With Disgaea 3's North America launch just a couple of weeks away, NIS America has announced that three pre-order bundles for the game are now available. Details on what each pack will carry are available in the full article.

The release dates for the upcoming Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice for the PS3 and Disgaea: Prince of the Demon World and the Red Moon for the DS are finally out, and as it turns out, Nippon Ichi fans only need to wait for less than two months before the next Disgaea comes out. The dates, and a surprise mention of a certain NIS America title, in the full article!

Yep folks, it's official. Nippon Icchi Software's Disgaea 3 is headed for Sony PlayStation 3 owners in the U.S., by way of NIS America's publishing efforts. The turn-based strategy RPG, like the Japanese version, will carry a different story, cast of memorable characters, and innovations to the game's current feature set. A rundown will be available at the full story.

Sony PlayStation 3 owners in Japan are set to receive Nippon Ichi's Disgaea 3 in January of 2008, heralding the debut of the popular strategy RPG franchise on a next-generation platform. We've caught some new Disgaea 3 screenshots for you and they look pretty sweet.

Those who have had a casual brush with Nippon Ichi games may point out that Disgaea 3's graphics aren't too far along from what we've seen in Disgaea 2, and to some extent they may be right. But if you ask those who've been immersed in the NIS universe before, they'll tell you that there are some nice improvements such as high-resolution backgrounds among other subtle touches.

Still, we all know that Nippon Ichi titles have always been gameplay-oriented and that's a tradition that Disgaea 3 is looking ready to continue proudly. Most of the familiar battle and customization elements that fans have come to love will still be there, but new additions have been announced and we know that we'll be seeing two-level tosses, demon morphing and attribute customization soon enough. Prepare to lose some sleep over 100+ gameplay hours by the time Disgaea 3 hits American shores.

More Disgaea 3 screenshots follow at the full article!

This is for those of you guys who love Disgaea, as well as other games from Nippon Ichi's stable. Although they don't talk about the North American PSP version of the beloved game, GameSetWatch's interview with Jack Niida and Mitsu Hiraoka of Nippon Chi Software America (NISA) talks a bit about the mother company's future game plans... and a lot about Prinny collecting.

Niida was quick to point out that, while a majority of their releases were on the PS2 and PSP, they are nonetheless committed to supporting other platforms as well: "gamers (on all platforms) can expect surprises from us." Of course, they will still work as closely with Sony, "providing great games for PS2/PS3/PSP users as well."

Wonder why GameSetWatch didn't ask about the possibilities of a PS3 game set in the Disgaea universe?

Moving on... Part of the interview was dedicated to NISA's contribution to geek love, their online store RosenQueen.com. The name's taken from an item shop in Nippon Ichi's Marl's Kingdom series, and since it doesn't "literally" carry the NIS/NISA name, it can carry both Nippon Ichi-related products and products that aren't related to NIS/NISA at all, providing a service to both the customer and other companies (double cha-ching to NISA, too).

Remember the Disgaea wish list? They carry Prinny plushies! (Dunno if the plushies carry their in-game power, though: you might want to run them past an X-ray or something, just to be sure. Kidding!)

Speaking of collectibles, in this case special editions of their games, Niida also explained the logic behind putting out a collector's edition of a game. "Judging cost effectiveness on a bonus item for video games is always a difficult task. What it comes down to is cost-benefit, customer interest, affordability, and future impact."

It also depends on the retailer's cooperation - if they're willing do devote resources to promoting these spec.-editions in stores - but Niida did say that they would "like to provide similar special editions packages." Hmm... we're wondering if there will be a special-edition North American Disgaea Portable with free Etna and/or Flonne in the pack... Who wants to start the letter-writing campaign?!