A recent article in Jump magazine leaked on 10th May to reveal a sneak peak of a new sequel in video game franchise 「Tales」 series. As fans have eagerly awaited for news of a sequel since the previous installment Tales of Xillia last year, NAMCO BANDAI is keeping news of the new game under wraps until it’s official unveiling.

NAMCO BANDAI’s 「Tales」 is a franchise of role playing games with it’s history starting from as far back as 1995. The first of it’s franchise, Tales of Phantasia and following titles revolve a theme of “high fantasy”, mostly involving swordplay, magic and lore.

Recently interviewed by Famitsu, 「Tales」 franchise producer Hideo Baba let loose small tidbits about the new game. The next 「Tales」 series is definitely a new entry into the franchise as a “Mothership” title, not escort titles such as Tales of Tempest or upcoming Tales of VS.

The game now explores a completely new world of human civilisation, slightly distant from it’s “high fantasy” origins. The environments are slightly modern and robotic.

The storyline and game system will also revolve around the theme 「少女のために世界を壊す覚悟はあるか？」, or translated 「Are you prepared to destroy a world for the sake of a girl?」.

However fans of the series need not worry as the game preserves the feel of the 「Tales」’s gameplay system, while trying to bring the franchise to a new level.

Fans would not want to miss the official unveiling of new content on June 2nd. Do catch the announcement and unveiling of the next 「Tales」 series online by simply registering to 「Tales of Channel」 and view it live as it streams.

NAMCO BANDAI has set up a special teaser website for the countdown of the next 「Tales」 title. Visit the website here.

Source: Game News, Game Talk

Tragedy struck on the first day of it’s official service. The gamemaster/creator of the game announced : “Until the players have cleared the Castle, they will be unable to log out. Anyone that dies in the game would also die in real life, if they were forcefully disconnected, the players would also die in real life.”

From that point on, Kirito’s life was turned into a death game where his only hope is to clear the dungeon and get out alive. Sword Art Online chronicles Kirito’s journey in his one and only chance of getting back into the real world.

The music composition for the animation will be done by renown composer Kajiura Yuki,  her works consists of major hits such as Madoka, .hack//, Fate/Zero and many others.

Sword Art Online is currently selling in the form of a Light novel , Volume 10 of the novel will be releasing this July 2012. The animation will begin airing in July 2012.

In a press conference held in Tokyo on 12th May, it was announced that the newest film from The Ring series entitled “Sadako 3D” will be released all over Asia. Key cities include Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

To advertise the film, gigantic ad trucks depicting the main antagonist Sadako climbing out of a television screen have been driving around Central Tokyo.

Sadako 3D will star Ishihara Satomi, Seto Kôji, and Hashimoto Ai, and will be directed by Hanbusa Tsutomu of Koukou Debut fame.

Source: Tokyo Hive

As part of Megahouse’s Priestess line, a 1/8th scale figure of Persona 4′s Amagi Yukiko is now available for pre-order at online shops and import toy stores.

She will come with at least two separate faces, two sets of glasses, and a small Japanese fan that you can pose or remove at will. Yukiko will go for JPY 7600 and will start shipping in August.

More pics below~

Source: Tomopop

Publishing company of visual novel companies such as Key, Ocelot, Spray and 130cm Visual Art’s is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary with a host of exciting events this coming July 29th at Yokohama Arena.

The event includes a live concert and sales event but in short it can be said to be a Visual Art’s themed festival.

• 『ビジュアルアーツ20年の記念品展示』  – Exhibit of Visual Art’s 20 Year Commemoration Mementos
• 『スタッフのアイデアがつまった面白コーナー』   – Corner Jammed Pack with Staffs’ Interesting Ideas
• 『ＶＡキャラクター全展示』  – Full Display of all VA Characters
• 『スタッフ仕事部屋再現』  – Reconstruction of Staff Workroom
• 『希少原画コーナー』  -  Corner of Rare Original Artworks
• 『記念イラスト展示会』   – Commemorative Illustration Exhibit

There will also be exclusive merchandise on sale at the event including Live Goods, Event Exclusive merchandise, Hight Tier Commemorative Goods (laptops and giant LCD panels), Fun Sets and Special CD with Phamplets.

Page 1 – Description of Festival, goods and OTSU
Page 2 – I’ve + Key Sounds Label/ Kaori Utatsuki/ Mami Kawada/ KOTOKO
Page 3 – C.G mix/ Eriko Shimamiya/ Larval Stage Planning
Page 4 – Miyako Suzuta/ eufonius/ Rita/ NanosizeMir
Page 5 – Lia/ Aoi Tada/ marina/ LiSA and other details

If you’re annoyed by our previous post and sitting there screaming at the Lords of Hell “TO JUST LET ME IN!” and need a sweet, sweet timeout, we here at SGCafe have just the ticket. South Korea’s Blizzard fansite Inven has posted pictures of their launch, and wow, what a launch.

