The release of the latest in the Soul Calibur series naturally sees players onanistically analysing the graphics in great, great detail, and what findings they have made:

Available now.

Newly unveiled “HD anime” JRPG Toki to Eien: Tokitowa has been enthusiastically greeted by both anime and RPG fans (admittedly two groups with a great deal of overlap) as the “ultimate RPG for anime fans.”

By Namco Bandai and Image Epoch, Toki to Eien: Tokitowa (“Time & Eternity: Tokitowa”) boasts “2D-styled 3D” graphics, “HD quality” anime, character designs by VOFAN (the Taiwanese illustrator behind the character designs for the ****monogatari series), and animation by Satelight on the production side.

In addition to the traditional 10 minutes of random anime snippets which plague such games, Satelight is supposedly animating the game’s character models as though they were 2D animation to give the game a more cohesive anime feel (motion-capture apparently still being a concept alien to JRPG developers).

As for the game itself, it boasts the all-important generic fantasy setting and a nameable knight protagonist (voiced by Tsubasa Yonaga) set to marry a 16-year-old bishoujo arquebusier (queen Toki, voiced by Kana Hanazawa of Suou and Tenshi fame).

Doubtless, saving the kingdom from an ancient evil with the aid of some other adolescents will also feature. A flat-chested girl with twintails and pseudo-nekomimi features for good measure.

The trailer:

The gorgeous graphics and character designs have earned the title an instant following, with the only concerns being raised relating to its as yet unknown battle system and length:

The game is set for a 2012 release on the PS3, so with any luck an English language release will be available by 2015 – just in time for the console to become obsolete.

IdolMaster aficionados have discovered that the saucy gravure posing Gravure4You offers may very well have superseded the 3D idols they are intended to emulate.

The many volumes are available now.

Compile Heart is at it again with their upcoming PS3 RPG Attoteki Yugi Mugen Souls (圧倒的遊戯 ムゲンソウルズ), a game already earning early notoriety for its profusion of ero-kawaii girls being stripped and splattered in the traditional manner.

The trailer:

The game is set to be released in March 2012, with the limited edition coming with a set of puchi Nendoroids:

For Final Fantasy XIII-2, Square Enix seems to have been busy correcting the extreme linearity and general absence of RPG-ness which  caused so much criticism of Final Fantasy XIII, with some maps looking distinctly complex – although this has immediately prompted complaints that they “will be a complete hassle to navigate.”

Some of the maps:

Towns and other crucial RPG elements were also promised, so it would appear Square Enix is attempting to address some of the major complaints levelled against the original.

In fact it may have achieved the ironic position of being less linear (at least in terms of dungeon design) than the latest paragon of open-world RPGs, Skyrim – a game in which almost all dungeons consist of a corridor to the boss followed by a convenient one-way shortcut back to the entrance or surface.

The original, by way of comparison:

However, the online reaction still seems to be demonstrating that, for some at least, Square Enix can do no right:

“I hope you guys are happy – after you complained about it being non-linear it is now a total bitch to navigate.”

“ヽ(´･д･｀)ﾉ”

“It’s super-complex now. This game is godly!”

“It’s more complex than I expected.”

“They should have done the first like this.”

“Nobody really wants non-linearity with such small maps in any case.”

“They’ve just piled in pointless forks so much it’ll be a total hassle. Damn idiots moaning about linearity.”

The game’s international release is due in January, although the Japanese version is available now.

Namco Bandai Games have announced that Tales Studio, the studio responsible for producing its popular line of Tales RPGs, is to be disbanded and merged into Namco Bandai proper.

The official announcement of their dissolution and merging merely points out that as a fully owned subsidiary there is no substantive financial change in it being dissolved.

A detailed rationale for the decision is not provided, although the studio’s financial performance has been in doubt for some time, despite healthy sales of recent “mothership” titles.

As far as Japanese corporate politics go, for a fully owned subsidiary to be rolled back into the parent company suggests at the very least a considerable loss of independence and prestige, although just how it will affect their game output is not clear.

Online there is no small scepticism about the move:

“TOX was planned to sell 400,000 but managed 600,000, why are they doing this!?”

“The expansion of Bandai Namco’s exploitative business practice continues apace.”

“This sounds like a streamlining move, but I don’t see how they can avoid layoffs.”

