to outfit your party, spend time with friends and party members to gain a host of useful abilities in the game’s many dungeons, or participate in activities that will increase one of your social stats, allowing you to unlock even more options within the game. Everything players do grants some sort of tangible benefit, leading to an engaging feedback loop that constantly rewards you. However, with the limited amount of time in a given day, plus the limited amount of days at their disposal, players have to prioritize what actions they want to take; it’s impossible to do everything, so players must spend their time wisely.
Conclusion
Persona 5 is one of the most unique games I’ve ever played. The social simulation and dungeon crawling elements complement each other perfectly, with neither aspect overpowering the other. Somehow, everything just works, creating a refreshing and interesting take on the classic JRPG formula. Persona 5 brings together an engaging, mature story with a fun and satisfying gameplay loop in order to create one of the best JRPGs I’ve ever played. An overlong final act and the annoying overuse of certain lines of dialogue during battles are slight blemishes on an otherwise masterful game, but this is one experience that fans of turn-based RPGs shouldn’t miss.
Images from Dual Shockers, Megami Tensei Wiki, Segment Next, Kotaku
(04/12/17 3:30pm)
Today: We are expecting to be a very warm and comfortable day with temperatures reaching the mid-60s.
(04/10/17 11:30pm)
Muncie, IN (NewsLink Indiana) -- Hello and happy Monday! Today high temperatures climbed up to 75° here in Muncie!
(04/10/17 4:15pm)
Today: Temperatures will increase to a warm 74° under partly cloudy skies. Clouds will increase throughout the day and it will be quite windy, with wind gusts near 25 mph.
(04/07/17 4:42pm)
Today: Morning cloud cover has given way to sunshine this afternoon. Temperatures will reach 52° for the high this afternoon. Winds will decrease as the day goes on.
(04/07/17 12:17am)
Tonight: While the temperatures are already dropping this evening, they will continue to fall even more down to 35 degrees tonight. A flurry or two will be possible this evening, but no accumulation is expected.
(04/06/17 8:46pm)
Ultimate Wolverine fan Tt Shinkan brings you a comprehensive breakdown of X-23's comic and real world origins.
(04/03/17 2:50pm)
MUNCIE, IN (NewsLink Indiana)
(03/31/17 6:22pm)
Muncie Community Schools is not the only district struggling financially. In fact, the Indiana general assembly has its sights focused on another school district: Gary Community School Corporation.
(03/29/17 3:18pm)
Temperatures are looking to warm up today into the low 60s. It started off as a chilly morning with lows in the upper 30s, so a jacket may be necessary until the temperatures start to climb. Today is looking to be mostly sunny with a few spotty clouds, but rain chances will begin to develop early tomorrow morning and the rest of the day tomorrow. Possible thunderstorms will affect the area with spots of heavy rain. Make sure to grab an umbrella for tomorrow's commute! The weekend is looking dry with highs in the upper 50s, but the beginning of next week will bring more rain chances to the area. Make sure to follow us on twitter @NLIWeather for continued weather updates.
(03/27/17 11:15pm)
MUNCIE, IN (Newslink Indiana)
(03/27/17 4:56pm)
Today: Temperatures will reach 67 for the high today, but clouds will increase as the day rolls on. Chances of Rain begin in the late afternoon.