Square Enix confirmed that their upcoming action RPG Nier will be released in two different versions, Nier Gesthalt for the Xbox 360 and Nier RepliCant for the PS3. While we already knew some details about the 360 title, very little was known about the PS3 one and all the pictures released so far actually came from Gestalt.
Today, as reported by the Japanese portal GameWatch, the first screenshots for RepliCant (that you can see on the left and below) have been released alongside some details.
The story is similar to that of Gestalt, but the main character (also named Nier, we don't know if it's the same character) will have to save his little sister affected by an incurable illness named "Black Sentence Plague". As he will progress in his quest he will find out more about the nature of the world and about the reasons why the demons inhabiting it have began to succumb to madness.
Both Nier Gestalt and Nier RepliCant will be released in 2010, developed by studio Cavia (Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and Darkside Chronicles, Bullet Witch, Drakengard, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex...) and both will be officially shown at Tokyo Game show, respectively at Microsoft's and Sony's booths.
As a final juicy detail, tomorrow (September the 18th) the first trailer for Nier RepliCant will be aired on the Square Enix channel on Youtube.
Nothing is known about the reasons behind the decision of releasing two exclusive titles instead of a multiplatform one. Maybe Square Enix doesn't want to incur on the same problems they are facing with Final Fantasy XIII, forced by contract to deliver two identical versions of the same game and not able to fully take advantage of the strenghts of each console (like the additional space offered bt PS3's Blu-ray). If that's the case, it might actually be a wise decision.
In the end a multiplatform title has to settle for the lowest common denominator in basically every aspect, while two different ones, even if they share the same characters and setting, can use the consoles' capabilities fully, without allowing direct comparisons that could cause diplomatic incidents with Microsoft or Sony. Each of them gets their game the best that it can be and everyone wins.
http://classygamer.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-screenshots-and-details-for-nier.html
Click on link for the screenshots.