Invited to the event were Spiral Cats, one of South Korea’s top pro cosplay teams, to strut their stuff. They had almost the entire cast going too, with a Witch Hunter, Sorceress, Witch Doctor and suitably clad Tyrael. Only missing were the Barbarian and Monk classes. As usual, the costumes were drop dead gorgeous, with incredible detailing and some sweet-as personal styling. It probably helps that the team, made up of members like Tasha and Miyuko, are very pretty as well.

via Inven

Widely considered to be one of the best figurine producing companies ALTER has a great history of sculpting and producing some of the greatest figures in the past decade.

Previewed of it’s sculpt several months ago in Wonderfestival 2012, ALTER has displayed 「Menma」 as a figurine to look out for.

TV anime Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi ha Mada Shiranai is an original story animated by A1-Pictures and distributed by Aniplex. The plot revolves around six friends, drifted apart following a tragedy. Years pass and the sudden return of their deceased friend’s spirit marks the beginning of a string of emotional events and a touching finale that has sent tears streaming down the cheeks of even the manliest of men.

Fully coloured for release preview, 「Menma」 is a spectacular 1/8 scale figure with details fans would recognize and admire.

Depicted with her usual naive and romantic expression, Menma is wonderfully depicted sitting on the upper ledge of the group’s Secret Base.

The vaguely semi-translucent material used to make Menma’s clothings wonderfully depicts the light weight and fluffiness of her clothing.

One of the things I found really appropriate was the inclusion of Menma’s diary, one of the artifacts that stir the heartstrings of viewers. Also sculpted in are the random rubbish and ornaments left behind by Poppo during his stay in the Secret Base, such as an umbrella and a tribal looking sling bag.

The zinc plates that make up the walls of the Secret Base was skillfully and wonderfully painted, with effects to simulate rust and aging.

Some last touches I really appreciate is the inclusion of the flower logo from the logo as well as the Super Peace Busters carving that is on the wooden plank,  a homage to the original Secret Base as seen in the image below.

「Menma」 is available from tomorrow for preorder.

Source: ALTER Kaihatsubu Oshigoto Blog

For those lucky members who’ve got their Diablo 3 all primed and ready. For those who took off from work/school/life to hook themselves up ready for the “Big One”. Sorry, error 9001.

Reports are streaming in from all over the Internet that few – if any – are able to log into Blizzard’s hotly anticipated game Diablo 3 as it launches worldwide due to server crashes and general error overflows. If you’re one of those stuck waiting, Blizzard has this to say on their Facebook page:

Welcome to Diablo III! The fight for Sanctuary has begun.

Please note that due to a high volume of traffic, login and character creation may be slower than normal. If you’re unable to login to the game or create characters, please wait and try again. We’ve temporarily taken our Battle.net websites offline and launched more servers to accomodate for the traffic. We hope to resolve these issues as soon as possible and appreciate your patience.

In short, sit tight folks, it’s gonna be a long night in hell…

While everyone is going nuts waiting for the launch of Diablo 3 in a few hours, here’s a little something RPG purists will take note of.

Japanese RPG fans will surely have heard of the Disgaea franchise, and this latest iteration doesn’t fall short. People who do not know Japanese yet prefer their voice packs over the English ones may sigh a breath of relief as Disgaea 3 for the Vita enables you to switch in between languages and subtitles, including to what most otaku would love – Japanese voice with English subtitles!

In short, if you’re a fan of strategy games then this is the game for you with a lot of things to experiment with and something for you to spend time on. The soundtrack is rather decent since it plays along with the quirky comedic storyline and you can have Japanese dubs along with English subs. There are also countless ways of how you can go about by completing the stages, so if you’re looking for a game that you can spend a lot of time with, this is the thing for you.

Read the full review here!

In a rather interesting chain of articles released recently, Hisako not only expresses intense interest in the game, but also hinting her desire for a role in the TV anime 咲- Saki.

In the short columns featuring her thoughts, 「日笠陽子的愉快麻雀強敵倶楽部」 (ひさかようことゆかいなまーじゃんともだち in furigana), Hikasa pleasantly talks about the game as an interesting, yet unpredictable game.

In the first article, Hikasa begins with a self introduction to writing her first column articles. She continues by commenting on gaming, and specifically moves on to the TV anime 咲 – Saki -, marveling at the character designs and how cute the show is (at this point, probably hinting on her desire to voice for a role in the anime).

She continues by elaborating on her match in Mahjong Battling Club (麻雀格闘倶楽部) on her Nintendo DS. She then elaborates on about her games within her portable console and her eventual desire to play against real players.

Her second article shows her progress as she moves on to playing in Mahjong machines in Gaming Centers and eventually plays online games with players across the country.

Last but not least, her last article shows her graduation from digital medium to playing against real Mahjong with players in Mahjong Centers and the conclusion of her short but eventful columns.

It is indeed rather interesting to see Hikasa’s gradual descent into Mahjong addiction, as well as her slight but significant hint at pursuing a role in the TV anime 咲　-Saki-.

Source: Otanews