Sword Art Online, Yu-Gi-Oh, and the Passing of a Gaming Legend: RB Weekly News #3

Heyo guys, Ayron back with some more news on the gaming and anime worlds!  The week’s been pretty interesting, full of good and bad, so let’s not dilly-dally- let’s get to it!

Anime News: SAO Gets A Third Season?!

The new Sword Art Online film, Ordinal Scale is being released March 9th in the US, and there has been a decent amount of anticipation for the film. In Japan, Ordinal Scale had an early test screening, which has quite a few people excited, but not for the film itself.  Rather, it was the message AFTER the film that has people riled up- a simple end-credits message that stated “SAO will return.”

Twitter users have shared the news, perhaps interpreting it a little differently than that.  Stating explicitly that season 3 was announced, perhaps these lucky viewers of the testing were privy to information the rest of the world has not yet seen?  Or are they blowing it out of proportion?  Regardless, this hint that the widely-loved, widely-hated Sword Art Online may get a third season is certainly something interesting to look forward to!

Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions Hits Theaters!

On January 27th, the long awaited new Yu-Gi-Oh! movie hit American soil, to the delight of many fans of the original series.  Serving as an epilogue of sorts, the movie features the old cast of Yugi Muto, and his friends, six months after the passing of the Pharaoh’s soul.  They meet a strange new transfer student, Aigami, who claims to have power over dimensions, and old rival Seto Kaiba demands a rematch with the old King of Games.  With flashy holographic monsters, high-ante children’s card games, and of course, yet another Shadow Game, the movie promised to bring back the original cast of the first series in a big way.

 

According to the ratings, it seems that it was able to do so.  Boasting an 8.1 on IMDb, as well as 4.5 stars out of 5 on Fandango, it appears that The Dark Side of Dimensions was able to spark that nostalgic flame.  I’m personally really excited to see it!  It goes out of theaters pretty soon, so go get a ticket if you’re a fan of the old series!

Gaming News: Mass Effect: Andromeda Trailers Drop!

Mass Effect has been an immensely popular, immensely well-known franchise, and the hype for Andromeda has been quite sizable.  This hype only increased when two trailers were released on the 26th- one giving fans a cinematic preview of what they could look forward to, while the second gave fans some backstory behind the “Andromeda” initiative and the members of the Pathfinder Team.

Announced about one and a half years ago, on June 15, 2015, fans have been waiting for this new entry in the series for a long while.  With the release date- March 21st, 2017- less than two months away, these two trailers are stoking the flames of hype pretty well.  Almost there guys, almost there.

‘Father of Pac-Man’ Passes Away

The founder of Namco, widely known as the ‘Father of Pac-Man,’ Masaya Nakamura was found dead on January 22nd, 2017.  Made known only recently, Nakamura’s legacy in the world of gaming can’t be understated.  Founding Namco in 1955, Nakamura initially led the company to develop kiddie rides, and for 15 years, the mechanical rides were the lifeblood of the company.  However, in the 1970s, Nakamura realized the potential in video gaming, and so, helped support the company in creating its own arcade games, and distributing the games of Atari Inc, which he was able to purchase.  With this move, he was able to pave the way for games like Galaxian, Pac-Man, and eventually Tekken, earning himself the title of ‘Father of Pac-Man’ as a result.

Nakamura did a lot for the young, growing game industry, and the news of his death is quite melancholy for many.  I, along with many others, would like to say this- Rest in Peace Nakamura- thanks for your contributions.  The gaming industry would not be the same without you.