ASW announce the spiritual sequel to Guilty Gear: BlazeBlue.
 

It's currently on the Taito Type X2 board and it will be shown at the AOU show in February. It's in glorious HD 2D. The release date is supposedly Winter.

http://xs223.xs.to/xs223/08043/blazeblue2438.jpg.xs.jpg

http://xs223.xs.to/xs223/08043/blazeblue1403.jpg.xs.jpg

http://xs223.xs.to/xs223/08043/blazeblue3490.jpg.xs.jpg

According to my Japanese MSN buddy Kaz not much is revealed about the engine in those scans. However, one interesting tidbit is that they are thinking of implementing a system where combos can continue when you're down. There are 4 buttons in an SNK style layout instead of GG's 5. Also according to someone else there is a green Heat Gauge for offensive moves and a red Barrier Gauge for defensive moves. There are a lot of moves available on wake up too, possibily a Tekken-style wakeup mechanic. More info is hidden by the glare sadly.

Characters revealed in the scans are:

The God of Death Bearing his Fangs at the Control System
Ragna the Bloodedge (CV: Tomokazu Sugita)

The almighty force managing the "Operation", in order to obtain absolute power over the world, is this man who has rebelled against the "Earth and Space Information Control System" (hereafter referred to as the "Control System"). Known as the "God of Death", a bounty for his elimination has been placed in all the regions populated with branches of the Control System. In game, his tactics revolve around using his power and large sword to keep pressure on his opponents. As for his special abilities, he is able to absorb his opponent's physical strength by using "Soul Eater".


The Champion Overflowing with Talent
Jin Kisaragi (CV: Kakihara Tetsuya)

From a prestigous family, this man is a retainer of the Control System's Kisaragi house. His class is Major. In the past, he had a distinguished military record during the "Ikaruga Civil War" that broke out, and was promoted to the position of Division Commander at an exceptionally young age. He is always cool and calm, though he is a deeply jealous, ambitious, and possessive person, with little care for others. In game, he uses various swordplay techniques in addition to his unique ability, "Reikou (Zero Sword)" which can be used to freeze his opponents (Frostbite).


Trickster
Noel Vermillion (CV: Kondou Kanako)

Because of her outstanding combat ability and suitable operation evaluations, she was selected to be Jin Kisaragi's direct subordinate in her youth. The two were acquaintances in officer's academy, though Noel thought Jin was extremely weak. However, on a certain mission handed down from the Control System, her preconceptions were changed. In game, she is able to quickly unleash tricky attacks with her two guns, which can be continually added to.

I am purely interested to find out what happens next in the Guilty Gear story.

I'm not too sure about the rest of that...the character designs look very SNK-ish (What with the crazy hakama pants and gravity defying coat-leaf) but Dude In Red With Big Blunt Sword looks like a spiritual successor to Sol, which can't be a bad thing.

Hm. I'm torn. I'm not sure if this is something that Sammy is doing to change up the 2d fighting formula without actually damaging Guilty Gear's characters or what.

Interested, though. Good to see Sammy's not just making Guilty Gear X2: The Next Next Next One. (Seriously XX:MC, #Reload, Slash, Accent Core, and now Accent Core Plus? WTF?!)

Sounds neat, too bad I cant see the pics. I'll need to wait till I get home I guess.

More info coming through:

Title: Blazblue
Genre: 2D fighting game
Platform: TAITO TypeX2
Release date: Winter 2008
Console: PS3
Staff: Guilty Gear original development team
Character Design: (Mori Toshimichi), (Katou Yuuki)
Producer: (Mori Toshimichi)
Soundtrack: (Ishiwatari Daisuke)

Game background:
The Guilty Gear series takes place around the year 2180, Blazblue takes place in December 2199.


System

button setup
B C E
A

E = EX button, it's used to activate individual character's abilities.

There are two gauges in this game, Hit Gauge and Barrier Gauge.
Hit gauge is for offense, and Barrier gauge is for defense.


Characters

Laguna, the Bloodedge
His EX power is Soul Eater that drains opponent's life gauge.


Jin Kisaragi <- Did I spell it right?
His EX power is Frost Bite that freezes opponent's movement.


Noel Vermillion <- Not sure either.
She(?) is the subordinate of Jin, her Chain Revolver ability varies depend on different inputs.

c/p from http://forums.shoryuken.com/showpost...9&postcount=63

Im gonna assume there are gonna be more then 3 characters.

Where the hell is Sol Badguy? He's the only awesome character in the whole damn series.

I have a feeling that they'll at least bring back Sol and Ky. Also the site reporting that it's on PS3 is apparently not too reliable so it might end up being on another system.

Don't like the generic animu design at all. I always thought that, though manga inspired, Guilty Gear took excellent extremes with its characters. We shall see, of course. I'll be eagerly anticipating this.

And fuck it. It's set in the same universe, so I hope they shut up this spiritual succesor crap when it's obvious it's a sequel.

The site that states that it's for PS3 is supposed to be fairly unreliable so hopefully it'll come out on more platforms.

The fighting engine is all different so I think that's why it's considered a 'successor'.