This has been a week of rejoicing here at GRiG Towers. The new Minecraft 1.8 update is out, and ever more wonderful; rumours are flying that the most bodacious of all arcades, Daytona, is getting a next-gen release; and we’ve had our first production baby join us in the offices! Exciting times indeed! But believe it or not, those aren’t the waves of joy that have floated our joyous boat this week. Oh no, no, no… Because what can be be bigger than the news that… NI NO KUNI IS GETTING AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE RELEASE!
Hurrah! (ooh, and we’ve also got some new gameplay vids for you! After-the-jump-style-Huzzah!)
Mere weeks after GRiGORiG.com launched it’s Localization campaign, Level 5 head honcho Akihiro Hono popped up at a Sony Computer Entertainment Asia press conference to confirm that a US release of Ni No Kuni: Shiroki Seihai no Joō is already in development for PS3, and will see a Q2 2012 launch. Holy Mary, Mother of GRIG!
The news was made with surprisingly little fanfare – so much so that the only western games site in attendance at the conference was GameSpot – and there’s nothing on Level 5’s site about their plans. The second bit isn’t that surprising, as there isn’t much of anything on Level 5’s site. It seems, though, that our fave Japanese devs appear to be lying low at present – they weren’t in attendance at the Tokyo Game Show for the first time in years, though they had a display on Sony’s stand, and they appear to be saving their efforts for their own event, Level 5 World, in October. This little nugget looks like a teaser, with more to follow next month – until they make a formal announcement, we’ll reserve just a little bit of caution. Oh, how we’ve been burned before!
There was also no news on a European release of the PS3 version, and still no word that the DS game will make the trip outside Japan. The Euro-side looks the biggest challenge – although they have recently set up offices in the States, Level 5 have no distribution network in Europe, and have previously relied on Nintendo and Sony to push their games over here, so this would be a considerable leap. But a US launch is a massive step forwards – one, as the English translation would be done, opening up the import possibilities; and two, because once the demand is shown, who knows?!
If you’re a European gamer looking for either of these titles, join our Facebook campaign – we’ve already attracted thousands of Ni No Kuni fans to the site, and are using the increasing support to remind Level 5 of the huge demand for Ghibli and their wonderful RPG. Fingers crossed, Ghibli-Griggers..
Oh and finally! Here’s those vids we promised you – thanks to Ruliweb.com. They’re slightly shaky, but still worth a peek!