Last week, Atlus of Japan took to the official blog for the Etrian Odyssey series to talk about the Etrian Odyssey V: The End of the Long Myth Rough Sketch Ver. OST CD, featuring six tracks composed by Yuzo Koshiro. Notably, the recent blog post debuted the jacket art for the CD, which will be accompanying first print copies of Etrian Odyssey V. The featured image above displays the jacket art.
Additionally, check out this image below:
A news post to the Sony of Japan website announces the production of a Playstation 4 hardware package – the Hatsune Miku -Project DIVA- Special Pack. It’s inspired by the soon-to-be-released titles Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X HD and Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone.
It’s being sold in two hard drive capacities (500 GB and 1 TB), with Jet Black being available in both sizes and Glacier White being an option for the 500 GB version. The general package is basically the same as what we’ve seen for other SEGA-related PS4 promotions, but the noticeable differences are the inclusion of two Project DIVA themes for the PS4 and three different bay cover.
There are three different bay covers – one that is Project DIVA X HD-themed, one that is Project DIVA Future Tone-themed, and one that is themed on the SEGA’s continued collaboration with Hatsune Miku (SEGA ft. Hatsune Miku). The Project DIVA X HD bay cover is Glacier White-colored, the Project DIVA Future Tone cover is Jet Black-colored, and the SEGA one is a bright Aqua Blue.
We talked about Kotobukiya’s upcoming ARTFX J Sakura Shinguji figure before, and now the official Kotobukiya twitter account has tweeted a few photos of the colored version of the figure. We included these here: Continue reading
Shortly after the newest Weekly Famitsu officially announced the Sakura Wars X Granblue Fantasy crossover event, the official Japanese website for Granblue Fantasy published a blog post with a little more details and art teasers to promote the upcoming project. The event is titled “Sakura Wars ~Sky-Flying Maidens~”.
Immediately worth noting is the presence of three silhouettes on the new blog post, which have been compiled into one and used as our featured image. The silhouettes should be clear enough – they depict (from left to right) Gemini Sunrise, Erica Fontaine, and Sakura Shinguuji, the main heroines of the Sakura Wars games. They are described as the characters who will be making an appearance in the crossover.
The greater portion of the blog post is actually dedicated to another event (“Legend Festival”) and other news that isn’t directly related to the Sakura Wars event. More details are to be announced on the Sakura Wars project at a later date, according to the blog post. Stay tuned for more information!
Sega took to the official Japanese Project DIVA blog to announce Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X HD, the Playstation 4 version of Project DIVA X for Japan. The game is due for release on August 25th. Notable details from the announcement include compatibility with Playstation VR for the purposes of the game’s Live Edit Mode, and the Snow Miku 2010~2015 Download Campaign which offers Snow Miku modules from 2010 to 2015 for free as downloadable content for a month after the game’s release, but will no longer be free after September 25th. The DLC will be available for both Vita (Project DIVA X) and PS4 (Project DIVA X HD.)
A new piece of artwork by KEI was also published to commemorate the announcement! It is used as our featured image for this article.
Project DIVA X for the Vita released a month ago in Japan. Project DIVA X is planned for release in North America for both Vita and PS4, but there’s no word on support for Europe at the moment. Hopefully that situation may change so as to better accommodate any European fans.
A new promotional trailer for Project DIVA X HD was uploaded to Sega’s YouTube channel for the Project DIVA series. It features the Cool Medley – Cyber Rock Jam. Check it out!
Remember the Sakura Wars Museum from earlier this year? Missed the festivities?
Then you might be interested in Sakura Wars Museum 2, another Sakura Wars museum returning to the Gamers store in Akihabara, floor 7. It is running from April 22 to May 8. This museum will also feature two special promotions. First, those who purchase ¥2000 worth of goods will receive one of three random bromides, each themed after character cards of the three main heroines (Gemini, Erica, Sakura) within the Sakura Wars games.
Additionally, those who purchase ¥2000 worth of goods and Tweet using the hashtag “#サクラ大戦” will be eligible for a special Sakura Shinguji bromide.
Many of the same goods from the previous Sakura Wars museum will be available for purchase; you can check out a preview image below. Some of the items are new – like the Tote Bag which comes in a different color.
