Persona 4 Golden
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‘Persona 3 Portable’ and ‘Persona 4 Golden’ arrive on Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation and Switch this January
On Saturday, ahead of Persona 5 Royal’s October 21st release on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Steam and Xbox Game Pass, Atlus announced that it would release Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden to additional platforms on January 19th, 2023.
Nanako learns new swears in faux Persona 4 Platinum
Persona 4 Platinum might not be real, but that doesn't mean Atlus can't borrow a few ideas from this biting fan-made spoof. Spending Chanukah with President Tanaka sounds delightful. [Image: Faulerro]
PS TV hits US on October 14 with 'nearly 700' compatible games
Though the PlayStation TV won't support all Vita games at its October 14 debut, the miniscule console will play "nearly 700" Vita releases, according to Sony. Less a proper console and more a device that combines the functionality of numerous Sony gaming machines, the PlayStation TV plays digital Vita games, PSP games and PlayStation One games, while streaming PS3 games via PlayStation Now and PlayStation 4 games via that console's Remote Play feature. Specifically named among supported Vita games are hits like Rayman Origins, the God of War Collection, Borderlands 2 and Persona 4 Golden. Additionally, Sony has announced that the upcoming Adventure Time tie-in game, Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom from Little Orbit, will launch simultaneously for both the Vita handheld and the PlayStation TV on November 18. Sony has revealed plans to add support for additional games in the future (including Minecraft), though the PlayStation.blog offers no timeline on when those updates might be available. [Image: Sony]
Persona 4 Golden anime begins July 10, US streams confirmed
US viewers will be able to tune in to the first episode of Persona 4: The Golden Animation when the series begins airing on July 10. Aniplex revealed it's streaming the anime on its own online channel, with new episodes promised every Thursday - there's no word yet on times but we can only hope they'll be aired at midnight. The presumably subtitled streams will also be available to watch on Hulu, Crunchyroll and Daisuki.
Persona 4 Golden to get its own anime [update: trailer link]
Vita JRPG Persona 4 Golden is going to have its own TV anime in Japan, following in the footsteps of Persona 4 The Animation. Atlus streamed a trailer for it today, which showed protagonist Yu along with Marie, the major new character added to the Golden re-release of the original PS2 game. The new anime is due to begin airing in July. It's a bit of a surprise move given the extra story content in Golden was supplementary and not particularly substantial, but let's take it in context. Atlus is releasing a dancing game spin-off, a dungeon crawling spin-off, and another version of its fighter spin-off for Persona 4, all in the lead-up to Persona 5. Maybe, in fact, it makes loads of sense. Update: The official site is up, along with the trailer.
Best of the Rest: Sinan's picks of 2013
Team Joystiq is barging into 2014 with a celebration of last year's best games. Keep reading throughout the week to see our assembly of ingenious indies and triple-A triumphs. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon It's still hard to believe that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon exists, and perhaps that's why this standalone expansion is so great. Who'd have thought Ubisoft had it in them to greenlight a Far Cry 3 reskin that traded the 2012 game's colorful jungle and wicked undertones for 1980s neon, Michael Biehn, and dinosaurs shooting lasers out of their eyes? Not only does it provide a wonderfully excessive version of Far Cry 3's open-island action, but with its dumb humor and loving pastiches Blood Dragon crams an impressive number of standout moments into one bite-sized package; this passage of play (spoiler warning!) is without doubt one of my favorite moments from any game in 2013.
PS Europe closes Christmas sale with The Last of Us, Persona 4 Golden
PlayStation Europe saved the best til The Last of Us, ending its 12 Deals of Christmas sale with Naughty Dog's PS3 apoco-sim and the Vita delight that is Persona 4 Golden. The enhanced Atlus JRPG goes down to £15 (€20/AU$25), while Joel and Ellie's feel-good adventure for the holidays is just £20 (€30/AU$40). If you want, you can go all in on The Last of Us by chucking in the season pass; the game and pass bundled together are priced £30 (€37.49/AU$55.47). The pass grants access to three major DLC packs, including the already released Abandoned Territories map pack for multiplayer, and the Left Behind single-player prequel episode which is due in 2014. Two things to add: Firstly, there's an extra holiday bonus for PS Plus subscribers, 'cos they get a further 10 percent off all those prices. Second, the deals are active for 48 hours, so you have until the end of tomorrow to ensure you're a happy camper come Christmas Day.
Persona 4 Golden shines with 700,000 shipped worldwide
Atlus announced it's shipped 700,000 copies of Persona 4: Golden worldwide, meaning plenty of people have stayed up late to tune in into the excellent Vita remake. To celebrate those numbers, Atlus is discounting the JRPG on Japan's PlayStation Store (sorry, everyone else) to ¥4,980 between December 11 and January 8. The news comes as several new Persona games bear down on us, including a Persona 4 rhythm game for Vita and expanded arcade fighter The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold. Not forgetting cutesy Etrian Odyssey-like Persona Q for 3DS, and certainly not the big kahuna: Persona 5 on PS3.
