SHIKI Official Trailer 2010 Summer Anime Fuyumi Ono and Ryu Fujisaki’s Shiki horror mystery manga about an isolated mountain village, steeped in ancient traditions, whose population of 1300 starts dying in droves due to mysterious causes. Eventually, it becomes clear that vampires are attacking the town. Ono had previously written the original novels for The Twelve Kingdoms and Ghost Hunt, while Fujisaki is best known for drawing the Hoshin Engi/Soul Hunter manga. The 22-episode anime will premiere in July with entertainment figure Gackt in the role of Seishirou Kirishiki. www.okiagari.net ElieMaine©

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And we have liftoff.

Way back when info about Angel Beats first started to trickle down the pipe, people drew immediate comparisons to The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Those turned out to mostly be premature, yet even now some still complain about how it rips off other shows. I generally compare it to Haibane Renmei, and sometimes, if I’m in a bad mood, to Bleach (though that one is really stretching it). Add in how it bears all the marks of your standard Key adaptation, and maybe all those accusations aren’t completely unfounded.

But I come neither to bury Angel Beats nor to praise it. Rather, I’d like to discuss a question that probably has no clear answer: What makes one anime “original,” where another is “derivative”? Give it enough thought and you could make just as many claims of plagiarism about any other show: Natsume Yuujinchou borrows much from Mushishi, as does Needless from Scryed, and Ergo Proxy from Serial Experiments Lain, and the aforementioned Haruhi from Daisy Miller of all things (not an anime, I know, but go with me).

Now, a fool might here conclude that there can be no originality in fiction if all works derive from those before it to such an extent as listed above, and he would be wrong. I dare anyone to seriously accuse Haibane Renmei or Ghost in the Shell of being knock offs, of being unoriginal. See what happens.

Care to say that again?

What, then, is originality? Does it even matter?

For the first question, most definitions of the word include some variation of “new,” or “fresh,” but that’s a bit too abstract for my purposes. Thinking about the above list, I’ve come up with a few more concrete ideas: difference in audience, difference in thematic elements, evolution of genre, and combination of genres. The second question will have to wait a bit.

Could this be anything but shoujo?

To begin with, audience. Mushishi and Natsume Yuujinchou follow similar stories in a similar fashion: An individual who can see and must deal with supernatural entities has episodic adventures. But they appeal to entirely separate audiences; the former is seinen, the latter shoujo. The author must tailor the story to fit the expectations and tastes of its particular audience, and therein emerges the originality. Both works explore isolation, but that theme manifests in subtly different ways. Mushishi’s Ginko must stay on the move lest he bring misfortune, leaving him with few friends. Natsume has the same worries, but he can only work to preempt what danger he attracts, whether through action or self-imposed isolation. And where Mushishi (the anime, at least, I haven’t read the manga) hardly deals with it, it forms the focus of several episodes in Natsume.

Then, theme. Lain and Ergo Proxy both deal with an average person discovering he or she is some artificial entity of great power in a mostly cyberpunk setting. Lain focuses on the interconnectedness of an internet-based society, and Ergo Proxy on societal structure and function in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. They’re both very abstract in how they tell their story, and they resemble each other in other ways, but this difference in central theme forces them to diverge. By tackling connectedness, Lain tells its story through esoteric references and obtuse dialogue. While Ergo Proxy has plenty of both of those too, its post-apocalyptic nature necessitates a more action-oriented approach. Their different themes mean different styles.

Now, tell me about your childhood.

Next, evolve. Any genre, it doesn’t matter which in particular, has its own conventions and standards. After a time these grow tired and cliched. And then the genre must evolve. Ghost in the Shell is one of the earliest incarnations of what some call post-cyberpunk. While it owes its existence to the likes of Neuromancer, it takes those same tropes and makes something new of them. The heroes work for the government, not against it; the world actually is a mostly decent place to live. It not only continues the genre, but advances it.

Now, combine. Haruhi (the show, not the character) is a lot of things to a lot of people, and I don’t aim to review it. But there is one thing it does that distinguishes it from its predecessors. I say one thing, but it’s more like several: It takes and combines multiple genres to where you couldn’t classify it if you wanted to. But unlike how Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star pioneered a new genre (the space western), Haruhi combines so many you can’t really say it’s started one of its own. It simply is, for better or worse. It cannot become a new genre because it has no genre, and so it defies our expectations.

Perhaps that could do for a definition: originality is a deliberate defiance of expectation. Deliberate there is a key word, I think, though I suppose originality could arise by accident.

Where does that leave Angel Beats? It’s a bit early to be sure, but I see it as a combining of genres. Not quite to the extent of Haruhi, but it has the epiphanic prison aspect of Haibane Renmei, only with a lot more action, in a Japanese high school setting. Though I can’t really see it as founding a new genre itself.

Careful what you say.

But does it matter?

