Atlus USA publishing Spectral Force 3, Operation Darkness for Xbox 360

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Nov 16th 2007 at 8:55PM }

Atlus USA, the company behind upcoming surgery sim Trauma Center: New Blood, has become an official 3rd party publisher for the Xbox 360. Fans who have come to expect quirky role-playing games and nuanced localizations from the team should be pleased to see Atlus diving straight into a niche we never expected to associate with the American Xbox 360 -- Japanese strategy RPGs.

Two titles are already lined up for release in 2008, with the first tackling one of history's (and gaming's) most sinister foes, Hitler. He's also a vampire, it says here. Battling the Third Reich with an army of bizarre creatures in Operation Darkness would probably strike us as odd, had we not already played an Atlus game featuring a robotic Rasputin from the future. Par for the course, really. As for the fantasy-themed Spectral Force 3, it places you in control of a group of mercenaries caught between the opposing sides of the "Great Neverland War," which we're told was considerably more exciting than the Pretty Decent Neverland War explored in the previous two games.

Tags: Atlus, Operation-Darkness, Spectral-Force-3

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Sokkratez @ Nov 16th 2007 9:04PM

Persona 3 port, please :)

This is the best news I've heard all year, really. Atlus makes fantastic RPGs, and it's about damn time we had some on a western console.

David @ Nov 17th 2007 11:24AM

Persona 3, it's already out in America.

gonk @ Nov 16th 2007 9:23PM

i've liked atlus ever since i played golden sun 2

thenino85 @ Nov 16th 2007 9:36PM

YES!

YES!

I don't care if it actually sucks when it comes out, but a SRPG involving magical British assassins taking out vampire Hitler is worth a buy. SRPGs are my favorite genre, but I love my 360. Now the two aren't mutually exclusive. =)

Never heard of the other game, though. Anyone know if it's a good series?

Jonah Falcon @ Nov 17th 2007 3:10AM

The Spectral Force series was for the original PlayStation One in Japan. It wasn't commercially successul. Could be Atlus is resurrecting it for a new console for a group of people who never played it, so they can rework it and start fresh.

EdZ @ Nov 17th 2007 6:33AM

If the idea of a group of British vampires taking on nazi vampires tickles your fancy, give the Hellsing books a try. There's even Vatican assassins to boot!

Pawsaldo @ Nov 17th 2007 5:58PM

This better come out in the UK, nothing is more fun then killing Nazis, especially supernatural Nazis :D

Rentaro @ Nov 16th 2007 9:45PM

Golden Sun 2? That was developed by Camelot and published by Nintendo

gonk @ Nov 16th 2007 11:56PM

hmm. guess i got confused. i know i have a gba atlus game around here somewhere

OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Nov 17th 2007 12:00AM

Gonk:

It's probably either one of the Summon Night: Swordcraft Story games, or one of the Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation games.

Ironhide @ Nov 16th 2007 10:03PM

Excellent news. A few more quirky publishers and we might have a chance at more Japanese style games. It would seem that Atlus knows what side of the bread is buttered these days at least for the moment. Playstation 3, while much improved from before isn't the one trick pony it was before. With a much larger user base, a publisher would have to be nuts to ignore a potential profit making market with the Xbox 360.

OhJustSomeRandomGuy @ Nov 16th 2007 10:44PM

It's not quite that simple. Maybe the numbers are there in favor of bringing games over from Japan, but is there's really a market for 360 RPGs and SRPGs yet?

There are probably quite a few publishers who are waiting in the wings to see how this plays out. If you're as gung-ho about seeing quirky JP games coming for your 360, you better hope that the sales numbers are there to back up that wish.

These games (unless some other publisher swoops in with something first) are slated to be the first SRPGs on the system. If people ignore these two titles for the next FPS on the market, my guess is you're going to see the Xbox 360 cupboard as devoid of good RPGs and JRPGs as the original Xbox's cupboard was...and I just don't think I'll be able to go back to putting 100+ hours into a game and not getting Achievement points. =)

J.Goodwin @ Nov 17th 2007 12:24AM

Atlus USA is a localization / publishing house. Atlus in Japan does develop some games, but neither of these games were developed by Atlus.

Operation Darkness is from Success. Spectral Force 3 is from Idea Factory. Both are already out in Japan.

Atlus USA is on the 360 bandwagon because their bread and butter genre games from smaller Japanese RPG houses are already out on 360. PS3 basically doesn't have any niche RPGs yet (unless you count Enchanted Arms, I guess, or maybe Folklore, but neither of those were available to Atlus USA since they have US publishers already in Ubisoft and Sony).

