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Shop Watch January

By Russ | December 30, 2008 at 9:51 am

There’s a whopping three titles to be had this January; one PS2 title and two PSP titles. If the titles are any indication, the clear winner for this month is February.

Ar Tonelico 2: Melody of MetalFalicia for the PS2, shipping Jan. 20. NISA puts out some more ‘R’ Innuendo – and possibly the last North American PS2 RPG – on the 20th.

Star Ocean: Second Evolution for the PSP, shipping Jan. 20. Square-Enix brings the PSOne classic to the PSP and keeps the system alive until the Prinny game hits in February.

Mana-Khemia: Student Alliance for the PSP, shipping sometime between Jan. 20 and Jan. 26. NISA’s pretty sure the game will ship on these dates. Almost certain. Kind of.

This past week also saw the release of Suikoden on the PlayStation Network.

Some Advice: NISA is like Atlus when it comes to allocation – if you want it, get it. This is especially true of the Mana-Khemia title. NISA’s Rosenqueen online store has decided to carry only 100 copies of the game. They let their customers know via e-mail a couple of weeks ago. It stands to reason other retailers may be devoid of copies as well. The Star Ocean game will hit $30 within a couple months and still be readily available.

February has a stronger line-up of both RPGS and other games. Legacy of Ys: Books I & II, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, and Avalon Code all hit the DS next month, while Street Fighter IV dominates both consoles and faces on the 18th. March kicks off with Star Ocean: The Last Hope, before Resident Evil 5 moves in to nuke all competition. But that’s only on the console front – the PC gets Dragon Age: Origins nearly eight months before the consoles on March 24th.

Alpha Protocol‘s release date continues to slip and deny the world an espionage RPG. It also looks as if Age of Conan for the 360 has either been pushed very far back or scrapped.

All games (with the exception of those marked as street-dated) will be in stores one day after their release. Release dates also tend to be shipping dates. All release dates are subject to change.

Topics: Shop Watch