The guys at ACE Team have put together this wonderfully lighthearted, action-packed trailer that highlights the rush you’ll from careening into would-be obstacles at high speed. Sure, your opponent’s going to have some defenses set up, but fortune (and physics) generally favors the boulder. (We’re never going to run out of rock puns, folks. I could talc all day about them.)

This trailer will also give you some glimpses at the new stylings of the Renaissance Era levels, a couple of the single-player bosses, some of the defensive units and our brand new logo (now with 100% more spinning cow!). After Rock of Ages debuted at this year’s E3, it quickly became one of the most talked-about games at the show, for both its distinct visual styles, and for its humor. After seeing this video, we think that you’ll be inclined to agree.

Look for it to roll out onto PlayStation Network in Spring 2011!

I’m swinging by the PlayStation.Blog to talk to you about our upcoming PSP exclusive Hexyz Force. (Also to collect on a bet I made with Kevin Butler a while back. Apparently one of his many job titles is not VP of Clutch Three-Point Shooting.)

Hexyz Force is an engrossing RPG that tells not just one, but two engrossing tales. That’s a lot of engrossing, folks. Either follow Levant von Schweitzer through a tale of political intrigue, war and racial tensions, or play as Cecilia Armaclite as she learns about embracing responsibility, love and friendship. While most people would charge double the price for a value such as this, or possibly even tack on one of the tales as downloadable content, we are pleased to bring this game to you for the recession-friendly price of only $29.99! (A huge theoretical savings!)

While the two tales are playable as their own separate, self-contained games, playing them both will flesh out the main story and the universe more than you’d get out of just playing through the game as one character. So you have all the benefits of getting a different story with different party with different skills, yet you still have the joy of digging further and wringing every last drop of fun out of a game.

One of the nice features Sting put into this game are the 20 minutes of animated cutscenes. Quality 2D animation and sprites are always going to have a place in video games, so it’s nice to see a developer show the care and attention needed to craft things like this.

Despite what certain members of the House of Representatives think, this is not something someone should be nuked over.

So, you know that Hexyz Force is going to have a nice story and some impressive visuals, but what about the gameplay? RPGs hang their hat on their gameplay, so none of this other stuff matters if Hexyz isn’t fun to play as a game, right? Well, I’m happy to say that Hexyz Force has an engaging, complex system for combat.

If you’re an RPG veteran, you’re going to be able to get right into the turn-based gameplay. If you’re trying crank up your effectiveness, you’ll start trying to work the Hexyz Charge into your strategy to pile on the damage.

How about a round of applause for John Tubera, our awesome video guy.

Attacks are generally classified as falling under one of the three Divine Aspects. If you use an attack that is the same Aspect as the previous attack, or use an attack from an Aspect that is stronger than the previous Aspect, the Hexyz Charge will build. When you finally break the Charge, your attack will be boosted depending on how large you got the Charge to grow.

In addition to that, there’s the fun of crafting and fusing your own weapons, and scanning the world to find hidden treasure points. There’s a little wrinkle in pretty much every aspect of Hexyz that you can use to boost your advantage.

Well, that’s pretty much all the time I have for today. If I’ve piqued your interested in this title, swing by the game’s official website and learn more about it, or pre-order Hexyz Force for your PSP today. It’s solid, affordable, and a great value for those long summer months.

Thanks for stopping by and reading,

Clayton S. Chan

Crimson Gem Saga is a turn-based RPG that boasts all the fundamentals of solid, satisfying RPG action that seasoned genre veterans crave, developed by our fine friends and partners in Korea, IronNos and SK Telecom. We’ve heard the cries and clamoring of PSP owners looking for a deep RPG experience, so we’re bringing you one, just in time for the long summer months. Crimson Gem Saga boasts interesting customization for your weapons and skills, powerful combination attacks, and will keep you on your toes with the ever-present threat/opportunity of Ambush attacks and Critical Combo chains. That’s all in addition to a fun script that is full of memorable characters, entertaining events, and fantastic moments that separate the overall experience from what’s already available out there.

The Ambush system will keep you on your toes in a way most standard RPGs won’t be able to match. Instead of just wandering into a random battle after “X” steps on the field map, Crimson Gem Saga allows you to either avoid these battles, or exploit enemies who aren’t aware of your presence. Whichever party scores an ambush will be given a free team attack to start the battle. This can severely cripple the opposing side, which leaves the player with an interesting risk/reward conundrum. Should you risk a protracted battle that will cause you to spend most of your MP on special skills for the chance to score an easy victory on a strong enemy at 75% strength?

The Critical Combo system is another little tweak to keep you on your toes. When you score a critical hit with a physical attack, you’ll have a very limited window (we’re talking a split second) to follow-up with a second and possibly third hit. You’re going to have to learn the timing for each character, because the game doesn’t take kindly to mutton mashing. If you’re on your toes and take the time to learn the timings, you’ll be rewarded with a physical attack that punishes the enemy more than a special skill without spending any of the MP. Crimson Gem Saga is a game that rewards your attentiveness, so you don’t end up zoning out in the middle of combat and just spamming the attack button.

Now for a little bit about our world famous Atlus Localization(TM). The Asian version of this game was already in rudimentary English. Well, rudimentary might be ok for an Asian version, or for other companies, but it certainly isn’t good enough for Atlus. Devin Curry, our lead editor, and our proofreading staff of Jason Ruper, Richard Rodrigues, and Ryan Sharpe made sure that we put out a game script that any fan of ours would be proud of, and to top it off, we even added more than a thousand lines of voiced dialogue to our version of the game. If you want the definitive version of the game, you’ll want to pick up the Atlus release when it drops later this month. When you go to pick your copy up, tell ’em Clayton sent you. It won’t do anything, but just tell them anyways, I like the name drop.

Thanks for tuning in, fans in PlayStation-landia! If you’ve got any questions on the game mechanics, on the game’s localization, or just questions you’ve always kind of wanted to ask about working on a game, feel free to fire them off in the comments, and I’ll reply to what I can. Here’s hoping that you partake of, and enjoy all the hard work the team and I put into this title!

Look for Crimson Gem Saga on May 26th at most places where fine video games are sold.