While speaking with Eurogamer about their game on the Wii, the subject of RPGs still managed to come up. And we can totally understand why, as the company's Golden Sun and Shining Force series of games are widely regarded as excellent. Camelot even hinted at Golden Sun for the DS, the teases!

"We want to play that game too, just as much as you," comments the Takahashi brothers. " We love Golden Sun! We are working on a lot of different things - a lot of different design documents and so on, including some different RPG ideas.

via dsfanboy.com

Despite Activision's early claims of mass-Marvel action in 2008, it appears that the sequel to Marvel Ultimate Alliance won't be hitting shelves this year, after all. The delay is possibly an attempt to avoid dividing sales between the title and Spiderman: Web of Shadows, which is due out this fall.

via joystiq.com

As far as plot and setting go, Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis for the PS2 is basically an anime Harry Potter. You play as Vayne, a shy orphan unsure of his past who's thrust into enrollment at a special school that teaches alchemy to gifted children. It quickly becomes apparent that everyone is in on some kind of big secret about Vayne that he's clueless about. Within the first 30 minutes after orientation, he's flanked by his future companions: a quiet bookworm with pink hair and a feisty half-girl/half-cat monstrosity. The familiar plot is easy to swallow; it's the ridiculous dialogue -- each line is over-acted and blurted out with no regard for the one that came before it -- that makes every cut-scene an eye-rolling process of mashing the X button to speed up the text.

via 1up.com

As far as plot and setting go, Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis for the PS2 is basically an anime Harry Potter. You play as Vayne, a shy orphan unsure of his past who's thrust into enrollment at a special school that teaches alchemy to gifted children. It quickly becomes apparent that everyone is in on some kind of big secret about Vayne that he's clueless about. Within the first 30 minutes after orientation, he's flanked by his future companions: a quiet bookworm with pink hair and a feisty half-girl/half-cat monstrosity. The familiar plot is easy to swallow; it's the ridiculous dialogue -- each line is over-acted and blurted out with no regard for the one that came before it -- that makes every cut-scene an eye-rolling process of mashing the X button to speed up the text.

via 1up.com

Misdirection isn't just for magicians anymore ... apparently Nintendo Power practices it too. While everyone was focused on the hints of a U.S. localized Final Fantasy IV DS in the magazine's ten-page cover feature on the game, no one seemed to notice that the game was listed with a "July" release date in that same issue's "Game Watch Forecast."

Well, no one except RPGFan.com, which then in turn got noticed by our own DSFanboy, which in turn got noticed by us so you fine readers can notice it for yourselves. This could just be a typo on Nintendo's part, but more likely it's a slip-up that reveals a release window a little earlier than Square-Enix would have liked. Either way, just another pebble on the growing mound of evidence that a localized version is coming.

via joystiq.com

From the pages of Japan's Jump magazine comes news that Square Enix is giving tri-Ace's RPG franchise Valkyrie Profile a touchable makeover, with the series' latest sequel heading to the Nintendo DS. So say the translation sages at IGN: The game will carry the cumbersome title of Valkyrie Profile: Toga wo Seou Mono, and will introduce a new hero named Wilfred alongside unspecified series regulars.

The game marks the series' second official sequel, and the third title since 2006 following Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria for the PlayStation 2 and Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, a remake of the PlayStation original for the PSP. Unlike those games, however, Toga wo Seou Mono looks to adopt a three-fourths perspective on top of the 2D side scrolling profile view for which the series is known. That said, we're creatures of habit; we fear change -- but with tri-Ace again at the helm we're excited to see where the devs take the Norse mythology-based RPG franchise next.

via joystiq.com

Defining the Japanese videogame market was no easy task for the man who introduced the country to the RPG.

Henk Rogers arrived in Japan in 1976, young, jobless and hot on the tail of a girl. Within eight years he’d have written, designed and coded his first videogame, sold Japan a genre that would go on to dominate its videogame industry creating billions of dollars of worldwide revenue, and, naturally, made the girl his wife. In 12 years, he would discover a game called Tetris at a Las Vegas game show, and would travel to Russia with Nintendo to secure the exclusive rights to market it on consoles. For a man whose only experience of coding was working on mainframe computers as a student and whose only brush with gaming was in pencil-and-paper roleplaying, starting out was no mean feat.

