Koei has made available the second demo for Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid 2 (aka Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce 2) today. Zhen Ji, Sun Shang Xiang and Jiang Wei (above) are the playable characters this time. A couple of quests are available, one of them is new and you can play with your friends locally through the Ad-Hoc Mode. The direct link to the download page is here.

Naruto Shippuuden: Kizuna Drive info appears in the latest issue of Shonen Jump. We knew it’s a team-based action game before and now it’s clear that you can freely pick four characters for your team, some of the ninjas available are shown in the mag (click the image above for full view). All four characters can linked up to activate “Kizuna Link”, special moves that deal large amount of damages to your enemies. It’s also revealed that there will be more than 60 missions in the Free Mission mode. Game will be out this year in Japan but there is no actual release date yet.

The latest info on Gundam Assault Survive still talking about the game’s rich customization options (tune-up your mechs and character’s skills level-up). There’s also an easy one button order that allows you to easily instruct your CPU-controlled partners now. Click on the picture above for slightly larger view.

Backed by the always reliable Shin Sangoku Musou name and the Monster Hunter Portable inspired multiplayer modes, Shin Sangoku Musou: Multi Raid (aka Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce) enjoyed a very successful launch in Japan last February, selling more than 350,000 copies even before it’s budget re-release next week. After being ported to home consoles, nobody should be surprised with the announcement of the sequel, to be released on PSP next month in Japan. The first game was a refreshing change to the series, so am really interested to see what they are adding to the sequel. Below is a compilation of the information and screens of the games since it was announced late last year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fairly strong PSP presence in the latest Japanese charts thanks to the generous amount of major releases recently. Sega and it’s Chief Producer Shuntaro Tanaka should be happy with Senjou no Valkyria 2 (aka Valkyria Chronicles 2) portable debut, a slight improvement over its PS3 debut (77,000) almost two years ago.

Note: Enterbrain numbers not available at this point. Charts will be updated with more figures when they become available, view the Top 10 after the jump, ranking in full can be view here.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just a heads up for fellow importers, Play-Asia is having their annual Lucky Lunar New Year Sale for nine days. Nothing really interest me at the moment except the few below. Check out the announcement page for more. Please note that most Asian version are actually the Japanese version with a brief English manual.

• Final Fantasy XIII (Japanese language Version) (Asia) $59.90
• Naruto Shippuuden: Narutimate Accel 3 (Asia) $44.90
• Gundam Battle Universe (Gundam 30th Anniversary Collection) (PSP the Best) (Asia) $19.90
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Gundam Next Plus (Asia) $44.90
• Persona (Asia, Japanese language version) $19.90
• Dissidia: Final Fantasy – Universal Tuning (Japan) $39.90
• Gran Turismo (US) $29.90
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (Asia) $29.90

Are you busy collecting stickers for your tanks in Senjou no Valkyria 2? The game was released to some hot reception in Japan last week, selling more than 90,000 copies to debut at second spot of the latest Japanese charts. To begin its strategy guide, Weekly Famitsu ran a little interview with Chief Producer Shuntaro Tanaka, Producer Shinji Motoyama and Director Takeshi Ozawa where the trio share some tips for the game.

Read the rest of this entry »

Quite surprised at Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep being able to hold on to the top spot actually. But reviews and words of mouth have been positive for the game, which has now sold more than 600,000 copies. A healthy supply of new titles keep PSP on top of the hardware chart as well.

Note: Enterbrain numbers not available at this point. Charts will be updated with more figures when they become available, view the Top 10 after the jump, ranking in full can be view here.

Read the rest of this entry »

The upcoming issue of Weekly Famitsu spend three pages explaining the Pilot Making part of Gundam Assault Survive. As you can see from the scans, things you can customize include name, genre, face type, hair style, abilities, birth place, voice type, initial skills and MS parts. My initial report on the game can be read here.

Selected from more than 20 options, Megane Kikuya’s final illustration for .hack//Link box art (click for larger view) is certainly a great piece of art. “I purposely picked deeper colors to point out the scale of this RPG. There are 11 characters in the illustration, four of them drawn in full body, this is the most time consuming work I have done in my life.” she says.

I’m hardly a big .hack fans but this title grabbed my attention for some reasons. The game is apparently the final episode in the series and will have our hero Tokio travel back in time to meet all the characters from the series and partner with more than 30 of them in the game for their adventure. The recent Weekly Famitsu (online version here) report look into its “Cross Over Events” and revealed a couple more characters. There is also an interview with series creator and CyberConnect2 boss Hiroshi Matsuyama, who says that while there will be manga and animes of the series in the future, this will be the last .hack game… unless .hack//Link “sold too well and someone order him to make a game”.

Read the rest of this entry »