E3 2013: Dark Souls II

E3 2013: X

E3 2013: Kingdom Hearts III

E3 2013: Final Fantasy XV

Formerly Final Fantasy Versus XIII for the PS3, this game is now officially Final Fantasy XV and releasing on PS4 and Xbone.

Square-Enix Trademark Leads to Star Ocean Speculation

A trademark filing by Square-Enix has led to rumors that a new Star Ocean game may be on the way.

It is worth noting that this could be anything from a mobile title to a portable re-release of a previous game, so automatically assuming it could be another major large scale sequel is probably not the best idea.

I, for one, am not excited by any of the possibilities. After slogging through the badly designed, incredibly cliched and painfully voiced characters and plot of Star Ocean 3, and seeing enough of the content of Star Ocean 4 to convince me that it was most likely exponentially worse, I truly don't give a shit was this trademark is for.

Although I will admit that I would enjoy the bitter tears if it was another of Square-Enix's Japan-only mobile titles.

Worth Checking Out: PersonaGAF Podcast With Erin Fitzgerald

On the popular NeoGAF forums there is a community of fans of the Persona franchise who have created their own podcast called S.Link FM. The most recent episode of the show had special guest Erin Fitzgerald, who voiced the English version of Chie Satonaka in Persona 4 Golden, Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4: The Animation, join in the discussion.

This was definitely a great show which dived into the inner business workings and psychology of anime and videogame voice acting, all things Persona 4, all things Chie Satonaka and some other miscellaneous subjects. Do check it out if you can.

Downloads available at:
S. Link FM Episode 7: Voices in My Head with Erin Fitzgerald

Gametrailers Kingdom Hearts Documentary

GameTrailers

One of the most confusing plotlines in videogaming has been that of the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Taking place over 7 different titles spread across 4 separate platforms, with prequels and games that occur simultaneously to others released in non-sequential order, the plot is not exactly easy to follow.

With the upcoming release of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, an HD remaster for the PS3 of the original Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories and a movie detailing the plot of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Gametrailers has made an hour-long documentary trying to piece together the plot from all 7 games in the hope it finally makes sense to more people.

 No word yet on whether Gametrailers has succeeded in making Square's obfuscated writing any more coherent for the audience at large, but kudos to them for trying.

Persona 3 Anime Trailer

With all the depressing news coming from the games industry of late I feel this blog is turning into too much of a corporate hate site. The truth is that I really do like videogames and videogame related things, so I'm feeling a need to seek out some awesome things to talk about in order to bring some balance after the raging incited by the corporate AAA Gaemz Industree™ in most of my posts.

This is where the Persona 3 movie comes into play. P3 is one of my favorite RPGs of modern times and now Aniplex is making an anime film adaption that will debut later this year in Japan. Word has it the project is designed as a series of films, which would make sense considering that the game's plot and story are a 70+ hour affair. Seeing it announced as a film project and not a TV series causes me to hope that Aniplex will develop these films with a production level reminiscent of the impressive Fate/Zero anime series or better.

I'm definitely looking forward to this, and hoping that the US release won't see the Blu-rays sold exclusively in some absurd $300-$500 package like other Aniplex releases of recent times. Perhaps having Atlus as the IP holder will allow for a more mass market price point.