Mistwalker head (and Final Fantasy creator) Hironobu Sakaguchi is hard at work on his next game. And by "hard at work" we mean "thinking idly about the game while building his LEGO truck."

In a post on Mistwalker's blog, Sakaguchi revealed a few ideas about the upcoming, unannounced project. "Planning to basically put importance on having seamless control of the overall direction of the game, mixed with CG spectacle scenes," Sakaguchi said. "Controls will have a bit of a trick to it, while having a blend of RPG-type strategy and growth. Behaviors based on interaction with the situation around you...wait, I'm not supposed to say more than this... (^^;" He will be able to say more this year, he says.

As for the LEGO truck, Sakaguchi says that LEGO building is something he does when he's "troubled with something," in this case the "graphic settings" for the new game. It's a pretty nice truck.

[Via Eurogamer]

Ninety-Nine Nights 2 (N3-2 from now on, dig?) is on the way, though we're certain few were asking for it, and the latest issue of Famitsu has revealed the first details. Siliconera says the feelplus-developed title now contains support for two players, and a photo of the article reveals a couple new characters in "Guren" and "Sefia" (at least, we think -- it's all in Japanese!).

The title remains exclusive to the Xbox 360 and is expected to arrive later this year. These are the folks who worked on Lost Odyssey and Infinite Undiscovery after all -- what could possibly go wrong?

Sometimes video game artists draw things ... just to draw things. That's more or less what Japanese developer Mistwalker (Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey) has said in regards to character art added to the gallery section of its web site. The image by Kimihiko Fujisaka could be taken for concept art for a new game, but its creator has put any speculation to rest.

"I'm currently being challenged with Mistwalker's new project," Fujisaka says on his staff page. "This illustration has nothing to do with it, but it's a single drawing I did recently." He also laments the cancellation of his previous project, which very well might have been Cry-On, a collaboration between Mistwalker and AQ Interactive.

Whether it was or not, Fujisaka places some blame on himself, saying, "I was very disappointed in my lack of skill." We say, "Dude, don't be so hard on yourself." Fortunately, he assures Mistwalker fans by declaring, "I'm gonna keep at it." Now that's the spirit!

[Via Siliconera]

Joystiq PSA: An episode of Blue Dragon anime is available as a free (and 100% legal) download.

The Blue Dragon anime's pilot episode, "The Shadow Comes Forth", can be grabbed from the iTunes Store for free, through March 10. That's a savings of $1.99. We can only hope that watching an episode of Shu search for the Night Master, while attempting to prove he isn't a child, doesn't involve any form of digital disc swapping.

Source - iTunes Store
Source - What They Play

After departing from Square Enix, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi started his own studio, Mistwalker. The small company relies on contracted developers to collaborate on projects, while Mistwalker itself remains lean and back-to-basics. Its first project was Blue Dragon, which, despite being released on the Xbox 360, is also back to basics -- a linear, turn-based RPG with (admittedly high-end) Akira Toriyama character designs that recall the Dragon Quest tradition.

Blue Dragon topped Japanese Xbox 360 sales charts, but still didn't necessarily achieve Dragon Quest-like success. So, along with a merchandising blitz that includes manga, anime, a card game, and toys, Mistwalker has taken Blue Dragon to a system that is much more popular in Japan, and much better suited to both the JRPG and Toriyama's cute designs: the Nintendo DS. Surprisingly, despite the move to less powerful hardware, Blue Dragon Plus is a more progressive role-playing experience than its predecessor, and offers elements of post-Dragon Quest presentation.

Gamezine.co.uk put together a list of the top 30 Xbox 360 games sold in Japan, and sitting proudly on top is none other than Blue Dragon and its 203,740 lifetime unit sales. Rounding out the rest of the top five are Tales of Vesperia, The Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery and Lost Odyssey. As far as 360 hardware is concerned, Microsoft has been able to steadily increase console sales year after year, with 2008's total Japanese sales peaking at around 317K units. But don't get confused, the Japanese Xbox 360 situation is still very, very bleak and very, very depressing. These numbers are one of a few "bright spots."

During an interview with IGN about Blue Dragon Plus, Sakaguchi spoke about a variety of subjects, including bringing his RPG to the Wii, as well as his thoughts on the system overall. "I think the Wii is a wonderful system," he said. "It's very unique, starting with its iconic controllers." When asked about making a game for Wii, he said that Mistwalker has "no plans at the moment," but he "would love to make a Wii game in the future."

We hear you. "Dude, go for it," you say. "Please make it?" you ask. "Love that mustache!" you exclaim. He's a talented guy. We totally get it.

But, what's stopping Mistwalker from undertaking a Wii project? His company has already worked with Nintendo in bringing multiple titles to the DS, so why not make the leap to Wii? Personally, we'd appreciate the injection of JRPG goodness that he'd bring to the Wii. Let's hope he gets around to it sooner rather than later.

