Raise your hand if you're looking forward to the PS4 reveal on Feb. 20

You may be surprised to hear that my hand is raised, too.

Sure, I don't yet own a PS3, but that's not because I have no interest in Sony's current-gen console. The fact is, I only have so much money to spend on games these days, and that pile of dough has to support a lot of systems, including the 3DS, DS, Famicom, PC Engine, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360 (among others).

Anyway, I'm interested in the PS3, just as I'm interested in the PS4--or whatever Sony winds up calling its next-gen console.

Speaking of which, Sony's supposedly going to reveal its much-anticipated PS3 successor on Feb. 20 at 3 pm PST/6 pm EST.

Will you be watching the event live (at us.playstation.com/meeting2013, I believe), or at least reading about it afterward?

I will, although I have to admit I'm not at all sure what to expect. Will we see a mock-up of the console itself? Will we get a glimpse of its controller, which is rumored to include a small touchpad (a la the back of the Vita)? Will we be shown snippets of in-the-works games, or simply the video equivalent of bullshots?

I'm guessing at least a few of the above-mentioned things will be covered during Sony's presentation, but I'm not so sure all of them will.

Regardless, I'll be sure to post my impressions shortly after it ends. In the meantime, what are all of you hoping to see and hear as part of this event?

Another installment of The Nichiest Podcast Ever is on the way

You know how I spent the latter part of last night? I spent it chatting (via Skype) with Anne and shidoshi. We weren't just shooting the shit, of course; we were recording a new episode of The Nichiest Podcast Ever. (The finished product should be available sometime this weekend or early next week.)

We covered a lot of ground this time around, beginning with discussion about a bunch of niche-y games that we're all looking forward to playing this year, including Atelier Ayesha (PS3), Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (3DS), Killer is Dead (PS3/Xbox 360), Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Vita), Rune Factory 4 (3DS) and Valhalla Knights 3 (Vita).

We also talked about the physical edition of Class of Heroes 2 that may or may not be offered the game-starved PSP owners in the coming months, the not-so-well-received-by-shidoshi-and-Anne Corpse Party: Book of Shadows (PSP), the recently released PS3 RPG, Ni no Kuni, and the awesome outfit-creation aspect of Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS).

Oh, and during this podcast's "Cheerleading" segment, Anne trumpeted Pandora's Tower (Wii), while shidoshi did the same in regards to Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) and I once again blathered on about that wacky PS2 "classic," Chulip.

One more thing before I hit "publish" on this sucker: be sure to stick around for the end, when I am deemed (by shidoshi) to be the "bad boy" of this niche-game-loving trio.

See also: previous 'Nichiest Podcast Ever' posts

In a Class (of Heroes) by itself

I'm sure some of you PSP fans are well aware of this already, but for those of you who aren't: Gaijinworks, the publishing company founded by Victor Ireland of Working Designs fame, is considering releasing a physical (you know, with a case, manual and UMD) version of its latest title--the PSP dungeon-crawler, Class of Heroes 2--if it's able to pre-sell at least 2,500 copies within the next few days.

Should this pre-sale prove successful, by the way, boxed copies of Class of Heroes 2--which will include a digital download code for the game as well a UMD--will cost interested parties just $34.99.



Although I've heard mostly bad things regarding the first Class of Heroes, which the folks at Atlus brought to North America in 2009, I'm throwing my hat into the proverbial ring for this sequel mainly because of Ireland's involvement. (Plus, I'm a sucker for dungeon-crawlers and I'm not yet through with my trusty PSP.)

Should you also want to a copy of the physical edition of Class of Heroes 2, head over to gaijinworks.com ASAP and fill out the form that can be found at the bottom of the page.

Five favorites: European DS box art

All the way back in mid-November, I published a blog post about five of my favorite examples of Japanese DS box art. Last week, I followed it up with a similar post about five of my favorite pieces of North American DS box art.

As I promised at the end of the latter post, here are five European DS box arts of which I'm particularly fond:

1. Contact--How much do I like this RPG's European cover art? So much that I recently bought it despite the fact that buying the North American version would have been a bit cheaper. Really, though, how could I have said no to those adorably pixelized characters and that awesome, retro-tinged logo?

2. Final Fantasy III--True story: I've seriously considered picking up a European copy of this game (even though I already own the North American version) simply because of its beautiful box art, which brings to mind the classic imagery that appears on the packaging of the Super Famicom release of Final Fantasy VI and the PlayStation port of Final Fantasy IV.

3. Kirby Mass Attack--What do you get when you combine the best elements of the covers created for the Japanese and North American iterations of this portable puzzler-platformer? You get the glorious artwork that can be seen above, of course.

Although I've yet to buy or play Corpse Party: Book of Shadows ...

... I can't help but find myself attracted to the recently announced Corpse Party 2: Dead Patient.

In part, that's because Dead Patient seemingly will return the series to the gameplay found in the eponymous PSP release. Also, as far as I'm aware, this sequel will be the first to be made by Team GrisGris (now known as Grindhouse), the folks responsible for the first Corpse Party.

Here are a pair of teaser trailers for Dead Patient, in case any of you are similarly curious about it:





Word on the street is that Dead Patient will receive at least a PC release, although some suggest it'll be ported to the Vita as well.

Personally, I'd love for it to come to the 3DS, too, but I have a feeling that's about as likely as Sega's wackadoodle golf-meets-pinball title, @field, making a similar platform leap at this point.

(Via apricotsushi)