Big Fable III Announcement at X10 will Apparently Piss You Off

After a quiet couple of years, Microsoft is bringing their own personal press conference back to life this year with X10, held this Thursday (February 11, 2010) in San Francisco. The publisher has promised several announcements, some of which have been vaguely described as "big" or "exciting" or other PR-speak equivalents.

This much is not news (yet).

However, one announcement we have already been told to expect is one related to Lionhead's upcoming Fable III, which is due sometime this year. Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux - generally infamous for brash statements and over-hype - told Game Reactor last week that many gamers may not be happy about it.

"There's some very, very big things happening in Fable III, and it's really going to upset people. I'm really scared when I go out and tell people what it is [that] they're going to get super pissed off. They really are."

Well, I'll make sure I'm sitting down for it.

Personally, my guess is that Fable III will require Project Natal, which I can definitely see pissing some people off. But since I also expect the next Zelda to require Motion Plus, I don't see it as that big of a deal. Unless of course Natal will cost $100+.

Any speculations?

[Game Reactor]

Tales of Graces to Get a Summer 2010 Release?

According to the Official Nintendo Magazine (the Nintendo Power of the UK), Namco Bandai will be bringing the latest iteration of the Tales of series, Tales of Graces, to Europe sometime this summer.

One of the biggest JRPG series in Japan, the Tales of games and their fanbase in the West have been repeatedly slighted or overlooked completely by Namco Bandai, with only 1 in 3 Tales of games ever seeing the light of day outside their home country. With little rhyme or reason to which Tales of games are allowed a chance in North America or Europe, many feared that the recently released in Japan Tales of Graces would be similarly forgotten.

While the ONM article provides new hope that an English release may be in the cards, many North American Wii owners are already very aware that Europe has repeatedly got the better end of the stick with Nintendo this generation, having received bundles and games that Nintendo of America seems bent on preventing.

Though the Tales of Graces article offers few details, the 'Summer 2010' release date alone is welcome news to many eager fans, and hopes for an official announcement from the publisher have been renewed.

(Thanks to GameFAQs user tylerx27 for the scan)

Old News: Vanillaware Teases... Something (NSFW?)

...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.

[Vanillaware]

Old News: feelplus Working on a Large Scale RPG for Microsoft

If you've been following JRPGs closely this generation - or been at least paying some attention during credit sequences after a few RPGs - you'll likely be aware of the development studio feelplus. Though they are most readily acknowledged for their development of Mistwalker and Microsoft's (opinion) best (/opinion) JRPG, Lost Odyssey, they have also had a hand in the development of Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean 4, and are the leading developers behind the upcoming Ninety-Nine Nights II.

With N3II making its debut in both Japan and North America this Spring, feelplus is up to something new. And, according to a recruitment ad on DODA (a Monster.com-esque site in Japan), that "something new" is a 'large scale RPG for Microsoft.'

Though no further details have been provided, many have begun to speculate on the inevitable sequel to Lost Odyssey.

If the large-scale RPG is indeed Lost Odyssey II, it would reason that Mistwalker would be involved in some way. But with Mistwalker's other "next big thing" planned for this year - not to mention N3II releasing this year - my educated guessing powers deduce that we shouldn't start salivating for this new title until next year.

Plus, forcing Lost Odyssey II to compete with Final Fantasy XIII just doesn't seem like a wonderful idea. Just my opinion.

Either way, I'm extremely interested in seeing what Microsoft's Japanese studios have up their sleeves sooner than later, so this is very welcome news.

[DODA]

Old News: Mistwalker's Next Big Thing in 2010, also iPhone

If you are anything like me, you've been waiting on your hands for the next big thing from Mistwalker since 2007's highly awesome Lost Odyssey. Sure, there have been some decent DS games from them, but nothing that has sufficiently satiated my need for more epic awesomeness.

Followers of Sakaguchi's blog will know that the studio is indeed in the thick of a new, large scale "blockbuster" project, and that they had planned to unveil it last year. Obviously that didn't happen, but Sakaguchi has declared in his blog that 2010 is the year of his new blockbuster.

From previous blogposts, we know the game is an action-RPG, and will combine high quality visuals and integrated FMV, likely pointing to a console release. We still haven't been told who is doing the development (programming, etc.), who their publisher is, or even what platform it will be on yet.

Previous evidence suggests that Microsoft, AQ Interactive, or even Namco Bandai are possible publishers, and if the title is indeed a console game, Xbox 360 is my first guess, but this generation has taught me that anything is possible.

Since the game is confirmed to be an action-RPG, I have trouble believing it will be a Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey sequel, but again, I suppose anything is possible.

Speculation aside, I suppose we can do nothing but wait and hope at the moment, but the sliver of hope that the game will make it out this year is reassuring if nothing else.

Incidently, Sakaguchi also said that he is working on an iPhone game, which is also scheduled for this year.

[Mistwalker]