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Another day another Final Fantasy game announced. The Crystal chronicles series has spawned another game in the form of Echoes of time. I’m usually skeptical about Final Fantasy announcements as Square rarely bring anything new to the table. But this game actually seems quite cool. You’ll see and know why after the vid.

The Square Enix developed Pollux engine will allow players to play the game together whether they’re playing on a Wii or DS. It’s great to see developers pushing DS and Wii connectivity - even if it did take 2 years. And as the trailer showed, the game is also playable online. DS players can play online with Wii players and visa-versa. Awesome news and one thing that was oddly missing from Ring of fates. Although now we know why.

Square Enix have not disclosed the control schemes and general specifications of the 2 versions of the game, although there will obviously be differences. It’ll probably boil down to preference in terms of which version you pick up. The DS will have dual screens which will allow speedy access to in-game menu’s and nifty stylus controls, but the Wii will have the benefit of being able to be played on the big screen.

I’m unsure of how this game will retail though: whether the Wii and DS versions will retail separately or come in a pack together for those who want to be able to play the game both at home on the big screen and on the go.

Final Fantasy Crystal chronicles: Echoes of time is slated for a January 2009 release in Japan. There’s no confirmed European, North American or Australian release date - but I’m sure Western gamers and those down under will see this by August 2009 the latest.

The connectivity between systems and the online play between systems is a good look indeed. I’m glad a third party is exploring new avenues where Wii and DS games are concerned. Hopefully if this game manages to pull it off well it’ll open doors for other developers to push the connectivity between the systems even further. The forthcoming DSi definitely lends itself better to future DS to Wii connectivity with its new dashboard and SD card support.

As stoked as I am for Echoes of time, I have to ask the question: What the hell is going on with The Crystal bearers!?

If your tabletop gaming group is getting bored of slaying monsters and turning the undead, how about cleaning up the mansion? Maid: The Role Playing Game allows you to do precisely that, play as a maid serving in a mansion. This roleplaying game isn’t new at all in Japan but it is the first to get completely translated into English.

The official website describes it as:

You are a maid, having worked dutifully for the Saionji family for several years. You are also a shy albino princess who does odd jobs for the yakuza, and train with the three-section staff. Your peer Maya is an outgoing young maid with freckles, a streak of being greedy for sweets, and who also happens to be a military cyborg.

Your master is a kind teenager who lives in the mansion alone, but is a bit of a train otaku. He is also a cursed werewolf. With amnesia.

Somewhere between doing the laundry and preparing lunch, the master is kidnapped by evil ninjas. They escape through the basement of the mansion, which contains a portal to the Netherworld. It’s up to you to get him back before dinnertime.

All in a day’s work for a maid!

Translated by Ewen Cluney, the game features art by renowned doujin artist IWAKO. For about $30 bucks for the print version or $8 for the PDF you could be playing as a Maid, a Romance Maid, a Butler or a Master! Oh boy! And forget about the traditional RPG stats. Its all about athletics, affection, skill, cunning, luck and will in here. I have to say though, the thought of maybe breaking a few vases in a beginner campaign sure beats getting slaughtered by Kobolds, or worse yet, Dire Rats.

[Maid RPG]

The latest Phantasy Star game in development is Phantasy Star Zero for the DS, which will be yet another title in the Phantasy Star Online mold, bringing some full-featured Wi-Fi functionality to the table. Like PSO, you can choose from a story or multiplayer mode and play through dungeons in a non-persistent virtual world.

In the multiplayer mode you can form parties of up to four players and tackle the game’s “Hunter” missions on local wireless or Wi-Fi. You can communicate using a Picto-Chat-like interface, which sounds pretty awesome. You can even save your doodles for later use! This title sounds like a great way to make use of the DS’ capabilities and get more people into the franchise. It’s slated to come out in Japan this winter.

[1up.com]

This new freeware RPG, made in the ubiquitous RPG Maker XP, has been causing quite the buzz around my corner of the internets, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. I don’t feel like it’s really worth giving a full review to (and I didn’t have the willpower to finish the damn thing), but it’s still worth checking out.

The best part about the game is the presentation: the art by veritable e-celebrity Paul Robertson (the guy who did Pirate Baby’s Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006) is charming, and the dialogue is fiercely funny, full of pithy bile culled from the underbelly of the American imageboard subculture. Also included are plenty of references to other RPGs like Earthbound and Lunar, and of course the whole affair is heavily inspired by Welcome to the NHK.

As for the gameplay, well, it’s a dungeon-crawl in the worst sense of the word. It’s a bit appropriate given the grim nature of the subject matter and the general feeling of hopelessness throughout, but it isn’t fun. Be prepared to grind, grind, grind, if you want to get ahead in the game.

