Marvelous Entertainment has announced that it’s bringing a sequel to the Wii’s Little King’s Story to PlayStation Vita.

Andriasang reports that Marvelous Entertainment is working on a follow up to unusual Wii-based sim title Little King’s Story. The new game features a new visual style and dating sim elements, and will be published by Konami on PlayStation Vita. The title literally translates to “The King, The Demon King and the Seven Princesses: New King Story.”

Series creator Yoshiro Kimura has previously said that he wanted to work on a sequel — a “Super Little King’s Story” — but since that time, original codeveloper Cing has gone bankrupt, and Kimura himself has jumped ship from Marvelous Entertainment to Suda51′s Grasshopper Manufacture along with the game’s original executive producer Yasuhiro Wada. Marvelous has, however, retained the intellectual property rights to Little King’s Story.

Further details on the new game will be forthcoming soon.

The designers of 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors are working on a new visual novel adventure game for the next generation of handhelds.

999′s ensemble cast.

Siliconera (via Sinobi) reports that the team behind the unusual DS game 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is working on a new game. The new game is set to hit Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita, but no release date has been announced as yet.

As with 999, the game’s script is the work of Kotaro Uchikoshi, while Kinu Nishimura is once again on character design duty. This time around, however, the story heavy visual novel game will be fully voice acted rather than text based.

Siliconera has translated the new game’s title as Extreme Escape: Good People Die. This would be in keeping with 999′s Japanese title Kyokugen Dasshutsu Ku Jikan Ku Nin Kyū no Tobira, literally Extreme Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.

Visual novels found a good home on the handhelds — particularly the DS — with titles ranging from the Ace Attorney series through Hotel Dusk to 999. It’s encouraging to see that this more cerebral style of gaming is continuing on to the next generation of handheld devices.

Is Namco Bandai testing the waters for a full PS3 revival of the .hack series?

CyberConnect2 announced a new .hack CGI movie earlier today, but it sounds like that’s not the only thing publisher Namco Bandai has in mind for the franchise.

Following in the footsteps of their Macross games, Namco Bandai announced that the Blu-ray release of .hack//The Movie will include a “small game.” (via Adriasang)

No specifics yet, but it’s like to be very similar to Macross Trial Frontier, which amounted to a very impressive demo for a high-definition version of the Macross Ace Frontier PSP series. It’s not quite a full PS3 revival for the .hack series, but it’ll at least be enough to whet their appetites.

As for whether it will actually lead to a full PS3 game, that’s a bit more nebulous. Thus far, there have been no signs of a full Macross title, even with the franchise more popular than it’s been in 20 years.

We’ll probably have a better idea of what to expect from this “small game” that will be included with .hack//The Movie whenever it arrived. Expect it sometime next year.

Color us very impressed. This cinematic short film from director Dan Trachtenberg is a stunning reimagining of Valve’s first-person puzzler.

So yeah, there’s really not much else to say other than that you should really, really watch this awe-inspiring short film based on Valve’s Portal series. Directed by filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg, and starring actress Danielle Rayne, this stellar short is a must-see for franchise fans.

Crimson: Steam Pirates, the first game from Bungie’s Aerospace indie initiative, is set to hit iPads at the beginning of September.

Because the only thing cooler than pirates is pirates with gears on them, Crimson: Steam Pirates, the first game from Bungie Aerospace, is set to hit the App Store on September 1.

An iPad exclusive, the first chapter in this turn-based action title will be completely free and include 8 missions, as well as two “pass-’n-play” multiplayer scenarios, with a second chapter (including 8 more missions) available that same day for $1.99.

The game, which is being developed by Harebrained Schemes, is the first game in the Bungie Aerospace series, an initiative launched by Bungie to help indie and social devs showcase their titles.

[Source]

In an announcement straight out of every gamer-cum-hip-hop connoisseur’s Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the Louis Vuitton Don is set to grace next month’s Call of Duty XP “fan experience” with his presence.

Who Gon’ Stop Kanye West from performing at September’s Call of Duty XP “fan experience?” Nobody, apparently, as it’s just come Through the Wire that Martin Louis the King Jr. himself has just made a much Stronger case for buying a ticket to Activison’s upcoming convention.

So don’t Runaway from this opportunity to see the Grammy-winning hip-hop artist perform, possibly say some controversial stuff about whatever’s on his mind at that precise moment, and then spit a few verses that’re tangentially related to the Call of Duty franchise. One can only assume.

Tickets to XP, which are available here for $150 a pop, guarantee a spot at Yeezy’s show. But if you’re planning on making the convention, which takes place in Los Angeles, CA and runs from September 2-3, and you haven’t made travel plans yet, you might want to take a look at the travel packages before hotel prices Touch the Sky. Okay, that one was kind of reaching. Um, Can’t Tell Me Nothing about how this premise is being stretched pretty thin? Meh, at least I tried.

[Source]

The flash-based MMO based on the hit British TV show is looking for a new graphic designer. Is that you?

