I really have nothing to say for an introduction this week, so here is a video of Nier and Drakengard director Yoko Taro making a plea for people to preorder Neir: Automata by rolling on the floor.
In early January of this year, a German rating for a console version of the 2008 DS title Lock’s Quest appeared. Seeing as how ratings like this are rarely if ever wrong, it is unsurprising to hear that THQ Nordic, the rightsholders of the game, are indeed bringing the game to PS4, Xbox One, and PC this April. From the look of things, the developers in charge of this remastered version, Digital Continue, have done a good job at converting the game for consoles and PC. Seeing as how the concept sounds novel, and I never played the original due to how I had no money during the days of the DS, I am adding it to my great big list of games to purchase and eventually review.
With the Nintendo Switch rapidly looming over the horizon, and people still clamouring to know basic information about the console, Nintendo decided to reveal an Expansion Pass for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The pass will give players access to three bonus treasure chests, the first piece of content will contain an additional challenge dungeon, a new hard mode, and an additional map feature, all of which sound like they should be available as free updates, but whatever. While the second one will be a separate story campaign and dungeon, which I kind of hope will be about a different character and be set in a unique location, but I probably should not dream. Practices like this are commonplace in the industry, and this move will surely prove to be successful.
Meanwhile, Niantic and the Pokemon Company have been working on giving Pokemon Go it’s second wind with the full introduction of Generation II Pokemon into the game along with some general improvements. Considering how significantly Pokemon Go died out after the initial two weeks, and the fact that it is February, I have doubts that this will make waves or do much other than to satiate the game’s dedicated fan base
As has become an annual tradition for the company, niche Japanese game publisher NIS America held a press event the past week, and offered many goodies for all the boys and girls who would care about their assortment of titles. However, only a mere two of them caught my eye, so those are the only ones I will speak about, as otherwise I would be droning on the basic premise, name, and release date of about 17 other titles.
After being confirmed for a western release a while ago, it’s been announced that Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony will be released for PS4 and Vita on September 26th. With a PC version likely arriving at the same time, but from developers Spike Chunsoft themselves. I could leave it at that, but it’s occurred to me that some people might not be in the know about what this game is about, so allow me to explain. V3 is the third mainline Danganronpa game, but it is not a continuation of the story that came before it. The story of DR1, Ultra Despair Girls, and DR2 were all concluded last year with Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak Academy, an anime series that I had very mixed feelings about, and would only recommend watching half of. 
In, really, the only surprising bit of news in the entire event, NIS America announced that they will be bringing Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana to the west when it released on PS4, Vita, and PC sometime this fall. A move I find to be surprising as the Ys series has been localized by XSEED for nearly a decade now. I’m not sure why this change in publishers was made unless it is simply a matter of resources, as XSEED is a very small publisher that may have been unable to localize a text heavy action RPG of this sort in a timely manner. This same reasoning may also explain why NIS America is also localizing Tokyo Xanadu, a game from the same developers. Regardless of who’s publishing it though, I am curious as to how this installment shapes up and if it will reach the heights of the three mid 2000s Ys games.
Oh, and by the way, the Steam Greenlight pages for the Chinese PC ports of Ys Seven and Ys: Memories of Celceta have both been removed. Not sure what that’s about, but it kind of stinks, as I was hoping to buy those games.