Shin Megami Tensei
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Atlus teases new 'Devil Survivor' game
The latest issue of Famitsu features this two-page ad from Atlus, revealing the title of a new DS game: Devil Survivor. We can kind of see the kanji for megami next to it, which is obviously used in the company's Shin Megami Tensei titles. NeoGAFfer duckroll identifies the tiny kanji string as Megami Ibunroku, which was used in the name of the first Persona game. So there's a faint chance it could be somehow Persona-related, but with the Persona series now pretty big, we'd imagine Atlus would actually use the Persona name on a DS spinoff.According to the ad, more information will be available on November 7.
Joyswag: Persona shirts, signed art books
Our initial plan was to give you excellent readers brand new copies of Atlus' upcoming Persona 4, a desire which those purveyors of quirk deemed noble, but overly contingent on them finishing the game. Sensing our outraged impatience regarding the anticipated RPG's December 9th release, they instead granted us some Persona 3 art books (signed by character designer Shigenori Soejima!) and Persona 4 t-shirts (tagless!). The chance to wear Persona on your person, eh? To enter this giveaway: Leave a comment telling us who your summoned Persona is! It could be anyone or anything from Cthulhu to something infinitely more evil, like TV's Patrick Duffy. You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec and sprawling, otherworldly dungeons). Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day (comment more than once and you'll be kept in detention). This entry period ends at 7:00pm ET on Friday, August 22nd. We'll randomly select three winners at that time, who will receive a signed art book and t-shirt, valued at $50 (can you really put a value on that signature?). Please check your e-mail! For a list of complete rules that you can peruse or shoot in the head, click here. If you're really set on winning, sign up for the Atlus Faithful spam ... err, mailing list -- another three winners will be randomly selected from Faithful members. Update: Entries closed! Keep an eye on your inbox over the next few days!
Atlus bringing Persona 4 to North America on December 9
While Japanese audiences will be playing Persona 4 this July, North American gamers won't have to wait long to wander the halls of Gekkoukan High. Atlus USA has taken time away from blowing things up with small explosives this holiday weekend to announce plans to bring Persona 4 to North America on December 9. Sweetening the deal even further, the publisher also notes that each copy of the game will come bundled with a soundtrack CD featuring "select music" from the title, which represents the sixth in the role-playing series, and the latest to cling tightly to Sony's aging last-gen console. If, however, you're having trouble waiting until this holiday season to get your Persona fix, check out the game's English announcement trailer after the break.
Reminder: Win Persona 3 FES & signed art book!
What?! Joystiq's giving away the totally certified "Game of the Week," you ask? Don't ask questions! Just enter for your chance to win, right here. (You still have two opportunities left, if you leave a comment today and another tomorrow before 5pm ET!)
Joyswag: Win Persona 3 FES & signed art book
[Update: Entry period is over, folks. We're contacting the winners by email, so go check!] If you missed out on Persona 3, last year's criminally under-printed and underplayed -- but not under-appreciated! -- high school sim-cum-dungeon crawler, here's your chance to take "The Journey." (And for those who didn't miss out, we know you've been dying to discover "The Answer!") In conjunction with this week's release of Persona 3 FES, Joystiq and Atlus are giving away three copies of the game, each accompanied by an art book signed by lead artist Shigenori Soejima. This updated edition of the game features the original story ("The Journey") stuffed with new content, including quests, events, items and Personas, plus an additional 30-hour-plus episode, "The Answer," which promises to deliver the true ending. (Joytip: Game data from the original Persona 3 release can be imported into FES.) Just follow these rules to enter: Leave a comment telling us what you think "FES" stands for. (We know, we know, it's short for "festival" -- but c'mon! Be creative.) You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec). Limit 1 entry (comment) per person per calendar day. This entry period ends at 5:00pm ET on Friday, April 25th. We'll randomly select three winners at that time (please check your email!). For a list of complete rules, click here. (Total retail value of prize is approximately $35.) %Gallery-21233%
New games this week: Emo kids win (or Persona 3:FES) edition
And verily did Eyelinerus decree that in the fourth week of April the goth kids would hold sway over all that they surveyed. And all the films at the cineplex would be replaced with The Virgin Suicides, and the radio would be replaced by silence, for the mere playing of recorded music through electronic amplification makes it too commercial. The week would be peaceful, save for the Great Goth Kid Purging, a bloodless, but still teriffically weepy affair. And the games? Well, the most impressive console release would be Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: FES, a souped-up version of the RPG released in August of last year. And on portable consoles? Why, The World Ends With You, sure to be an emo kid classic. Oh, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon would also be released too, for reasons Eyelinerus would prefer not to talk about. See all the slightly less emo titles that slipped through the cracks after the break.
