Persona 4 Golden
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Vita's Persona 4 Golden is both exciting and worrisome
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. I can't tell you how excited I am for Persona 4 Golden. In a holiday that's relatively barren of RPGs (unless you like MMOs), it immediately stands out.As RPGs go, it's pretty much a perfect fit for the Vita. It's lengthy, the art looks sharp on the OLED screen, and it plays out in discrete chunks that mesh well with the portable experience. It's just the sort of fully-fleshed portable RPG that the Vita needs.It's also a port, something that's become an unfortunate trend for the PlayStation Vita. In fact, all three of the system's most anticipated RPGs – Final Fantasy X, Persona 4 Golden, and now Muramasa: The Demon Blade – are ports or updates from aging release lists. I'm not going to lie: This was exactly what I was afraid of when the Vita first arrived. Publishers appear to be playing it safe on the platform, to the detriment of RPG fans.Granted, it's always a bit of a battle between the desire to take the path of least resistance and the desire to make something new at the outset. Early adopters are typically more willing to go out and try something new when the library is still small, but the smaller install base makes heavy investment in a new platform risky. It's very much a chicken-and-egg scenario – platforms need dynamic new properties to sell systems, but publishers want to see a large userbase before they are willing to leave their comfort zone. And it appears this is a bigger problem for the Vita than the 3DS.%Gallery-157050%
Persona 4 Golden rushes North America on November 20
Persona 4 Golden will arrive in North America for the PlayStation Vita on November 20. Publisher Atlus also noted in today's announcement that Persona 4 Golden is Japan's best-selling Vita game to date.The game has received several enhancements from PlayStation 2's Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, including updated audio and graphics, along with new events and a new character. We now know what we'll be playing at the dinner table while ignoring family at Thanksgiving.%Gallery-165800%
Persona 4: Solid Gold edition full of gold, only 10,000 available
Persona 4: Golden will be available in a Solid Gold Premium Edition at a run of only 10,000 units, Atlus announced today. The shiny gold bundle will see the upcoming JRPG port accompany a lot of Vita-orientated goodies, coming in at a price of $69.99 in the US.Those golden goodies include a very golden Hori pouch, a very golden Hori protective skin, some very golden stickers, and a not so golden face cover. Should you want, you can get the skin separately with a pre-order. Persona 4: Golden and its Solid Gold variant will hit American stores sometime this fall.
Pre-order Persona 4 Golden for a Vita skin
By now, you know to expect a lovely artbook and/or soundtrack as a pre-order bonus with any new Atlus game. That's just what Atlus wants you to think, and then it shocks you with a Vita skin! Surprise!The "limited" pre-order bonus for Persona 4 Golden is the above Vita skin, along with eight Persona 4 Golden Vita wallpapers that line up nicely with said protective skin. The game (and the skin) are due this fall.%Gallery-162635%
Vita and 3DS give RPGs a chance to shine at E3
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. Next week, representatives from Nintendo and Sony will take the stage at E3 with the goal of fostering excitement for the Vita and 3DS. When it comes time for the sizzle reels and the assurances of publisher support, watch closely. For Japanese RPG developers, the time is now to make a splash.By any measure, Japanese-developed RPGs play an important role on mobile devices dedicated to gaming. It's not just that Monster Hunter dominated the PSP. Many of the best Japanese-developed RPGs of the past few years, The World Ends With You and Dragon Quest IX among them, have been handheld. With the 3DS exploding in Japan, there's little reason to believe that will change any time soon.
Persona 4 Golden for Vita arrives in North America this autumn
Atlus announced this morning that it'll publish Persona 4 Golden for the PlayStation Vita this fall in North America. The remake was announced for Japan late last summer, and now those across the Pacific will be able to enjoy it without a significant foreign language education.The Vita edition contains several upgrades from Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, the original, critically acclaimed PlayStation 2 title that came late in the console's life. Persona 4 Golden will receive visual and audio upgrades, including more voice dialogue, and an "online dungeon rescue feature" for players about to die in the alternate world. Finally, the developers have added new events, new personas and another character in "Mary."Update: Folks noticed at the way bottom of the official Persona 4 Golden website that there was trademark information for Kinect, Xbox 360 and PS3. Imaginations flared. Atlus tells Joystiq, "Just a simple copy/paste issue. P4G is releasing exclusively for PS Vita."
