Disgaea: Hour of Darkness was and remains one of the defining cornerstones of the modern console turn-based strategy RPG hybrid genre. As a marriage of anime, traditional strategy elements, and yes, even a dash of chess tossed in for good measure, the game seemingly came out of nowhere and became – quite literally – an overnight sensation.

The game also served the dual purpose of putting Nippon Ichi on the map, at least in terms of players residing outside the the confines of Japan. Thanks to Atlus USA and its tendency to take risks with Japanese projects that might otherwise never see the light of day in North America, players were given the chance to know the names Laharl, Etna, Mid-Boss, and yes, even those lovable demonic penguins known as Prinnies.

While the game itself has seen a variety of side stories and similar properties released since Disgaea’s release in 2003, there has not been an official sequel, until now. NIS America, Nippon Ichi’s North American publishing arm, has just finished localizing the game for domestic release, and while we have been playing the game, we thought it would be entertaining to sit down and speak with the team who will very soon be bringing Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories into your homes and lives. As such, we recently spoke with Steve Carlton, the localization coordinator for the game, as well as Nao Zook, marketing coordinator for NIS America, to get their unique insight into this upcoming, highly-anticipated strategy game for the PlayStation 2.

To start with, since Disgaea has become such a success, and has garnered such a cult following, are you at all worried about the sequel’s ability to live up to the original? I mean, sequels to popular original games oftentimes have a hard time living up to the expectations of fans.

We believe that when it comes to Disgaea, there are two major expectations people have, gameplay and story. We’ve kept the core elements that made the first Disgaea such a great hit, while adding more depth, customization, and features to improve the gameplay. We’ve also put together a great story incorporating awesome, new characters along with some memorable characters that our fans already love. Only by exceeding these expectations can we hope for Disgaea 2 to live up to the success of the original.

Disgaea was a notorious time sink, and could take a hundred hours or more to complete if you wanted to see everything. That’s great for players who have limitless time to play games, but why should players like myself, who are older, have jobs, and limited time to devote to games care about Disgaea 2?

The beauty of Disgaea 2 is that there is so much great stuff. The story alone is enough to draw in casual gamers. Others may just find the battle system so entertaining that they may spend their free time engaging in random battles in the improved Item World.

How does the story in this game tie in with the first game? What ending from Disgaea does this sequel follow?

Disgaea 2 follows the Good Ending from the first Disgaea. It takes place in another world, which is being converted into a netherworld. At this time, Etna has set out on her own, determined to steal the Legendary Overlord Zenon’s title for herself.

One of the things that attracted me to Disgaea originally was it’s humorous story. Does Disgaea 2 carry one with this same sort of humor?

Absolutely. Humor is the heart and soul of Disgaea.

So about how many hours can you see someone taking to complete Disgaea 2?

For gamers who play fast and just want to get through the story as fast as possible, they can complete the game in little as maybe 40-50 hours. Most players however may spend 100 hours or more playing the game. If you played the first Disgaea, you can expect to spend the same amount of time on Disgaea 2, if not more.

What are the key differences between this game and the original?

This game has a new cast of main characters, several new character classes, and more gameplay features. There is now a Dark World that mirrors the regular story maps, but adds more difficulty to the game by combining difficult Geo Effects with the Dark Sun which adds a whole new level of adversity to conquer. The Item World has been improved with the Dark Court, Item Assembly, and mystery rooms with special game events or encounters. And, there is also a new feature called the Land of Carnage where you can fight the story and Dark World stages with much more difficulty.

Speaking of characters, we’ve seen that few characters such as Etna and the Prinnies are making a return for this second game. Will any other recognizable faces be making a comeback?

Well, the greatest superhero team ever assembled return for part two. That’s right, the Prism Rangers are back! Plus, there are a few other Disgaea characters to be found. *cough*Laharl*cough*

And what about cameos, which have been something of a constant with regarding the NIS-developed strategy titles. Can we expect similar cameos from other games such as Makai Kingdom or Phantom Brave in Disgaea 2?

You’ll definitely see some familiar faces in Disgaea 2. Some of them make story cameos, and some make an appearance during certain special moves.

What new characters should players keep a look out for?

