Thank you, gods of JRPGs! Shin Megami Tensei fans are well aware that much like many RPG’s in past years, there is one chapter of the Persona series that never made it out of Japan. Persona 2 was actually two games: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment. Unfortunately, only the second game came out in America, which made the game maddening to play due to the direct references back to the previous game in the series. To make things worse, Atlus remade Persona and Persona 3 on the PSP, completely skipping Persona 2.

I had given up hope of ever legally playing though Persona 2, but Atlus just came though! Siliconera just broke news that Persona 2 is not only coming back, it’s going to be a full on remake with new content! With Atlus’s track record, it’s almost certain this is westward bound.

Badass—if there is a word to describe the upcoming PSP bloodfest God of War: Ghost of Sparta, this is it. The game is so far perhaps one of the best handheld experiences I’ve had to date. God of War: Ghost of Sparta combines eye-pleasing graphics with a simple to learn interface intertwined with what promises to be a very entertaining storyline. Indeed, during my hands-on with the game earlier this month, it seemed to be something that perhaps every God of War fan may want to pick up.

Sexy-Jiggly Boobs?
Sold.

Apparently, Z.H.P: Unlosing Ranger VS. Darkdeath Evilman is bringing Sexy-Jiggly Boobs to the PSP. Hopefully it’s better than Dead or Alive: Paradise…

Z.H.P: Unlosing Ranger VS. Darkdeath Evilman is a RPG dungeon crawler coming to PSP October 26th. (via Sexy-Jiggly Boo-”, I mean Kotaku)

Fans have long been awaiting the next main game in the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, we received Chain of Memories, an interesting side story that fleshed out the year between the two main titles. While it did add a new level of immersion in the KH back story, playing it wasn’t required to understand the plot in the second game (it does give a good justification for “metroiding” Sora at the start of Kingdom Hearts II, but I digress). One thing the franchise is known for is the difficult to unlock and (at the time) completely incomprehensible Secret Trailers that setup the next main franchise game. While it doesn’t have a 3 in the title, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for the PSP was the title teased in the Secret Trailers for Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+. So is it any good?

In a surprising and wonderful policy shift, Square Enix is now putting up the closed theater trailers from TGS. I’m guessing this has something to do with the amount of people sneaking in cell phones so they could leak footage for those of us unable to go to TGS.

The first trailer to come out is for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix. Featuring the English vocal track, Final Mix is an expanded version of the PSP game. Final Mix will include a Japan exclusive additional superboss (the armored figure at the end of the trailer), plus a new secret ending trailer. All of that is in addition to the Crown Stickers and second optional boss that were added for the English version. There will also be new fights in the Mirage Arena like the Monstro battle seen in the trailer. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix is set for a January 2011 release.

Well, alright! Thank you, cell phone camera person, for sneaking out the videos for Final Fantasy Versus XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII. Now I won’t have to wait till this January to see them.

I know I shouldn’t complain, but why couldn’t you sneak one of the FF13A/V vids out instead, GameSpot? Ah, well. The 3rd Birthday is coming out very soon in Japan and is the third game in the Parasite Eve franchise. It’s not called Parasite Eve 3 is because Square lost the rights to that name; the first game was actually an adaptation of a Japanese horror novel. Still, any new cult mitochondrial horror is reason to celebrate.

[Note: It's a "Quick Review" not for the length of the review, but for the amount of time played. Quick Reviews are reviews of games that the reviewer has not yet finished, but has played enough to get a solid impression of the game. At the time of this writing, I had played Cladun: This is an RPG for 28 hours.]

Cladun, in spite of its title, is not much of an RPG. It could be described as an Action-RPG, but I consider it more to be MegaMan with RPG stats. It’s also easily the hardest game I’ve played this year, brutally punishing and merciless in its need to grind. Cladun: This Is A RPG is a game I was very excited to play. Now, I’m not too sure about it.

Siliconera has confirmed that a sequel to Dissidia: Final Fantasy will be coming to the PSP. The new is titled Dissidia Duodecim: Final Fantasy and is scheduled for a 2011 release in Japan. Joining the ranks of playable characters will be Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII and Kain from Final Fantasy IV. Kain is the more interesting addition to the crew, as it indicates the the sequel will be branching out and adding characters other than the main characters. More details are expected at Tokyo Game Show. I sincerely hope this means Zack is in the game. Who do you want in the sequel?

Bad news for PSPgo owners: Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep won’t be getting a PSN-downloadable version, and will only be available as a physical UMD. Because I Told You So was the first to break the story that the expensive, download-only portable won’t be getting the latest game in the Kingdom Hearts franchise. Square-Enix’s public relations firm Ogilvy confirmed that there are no current plans for Birth By Sleep to show up on PSN.

This is notable because it’s one of the biggest games coming to the PSP not to get a downloadable version. While other titles, like Half-Minute Hero and Dissidia: Final Fantasy, have had a delay in the transition from disc to download, there have been no notable releases to snub PSN completely.

As a major proponent of the viability of digital distribution and a major supporter of the PSPgo, I know this is upsetting. However, I believe that there is a reason for it. As we all know, the PSP is a haven for piracy. The system sells very well, but games rarely show up on monthly top 10 charts. Herein lies the reasoning that led Square-Enix to not put Birth By Sleep on PSN. When the game came out in Japan, there was no PSN version either. The game had a firmware update on the disc and, to my understanding, was extremely difficult to get running if you used custom firmware or tried to load a pirated version. I can’t confirm any of this myself, but it sounds like a viable reason to not release your game. Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep brick-and-mortar stores September 7.