...And I mean teases in the naughty sense of the word.
A week or so ago, the splash image below was uploaded to small Japanese developer Vanillaware's main webpage (possibly NSFW).
The image depicts 3 strategically censored naked blonde women lying together on the ground. The artwork is unmistakenly George Kamitani's work - the president and lead artist at Vanillaware - and is accompanied by the following cryptic message:
Three Graces 2010 Vanillaware George Kamitani
The image is now gone, but not before the internet has had plenty of time to let loose on the speculation wagon. Certainly it is conceivable that the art could be a teaser for the stuido's newest game. 'Three Graces' could refer to the hypothetical game's title, its protagonists, its theme, or something else entirely. '2010' could hint at the reveal year, or even the release year. 'Vanillaware' and 'George Kamitani' are fairly self-explanatory, I would imagine.
Another theory is that the image may simply be a New Year's greeting. It is a very common practice in Japan to send New Year's greetings, and many Japanese graphic artists do a new piece specifically for that purpose. This doesn't explain the 'Three Graces' title, however, unless we're missing some inside information. (2010 is the Year of the Tiger in Japan, which has nothing to do with 'Three Graces' or with the artwork.)
Either way, it will be interesting to see what Vanillaware has up their sleeve next, and a new title this year would certainly be welcome news.
Publisher XSEED Games announced yesterday that they have officially dropped publishing responsibilities of Marvelous and Vanillaware's 2D side-scrolling action-RPG, Muramasa: The Demon Blade (known as Oboro Muramasa in Japan).
XSEED remains adamant about their partnership with Marvelous, and has confirmed that they have not dropped publishing duties of other Marvelous titles, such as Arc Rise Fantasia and Little King's Story.
Though the press release doesn't mention a new publisher, XSEED states that they will "look forward to seeing it release in North America." Whether that means the game has indeed been picked up by another publisher (like, say, Atlus) or simply that XSEED remains hopeful that someone else will pick it up is anyone's guess. Kind of usettling news, though.
Stuff like this just confirms to me that buying a North American Wii is a total waste of money.
Here, have a whole bunch of trailers. They are good and good for you!
Arc Rise Fantasia Nintendo Wii imageepoch, Marvelous June 4, 2009 (Japan)
Oboro Muramasa (Muramasa: The Demon Blade) Nintendo Wii Vanillaware, Marvelous April 9, 2009 (Japan)
Ougon no Kizuna Nintendo Wii Jaleco May 28, 2009 (Japan)
Though Oboro Muramasa is still higher on my DO WANT list, Arc Rise Fantasia certainly has the best trailer out of this lot. Fingers crossed for some epic good times.
Here are scans from Famitsu for Marvelous and Vanillaware's 2D Wii action-RPG, Oboro Muramasa (Muramasa: The Demon Blade in North America) and Square Enix's DS action-RPG, Blood of Bahamut.
Oboro Muramasa Nintendo Wii Vanillaware, Marvelous April 9, 2009 (Japan), TBA (North America)
Blood of Bahamut Nintendo DS Square Enix TBA
I didn't translate them because I'm lazy like that. But if you are interested, please make a request in the comments and I'll see what I can do.
Marvelous has just dropped word that their upcoming Vanillaware-developed Wii action-RPG, Oboro Muramasa, will be officially hitting Japanese retailers at the beginning of April this year.
Oboro Muramasa follows the exploits of the amnesia-stricked ninja Kisuke and the kinapped-by-demons beautiful princess Momohime through their Japanese folklore-heavy adventure during the Genroku Era in Japan (1688-1704 AD, typically thought of as the "golden age" of the Edo Period).
Oboro Muramasa is created in beautiful hand-drawn 2D by the same studio behind Princess Crown, Odin Sphere, and GrimGrimoire, and has been near the top of my "do want" list since it's announcement. It's nice to finally see a date attached to it.
Oh yeah, they also released a new gameplay trailer for the game. Check it out below.
Oboro Muramasa will be available on Nintendo Wii on April 9, 2009 in Japan. It will be released as Muramasa: The Demon Blade in North America by XSEED and Marvelous, though no date has been announced yet.
Perhaps the most compelling reason to own a Wii, Marvelous and Vanillaware's upcoming hand-drawn action-RPG Oboro Muramasa is simply gorgeous.
I don't know what to say other than that, so instead, look at these scans!
Scans are open for translation requests below.
Oboro Muramasa (Muramasa: The Demon Blade in North America) will be available in Japan and North America on Nintendo Wii sometime next year. No word on a European release at the moment.
Perhaps some of the hottest stuff you'll see at TGS this year, take a look at the gameplay video released for Marvelous and Vanillaware's upcoming Oboro Muramasa (Muramasa: The Demon Blade in North America).
The video presenter also gives you a run-down on what to expect in terms of content and gameplay, and actually offers one of the most complete previews out of TGS so far.
So there was the word on the street about a Nintendo Power article claiming Oboro Muramasa would be renamed to Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and be heading to North American shores. Since I never could dig up scans for the alleged article, I had to call it a rumor (responsible journalism ftw).
Well XSEED and Marvelous, via a press release to IGN, revealed that the game will indeed be making the jump under the new name.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade will be available for Nintendo Wii sometime in 2009. While this is definitely nice confirmation, it still doesn't give us a solid release to point to. My predictions align the Japanese and North American versions to near-simultaneous release, so I guess we'll just have to wait til TGS starts later this week to know for sure.
...And I mean teases in the naughty sense of the word.
Certainly it is conceivable that the art could be a teaser for the stuido's newest game. 'Three Graces' could refer to the hypothetical game's title, its protagonists, its theme, or something else entirely. '2010' could hint at the reveal year, or even the release year. 'Vanillaware' and 'George Kamitani' are fairly self-explanatory, I would imagine.