PSA: PS Vita TV now available in Japan
Nearly lost in the chaos of the imminent PlayStation 4 launch is another Sony gadget, the PlayStation Vita TV, which made its Japanese debut today. The Vita TV serves double duty, both as a device for streaming media options such as Hulu to your television and also as a stationary Vita analogue. The Vita TV is said to support 1,300 games from the Vita, PSP and other, older Sony platforms, as well as support for the PS3's DualShock 3 controller. Though the selection of compatible titles is slated to grow over time, on debut, the system will support standouts like Persona 4 Golden and Lumines: Electronic Symphony. Further, the Vita TV will also support Remote Play with either PlayStation 3 titles that support it, or the upcoming PlayStation 4. You can find full technical specs on the Vita TV in our story on the device, or if you'd prefer moving pictures, YouTube user "RedSunGamerTV" offers an unboxing video. Currently, the Vita TV bears a price tag of ¥9,945 (about $100). Sony has yet to announce a Western release for the Vita TV, so if you plan to import one, expect to pay a bit more.
PSN Tuesday: Persona sale, Dead or Alive 5 Plus, The Walking Dead
This week's PlayStation Store update is notable for its substantial subtractions, particularly to the price of the Persona series. The three PSP games are each discounted by $10 or more, while the massive Persona 4 Golden for PlayStation Vita is marked down from its regular $40 to $30.If you prefer portable pugilism to Persona's one-two punch of high-school time management and dungeon crawling, Tecmo Koei is offering a Plus-sized Vita version of Dead or Alive 5 for $40.Meanwhile, the PlayStation 3 gets a new Atelier Totori game a Darksiders series bundle and The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct – a licensed FPS that has yet to be widely reviewed.Correction: The Atelier Totori game, The Adventurer of Arland, is for PlayStation Vita and available in a bundle with DLC for $40.
Persona 4 Golden hits Europe's PSN Feb. 20, two days ahead of retail
Those patient European Persona 4 fans don't have to wait quite as long as they thought for Golden to reach their Vitas. NIS America revealed today the re-release of the Atlus' RPG is available from PlayStation Network on February 20, two days earlier than it arrives at retail.As for the retail release, confirmed for February 22 earlier this week, there are no announcements of any Special or Collector's Edition, so it doesn't look you'll be missing out on anything by buying it on PSN. Apart from the box with some sexy cover art, that is.
Persona 4 Golden launching in Europe Feb. 22
Persona 4 Golden's European release date has now been confirmed, with Atlus' epic JRPG of angst and nightmare television worlds hitting European Vitas on Friday, February 22.NIS America, which is responsible for publishing Persona 4 Golden in the EU, told Joystiq last October that it was aiming for a February 22 release, though the game's official launch window has remained "Spring 2013" until now. We were also informed that the game would likely be released sans Special/Collector's Edition, which appears to be the case considering no such announcements accompanied the confirmation of its release.Well, there is one way to get a Special Edition in Europe. If you stare into the screen of an unplugged television during a heavy rain, at midnight, you'll find what you're after. You have to be completely alone though, otherwise it won't work. It also helps if you've got some kind of repressed issues or have been having trouble accepting part of who you are.
Best of the Rest: JC's picks of 2012
Joystiq is revealing its 10 favorite games of 2012 throughout the week. Keep reading for more top selections and every writer's personal, impassioned picks in Best of the Rest roundups. Kid Icarus UprisingI tried not to push Kid Icarus Uprising on my coworkers, despite enjoying it more than anything else I played this year. It's ... not the friendliest game, and requires an investment to enjoy that maybe I wouldn't have put in, had I not reviewed the game. I hated it until I loved it.The insane, uncomfortable control scheme is a massive turnoff for the first few hours of gameplay, though I swear it clicks later (and is deeply customizable). The script is goofy to the point of being embarrassing, though it also swung to "hilarious" as the game went on. And the multiplayer takes a lot of "training," being based on the same weird control scheme as the ground battles from the single-player game – and it became the only online multiplayer game I cared to put hours of my own time into in 2012.Kid Icarus Uprising's high barrier to entry makes it very un-Nintendo-like, and the kind of game I usually wouldn't deem worthy of a second look. I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to play a game if I have to wait for it to get fun. But Uprising's payoff is so worth it.
