Despite flirting with futuristic racing, it's no secret that Koei's heart has always belonged to cutting swaths through bad guys, keeping their population under control with the mashing of buttons in such series as Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, or in the case of Warriors Orochi, both at the same time.

Warriors Orochi, which fused both franchises for a crossover fiesta, was released last year for multiple platforms, and according to a statement from Koei this afternoon has shipped more than 1.5 million units worldwide. Granted this simply represents the number of copies the company has thrown on the back of a truck, and not how many that players have actually been taken home and played. Even so, this hasn't stopped Koei from confirming that it also plans to bring Warriors Orochi 2 to North America, giving PS2 and Xbox 360 players another means to sacrifice thumbs and delete evil doers en masse this September.

It's not often we get to report on beautiful, tearful reunions on Joystiq, so forgive us if we're a bit rusty, but here goes: Originally announced as a PS3 launch title, Fatal Inertia will return from its stint on Xbox 360 to the waiting, open arms of PSN next month (as was rumored in March). But, much like the ill-advised Spring Break tattoos sported by the returning prodigal son, the game will carry the brand of EX at the end of its title. That means it's extreme.

Expect a souped-up version of the 360 game that dropped last September, with a new training mode, more tracks and less overall difficulty. The PSN-only title will sport a $29.99 price tag when it arrives on the service in late May.

If an ESRB listing is to be believed, Koei's futuristic combat racer, Fatal Inertia, could eventually return to its point of origin. Starting life as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, the game was eventually met with a lukewarm reception on the Xbox 360 in 2007. Prospects of a PS3 release were temporarily wipEd out after Koei delayed it "indefinitely" due to Unreal Engine 3 issues.

The mention of "Fatal Inertia EX" for PS3 may signal an end to these issues and hint at the arrival of an updated, possibly more EXTREME version of Koei's non-dynastic hoverfest. Our requests for information from the publisher have thus far crashed and burned.

Koei, the name behind such diverse titles as Dynasty Warriors, Warriors Orochi, and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, has confirmed plans to bring Samurai Warriors: Katana, a first-person Samurai Warriors spin-off title for the Wii, to North America on January 15, 2008.

While we have to admit the name carries more appeal than the previous title, Samurai Slash, the announcement of yet another arcade-style title set in Feudal Japan does little to stir our interest, and given the frantic nature of these games our arms are tired just thinking of having to flail madly at never ending waves of on-screen bad guys. Call us lazy, but sometimes, just sometimes, we'd rather just press a button. Even so, with "nearly" 30 hours of gameplay promised on top of an included two player versus mode, Wii owners looking to tap into their inner samurai finally have something to look forward to playing. If you need us, we'll be taking a nap.

This is one of those times we're happy that demos exist. Because honestly, if we just heard the name Bladestorm, we're not sure we'd be able to remember it. It is, in fact, so generic, that we've had difficulty completing this post, so convinced were we at various moments that we were writing about Blade Runner, Onimusha Blade Warriors, Motorstorm and, of course, Blade.

But with a demo, like the one set to appear on PSN and Xbox Live on Thursday, the game has an identity all it's own. "Oh yes, Bladestorm," you'll say with confidence, "that's the one about flying a helicopter during Vietnam." You will, of course, be wrong, Bladestorm is an action game about English succession to the French throne. But you'll be confident in your answer, and isn't that the important thing?

Through previously announced for the PlayStation 3, Dynasty Warriors 6 has now been been confirmed by Koei as coming to the Xbox 360 as well. The prolific series (DW6 is actually the 19th entry) has previously seen an Xbox 360 release with Dynasty Warriors 5: Empires.

Images from the new game show gorgeous new visuals and a draw distance that, unlike most of the DW iterations, extend beyond 15 feet. Otherwise, it looks like Koei is sticking with the same (albeit successful) formula they have used for seven years. A teaser trailer embedded after the break; Dynasty Warriors 6 is due out this fall.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Though the distinct lack of dynastically-inclined warriors may convince you otherwise, futuristic racer Fatal Inertia is indeed a product of Koei. The first game from the company's Toronto-based studio has now been assigned a release date on half of its originally intended platforms, with the Xbox 360 version arriving on 11 September 2007. The PS3 version, unfortunately, received no such date and has been "delayed indefinitely."

The game's unfortunate status, as conveyed to Joystiq by a Koei representative, is as a result of developers awaiting completion of the game engine for the PS3 platform specifically. Fatal Inertia is built using Epic's Unreal 3.0 engine, which debuted on Xbox 360 last year in testosterone vs. chainsaw epic, Gears of War, and was more recently seen on PS3 with Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas. Koei explained that the game had not been canceled outright, but offered that progress on the PS3 engine was "out of our hands."

We next talked to Epic's VP Mark Rein, who thought that the Unreal 3.0 engine was incomplete only in the sense that it's constantly being upgraded. "Unreal Engine 3.0 is running quite well on PS3 and people will have the chance to see that when we show Unreal Tournament 3 next week."

A Koei spokesperson has confirmed that chief executive officer Kiyoshi Komatsu has resigned due to "personal reasons." At least, that's the official explanation. Kenji Matsubara will supercede Komatsu as chief exec, promoted from his position as head of software division #4, which specializes in online and mobile content.

Further implications of the shake-up are not yet known, but there is already an internal push toward switching the company's focus away from consoles and onto the online and mobile markets. A Dynasty Warriors MMO? It's a start.

