Disgaea 4 Pre-Orders In Full Swing - Which One Is Yours?

Decisions, decisions, decisions! NISA sure isn't making it easy this time out, but no matter which of the three versions of the game you get, a winner is YOU. There's the $50 Standard Edition that comes with the original soundtrack on a CD, but ten bucks more gets you the Premium Edition in a nice box with a softcover art book and a cute Fuka fugurine. If you've got money to burn, you can blow $120 and get the Premium Figure Set which contains the PE box, art book, soundtrack, Fuka figurine AND nine more exclusive Disgaea 4 figures. It's enough to make an indecisive person really, really crazy, I say! Even worse, the pre-orders only go on until September 5 and the game ships out on September 6! Yaaaaah! All THAT and I haven't even mentioned all the cool stuff you can do in this latest installment (that's what the links are for)! I seriously can't decide, but methinks I'll stick with the Standard Edition just so I can eat a lot less cheap rice noodles later. Hey, I can get by on one meal a day if I really needed to...

Disgaea 4 & Atelier Totori Trailers Bring That 2D Bliss Home

NISA just can't stop pumping out the sweet and tasty mixture of gorgeous hand-drawn 2D games on the PS3 (keep that flame alive!) and that's how we like it. The latest installments in the ridiculously deep and often supremely hilarious strategy/RPG franchise is well on the way, as is the newest game in Gust Incorporated's magic-making simulation/RPG series. Between the custom map feature in Disgaea 4 (yes!) and the fun crafting and Atelier Totori's mix of adventure, alchemy and classic combat, fans of JRPG's will no doubt be sinking many, many hours into each of these games. Now, where's that time machine so we can find the few hundred hours to sink into these two?

Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Trailer Is A Hoot & A Half...

Nippon Ichi's upcoming PSP super-enhanced "remake" of the classic PS2 strategy RPG is looking sweet and hilarious as ever in this trailer. I'll need to go see if pre-orders have started on this one at the NISA online store, as I want my UMDs coming this way for as long as they still being made, grrrr!

Ar tonelico Qoga Official Website/ Premium Box Set Revealed

UPDATE! Pre-ordering has been activated at the NISA Online Store and yes, 1000 lucky folks who boogie on over to order the even more limited edition will get a neat bonus Cosmosphere Calendar (in the right image) featuring the ladies from the game!

As you can see, this installment gets a Mature rating, so cute anime characters and colorful art aside, just like the previous two installments, the innuendo and such DEFINITELY aren't for the kids. Trust me. If you've never played an Ar tonelico game before, you'll be shocked (shocked, i say!) at the content. Well, probably not... but better safe than sorry, given some of the more humorous dialog and er, saucy images from the other games. Check out the Official Site and/or those store links above for more details!

Gallery: Ar tonelico Qoga - Knell of Ar Ciel

With its March 15, 2011 release approaching, let's take a look at some nice screens and character illustrations from the final installment of Gust's rather intriguing mix of RPG and romance simulation, finally making it's PS3 debut. The first two games were pure 2D bliss packed with lovely hand-drawn art, parallax scrolling and limited 3D elements that gave them a nicely old-school feel. Qoga's shift to 3D battles and an all-new combat system does allow for more dynamic angles as you'll see, but it looks as if the game also uses some interesting hand-painted art in certain non-battle sections. I liked the first two games quite a lot (although the real-time combat system in part 2 was a bit too gimmicky) - fingers crossed that Qoga doesn't disappoint in any department.

More info about the game and screens below the jump.

Nippon Ichi America Online Store Offers Free Domestic Shipping

In a bit of really great news for the budget-conscious gamer (or those who are just always super cheap), the NISA Online Store has decided to offer US gamers FREE shipping on purchases. Say it with me, folks: A-w-e-s-o-m-e!!! Now you can boogie on over to the store, grab that copy of Disgaea 3 you've been longing for, jump on that Hyperdimension Neptunia Premium Pack or FINALLY snap up that slick Glicee for that special blank spot on your wall and get it shipped fast and (wait for it...) FREE!

Now go buy something so those hard working Prinnies can keep their jobs!

