Rising Star Games' Q1 2010 release schedule announced

European publisher Rising Star Games has today revealed its lineup for the first few months of 2010. Leading the way is Opus’ Half-Minute Hero on the PSP, and the firm's first outing on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in the form of Acquire’s Way of the Samurai 3. Both titles will be available from February and mark the start of a busy period for the firm, which is a subsidiary of Japanese development house Marvellous Entertainment.

The seven new titles hitting European store shelves in the first three months of 2010 represent double Rising Star’s first quarter schedule for 2009. Last year, we saw Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon, Populous and psychedelic space shooter XG Blast land on the DS; this trend of role-playing games and puzzlers is going to continue well into 2010.

Alongside Half-Minute Hero and Way of the Samurai 3, the DS gets three new releases in RPGs Avalon Code and My World My Way, while cutesy puzzler Animal Kororo is on the slate and targeted at younger gamers. Avalon Code and My World My Way both hit shops stateside in Q1 of last year, to mixed reviews. The Wii also gets in on the party with tri-Crescendo’s much-anticipated action RPG Fragile Dreams--just known as Fragile for its 2008 Japanese debut--arriving in Europe in March. To round off a hectic start to the year, Rune Factory Frontier will also make its way to the Wii by the time April rolls round, from developers Neverland.

No mention was made of plans to publish No More Heroes: Paradise, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 port of the critically acclaimed Rising Star published 2008 Wii action RPG. The game is due out in Japan early next year and does not currently have a confirmed publisher outside of its home country. While Rising Star did not confirm plans to publish the title in Europe, when contacted by GameSpot, the firm did indicate an announcement on the title’s European fate should be expected some time early in 2010.

Check back shortly for our verdict on the remaining five Rising Star titles that are available soon.