“Nothing will change… right? It was a fully owned subsidiary after all. And the parent is the one who keeps churning out loss making games.”

“The influence of the Tales staff is sure to decrease with a move like this, you know.”

“Haven’t they lost enough staff already?”

“Tales Studio was an actual company?”

“It’s the same as with SCE. But unlike Sony there is no way they’ll reorganise them into another company.”

“So they won’t be able to choose their platform and number of titles now?”

“So Xillia was a beta after all…”

“If TOX could sell 600,000 and still make a loss their organisation must be pretty rotten. Anyone else could make a crappy game like that with only 200,000 sales.”

“Some of these Tales games are good. I hope they keep making them.”

“Why annoy all the users and retailers by dissolving their studio?”

“They’ll make it CG and have them appearing in Soul Calibur, mark my words.”

Ero-RPG masters Compile Heart have unveiled “Touch Shiyo! Love Application” (“Let’s Touch! Love Application”), a schoolgirl touching game of the sort formerly confined to the DS, and which has rapidly inspired such hard praise as “it’s practically an eroge, isn’t it?”

The game, due February 2012 for the PS3, takes the form of a “love simulation” played via the in-game “yPhone,” with art by the illustrator responsible for the notoriously sexy Agarest Senki series.

Incidentally, it is clear from the heroine character descriptions that they are all huge perverts to the last (“is a total sadist but is actually a secret masochist” ” “likes her body being slick with her own sweat” “loves lotion and touching and being touched” “tends to doze off having lascivious dreams” etc. etc.).

There is some speculation as to whether this will be finding its way onto the Vita…

Nippon Ichi’s newly unveiled “dark fantasy action RPG” Majo to Hyakkihei (“The Witch & The Hundred Knights”) is attracting attention – through mainly due its sexy dark heroine, Bog Witch Metalica.

The plot concerns Bog Witch Metalica’s efforts to vanquish the wicked Forest Witch and swamp the world in bogs, marshes, fens and other paludal biomes, using an immortal magical summons – the “Hundred Knights,” whose role the player takes.

The most notable aspect of the game itself seems to be that veers away from traditional JRPG railroading of the player somewhat – a relatively open world with plenty of sidequests is promised, and as an amoral familiar the player can choose whether to go about things in a benign or malign manner, and be treated accordingly (or, put more bluntly, it may be “Bioware meets Disgaea”).

As for the actual game graphics – once again Nippon Ichi looks set on bringing stunning PSP level graphics to the PS3:

There is some scepticism about all this online:

“The main character is tiny?”

“Isn’t Metalica the main character?”

“Looks boring, Wii-level at best.”

“Looks like Magicka for the Japanese.”

“When they say it has freedom, there’s probably not much. They’ll never keep it balanced otherwise.”

“Protagonist, you are too small.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Well, Nippon Ichi are trying at nay rate. But frankly, this looks like some overseas DL game.”

“It feels really sweet, but then they make the protagonist into a totally bland and boring character – Nippon Ichi always does this.”

Japanese release is set for the spring of 2012.

Tales of Xillia has proven a major hit, shifting over half a million copies in its first week and already securing the title of fastest selling Tales title ever.

The latest week’s sales figures show Tales of Xillia firmly in the number 1 spot with 525,605 copies sold (as opposed to merely shipped to retail channels).

It is also the best selling Tales title ever, and the second best selling PS3 game in the Japanese market (second only to FF13, and in both cases in first week terms – its eventual sales remain to be seen):

TOX　　525,605
TOD　　450,099　　829,271
TOD2　498,142　　762,861
TOE　　384,790　　669,248
TOR　　372,767　　596,493

More recent Tales titles had tended to exhibit weaker sales, putting the future of the franchise (at least as a major JRPG) in doubt, but it seems that trend has been dramatically arrested.

The game itself has received some of the best critical reviews of any Tales title, and online raillery is largely absent – although there is the usual grumbling about Bandai’s aggressive use of DLC in place of elements which were formerly part of the game proper.

So far, fans have not uncovered any evidence of Bandai’s much reviled beta-marketing strategy, which can only add to the game’s popularity.

With the Final Fantasy franchise under definite strain in recent iterations, and Dragon Quest reduced to an online game for its latest title, Tales fans are hailing this impressive showing as a sign of a Tales renaissance – although international fans are still left to worry over when, if ever, they will ever see the title.

