Blazblue Portable Key Features:

• 12 unique combatants to choose from, which now include Unlimited versions for all characters!

  Choose a character that represents your own fighting style, like the lightning-fast Taokaka or the wickedly powerful Tager.

• Drive your way to victory!

  Use the unique “Drive Attacks” specific to each character to decimate your opponent. Control the elements, like wind or ice, or even absorb the life-force of your opponents.

• Multiplayer battles via Ad-Hoc Mode

  Battle with up to four players in a single room and play with custom rule sets. Two people will fight each other at a time while the others spectate.

• Legion Mode

  Build your army and conquer the map! Have up to 20 members join your party.

• Shop Mode

  Use in-game currency to purchase illustrations and Unlimited characters.

In her dedication to all the Aksys fans yesterday, Noba suffered an epic jeans blowout (see above) whilst helping move the Record of Agarest War mouse pads into our warehouse. They were her favorite pair of jeans and they are ruined. Here’s your chance to give back to the person who gave it her all. If you’d like to donate to the “Get Noba Some New Jeans” fund, we’ve set up a paypal account dedicated solely to her at getnobanewjeans@aksysgames.com. If anything, please leave her some kind comments here to console her for the loss of her jeans.

Thank you, Facebook fan, for sharing this uplifting film with us.

Check out the latest trailer from our upcoming Action RPG, Mimana Iyar Chronicle coming to stores on March 30th. If you haven’t heard, the game comes with a exclusive soundtrack CD that includes voice mail messages from the characters in the game.

You asked for it—well, some of you—and now you have it! The BlazBlue Comic Collection, translated, printed, and ready for you to purchase and touch. You can read it too, I suppose, if that’s your thing. It has 25 pages. This means that if you buy 4, you’ll have 100 pages of BlazBlue comics! Plus, it has a totally sweet drawing of Jin and Ragna on the back cover, done by Daisuke Ishiwatari of Guilty Gear fame. Awesome.

If this hasn’t convinced you to visit the store and purchase one—or more!—of these fabulous creations, then you clearly live a cold, loveless life, devoid of all pleasure, and I’m afraid there is nothing more I can do to help you.

‘Nuff Said.

“We cannot hide the fact that even after our brief time with it, we think this is shaping up to be the best of the series so far; Gaijin Games have outdone themselves by creating a good balance between challenge and accessibility that will have players thinking “next time I’ll time that jump better” rather than throwing down the controller in frustration. Even gamers who don’t like platform games will find themselves unable to put down the controller until long past bedtime for one more go – yes, it’s that kind of game.”

The full article can be found on NintendoLife.

Screenshot gallery after the jump.

Anyone else want to use it?

UPDATED: Grab the persona here! http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/persona/111163

Drifting fun for the whole family! Family Go-Kart Racing is out today on WiiWare!

It’s Family Go-Kart Racing, the fantastic new racing game from Arc System Works! The Family is back: Billy, Sarah, Daddy, Mommy, and new to the family fun,  Auntie and Gramps! Choose from among the six family members and six karts to take on twelve exciting tracks and drift your way to victory!

Race against the clock with the Wii Remote’s tilt control in Time Attack to beat your personal records, or take on the entire family in a full Grand Prix!  Steer your way through the Snowy Slopes, peel out in the World Bazaar, and go-go-go for gold on the Go-Go Rollercoaster! Earn your place as the head of the family by out-maneuvering your kin with special items like Acceleration and Lighting! Or, unleash the Bowling Bomb and strike out the kart ahead of you!

We demand an update, Ellis!

And here it is. The official Record of Agarest War website has been updated! It now has a few pages in the Strategy section, as well as a bunch of content in the Media section—screenshots, movies, and some character wallpapers. Outrageous!

Look what we found sitting outside our office today… Isn’t she pretty?

For the sake of dignity Jamie Love ,from Gamesugar, squeezes  a few questions in along the way, which Aksys Games’ PR Specialist Cherie Baker was good enough to answer – while leaving him with a cliffhanger to wonder about…

Check it out here!

That’s right, Kunio & Gang are back to kick butt in their two new DS titles, River City Soccer Hooligans and River City Super Sports Challenge!

Torrance, CA (February 17, 2010) – Aksys Games, a publisher of interactive entertainment products, welcomes back Japan’s cute delinquent high-schoolers in two new games on Nintendo DS™: River City Soccer Hooligans and River City Super Sports Challenge. After-school sports will never be the same.

“There is only one word to describe River City Soccer Hooligans: GOOOOAAAAAAAAAL!”, states Frank “Bo” deWindt II, Associate Producer, Aksys Games. “Soccer fused with crazy weather conditions and super-shot attacks aplenty create an amazing Kunio experience!”

Join Kunio and the gang in River City Soccer Hooligans as they go head to head with the world’s soccer elite to win the World Soccer Championship! Shoot, pass, and attack the competition!

River City Soccer Hooligans Key Features:

• The world can have only one champion! Join the River City League!

Challenge the world’s best soccer teams! Select your matches from 12 opposing teams from around the world. As Captain Kunio, you can strategize by changing your formations, checking weather forecasts, talking to your teammates, and giving them special items to boost their performance!

• Can’t become world’s best without practice!

Practice mode allows the player to improve their techniques by customizing the conditions. Select your stage, field, and weather conditions. Two-on-Two play lets the player focus on the striker of their choice. Perform special sets of moves like the Drill Attack, Tornado Kick, Explosive Attack, and Super Head Shot.

• On a mission to kick butt and take names!

Unlock 50 unique items for your teammates by fulfilling conditions during matches in Normal and Hard mode! Check out your collection and choose which teammate to give items to for stat boosts.

