XSEED Games today announced a wide-ranging partnership with developer and publisher Nihon Falcom, one of Japan’s most well-respected development studios, to bring the three latest installments in the long-running Ys franchise: Ys SEVEN, Ys: The Oath in Felghana, and Ys I & II Chronicles, to the PSP(r) (PlayStation(r)Portable) system in North America. In addition, the deal will allow XSEED Games to release the next three chapters in Falcom’s popular The Legend of Heroes series, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky trilogy (known as the Sora no Kiseki trilogy in Japan), to the North American market on the PSP system. All six titles were developed by one of Japan’s most well-admired and longest-running independent-minded studios, Falcom, which has been a pioneer of the RPG genre since theirfirst release in 1983.

“We are ecstatic to partner with XSEED Games on multiple new releases,” said Toshihiro Kondo, President of Falcom. “Their passion and reputation for working on outstanding RPGs is in line with our own development philosophy and assures me that our fans in North America will be getting the best English versions of our games possible.”

Under the terms of the partnership, XSEED Games retains exclusive North American publishing and distribution rights to multiple upcoming iterations of the Ys and The Legend of Heroes series, starting with Ys SEVEN, exclusively for the PSP system.

“I couldn’t be more pleased to announce a partnership with a development studio as renown by gamers for consistently putting out quality titles as Falcom,” said Jun Iwasaki, President of XSEED Games. “Their titles have always been some of the most requested titles so it is going to be our pleasure to oblige the North American fans by delivering an amazing line up of in-depth and gripping RPGs.”

Ys SEVEN is the latest installment in the long-running Ys series which first debuted on PC in 1987. This is the first iteration to be built specifically for the PSP system, taking full advantage of the widescreen format and hardware for beautiful graphics and virtually no loadtimes.The battle system consists of a three-member battle party with enemies engaged on the field map in real-time for fast-paced combat. Old fans of the series and new players alike will be immersed into the rich vibrant world containing over 30 hours of gameplay.

Currently in production, Ys SEVEN will be the first Falcom project from the announced line up released in North America by XSEED Games for the PSP system in late summer 2010. XSEED Games will release more product information and plans on each title in the coming months.

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