Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 is out today, a little more than 2 years after the previous episode. A new interesting game mode has been added: the "Extreme" mode where the course is reversed and all information is hidden. It promises very tactical racing! As usual, new cars are added to the line-up: Toyota 86, Subaru BRZ, Nissan Skyline RS-X, RUF Rt35, BMW M3 and Mercedes-Benz SLK. A new area is open: Fukushin (which includes Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro). Yuzo Koshiro is still composing the game music with 8 new songs.

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This is the 6th edition of Made in Asia show. Unlike previous editions, the event will last three full days: Friday (10am to 20pm), Saturday (10am to 20pm) and Sunday (10am to 18pm). As usual, Friday will be free from 18:00 to 20:00. Tickets cost €11 for a day. The show is still located at Brussels Expo in Hall 5 and 9. Artists present for autograph sessions are: Toshihiro Kawamoto, illustrator and chara designer on series like Cowboy Bebop, Wolf’s Rain, Golden Boy, Full Metal Alchemist,... and for the first time in Europe Kenichi Yoshida, designer and animator on many series: Princesse Mononoke, Porco Rosso, Wolf’s Rain, Scrapped Princess,... On the music side, the rock/visual kei Japanese duo Adams will begin their European tour at MIA with a concert on Friday and another one on Saturday. On Sunday, another duo that blends electro-pop and traditional Japanese music will be on stage: SAYA CONCEPT. Many Internet celebrities will also be present. Traditional activities will of course also be at the rendez-vous: cosplay, calligraphy, traditional games, martial arts, ... An entire hall will be dedicated to video games with tournaments on many platforms and games of all styles. As previous years, Arcade Belgium will be present with original arcade games including titles never seen before in Europe such as Chaos Code, Daemon Bride, Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code and Senko No Ronde DUO. Every day we will organize a tournament. On Friday: Puyo Puyo DA! (a musical game), on Saturday: Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Ver.2012 and on Sunday: Chaos Code. On the booth, visitors will also find the cranes of the Jeux Américains lunapark and could try to catch pretty soft toys.

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The next game from the Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. series is out today. After Full Boost released in 2012, Namco goes further with Maxi Boost... More than 110 units are already announced. As usual with the series, some units will have to be unlocked. Mechas from Full Boost benefit some attack tweaks and new movement animation. New mechas from many Gundam series and new stages have been added. The gameplay is similar to the first Extreme VS.: only one Extreme Burst is available. The EX Overdrive, a new type of Awakening mode, triggers when certain conditions are met, will be added. The EX Overdrive is available in 2 modes: F-Drive that uses melee attacks and S-Drive that uses projectiles. Opening song is Rave-up Tonight by Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas.

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Gitaroda OverDrive, the new BEMANI game by Konami is released today. Gitadora is the new name introduced for GuitarFreaks and DrumMania games last year. The main new feature is the return of long version songs. Fans wanted it for a long time. Battle Mode and Skill System were revised. Players can choose between two ways to play: Light Play that allows you to play 3 songs and supports up to 3 rivals but does not give access to the Battle Mode, long versions and ENCORE/PREMIUM ENCORE stages. And Standard Play requiring Paseli which provides access to these features and supports up to 5 rivals.

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The World of Three Kingdoms is a mix of strategy/action and medal game made ​​by Sega that is out today. The story takes place during the three kingdoms period in China (220-280). The game is played online up to 10 and players can ally or compete throughout the country. At the first play beginning, the player create his general that can be customised. After that he creates his army and goes fighting against generals Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Quan, Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu. Thanks to in-game currency, he can strengthen his army (armour, weapons,...). There are four troop types: cavalry and foot soldiers and a "heavy" version of both with better armour. Each class features a special ability: soldiers with light armour can move easily on steep terrain, soldiers with heavy armour can defend the other can defend against a frontal attack,... The cabinet is equipped with three buttons (attack, archers and special) and a lever for moving the troops. The touch screen gives a quick access to the skill/formation icons that allow special moves and reorder the army. There is also a medal side in this game since the player bets an amount on battles and wins gains depending on the result.

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maimai GreeN PLUS will bereleased in Japan tomorrow. This is an update of maimai GreeN, Sega's rhythm game released last summer. Many new songs are have been added to this version with as usual J-Pop, Vocaloid, video games (Sonic Lost World, Yakuza Ishin, Colorful Kotoba), anime (Shingeki no Kyojin, Yowamushi Pedal) but also titles from the Touhou Project and the Joypolis. For the first time since the launch of the series, a collaboration with Namco Bandai is started with the addition of Idol M@aster licensed songs (GO MY WAY!, THE IDOLM@STER 2nd-mix).

