PlayStation Portable RPG Dragoneer's Aria from Nippon Ichi Software was released in North America and Japan back in August 2007. Quite interestingly, the game was received differently by the two markets. While it got a warm reception in Japan, west-based websites and magazines, on the other hand, gave it mediocre reviews.

Seems a deadlock, eh? Well, that will definitely change in a couple of months after Nippon Ichi announced that it will be releasing Dragoneer's Aria in Europe by February of next year.

Anyone who's listened to the ending theme song of Nippon Ichi's Dragoneer's Aria can't deny the beauty of the song and how appropriate it was for the game. Therefore, it's rather nice to see game publishers encourage interactive events with their gamers to help promote their game, as well as give everyone something to immerse themselves into such a creative gaming experience.

In the recently concluded Song of Dragoons contest sponsored by NIS America, six winners have finally been chosen and will receive posters signed by the singer and the composer of the "Open the Gate" ending theme. Here's the list of the winners in an email sent by NISA:

• Jason from TX
• Thomas from PA
• Alana from AZ
• Anthony from IL
• James from NH
• Lisbeth from VA

NIS America also announced that Mimika, the singer of the Dragoneer's Aria ending theme, will be releasing her first album from Japan soon. The album will be available on the RosenQueen e-commerce site as soon as it comes out.

Nippon Ichi's latest installment which breaks free from the traditional turn-based strategy games the company is known for, Dragoneer's Aria, is shaping up to be a sweet RPG for the PSP. Not only does it look spectacular for a handheld title, it also boasts of solid gameplay mechanics. What we have here is a video featuring Lusces - magic abilities you can use to decimate enemies.

Similar to Final Fantasy VII's Materia system, Lusces are attached to equipment before anyone can use them. Accessories can only hold two, while other pieces of weapons and apparel offer more slots. Players must utilize both offensive and defensive magic in order to survive in the world of Dragoneer's Aria.

If you haven't been convinced to grab a copy, learn more about the game by watching the video below:

Ever wanted to make a mark in games, especially in Nippon Ichi's hottest RPG for the PSP? If you've got lyrical prowess and a good sense of music, you may want to try out NIS America's challenge to translate Dragooneer's Aria's Japanese ending theme song "Open the Gate" into English.

The contest - affectionately named "Song of Dragoons" -  isn't about how well you understand both languages, but your taste for excellent music. The lyrics of your version of the game's song should be passionate, adventurous, brave, and even dangerous.

From what we can gather, winners will receive Dragoneer's Aria posters signed by Mimika and Sara Sakurai, singer and composer of "Open the Gate" respectively. Six are up for grabs, and we can safely assume there'll be six winners, but who knows?

It's not too far fetched to say the grand winner may actually get his or her lyrics on the actual game. The contest ends August 31.

To hear "Open the Gate", click the Read link below and check out the official site.

Dragoneer's Aria is shaping up to be an impressive game, if only because you can capture a monster's soul and use it on the battlefield. We certainly like the idea, because it brings to mind demonic Pokemon, so we've got a handy trailer of Dragoneer's Aria for you to watch that explains the process.

According to the trailer, you're supposed to keep killing monsters until an avatar of a said monster appears. Basically, you have to find avatars of monster souls and kill them to receive the monster soul for yourself.

Once you have the monster soul, you can equip it and summon it at your leisure. From kobolds to mermen, and even Black Dragons, you can summon them all, so long as their souls are yours.

In any case, the video explains it better than we ever could. Watch the vid and know more about Hit Maker and NIS America's Dragoneer's Aria, alright?

You've been through the battles and probably know enough about the heroes of Dragoneer's Aria to make a purchase worthwhile, but what about your skills as a warrior? Have you thought about that recently?

NIS America certainly has your back, as the development company has released a new trailer that introduces the intricacies of skill use to novice players. In the video game Dragoneer's Aria, you're actually equipping dragon orbs that you acquire from different dragons. These orbs add elemental attributes to your special attacks, so you can easily customize your characters' specialties as the game progresses.