Check out 17 minutes of Persona 4 footage
The issue of Famitsu announcing Persona 4 also included a bonus DVD insert, with a whopping 17 minutes of cutscenes and in-game footage of the highly-anticipated RPG. The footage reveals the return of Igor, and the departure of the pistol-like "Evoker" used to summon Personae. Instead, it appears that the player-characters all wear glasses, which they remove in order to summon helpful spirits. Televisions will also play a major role in the game, which otherwise does not appear to diverge much gameplay-wise from Persona 3. Not that that's a bad thing, of course. Check out the entire 17 minutes of footage after the break. [Via Siliconera]
Persona 4 to school Japan in July
Repetitively suicidal magical teenager news now, with Atlus Japan lifting the lid on its PlayStation 2 follow-up to Persona 3. Confirming earlier reports, Siliconera has revealed that Persona 4 is scheduled to arrive in Japan on July 10th, complete with a new weather system. Though a meteorological forecast might not sound like the most exciting addition to an RPG (unless its the name of a spell), consider that misty days will signal someone's untimely demise in Persona 4. There's no word yet on whether Atlus USA will bring the game to English audiences, but with Persona 3: FES preparing to make the jump, we'd be surprised if this one remained in Japan. In the meantime, you can pop by insert credit for some Famitsu magazine scans showcasing the franchise's recognizable art style.
Atlus announces Persona 3 FES for the US on April 22
True to its word (or at least to the word of a timer clicking down to zero), Atlus USA has lifted the shroud of secrecy off of its intentions surrounding Persona FES, announcing that it's bringing the RPG expansion to the US on April 22 for $29.99. The new package will feature both an "enhanced version" of Persona 3 with new bonus features alongside a new chapter -- promising an impressive 30+ hours of gameplay it says here. Even better, Atlus notes that the new chapter will be able to be played independently of the core game, though players with Persona 3 game saves will be able to use their save data in the new chapter. We'd like to come up with something witty with which to close out the story, but honestly we're too busy already plotting out how exactly we're going to get our hands on the game before it disappears forever. [UPDATE: Oops, looks like the game is coming one one disc instead of two as previously reported...blame it on lack of caffeine]
Atlus countdown raises hopes for Persona FES
Atlus is up to something. We have a sixth sense about these things, though the ominous countdown on the company's website is a good indicator that something is up. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until the clock finally ticks down on February 26 to find out exactly what the something is. We have our own ideas, like a reprinting of Odin Sphere so maybe we could find the darn thing. However, many internet sleuths have another idea, citing the timer's background as having been lifted from Persona 3, and hoping against hope that when the timer finally reaches zero Atlus will announce plans to localize Persona 3 FES, a special 'director's cut' style edition of the company's earlier released niche RPG. The expansion to the original game was first released in April 2007 in Japan, but has since that time eluded North American players, despite numerous rumors that Persona 3 FES was indeed on its way. Now the Atlus faithful are left to wait a few more days, time enough to ponder just what the niche publisher has waiting in the wings. [Thanks Kenneth]
Best of the Rest: Scott's Picks of 2007
Odin Sphere (PS2) Vanillaware's side-scrolling action RPG caught me completely off guard when it came out, but I fell instantly in love with the game's style. Practically everything about Odin Sphere is unique: the circular levels; the gigantic, beautifully-drawn sprites; the bizarre food-crafting mechanics. Toss in a healthy amount of Norse mythology, and you've got one damn fine, under-appreciated game. Here's hoping Vanillaware's upcoming Wii title is up to snuff.