Maybe you don’t know that Three Rings, the company behind the excellent Facebook time-wasters Puzzle Pirates and Spiral Knights, is also working on a browser-based Dr. Who MMO. Now you do.

While we still don’t have any hard details on the game, who’s involved, and whether you’ll get to be a Time Lord or a companion, this job listing for a graphic designer just popped up on Craigslist.

If I had the ability to draw more than a stick figure, or to do anything graphic design-like (besides resizing images) I would apply immediately. Hey, maybe you’ll get to meet Amy Pond (Karen Gillan)!

Probably not.

Rumors are flying that Nintendo will have a special, separate event to reveal some big news prior to the Tokyo Game Show in September.

Nintendo has some big news to announce in September. While it’s more likely that we’ll hear about games like Dragon Quest X and a new Monster Hunter than a complete 3DS redesign (hey, it’s still a possibility), rumors are circulating that Nintendo will host a private event in the lead-up to E3.

The company’s stock rose sharply today after the news from investors that there would be a special 3DS event in Japan on September 13. Nintendo doesn’t take part in TGS (and this year won’t be any different), so even the rumor of an announcement from the big N around that time is pretty exciting.

(via Andriasang)

Although signs and rumors point to Microsoft getting ready to introduce new a console in the next year or two, Sony says that there’s no need to replace the PS3 right now.

Although the PlayStation 3 is starting to get up there in years, Sony seems to be sticking to their “it’ll last for 10 years” stance when asked about their next system.

Eurogamer found out as much first-hand in an interview with Sony VP Shuhei Yoshida. According to Yoshida, Sony is only going to introduce new hardware when developers reach the limit of what they can do with the PS3. Off-hand, we can attest at GamePro that most video game developers consider the PlayStation 3 a hassle to program with because of the system’s difficult-to-use hardware.

From the interview:

“Looking at the platform cycle, when the platform becomes something game developers are not able to improve their creations with, that’s the time we have to really seriously consider shifting to the next generation,” Yoshida said.

Game publishers, generally, agree that the introduction of the next generation is not needed. In January THQ core games boss Danny Bilson told Eurogamer the introduction of new hardware now “would be horrible”.

A number of developers, however, have told Eurogamer they are reaching the limit of what the current generation can do in terms of technical performance, and would love the opportunity to work with more RAM.

“As far as we are concerned, we have no desire now to do that [release a new home console],” Yoshida said.

“So as long as we and our developers can create new experiences that are more exciting to consumers, I see no need to transition into newer generation.”

But are current generation PS3 games hitting a brick wall? Looking at titles like Uncharted 3, Batman: Arkham City, and Battlefield 3, it seems like developers keep finding ways to wring a little more power out of current consoles. ‘Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

[Source: Eurogamer]

While only a handful of genre-themed districts will be open in the new PlayStation Home, Director Jack Buser says PS3 users can request specific districts for other game genres.

Because who isn’t going to ask for a JRPG District in the new PlayStation Home?

Although the new PlayStation Home will have genre-themed “Districts” that overlap several games from very different backgrounds, the nature of the new interface will allow Sony to add new areas gradually.

PlayStation Home Director Jack Buser said as much during a phone interview with GamePro, where he answered a question about PS3 owners that would ask for RPG-specific content:

“One of the cool things about PlayStation Home is that it’s always evolving and always changing. Let’s say we have people that are really into horror games. If we have enough critical mass, and if enough people say ‘Hey, we really want our own place for it,’ we can build that district.”

PlayStation Home Director Jack Buser. (Image via Venture Beat)

Right now, horror games and RPGs are covered in the Action and Adventure Districts respectively, but things could always change before, during, and after launch. Buser noted that each District would play directly to a genre’s fan base, such as the Sportswalk featuring a scores and results ticker from all the major leagues. Certain games are also receiving special promotional space in the new PS Home, such as Lazy 8′s COGs, so perhaps games like Mass Effect 3 and Rage will get the same treatment.

Buser also assured us that the transition would be as seamless as possible for long-time users, and the major goal of the new service was getting people to their games “as fast as possible” — if the service didn’t tickle everyone’s fancy, players could always opt to not use the new features at all:

“[PlayStation] Home can now have a real persistence, and it can remember in the past what you do. We are doing this redesign at the heart of [PlayStation] Home. Everyone on the service today is going to be on the service tomorrow. We’re taking out the central heart to elevate the content.”

“As a separate release, we’re going to be modifying the back end of the system — the 1.55 client. We’re also going to streamline the way people get into Home. It will minimize the time it takes for users to get online. Most importantly, if you want, you can still use PlayStation Home the same way you do now. If you’re a heavy user, we can customize your experience — and if you’re a new user, we can customize your experience, too.

Other features that will be retained in the PlayStation Home update include virtual items, PS3 Trophies and rewards, and costumes. Games can also be built in PS Home, while other free-to-play content will be available. Change is indeed afoot.

Areas like the Action District will have ads for current games, like Resistance in the upper left here.