With Hyperdimension Neptunia only a month away, I wanted to bring you all a little more information on Neptunia’s Premium Edition and also about our NISA Online Store Preorder bonus item. Our Premium Edition of Hyperdimension Neptunia will include an exclusive art book, as mentioned briefly in our trailer. Fans will be happy to know that the Premium Edition’s art book will contain the original art from the Japanese release, along with additional character art, rough sketches, and concept art. Along with the art book itself, the Premium Edition will come with special packaging that will also serve as a collector’s item!

As an added bonus for all fans that pre-order the Hyperdimension Neptunia from the NIS America Online Store, we will be giving away a limited number of customized Hyperdimension Neptunia playing cards. The decks will be a standard 52 card poker playing card deck with a customized card back for the entire set and your favorite scantily-clad HDD goddesses for all of the face cards. We will only have a limited number of these promotional items, so make sure to take advantage and to sign up for our preorder! To coincide with this, we are also extremely happy to share with all of you our New Year’s resolution here at NIS America. We are stoked to let you all know that we are now offering a free shipping option on our Online Store for U.S. customers! For more information come check it all out on our website.

Next on the agenda, we have Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! now available for purchase on UMD or for download as of last week. For those that have played their way through and didn’t get a chance to unlock Asagi Wars, we have good news for you! PSN has already released our DLC, which will allow you to get a special code to punch in that will unlock Asagi Wars for you. Prep your button mashing thumbs, dood, it’s time to aid Asagi in her quest to be the main character!

Last but not least, we’re proud to bring you some fresh info on Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel, dood! The hit title has finally landed on the PS3 and is ready to go out with a bang in the final installment in this epic series. With a jam-packed Blu-Ray disc (seriously, it’s almost a full Blu-Ray), you can expect an extremely in-depth and satisfying epic tale!!

While I won’t spoil the entire plot for you, I’ll provide a brief synopsis. Within the world of Sol Cluster, there is an imposing Tower controlled by the powerful Clustanians, who are all Reyvateils, and they are oppressing everyone else on this Tower. For some reason, they have decided to capture a young girl named Saki to further their own machinations. Their pursuit of Saki lands on a young boy named Aoto’s doorstep, and being the stud he is, he steps in to save her. Due to this heroic act, they all end up on the run from an entire army. They all soon will learn that both Saki and another special girl you encounter, Finnel, are being sought after due to their importance and power! I dare not spill any more information, as you all must enjoy the final chapter on your own, dood!

First and foremost the battle mechanic is more action-oriented versus conventional turn-based game play. What it does is actually help tie in the most important part of the battle system which is to attack corresponding to the rhythm or beat. This dynamic, much like previous Ar tonelico games, is paramount to building your meter up to unleash a super-strong attack for your Reyvateils. With a more action-based approach, it allows you more control in regards to timing your attacks to the beat, thus helping you build your Harmograph.

Lastly, a more scandalous addition to the battle mechanic is the fact that the Reyvateils now will get stronger by shedding their clothing. So in essence, by losing layers of clothing, they will become more powerful and able to do incredible amounts of damage! I suppose this is why the game may have gotten a stronger ESRB rating, so needless to say, please use discretion if you are squeamish to the shedding of clothes. Otherwise, it’s pretty great. :-)

Lastly, please check out the official Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel! website that will go live later this week on www.nisamerica.com, as within you’ll get more in-depth info on characters, more story points, and last but not least, information on the Reyvateils’ sensual powers. If you haven’t already, please sign up for our Prinny Bomb Newsletter as we will announce the site’s unveiling within it! I just wanted to thank you all for reading, and make sure to check back soon as we are working hard on getting more screenshots and the trailer ready for Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel!

Let’s cut to the chase. Here are three titles we will be releasing in Fall 2010 and Spring 2011. First of all, Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel for the PlayStation 3 will be released in Spring of 2011! Nobody saw this coming, right? ;)

Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel is the final entry in the Ar tonelico series. There will still be song magic features, but the battle system has changed drastically. It is now an action-based battle system, and there is an eye popping twist to it as well… literally. You’ll be experiencing some edgy and kinky special moves the Ar tonelico girls pull off in this game! But we’ll talk about that a little later.

The game features all new characters with a new story, so even if you are new to the Ar tonelico series, you won’t have any problems getting into it! And if you have been a fan of the series… thank you for waiting patiently for this announcement! Ar tonelico Qoga will be released in Spring of 2011. Check out some of the Japanese screenshots until we have more to show!

Let’s move on to the next announcement. We will release two Nippon Ichi Software PSP titles in fall! They are… “Cladun: This is an RPG” and “Z.H.P. : Unlosing Ranger VS. Darkdeath Evilman”!

Cladun will be released only on PlayStation Network. It is a retro-looking dungeon crawler RPG with (almost) unlimited customization for your equipment, Magic Circle (character battle formation), character features, and even the last boss! The dungeons will randomly change all the time, so even if you re-visit a dungeon, the traps, enemies, dungeon map, and more will be different. It is a PSN-only title, but don’t underestimate its endless replay value! Check out the trailer below. Also, check back on www.nisamerica.com for the official Cladun website, which will launch around 5pm Pacific Time today!

Z.H.P. is NIS’s new strategy RPG. The ridiculously over-the-top story and characters make you feel right back in familiar NIS territory. The story goes something like this: The main character (you) is an ordinary shy young man. One day, walking on the street after getting some stuff from a convenience store, he witnesses a car accident! Oh no! The victim was the hero, the Unlosing Ranger, supposed to be at the Last Boss Battle to save the world… The hero asks the young man to take over his mission to save the world from the Last Boss, Darkdeath Evilman. Unable to refuse the hero’s last wish, the young man became the weakest, wimpiest main character ever in videogame history!!

Z.H.P. will be released this coming Fall on both PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Network! Check out the trailer to see how deep this game is!

I hope you are excited about our new titles! Lastly, I have something very exciting news for Atelier Rorona fans: We have decided to make a premium package including a hard cover art book. The game and art book will come in a premium box with Rorona artwork on it! Yay! Also, we launched the official website for Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland! Enjoy!

Thank you for reading my blog post. Hope you enjoyed it!