Steins;Gate 0 TV Commercial Launched in Japan

The much anticipated ‘Steins;Gate 0’ — sequel to the rapidly successful ‘Steins;Gate’ Visual Novel has had another sneak preview of the game revealed, this time, in the form of a TV commercial.

Uploaded today onto the 5pb.Games YouTube Channel, we’re given yet another peak into the world of Steins;Gate 0. With a confirmed release date of November, 11th 2015 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, there is definitely a lot of excitement surrounding this commercial.

Also alongside the PlayStation 4 release of the game is a free full HD-Remaster of the original Steins;Gate game being dubbed ‘Steins;Gate HD’.

© MAGES / 5pb. / Nitroplus / Steins;Gate 0

Fate/Grand Order celebrates 3 Million Downloads with free Servants

Fate/Grand Order, a mobile game that takes place in Type-Moon’s Fate universe, is now celebrating 3 million downloads.

Taking place across different time periods, Fate/Grand Order allows the player to take control of a Master, or Magus, and has them summon Heroic Spirits throughout time as servants to fight against dark forces. The game has been a runaway success in its native Japan, and is even attracting attention in the West.

The promotion begins September 7th, at 15:00 JP time. For a limited time, users will be able to select a code to receive one of the following 4 Star servants:
Emiya (Archer)
Marie Antoinette (Rider)
Siegfried (Saber)
Chevalier d’Eon (Saber)
Heracles (Berserker)
Stheno (Assassin)
Countess Carmilla (Assassin)
Tamamo Cat (Berserker)
Elizabeth Bathory (Lancer)
Saint Martha (Rider)

For more information, check out Type-Moon’s official post (JP)

Persona 4: Dancing All Night Character Videos for Nanako and Margaret Join the Stage!

Joining us on the stage in Persona 4: Dancing All Night, everyone’s favorite little sister — Nanako Dojima!

After Nanako and her father make the long trip from Inaba to see Yu, Rise and the rest of the team perform at the Love Meets Bonds festival, Nanako is given the once in a lifetime opportunity to practice her dance moves in front of Rise’s manager. It didn’t take much more than that for her talent to truly shine through, just check out this clip below!

Now, it wouldn’t be a Persona game without the Queen of the Velvet Room herself — Margaret!

In Persona 4: Dancing All Night you’ll be able to take control of Margaret as she displays her vogue moves on the dance floor. However, due to the nature of her role in the game, Margaret will limited to use in the ‘Free Play’ game type and must be unlocked through in-game accomplishments. You can check out her character video here:

Persona 4: Dancing All Night will be available in stores on the 29th of September for $49.99 in the America’s and will also be available on the PlayStation Store for the same price. We’ll be sure to keep you updated as more news emerges.

Blade & Soul Founders Pack Announced!

NCSoft’s long awaited English release of the MMO Blade & Soul is finally heading towards Closed Beta as announced today by the team at NCSoft.

We’re excited to announce the availability of Blade & Soul‘s Founder’s Packs! Each Pack includes Closed Beta Access and Head Start.

There are three types of Packs you can buy, with our top tier Pack offering an exclusive Weapon Skin and Costumes amongst other great benefits. Come learn more about what’s in our Packs.

Buy a Founder’s Pack now and get ready for Blade & Soul launch in early 2016.

There are going to be three tiers to this system: Initiate Pack ($24.99), Disciple Pack ($74.99) and the Master Pack ($124.99). With each tier there are going to be various bonuses included, as well as access to all of the Closed Beta sessions being run up until launch in 2016.

Blade & Soul launched in Japan back in May 2014; whilst being in development in the West since 2012. You’ll be able to purchase these packages here.

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date as we learn more about the upcoming title.

Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax to get a Special Launch Edition in the West

Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, the upcoming 2D fighting game based on the characters of Dengeki Bunko’s light novels (Sword Art Online, Durarara!, Oreimo, etc.) will be releasing on the 6th of October in North America, South America and Europe. The game will feature both a physical and digital release in North and South America, and a Digital-only release in Europe. It will be priced at $39.99 for the PlayStation 3 version, and $29.99 for the PlayStation Vita version.

Both the North American and South American versions will include a special launch edition which will feature a ‘Bonus Edition Soundtrack CD’ with songs from notable SEGA composers, including Teruhiko Nakagawa, Naofumi Hataya, Kenichi Tokoi, Jun Senoue, and plenty of others. The CD Soundtrack will only be available for retail pre-orders and a limited number of launch copies. Unfortunately for our European friends, the release will be digital only.

For those of you that haven’t seen the official launch trailer yet, it’s available here:

Having played Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax in both arcades, and on the PlayStation Vita with the Japanese release; I can vouch that whilst it’s a simple fighter which probably won’t ever be seen making its way into the competitive scene, it’s still a fun niche game for fans of both the anime/manga and fighting game genres respectively.

