THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars

THE IDOLM@STER has been one of the most successful titles in Bandai Namco's timeline for over a decade now and even though it faces a much stiffer competition in the world of anime idol genre, everyone should respect that this decade-old franchise is how this kind of competition started in the first place. For 2016, the world of THE IDOLM@STER introduces us a new vision for the loyal fans, for the first time, on the Playstation4 console.

THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars

Here it is, it's called THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars and judging by the franchise's brand new logo, this is totally the next generation of Bandai Namco's hit franchise and while most fans call the move of making this new game a PS4-exclusive a sacrilege while others try to deny it and go drunk with the other sub-brands, mostly the show-stealing Cinderella Girls sub-brand (with a PSVR Viewing Revolution game to follow this autumn), the aim of the new PS4-exclusive Platinum Stars game is to show loyal fans some love to the ever-favorite 765PRO ALL-STARS just as what they did over the past decade and because this is the next generation of the hit IM@S franchise, Platinum Stars sees a bold new turn for the 765PRO ALL-STARS as they're undergoing a training camp and you're in charge of nurturing all 13 idols to its true potential.

Just like One For All two years ago, Platinum Stars allows players to raise their favorite idols such as Haruka Amami, Yayoi Takatsuki, Makoto Kikuchi, Chihaya Kisaragi, Ritsuko Akizuki, Azusa Miura, Yukiho Hagiwara, Iori Minase, Ami and Mami Futami, Miki Hoshii, Takane Shijou, and Hibiki Ganaha. How you'll live it up to your favorites' expectations is all up to you.

Before heading to a live show, be sure to keep them prepared with some lessons ranging from their vocals, dance, style, and everything else. Then, you can outfit them with the proper costumes that are well suited for the live show of your choosing but here in Platinum Stars, there are new ways to keep your idols prepared. There's the new costume combining feature where you can combine two costumes of the same level to create a more powerful costume fit for idols and each costume has its own rarity so you'll never know what sort of costumes you'll get until you get a more powerful one. 

After live shows, you'll get fan presents, which are broadly similar to the lucky boxes from the Tekken games, and fan presents can contain random items. Could be a voucher for your next costume acquisition, cash, fan letters, or any other item you might come across. You can increase your chances of gaining better items by using P-drops, which can also be purchased on the Playstation Store.

While you're not in the middle of the game, Platinum Stars gives players a glimpse on what the girls are up to, especially birthdays which makes us super jealous that fans like us should have the 765PRO gals sing a happy birthday song for us just as what they did to their fellow idols. With the girls look and behave more realistic than ever thanks to the PS4's capabilities, the new Platinum Stars game will surely make fans come back for more and more and more...until they give up their juice.

Thoughts on Platinum Stars? Well, it may sound sacrilege for a PS4-exclusive but with so many fans starting to change sides, I believe that Platinum Stars is Bandai Namco's last-ditch effort to show some love to the 765PRO ALL-STARS, even though blokes are starting to shy away from them in favor of its Cinderella Girls sub-brand, even the longstanding rivalry of the Love Live franchise, and many other idol-related stuff we all know about. Isn't that why these girls brought us the never ending idol wars in the first place? If so, let's hope this is just a friendly competition not just for themselves, but for the devoted fans who can't hardly decide which anime idols are the best. Hope you're happy that the girls are back for more.

LIMITED EDITION: THE IDOLM@STER Platinum Stars starts at 8,856 Yen (around 4,000 Pesos) but the Limited Edition, priced at 13,392 Yen (somewhat over 6,000 Pesos), features tons of extras such as an ALL-STAR LIVE PAMPHLET, LisAni Live 2016 bonus CD, calendar, bonus photos, a photo frame, a specially-designed box, and a code to unlock a special "Antique Star" costume. The Antique Star costume is a variation of the game's Twinkle Star cover costume but it features the color scheme as the corresponding 765PRO idol (Red for Haruka, Lime Green for Miki, Blue for Chihaya, and so on). 

That's not all, because for a limited time, a copy of Platinum Stars grants you a chance to win tickets to THE IDOLM@STER PRODUCER MEETING 2017 concert, coming this January 2017.

Oh, and for its launch, the first DLC Catalog is now available on the PlaystationStore. The first catalog features the brand new song Miracle Night as well as the brand new Miracle Dance Hall costume, and two additional songs such as I Want and 目が逢う瞬間, among many others. Watch out for the Gothic Punk Queen DL Live, coming this August 4, and you can stand a chance to win a brand new Rouge/Nowaru Q costume with the highest Rank S fit to blitz through your next live performance as well as various Rank A accessories packed with different attributes!

