NIS America president pledges PS3 Support, apologizes for Last Rebellion sucking

Lots of news from Haru Akenaga (NISA president).

- Neptune (PS3 RPG) coming over.
- No more Sakura Wars
- Apologizes for Last Rebellion
- Hints at Classic Dungeon and Zettai Hero
- "working on" anime for PSN

[ClownBelt]

"Oh, one more thing… how is Disgaea 4 doing?

Ask me again at TGS."

OMFG!!! This series is the reason why I purchased my PS3 last December 2008.

Makes me wonder why NIS supports the PS3 even though they can easily put their game on the 360 for multiplatform release. They're third party devs afterall.

So far, TGS will have the following games

The Last Guardian
Final Fantasy Versus 13
Disgaea 4

The only thing left that would blow my head is the announcement for Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5.

[house]

last guardian im sooo looking forward to it hopefully they show it at tgs

[Lionhead]

Great interview

Can't wait for Neptune, Ar tonelico III, and Atelier Rorona

TGS keeps sounding more appealing now =D

Disgaea ftw!

[sikbeta]

I have FAITH in You NIS, I'll Support the Next Disgaea Game...

Edit:

Great to Know They're going to Publish Super Dimension Game Neptune, everyone needs to get that Game

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[squallheart]

that game is coming to the states o.o as downloadable or retail¿

[skip2mylou]

@lionhead i want a Ar Tonelico 1&2 HD Version with trophies!!! i missed out on the first 2 and now i cant find em :(

[PshycoNinja]

Kingdom Hearts III. That would freakin blow my mind!

[ShadowJetX]

SquareEnix and Disney call the shots with that one. If NIS want's to publish that game, you better pray that SE finishes KH III, they somehow spontaneously go bankrupt, and beg for another developer or company to publish it, and have NIS put up the most money for that game.

Even if NIS were to somehow acquire the rights to publish KH III, I'd still look forward to the next Disgaea or Tales game.

PS; Imma excited for TGS 2010 ya'know.

[Reibooi]

WOOOOT DISGAEA 4!!!!

I didn't think we would be seeing that anytime soon for various reasons and he basically just confirmed it would be at TGS. Awesome TGS is really shaping up to be better then E3 for RPG fans.

[Chris399]

I'd say it's because making a multi still costs more money. And when you're on a shoe-string budget, which many NIS titles are, you just can't be bothered. That, and I think it's safe to say at this point that the audience just isn't there for JRPGs on the 360. There were some successes on the 360 early in it's cycle, mainly because they filled a void that existed PS3's library at that time. And if you compare sales between the platforms on multis in Japan, it's even more clear where you should be spending your development resources (as that's where the real fanbase is, us North American Otaku are secondary :P)

Plus, NIS have always been loyal to the Sony brand and their fanbase. It's pretty commendable (or stubborn, depending on your perspective) when you have companies like Square regurgitating remake after remake and whoring themselves out to every platform.

I'm glad to see that JRPGs are back on the Playstation brand. It's where my association with the genre has always been.

[callahan09]

Very excited for Disgaea 4. Love the franchise.

He apologized for releasing Last Rebellion? That's surprising. Other than the fetch quest at the end of the game (that was pretty annoying & unnecessary), I personally really enjoyed the game. I didn't buy it though. I rented it. It was a weekend Platinum. Really quick game. But I did enjoy it.

Graphics weren't good, but I personally didn't find them ugly, I thought they were serviceable and displayed some great art, they just weren't anywhere near showcase worthy. They were low-detailed, but high-resolution. I personally didn't think they were an eye-sore, some may disagree, though. I enjoyed the game for the story, which I know a lot of people didn't like, but it intrigued me, and the ending was very cool, I didn't expect it, and of course the very unique and creative battle system.

I loved the gameplay mechanics in that game. I really mean that. It had such unique gameplay systems, the dynamic between the two characters and their abilities, the battle system and combo mechanics, it was a very unique game in terms of how you played it, and I thought it was very fun to play for the short while that it lasted.

The one main design flaw that I thought existed was the fetch quest, as I said. Other than that, there was nothing bad about the game. But that's my opinion.

I have funny tastes, I guess.

[Homicide]

Nice that they're localizing Neptune.

[Kamikaze135]

I can't see myself paying so much for digital content, lol.

[Stealth20k]

Uh theyve never done a dd only ps3 game and they never will.

[Gitaroo]

you never know, but even if they do, fans can keep asking and they will do a disc version like the other psp game they did.

[Obama]

Namco should learn a thing or 2 from NIS. Support your fanbase.

[Redempteur]

that's because they know you can get profits if you localise your efforts on the right titles ... but hey scamco is busy making ANOTHER DBZ game

[UltimateIdiot911]

It's not hard, I mean, all Namco have to do is go through a few gaming sites and read through what gamers really want and think.

Seriously, how hard was it for them to bring Tales of games on system that people want to play it on. Whatever, if it goes down, gamers are not to blame for their failures.

