Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA f Debuts on PS Vita this March

We’re fully focused on releasing the first game for PS VITA owners right now, so no news on that front. That said, thanks so much for your support of the series – we really appreciate it!

Hellooooooooooooo FearMonkey! (I wanted to respond in kind, but decided to avoid the caps lock.)

No news on Project DIVA F 2nd from my side. Right now, as you’ll probably hear me repeat a few times in the comments, we’re all eyes forward on getting Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA f out for all you PS VITA owners! :)

You are most welcome, Kingdomkiller! Thank -you- for the support!

That’s correct! You’ll be able to double platinum if you own both the PS3 and PS VITA versions of the game in English. :)

Always great to see this kind of support from our fans, so thank you, Alpha. :)

Don’t worry – it’ll be here before you know it! We’ll announce the final date soon.

Likewise, we’re really excited to be able to release it for you guys. I don’t have any news on Yakuza, but I was lucky enough to get to work on some of the previous titles, so I know where that desire to see more comes from. It’s a really fantastic series! (P.S. – Dear readers, if you like Japanese culture, action combat, and a dose of RPG mixed in, do yourself a favor and go check out Yakuza 3 or 4 for your PS3. Tom will probably back me up on this!)

Thanks so much for the support, liammill! :) We’ll have more news on the final date for Project DIVA f soon.

You’re double-dipping to support the series in the West?

I like you.

We’re friends now. :)

It’s almost exactly the same as the Japanese VITA version – we did our best to ensure this was the case. We’ll also be offering the DLC Packs (Extra Songs, Snow Miku 2013, Extra Character Modules) for sale at-launch, so that all the content is up there on Day 1.

No news from me on F 2nd or Valkyria Chronicles, but Valkyria Chronicles for PS3 is one of my personal favorite games of all time, right up there with Skies of Arcadia.

Glad to hear it! I’ll go find out the download size for you guys and will share that in a future blog here, so you can get ready.

And thank you, dats! :) Always appreciate the support.

As a general rule, I wouldn’t put too much faith in internet rumors. (That said, I don’t have any info or news on Yakuza myself, so I can’t really comment. Sorry!)

I think you’ll like it! The gameplay is really addicting – it had me hooked after just two songs. Suddenly, five hours had passed and it was 10 PM and I was still in the office. Whoops…

500 GB. You won’t believe the graphical quality.

(Just kidding – it’ll be much smaller. We’ll post more news on the actual file size in a future blog here!)

The full game will launch for PS VITA at a cheaper price point than its PS3 counterpart, and all of the DLC available for PS3, as well as the Extra Songs Pack for PS VITA, will be available to purchase on Day 1! More details on the specific prices soon.

No news on PSO2 from my side, sorry!

That said, if you’re a big Phantasy Star fan, you recognize my blog picture, right? :)

Always good to hear. We’ll be revealing the price for the full game and the DLC soon. I think fans will be pleased with the pricing strategy we’re taking on this one – that’s all I will say for now. :)

Reasons, huh? Well, since you like music/rhythm games, you’ve come to the right place! Good to hear you’re excited for it! :)

You are very welcome, Sorah! Likewise, thank you for the support of the series here in the West.

Two double dippers in the comments already – major kudos and thanks to you for your dedication, bluekamikaze.

Every copy sold really does make a difference for the series here in the West.

Thanks PZ! There are still a few PS3 physical copies floating around out there – but you’ll want to get one now if you ever plan to pick it up, as they’re already becoming rare. :)

As to responding to every comment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro0yZyVR0Qk

It’s my pleasure. Seeing these comments and getting to write back to you guys is one of the best parts of posting here on the Playstation Blog, in my opinion. :)

Long ago, before I started working in the industry, I was a huge SEGA fan and I know it really meant a lot to me any time somebody official would respond to or read my comment. That’s one reason I try to do my best to offer that to everyone who responds here.

Awesome, thank you for the support, Valkyrie! I’ve said it many times already, but I’ll say it again: We really appreciate it.

Thank you, Survivor! :)

We’re excited to be able to bring you the PS VITA version – no need to literally mail us your wallet, though. :) Picking up the game will do all the talking!

Next month is going to be a good one! Thanks for your suppot as well, Tjoeb!

My new mission in life is to convert you into a fan before the week is up.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1.) Boot up your PS3 and go download the Free Demo.
2.) Play any song 3 times and try to get at least a “Standard” rank.
3.) ????
4.) You’re now addicted.

On the flip side, just in case that doesn’t work, I’d also like to note that it’s very awesome of you to support titles like this with your comments, even if they’re not always your thing. :)

Thank you, Mike, for all of your support! Fans like you make all of this possible. :)

Comments noted, and appreciated! I think “worst time of the year” may be a bit subjective, though! (A lot of people might argue that the fall is generally one of the busiest times – but everyone has their own list of titles they’re excited for, and that’s all good.)

