Fans of NIS America will be pleased to hear that Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 finally has a release date! Well, worldwide release dates. I mean, it already came out in Japan back in 2011. North America will be receiving the next entry in the anthropomorphic video game console game on February 28, 2012, while Europe gets more »

Good news for fans of PS3-exclusives, you’re getting Record of the Agarest War 2 in 2012! Whether you’re in North America or Europe, you’ll have access to this Compile Heart and Idea Factory strategic RPG that places just as much emphasis on finding love with a female party member as it does with beating up lots of monsters and bad guys. Oddly enough, it’s the first entry in the series that isn’t multiplatform. I guess this means Xbox 360 owners will either have to visit a friend or go online to find out what happens next in the series!

Record of the Agarest War 2 takes place after the first game, even though it’s the third game in the series…

Aksys has taken on the challenging task of not only releasing a PSP game late in the handheld’s life cycle, but also choosing an otome visual novel as its next game. Allow me to clarify for those of you now going, “Bwah?” An otome game is a dating sim for girls. A visual novel is pretty much a choose your own adventure story. Are we good? Good. The question is, how does Aksys get people to crave Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom? It’s actually a pretty easy task, especially since there are a lot of girl gamers out there who have been asking for an otome adventure for a while.

To get people interested and invested in Hakuoki, Aksys has decided to go all out on the website…

Gamindustri is being threatened by Arfoire once again! Well, actually by Arfoire and her minions who have formed their own little evil conglomerate. Her lackeys have kidnapped the four gaming goddess, Purple Heart of Planeptune, White Heart of Lowee, Black Heart of Lastation and Green Heart of Leanbox. It’s up to their younger sisters, the CPU Candidates Purple Sister Nepgear, Black Sister Uni, White Sister Rom and White Sister Ram. Oh, and of course you. While NIS America has been saying it would release Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 outside Japan if it saw demand for the game, it confirmed North American and European releases at the 2011 Tokyo Game Show.

So basically, it’s more fighting around the four territories, taking quests at the guild and becoming strong enough to challenge Arfoire and her allies so the console goddesses can be freed from the Industry Graveyard…

All of the members of the Shinsengumi seem to be plotting some kind of special event. Toshizo Hijikata, second in command of the group, tells Chizuru to find out what’s going on. As she’s investigating, she hears Itou Kashitaro say he’s lost something important and has to find it. Of course Chizuru finds it, and discovers it’s some kind of small box. From there, the story changes depending on who you decide to go see after the box. Romantic endings stem from visiting Hijikata, Souji Okita, Hajime Saitou, Heisuke Toudou, Sanosuke Harada and Chikage Kazama. A normal ending comes from giving Itou back the box. But the normal ending doesn’t result in craziness and mini-games, so who cares about that?

You know how you kind of expect the weirdest video games ever to come out of Japan. Well, prepare yourself for another one. Though honestly, Bakudan Handan, an Idea Factory otome (girl’s dating sim) game doesn’t score as high on the weirdness scale as games like Kyuiin (PS1) and Duel Love (DS). It’s a PSP game involving a hostage situation at an amusement park, love and Mega Man co-creator Keiji Inafune.

Okay, I guess that is still pretty weird.

And no, that screenshot is not from Bakudan Handan….

Otome fans all throughout North America rejoiced when Aksys announced it would bring us Idea Factory’s PSP game, Hakuoki: Shinsengumi Kitan as Hakuouki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom. 2012 is still a long ways away though, and that’s how long we have to wait before we’ll actually get to play it in English. In the meantime, here’s a brief recap on Hakuoki to help get you up to date on the series, anime and real Shinsengumi.

Anime Expo isn’t the place one would imagine a company announcing its forthcoming games, but that’s exactly what Aksys did today. The company attended Anime Expo 2011 and held a panel earlier today (July 2, 2011). There it announced two PSP games with dating sim elements, one being Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom and the other Fate/Extra. Of course, given that both are games with anime series that go along with them, being Hakuoki and Fate/stay Night, it makes sense….

If you pick up games from Aksys or NIS America, odds are you’ve encountered an Idea Factory game. While most Idea Factory games, specifically the visual novels and dating sims, don’t leave Japan, the strategic and turn-based RPGs have been gradually finding their ways overseas on the DS, PSP, PS2, PS3 and even Xbox 360. The company’s developed quite a reputation among gamers, good and bad.

So this week, Important Importables, we’re taking a closer look at the incredibly prolific and notorious Idea Factory…

If you’re tired of just playing with Neptune, IF and Compa in Hyperdimension Neptunia, then head to the PlayStation Store. NIS America has just released the first batch of extra character battle ticket DLC. Originally, Nisa and Gust were non-playable, support party members, but for a $2 you can make them more useful.

Each character DLC download is $1.99 and around 70mb. Nisa is a 78mb download, while Gust is only 73mb…