Yes, you read that title correctly. Later this week (Tuesday, September 21st specifically) PSN will be getting a new import store for, you guessed it, PlayStation imports. If you’re anything like me and have felt slighted that your only method of downloading badass Japanese games off of Japan’s PSN was to purchase a PSN card in Yen, then this is a big deal.
Details. Jump. Go. Now.
According to an article over at Gamasutra, there will be two games available at launch: the incredibly odd (even by Japanese standards) and blatantly homoerotic side-scrolling shooter Cho Aniki, and the disappointingly normal but just as side-scrolling Gaia Seed. These games, as well as those set to follow in the future, will feature absolutely no translation or localization of any kind. They’ll all be in their unfiltered Japanese form, so unintelligible menu text is to be expected. Fortunately according to the folks over at MonkeyPaw Games they plan to publish “titles that are easy to navigate,” so any lack of kanji-reading ability on your part shouldn’t hinder the overall experience.
Regardless of the specifics, or the fact that only two games will be debuting with the service, there’s a lot to be excited about here. Personally, I’m hoping to finally be able to load I Am the Chef onto my PSP. It also might get Sony off their asses and publishing a few more popular PlayStation Classics that are already in English, but have yet to be added to PSN. I’m looking at you, Front Mission 3 and Vagrant Story.
And for the love of god, if someone publishes Remote Control Dandy I will go to their office and kiss every employee in the building, including janitorial staff, on the mouth. Or not. Whichever gets it on PSN faster.
[Via: Gamasutra]
This… is interesting. I look forward to seeing where this goes.
I’m a big fan of import games as well. Hopefully it won’t become a rarity though for them to make more titles available. It’d be unfortunate if we only got a game every few months or so.
That said — hooray!
I know I’m being stupidly optimistic, but wouldn’t it be great if they just dumped a ton of imports on us? You know, since there’s a lost less effort to porting without the localization? :D
Yay Cho Aniki! I’ve always wanted to play that!
I wonder how intensive it is when it comes to kanji and katakana. I could use it as an excuse to practice reading hiragana, but I don’t know katakana yet (Soon!) and we don’t do Kanji for another chapter.
Maybe I’ll luck out and they’ll put the Japanese equivalent of EC games up on there so those of us learning Japanese can practice! lolol
People play Cho Aniki to read like people watch porn for the storyline ;P
Speaking of which, have I ever told you about Buffy the Vampire Layer?