Other than the main characters of course, you’ll want to keep a look out for Axel, Tink, and Yukimaru. Oh yeah, you might want to beware of the A

A new company has emerged from the shadow of the North American publishing arm of Atlus. Called Aksys Games, the company was forged by former Atlus USA project and business development manager Akibo Shieh, and by all accounts so far looks to carry on with Atlus’ tradition of localizing titles that might not have otherwise been seen by audiences outside of Japan. Recently the company confirmed that it will for its debut offering localize Telenet Japan’s Enjoy Golf! under the new title of Eagle Eye Golf with the help of Japanese localization company InterOne. Recently we had the opportunity to speak with Aksys Games’ director of marketing, Gail Salamanca regarding the new company, its plans, and what players can expect from the release of Eagle Eye Golf, which is set to ship this fall.

Hi Gail. I know that you formerly worked at Atlus USA, but have since joined Aksys Games, which was formed in January 2006. Can you tell us a bit about your new role?

As my title would imply I’m in charge of all facets of marketing from planning to execution as well as handling all public relations for the company.

What is Aksys’ mission? Why was the company formed?

The company was originally founded as a localization firm with the goal of eventually becoming a full fledged game publisher. The opportunity to become a publisher presented itself sooner than we had originally planned with the acquisition of Eagle Eye Golf. We are still offering our localization services, however it has now become secondary so that we can focus on the publishing side of the business. Our mission is a simple one: To publish games that are fun and unique that would otherwise never see the light of day in the US market.

So will the company continue in the tradition of its Atlus pedigree, specializing in localizing Japanese titles for the U.S. Market?

Yes, that will be one of our main focuses considering our collective experience. However, we won’t rule out the possibility to work with domestic and overseas developers other than from Japan.

How is Aksys different from Atlus? Are there any similarities?

The obvious difference is the size of the company and the number of titles we intend to publish during the year. As far as similarities go, most of the staff is bilingual in English and Japanese, which allow us to do localizations in-house.

How many people does the company have on staff currently?

We have five people currently on staff.

With the next-generation of console hardware emerging, and companies continuing to have a more difficult time staying afloat, especially during this transition period, what is Aksys doing or planning to do so that it can thrive in the new market?

By working with a small staff, low operating costs and having an efficient business methodology we’ll definitely be able to weather the next-generation transition. We are also working towards partnering ourselves with some very established names in the gaming industry and look forward to announcing them in the coming months.

Do you see the change in technology from current to next-gen to present more of an opportunity or hardship for small publishers such as yourselves?

It’s definitely not the most ideal time to launch a new game company, but with that said it’s not going to be an easy year for anyone in the game publishing business in general. Like I said earlier, we started out as a localization company and the opportunity to become publisher just happened to present itself, so we took the ball and ran with it. However, we believe there’s definitely room for another boutique publisher in the US market. Gamers are always looking for new and interesting games regardless of their country of origin and we’re hoping that we can be there to provide them with another outlet.

Why was Eagle Eye Golf chosen as your company’s debut title?

After evaluating numerous titles presented to us, we truly enjoyed playing this game. As our mission statement says, we want to publish fun, enjoyable titles and this one just happened come along at the right time.

What are your plans like going forward? Is the company currently in the process of signing other Japanese titles for localization in 2006?

We are constantly evaluating titles to bring to the US market and already have some in the works after Eagle Eye Golf. We look forward to announcing them in the near future.

Thank you again for your time today. Is there anything you would like to add?

I’d like to thank eToychest for giving us the opportunity to speak a little about our company and we look forward to bringing unique and compelling interactive entertainment to gamers for years to come.

There was no shortage of role-playing games at E3 2006 in May. There were tall ones, skinny ones, even ones that climbed on rocks. But one of the more interesting – not mention ambitious – RPG efforts we had the pleasure of witnessing at the annual show was an upcoming title being localized by Atlus for the Nintendo DS called Deep Labyrinth. A first-person dungeon crawling RPG set to be released this August, the title was first introduced to Japanese audiences as a game for mobile phones, but has since been re-engineered to take advantage of the capabilities afforded by the Nintendo DS. We recently caught up with Atlus USA’s PR manager Zach Meston to get more information about this upcoming tale of a boy, his dog, and their epic – and touchable – adventure.

