Stop Teasing Me Atlus!

Just right-the-hell-now on Atlus' webpage is a brand new teaser involving pixilated cards and the phrase "we'll show you our hand on June 9 2008." (For the record, yes, I do just sit around clicking refresh on Atlus.com.)

No word yet on exactly what that hand might be, but I'm going to go ahead and start a rumor right here and now that its a Persona 4 North America localization announcement. There, I said it. Be excited, skeptical, angry, comatose, or whatever the hell you want.

This rumor is unfortunately based on nothing but my own intuition. My rationale are as follows:

-Cards are typically associated with the Persona side series of the MegaTen games (see especially Persona 2), and we have been shown that they play a large role in the upcoming Persona 4 (characters "crush" Persona cards to summon them). Cards also play a large role in Atlus Japan's Persona 4 website, acting as the placeholders for many in-game clips.

-Atlus.com doesn't do teasers on their website very often. The last one was a few months back for the announcement of Persona 3: FES, a game that many fans hoped for, but many were unsure would make the jump to our shores.

-There really aren't any other Atlus Japan games that have anything to do with cards or have been rumored to be coming stateside.

I have tried unsuccessfully to find a good match between the card images used on the teaser and official Persona cards, but that doesn't necessarily nix P4. ...That, or it's a teaser for some upcoming Solitaire RPG I've never heard of.

If someone would like to prove me wrong or right, go ahead and find the source for these card images. I dare you.

Sword Machine will of course bring you word on the announcement on June 9 (next Monday). Until then, start praying to the great gods of RPGaming that my rumor is true. Or, simply spread the rumor at your local Kuzunoha detective agency.

UPDATE (2008/06/02): Looks like internet matlockery has won out. The card images are from the sleeper GBA title Yggdra Union. It had been rumored to be making the jump to PSP ever since its predecessor, Riviera, did so. Sorry for the commotion folks.