Atlus never ceases to surprise me. They’re actually publishing the PSP version of Persona 2 (well, the first half — Innocent Sin) here in the U.S., even though Sony itself appears to have given up on the idea of making money on PSP software and is currently in the midst of remastering the platform’s library for PlayStation 3.
Innocent Sin, by most accounts, failed to make it to the U.S. strictly because Atlus of Olde was afraid to publish a game in which (spoiler, I guess) Adolf Hitler showed up as a villain. That weird old thing where video game publishers were happy to let you wantonly slaughter humans by the thousands, but take down the most reviled man of the 20th century and suddenly oh no too delicate a subject for this precious young medium to handle. I’ve seen screens of how this particular bad guy is being presented in the Japanese version (he’s wearing sunglasses to hide his identity, a particularly clever disguise!); this doesn’t guarantee he’ll show up in the U.S. version, though. I kind of figure he will. If the past decade’s glut of WWII-based shooters has accomplished anything, it’s making the world less shy about ramming bayonets into the tender belly parts of Nazis. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is a call best left to the reader, but at least it means we probably won’t have to listen to the strident complaints of so-called “purists” sulking about censorship in their incredibly artistic stories about magical school kids who can summon ancient gods to beat up monsters for them.
Anyway, gird your loins and whet your appetite for Hitler destruction. I’m going to insist you buy a copy of this game so that when Atlus publishes the other half of Persona 2, Eternal Punishment, on PSP we’ll get that one localized, too.
Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that the viral pre-announcement Atlus released last week for Innocent Sin included a passing mention of Tail Concerto as well. I don’t take that to mean they’re intending to localize its sequel Solatorobo, though; rather, I read it as an act of wanton cruelty as they string us along with empty teases.
Consider it bought.
The PSP is really becoming an awesome little system now.
I mean with all the Persona games, Ys games, and assorted oddball RPGs on the system, mine has gotten quite a bit of use the past few years, as opposed to virtually none for a long time.
If it were just a 1080p PSP->PS3 conversion, I’d be pretty annoyed, but the triple whammy of save-game parity, AdHoc Party integration, and updated controls is simply too good to pass up.
Here’s to hoping they bundle the games together digitally somehow, or allow upgrades for a nominal fee.
Yeah, if the PS3 version of Monster Hunter Portable 3rd lets me play the game on my PSP as well, that is super cool and I’m all for this. I seriously doubt that will be the case, though.
I’m actually hoping that there will be a way to play them on NGPSP2, since it will actually be able to take advantage of higher def visuals and improved controls.
I dunno, once they left the whole “shooting yourself in the head” thing alone with P3 without anyone who’d get indignant noticing I figured MegaTen could get away with just about anything. Plus it sounds like the PSP version dances around the subject similarly to Bionic Commando: Rearmed anyway.
Why would they be worried about Hitler? He was in Wolfenstein and probably other games before Persona 2.
it’s probably a timing thing. Wolfenstein, I believe, came out before there even was a little thing called ESRB and nobody really cared. Persona 2 was probably right around the time when the whole videogames=>violence thing was heating up (Columbine etc) and thus they probably weren’t into touchy subjects/characters.
It doesn’t make sense but I didn’t invent irrationality, so don’t blame me :D
Wasn’t that explanation completely made up by fans? There was a Retronaughts once where it was determined that time and money were more likely reasons for not bringing IS over. If you can only get one P2, then EP is the only logical choice.
The purists are already crying over the sunglasses anyway. The months after release are going to be fun.
Think the shades look awesome. Hitlers got style.
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned already, but Solatorobo is at least being translated to English and being released in Europe and some other countries:
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/05/05/solatorobos-first-english-trailer-is-about-destruction/
Some of the best gaming news I’ve heard in a while :)
I’m quite enamored with this decision. I’ve actually played quite a bit of the fan-translated PSX version (which is extremely well-done, by the way). Hopefully they’ll nail the localization. Atlus is usually pretty good about that kind of stuff, although Radiant Historia had some odd typos and whatnot that I was surprised made it through QA.