European release date confirmed for Persona 4

Square-Enix finally fixed their sights on a largely rumoured 13th March 2009 date for the European release of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. The critically acclaimed RPG will come with a bonus 24 song CD and at the moment is holding a budget price of £17.99 on most online retailers.

The game centers around a small town where strange murders are happening. For some reason, these tend to correspond to the weather in the town. Just like in Persona 3, you have to balance your school life but with Persona 4, the pace will pick up as there is no telling when the weather will turn bad.

Official website

Source: Press release

Trailer: Muramasa: The Demon Blade

This period of gaming may well be quiet for those without RPG tendancies, but in the future, things are looking rosier. Take this for example. Here's a gameplay trailer for Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Wii. The game is made by Vanillaware, the makers of Odin Sphere. Now you know why it looks so similar. Judging by the visuals, we're seriously hoping this game triumphs in the gameplay department as well as the visual content.

Trailer: Star Ocean: The Last Hope explores Europe on 24th April

One of the bigger Square-Enix franchises, Star Ocean, finds a new platform and a release date for Europe as The Last Hope was given a release date of 24th April 2009. The series, making it's first appearance on the XBox 360, focuses on battling within an arena in real-time while exploring new worlds. Have a look below for a trailer taken from the Tokyo Game Show last year.

Update: It seems the release date isn't quite as solid as expected. Square-Enix just announced that the game will be released in Europe in Spring 2009.

Source: Gamekyo

European Release Dates as of 7th January 2009

A new year has just begun but we are getting some confirmed release dates already! A remake for the classic RPG Chrono Trigger will be released on the DS on the 6th February. This will be swiftly followed by the PS3 release of Eternal Sonata on the 13th February and to cap it all off, Disgaea 3 will appear on your store shelves on the 20th February. What more do you want?!

(Well, Persona 4 on the 27th February I suppose...)

Chrono Trigger - 06/02/2009
Eternal Sonata (PS3) - 13/02/2009
Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice - 20/02/2009
Persona 4 - Spring 2009
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume - Spring 2009
Muramasa: The Demon Blade - November 2009
Disgaea DS - 2009
Patapon 2 - 2009
Star Ocean: Second Evolution - 2009
Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope - 2009

The final completed games list of 2008

All of the games I completed last year are listed below. It goes from latest to earliest (sadly that's the way the blog does it)

* Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party (Wii)
* Magical Starsign
* Loco Roco 2
* Elite Beat Agents
* Odin Sphere
* Jeanne d'Arc
* Portal (Steam)
* Professor Layton and the Curious Village
* Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
* Space Invaders Extreme (PSP)
* Gitaroo Man Lives! (PSP)
* Everybody's Golf 2
* flOw
* Ape Quest
* Dragoneer's Aria
* Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
* Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure
* Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
* Patapon
* Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
* Exit (PSP)
* Rayman Raving Rabbids 2
* Zack & Wiki
* Sam & Max: Season One (PC)
* Brave Story: New Traveler
* Link's Crossbow Training
* Pokemon Pearl
* Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (PC)
* The Longest Journey (PC)
* Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (PS2)

Happy new year!

OK, I'm late as always but a happy new year to everyone and lets hope this year will bring us more left-field games on all the consoles!