Just last week, we found out Luminous Arc 2 was slated for localization (at last!), and since then we've been on the receiving end of a few fresh new English-language screens. We've already slipped in a little humor of our own in our coverage of the title, but conveniently, this time they've done all the work for us. Check out the latest screens while we kick back and relax.
Atlus has also put up the game's official English-language site (move your mouse around the front page for some motiion-sickness-causing lulz), as well as a trailer. Hit it up after the break to learn all about the horrors of anti-witch prejudice, battles, and rings.
Clearing up doubts on whether Image Epoch's bootytastic SRPG sequel, Luminous Arc 2: Will, would ever come stateside, Atlus has announced that it is localizing the game for this fall.
Why would you want to buy a lower budget Final Fantasy Tactics Advance knock-off, especially when you could just get Song Summoner for the iPod instead, you ask? We have an easy answer for that: online multiplayer battles. Also, big butts.
Luminous Arc 2 will retail for $39.99, significantly higher than most other DS titles, but each copy will come in an oversized box containing a CD with selected songs from the soundtrack. Presumably, it's the same CD that was released with the SRPG's preorders in Japan.
Enjoy three video clips from the English-translated game after the break! Interestingly, the voices are still in Japanese; we wonder if Atlus will leave the Japanese audio track intact?
Marvelous has some intriguing DS wares on the horizon, yet it looks like that's where most of it will stay -- on a horizon far, far away from the majority of us. Sob.
Part of a recent financial report from the publisher contained forecasts for forthcoming releases, as spotted by a keen-eyed Siliconera commenter and posted on NeoGAF. The estimations for Avalon Code's were notable, as they included figures for the U.S. and Europe, which in turn tells us we'll be getting the diary-keepin' ARPG here in the west at some point before March 2009.
Alas, we'd only just finished chest-bumping one another and shouting stuff like "HELL YEAH" when our excitement was tempered by the realization that Luminous Arc 2 and Steal Princessdidn't have figures for the U.S. or Europe. This (probably) means that those games won't be localized this financial year (despite our hopes for the former). That's not to say they'll never make the trip across, of course, but for now it's one in, and two out.
After a somewhat stalwart week, DS software recovered nicely and once again dominated the charts. Even though the same amount of games appeared in the top thirty (fifteen in total), they ranked higher on average than they did in the previous week. Good software sales also gave DS hardware a little boost:
PSP: 64,449 (6,087)
Wii: 49,047 (7,475)
Nintendo DS: 37,404 (2,499)
PlayStation 3: 9.071 (1,370)
PlayStation 2: 7,189 (167)
Xbox 360: 1,947 (473)
Four new games debuted in the top thirty, including Sega's Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team!, which nabbed the first place spot from Monster Hunter. The other three games were Glory of Herakles, Scarlet Fragment, and Tea Dogs Room 3. Herakles (or Hercules, if you prefer) is the title that sparks our interest the most, as it's an interesting RPG published by Nintendo. Even so, it's first week sales were (unfortunately) subpar, yet good enough to land it in the top ten.
Check out the sales numbers and rankings for yourself after the break.
The spotlight this week is on Luminous Arc 2: Will, a game that has yet to be confirmed for English language localization. While we're forced to sit and wait jealously, though, forty thousand Japanese gamers ran out and bought the title. Only falling behind the juggernauts Monster Hunter and Mario Kart Wii (and almost squeezing past Nintendo's racer), Image Epoch's SRPG debuted pretty impressively.
In other sales news, the announcement for another Professor Layton game in Japan managed to push the first title in the series back into the top thirty. Aside from that, there weren't any differences in DS software worth mentioning.
In terms of hardware, the numbers for the DS weren't so hot. In fact, we don't remember the sales numbers for Nintendo's handheld ever being this low in Japan. With everyone and their mother already owning a DS in the country, does the system still have room for growth? We won't know for sure until the next big software push, but for now it looks like the dual-screened handheld should get comfy in that third place spot.
