IdolMaster 2 Announced for PS3

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.