Hello, and thank you for taking time to speak with us today about Deep Labyrinth. What exactly was your role on this project?

My name is Zach Meston, and I’m the PR Manager for Atlus USA. I acted as the project lead and editor of Deep Labyrinth, thanks to my experience in localization as an editor for the late, lamented Working Designs.

So what other titles have you worked on in the past, and how has this project compared to those you have worked on previously?

At WD, I edited Alundra, Albert Odyssey, Vanguard Bandits, Magic Knight Rayearth, and both PlayStation remakes of Lunar.

How did Deep Labyrinth compare? It was my first localization of a portable game, and my first localization of a cartridge game, though text space and character counts weren’t an issue, as they so often are with handheld and/or cartridge stuff.

The biggest differences between this and my WD work: there was less text in Deep Labyrinth than in any of the CD games I worked on, and I didn’t take as many liberties with the localization as I would have at WD (no poop jokes or instantly dated pop-culture references).

So what was it about Deep Labyrinth that made Atlus decide that it would localize the game for the North American audience?

First, it’s really easy to pick up and play, especially for a role-playing game. Second, it has an amazing group of developers behind it. Third, it’s exactly the kind of game that our fans expect from us, and we always strive to give our fans what they want.

What, besides being a role-playing game for the Nintendo DS, is Deep Labyrinth?

It’s the inaugural title from a Japanese developer/publisher called Interactive Brains, founded by fellows whose resumes include a couple of classic Square Enix franchises. And I hope it’s the start of a beautiful relationship between us and them.

And Deep Labyrinth was originally created for cell phones in Japan, correct? Why did the developers at Interactive Brains see this as a good fit for the Nintendo DS?

They felt, rightly so, that the touch screen allowed the game to be as user-friendly on the DS as it was on cell phones, where ease of play is crucial.

I’m assuming much of the gameplay has been changed from the game’s cell phone roots, correct?

Not as much as you’d think. Obviously, the controls have been totally reworked to use the Touch Screen; the only thing you use the + Control Pad for is character movement. (If you’re a lefty, you use the A/B/X/Y cluster.) And an entirely new scenario has been added, which doubles the size of the game, and which incorporates DS features (such as the microphone) into A

In this latest exclusive interview, eToychest spoke with Eden’s Ahmed Boukhelifa, the producer on Atari’s upcoming Xbox 360 MOORG (Massively Open Online Racing GAME), Test Drive Unlimited, to get his insight into the game, as well as what the game’s success means for Atari.It seems as if every time a story regarding Atari comes up in the news today, it’s always preceded by feelings of dread. The one-time console developer in the 80s has become the epitome of a company that seemingly cannot catch a break, its recent history punctuated by failed releases and financial hardship. The company has even gone so far as to sell of the bulk of its recognized IPs, including Driver and Timeshift, as well as lowing the cost of its current-gen offerings to just $19.99 in a desperate attempt to stay afloat.

Also reeking of desperation is today’s news when Test Drive Unlimited arrives on store shelves this September for the Xbox 360, it will do so under the comparatively budget price of $39.95. A treat for gamers, to be sure, but you cannot help but feel that if this and the forthcoming next-gen survival horror title Alone in the Dark do not so well, Atari’s future could very well be cut short.

But things are not all doom and gloom just yet, and there is still the very real possibility that both titles will sell through the roof, especially considering the fact that the Xbox 360 in particular is not exactly bristling with new titles on store shelves. We recently spoke with Eden’s Ahmed Boukhelifa, the producer on Test Drive Unlimited, to get his insight into the game, as well as what it means for Atari.

Hello, and thanks for taking the time to speak with us today. So, what other titles have you worked on in the past? How has working on Test Drive Unlimited compared with those projects?

We’re no stranger to the racing genre. Our past titles include Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed, the V-Rally series and currently we’re developing a first-person shooter, Alone in the Dark, in addition to Test Drive Unlimited.

Over the years, the name Test Drive has become more of a brand name than a racing franchise, with the name being attached to several different styles of racing games. Why has Atari decided with Test Drive Unlimited to take the series back to its roots, so to speak?

Well, when we sat down with Atari, we discussed creating the A