The Japanese edition is however available internationally now.

In other news, Bandai has announced Tales of Innocence R for the Vita – the “R” standing for “Reimagination” rather than “Remake,” although the latter seems to be more accurate.

US reviewers have been raving over the recent American release of Disgaea 4, with some going so far as to award it 100%, lavishing praise on its highly refined SRPG gameplay whilst maintaining diplomatic reserve about other elements…

Reviewers seem to have generously overlooked the decidedly hackneyed plot and still awful (if improved) graphics in favour of the highly refined strategic RPG gameplay the series is a byword for – an appropriate evaluation, given the expectations of fans:

The game is available now.

Time has accused Square Enix of racist portrayal of blacks in it recent transhuman stealth shooter Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The (admittedly terrible) character in question:

Time’s writer rants about the inclusion of a black character who he views as embodying a racist stereotype of African Americans, though he otherwise rates the game highly (as does practically every other reviewer):

Letitia’s a really bad part of a really good game. When lead character Adam Jensen encounters her in Detroit, she’s picking through the trash.

It becomes clear that she’s an informant from Jensen’s police days and, as their conversation continues, she gives Jensen a few hints and a general sense of the mood of the city.

Letitia’s horrible character design doesn’t stop you from exploring the cyberpunk world of 2027. Instead, she makes you wonder about how she even came into existence.

[...]

Why is this in here? Humor? Any mirth to be had from watching the sequence dissipates about 30 seconds in. No, the purpose of talking to Letitia is to move the player forward and give some hints about Jensen’s backstory.

Yet in doing so, you encounter something really ugly. Letitia embodies a strain of racist stereotype that renders black people as less than human, as the worst that society has to offer.

[...]

Mind you, I’m not calling Eidos Montreal or Square Enix racist. What I will say is that the Letitia character swims in the same dirty stream of ideas that gave America the welfare queen myth and the mysterious black criminal often cited as an alibi in other people’s crimes.

The horrible broken English Letitia speaks is so far removed from any actual slang that it renders the character practically extra-terrestrial. It’s not from an alien planet, though.

That slang harkens back to the worst blackface minstrelsy of the last century. Even the voice actor sounds embarrassed at the things she—even though it sounds like a man, at times—has to say.

[...]

Some people reading this might counter with, “Ok, fine, Letitia’s just a poorly drawn character. What’s the harm in that? Weak character construction isn’t racist.”

But it’s what this particular weak character construction draws on that makes it so appalling. Making her a black, jive-talking street person echoes decades of racist imagery about poor African-Americans.

That imagery’s said that blacks are too inherently dumb, lazy or foreign to America to share in the American Dream. It’s “those people, they’re not like us” talk.

Oh, I can imagine some of the responses to my criticism: “You want to censor creativity. You just want everything to be politically correct. It’s just a video game; what’s the big deal?”

Those responses are wrong. To those who’d retort in that way, I ask this: Can you stand by Letitia? Could you sit someone in front of one of the best games of the year, have this sequence come up and not squirm at her every line?

Defenders keen to burnish the game’s politically correct credentials (or avoid lawsuits) might point out that a number of the game’s many black characters (most of it takes place in the rotten core of Detroit) are scientists and managers, and that the game only features a grand total of two characters speaking with folksy accents in any case.

Oddly, the hammy faux Asian accents the game’s English speaking Chinese (a third of the game takes place in a dystopian Chinese city) universally speak with escape mention, as well as the fact that virtually all of the game’s Chinese characters are either triads, prostitutes or scientists.

The obligatory inclusion of the “English accent arch-villain” character also tends to suggest the game is more guilty of constructing its cast from crude Hollywood character templates and stereotypes than any actual racism.

Square Enix still takes the accusations seriously enough to dismiss them with an apologetic non-apology:

“Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a fictional story which reflects the diversity of the world’s future population by featuring characters of various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.

While these characters are meant to portray people living in the year 2027, it has never been our intention to represent any particular ethnic group in a negative light.”

The perverse reluctance of the shade of Atlus to make a new Persona title for the PS3 is now reaching farcical levels – the latest addition to the series is to be a 2D fighting game spin-off, accompanied by yet another portable remake.