Still finding love in turn-based Japanese role-playing games
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer. When Japanese role-playing games come up in casual conversation, one word that I hear a lot is "nostalgic." As in, it's a genre that brings people back to a childhood spent playing old SNES RPGs, or maybe PlayStation classics like Final Fantasy VII. Traditional JRPG storytelling and gameplay tropes are seen as outdated, none more than the turn-based battle systems that drove all those 8 and 16 and 32-bit RPGs.It's a sentiment shared by many in the industry itself. Responding to the repeated drumbeat for change, for example, Square Enix has broadly hinted that the next numbered Final Fantasy will be an action RPG. In Japan, the action-based co-op RPG Monster Hunter has become something of a holy grail for the industry – the series that everyone aspires to emulate.This is where I take a stand though. Much as I like Ys and a handful of other action RPGs, I like good old-fasionhed turn-based RPGs that much better. Not every RPG has to be as frenetic as a Call of Duty. In fact, I rather prefer it when they're not. Case in point? The turn-based Persona 4 Golden, which remains as relevant now as it was when it first arrived on the PlayStation 2 in 2008.%Gallery-165800%
Deja Review: Persona 4 Golden
This is a Deja Review, a quick look at the new features and relative agelessness of remade, revived and re-released games. Try explaining Persona 4 to a friend sometime – it's not easy. Any explanation inevitably begins with: "Well, it's about Japanese high schoolers who fight demons in an alternative dimension that can be accessed through a TV." And it only gets crazier from there.Back in 2008 though, it was Persona 4's slightly insane premise and its unique format – the story follows a high schooler from April to December as he tries to keep up with his studies, make friends, and solve supernatural murders – that helped it stand out against the drab backdrop of the declining Japanese game industry. It's no less charming on the PlayStation Vita, where it benefits from redrawn high-definition art and some very interesting online functionality. Then, as now, it stands among the best Japanese-developed RPGs of the past decade.%Gallery-165800%
PSN Tuesday: PS All-Stars and Persona 4 Golden out today
The latest PlayStation Store update brings two long-awaited game to PS3 and PS Vita. PlayStation All-Stars is now available in digital form on the PS3 for $59.99, as is a pint-sized version on the PS Vita for $39.99. And Atlus' acclaimed JRPG, Persona 4: Golden, is out on the PS Vita for $39.99.Meanwhile, Clan of Champions and Sine Mora are both available on the PS3, and Jet Set Radio and Halfbrick's great iOS game, Jetpack Joyride, hit the Vita. A new bundle assembles Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequel for $4.99, and some bonus content is thrown in with Hitman Absolution, alongside a discounted Sleeping Dogs.There are also sales on some PS3 Ultimates (including the great Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine), and over in the DLC column we get the fifth episode of Telltale's popular Walking Dead series. Today also marks the debut of Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage for Borderlands 2 and a demo for the new DMC: Devil May Cry.You can see the full list of additions over on the PlayStation blog.
Persona 4 Golden takes an interesting page from Dark Souls
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer. It's always around the month of May that I take a look at the lengthy list of daily decisions in Persona 4 and start to sweat a bit."Should I be going to the sports club so much? Shouldn't I be building my relationship with Yukiko?""Crap, I forgot to buy a book to read.""Exams are coming up and I still haven't hit the first Knowledge threshold. I'm screwed."More than most RPGs, Persona 4 is about the long game. It's set over the course of a full Japanese school year – from April to December – and there are important decisions to be made almost every day. Most of the time, you end up hanging out with various non-player characters, some of whom won't become friendly until you get to know a specific character. It's big, complicated, and stressful.%Gallery-167418%
Persona 4 Golden, Neptunia Victory 'aiming' to hit Europe Feb 22, Mar 15
NIS America is aiming to bring Persona 4 Golden and Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory to Europe on February 22 and March 15 respectively. Though the official release windows for both remain Spring 2013, a PR representative for NIS America confirmed to Joystiq these are the dates being aimed for, and each game will be released "around that time." Official dates will be announced nearer the time, we're told.Golden, the Persona 4 re-release on Vita, is unlikely to come to Europe in more than a standard release, according to the PR rep. In contrast, North America is getting the Solid Gold limited edition set when the game releases on November 20.Regarding Victory, the third Hyperdimension Neptunia entry, North America has the same Spring 2013 official release window as Europe. We wouldn't be surprised if the North American date NIS has in mind for the PS3 game is in the same week.Finally, we learned The Witch and the Hundred Knights "should" also be coming to Europe. The PS3-exclusive action RPG is confirmed as heading to North America, but following its delay in Japan there isn't an official release window for its arrival here. We were told we'd know whether or not it's coming to Europe when the NA release date is announced.The game features the art style of Takehito Harada, of Disgaea and Phantom Brave fame, which can probably be deduced from the cover art alone. As for what's going on in that cover art, your guess is as good as ours.
Persona 4 sounds Golden in this trailer
Persona 4 Golden brings the PS2 role-playing game to Vita with new content on November 20. In the meantime, you can dance along to this new trailer.
Persona 4 Golden's new features sparkle in latest trailer
This short trailer shows off some of the new features coming to Persona 4 Golden, which releases in North America on November 20. It also features the kind of funky upbeat music we'd expect an anime episode of something cutesy like Chobits to chirpily close on.
