UPDATE 2: NIS America Marketing Coordinator Ryan Phillips also added the game will be priced at $19.99.
ORIGINAL: Back in August 2011, NIS America announced plans to localize Japanese developer Imageepoch’s PlayStation Portable title Black Rock Shooter: The Game. Since then the company was mostly quiet on the game’s status and it seemed that its release was not happening…until today. NIS America confirmed Black Rock Shooter will be digitally released on April 23 in the US and April 24 in Europe via the PlayStation Network.
The game is an action RPG where players take the role of the Black Rock Shooter, a mysterious black haired girl android with a flaming blue eye who is created to defend a war-torn Earth from alien forces in the year 2032. Before her creation, the planet was ravaged with destruction for 19 years. Given the name, BRS uses a variety of cannons and guns that players will be able to upgrade throughout the game.
Black Rock Shooter is a Japanese media franchise that hails from humble beginnings. It all started in 2007 when an artist named Ryohei "Huke" Fuke created the character and posted a picture of her on his blog and the online artist community Pixiv (Japan’s equivalent to Deviantart). Famed composer Ryo of Supercell, best known for creating several hit songs sung by the Japanese virtual singer Hatsune Miku, saw the image and inspired by it, made a song of the same name with vocals done by Miku. Huke joined Supercell to work on the song’s music video, which gained millions of views in Japan. Since then, Black Rock Shooter spawned several manga, anime series, games and plenty of merchandise.
After several years of waiting, I’m happy to hear NIS America hasn’t given up on BRS and continues to localize niche Japanese titles. I have reached out to the company about whether or not the game will be compatible with the PlayStation Vita.
Check out the trailers below and stay tuned to PSU for updates on BRS!
UPDATE 1: NIS America Marketing Coordinator Ryan Phillips replied and confirmed that, like all of NIS America’s previous PSP titles, Black Rock Shooter will be playable on the PS Vita.