Hellgate: London Pre-Order

Planning on pre-ordering Hellgate: London? EA and Namco Bandai have just announced three more reasons that you should!

Gamers in North American who pre-order either the regular or collectors edition of Hellgate: London will receive three special treats just in time for Halloween! First off, buyers will receive a key to an exclusive Beta starting next week and ending October 07, 2007. Secondly s one of four exclusive dye-kits that will give your hero's gear a cool color theme right off the bat when Hellgate: London officially opens on Halloween. Lastly, pre-ordering gamers will be eligible to take advantage of the Hellgate: London Founders Offer, giving hardcore players a chance to purchase a lifetime subscription to Hellgate's premium service for $149.99.

"We're excited to get our most passionate players into the early Beta test, and to reward them with a special look once the game goes live on Halloween," said Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios.

Hellgate: London comes from some of the core developers of the Diablo team from Blizzard. It promises a deep, story-driven campaign with over 40 hours of gameplay and both online and offline capabilities. It combines RPG depth with the fast action of a shooter and may very well represent the evolution of the action RPG genre!

I've had a bit of gameplay time with Hellgate: London and have to admit I was very impressed. I'm definately looking forward to this one, so stay tuned to Just-RPG and The RPG-Geek for more info!

Eternal Sonata for PS3

After much speculation, Namco Bandai have finally confirmed that Eternal Sonata will be heading to the PS3. Few details have been announced, but the game will be at the upcoming Tokyo Games Show, although only in video form.

The PS3 version promises to have new features not found in the Xbox 360 version of the game, but, no specific new features have been revealed. The PS3 version is due in Japan sometime in 2008 and the Xbox 360 version is set for release in the U.S. today!

Check out http://eternalsonata.namcobandaigames.com/ for more Eternal Sonata info. In the meantime, check out Just-RPG's recent preview of Eternal Sonata for the Xbox 360, and come back soon for our upcoming review of the game!

Check out Eternal Sonota

A while back I posted about how there is now an Eternal Sonata demo up for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Since that time I went ahead and downloaded the demo myself to give them game a try.

I'd been hearing a lot of good things about the game, but it seemed that a lot of the hype for it was being overshadowed by games like BioShock and Mass Effect. The lack of JRPGs on the Xbox 360 has probably resulted in a somewhat small following for games of the genre on the system, and the fans that ARE out there are probably wrapped up in the hype for Blue Dragon right now.

With that said, Eternal Sonata deserves a lot more attention. For starters, the battle system is deep and fun. It features special abilties that have a different effect depending on your location, the option to customize the abilities of each of your characters, and allows you to avoid annoying random battles. It's also pretty straightforward to catch on to, with hot keys that are used for using items, attacking or using specials. The hybrid turn-based/real-time battle system is a lot of fun so far, and I can't wait to jump further into the game.

Secondly, the game is absolutely gorgeous. The music... the artistic style... and the extreme level of detail... it really is a work of art! I can't possibly say anything that will do the game justice, so you'll have to experience it for yourself.

The final game is set for release in late September. Be sure to give the demo a try first!

Tales of the World Heading to North America!

Namco Bandai has announced that they will bring the next installment in their popular Tales series, Tales of the World, to North America! The game has already been released in Japan and is expected to land in North America on the PSP some time in Q3 2007.

The U.S. version of the game will be more fine-tuned, with a lowered level of difficulty, increased item dropping rate, and Grade Points that can be used to purchase special items.

IGN has posted a recent Q&A about the game with Namco Bandai that you can read here.