The game, dubbed “Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena,” is set to hit arcades in the spring of 2012, with a console port for PS3 and Xbox 360 following in summer. Along with the expected Persona 4 characters, some characters from Persona 3 will also make an appearance.

In addition to the fighting game, the PS Vita is to see a heavily upgraded port of Persona 4 proper, dubbed “Persona 4: The Golden” – including a new character, new voicing, more anime movies, and some coop play possibilities utilising the Vita’s new features.

The online reaction of most fans seems to be one of fatigue at having to endure yet another non-RPG release (at the current rate of progress it seems the PS3 will be obsolete before it gets a fresh Persona RPG), but there still appears to be a great deal of interest in the Vita edition.

Disturbingly sexualised young girl RPG Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 has opened a veritable Pandora’s Box by including the ability to create custom textures for the heroines, leading to an immediate flood of textures featuring transparent clothing, carefully placed band-aids, and, of course, outright nudity…

The textures and so on:

The small but dedicated fanbase the game enjoys (almost the entire game is based on material from a single games board on 2ch, and only this tiny group has any hope of getting the obscure references the game is packed with) seems very much intent on supporting the title:

A real nude filter for those feeling short-changed by blurry PS3 textures:

The game itself is available now – whether the near miracle of the first game reaching the west will be repeated is already the subject of some speculation, although it would surely be worth it just to hear the western game press whine about the even more sexist sequel.

Tales fans are hailing the upcoming Tales of Xillia as the sexiest Tales RPG to date, with some exceptionally revealing (for a Tales title at any rate) character designs and costumes on display…

Omake fan art – it seems even the official portrayals cannot agree on Mira’s size, let alone the fan ones…

The game’s Japanese language release is due in September.

Top HRPG Ar Tonelico has finally provided western fans with one of its saucy artbooks, available now.

Ar Tonelico Visual Book is available for orders now.

Fans of Valkyria Chronicles can now inspect in English the character and vehicle designs which made the franchise such a success (if a succession of PSP “sequels” can be considered as such), thanks to the recent publication of the Valkyria Chronicle Design Archive – replete with detailed treatment of each character’s swimwear…

The book is available for purchase now.

Atlus has announced what everyone probably already knew – that Americans love Catherine, having made it the best selling US launch in Atlus’s history.

Atlus gloats over Catherine’s success in North America:

“Catherine has exceeded our highest expectations.

It released last week to tremendous critical acclaim and fan response, bolstered by the release of a demo a couple weeks prior, and continues to generate discussion among fans for its mature themes, engrossing subject matter, and frantic, challenging gameplay.

It is fitting, then, that Catherine can boast the largest launch in the 20-year history of Atlus, and continues to see strong sales at retail.”

2ch brings its usual penetrating insights to the table:

“Those dirty foreigners were hooked by the blonde heroine, weren’t they now!”

“Damn, now we are going to end up with another Catherine game and another postponement of the next Persona.”

“Wow, it outsold Demon’s Souls!?”

“With all the cash from Catherine they could actually ensure all the sub-missions in Persona 5 are fully voiced…”

“What the? I get the impression the Persona team is being massively overrated here.”

The game is available now for those who have yet to fall for her charms.

Catherine’s creepy anime graphics and extreme difficulty are apparently not too much for American gamers after all – the game has received a series of ringing endorsements from US gaming rags, some as high as 100%.

The game’s Metacritic scores so far:

Even masochistic Japanese players complained of extreme difficulty in the initial version, but Atlus obligingly patched it to playable levels and it is this foreigner-friendly easy version which Americans get – a decision which seems to have paid off

For those wondering, the actual game easily escaped censorship (Japanese game censorship is rather more draconian than western standards, save where it comes to crazed child pornography laws), and the Bowdlerised cover is only in restricted circulation.

In other news, Catherine has also secured a European publisher and will at some point be reaching the barbarous wastes of Europe – happily Catherine is, as 2ch would have it, “an old hag” so further interference seems unlikely.

The English version ships in a few days, with a saucy artbook for pre-orderers.

The upcoming Street Fighter vs Tekken crossover Street Fighter x Tekken: 4 Fighters is being acclaimed as perhaps the sexiest addition to either franchise yet (although this might be something of an understatement in the case of Street Fighter and an exaggeration in the case of Tekken).