“I was an avid gamer as a student at the University of Hawaii in the 1970s,” he explains. “I’d joke that my minor was in Dungeons & Dragons. We had a gamer’s club called ARRGH (Alternative Recreational Realities Group of Hawaii) where we’d play with our own unique rule-set, and I think it was here that I caught the game design bug. Personal computer software publishing became a viable business in Japan in 1982. I noticed shops selling computer games on cassette tape popping up here and there, so I decided I wanted to make a game, went down to Akihabara and scoured the shops to try to work out what might be involved.”

via next-gen.biz

Namco Bandai's Tales series of anime-inspired role-playing games has been going strong since the early 1990s. Now, the enduring franchise is set to debut on two of the 21st century's newest consoles. Today, Namco announced it will release Tales of Vesperia exclusively on the Xbox 360 and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World on the Nintendo Wii in North America by year's end.

Namco Bandai promises Vesperia will deliver a new interpretation on the antiquated series, with a new graphics engine that features high-definition character models and environs that recall traditional cel-shaded anime. Vesperia will also include an update to the game's distinctive real-time combat system, with larger battlefields, new special attacks, and unique weapons all slated to appear.

via gamespot.com

We've known a Puzzle Quest sequel was coming out for some time -- turns out, we've known longer than we thought. In April 2007, D3 Publishers announced Galactrix, a "blend of puzzle, RPG, and strategy games" with sci-fi twist. This week at GDC, D3 announced it again (via Gamespot), only this time re-branded as Puzzle Quest: Galactrix.

The obvious gameplay difference from Puzzle Quest is the hexagonal board, adding to the board's complexity. Galactrix is due out this year for DS, Xbox Live Arcade and PC; a PSP version could not be confirmed.

via joystiq.com

In a move that will shock the industry, EA revealed to analysts that sequels to Burnout: Paradise and Skate are in the works. More specifically, EA Games president Frank Gibeau said the two series would "see extension" before April of 2009. Extensions? Can't you just taste the vision?

Gibeau also said that after a disappointing sales year, Need for Speed would be returning to the touchstones that made it a hit before, and adding open-world racing and a new "highway battle mode" -- does it count as stealing if you do it from your own company? It's a great time to be alive for people who love EA games, but hate being surprised.

via joystiq.com

After our brief hands-on time with the game at CES, we're anxiously awaiting the September release of Gas Powered Games' Space Siege, the interstellar reimagining of Dungeon Siege (the classic RPG series, not the latest box office turd from team Boll/Statham). However, it's a little known fact that four out of every five Joystiq writers don't own computers -- many of our posts are actually published with an intricate system of smoke signals, morse code, and carrier pigeons.

via joystiq.com

We know that Final Fantasy games, much like fine wine and Radiohead albums, take some time to come together nicely -- still, it's hard for us to believe that Final Fantasy XIII (in all its shapes and forms) will be dropping by its latest release date of "this year". We've had our hearts broken so many times by delays for hotly anticipated titles that we've sadly come to expect them.

Fear not, says the comforting voice of long time series character designer Tetsuya Nomura, the long wait for the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection will be over soon enough. Not only does he swear by the game's 2008 release date, he teases at a playable demo for FFXIII on the PlayStation Network a while before the game is released, to show off the game's revamped battle system.

via joystiq.com

Remember those wacky kids who tried to beat the four 3D Zelda games in a single two day sitting, and failed miserably due to technical difficulties and general overzealousness? Well, they're back, comically tiny TV and all, to take on the N64 cult classic Paper Mario, in an attempt to raise more donations for Child's Play (their first outing netted a total of $1200 for the charity).

These weekend warriors (called the Four48 crew in honor of their first ambitious marathon) are planning on sitting down with a new game every Saturday morning, and not getting up until the ending credits roll. You can watch their exploits on their video webstream (and donate to a worthy cause) on their site.

via joystiq.com

When the chips are down and creativity's glass feels half empty, we know we can always look to the mavericks at Atlus to come up with something just a hair shy of normal for an experience that is, if anything, unique...

via joystiq.com

Way, way back in April we brought you news of Phantasy Star Universe: Ambition of the Illuminus, as we marveled at its beautiful, cumbersome title. Sega has finally announced that the DLC will be coming on Nov. 20 for 1600 points ($20). If you've been playing on PS2, you'll have to buy a stand-alone retail disc for $39.99, but, curiously, so will PC players. What, did the internet stop working?

In addition to the single-player campaign being continued, the pack adds the usual new levels, as well as expanded lobby areas and a new casino. There's also some new customization options for your character, like new Photon Arts and clothing. That sounds like a good deal for 360 players, but for those on PC and PS2, we imagine it might be a tougher purchasing decision.

via pc.joystiq.com