"Voice in my head, you better shut up before I jam a fork into my temple."
Whether it's the constant drugging of our green tea that the Joystiq types conduct or the crippling claustrophobia that comes from working for 29 hours a day in a dark cell (at least they let us sleep for the other hour in the day), all alone save for the tapping of our laptop and the morse code heard through the walls that us Fanboy workers use to communicate with each other, it's tough to find things to brighten our day. But, thankfully, DS owners in North America receive another drop in the well of pleasant gaming that has been bestowed upon them.
Disgaea, the SRPG series that holds both an equal portion of love and contempt in your heart (we hear it's a pretty tough game), has been confirmed for North America. This means that, uh ... you can be frustrated on the go? Actually, it probably means you want to hug someone right now (or explode, if you're this commenter). How about you hug your monitor, and we'll hug ours'? That way, it'll be like we hugged each other.
After announcing its plans to release five new games for the DS, Nippon Ichi Software has finally revealed screenshots and details for our two most anticipated titles of the bunch -- Disgaea: Prince of the Demon World and the Red Moon and Jigsaw World. NIS also mentioned Rhapsody: In Musical Adventure, likely a port of the PlayStation SRPG.
According to Jeux-France, as with the PSP's Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, this DS release will be an adaptation of the original PlayStation 2 game, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Though we're not sure yet how much new content will be thrown into the DS remake, we would be happy just to get some polished touchscreen controls and online support (not too hopeful on the latter feature, however). Run past the break for the scanned pages!
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!
Are you full of mech love? If so, you might be glad to know that Front Mission: 2089 has been dated ... for Japan. Oh well, at least it's a start. The game is set to arrive in the country of our envy on May 29th, which we'll also jealously refer to as "the not-so-distant future."
Square Enix's upcoming title may be a cell phone port, but the DS version promises to have more flair and extra maps. We even enjoyed the mech-less teaser for the game, although we'd prefer to see some actual gameplay.
Will this title be released outside of Japan? Let's hope so -- but as we know, waiting for a localization announcement from Square Enix is like waiting for a watched pot to boil.
We've been buzzing (har) with anticipation for bug-based strategy title Drone Tactics since we first discovered that Atlus was localizing the game, but recent developments have caused some confusion about when we'll getting our hands on it.
Things seemed perfectly clear earlier this month, after Atlus themselves told us we could expect the title on April 8th. Now, however, both GameStop and GameFly have Drone Tactics listed for release on May 13th and May 15th respectively.
Concerned and frightened, we contacted Atlus for clarification, though have yet to receive a definitive answer. As soon as we know more, dear reader, so will you!
Nippon Ichi Software has announced it is working on five games for the DS, and has already begun to tease us with incredibly vague details. All we know for now is that there'll be an action game, a management sim, a puzzle game (Puchi Puchi Virus? We suspect so), an RPG, and a tactical RPG.
Of the five, that last one caused much excitement in these parts, because it increases our chances of seeing some Disgaea goodness on our favorite handheld. We seem to recall NIS raising the possibility of a Disgaea port on the DS in the past!
Another Japanese SRPG is making its way to the DS, known as Spectral Force: Genesis. If you haven't heard of the Spectral Force series, it's probably because the games usually don't get released outside of Japan.
With the exception of Innocent Rage, an Xbox 360 game that's being brought to North America by Atlus, most Spectral Force titles don't get localized. There is hope for Genesis, though; since it's coming out for the Nintendo DS, aka "the system that a lot of people own with a lot of niche titles," it's not impossible. We're pulling for it, at least. Yes, we say that about almost every game released in Japan, but we really mean it! If you read this far, you're probably wondering right about now why we're so intrigued by this Idea Factory game.
If you ask us, Advance Wars-esque turn-based combat crossed with giant mecha bugs is just too delicious a prospect to swat away. Evidently, Atlus agrees with us. The Japanese publisher revealed it was localizing Drone Tactics late last year, and now we have an exact date for the U.S. release: April 8th.
We've also been treated to a further 29 screens of the game (see the gallery below), showing off units that range from bomb-dropping moths to cannon-toting pillbugs, and just some of the 100 customizable weapons and upgrades available in the game. If developer Success Corp. has struck an appropriate balance between said units, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin might find itself competing with Drone Tactics for our valuable SRPG time.
Sting's new RPG Knights in the Nightmare has a lot going on -- so much that we might need some incorporeal wisp to inhabit us and play the game in our stead.
Part of the issue, however, is Sting's confusing description of the game. It follows the same flow as most tactical RPGs, but it's described as a five-stage process. Each round of combat begins with some sort of setup -- a scene that relates the battle to the story. Then the "tactics" phase begins and you arrange your soldiers strategically. After that, the battle begins, and you control your knights in a turn-based system.
