With Disgaea 3's North America launch just a couple of weeks away, NIS America has announced that three pre-order bundles for the game are now available. Details on what each pack will carry are available in the full article.

Finally, some love for Nintendo DS fans: compared to last week, the domain of all things Ninty (at least, the smaller Ninty device) is now getting some action in the form of exciting game release announcements, like Chrono Trigger for the DS (yay!) and some possibility of brickage for R4 users (nay!). Get the full skinny of what you might have missed this week in the full article.

The release dates for the upcoming Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice for the PS3 and Disgaea: Prince of the Demon World and the Red Moon for the DS are finally out, and as it turns out, Nippon Ichi fans only need to wait for less than two months before the next Disgaea comes out. The dates, and a surprise mention of a certain NIS America title, in the full article!

It's now official: Disgaea DS is coming to North American shores thanks to NIS America. Previously announced for Japan as Disgaea: Prince of the Demon World and the Red Moon, this version for the Nintendo handheld will be loaded with new features introduced in Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness with additional improvements to boot. Hit that jump to learn more, dood!

Yep folks, it's official. Nippon Icchi Software's Disgaea 3 is headed for Sony PlayStation 3 owners in the U.S., by way of NIS America's publishing efforts. The turn-based strategy RPG, like the Japanese version, will carry a different story, cast of memorable characters, and innovations to the game's current feature set. A rundown will be available at the full story.

North American gamers are familiar with the video game development studio Idea Factory for its strategy RPG titles that are mostly being published by Atlus and NIS America. The company already has games released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Idea Factory announced today its first outing for the Nintendo Wii console and judging from the few details we've gathered so far, it seems that its developers took a very different turn with this one. More details after the jump!

Sony PlayStation 3 owners in Japan are set to receive Nippon Ichi's Disgaea 3 in January of 2008, heralding the debut of the popular strategy RPG franchise on a next-generation platform. We've caught some new Disgaea 3 screenshots for you and they look pretty sweet.

Those who have had a casual brush with Nippon Ichi games may point out that Disgaea 3's graphics aren't too far along from what we've seen in Disgaea 2, and to some extent they may be right. But if you ask those who've been immersed in the NIS universe before, they'll tell you that there are some nice improvements such as high-resolution backgrounds among other subtle touches.

Still, we all know that Nippon Ichi titles have always been gameplay-oriented and that's a tradition that Disgaea 3 is looking ready to continue proudly. Most of the familiar battle and customization elements that fans have come to love will still be there, but new additions have been announced and we know that we'll be seeing two-level tosses, demon morphing and attribute customization soon enough. Prepare to lose some sleep over 100+ gameplay hours by the time Disgaea 3 hits American shores.

More Disgaea 3 screenshots follow at the full article!

How big of a Disgaea fan are you? Are you proud of it? Proud enough to do cosplay and have your picture taken and displayed on the NIS America website? If so, the guys over at Nippon Ichi want to see you do it and they intend to reward you handsomely.

Starting October 25, 2007 fans can submit their favorite Disgaea moment pictures to the official Disgaea website and RPGamer to enter the contest. At stake will be enough goodies to make Prinnies want to loot the rig. These are the types of photos which will qualify as entries to NISA and RPGamer's Disgaea Moment tiff:

• Picture of you (and your friends) in Disgaea character cosplay
• Photoshop your picture as if you were in the Disgaea world and/or a Disgaea co-star
• Picture of you with Disgaea products such as Disgaea: of Darkness, Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, Disgaea figures, Prinny plushie, etc.
  

Curious about what's in it if you win? Two winners will be chosen for the grand prize and each will receive a free copy of Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness for the Sony PlayStation Portable. One second prize winner will get a complete set of Disgaea 2: Chaos at the Colosseum palm figures; two third prize winners are to get a "Netherworld All=Star Inauguration Poster"; and five fourth prize winners will receive an Etna and Flonne transparent folder.

The promo ends on October 31, but before the winners are decided, photos will be uploaded daily to the official Disgaea website for everyone to see. If demons, overlords, and Netherworlds rock your boat, get out there and show the world just how cool it is to be a Disgaea fan.

 

Kyoto-based Nintendo isn't just today's leading game hardware maker, it's now the top game publisher as well. This is according to Game Developer Magazine's annual Top 20 Publishers report.

This marks the very first time that publishing powerhouse Electronic Arts has been knocked off its throne. EA has held the first place among publishers since the annual report was initiated five years ago.

Sadly, though, all reigns must end and Nintendo Company Ltd. won this year's coveted distinction on the strength of big software sales, positive feedback from industry insiders, and excellent responses from trading partners worldwide.

EA remains in the top tier as it grabs a firm hold on the second spot, while rival Activision comes in at third. French Publisher Ubisoft's investments on the Nintendo Wii and DS platforms produced a huge pay-off as it now ranks fourth. THQ jumped to fifth place by virtue of its best-ever revenue results.

Just outside the Top 20 list are major forces such as Atari, Warner Bros. Interactive, Gamecock, and NIS America. Here's the full list of this year's Top 20 Publishers by Game Developer Magazine in descending order.

1. Nintendo
2. Electronic Arts
3. Activision
4. Ubisoft
5. THQ
6. Take-Two Interactive
7. Sega of America
8. Sony Computer Entertainment
9.  Microsoft Game Studios
   
10. SCi/Eidos Interactive
11. Square Enix
12. Namco Bandai
13. Vivendi Games
14. Capcom
15. Konami
16. NC Soft
17. Disney Interactive
18. Atlus USA
19. LucasArts
20. Midway
    

Phoenix Spaulding, the person responsible for translating Nippon Ichi Software (NIS) games before reaching the west, sat down with Gamasutra to shed light on what NIS America does during the localization process to get its games outside Japan. Aside from finding out who's behind the wacky item descriptions of Disgaea 2, what caught our interest the most is the possibility of Disgaea going to Nintendo platforms.

Now that NIS America is porting Disgaea on the Sony PSP as Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, it seems like the company is testing new waters. When asked if there's any chance we'll see Nippon Ichi games on the Nintendo Wii or the Nintendo DS, Spaulding replied:

I don’t have any details on it, but I know back at Anime Expo, NIS Japan made a very brief mention about Disgaea on the DS. As far as I know, that’s still planned, and I know they’re at least looking at the others, like Wii, and maybe some other DS titles. I hope they do because so many of our fans, they’re all DS kids. It really just makes sense to at least try it.

While NIS Japan is sorting out plans to give Nintendo fans some love, those who haven't played the first Disgaea on the Sony PS2 should try it out. The cult hit, originally published by Atlus, didn't come in abundant supply (ask any Atlus fan how difficult it is to find its games months after release), but NIS America recently reprinted Disgaea after seeing its sequel's success.

For the full interview, click on the Read link below.