During E3, it was announced that Final Fantasy XIII should be seeing a stateside release in Spring 2010. Square Enix was a little concerned about the number of discs required for the the Xbox 360 version of the game, and reiterates that the Playstation 3 version will be one disc long. As for retaining the original Japanese voices, Square responded only if it fits on the disc. Personally I am for the Japanese voices, as Vanille is voiced by Yukari Fukui, who also voiced Nia Tepplin from the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
The English voice acting also is a bit shaky, which you can decide for yourself after watching the included trailer inside.
During the press event in San Francisco, Haru Akenaga, President of NIS America apologized sincerely for the technical and translation issues in the localization of Ar Tonelico II. Instead of trying to make up excuses, Akenaga admitted some of the problems were "careless mistakes" and promised "to put their best efforts into improving the quality of localization".
We will have our interview up later with the Localization Coordinators at NIS America who talked a little about the overall translation process at NIS America as well as some of the problems that happened with Ar tonelico II.
So apparently we were completely fooled into believing that Trinity Universe would be the game announced at the NIS America press event; instead, NIS unveiled a new action orientated RPG in early development stages titled Last Rebellion. Players can free roam around the world but will enter into turn based combat when encountering an enemy. The interesting aspect is that players will be able to target different parts of the body which will affect the way enemies attack. Attacking the legs will slow an enemy down, while damage to the arms will weaken their attacks. From the brief gameplay footage we were shown, it looks like the game still needs some work, hopefully adding some more textures.
The game is currently a join project between Nippon Ichi Software Japan and HitMaker and is expected to be released in Japan around Fall 2009; no word on a stateside release yet.
NIS America announced last night at their press event that they will be publishing Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love (Japanese: Sakura Taisen V: Saraba, Itoshiki Hito yo) for the Playstation 2 and Wii. Sakura Wars is a long running series developed and published by Sega in Japan with its popularity spreading into anime, manga and live action musicals. Fans of the Ah! My Goddess series should instantly recognize the artwork as creator Kosuke Fujishima is the character designer for the Sakura Wars series. The game is strategy RPG mixed in with sim based story system with combat involving ground and air battles. The game has a projected release date of Fall 2009.
Scans from the latest issue of Famitsu is circulating around the internet of a new multi-company collaboration project, Trinity Universe. Apart from Nippon Ichi Software, Gust and Idea Factory are also working on the game with an estimated release in Japan this August. This game will most likely be released in the United States later though only time will tell if the American audience will be as receptive as the Japanese.
We should have more details for you tomorrow after we come back from NIS America's press event tonight. Scans inside.
Editor's Note: This was not the game announced at the NIS America press event, but rather a new PS3 game titled Last Rebellion.
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