Baten Kaitos 2

Wah, death of the Cube, wah wah etc. NONSENSE. Among other things, the tail end of the year will also see the release of a sequel to Namco's rather excellent Cube RPG Baten Kaitos. Which appears to be a prequel, despite being called Baten Kaitos 2. If we could tuuuuurn back tiiiii-aaaam. [Apologies. I'm guessing we just hit medication-o'clock in the darkest corner of the office. – Ed]

Revealed in Famitsu just prior to the Tokyo Game Show, Baten Kaitos 2 takes place 20 years prior to the events of the original game, and sees players taking control of a spirit that occupies one of the empire's Elite fighters, a chap called Sagi. As the spirit, you get to offer Sagi advice as the game progresses, which sounds interesting.

Sagi's on a mission to find out what's changing the world, and along with new friend Miri and a strange doll called Giro (no idea), he'll meet up with characters from the first BK including Gibari, Savyna, Geldoblame and Ladekahn. Fans of the first will also be pleased (or not – who knows?) to learn that the Magnus card-based battle system returns.

We should be in a position to measure the pleasure shortly after the game's release in Japan this December. The last one made it out in Europe through Nintendo, so we'll let you know if we hear anything.