• Battle against up to 4 players through DS

Play either an Opponent Match (2 vs. 2) or a PK Match (Penalty Kick) with friends or against the CPU.

River City’s extracurricular activities just got EXTREME! High schools from far and wide assemble their hooligans to complete against the mysterious Tobioka Conglomerate in the Super Sports Challenge. Brawl your way through the toughest rival schools around and show’em who’s the boss!

”River City Super Sports Challenge combines the thrill of athletic competition with the fun of beat-em-up action!” states Frank “Bo” deWindt II, Associate Producer, Aksys Games. “Fans of the Kunio series and newcomers alike won’t be able to put this down, even while working out!”

River City Super Sports Challenge Key Features:

• Fight to the finish!

Complete in races against the toughest hard-knock schools in River City. Six school teams to choose from, each with six unique teammates wielding crazy fighting moves like Human Bomb, Pizza Shot, and Mach Strike!

• Test your Skills in Challenge Mode

Complete missions and develop your martial skills. Collect customization options for your team, such as hairstyles, hair colors, face models, and complexion in Edit Character Mode. Edit your team’s stats by adjusting their stamina, punching, and kicking, and weapon skills.

• Throw Down!

Play any of the races in this Free Battle mode! Play against the CPU or up to 4 players through Download Battle. Choose your favorite team, stage, and race order.

Check out IGN’s first preview for Deathsmiles…

“During our trip to the Tokyo Game Show last year, one of our favorite discoveries outside the show was the arcade shooter DeathSmiles II. A “bullet hell” game created by the masters of the genre, Cave, this is a gothic horror shooter starring cute anime girls that fly around blasting the crap out of fantasy monsters. This year we’ll get the next best thing on Xbox 360: the original DeathSmiles. While it’s a surprise to see a game like this coming to retail as opposed to Xbox Live Arcade, we’ve been spending some quality time with it and are pretty sure it will appeal to shmup fans.”

Click here for the full article and some screens and video of the game.

This web site, in fact. The domain name is ours, and the timid child of the internet is the official Record of Agarest War web site. As you can see, should you choose to visit it, we have plans to update it with yet more content, so I recommend you check back frequently. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see on there, by all means, let us know. I have also taken the liberty of creating a forum section specifically for Agarest. Feel free to use it to discuss the game, ask questions, etc. We are always watching, and will do our best to answer any questions you may have. You can also find a collection of screenshots here, although these will eventually be available on the official site as well.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BECOME A WORLD CHAMPION!

Play portable pool with over 60 world’s top player in World Cup of Pool for the Nintendo DS.

Torrance, CA (February 11, 2010) Aksys Games, a leading publisher of interactive entertainment products, is proud to announce that World Cup of Pool will be challenging everyone on the Nintendo DS today! When you want to be the best you have to beat the best. This means taking on and defeating Earl “the Pearl” Strickland, Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Ronnie O’Sullivan and current World Champion Daryll Peach – and that’s just what you can do in World Cup of Pool!

“World Cup of Pool for the Nintendo DS is the only billiards game on the Nintendo DS that represents the largest contingent of pro players from around the world,” said Frank “Bo” deWindt, Project Lead, Aksys Games. “At Aksys Games we’re continually growing and expanding our library of games and World Cup of Pool is one of the many games for 2010 that will help keep us breaking new ground.”

Featuring 60 of the world’s top players – with over 15 Pool and Snooker world titles between them – prove you’re a winner at 8-ball & 9-ball and claim the ultimate prize in any sport – the World Cup. If you fancy an alternative challenge, have a go at playing “Killer” against the champions or a multiplayer game against your friends. World Cup of Pool for the Nintendo DS distills this, the definitive pool experience, into a convenient, hand-held form.

World Cup of Pool Key Features:

• Fully licensed with over 60 of the best players from around the world.

• The top screen displays the whole table – use the touch screen for close action shots.

• Unique Hall of Fame trophy room to track your career.

A fine gentleman (I assume) named Sam Bishop over at IGN has been kind enough to write up a hands-on preview of our own Mimana Iyar Chronicle, a game which will be released on the PlayStation Portable. And if that weren’t enough, another fine gentleman (I assume) named Ryan Clements has written up a similar hands-on preview of BlazBlue Portable, also for the PSP. I would provide you with highlights, but that would both dilute the impact of these wonderful examples of quality journalism, and make this post even more blatantly self-serving than it already is. As such, I entreat you to visit IGN and read them. If the Mimana article wets your appetite, I would humbly remind you that it is available for pre-order from a number of quality retailers.

Deathsmiles interview with Aksys Games at Siliconera.

This year’s biggest surprise so far is an English version of Deathsmiles. How did Aksys get the rights to Cave’s horizontal shooter?

“We asked,” Cherie Baker, PR Specialist at Aksys jokingly replied. “No, but really we’re big shmup fans here at Aksys, and we pushed for it. We also know that there are many Cave fans in the states that have been dying for something new and fresh. We asked, and Cave was all up for it!”

Click here for the full interview.

IGN has written up an awesomely positive preview on Commander Video’s latest adventure.

“Gaijin Games has three Bit.Trip titles under its belt and they’re some of the best, most artful titles available on WiiWare. The next installment in the series, Bit.Trip Runner is more ambitious than the first three in every way. An onrails platformer much like the recent indie hit Canabalt, Runner combines retro game nostalgia, catchy chiptunes, and hardcore twitch gameplay into one impressive package.”

Click here for the full article.

WOW. We didn’t think it was possible, but someone by the name of Sophie497 has scored a perfect in Bit.Trip Beat’s Growth level. Call it a triumph of the human spirit or a freak of nature… Either way we salute you Sophie497.