Star Ocean developer tri-Ace acquired by Japanese mobile company
Resonance of Fate dev to make smartphone games.
Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile developer tri-Ace has been acquired by Japanese mobile company Nepro Japan.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope
Spotlight
Key events
25th January 2010
4th January 2010
24th September 2009
9th June 2009
13th June 2008
10th June 2008
Star Ocean PS3 dated for Europe
Language supremo version for Feb.
Square Enix has announced that the PS3 version of Star Ocean: The Last Hope will be released on 12th February here in Europe.
MS helps PS3 projects blossom - report
Dev explains 360 exclusivity loophole.
A former developer for Vampire Rain has explained that making an Xbox 360 exclusive is an easy way to fund a project for PS3.
Star Ocean: TLH heading to PS3
International SKU for Japan in February.
Square Enix plans to release an International, PS3 version of Star Ocean: The Last Hope this February in Japan.
Adrift.
There are 95 active-duty astronauts currently at NASA, but with only one or two shuttle missions a year, most of them will never leave the earth's atmosphere. Whereas the space race once rocket-propelled scores of men, women, dogs and monkeys up through the stratosphere, space-exploration is too unprofitable and its benefits too indefinable to justify the enormous expense these days. And yet humanity still enjoys a common sense that beyond the confines of our planet there lies a universe of opportunity and bright discovery. This yearning for the stars broadens the boundaries of our stories and even the horizons of our games: once we've flown across Super Mario World where else can one go but the Super Mario Galaxy?
But those hoping that the JRPG's escape from the confines of terra firma might loosen its tight, divisive conventions will be disappointed. Star Ocean has always been aptly titled. Here, the great expanse of space assumes the exact role of a Final Fantasy ocean - a transitional area to be traversed en route to the business proper of exploring, fetching and grinding on new lands. Sure, the SRF-003 Calnus blinks and hums with Kubrick-esque flair, the saturated purples and whites of its sheen plastic interior a far cry from the creaking timber of a Dragon Quest galleon, but peel back the metaphor and you'll find familiar, antiquated systems churning underneath.
Even so, this is one of the best-looking science-fiction RPGs yet seen, trumping even Mass Effect for imagination and realisation of its worlds. The planets you visit are gigantic and vivid. A white granite castle pokes its parapets out from a duvet of snow, a half-mile of frozen lake a bedspread before its drawbridge in a scene of arresting composition. On another planet, a brilliant sun warms the thick foliage of a jungle that shimmers in the wings of its insects and, much later in the game, a return to a post-World War III planet Earth is a glorious highpoint. This most recent title in Enix's sci-fi series, a prequel to Till the End of Time, offers the most diverse clutch of planets yet, even if it struggles to fill them with people or stories of much variety or interest.
UK charts: The Sims 3 rides high
Red Faction close, Star Ocean not.
The Sims 3 enters the UK all-formats Chart at number one this week, claiming the fourth biggest opening weekend for a PC game here - behind the two World of Warcraft expansions and Championship Manager 4.
Star Ocean 4 gets firm Euro date
The Last Hope for 360 in early June.
Square Enix has announced that Star Ocean: The Last Hope will be released exclusively for Xbox 360 on 5th June.
Star Ocean coming to 360 in June
That still counts as spring, says Squenix.
Square Enix has announced that Star Ocean: The Last Hope will be released in Europe this June.
Star Ocean: The Last Hope for spring
Europe finally on radar.
Square Enix has said Star Ocean: The Last Hope will arrive on Xbox 360 in Europe this spring. America and Japan will get the game on 19th February.
Plenty of space for this JRPG.
Plenty of space for this JRPG.
Star Ocean 360 gets US/Japanese date
Out early next year. Europe date TBC.
Microsoft has announced that Star Ocean: The Last Hope will launch in Japan on 19th February and the US on 3rd March. Europe's date is "TBC". Wicked.
Star Ocean 4 to be Xbox 360 exclusive?
"No plans" for PS3 version, says Square Enix.
Square Enix has said there are "no plans" to bring the fourth instalment in the Star Ocean series to PlayStation 3.
That's according to Wired, which spotted the info on Yahoo! Japan's financial site.
The news comes just days after Square Enix announced Star Ocean: The Last Hope, as it's titled, will be released for Xbox 360 in 2009. No mention of any other versions of the game was made.
Space adventures for 360 in 2009.
Space adventures for 360 in 2009.
Square Enix reveals 360 release dates
Star Ocean, Last Remnant, Inf. Undiscovery.
Square Enix has listed a load of release dates at the Xbox 360 RPG Premiere event in Tokyo.
Star Ocean 4, or as it's officially titled Star Ocean: The Last Hope, will be released for Xbox 360 in 2009. There's been no mention of when, or indeed whether, it will turn up on other platforms.
Next up is Infinite Undiscovery, confirmed as a 360 exclusive and down for a European release on 5th September. The US will get it three days earlier while Japan will have to wait, for once. But not for long, as the game's out there on September 11th.
Star Ocean-themed PSP revealed
Nothing confirmed for Europe.
Square Enix has taken the wraps off of a fancy Star Ocean-themed PSP Slim & Lite in Japan, which it will release bundled with SNES remake The First Departure in December.