A one-handed Dynasty Warriors spinoff, ideally played blindfolded (or while watching something else), was the announcement we'd been hoping for. Sadly, Koei revealed it's got a fresh concept in the works for Wii. Opoona, named after its main character, is a quirky action-rpg in which players must travel to various intergalactic colonies by obtaining special licenses associated with certain jobs (e.g., rescuer, idol, detective) in order to solve the mystery of Opoona's siblings' disappearance and determine who or what has landed his parents in the hospital with serious injuries. Koei claims that Opoona is controlled entirely with the Nunchuk controller.

Some relevant names have been attached to the project, including Artepiazza's Shintaro Majima as lead artist and Sachiko Yukimura as planning director; both industry vets have been involved with numerous Dragon Quest games. Most notably, Final Fantasy XII composer Hitoshi Sakimoto will handle music production.

Koei has not announced a release date for Opoona, but unconfirmed sources have targeted summer 2007 in Japan.

Pre-orders for the Gundam Musou PS3 hardware bundle were opened in Japan yesterday, with Amazon selling the 60GB console-plus-game-plus-stuff set for ¥72,000 (US$594). The stuff included in the package is pretty nifty, mind: arty cards, technical dossiers, and glossy character profiles. The marriage of Gundam and Dynasty Warriors looks like it could be a happy event for all concerned, with Gundam Musou currently ranked fifth in Weekly Famitsu's readers' most wanted chart. If VF5 couldn't energize sales of the PS3, perhaps Gundam Musou can.

Two of Koei's most notable PS3 games (particularly notable for not being Dynasty Warriors) have been delayed in Europe until Summer 2007. The developer has opted to miss out on the Euro PS3 launch, instead spending some more time on polishing futuristic racer, Fatal Inertia, and non-futuristic hack 'n slasher, Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War.

No indication was given whether the delay affects the Xbox 360 versions.

When Luó Guànzhōng wrote his classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms back in the 14th century he wasn't thinking franchise. But, almost 700 years later, Koei has turned Luó's story into one of the most prolific video game series to date (including the Dynasty Warriors spin-off franchise and its spin-off Dynasty Tactics).

Today, Koei announced that Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI has gone gold, ensuring that this franchise will continue to permeate the console industry, despite slipping into mediocrity. It may be dull, and turn-based, but what would the world be like without Romance?

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, for PlayStation 2, will ship February 6.

[Via press release]

With the confirmation that Koei's Samurai Warriors spin-off is heading to the North American Wii, we have to wonder how many sword-fighting games we'll be able to handle in the long run before seppuku becomes an attractive alternative. Sengoku Musou Wave will be redubbed Samurai Slash in the West, a title that's impressively accurate in describing the actual gameplay.

If slashing things from a first-person perspective sounds familiar, it's because Red Steel attempted the very same thing. The upcoming Dragon Quest: Swords boasts a similar concept as its primary gameplay mechanic and eventually, LucasArts will get around to making that Star Wars lightsaber game.

The fun parallels between swinging the Wii controller and swinging a sword essentially demand that such games be made, but just like with any other console, we could eventually face a flood of me-too titles built around the same, unchanging concept. Even on a system that encourages innovation, game developers face the danger of lapsing into a lazy genre trap. Is the "guy with two guns" game any better than the "guy with a sword" game?

(And where's the "guy with two sticks" game?)

It's said that the rats are the first to abandon a sinking ship. While not rats, publishers are beginning to abandon the PS3 after its less-than-impressive launch and news of production woes. Three titles have pulled up stakes and moved to the Xbox 360 (as cross-platform).

Koei, long time PlayStation supporter (and company frequently billed as key support to win the generation) has pulled Fatal Inertia and Blade Storm: The Hundred Years' War from the PS3 exclusive list and plopped them squarely into the Xbox 360 camp. Another PlayStation staple, the Armored Core series, is also coming to the white box in the form of Armored Core 4.

Sony is going to be in for a difficult battle if key players keep moving over party lines; Microsoft is doing far better coaxing exclusive content over to the 360. If Sony continues to lose its differentiation, why should gamers continue to shell out up to $200 more just to play the same games? Enjoy this machine translation for those who can't read Japanese.

[Thanks, Stephen]

Koei is bringing Gitaroo Man to North America again, with a remake of the acclaimed, but obscure 2002 PlayStation 2 title for PSP. Gitaroo Man Lives! is essentially a port of the original rhythm game (Gitaroo Man) with the new (ad hoc) Duet Mode included. Gitaroo Man Lives! will ship to North American retailers on November 14.

While the remake will no doubt please some gamers who missed Gitaroo Man's first tour, we can't help but feel a bit slighted by the release. Coupled with news that a PaRappa the Rapper port (with some bonus features) is also headed to PSP, it's become glaringly obvious that many publishers are using the PSP as a sloppy seconds machine. Instead of producing new content, companies are dusting off old titles, applying a little gloss -- and maybe tacking on ad hoc multiplayer -- and shipping these "remakes" off to retail.

What's even more disappointing is that these ports, as well as the downgraded PSP versions of multiplatform releases and franchise spin-offs, are consistently earning higher critical marks than the PSP's original content. Gangs of London? Bounty Hounds? Rengoku 2? Are these games even on your radar? Why is it so frickin' hard to make exceptional PSP games that can't be played on any other platform? LocoRoco? Is that all we've got?

[Via press release]