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Apparently Japan isn't running out of ways to transform nostalgia into gold, because we have another handheld remake of a popular RPG on our hands. Lunar: The Silver Star, which has already seen remakes on the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Game Boy Advance, is receiving a new coat of paint on the PlayStation Portable as Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star. The game is being remade from the bottom up, with new visuals, gameplay, cutscenes, and voice work.

All we have on the game so far is a magazine ad and a few screenshots (right here), but really, it's a remake. You should probably know what to expect, and if you're a longtime Lunar fan like I am, then you have another difficult choice on your hands: do I like this game enough to buy a remake and play it again, or have all the times I've played it in the past been enough? Gamers in the West can probably expect to receive this remake, since goodness knows we have a thousand other PSP remakes lying around (From Ape Escape: On the Loose to Ys Chronicles I and II) and most of the games in the Lunar series have made the trip across the Pacific. Personally, I'm not sure if I have any nostalgia left at this point.

Source: Kotaku

That's about all we have. A website went live a few hours ago, with the only clues being a city on a cloudy day and a quote from John F. Kennedy. Writers at Kotaku speculate that it is one of two existing S-E trademarks: either Front Mission Evolved or Vanguard Storm. We know nothing concrete about the game other than the info on that teaser site, but those two theories seem to be solid guesses.

Also, tomorrow at 2 PM ol' lasz will have taken his last exam as a college undergraduate. History of Rock and Roll. Woo.

Source:
Kotaku
The site

Could this be the start of a trend? First Japanese cellphone-exclusives The Third Birthday and Final Fantasy Agito XIII receive PSP ports, and now we have a WiiWare port for the cellphone-exclusive Final Fantasy IV The After: Tsuki no Kikan.

This sequel to Final Fantasy IV is planned to be released in monthly installments over Japanese cellphones. Virtually all of the surviving characters from Final Fantasy IV make appearances, with a few of their offspring as playable characters (Cecil's son Theodor and Yang's daughter Ursula). Kain makes a key appearance as one of the game's major antagonists. The game uses a traditional SNES-era Final Fantasy interface, with 2D sprites, the ATB system, and random battles. The stats of players and appearances of monsters vary on lunar phases, which can be changed by spending the night at an inn. In addition, players can execute powerful "band" attacks that require any two players taking action, similar to Twin attacks in Final Fantasy IV DS or Dual Techs in Chrono Trigger.

The ESRB (North America's rating organization for videogames, the equivalent of Europe's PEGI or Japan's CERO) has published ratings for Final Fantasy IV: The After Years as a WiiWare game dated for 2009. This is all the information we have on a non-Japanese release, and hopefully we'll have more information soon.

Source: Kotaku

First was FF III, then FF IV, and now... SaGa 2? The second game in the long-running SaGa series, the first three of which came to North America as Final Fantasy Legend I, II, and III, is getting a DS remake in the same vein as the recent re-imaginings of Final Fantasy III and IV. According to an advert in the Japanese manga magazine Shounen Jump, the game will come out in Japan later this year. No word on any other release.



Source: Kotaku

Europeans can look forward to their first official taste of Chrono Trigger on February 6th, 2009. That's right, Europe's never had an official release for Chrono Trigger, ever, so this is the first chance many Europeans will have to enjoy the game legally.

If it's any consolation, Europe, Americans never got English versions of Terranigma or VibRibbon. Well, maybe that isn't much of a consolation. But hey, congratulations!

Source: Kotaku

The title says it all. Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii recently revealed that the tenth entry in the popular Dragon Quest series will be on the Wii. There is no background storyline information available, nor do we know anything about the game's visuals, basic gameplay mechanics, or motion controls. There is also no word on connectivity between the DS's Dragon Quest IX and Dragon Quest X.

Horii also confirmed Dragon Quest IX's release date, which is March 28th in Japan.

Source: Joystiq