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Square Enix released Gunslinger Stratos 2 developed by Byking yesterday. The concept is still the same: two teams of 4 compete and each player uses two weapons, either separately or combined. Four new characters have been added. Riccardo Martini, a 26 year-old Italian soldier member of the special forces. He's a young man with problems. Ayanokoji Sakura, a young girl of 18 years who wields a huge bazooka not very suitable for her size. She has a warm personality. Suno Tsukasa, a young genius of 19 years, head of the special forces. He is charismatic, has the sense of responsibility and justice. Tendoji Sarah, 17 Years old, has a "big sister" temperament and a great sense of Justice. Changes have been made compared to the first episode. A new "awakening" gauge displayed at the bottom left of the screen and which filled in as and damage taken by the player. Once the gauge is filled, the player can activate it by pressing 2 times on the left weapon trigger. Then the player wins temporarily a series of bonus: the "jump" gauge is filled, munitions are refilled, damages are interrupted and the player is invincible for awhile. A "story mode" requested by the players which wanted to explore the world of Gansuto has been added. Thanks to the "Weapon pack tune", the player can choose the level of his weapon pack (when possible). The "rank system" has been reviewed, each player's character has his own rank in the rankings. A new "move assist" system for beginners manages movements so the player could concentrate on the shots. The customization of the characters is more extensive: 10 elements of the characters are modifiable compare to 3 in the first game.

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Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- is available via Sega's ALL.Net P-ras MULTI (RingEdge 2) today. Just like the older titles of the series from Arc System Works, it is directed by Daisuke Ishiwatari (characters, story and music). The game uses the Unreal Engine that allows a full 3D character animation and makes the game graphics really impressive. Twelve characters from old Guilty Gear games are back: Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske, May, Millia Rage, Chipp Zanuff, Venom, Potemkin, I-No, Axl-Low, Zato=One, Faust and Slayer. A new character joins the cast: Bedman. In terms of gameplay, many complicated abilities introduced during the evolution of the series (Force Break, Slashback, FRC) have been rolled back and the basic Roman Cancel System of Guilty Gear games has been improved. This change allows the players to develop new strategies and makes the game more accessible to new players.

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This year, Metallica will play at Rock Werchter 2014 festival. On Thursday the 3rd of July, they will play the audience's favourites titles at the Belgian stop of their Metallica by Request tour. The concept is simple: an unique code is printed on each concert ticket. This code gives access ti a web page listing all Metallica's song sorted by album. You can then compose your perfect set list by picking 17 titles. The band will play the songs which got the most votes. Click here for the current results for the Belgium date. Why talking about that here? Well, because the same method will be used to select 2 songs that will be added to the 12 tracks already featured in the Metallica pinball. How to vote? Nothing hard really, just go to pinballvote.metallica.com and submit your e-mail address. You'll then receive an unique URL to choose your titles. The 2 most popular songs will be added in the next software updates from Stern along with program improvements. Voting will close on March 3. At time of writing, the most favourites are Blackened and Ride the Lightning (results). In Belgium, you can play the Master of Puppets Limited Edition model at Wheelie World shop in OOstende and at Flamingo II bar in Puurs (until April for this one).

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The JAEPO show will close its doors at the end of the public day following the day dedicated to professionals. Despite the significant decline in visitors (less than half than last year) maybe due to the extreme weather conditions currently affecting Japan, many new games have been presented... Sega had already announced flagship titles before the show such as Border Break Scrambled Ver.4.0, Dengeki Bunko FIGHTING CLIMAX, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, Initial D Arcade Stage 8 Infinity, Koihime † Enbu, Shining Force Cross Exlesia version B but surprised everybody with the announcement of the BLADE ARCUS from Shining fighting game featuring characters from the Shining RPG series and Wonderland Wars, a multiplayer strategy action game played with a pen. maimai GreeN Plus, an update to maimai GreeN was also announced. Besides arcade games, Sega also introduced a lot of medals game including Star Horse 3 Season III - Chase the Wind and The World of Three Kingdoms. Games for children were also on display: Anpanman Popcorn 3, Hero Bank Arcade,... Namco has also drawn the big guns with Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS. Maxi Boost, Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5, Super Alpine Racer and Deadstorm Pirates Special Edition. The big news, however, was the surprising shooter/dance game Sailor Zombie ~AKB48 Arcade Edition~ in which the player fights AKB48 members turned into zombies. On Taito's booth, you could try the latest versions of BlazBlue Chronophantasma and Ultra Street Fighter IV with new characters in both cases. Developers of Yatagarasu - Attack on Cataclysm came to present their game and a video of Skullgirls for NESiCAxLive was unveiled. Groove Coaster was also playable at the show and Taito released an amazing trailer for a future zombie game on NESiCAxLive: Project Z. Finally, Konami was not left aside with many new products announced: Silent Scope Bone Eater, an unexpected sequel to their famous sniper game, jubeat saucer fulfill (an udpate to jubeat saucer), pop'n music rapisutoria, Steel Chronicle Victroopers ver3.0, Steel Chronicle Ganesh which is played in a dome and BeatStream, the new BEMANI rhythm game using a touchscreen. Konami also presented several kids games: Dragon Collection, Monster Retsuden Oreca Battle, Ultimate Striker,...

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