Dragon’s Crown has had a long development process – especially for those of you who remember E3 2011 when Ignition first mentioned the game. But now ATLUS and Odin Sphere developer Vanillaware are putting a stake in the ground for August 6th, 2013. If you’re not familiar with Dragon’s Crown, it’s a 2D multiplayer action beat-em-up exclusive to the PS3 and PS Vita that features four-person co-op play, six character classes, skills that can be leveled up, and all the dungeon-exploring, orc-slapping, treasure-seeking action you can shake a magical staff at. If you’re not familiar with the date August 6th, please consult a calendar.

One of the reasons development took so long is the painstaking detail that makes every character, background or combat animation worthy of the artistic vision of Vanillaware. The intricacies in the artwork are immediately noticeable on both the PS3 and PS Vita versions. Speaking of, we’re working right now on making sure that gamers can take their saved games with them on the Vita. So while Vita adventurers can’t party up with PlayStation dungeoneers, it doesn’t mean they have to stop leveling and looting if they have to leave the living room.

The other thing that’s immediately noticeable about Dragon’s Crown are the fantastical player characters. The Amazon, Dwarf, Elf, Fighter, Sorceress and Wizard all exude extreme character designs to emphasize their powerfulness. The outlandish character design stands out from the hordes of goblins, orcs, myconids (evil, sentient mushrooms), and other dangerous creatures that populate the world of Hydeland. Oh, and in case you were wondering: yes, you can fight dragons in it.*

Aug. 6 will be here sooner than you think, so make sure to stay up to date with Dragon’s Crown on the official game website and right here on the PlayStation Blog.

*There will also be a crown in the game.

You know how you’re really excited for something and then something happens and you get even more excited? Like that time you found out they were making a movie for The Hobbit and you were excited…but kinda bummed that Peter Jackson wouldn’t be directing it. But guess what happened: Peter Jackson announced that he *would* in fact direct it, and you got a heck of a lot more excited. Right?

Remember Dragon’s Crown, the next project from Vanillaware announced at last E3, a multiplayer action RPG with beautiful hand-drawn visuals slated to come to PS3 and PS Vita?

BREAKING NEWS: Atlus is taking over publishing duties in Japan and North America! What’s more, key (and very talented) members of the Atlus internal development team will be involved with the project as producer(s). You know, some of the people who’ve worked on games in the critically acclaimed Persona series. Yeah, we know: we’re stoked, too!

What does this mean for the game? For one, it means that it’s going to be better than ever. It will, however, come a bit later than originally expected, as it’s now slated for release in 2013.

When we took over the reins, we realized that a lot of the information made available to the public was ambitious and unfounded conjecture. The release timing, the pricing, and many of the features detailed for fans and members of the press were simply unknowable at the time they were disseminated (and frankly we were quite shocked to find out that many of the details were made public unbeknownst to even the developers).

It’s still way too early in development to be talking about specifics, but we can say that the game simply cannot retail for $29.99. We don’t know where that price point came from, but it is a logistical impossibility. We’re all gamers and we all wished it could be so, but it would have essentially destroyed any chance for profitability.

There’ll be plenty more news on the game in the coming months, and many questions that you’ll want answered. We promise that we’ll do our very best to answer them!

SUMMARY: Dragon’s Crown is still coming to PS3 and PS Vita, Atlus is bringing it (and helping to produce it), and it’ll hit North America in 2013.

*lowers goggles*

You may fire when ready.