WELCOME TO THE NEW VISION OF IM@S! 

Producer-san! Let's play Platinum Stars! Platinum Stars!

Let's Do The News! (July 28, 2016)

- Onto US Secretary of State John Kerry's Philippine Visit, he expressed the US' agreement with the Philippines on how it responded after the arbitral tribunal based in the Hague delivered a victory for its case against China. In his meeting, Kerry told his Philippine counterpart, Perfecto Yasay Jr., that they appreciate the very responsible and measured way that the Philippine government has responded to the important decision.

- In the midst of the voter registration for the upcoming barangay and SK elections, the Commission of Elections assured the public that safeguards are in place against the repeat of the hacking of the database last March. Comelec chairman Andy Bautista noted that the commission has made sure that data has been secured from those who would try to hack their systems again.

- The third-day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, amid fears that more hacked e-mails from the convention will be uncovered by WikiLeaks over the coming days as well as Republican Presidentiable Donald Trump called on Russia to hunt down Hillary Clinton's deleted e-mails, Senator Tim Kaine accepted his Vice Presidential nomination but the biggest standout in the third day of the convention is the current US President Barack Obama, whose powerful speech devotes everything about what he did ever since he took office, his experience with Hillary Clinton, and why Obama believes that the so-called "Trumpism" won't prevail.

- The ISIS-linked Amaq news agency has posted an online video of two men behind the murder of a Catholic priest in northern France. It shows them pledging allegiance to the terrorist organization. The assailants broke into the church, taking five people hostage and killing a priest. Both were shot dead by the police.

- Over 100 Russian athletes have so far been banned from participating the Rio Olympics. The International Olympic Committee has decided to allow some athletes to participate if they meet certain criteria. Most members of the Russian teams in tennis, archery, equestrian, shooting, triathlon, volleyball, judo, sailing, fencing and table tennis have been approved or will likely be approved to compete in Rio while some international federations are still evaluating.

- Meanwhile, Russian leader Vladimir Putin accused the Western powers of launching a political campaign against sports. Putin addressed the country's Olympic team at a send-off ceremony in Moscow on Wednesday, told the team that rules which govern international politics are being applied to the world of sports. Putin said international sporting bodies should treat athletes fairly and allow Russian athletes who emerge clean from doping tests to compete in the Games.

- Some say, Jaguar Land Rover will discontinue the legendary supercharged V8 engines and plans to source twin-turbo V8s from BMW for cost-efficient measures.

- After making its appearance in last March's Batman v. Superman film, the first teaser trailer for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie kicks off since last weekend's SDCC. The film hits theaters this summer 2017 worldwide and Gal Gadot reprises her titular role. VIEW THE TRAILER HERE.

- Today marks the 54th weeksary of AlDub but things don't look so good in Eat Bulaga's Kalyeserye segment. As the lolas starting to drift apart after the big revelation, Maine has escaped from captivity and with the police arrested the kidnappers, she has reunited with Alden. However, Lola Nidora picked up a phone call from someone but who is it? Tune in next time and find out!

TTFN!!!

Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond

The Star Trek franchise reaches its 50th anniversary this year and over the past five decades, Trekkies have been part of the 24th-century space exploration and heroism that dates back from the original, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. From the Federation, Vulcan, KCA, Augments, the infamous Klingons, the Romulans, and many other factions fans encountered, the 50-year timeline of the Star Trek franchise never felt so unique, so unique, fans live up to Spock's "Live Long and Prosper" tagline. As Trekkies live long and prosper to the next five decades, the big 50th anniversary birthday present has arrived and it's none other than the third installment of the Star Trek movie series.

Star Trek Beyond features the most dramatic storyline ever told in the history of Star Trek and in this third installment, disaster struck at the USS Enterprise crew on an unknown planet, spiraling them out of control and survival is at stake for the whole crew. This film brings back and introduces a vivid cast of characters from Zachary Quinto as Commander Spock, Karl Urban as Dr. Bones McCoy, Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, including Zoe Saldana as Uhura, John Cho as the fan-favorite Mr. Sulu, Simon Pegg as Scotty, and many others, especially the late Anton Yelchin as Chekov. (Rest in Peace, Yelchin)

In the minds of producer J.J. Abrams, the third installment packs a dramatic tone to the epic cult classic franchise because this movie showcases how separate pairs agree to work towards a common goal about survival on an uncharted territory and how the relationship between different characters affect the entire storyline, in either good or bad kind of way. In every detail, this movie shows some no-nonsense point of view in the eyes of the characters on their long struggle to survive themselves in such a harsh scenario and while the topic of struggle for survival feels priapic and more gut-wrenching as the story progresses, it still has that typical Star Trek mandarin that fans got themselves noticed and while this movie has some loopholes that can do better, Trekkies believed that this film is more than enough to honor the franchise's 50th anniversary in a "live long and prosper" kind of way.

