Would you change destiny to save a friend's life? It's not a trick question in XSEED Games' upcoming game for the PlayStation Portable, Brave Story: New Traveler.

Today, we've got a new batch of eye candy of the video game with the latest screenshots. In Brave Story: New Traveler, you'll play as The Hero who goes to the world of Vision to save his friend, Miki. So far, we only know of the two other characters, Yuno and Sogreth, whom the hero meets in Vision. In the screenshots, we see the characters in action, either talking with each other (or more accurately, arguing) and fighting the assorted baddies.

Anyway, Brave Story: New Traveler is slated to come out on July 31. That's still a few shuteyes away, so why don't you check out the screenshots and see if you like it?

   

XSEED Games sent QJ.NET an email regarding one of the more anticipated titles for the PlayStation Portable platform, Brave Story: New Traveler. This particular video game has been under development for some time now and it's finally being released on July 31.

Anyway, Brave Story is about the story of a boy and his friend Miki. One afternoon, Miki suddenly collapses from an unknown illness and shows no sign of waking up. A strange voice is then heard by our main protagonist offering him a second chance. "Beyond the door, you can change the destiny," says the voice.

XSEED Games also pointed us to the newly-launched website dedicated to the title where fans can know more about Brave Story: New Traveler itself, the characters, the title's lore, and The World of Vision. The game's features include:

• A role-playing game with an epic tale, introducing unique characters with distinct personalities and leading the player through the imaginative world of Vision as he learns to become a hero.
• Traditional turn-based battle system enhanced by innovative features based on the story's themes of friendship, courage, and growth:
• Friendship - Form bonds with party members to create new, cooperative skills.
• Courage - Use "brave power" (BP) to unleash powerful special abilities, continually refilling the gauge as you devastate the enemy.
• Growth - The hero's main weapon will evolve as he collects the gemstones needed to meet with the Goddess of Fortune. New accessories can be forged by collecting and combining the right materials. Each character can also unlock a one-of-a-kind innate ability.
• Beautifully rendered 3D graphics with vibrant colors and a distinct visual style, highlighted by polished character and enemy movement, graphical representations of sound effects, and a unique animation for each special ability - all exceptionally well drawn and intricately textured.
• Network with friends to trade your birds, or game-share a mini-game to have friends assist in capturing rare birds.

If you want to know read more about Brave Story, refer to our Read link below. It should take you to the title's official page.

Gather around brave adventurers. Want to go on an adventure? Well, this new video game from the PlayStation Portable might be just the thing for the RPG lovers here. It's the next adventure after Brave Story, and if you like the first one, you'll probably fall head over heels over this upcoming PSP video game called Brave Story: New Traveler.

Thus far, little is known about Brave Story: New Traveler from XSEED Games. We got three videos from the game and we were able to get some info from them. In the intro video, we get to meet the characters of this new adventure. We see the original's hero, Wataru and the others. The players will probably take on the character of the one named Traveler. We also see a mysterious character (we say so since he's only introduced as "?") who has a black dragon with him.

On the next video, we see how an ordinary boy turns into a hero after he passes through the gate. If you think that's interesting, the third video showcases a battle. Brave Story: New Traveler features turn based combat and well... Remember that old Batman series with Adam West? The battle sound effects are coupled with captions (it's like the effect we see in XIII). Anyway, you might want to see them for yourself so we'll quit blabbering. Enjoy the video!

More videos after the jump!

North America's PSP is about to get an additional dose of JRPG-luvin' in the next couple of months, at least as far as XSEED Games is concerned. XSEED has just announced that aside from releasing Valhalla Knights on April 17, they are now making plans to release Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground, and Brave Story: New Traveller for the U.S. within this year.

In Dungeon Maker, players are placed behind the controls of a novice dungeon-maker. Expect plenty of action as the dungeons you create and customize get bigger, which then lures in stronger and rarer monsters. Other features include a real-time combat system, with players utilizing a wide range of melee and ranged weapons, magic spells, special attacks, and summons.

Lastly, there's Dungeon Maker's network mode, which allows players to trade dungeons with their friends, as well as show their monster's vital statistics via the PSP's wireless connection. Originally released in Japan on September 28, 2006, Dungeon Maker: Hunting Ground will be arriving in North America in July.

The second game coming up is Brave Story: New Traveller, which some of you may have seen in its movie form. Based on the novel by Miyuki Miyabe, Brave Story tells the story of a boy and his journey into the world of "Vision", where he hopes to meet the Goddess of Fortune to have his one wish granted. The game, aside from making use of turn-based combat, also features a Friendship system. This system allows the player to form special co-op attacks with their allies based on the strength of their bond. There's also the Growth system, with the main character's weapon constantly evolves as the story progresses.

Originally launched in the Land of the Rising Sun in July 2006, the U.S. release for Brave Story: New Traveller is expected to be by Q3 2007.

Remember when people could use the PSP's once anemic game library against you in console flame wars? Well thanks to games like Lumines, Exit, Daxter, Syphon Filter, Mega Man Powered Up and Burnout Legends (to name just a few) that argument no longer holds much water. If however, you hear someone beginning to pipe up, you can simply point them in the direction of this little list of promising future PSP titles. Yum!

Read the entire article after the jump!

One of the biggest hype for the PSP this season is Brave Story. We have written a feature on it before, but now, Famitsu tells us more about this anime and game collaboration. In a recent Famitsu article, they discussed the skills and the battle system involved in playing Brave Story. For this game, there will be three battle systems that will keep the game going. One system allows the character to have more power once his life is on the line. He will use the little energy he has left to go for one strong hit, something like Final Fantasy's limit break. Your attack can affect not only your immediate target but those that surround him as well. Hence your primary tactic is trying to hit two fools with one blow.

 

Another thing that the game boasts of is the specific powers that each character has. Not like we haven't seen this before, but the game takes pride in the individuality of each character with each one of them having a personal power or ability. The characters in the game will still have a staple set of abilities such as attack, defense and heal. With this RPG though, one important attribute to the game and perhaps something that would truly affect your skills, is the Bond System. In the game, you will establish relationship with other characters. It is important that you establish particular bonds with your players. If you have a higher bond with one, your combined attacks with that person is stronger. The PSP title is scheduled to be released on July 6, 2006 while the movie version will hit the screens two days later.

The only PSP game previewed in this weeks Famitsu was Brave Story. The game is going to be released with the upcoming movie of the same name. There is also a PS2 and DS version in the works. The thing is, none of the versions look like they'll be similar. The PSP game will be a turn-based RPG while the PS2 version will be an Action/Adventure. The DS version will be a touch-screen based RPG that will focus on exploration. Click the thumbnail for a look at the artwork and screenshots.

Miyuki Manabe's upcoming anime movie Brave Story will travel coincide with a video game for the PSP and PS2 on July 8. The game is being developed by the studio that bought us the game Genji, Game Republic. Unlike the PS2 version which is an action/adventure, the PSP version arrives in an RPG form, and you will play as the protagonists of the movie, Wataru and his friends to achieve their goal.

Like most of Japanese RPGs, the battle system is turned-based. There is a Brave Power meter that once it gets full, the character can unleash a special attack, similar to the limit break system of the Final Fantasy series. By collecting gems, your character can build a weapon or perform a combination attack with your other party members, which reminded me of the "tech" concept in Chrono Trigger.  So by bringing these concepts together, maybe this will be the strong and unique selling point of this game. I can't wait to see the game and the movie with subtitles.