Hyperdimension Neptunia Premium Package Pre-order Goodies Update - It's In the Cards...

So, you want MORE Hyperdimension Neptunia (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!) goodness? OK - NIS America has revealed an upcoming pre-order program for the PS3 exclusive that will net the first 1000 folks who sign up for a copy of the game through their online store a set of limited edition playing cards. This "Limited Edition Gamindustri Premium Pack" include the Premium Edition of Hyperdimension Neptunia and that fully customized deck of playing cards. Expect to see the game's super cute CPU Goddesses for all the face cards and with a customized Neptunia card back and perhaps a few special Jokers in the deck. This one keeps getting better and better...

Hyperdimension Neptunia Premium Package Art Revealed

And here you go: BOOM. Courtesy of NISA, one Hyperdimension Neptunia(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!) Premium Package to go. Nice cover art AND that Premium inside the Package just so happens to be a rather cool art book packed with lots of art (dang, I'm good!). Anyway, hit your favorite retailer and go pre-order this gem.

In other Nippon Ichi news, Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! is out NOW, so I need to go buy a copy sometime this week and let you folks know how it is, right?

Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Coming to PSP

I still have ringing in my ears and a mild headache from all that Hyperdimension Neptunia(aaa*cough!*) stuff yesterday, so I missed running this nice cover art and screens from NISA's upcoming PSP strategy RPG. According to Amazon's listing, the game will feature "new story chapters, characters, items, better graphics, and a revamped user interface". In addition, the game is now "more user-friendly and packs more content for over 100 hours of game play". March 18, 2011 is the release date (unless something changes). With UMD games looking as if they're on the way out after next year, folks like me will be grabbing what great games we can, that's for sure.

While the official website for the game is still in the works, the cover art and four screens are here for your approval. There are a bunch more shots from the game over at Amazon (in case you didn't click that link above already), so go peek at those if this one's up your alley... Back in a bit - the post office is calling me...

Hyperdimension Neptunia (aaaaaaaaaaaaa!) Official Trailer: Nippon Ichi Is At It Again...

Say it with me, folks (big voice, now): HYPERDIMENSION NEPTUNIA(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!)

Yes, that name absolutely demands the echo chamber effect at the end. Grrrrrr... Why does Nippon Ichi continue to tempt me so? Yet another too cute for words RPG, this time on the PS3 from a whopping what, five studios? Lots of flashy battle effects, that snazzy Gust 2D artwork (I expect my usual ten layers of parallax scrolling backgrounds, thank you) mixed with 3D characters, randomly generated dungeon maps, eyeball-rolling town names (Gameindustri? ha bloody ha), ESRB T (Teen)-rated "partial nudity" and "sexual themes" should make this one a nicely niche hit. That is of course, provided the gameplay is solid and the story has the highs and lows genre fans expect plus whatever bells and whistles those random dungeons offer. Oh, and ALEX KIDD??? Holy cats, that's an instant buy just for the Janken mini-game flashback I had while typing this. The other Sega characters in the game will keep me playing just to see who else is hidden on the disc.

I'll take a dozen to go, please... with a copy of Prinny 2 on the side.

Unique Console Patron Units... Engage! sometime in Spring 2011, by the way.

Etna Needs Your Help Getting In the Holiday Spirit!

Yup, that means yet another wacky yet cool Nippon Ichi Software America contest is afoot, folks. Click on that pic above and enter to win some cool prizes! Also, go reserve a copy of Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! while you're at it. As I've said before, ANY game with a name like that can't be passed up!

Nippon Ichi America Wants YOU To Replace Etna's Panties...

Normally, I'd say that header would be a "No wait, that didn't come out right..." statement, but yes indeedy-do, it's true. Nippon Ichi Software America is holding a contest where you design a pair of panties for Etna, everyone's favorite evil (but cute) demoness from the Disgaea and Prinny series.

The panties in question are part of a genius promotion for Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! (a game I absolutely WANT based on the title alone). I'd guess I'm ineligible, being a member of the gaming press and all, but I'd definitely love to be a fly on the wall with a pair of binoculars at NISA's offices when those entries start rolling in. My spider-sense says that the rejection pile is going to be fairly large (but fun to judge, that's for sure), given the imagination of certain types of anime/manga/game fans.

