News – June 2010

I have to say, it is interesting to be in a city hosting the G20 summit!  But it’s also a big pain in the butt, especially when you live downtown.

But elsewhere, life goes on normally, and otome game news happens, so here I am to announce it!

Two big new games are a new Renka game from D3 Publisher which I mentioned earlier, but now has a lot more info on it. Ishin Renka Sakamoto Ryouma Gaiden is set to release this fall for the PSP, with a story focusing on (big surprise) Sakamoto Ryouma, a key figure during the Bakumatsu period (1853-1867). There are new character designs from the last Renka game, Bakumatsu Renka Karyuu Kenshiden which was released in 2007 (which was a semi-sequel to the original Bakumatsu Renka from 2004). The main character apparently is an orphan who grew up in the Sakamoto household.

Seiyuu haven’t been announced; I’ll probably do a separate post when they are. The Renka series is quite popular even though several stories are quite tragic, it will be interesting to see if this game changes ‘accepted’ history enough to have mostly happy endings, especially since two main characters here, Sakamoto Ryouma and Okita Souji, supposedly died quite early in the Bakumatsu turmoil.

The other new new title is Armen Noir, announced by Otomate, for the PS2, scheduled for December. The character designer also did the designs for Hiiro no Kakera 4: Shin Tamayori-hime Denshou.

The story appears to be set in the neat future, in a corrupt city called  Moebius (or Mevius?), where the gap between rich and poor is growing bigger and bigger.

The heroine is a ‘Hunter’, someone who has chosen to oppose the criminals who have sullied their hands with illegal deeds and have gained money as a result. Hunters work for ‘Bountia’, an organization that takes assignments to catch criminals in the city for rewards. Armen Noir is the heroine’s codename in Bountia, and her real name is Naska.

Some other news:

• VitaminX Evolution will be released for the PSP – some differences from the DS version are that it will be fully voiced, and the T6 endings will be enhanced.  If I didn’t have the DS version I’d totally buy this!
• Wand of Fortune II set for this December(PS2)! Ruru somehow heads back in time to the early days of Mils Crea and meets characters who look just like their counterparts in the present but are totally different! ^_^
• Renai Banchou for the PSP is scheduled for September, it sounds like an actual otome game and not just an adventure game like Dear Girls

Other than that, there are tons of games being released right now,  I’ve finally got Hakuouki (for the PS3, honto kirei da yo~!) and Meikyuu Grimm for the PSP, which is fun but looong.  What are you playing?