[hihosilver]

ACCEPTED

[Godmars290]

Even though it wasn't needed.

(Okay, it was...)

But I really hope they either stop making PS2 games, or start offering them on PSN.

[ExcelKnight]

Sakura Wars wasn't really their PS2 game. They just took a very long time to localize it.

As for making PS2-quality games, the president of NIS (this dude's the pres. of NISA) said that they were working on making better looking PS3 games to catch up with the generation. HD sprites or cell-shaded 3D is fine by me.

[Noctis Aftermath]

Cell-shaded? dude you read my freakin' mind!

[TheColbertinator]

I certainly hope Atelier Rorona is good or at least decent.

[Gitaroo]

main reason is I think they use Sony phyre engine, the engine is free to use as long as there is a PS3 version of the game then they can port it to other consoles if they want. Sony recently announce a PSP version of the phyre engine. It helps many other smaller dev to jump to current gen development a lot easier and quicker, and apparently the engine is super easy to use and support just about every new advance tech like SPU based SSAO, Motion blur etc.

[Godmars290]

Neptune (PS3 RPG) coming over. - YES!!!
No more Sakura Wars - NO!!!
Apologizes for Last Rebellion - meh...
Hints at Classic Dungeon and Zettai Hero - sweet...
"working on" anime for PSN - sweeeet...

Don't see why, even though I hate what Square's doing with Front Misson, they can't take SW in another direction. Focus more on the STG. Just keep it turn based or offer a side-scrolling shooter side-franchise.

BTW: anyone check out the Prinny races in Home yet?

There are Fu*king Prinny races in Home.

[UltimateIdiot911]

I had the same reaction. I'm disappointed at the no more Sakura Wars since it was a pretty good game.

I will definitely buy Neptune.

[ExcelKnight]

Sakura Wars not ever coming back is disappointing, but was pretty much expected. What really got me sad was how the game didn't even sell to their expectations, which further solidifies the game never finding a niche here.

As for Prinny races... They're hilariously awesome. NISA are awesome for being gracious enough to localize that Home space, since they're still among an extremely short list of devs who have done so (Namco have interestingly done so already, with content for games that will never see the light of day in NA).

[Godmars290]

Sakura Wars didn't have a chance thanks to no BC on the Slim. Maybe if the PS3 was, or NIS had gone an additional mile to the one they already had in localizing it in the first place - for which I still thank them - it might have been another story among US otaku.

Still, it might be a good idea if they bought the franchise if not the devs themselves to revitalize it. Put a few projects on PSN building up to a PS3 title.

Sakura Wars done similarly to Steambot Chronicles. Think of that combination.

And BTW, was talking about Last Rebellion pretty much being a PS2 game. How most if not all of the PS3 titles they've done are only slightly above PS2 level in terms of quality.

[YourFlyness]

Great Interview

[Stealth20k]

Sakura wars never being localized again was a given.....

ar tonelico III, atelier rorona, classic dungeon, neptune, zettai hero= yes please.

[Redempteur]

tonelico 3 => YES
zettai hero => YES
RORONA => YES
disgaea 4 ??? => YES

Neptune => YES
IF only they came earlier with sakurawars titles they could have made another impression BUT

[ChronoJoe]

To be fair. Sakura Wars didn't have much appeal, might be good for people who fall into it's niche, but even most JRPG fans weren't interested so, it's good business sense that the IP dies.

Anywho, Disgaea 4 was a given.

[pinkyxyz]

seriously tho, I think that they have become my favorite company after this interview :)

[blair_enigma]

sorry peeps, never really seen anything disgaeae except the title. whats that game all about?

[ChronoJoe]

It's an SJRPG, Strategy Japanese Roleplay Game.

Pretty basic in concept, you take turns. Move individual characters across tiles, to conduct battle 'strategically'. Usually has a pretty good and funny story, and deep combat system.

Production values are always very low, but that's not what it's about. http://www.youtube.com/watc... Take a look if you're interested.

[Anon7349]

Neptune--> Can't wait
Trinity Universe---> I'm Enjoying it (Enta is so sexy in 3D)
Ni No Kuni--->Tales Of Vesperia + Pokemon? **** YES
Persona 5---> PLEAAAAASE
Atelier Rorona: Alchemist of Arland---> I was sold at loli
Valkyria Chronicles 3---> PLEAAAAASE
Agarest Of War 2---> Yummy...
Ar Tonelico 3---> Again, you had me at loli
FF13 Versus---> I have high expectations!
White Knight Chronicles 2---> Hopefully lots of improvement this time around

[Nugundam0079]

No more Sakura Wars?? thats saddening

[blair_enigma]

thanks for that link! seems like it takes time to play that. but i enjoyed valkyria. and always will. stupidest thing happend, i bought valkyria's DLC, all four of them, then wanted to get another copy of valkyria, used, and before anything happend, i got YLOD'd. bye bye DLC. but that game i will most defiinitely play again in the future.