Thanks for your support, T2Death! All feedback is appreciated.

You are most welcome. I’m excited to see how it sounds with the new headset, too. :)

For some of the DLC, but not all. (Like the Extra Songs Pack.) The standard version of the PS VITA game will also be priced cheaper than the standard version of the PS3 equivalent.

Haha, no news on that one, I’m afraid!

Dante, thank you for the comment! It’s always nice to read about people who import and yet -still- buy a western copy to support our efforts to bring the series over here.

Fans like you are amazing, and we’re really excited to offer Project DIVA F/f here in the west for everyone to enjoy.

Thank you, Neo! No news on F 2nd or Mirai from my side- we’re focused on bringing out Project DIVA f for the PS VITA right now. Appreciate your comment and the support!

Alarion – thank you for the support!

(Whoops, accidentally posted this as a separate comment.)

I just want you all to know that it feels really tacky to comment on my own post, but commenter PZDugna challenged me to do so, and thus, I am compelled to hit that 100% response ratio. :)

Thanks very much for all the responses thus far, everyone!

All good things take time. What a lot of people don’t see is all the work (and there’s a huge amount of it) that goes into getting a game like Project DIVA prepared and approved for release in the West.

The other challenge is that we as fans (and I say this as a dedicated gamer, and longtime SEGA fan) want everything – and then some. We want every single game that looks fun localized and on our doorstep the day it comes out in Japan – often sooner. We want this because we’re so excited and passionate about the titles, and when you boil it all down, that dedication is a good thing, not bad. But sometimes, it means our expectations can be set pretty high.

We pushed very hard to bring both the PS3 and PS VITA versions of the game over, and we’re really happy that we were able to bring out the PS3 version to the West just 6 months after its Japanese release. That’s an amazingly fast turnaround time, and our teams worked very hard to deliver it.

Ah, the issue isn’t actually simply translating the lyrics – that part would be no problem. It’s not that we’re being lazy, but that there are approvals and complex processes outside of the normal game development involving the music that make it very difficult to add them in. Your comment is great feedback though – thank you!

And for that, we thank you, boomstick. :) Appreciate the support!

We’ll be posting up info on the size of the game, pricing, and all the rest soon!

No news from me on any of the other franchises you mentioned, but I share your passion on a personal level for a lot of those games. (I played the first PSO for a good 5-6 years.)

No news on Miku for PS4, sorry! You’re not the first person to ask for Miku avatars, though, which is nice to see. :)

Great question.

In Japan, they released the PS VITA version first, and then the PS3 version later. The PS3 version had more songs included, and so to offer these same songs to PS VITA owners, they released these as an “Extra Song Pack” piece of DLC. It was a relatively premium-priced item. ($30 or so, I believe.)

On our side, we released the versions in reverse order, which probably makes it a little confusing – why not just find a way to bundle in all the DLC songs into the main game, right? The reality is that would add a lot of dev work and push out the game release, so we decided to find an option that would satisfy our fans while still releasing the game as soon as possible.

This will be covered in even greater detail when we discuss pricing, but what I can tell you now is that even though these songs will be DLC, we’ve aimed to make sure that the price points are balanced between the platforms. You won’t be paying any more than a PS3 user would to get the full game and all of this DLC along with it. :)

That’s what we like to hear! :) Thanks, tusanami!

It’s my firm belief that every blog could benefit from a little dose of Neil Patrick Harris. :)

March is going to be a good month for Miku. :) Thanks for supporting the series so much, in both Japan and the West, Cero!

Oh, man… the memories. I had my characters corrupted on PSO1 a good 4 times on Gamecube, each time at around level 120 or so. I know that feel. My friends and I still play Challenge Mode each Christmas when I go back to the midwest to visit family. Over ten years later, it’s still fun.

You’re probably already aware of this, but you know there’s a fully themed PSO2 music video in Project DIVA, right? If you trigger the Chance Time, she even gets a red box rare item. Here’s the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOuO4ri2DL8

We’re happy to be bringing it over to the West! Thank you for the support, Nazotchi.

Nice, it was my first song that I tried on “Extreme” because I played it so much. :)

Something about those red boxes is engrained in our memory, I think. You’re having a great time, chilling with friends and killing Boomas, when suddenly, one drops. Instantly the adrenaline kicks in and every one of you is running and shoving as fast as you can to be the first one to pick it up. On one hand, that was kind of fun, but I’m really glad the games have gone towards unique loot for each person, now.

Good question! Right now the only DLC we’ve revealed are the Snow Miku 2013, Extra Character Modules Pack, and the Extra Song Pack. More details and news on this front soon.