Some of the recent trailerage:

Poison is proving a popular relief from the never before so thunderous thighs of Chun Li…

Omake Poison:

Namco Bandai has announced it will finally be porting IdolMaster to the PS3, the first time the title has reached the PlayStation after having long been renowned as the mainstay of Microsoft’s few Japanese Xbox exclusives.

The major differences between the port and the original are that the PS3 version will be a “complete edition” incorporating some of the DLC from the Xbox 360 version, and that the game now has an easier difficulty for novice players.

Supposedly the value of the included DLC comes to ¥25,500 – something which looks set to aggrieve the existing victims of the game’s merciless DLC marketing.

Release is due on the 27th of October.

The decision probably follows disappointing sales of IdolMaster 2 on the Xbox 360 – the notoriously fickle nature of existing IdolMaster fans and the now token size of the Xbox 360 market in Japan presumably overcame whatever under-the-table deal Bandai had in place with Microsoft to keep the series exclusive, and the franchise in any case would probably have been doomed had it maintained its aloofness from 95% of otaku gamers.

A sense of betrayal and the memory of Bandai’s notorious beta test ports of its Tales games have ensured outrage amongst Xbox IdolMaster fans – although the boycotts and petitions have yet to surface.

Square Enix’s controversial decision to implement a “fatigue” system in Final Fantasy XIV in order to pander to casuals and the Chinese government has finally been revoked.

The change comes by way of the 1.18 patch:

Removal of the Fatigue System

Fatigue is the means whereby playing for prolonged periods of time progressively yields less and less skill and experience points, eventually reaching a point where neither can be obtained.

Patch 1.18 will see the removal of this system, meaning players will no longer be subjected to a reduction in skill and experience point awards even after long hours of play.

In light of this change, accumulated surplus points will also be done away with.

The stated reason for implementing the system was to make the game more friendly to casual players, although some also suspected the system was introduced in order to comply with the Chinese government’s onerous regulations on MMORPGs, as Square Enix has lately been noted for entertaining fantasies of success in China.

Whether any actual hardcore players are left to appreciate the change is another matter – even the brave soul who stayed on to produce unofficial estimates of the server populations has become fed up and quit; his last estimate, published at the end of June, showed the population on the most popular server had sunk to 1,339, down from a peak of 4,000 in the week after release.

Square Enix for its part still maintains a PS3 version “will definitely come, so don’t worry!” – though this of course rather optimistically supposes anyone was still worrying about the game.

Square Enix has finally remade Final Fantasy VII – though perhaps not in the way fans have been so interminably clamouring for…

The characters are on sale as DLC from the 14th onwards, for those still willing to brave PSN.

Aside from the obvious inexplicability of Square Enix’s refusal to produce the most demanded remake in gaming history, some concerns have been voiced about a certain lackingness in poppet Tifa:

The “Red Zone” edition of No More Heroes is finally taking the franchise to new extremes of sexiness (on the PS3 at any rate) – not only is it Z-rated, its “18+” DLC pack allows nude female characters to be ogled in unprecedented detail…

The video:

Gratuitous caps:

The game has been subjected to a complicated series of multi-platform, multi-regional release arrangements with various levels of censorship and wildly differing release dates – previously Japan only received a massacred by censors edition, with Japan and the US still yet to receive the uncensored PS3 version, whilst more mature Xbox 360 users and Europeans have already gained access to the title.

The Japanese edition is due for release on the 21st of July, and is available internationally now, as is the US edition, due August.

Recently released moechemy RPG Atelier Meruru is being hailed for featuring more saucy scenes than ever, with the entire cast stripping off for steamy bathing action.

Thanks to the presence of fictional 15-year-olds the game will presumably be banned throughout much of the unfree world, starting with Sweden, despite also boasting possibly the most attractive 40-year-old in gaming history…

Some scenes from the bathing scenes of the previous games as gratuitous comparison:

A long standing tradition in 3D Atelier games is for them to be released with pantsu-baring transparent clothing bugs – in this respect Atelier Meruru does not disappoint:

An apparent nopan scene has also been (partially) uncovered:

Kishida Mel, the artist responsible for the moe-boot of the series, could not contain his joy at the game’s release and entered into another one of his notorious celebrations:

The game even features something for non-lolicon:

Atelier Meruru is available now.