So, since there's not much going on at the moment, what are we all looking forward to for 2015? We've already got a few games announced - a load of indie stuff like Drifer; Not a Hero; Broforce; Starbound etc. and a few localizations - Persona 4 DAN from Atlus; Criminal Girls from NISA & Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters from Aksys.
Personally, Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters is the only localization I'm after, but a load of the indie stuff is looking good.
Speaking of which, I reckon there's a good chance we'll get a slew of new localizations announced for 2015 at some point. Here's how likely I think stuff is:
Extremely likely
1. DanganRonpa: Another Episode (NISA) - I just don't see any way this won't come across as long as DR2 doesn't completely bomb. I think NISA are quite happy making a franchise out of this, and the game looks like a nice change of pace for them.
2. Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;birth 2 (IFI) - all the translation work is pretty much done for this (it's almost a straight port of MK2) so as long as IFI and NISA can work out an agreement for the translation (and I don't see any problem with this - TK & NISA came to an agreement over the Atelier games) then I think this will be coming. As long as Re;birth 1 doesn't completely bomb too.
3. Corpse Party: Blood Drive (XSEED) - the guys at XSEED seem like they enjoy picking up personal projects alongside stuff that sells well for them - that's why they're keeping on with the Legend of Heroes series and releasing Brandish this year. They seem to be big fans of Corpse Party, so I feel like this is almost a given.
Quite likely
1. Great Edo Blacksmith (NISA) - normally I'd say this was a given since it's an in-house NISA game, but it seems quite risque. But now we're getting Criminal Girls, so who knows?
2. Hyper Goddess Noire (IFI) - I've bumped this down a notch just because I don't really know how big IFI are at the moment and I feel like they're going to pick up Omega Quintet/Neptunia VII before this.
3. Hyperdimension Neptunia U (IFI) - same reasoning as above. This one slightly less likely because it's a bit more controversial.
4. Makai Shin Trillion (IFI) - we all forgot about this game huh? Provided it's still in development (and not dead like Chronos Materia), I reckon it has a fair chance.
5. IA/VT Colourful (XSEED) - since it's their parent company who are making this, and they've expressed interest in this, I think it's got a good chance of coming across, but who knows.
6. Atelier Ayesha Plus (Tecmo Koei) - translation work is all done and we've gotten all the other games. I think they're probably just waiting for enough time to pass since Rorona Plus. But it does seem to have been a while and the other games really don't have many ratings on PSN.
7. Toukiden Extreme (Tecmo Koei) - I feel like the original didn't sell as they had wanted, but they could still probably bring this across as a cheap PSN release like they're doing with Samurai Warriors/Warriors Orochi.
Could go either way
1. Earth Defense Force V2 (D3 Publisher) - there is an English translation out there which they could use, but they're probably gonna want to do it from scratch. Depends on whether 2017 Portable sold well enough for them.
2. Tales of Innocence R (Bandai Namco) - depends completely on how Tales of Hearts R sells. I don't think it'll sell well enough personally, but who knows.
3. Chaos Rings 3 (Square Enix) - well, they'll be announcing it for iOS/Android, so who knows?
4. Labyrinth Cross Blood Infinity/Tokyo New World Record Operation Abyss (NISA) - this one depends on Demon Gaze, which I think might've underperformed a bit. But there's always a chance!
5. Shin Hayarigami (NISA) - given that NISA have never shown any interest in bringing this franchise to the west before, now would be a change of heart. But since they started this franchise, they've published DanganRonpa which is pretty much a VN. With this being a new start, perhaps now is the time.
6. Lost Dimension (Aksys) - I'm putting this one in just because Aksys have been so bizarre with what games they pick up and I feel like they'll try something completely random like this.
7. Moero Chronicle (IFI) - Adding this one in just because Monster Monpiece came across. I think that was due to circumstances at the time, and we're unlikely to see another, but who knows!
8. Ar no Surge Plus (Tecmo Koei) - I dunno. They'll have done the translation, but there doesn't seem to be much sales potential or anything and they don't seem very keen on it. It'd be nice, but still
In my absolute dreams, Sen no Kiseki would be picked up by XSEED. But we've got Trails 2 + 3 + Ao no Kiseki + Zero no Kiseki to go through first, so...
Either way, there's a load of potential stuff that I'm excited about getting over here!