You can expect a Western Release on the 6th of October and we hope to have a full review out to accompany it.

Hatsune Miku joins the Persona 4: Dancing All Night roster

The recent PlayStation Vita rhythm game Persona 4: Dancing All Night welcomes a new member to the dance crew as Hatsune Miku bursts onto the stage as downloadable content, as announced by Atlus here.

Hatsune Miku will be added to the game via DLC around August in Japan, introducing a new track to the game with her “Heaven feat. Hatsune Miku (ATOLS Remix).” It’d be an easy guess to say that this will be a remix of the song “Heaven” from the Persona 4 soundtrack. There is no news yet as to whether Atlus will be bringing the Hatsune Miku DLC to the west with its upcoming release.

You can expect to be seeing Persona 4: Dancing All Night coming to North America exclusive to PlayStation Vita on the 29th of September, with the game launching in Japan back in June.

An in-game screenshot of Miku busting a move

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date if anything new is revealed for Persona 4: Dancing All Night

Marvelous announces two physical copies of Corpse Party: Blood Drive for the EU Region

Marvelous has announced today that there will be two physical editions of the critically acclaimed ‘Corpse Party‘ series’ sequel ‘Corpse Party: Blood Drive‘ for the PlayStation Vita system being released in the EU Region, including the United Kingdom and Australia.

Featuring two physical editions priced at £44.99 & £29.99 respectively, there will also be a digital download exclusive to the PlayStation Vita Store for £29.99. The £44.99 limited edition of the game will come with an exclusive art book and a double audio CD featuring the best artwork and music from the series and will be available for pre-order exclusively here.

Corpse Party: Blood Drive is the final installment of the Horror Adventure story that began with Corpse Party on PlayStation Portable in 2010, followed by Corpse Party: Book of Shadows in 2013. Corpse Party: Blood Drive allows players to control both individuals and groups of characters as they explore the Heavenly Host Elementary school as well as other notable locations. The game features a top-down 3D perspective and tasks players with dodging, disarming, running, solving and interacting with the larger world in order to advance the plot and discover what lies at the core of the events happening at Heavenly Host Elementary.

Corpse Party: Blood Drive features a thrilling narrative and deep characters that the player must work with in order to survive the many trials and tribulations of Heavenly Host Elementary. Story points throughout the game are presented in graphic visual novel-style cutscenes, and the game features many endings based upon the tasks completed throughout the campaign.

“To be able to work with the developers of Corpse Party: Blood Drive and deliver something unique to the European market, while simultaneously expanding our portfolio is something that we are incredibly grateful for” commented Michael Fisher, Community Manager at Marvelous Europe. “We hope that people will find much to love in Corpse Party: Blood Drive whether it be the deep, rich narrative experience or nerve-racking gameplay that they face as they explore its dark world.”

We’ll be sure to keep you up-to-date with any new Corpse Party: Blood Drive news as it breaks.

[Source: Marvelous via Games Press 20/07/2015]

Edit: It appears that the game in both Standard Edition and ‘Everafter Edition’ is available on Amazon too for a lower price than the official store. That can be found here.

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer Receives a New TV Commercial ft. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu

It’s no secret that Kyary Pamyu Pamyu has an ongoing business relationship with Nintendo. We’ve seen custom face plates for the New Nintendo 3DS, collaborations in projects, and now a new advertisement for Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.

The ad features an original song by Kyary, accompanied by gameplay of a Kyary character, as she goes about her daily life in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.

At the end of the commercial, we get confirmation of the 3,000 yen price and that Download Cards for the Nintendo E-Shop will be available at Convenience Stores in Japan.

For more news on Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, be sure to keep an eye out as we keep you up to date.

Steins;Gate Sequel ‘Steins;Gate 0’ Release Date Announced

5bp. in collaboration with Mages are finally bringing the true Steins;Gate sequel we’ve all been waiting for to life. Steins;Gate 0 has been slated for a PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita release in Japan and thanks to Game Jouhou, we now know that the release date will be the 19th of November, 2015 in Japan.

Little is known at this point about Steins;Gate 0, but with tomorrows issue of Famitsu, we’ll have a whole lot more information about the inner workings of the creative mind of 5bp. founder Chiyomaru Shikura and Tatsuya Matsubara whom is serving as producer on the project.

Steins;Gate 0 will release in Japan on the 19th of November, 2015 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita. There is no word yet on any English release, but with the original Steins;Gate reaching the UK’s shores just recently, you can only hope that it might get brought over in the form of a beautiful English translation.

The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game will be going for 7,800 yen plus tax, and the PlayStation Vita version going for 6,800 yen plus tax.

We’ll be sure to keep you up to date with anything that we learn from tomorrows issue of Famitsu, and can only hope you’re as excited as we are here at Akiba Weekly.