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!

I’m happy to bring a bunch of presents including the Hyperdimension Neptunia trailer! On top of that, we’re also proud to bring some screenshots of Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle for PSP!

Last time I chatted about the basic story of Gamindustri and how it relates to our four lovely goddesses and their journey to save Histoire and Gamindustri. Today, I’d like to turn my focus to some of the other unique features that throw some good ol’ nostalgia and customization into the game. The first one we see in the trailer is the incorporation of a lot of classic SEGA icons such as Alex Kidd, Shinobi, and Space Harrier. During the course of your journey through Gamindustri, you may come across various dungeon bosses who may drop small “Game Discs” as they’re called.

Upon acquisition, they will allow you to customize your battle combinations to add, for example, an Alex Kidd or Space Harrier special summon attack where you can deal some serious late 80’s/Early 90’s damage to your foe. It’s a really nostalgic feature that a lot of the older gamers will appreciate.

Next in the trailer, we come across the use of the “Emblem” and “R/W Discs”. These two features allow a little bit of customization for your character(s). “Emblem” will become available to you early on in the game and its basic premise is you can put your favorite picture or emblem on your character’s posterior. Next we have the “R/W Disc” that will allow you to create your own personal summon to do damage and show your favorite picture AT THE SAME TIME! All you will need to do both is get your favorite pic over to your PS3 and then upload it via the game’s image editor. Endless possibilities and humor will ensue without a doubt. Our QA team and I have flown plenty-a-roflcopter while using these features.

Lastly, two quick cameo characters are shown, one for GUST, and one for Nippon Ichi Software. These characters can join your party to open up alternate stories as each has their own motivation for wandering around Gamindustri. Word on the street is there may be DLC for them to become playable *wink*, but there will be more on DLC next month

Our last present to give you all this year will be a few quick screenshots of our new Phantom Brave PSP game!! Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle is a port of the Wii version Phantom Brave: We Meet Again – but this time there’s a bunch of new cameos included! Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks we will have a brand spankin’ new website for you all to view along with more screenshots.

Before I take off, I just wanted to let you all know our Holiday Comic Contest is in full swing with “No Joy to the Netherworld, Etna Claus has come!” This time around we are asking our fans to complete a comic starring Prinny and Demon Lord Etna for some awesome NIS prizes. Come check it out on the Holiday Contest Website!! On top of that, Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! is less than a month away from U.S. release on both UMD and PSN, so Preorder Now to get your limited edition Asagi Pin! We only have 500 of these limited edition pins, dood, so no dilly-dallying! Until then, party on, doods!!!

Happy Holidays!

The battle system in Hyperdimension Neptunia provides customizable, varied approaches to gameplay. Each character is able to build combos against mobs and bosses, and depending on how you decide to link or structure your four-command combo, some really powerful abilities and really long chains can be created. For example, you can use an ability called “Skill Link” as the final hit in your combo chain that will allow combinations to string together and restore some AP (action points) and create higher hit and damage counts.

In other words, if you create a combo as X, X, O, O, with the final O using “Skill Link,” you will begin a new combo with O as the first command. Then, you can chain your second combo like, say O, X, X, X, with the final X using “Skill Link,” or another ability. One such ability is “Transform,” a mechanic allowing you to access a CPU’s HDD form (or Console Patron Unit’s Hard Drive Divinity form) at the end of a combo chain so the goddess characters can transform into their true forms for extra power and much… tighter… clothing. It comes in real handy against that boss who would otherwise own you, or those lonely nights on the couch. Hah!

Lastly there is a combo ability that will let you select a party member in your reserves to “Switch” with you mid-combo and have them continue a second string of moves against the mob or boss. As your characters level up, new abilities unlock and add to your repertoire. I appreciated not having to access a Fight/Magic/Item menu during the battle sequences and liked how the controller buttons corresponded to different attacks, let alone the sheer number of combos you can create using the buttons in any combination.

Along the way, Neptune will bump into three other buxom female characters named Noire, Vert, and Blanc in Gamindustri. These three characters are known as the three goddesses, or CPUs. Upon transformation, they become Black/White/Green Heart which are their true goddess forms. Each has their own particular personality traits and flaws. I appreciated the subtle references to the actual game consoles they personify – especially how some of their predominant console flaws are pointed out and are portrayed as people instead of machines, hehehehe. As for the villain in the game, she is known as Arfoire, who is hell-bent on wreaking havoc in Gamindustri. She is the embodiment of all things evil and wrong in the gaming world and will constantly appear to thwart you in your journey to find Histoire.

The world itself is divided into the four major areas of Planeptune, Leanbox, Lastation and Lowee. Within each are countless dungeons for exploration and questing. Between the dungeons and quests, you will frequent places called Basilicoms where you meet other quirky characters to help drive the storyline and keep things interesting as you progress through the game.

On a quick side note, we are going to be having a Thanksgiving sale starting Monday the 22nd, and it will be running for a whole week! Each day there will be discounted items, so make sure you stop by our NIS America Online Store and don’t miss out on some really good deals, dood!!! Also, if you haven’t already, make sure to add us on Facebook for constant updates and news as it happens!

Thanks for hanging out with me today to listen about the exciting new Hyperdimension Neptunia, dood. Don’t forget to check out our juicy Hyperdimension Neptunia website that goes live today! Hold tight for another few weeks or so and we’ll have a rocking trailer for all of you to see!