When the battle has ended, another story scene plays. Then a "setup" phase in which you manage and level up your characters. In addition to using items, you can transfer abilities between characters via a "Transoul" system.
Posted Feb 12th 2008 8:00PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News
Another Rondo of Swords preview has hit the scene, and it's given us another reason to look forward to the SRPG and its unorthodox combat system. Playing through these 40+ hour epics, you tend to accumulate more teammates than you can effectively manage. Who has the time or patience to level up all the Sword Dudes that join your band, especially when you're still trying to train Archer Girl? More often than not, those Sword Dudes spend the game just hanging around, making cynical remarks about your primary fighters.
Rondo of Swords has a creative solution to that dilemma -- send those ne'er-do-wells to run some errands. Instead of loafing around and eating Funyuns while your elite crew does all the work, your Sword Dudes can pick up essentials at local shops, level up at training workshops, and tag your MP3s complete simple quests. Way to go, Sword Dudes!
Posted Feb 8th 2008 12:00PM by Eric Caoili
Filed under: News
We were content to simply give Rondo of Swords the same obligatory coverage we reserve for most othergeneric SRPGs, but 1UP's Jeremy Parish, the scoundrel that he is, had to ruin it all with a glowing preview of the Atlus-published game, painting it as a "sleeper in the making [that] just might reinvent strategy RPGs."
Rondo of Swords takes an innovative approach to combat, tossing aside the usual move-next-to-your-enemy-and-select-attack conventions. Instead, players draw paths for characters that go through their opponent (or opponents!). As simple a change as it might sound, this system allows for a range of new stratagems -- scattering your team to limit the amount of vulnerable characters, carrying out "drive-bys" to attack units before moving out of their range, etc.
Throw in an interesting story about royal deception and some pleasing-looking combat cutscenes, and this suddenly becomes a game we can get behind.
If you'll play any SRPG or mobile suit game you can get your hands on, regardless of whether it's in English or not, break open your wallet for SD Gundam G Generation: Cross Drive. Play Asia has the not-due-for-localization title on sale for the next week, asking only $14.90 for the chibi mecha game. As you can see in the trailer, Cross Drive plays a lot like the Super Robot Taisen GBA games Atlus brought to the states two years ago.
Hopefully, we'll see similar deals for Gundam 00 when the 3D action-stravaganza comes out (and stays) in Japan.
Some people may be a little iffy on the updated character designs and art in the upcoming Front Mission 2089, but after playing Front Mission DS, we're pretty excited about anything Square Enix (re)makes along these battle lines for our dual screens -- and that includes games that originated in the mobile sphere. We expect another solid SRPG experience with Border of Madness.
Above, you can see the mobile version on the left, with the DS game, which has no firm release date as yet, on the right. Clearly, not much is required for an update to the gameplay ... the colors are a little more lush, and everything is a little brighter, but otherwise, it looks like Front Mission. And while we're still waiting for a few other titles in the franchise (like Front Mission 5!), that really can't be a bad thing.
After the opening of the official site for Blue Dragon Plus late last week, we can start fretting less about the game's protracted development, and concentrate more on gawking at pretty pictures.
Conveniently enough, Famitsu has just posted a selection of fresh Blue Dragon Plus screens and art, and things are looking as vibrant as ever -- it's encouraging to see Mistwalker and Brownie Brown cramming so many enemies and pyrotechnics into the DS's relatively small screens. Apparently, finding something/someone to fight will not be difficult.
And by "promise" we mean "screenshots." And also the fact that if AQ Interactive is bothering to set up a site at all, it means that they're probably planning to release the game for really reals. The "system" page on the new website confirms that Blue Dragon Plus is a "real-time simulation RPG," although the screens (which, by the way, are the first we've seen that haven't been scanned from a magazine) do a pretty good job doing that by themselves!
If you've played through the original Xbox 360 game, the site will make it immediately obvious to you that this is a direct sequel, taking place after the events of that game.
"Dave, you silly billy, the game was already confirmed!"
In order to promote Image Epoch's SRPG sequel 
Are you full of mech love? If so, you might be glad to know that Front Mission: 2089 has been dated ... for Japan. Oh well, at least it's a start. The game is set to arrive in the country of our envy on May 29th, which we'll also jealously refer to as "the not-so-distant future."
We've been buzzing (har) with anticipation for bug-based strategy title 
Nippon Ichi Software has announced it is working on five games for the DS, and has already begun to tease us with incredibly vague details. All we know for now is that there'll be an action game, a management sim, a puzzle game (
Another Japanese SRPG is making its way to the DS, known as Spectral Force: Genesis. If you haven't heard of the Spectral Force series, it's probably because the games usually don't get released outside of Japan.
If you ask us, 
Sting's new RPG 
After the 
And by "promise" we mean "screenshots." And also the fact that if AQ Interactive is bothering to set up a site at all, it means that they're probably 
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