So it bears repeating that this is the 20th anniversary of the Sakura Wars franchise in Japan, and within this year so far there have been several events held (and planned) to help commemorate the momentous occasion for the franchise. Of course, the dream is that we’ll see a new game from the storied Sakura Wars franchise!
Credit for information and images in this article goes to this announcement post from the Gamers website.
Momoclover’s crossover campaign with the Sakura Wars franchise continues with new Erica Fontaine-themed cycling gear, marking the designer’s first foray into the Paris Assault Force. Prior to this announcement, Momoclover has represented Sakura Shinguji, Sumire Kanzaki, Maria Tachibana, and Iris Chateaubriand from the Imperial Assault Force.
Erica Fontaine is probably one of the more popular Sakura Wars characters. She’s cheerful, a bit of a ditz, and pure in her sense of morality and devotion to God. And of course, the immortal Good Morning Dance has really made an impact among fans. Check out this impression that Erica’s seiyuu Noriko Hidaka performs at Animazement 2010.
Check out a preview gallery of the clothing items below!
As usual, check out Momoclover’s English Facebook application if you have an interest in their items. The Japanese store page (set to browse Sakura Wars items) can be seen here.
Atlus published a new DLC trailer for Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final to their Japanese YouTube account. It might be longer than you would expect (at a little more than five minutes,) but it is a comprehensive trailer that illustrates the remainder of Atlus’s DLC plans for Final. I’ll illustrate a couple of highlights in this article.
First, the return of previous Shin Megami Tensei protagonists. Readers may have taken note of their inclusion (alongside Stephen, another prominent character in SMT lore) earlier last month. Alongside Nanashi, the name of the protagonist for Final, a special DLC quest will allow previous SMT characters Protagonist (…of the first SMT game), Aleph (SMT II), Demi-fiend (SMT Nocturne), and Flynn (SMT IV) as party members for a special dungeon and grand final battle.
The introduction of Cleopatra was also previously revealed in Famitsu. She is part of a paid DLC quest, wherein once completed she can be Fused. There is a similar paid DLC quest for Mephisto, and it is set in Hawaii. With all of the chaos in the world of SMT IV Final, it’s nice that Hawaii is still intact. Other DLC options include Hunter Memos for story purposes and the ability to level up past 100, with these DLC items in particular being free.
Check out the trailer below!
Last month, another niconico stream for the Yakuza 6 demo featuring Toshihiro Nagoshi was announced for the month of March. The Ryu ga Gotoku YouTube account recently uploaded that footage to YouTube, and we’ve attached it below for your viewing.
It’s the same demo from before, but the footage itself is different, so we’ll leave it to our viewers to check it out. Actual game footage lasts from about 9:30 to 19:30. At around 4:10, viewers might recognize a picture of Nagoshi from the set of the recently-uploaded Yakuza Kiwami commercial produced for the Korean version.
So far as we know, Yakuza 6 is due for release in Q3 2016.
A new web commercial for Yakuza Kiwami has hit the internet. It features a tense encounter between the Yakuza (SEGA series, just to be clear) boss man Toshihiro Nagoshi and a Kkangpae, a Korean mafia man. Clocking in at around two minutes, it features Japanese subtitles for the Korean lines. Check it out below.
It’s been a while since we’ve written about it, but a Korean version of Yakuza Kiwami was confirmed quite a long time ago. There is also this Korean version announcement trailer that you may have seen before, too:
Still, what makes the above-linked commercial unique is the fact that it’s a commercial dedicated to Yakuza Kiwami’s Korean release (coming towards the end of May.) We’ve seen advertisements not based in Japanese, but those were posters, billboards, and the like.
Nagoshi and SEGA have previously expressed confidence in releasing SEGA games in Asian territories outside of Japan, and they have some decent numbers to support their resolve. SEGA of Japan has been embracing the idea of releasing some of their “niche” packaged game titles with such examples as the Mandarin release of Phantasy Star NOVA and Shining Resonance.
In the West, localizations of Japanese titles have picked up since 2014, and the Yakuza franchise is no longer in the dark situation that it once languished in. But of course, there remains more to be localized and played!