Things have been pretty quiet in the Megaten world as of late. Even in terms of general related Atlus news there’s not been too much to say.

Gamasutra has an interesting article up about Game Developer’s Top 20 Publishers. The list is generally dominated by the top players every one would name, such as EA, Nintendo and Activision. Of particular interest, however, is Atlus USA’s appearance in spot 18.

Pretty nice.

Hey everyone. Just writing to inform you that our interview with Atlus for Persona 3 is posted on the site. There’s some discussion of FES, older SMT releases, the Japanese rating versus the US’s M rating and so forth.

Some of the questions were crafted before anyone at this site got to actually play the game (not to mention those who submitted questions in our forum). In those cases, anyone who has played the title will know how those components work. They’re being left in the interview for completion’s sake, but also because there is some interesting insight at times.

Super big thanks to both Aram and Yu at Atlus for taking the time to help us out, despite the headaches of the delay, E3 and other releases in the pipeline.

As you all should know Persona 3’s “release date” is officially tomorrow, August 14th. It’s likely your local retailer won’t see it for another day or so afterward, so just give them a call if you’ve pre-ordered locally. Unlike Devil Summoner and Digital Devil Saga, it appears even retailers like Best Buy will be carrying this game. . . at least on their web sites. If you’ve not pre-ordered already, I would suggest you do so tonight.

If you’re still not sure, I suggest you check out Metacritic. The overall score from all submitted professional reviews puts the game at 88 out of 100 currently, which is quite good.

As for our review, I’ve unfortunately not finished the game yet. I am, however, a good 45 or so hours into it and thus feel safe posting my overall thoughts on it so far. I have no intention of attaching a score, but it might be a good read if you want some more input on the game. To keep it short: I really like it.

You can check that out here, if you so desire. Expect the Persona 3 section to expand more in the coming weeks as I (and others) progress through the game. The character and Persona sections will be revamped (hopefully to provide indepth info to those who want it, without spoiling every one else), just to give an example.

Thanks!

I updated the Persona 3 portion of the site today. The Overview section now has three additional subsections which cover the battle system, school life components and Velvet Room concepts. These are all based upon the English version of the game and provide a general review of how each of these aspects of the game work. I figured separating the section would make it far easier to digest and expand in the future.

Expect more updates during the remainder of the week.

Update: The link issue for the Battle System / Dungeons section has been fixed.

Gamespot’s product listing for Persona 3 now includes a very small image of the final package you will receive when you pick up the game. Looks pretty nice when it’s all together.

Thanks to NotMSRP for posting this image on NeoGAF.

Continuing our last reviews post, a friend informs me that EGM has reviewed Persona 3 and given it the “Game of the Month Award”. The magazine uses a three score system, netting the game an 8.5, 9.5 and 9.5. Very nice.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a review copy for Digital Devil Database just before the delay. If there’s anything else you’d personally like to know about the game, feel free to ask in the forums. It also looks like our interview with Atlus for the title will be made available closer to the game’s new release date.

Thanks to Charles for the information.