PSP: 70,536 (19,348)
Wii: 41,572 (25,736)
Nintendo DS: 34,905 (16,323)
PlayStation 3: 7,701 (353)
PlayStation 2: 7,022 (442)
Xbox 360: 1,474 (176)
The software numbers are located after the break, so go on and take a look. They won't bite!*
*DS Fanboy claims no responsibility for those who get bitten by our sales figures.
It's a good week to be a DS owner, no matter where you are in the world. For once, every major region has at least one interesting title hitting shelves this week, and while Australia's line-up isn't necessarily the most exciting, it's at least varied. If you are a) desperate for a new game and b) a citizen of some place with DS games, it's probably okay to be you.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Drone Tactics
Myst
What's out in the rest of the world's major markets? Take a little trip past the break to find out.
The Luminous Arc 2 love just keeps on coming. These newest screens show some Flash Drives, some basic attacks, and some character art. The Flash Drives are still a little underwhelming in the details department, but for the most part, the game looks stunning. We also like that the character pictured to the right uses a giant rolling pin as her weapon.
Localization for the game is still not planned, but after news of Etrian Odyssey II coming to North America, we're confident that Atlus will come through on Luminous Arc's sequel soon -- even if it's not an in-house game.
There might not be any big butts in these latest Luminous Arc 2: Will screens (posted in the gallery below), but they're still worth looking at. In case you didn't notice from previous screens, the art style is similar to the first game, but with a much more attractive interface and menu system this time. Hopefully that means the developers have fixed some of the more frustrating aspects of the first game, but then again, if this doesn't end up localized, we suppose we have nothing to worry about. After spending some time with the original Luminous Arc, though, we're hoping that we do see this game on our shores eventually.
But, are there already toomany SRPGs bound for the DS for you to hope for localization on this one? Or, would you like to see Luminous Arc 2 reach English-speaking and other markets at some point?
The official website was also updated with some wallpapers and videos, so fans of the series should head on over there and check it out. As for those of you who can read Japanese, you might be interested to know that this game is set to release on May 15th.
In order to promote Image Epoch's SRPG sequel Luminous Arc 2 Will, publisher Marvelous is handing out a bunch of stuff to a lucky few preorderers -- even more stuff than usual. They've announced the bonuses on their website, to be given out upon the game's release on May 15th.
The "Limited Arc" set will contain a Luminous Works 2 book full of artwork and information about the game and a CD entitled Luminous Symphony containing the Yasunori Mitsuda-composed soundtrack. They're at least getting a lot of mileage out of the title with this stuff.
If hearing about things you can't have isn't your thing, Dengeki has included a load of new screens. Go check out some menus that you probably can't read!
Over the past two weeks, we've previewed more DS games than you can shake a whole pack of sticks at, and we're not yet done. In the final part of our look at 2008's most interesting upcoming titles, we're going to zip through a few last intriguing titles. Some of them haven't settled on anything close to a release date, and for others, there's little information available, but for one reason or another, they're all exciting enough to get us to sit up and take notice.
Unfortunately, they're probably also going to have a serious impact on wallets everywhere. As though we weren't already faced with the prospect of buying tons of games! We've never been happier that DS games are at least cheap.
Just last week, we found out Luminous Arc 2 was slated for localization (at last!), and since then we've been on the receiving end of a few fresh new English-language screens. We've already slipped in a little humor of our own in our coverage of the title, but conveniently, this time they've done all the work for us. Check out the latest screens while we kick back and relax.
Clearing up 
6,087)
7,475)
It's a good week to be a DS owner, no matter where you are in the world. For once, every major region has at least one interesting title hitting shelves this week, and while Australia's line-up isn't necessarily the most exciting, it's at least varied. If you are a) desperate for a new game and b) a citizen of some place with DS games, it's probably okay to be you.
The 
There might not be any 
In order to promote Image Epoch's SRPG sequel 
_thumbnail.png "Defenders of Law, Inc: Crime in Willburg (PC Screens)")