J.Goodwin @ Nov 17th 2007 12:25AM

And the first Strat RPG on the 360 in the US is already available. It's Band of Bugs on XBLA.

Foxwind @ Nov 16th 2007 10:14PM

Vampire Hitler! Woohoo!!

Jonah Falcon @ Nov 16th 2007 10:33PM

Vampire Hitler? Not enough. Make him a pirate who uses ninjitsu, too. We need a ninja pirate vampire Hitler.

Count Noobula @ Nov 16th 2007 10:40PM

And he can be taken out by his futuristic relative, Rabi Hitler.

Jonah Falcon @ Nov 16th 2007 10:46PM

You mean Reltih?

Richard @ Nov 17th 2007 12:43AM

Well he does have a dragon. Is that enough?

Batzarro @ Nov 16th 2007 10:53PM

Marketing Pitch

"The great Neverland wars were almost over. Michael Jacksons army had us sorrounded. We were scavenging weapons from the corpses, we had to hold out."

"Hold out until what?"

"Until Peter Pan came along..."

Beeleeve Muddafugz!

Jonah Falcon @ Nov 16th 2007 11:24PM

Where are the TEDIZ? Hmmmmmmmm?

Vanillaware Intern @ Nov 16th 2007 11:53PM

Wow! Atlus is on a roll. Keep the games coming.

BananaBoat @ Nov 17th 2007 12:06AM

I'm still waiting for them to localize the likes of Idol Master and Doki Doki Maho(Majho, Mahou, whatever) Shinpan.

That's right Atlus, there is a huge market in the US for Japanese games where you basically act like a massive pervert.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 17th 2007 12:10AM

Further proof that developers have no allegiance towards any console.

Anyways, Vampires+Hitler= win in my book.

Freeze @ Nov 17th 2007 1:46AM

You know what Microsoft needs to do now to complete the RPG genre...go show up on Square Enix's door with a wod of money telling them they need the WHOLE entire CHRONO TRIGGER franchise exclusive to the XBOX 360 console. Remake the first game giving it that Blue Dragon look with better graphics and POW! Microsoft would have the RPG thing in the bag for their console hands-down.

Jonah Falcon @ Nov 17th 2007 3:13AM

Square is already hard at work on two RPGs - both original IPs.

Lost Odyssey looks fantastic (that's Mistwalker, tho)

Kabapu @ Nov 18th 2007 12:40PM

... I'm super-sad right now. Atlus has always published awesome strategy RPGs on the Playstation brand. Honestly, I have no problem with them releasing the games on the 360 ... but to make them exclusive?

For shame, Atlus ... for shame.

0ldb0y @ Nov 19th 2007 9:34AM

It's not personal, just business.

And for every person who MIGHT feel slighted by Atlus, there is one person who WILL be happy. Don't fret. It's not win-win, nor is it win-lose. Maybe win-*sigH*.

Jonah Falcon @ Nov 17th 2007 3:07AM

Be interesting how they deal with a turn-based tactical RPG on the Xbox 360. For some reason, these titles scream "Xbox Live Arcade" to me. (Then again, I'm envisioning them as handheld games like FF: Tactics or Advance Wars. heh)

Jonah Falcon @ Nov 17th 2007 3:16AM

Now that I think of it, when I hear "Vampire Hitler", I think of Burns siccing the Robotic Richard Simmons on Homer. I don't know why.

TwEE @ Nov 17th 2007 1:19PM

Are these games really hardcore (mountain dewy) enough to sell on the Xbox?

I cant see the same people who tear into the other systems for having japanese games buying this..

Now that Im done trolling, these both sound awesome..

TwEE @ Nov 17th 2007 1:19PM

TwEE @ Nov 17th 2007 1:26PM

Are these games really hardcore (mountain dewy) enough to sell on the Xbox?

I cant see the same people who tear into the other systems for having japanese games buying this..

They should totally replace the characters in these games with some bitching Rob Liefeld designed characters like Gears of war..

Now that Im done trolling, these both sound awesome..

TwEE @ Nov 17th 2007 1:27PM

Double post... what in de hell?

Spiral @ Nov 17th 2007 3:32PM

JRPGs in general usually sell a console for me. I like other games and will buy them, but I always end up buying the one where I can relax with a fun JRPG.

So if I were wavering among console decisions right now, this would definitely push me towards a 360.

Also, any game with a vampire hitler or a robotic richard simmons is a-okay in my book. I even played the touched upon game with robotic rasputin from the future. We need more games like this.. with maybe Ben Franklin as pirate and ninja Sherlock Holmes. Also, Zombie Lincoln.