That said, if you’re looking to kill a few hours, like old-school RPGs, and want to see what all the fuss is about, then try out Hikkikomori Quest.

Barely a few days after this post about peeping at hot baths, Atlus USA has come out of the closet to impart to us information that Persona 4 WILL be released in the US, specifically on the 9th of December later this year.

The $39.90 game will also include a soundtrack CD that contains music from the game for your listening pleasure. The game, judging from the promo video looks more polished than it’s predecessor, Persona 3, and is as just as funky (if not more). The video also shows that you’ll be able to continue your relationship-linking exploits (ergo pimping skills) in this game as well (well, it’s being hinted at in a not-so-subtle manner).

While I look forward to this, I hope Atlus has it in their hearts to add in a little extra as well *winkwink*. Oh, and here’s a Youtube video for your viewing pleasure.

[Joystiq and RPGFan]

This is now my wallpaper

FUCK YES! Excuse me while I throw my editorial style out the window for this one. I’m just really fucking excited! If you load up this page on Square-Enix’s Japanese site you’ll be greeted by a really, really REALLY familiar clock sound. The URL for this site also ending in CTDS and the DS logo in the website mean only one thing dear reader!

CHRONO TRIGGER FOR THE NINTENDO DS! Holy crap, as much as I have bashed Square doing rehashes of games for the DS I simply cannot contain my overwhelming excitement over playing Chrono Trigger again, on the DS. There are really no more details right now but that doesn’t matter. Readers, no…. friends, excuse me while I kiss the sky!

[Chrono Trigger For Nintendo DS]

Enterbrain’s next entry in its RPG Maker series is coming out for PC, but you’ll be able to export and publish games to an XBox 360 via the XNA Creators Club.  It may be possible to publish said games as free to play XNA Community Games as well.

This could be a boon for doujin game developers who want to gain wider exposure, and also for the fans looking to play more obscure games on 360. It’s hard to say whether this will take off or not, but knowing the persistence and ingenuity of indie developers, this should lead to the production of some quality titles.

[Siliconera]

You heard right, this ain’t your old bread-and-butter port here. PS3 owners will get a cavalcade of goodies in this version of the game, including new characters, quests, dungeons, endings, costumes, tunes, and concept art!

These upgrades are confirmed for the Japanese version, due out in September 2008, and will probably be in the US port as well, whose date is TBA. In an age of dwindling exclusives, it looks like the PS3 keeps getting more small advantages than was once anticipated. And with titles like Final Fantasy XIII and Valkyria Chronicles on the way, Sony will finally be a strong contender in the RPG arena.

[Kotaku]

I was getting many a Final Fantasy XII vibe from this trailer. I noted a figure that looked like a Judge, a dude who looked like Basch with a longer hair-do, a young poncey man baring a striking resemblance to Vaan, a girl who looked like a bit like Ashe and a city that I swear blind was Rabanastre. Oh…and the bad British accents. Even the game title reminds me of Final Fantasy. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got The last remnant II, The last remnant chronicles, The last remnant II-2 and The last remnant card battle DS.

The game doesn’t look all that good for a Square Enix developed Xbox 360 game though does it? There were times when it genuinely looked like a PS2 game. Plus, the trailer itself was pretty mundane. It lacks the ‘Wow’ factor, because it has a very ’seen it all before’ quality about it. I’m not sure what it is about Square Enix, but they aren’t bringing it graphically on the 360. Infinite undiscovery wasn’t that much of a next-gen looker neither.

It’s great that Square Enix are supporting the Xbox 360 though. They seem to be coming through on their word that this generation they’ll be supporting every system. And this game is bound to have those dust gathered units on shop shelves in Japan finally get sold.

The last remnant will be releasing on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 later this year.

Penny Arcade’s creators, Tycho and Gabe, claim that nowadays they see PA as more of a franchise than a webcomic. Never has this been more apparent than in Hothead Games’ Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, a godsend to children of the ’90s that spent their days with point-and-click adventures and turn-based console RPGs. While it’s short, and the bosses are somewhat cheap, $20 is a perfectly fair asking price for PA’s first video game.

Read more!

Expectations run high for the new Square-Enix/Tri-Ace game slated to hit the Xbox360 September 2. An accompanying press release offers some insight into game features like “situational battles,” promising a wide variety of tactical opportunities as well as environmental interaction. The press release also cryptically states you will rely “not only on sight and sound, but also scent.” Oh god, what? Perhaps you’ll have to grind your scent stat to discover good eats in the wilderness?