We first discovered Blue Dragon: Beasts of the Underworld last month, and now these rather blurry scans from Famitsu have appeared on the interblag. It's difficult to glean much new information from these dim images -- indeed, the original Shonen Jump scans were much clearer -- but Gamekyo whipped out its magnifying glass and located one crucial nugget of information: a Japanese release date of March.

Obviously, whether we even get this Blue Dragon game in the west could depend on whether anybody buys Blue Dragon Plus, so prep your wallets for February 24!

The Xbox 360 has no shortage of role-playing games these days but the Western console has just lost a promised Japanese release. On Christmas Day, AQ Interactive revealed Cry On, the action role-playing game from character designer Kimihiko Fujisaka, has been canceled due to, "the current market environment and forecasts for the future."

A joint venture between Cavia and Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker, Cry On would have been the third title from the famed Japanese creator; Mistwalker previously worked on Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. A representative for AQ Interactive told 1UP that the studio "deeply apologize[s] for troubling those who were awaiting its release." No screen shots of the game had ever been released since the game had first been announced in 2005. Down and out for now, but something tells us Sakaguchi isn't hanging up the gloves anytime soon.

Fans of Blue Dragon's Mistwalker / Artoon dream team may have to hold back some bitter tears following the news that AQ Interactive will hold back the release of Cry On. According to 1UP, the action RPG, meant to be the third of Hironobu Sakaguchi's Xbox efforts, has been canceled due to "the current market environment and forecasts for the future." The company added, "We deeply apologize for troubling those who were awaiting its release."

Whether you consider it a cryin' shame or prefer fans to cry in shame, you can expect Sakaguchi and Friends to unveil more titles in the future. Old habits die hard.

According to the latest issue of Shonen Jump magazine in Japan, the DS is set to receive a second Blue Dragon game, which can best be translated as Blue Dragon: Beasts of the Underworld. Unlike Blue Dragon Plus, this new collaboration between Namco and Mistwalker will be a real-time RPG with full 3D graphics, as opposed to the strategic affair Plus is. Instead of focusing on the main characters from the Blue Dragon franchise, you'll instead control a nameless protagonist.

Blue Dragon: Beasts of the Underworld is currently slated for release sometime next year.

Source - Siliconera translation
Source - Scan from Shonen Jump

Mistwalker's Blue Dragon Plus bears the distinctive stamp of Akira Toriyama, and at every moment, the game is colorful, even a little cartoony, with bright colors and rubbery characters. Don't mistake that for a lack of epic badassery, however, because these last two trailers for the RPG have been full of one of our favorite things: fighting. Also fire and explosions. Good stuff.

Let's just hope we see a better box.

Mistwalker's Blue Dragon Plus, the DS follow-up to the game for the Xbox 360, has been out for some time in Japan, so we haven't seen much over the past several months. Now that the North American and European releases are approaching, however, the game is starting to pop up again.

Along with this video -- which does an admirable job of capturing an epic feel -- the English-language website is up and is stuffed full of content you can actually read. That's always helpful!

Blue Dragon Plus is slated for March 2009 in both Europe and North America.

With this new trailer for Blue Dragon Plus, Ignition Entertainment seems to be honoring Blue Dragon and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi the best way they know how: by releasing a trailer loaded with explosive, colorful CG, and not one second of gameplay. It does its job well, portraying the game as totally serious business.

The trailer originates from the new Blue Dragon Plus website, which currently doesn't have much else on it aside from a story synopsis and a few character profiles. Ignition promises more content in "late November." We can't wait to see more of this game, even though we've been waiting on Blue Dragon for quite some time already.

One part Soul Blazer, one part Phantom Hourglass – that's Mistwalker's Away: Shuffle Dungeon. The DS title is very much like Soul Blazer in the sense that its hero wanders through lairs in a quest to restore his town, piece by piece (and villager by villager). Meanwhile, shades of Phantom Hourglass trickle in via Away's cartoon visuals and arena-like boss battles. And despite these associations with games of the past, Away: Shuffle Dungeon does offer a unique, avant-garde feature not found elsewhere: shuffling dungeons.

"Shuffling dungeons" entail dynamic changes to the layout of enemy-infested locales as players explore in real-time. A dungeon is displayed on both the top and touch screens; only one screen at a time will shuffle out an area and replace it with a new section. The objective is to arrive on the other screen before the timer runs out; if a player fails to make it in time, the penalty takes them back to the beginning of the floor they're on. The overall effect of this system makes the tedium of regular dungeon crawling go away. The time pressure and the puzzle-connected areas force gamers to think quickly, making things not only challenging, but quite exciting as well.