NIS America Announces a Tonne of RPGs

Since the release of Ar Tonelico II, NIS has been relatively quiet. Yeah, I guess you could count Cross Edge as a game if you want. To each his own, I suppose.

However, NIS came forward with a rather enormous press release last week where they confirmed 6 RPGs for North American release this year! Perhaps appropriately, the title of the press event was "Holy Drunken Shenanigans, Badman!"

For the PSP, NIS revealed that they would be bringing the recent PSP port of Disgaea 2 to our shores, renamed to Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days. The PSP port features new playable characters, additional story scenarios, and other additions to the original PS2 title. It is scheduled for release sometime this Fall.

The company's Nintendo Wii port of Phantom Brave was also re-confirmed for our shores as Phantom Brave: We Meet Again. As previously mentioned, it too will feature new content. It is planned for release this June.

Hit Maker's DS RPG, A Witch's Tale, has also been re-confirmed for North American release, and should be available sometime this Fall.

The PlayStation 2 had the largest showing, with Mana Khemia 2: Fall of Alchemy and Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love confirmed for release on the console this Fall. Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love is the first Sakura Taisen game ever to make it over to North America, though is officially the fifth game of Sega's long-running dating-sim/giant robot RPG mash-up. Mana Khemia 2 is of course the last of Gust's Atelier series to grace the PS2, and the direct sequel to the original Mana Khemia.

Finally, NIS announced a brand new title for the PlayStation 3. Titled Last Rebellion, this turn-based RPG is in development by Hit Maker, and is expected to hit shelves sometime this Fall.

(Phew), that's a lot of stuff. Most of it we had heard about through the grape vine previously, but it's impressive to see it all lined up in one place. Except for the 360, it seems that NIS has something for just about everyone this Fall.

Anything looking promising out of this lot to you?

[NIS America]

Some Kind of Unofficial Announcements from NIS America

In a recent interview with RPGamer, some of the staff of NIS America have gone on record with some sort-of-announcements that, while aren't binding on NIS' part, should give you a fairly good idea of what to expect from the company in the coming year.

First item of interest is that the previously announced Hit Maker DS title, A Witch's Tale, has been pushed back due to development issues. Though no new date has been solidified, NIS mentioned that the game would probably be pushed back to sometime next autumn, possibly as late as Halloween. Part of the reason for the delay was Hit Maker's decision to change the title from an action-RPG to a traditional (presumably turn-based) one.

Next, PS3 NIS fans should be happy to hear that the abominable crossover title, X-Edge (pronouced "Cross Edge," for whatever reason) will indeed be seeing North American shores courtesty of NIS. Though they couldn't officially confirm the title's release, they basically said to expect it next March.

NIS also "hinted" that both Mana Khemia 2 and a game from the Japan-only Sakura Taisen series would be heading to North American PS2s sometime in 2009, though no details or dates were given.

It was also mentioned that future game development from Nippon Ichi (Japan) would continue to focus on the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii as Japan remains their largest market. No real surprises there.

My own reaction to this news is varied. I'm happy (if unsurprised) that Mana Khemia 2 will be making the jump, and cautiously interested in the Sakura Taisen title. I had almost totally forgotten about A Witch's Tale since its announcement, so I guess it will be interesting to see how that title shapes up. X-Edge... well, I think you know how I feel about X-Edge.

As a disclaimer, this isn't my story. All of the glory for this belongs to RPGamer, and I encourage all hardcore NIS fans to go read the real interview for yourselves.