Well, yes and no. To be fair, I have and do enjoy a swathe of stuff which have no original feature whatsoever. Mostly they fall under guilty pleasures, but I do still enjoy them. The anime I really enjoy and remember, though, those all are more original things; they stand out in my mind because they are different. And sometimes they even affect the guilty pleasures. Consider what Evangelion did to the mecha genre.

Being unoriginal hardly keeps a show from being good, nor are all original shows the best. But which are you more likely to remember, I wonder.

Yesterday, Sony took the wraps off the PlayStation Move, which some people will call Sony’s next big thing in video gaming, and others will call a shameless Wii Remote rip-off. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

WHAT IS IT?

The Move is a motion-sensing peripheral, which in conjunction with the PlayStation Eye Camera (which is already on the market) allows precise motion-controlled video gaming on the PlayStation 3.

The Move can, in some cases, be paired with the “Subcontroller”, a nunchuk-like device that sports an analog stick and d-pad, which allows the Move to be used with more “traditional” titles like first-person shooters or role-playing games.

Unlike the Wii Remote, which is powered by regular batteries (or in cases of third-party solutions a rechargeable battery pack), the Move is fuelled by the same lithium ion battery that runs your PlayStation 3′s DualShock 3 controller, meaning it’ll have plenty of shelf life between recharges. As a bonus, the Subcontroller also has a lithium ion battery.

Both the Move and Subcontroller are wireless, feature rumble and will sync with your PlayStation 3 via Bluetooth. At launch, they will be available in black, and black only.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

It uses a three-axis gyroscope, a three-axis accelerometer, coloured sphere and a terrestrial magnetic field sensor to pin-point the location of the Move, which allows it to easily track any kind of movement the player makes, whether it be slow or fast, small or sweeping.

The Subcontroller also features a full-fledged motion sensor, just like the Move wand itself, unlike the Wii Remote Nunchuk’s gyroscope which is fairly primitive in comparison.

Interestingly, every game we played at GDC required the user to calibrate the Move before playing. It wasn’t a big deal, but switching between games quickly it was a bit of a pain.

WHAT GAMES ARE THERE?

Along with an announcement that some “regular” PlayStation 3 titles will support the Move (such as SOCOM 4, EyePet and LittleBigPlanet), Sony unveiled a range of games built specifically for the new controller’s motion-sensing capabilities.

These are:

- Motion Fighter
- Move Party (NEW: More hands-on impressions.)
- Sports Champions
- TV Superstars
- The Shoot
- Slider

In total, Sony says that “more than 20″ titles will be released featuring PlayStation Move support by the end of fiscal year 2010.

WHO IS SUPPORTING THE MOVE?

Aside from Sony’s own internal studios, a total of 36 companies have signed up to develop and publish games for the PlayStation Move. These companies are:

* 505 Games U.S.
* Activision Publishing, Inc.
* AQ INTERACTIVE Inc.
* ARC SYSTEMS WORK CO.,LTD
* ATLUS Co., LTD.
* Bigben Interactive
* CAPCOM CO., LTD.
* CCP
* Crave Entertainment
* CYBERFRONT Corporation
* Disney Interactive Studios
* Electronic Arts Inc.
* FromSoftware, Inc.
* Game Republic, Inc.
* GUST CO., LTD.
* HUDSON SOFT CO., LTD.
* IREM SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INC.
* Koei Co., Ltd.
* Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.
* Majesco Entertainment
* Marvelous Entertainment Inc.
* NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.
* ONGAKUKAN Co., Ltd.
* Oxygen Games
* PAON CORPORATION
* Q Entertainment Inc.
* Q-GAMES, LTD.
* SEGA CORPORATION
* Sony Online Entertainment
* Spike Co., Ltd.
* SQUARE ENIX GROUP
* TECMO, LTD.
* THQ Inc.
* UBISOFT
* Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
* Zoo Entertainment, Inc.

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM THE WII REMOTE?

While the Move looks similar to Nintendo’s pioneering 2006 motion controller, there are key differences, like a reduced button count and better motion-sensing. For more on this, read up on Stephen’s early impressions of the Move.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

The Move will be available in three packages: a standalone Move (for consumers that already own a PlayStation Eye camera), a bundle that includes the Move and PlayStation Eye, and a hardware pack that includes the Move, PlayStation Eye and PlayStation 3 console.

While pricing details for the standalone pack and PS3 bundle are unavailable at this time, the Move + PlayStation Eye option will cost $99.

WHEN IS IT OUT

The PlayStation Move will be released sometime this Fall.

Gameloft’s upcoming release of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction looks to bring over the feel and style of the Splinter Cell reboot to the iPhone in a four to five hour experience. And in many ways, it seems to succeed.

My time spent playing the game on the iPhone yesterday gave me a chance to check out some of the things that have so far set Conviction apart from previous iterations of the series.

There were moments when my goal appeared as giant white text hovering over the scenery, though the effect wasn’t nearly as powerful as what I’ve seen in the console version of the game.

The other gameplay elements brought over to the iPhone, though, were much more impressive.