My rating: 3.9 out of 5.

Super GT 2016: Sugo

The fourth round of the Super GT 2016 series in Sugo was commenced smoothly and it was one odd of a schedule ever since the third round of this series was cancelled due to the ongoing earthquakes at the Kumamoto Prefecture, until it was announced the third round will commence on the 12th of November at Twin Ring Motegi, a day before the final round taking place at the same venue, making it a two-parter (a first in Super GT history).

Anyway, in this 81-lap race, held at the Sportsland SUGO, located on the Miyagi Prefecture, wild things happened during the race and such examples is the #24 Forum Engineering ADVAN GT-R, driven by Daiki Sasaki and Masataka Yanagida, which came from 9th place and then emerged victorious in the GT500 class, courtesy of their no-tire-change tactic, which sounds like a very risky gamble for the team. Meanwhile, in the GT300-class, the #31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT, driven by Koki Saga and Yuichi Nakayama, scored their first win of the season.

Highlights:

The next race will start at Fuji Speedway on the 7th of August.

Ignacio De Loyola (2016 film)

Ignacio De Loyola

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, according to religious history, was a Spanish knight from a local Basque noble family, who later became a priest since 1537, and a theologian who founded the Society of Jesus or Jesuits. In this remarkable, yet powerful, biopic depicting the life and times of a knight who became the founding father of the Jesuits, was told and this film is by no means a wonderful collaboration between the Philippines and Spain in the making of this film. Although the cast are all Spanish, including the lead actor Andreas Muñoz as the titular character, the crew behind the making of this religious film were mostly Filipino and such collaboration will bring faith-based moviegoers a glimpse of the St. Ignatius of Loyola they never knew from the history books.

Born from a noble Basque family, St. Ignatius of Loyola was once a soldier but when he was seriously injured in the war, he gave up his will of being a soldier, became a servant of God, and he established the Jesuits for the greater glory of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Just by looking at the whole film, you can feel the powerful undertones reeling in the powerful memoir of the soldier-turned-saint and for a certain Jesuit and Atenean, they can learn many lessons after watching the whole film and it's about repenting for your sins and never lose hope in the name of Him.

As a powerful movie filled with powerful undertones, Ignacio De Loyola never fails to capture the hearts of audiences, mostly faithful and religious ones, and with a Filipino-Spanish collaboration rooted to this film, you can consider this film a world-class success in its own right.

My rating: 4.1 out of 5

F1 2016: Hungarian GP

Image: Reuters

The Hungarian leg of the F1 2016 season sees Mercedes' top ace, Lewis Hamilton, regaining his championship lead against Nico Rosberg following his pole position advantage that led him to victory. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo placed third. Behind the winner's circle, it seems that Fernando Alonso from McLaren-Honda is starting its road to recovery following its poor performance throughout the season and with him finishing 7th place, that's just the beginning for them. Meanwhile, Red Bull rookie Max Verstappen was hindered by Hamilton early and struggled to get past Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, which placed him fifth.

The next race is set on Germany on the 31st of July.

Jubilee of Mercy: World Youth Day

Jubilee of Mercy logo

July 26, 2016 - Over 200,000 pilgrims have gathered together in Krakow, Poland, to celebrate the annual World Youth Day and for this year, it's a very special World Youth Day because of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. Krakow Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the former secretary of St John Paul II, preached the pilgrims and urged young Catholics to share their faith, experiences and hopes and spread a "message of divine mercy" worldwide.



During the mass, Cardinal Dziwisz said “We come from every nation under heaven, like those who came in great numbers to Jerusalem on Pentecost Day, but there are incomparably more of us now than 2,000 years ago, because we are accompanied by centuries of preaching the Gospel.” The Cardinal preached over 200,000 pligrims from 187 nations in Krakow's Blonia Park, a day before the scheduled arrival of Pope Francis.

Highlights:

Report: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/07/27/wyd-2016-spread-message-of-divine-mercy-krakow-cardinal-says-at-opening-mass/