Anyway, go poke around on the official contest site, enter if you've got the skills and hope you win BIG. The main prizes for the three big winners are a copy of Prinny 2 and a pair of the winning panties. 50 other lucky entrants who can or can't draw a lick (er, no pun intended!) can enter the contest and end up will their own pair of those panties (but no game). Yeah, this could be one of the more interesting game-related contests in recent memory, that's for damn sure...

Disgaea 4 Announced (Annnnd... There Goes All My Free Time Forever - And Yours, Too!)

Nippon Ichi continues this week's absolute game-gasm with the announcement that Disgaea 4 is in production and should be ready for stealing hundreds upon hundreds of hours or your lives in 2011. Japanese logo to your left ("Duh!", says Etna) and three pieces of lovely character are below the jump (that Fuka's a real cutie, isn't she?).

There's also a Japanese teaser site for that's been up for a little while, but don't expect to uncover too much about the game just yet should you hop on over for a peek.

Gallery: Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland

Nippon Ichi's US branch is still merrily publishing some of the most fun niche JRPGs available and their upcoming PS3 release of Gust Co.'s Atelier Rorona: the Alchemist of Arland should absolutely please fans of this style of game. As you can see from the gallery below, the game looks fantastic using an excellent mix of lovingly detailed 2D portraits with 3D characters and environments.

NISA has also announced that two slightly different Premium Box versions of the game will be available. The first version can only be purchased at GameStop where pre-ordering the game will get you a beautiful 32-page hardcover full color art book. The other Premium Box will only be available through the NISA Online shop where that particular pre-order gets you the art book along with the official game soundtrack CD.

Help NIS America Bring Badaman PSP to UMD!

One of the things that irks me as a collector of games is this trend of releasing certain console and portable titles as download-only product (grrrr!). While it's indeed great for those folks who feel no need to have a physical product, the simple fact is some of us out there would like the choice to have one or the other (or even both in some cases). Heck, what if you're in an area without decent (or any) broadband access or just want the simple pleasure of actually reading a manual you can hold in your hot little hands?

Don't get me wrong, folks - the ability to pay for and download new games and game content works amazingly well for those gamers who don't give a hoot about the above issues, but SOME games would actually enjoy a much LARGER user base IF they were made available in as many (legal) forms as possible (grrr!). Yeah, that means you too, Konami (the otherwise superb Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment SHOULD also get a darn disc release on the Xbox 360 AND PS3 for those of use who want it! grrrr!!!)

Anyway, Nippon Ichi America and online retailer of NISA goodness, RosenQueen Company recently took a pool and found out that quite a few people want to see one of this year's best download-only PSP titles, Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! (What Did I Do to Deserve This?) come to UMD and as soon as humanly possible. So guess what? NISA has asked gamers to put their money where their mouths are an PRE-ORDER the game through the RosenQueen Store. All they need is a minimum of 1000 pre-orders and BOOM! they can start producing the game this November for shipment sometime in December. Even better, this great little strategy game will only cost a mere $19.99! Now, how cool is that?

Anyway, ogle the info below, click on those links and if you want this one in your PSP collection, place that pre-order NOW! This could be some sort of turning point for more games to follow suit. Hell, they've got MY money already!

Hello everyone!

Happy Friday! First of all, thank you very much for participating in the Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! UMD poll. We have received a lot of votes, and we also received lots of emails from our fans telling us that they really wanted the UMD of Badman. We are now happy to tell you that we've decided to start the pre-order for Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! on UMD at the RosenQueen store! (The preorder ends on 11/13).

In order to make it possible for us to release Badman on UMD, we will have to receive at least 1,000 pre-orders by 11/13. We are currently trying to get some support from retailers for this UMD version of Badman, by letting them know that there are many fans who are still interested in the UMD version of Badman! If we could get supoprt from them, we will be able to make the UMD version of Badman even if the pre-orders at RosenQueen don't reach 1,000. If you know anybody who wanted to have the UMD version of Badman, let them know about this pre-order!

Let's make this happen, people!!! Updates to come as we get them...