If you want to know more, feel free to click on the video. Remember: Dragoneer's Aria will be coming out in late August so keep your eyes peeled. Enjoy the video!

Nippon Ichi Software and NIS America's Dragoneer's Aria for the PSP has been drawing some attention from the PSP RPG community lately.

It's not really unexpected with the special edition becoming available for pre-order and the awesome E3 video that was released. If you're interested in knowing more about the game, who better to tell you about it then the developers themselves?

The producer from Nippon Ichi Software Sohei Niikawa and executive producer from Hitmaker Yukihiko Hojo shared some of their thoughts on the game, as well as some of the features that make this game stand out. Niikawa described the game pretty well as well as gave some info on his expectations from it:

The story itself is a noble sort of fantasy, taking the basic fantasy feel head-on and ramping it up. It's more meaty than many role-playing games nowadays. I don't want it to just have an "epic" feeling--I'd like to see it described as epic itself. So the staff and I are working very hard on the release of this game.

Not to be outdone, Hojo gave an account on the themes that they followed in the production of the game. In addition to this, he also gave word that they have placed a lot of content in the game which should please hardcore RPG players. Here are his exact words on this:

The themes for this game during production were unity, security, and achievement. Everyone loves the world of swords and magic and dragons. The story is one of a dragon knight and the dragons, a dilemma of hearts, and the mysterious dark dragon.

It features controls and gameplay that people can feel secure with. We followed this goal, and ended up, as Mr. Niikawa said, with a "meaty" game.

Both of them seemed very pleased with the game, but the final word still goes to the gaming community who will pick up and play the game. Hopefully, Dragoneer's Aria delivers exactly what the developers and gamers have been expecting. If you want to read the full post, don't hesitate to click on our read link.

RPG enthusiasts and beat-em-up fanatics all know the importance of blocking, or guarding - it's the countermeasure against unavoidable damage from your enemies that could very well predict who wins or who loses in a battle. Sure, you can practice or master a flashy, death-dealing combo, but if you can't block worth spit, you've already lost.

This Guarding Tutorial video of Nippon Ichi's Dragoneer's Aria aims to do away with such issues, teaching you the importance of shielding yourself from damage. While guarding in Dragoneer's Aria is as easy as selecting the 'Guard' option from your action menu, it doesn't end there. You have to time your button presses so that you hit the indicators - every indicator you hit gets you a 20% damage reduction. If you're dexterous enough, you can nullify the damage completely by hitting all five indicators.

Watch and learn the essential art of blocking! Enjoy the video!

It has long been established that Dragons are cool. Does it follow that any game with Dragons would rock? I'm not so sure about that but NIS America and Nippon Ichi's Dragoneer's Aria for the PSP is aiming to give that statement some weight.

I've always been a fan of games with really great cinematics, and it looks like this game will have it in spades judging from the trailer. If the gameplay matches the visuals of the game, then this will be an awesome game. As you all probably know by now, this RPG will revolve around Valen, a member of an elite Knight Corps, and his party who have been tasked to investigate a Black Dragon who has laid waste to the Kingdom of Granadis.

The story's pretty standard fare for RPGs, but trust me when I say that your eyes are in for a treat if you do decide to pick up this game. Anyway, here's the E3 trailer for the game. Have fun!

If you like dragons and own a PSP, you might want to look at pre-ordering the Dragoneer's Aria Mad Mary's Bounty bundle from the RosenQueen store for US$ 39.99. The bundle comes with a copy of NIS America and Nippon Ichi's Dragoneer's Aria as well as an original Japanese artbook entitled Juno's Dragon Works.

We haven't seen the artbook by Jon Juno yet but it's been said that it includes all the dragon artwork from the game and is completely in Japanese. Collectors should note that there are only a limited number of the said artbook in print, possibly making it a good investment.

If you do decide to pre-order the bundle, it will begin to ship around the latter part of August this year. It might be worth your time to head on over to RosenQueen through our readlink to check it out.