The third-person stealth action game had me to trying and stay out of sight of enemies, with the help of an eye icon in the top left corner of the screen, by taking cover behind containers and shooting out lights.

The controls are pretty straight forward: A virtual thumbstick located in the bottom left of the screen allows me to move around, while touching anywhere else on the screen with my right hand allowed me to look around and aim. One icon in the bottom right of the screen allow me to fire my weapon or execute stealth takedowns. The other icon changed depending on the context, allowing me to interact with my environment. I used this virtual button to open doors, flick switches, take cover and move behind hiding spots.

Icons in the top of the screen controlled weapon and gadget selection. The gadgets I played around with gave me night vision and temporarily disabled electronics.

Other familiar gameplay elements in the iPhone game included showing me my last known position by enemies with a transparent silhouette and the ability to tag multiple enemies with a market and then pop up and shoot them in quick succession automatically with my gun.

While the console version of the game requires you to execute a few stealth takedowns to activate this ability, the iPhone’s version gives you the option anytime you set yourself up in the right conditions of lighting, stealth and proximity.

The game’s story will loosely mirror the console version of the game and include ten levels which will take four to five hours to complete, I was told.

Playing around with the early build of the game for about 30 minutes, I was impressed with how smoothly the concepts of Conviction translated to the iPhone. The only miss I saw were those in-scenery messages which looked a little too low-res for my liking.

It was a blast to tap-stealth my way through a level, deciding from a surprisingly broad selection of options, which way I wanted to tackle a problem. One security room, for instance, had two doors, a window and a sky light, all of which could have been used to enter the room and take out the people inside with varying degrees of stealth.

My biggest concern for the not-yet priced game is that after playing through the five hours or so of the campaign, you’re finished. I know that’s true of plenty of console titles, but I still don’t like the idea of such a short, essentially disposable experience.

Crystal Dynamics is going digital for Tomb Raider star Lara Croft’s next adventure, an isometric, puzzle-focused and arcadey spin on the 15-year-old franchise. is Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light rebooting in the right direction?

Now, it may not be fair to label Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light a “reboot” as Crystal Dynamics is clearly making the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade release as a Tomb Raider game with clear boundaries between it and the “pillar” releases. Guardian of Light is set outside of the series chronology, an independent side story. It also plays differently from every other Tomb Raider game, a top-down, sometimes cooperative adventure that adds a second player, the Mayan warrior and spear expert Totec.

The side story is a straightforward one, involving an ancient and powerful artifact, the Mirror of Smoke. Given that this artifact is both ancient and powerful, Lara isn’t the only character on the hunt for this thing, which happens to have an evil spirit named Xolotl contained within—but not for long.

We also probably wouldn’t call Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light a twin-stick shooter, even though it uses the familiar dual-analog movement and aiming seen in many XBLA and PSN games. But the combat, simple in its Diablo-like point and shoot action, looks fluid and fun. Move with the left, aim with the right, pull the right trigger to fire, both for Lara, equipped with dual pistols, and for Totec, normally armed with spears, but capable of picking up a machine gun when necessary.

Guardian of Light’s most appealing feature is its puzzle-solving and platform traversal, much of which requires cooperative planning and execution. For instance, Totec can throw spears at walls, which Lara can use as improvised platforms to get to higher elevation. Lara can also aid Totec in his bottomless pit avoidance, using her grappling hook. She can fire the grappling hook at an object, letting Totec use the hookline as a tightrope. She can also fire the grappling hook at Totec himself, giving her Mayan buddy a repelling line to climb up walls too high to scale otherwise.

Perhaps the most interesting use of Totec and Lara’s cooperative platforming mechanic was during a puzzle filled with instant-kill spikes. In the center of one of the game’s tombs near the base of a set of staris was a tall pillar with spikes jutting out, a much-needed puzzle piece atop it. This particular puzzle required that Totec stand on a pressure plate, deactivating the spikes. After throwing a spear into the pillar, it was clear that Lara wasn’t high enough to reach the rim of the pillar’s top. The solution? Totec had to walk back up the stairs, elevating himself, then throw additional spears at the pillar, creating a makeshift ladder for Lara to climb.

Some of the other coop action involved one player pulling a lever or rolling a ball while the other fended off a swarm of massive spiders. Players will also need to keep an eye on their partner’s health helping to revive their fallen teammate when fatigued.

Crystal Dynamics teased some competitive aspects in the form of loot collection and a straightforward contest for high scores. Developers at GDC also briefly touched on a player progression system, but wouldn’t provide specifics about how that system worked.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light also features a single-player only mode. There’s no option for an AI-controlled coop buddy, so solo players will play a version of Lara with beefier platforming abilities.

While Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light may not be a full-fledged “pillar” entry in the Tomb Raider series, it’s perhaps the most refreshing, most enticing take on the character in a long time. That it evoked fond memories of pick and play games like Diablo and the console-only Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance games may have had something to do with that, but the smart puzzle mechanics and arcadey gameplay have already ensured that Crystal Dynamics’ side-story spin-off is one of summer’s most interesting downloadable games.