The trailer doesn’t shed much light on the battle system, but there is a combo counter, and judging by the map seen in battle, you’ll engage your enemies in the same actual space that you’re exploring (like FFXII). Boasting some brilliant colors and flashy special attack animations, the game is at least guaranteed to be one of the prettier JRPG’s in recent memory.

[Kotaku] [GameTrailers.com]

Thats right! Comon sense out of a game company, I guess we’ve covered it all now, haven’t we? We could die peacefully now after this. Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix, pronounced this pledge in Japan earlier this week by saying they will start “making simultaneous releases the norm.”

Oh my! I feel like I may faint just typing it. Now you may wonder if this applies to FFXIII or Dragon Quest IX, frankly I couldn’t care less. This is a pledge for the future, a trend for the industry. Perhaps one day gamers in Europe and Australia wont have to wait almost a year just for some mystic reasoning that’s never justified. They should be the happiest of us all. Here’s to the future of gaming, may it come to us all at the same time!

[IGN]

This game is old by our standards (and those who picked up the game in Japan 7 months ago), but only now have Square Enix given the game a North American and European release date. Known as It’s a wonderful world in Japan, the game will release in North America and Europe as The world ends with you in April.

The game is an RPG produced by Tetsuya Nomura and centers around a hip young boy named Neku who finds himself in the mi?{???m1dShibuya and the sudden ability to read the hearts and minds of those around him. He also finds out that he’s part of some twisted game that prevents him leaving Shibuya and will have him removed from existence if he doesn’t play along. )Bummer. And I thought I having a shit day). During his ‘game playing’ he will team up with other young Shibuya dwellers: Shiki, Joshua, Beat and Rhyme - who undoubtedly will have some ties to the ‘death game’ and aid in convoluting the plot something chronic. Players will be able to take control of these characters during battles (all of whom are have unique attacks) and utilize the DS’s touch screen to lay the hurt on enemies.

The world ends with you is different to many of Square Enix’s past efforts in that it seems to not only be set in a real life location, but is very much saturated in current pop culture. The characters are all dressed in hip casual wear and the game trades Hitoshi Sakimoto and Yoko Shimamura soundtracks for funky Hip-hop and Techno numbers, along with tracks contributed by vocal artists. The game also looks as though it draws many parallels to Kingdom Hearts, undoubtedly because of Nomura’s involvement. Neku’s style is quite similar to Sora’s and the enemies in the game could pass as heartless with their floaty blackness and hostility. Enough words. Check out the trippy intro to the game below…

Read more!

Earlier today Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons and father of RPGs died of heart failure, he is survived by many sons, grandsons and legions of adoring fans, he was 69.

Today the world lost a great man, he was responsible for the birth of RPGs, from DnD to the latest Final Fantasy or Tales game. MMORPGs would not be if it were not for the boundless imagination of Gary Gygax. He was a kind man who loved games and loved what people made of games and even more, what games made of people.

“It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them,” His wife, Gail Gygax said. “He really enjoyed that.”

It would be an understatement to say that he has been an influence in our lives, this man is an cultural icon who’s touched millions of lives. His passion for games is something that now more than ever should inspire us to pursue our own passions. On the subject of death he once said:

“I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else.”

And that we will good sir, and that we will. I will be playing some RPGs this following days in his honor. Let us celebrate the fruits of his passion, this true god of gaming shows us that even deities sometimes fail a saving roll. Rest in peace Gary, we geeks of the world salute you!

[Star Tribune]

Namco recently released new information on Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of The New Word  while talking to the folks at IGN. A lot of juicy information nuggets were released, including some that shed some light into the lead character and plot. You control Emil Castagnier, a young boy whose parents were killed when Lloyd Irving and his friends reunited the two worlds back in the original title, only to find out that this brought only chaos into the new world.

Confused and distressed (as every jRPG male lead is nowadays), Emil sets off on a quest to find out what really happened to his parents and the truth behind the now infamous Lloyd Irving and his crew of revolutionaries. During his journey Emil (what a wonderfully fabulous name isn’t it?) meets many familiar faces from ToS as well as new ones, being able to form a party from any combination the player likes, including monsters.

Yeah, monsters, Dawn of the New World debuts a monster recruiting system where you can draft pretty much any monster you encounter into your party, nurture them, train them and even have them evolve! What a revolutionary concept! Except I liked it better when it was called Pokemon and I was in junior high.

But I digress, few more details were released, no concrete info on how the wiimote might be used in the game along with the unnecessary but really welcome reassurance than the game will once again have multiplayer combat because dear god that was the only thing that turned the original ToS from generic jRPG #9823726 to genre masterpiece. You can check out the full article and a few screenshots on IGN.

[IGN]