NIS America is climbing out of its Disgaea rut with the bizarrely-named Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger Vs. Darkdeath Evilman. This PSP game is completely different from the various Makai Wars games of the PS2, PS3, and PSP. Okay, it’s still sprite-based and isometric. Okay, it’s still bizarrely Japanese and relies on nonsensical cutscenes with uneven voice acting. Okay, there are still demon penguins that explode when you throw them. Okay, there are still seemingly endless randomly generated dungeons for grinding obscene levels. Still, Z.H.P. is a completely different game!

While Z.H.P. uses the same engine as Disgaea, it’s not a turn-based strategy game. In fact, you only control one character, the titular Unlosing Ranger. No, Z.H.P. is a Roguelike game in Disgaea’s clothing, a turn-based dungeon crawler in the tradition of Nethack, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Shiren the Wanderer, and Izuna the Unemployed Ninja. Instead of raising an army of different soldiers and monsters, you have to run nearly solo through almost bottomless dungeons, relying on stat grinding, strategy, and blind luck to survive.

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.

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.

Ultimate Spider-Man: Total Mayhem, the latest game from Gameloft, throws us in the fast talking, web swinging, wall climbing booties of everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood web head. The iPhone action platformer has been getting a lot of buzz lately thanks to the recent release of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, and it looks to be a lot of fun. Find out if Spidey and Apple work well together after the break.

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?

Thirty-three Chilean miners have been trapped underground after a mine collapse for over three weeks, the longest anyone has been trapped and survived. The miners are doing their best to keep hope up as rescue crews lower food and supplies to the trapped men, and the Chilean government has contacted NASA for advice on “nutritional support and behavioral health support”. NASA is sending a doctor and an engineer down to Chile to aid with the efforts, but in the meantime rescue workers are adopting a creative approach to keeping the miners engaged and sane.

In one of the more recent supply shuttles, among other things was a package of PSP’s and a power supply, as a PSP’s battery only lasts about 6 hours. The PSP’s are to “help preserve their mental health”. No word on who gave the PSP’s, but it is nice that someone was thinking of them. Hopefully they came with Lumines, Meteos, and the PSX Final Fantasy games. That’ll distract them for months.

via GamePolitics

Siliconera has broken news that the well received, quirky RPG/Shmup/RTS PSP game Half-Minute Hero is getting the sequel treatment. Andriasang had more details, confirming through Famitsu that the game is named Yuusha 30 Second and would contain a four player mode as well as an edit mode. Music composers include fan favorites Yoko Shimomura, Yasunori Mitsuda, Motoi Sakuraba, and Masashi Hamauzu. The game will be developed by Opus Studio, and though it is not confirmed, is expected to be published by Marvelous.