Bloomberg: Persona 4 dev sticks with PS2
Already finding critical and commercial success with Persona 3 on a noticeably last-gen console, it looks like developer Atlus doesn't see any reason to jump ship for the sequel. An article at Bloomberg Japan (via Siliconera) listing upcoming Atlus titles has Persona 4 coming next fiscal year for the PlayStation 2. (Note: image above from Persona 3.) The word doesn't come directly from Atlus, so there could be a typo or miscommunication (major news outlets are prone to mistakes every now and then). The platform, however, would not be surprising given the company's comfort with developing for the PS2 and Sony's continued success with the now value-priced system. As Siliconera notes, the timing of Persona 4's release could make it a tie-in with Persona -trinity soul-, an anime series due out next year.
Persona 3 delayed until Aug. 14
Atlus has sent word that Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 has missed its July 24 release date and has been rescheduled until Aug. 14. The problems were apparently caused by an error while manufacturing the art books for the demonic high school RPG/semi dating sim. We know what you're thinking. "Screw the art book," you say, "I want to join up with the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad now!" Atlus has already thought of you, little one, and they promise the delay is for your own good, saying "the package we have spent the last few months designing, one intended to honor the series and reward fans for an eight year wait, would be irreparably compromised if we were to revise or abandon the deluxe package." Though we'll miss whiling away the hours hunting demons, we're glad for any company willing to put quality first.
Import game releases for the week of 03/04/07
It's a new week and another chance for me to let our readers know about the tasty import game releases of the week (tastes like ramen noodles). Every week we showcase new import games for you to play in your PSP (PSP plays imports without any modding). Let me start by saying that honestly it's a pretty light release list this week, but after last week, any game releases is a feat. No real in depth previews to do on the games this week, as it's a week of budget re-releases. If you haven't bought these games yet and are interested, this week sees "Best" versions of Princess Crown, AI Go, AI Mah-Jong, AI Shogi and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner. Princess Crown is made by the same company that's making the much talked about upcoming PS2 RPG Odin Sphere, so there may be more people interested in importing it now. That's it for this week! Next week we have some actual new import games to showcase, so we'll see you then.
Some kind of Monster Kingdom
Elaborate costumes? Check! Magic seals? Check! Monster battling and androgynous men? Check! Well, according to my checklist Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner is indeed a Japanese RPG. While it sounds similar in title, this game has nothing to do with Capcom's Monster Hunter series. According to RPGamer the game features monster breeding, wi-fi battles and trading, over five hours of voice acting and a soundtrack featuring ten loved RPG composers. The game comes from Cozy Okada of Shin Megami Tensei fame. For the curious, Gamespot has new screens of this Atlus RPG. If after seeing those screens you're anxious to play it as soon as possible, have no fear. You can get grabbed by the jewlies soon since Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner hits store shelves this February.
A MegaTen fanboy covers a MegaCool interview
Any hardcore RPG fanatic knows about the long running Shin Megami Tensei series and have been keeping an eye on the latest installment set for release in October on the PS2: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner. An interview, covered at Luv2Game, talks about that and the future of the MegaTen series. While covering Devil Summoner here would be awesome, it's not PS3 related, so we'll skip that portion, even though that portion of the interview is strongly recommended for anyone who loves RPGs or Action-RPGs.About halfway through the interview, the future of MegaTen games comes into question. Kazuma Kaneko, lead designer and artist for the games, responds: "probably the next Devil Summoner title." Cool, cool... but where? "Probably the PS3 and Wii." Now, longstanding supporters know that the original titles were set in a first-person perspective and that style of gameplay would work best on the Wii, with the Wiimote and all the intertactions and such. Are we to assume, then, that the next Devil Summoner will be on the PS3 along with any other more "modern" RPG MegaTen games? Let's hope so!
