Seems I missed this during my weekend offline – Gamefront have reported that Sega have patented two new Shining titles: Shining Wind & Shining Road.

No more info at this time, though they are believed to be planned as SRPGs.

Well, we’ve heard that one before!

If they are strategy, why no ‘Force’ in the name? 😉

More info as it becomes available.

Calm down, it seems the Shining Next Project is not really what we were all hoping for 🙁 It’s not a new set of games to be released, not even one if the info SoJ just posted on their Shining Tears site is all there is to it.

The Shining Next Project would in fact appear to be a series of items relating to Shining Tears, as detailed on the new “Goods” page of Sega Japan’s Shining Tears site. The page includes details of the Shining Tears Themesong CD single, Final Complete Guidebook, as well as the following forthcoming items:

The Shining Tears Collection of Visual Materials is an official artbook for the game, to be released on March 7th this year. Retailing at 1890 yen (a little under US$20), the book is said to include almost every existing Shining Tears illustrations (including those used on posters & phonecards), an interview and other related artworks. Expect lots of pics of Blanc Neige, as she’s Tony’s favourite character from the game.

Babelfish has spewed out a bit of an odd name for the next one, but apparently the name is only a temporary one anyway at the moment. Shining Tears: Horsemen of Pair Dragon will be published by Famitsu on April 20th, and will feature illustrations by Tony. It will retail at 672 yen (just over US$5) and seems it will be a novel based on the game.

The last book listed is one I’ve already seen for preorder on Amazon.jp, Shining Tears Comic Anthology a manga collection due for release on March 10th at 890 yen (around US$10).

Though these aren’t necessarily all there is to the Shining Next Project, the page with Shining Next info seems just to refer back to the Goods page, but mentions that new information about Shining commodities will be released steadily. It also comments on how the world of Shining Tears keeps spreading, with additions of novels, the mobile phone game announced last year, comics and other media. Interestingly, the project logo has been changed to read “Legend of Shining Tears”, the witch has been properly illustrated and the names Cupid, Cheiron and Ascley feature on it too – shame I can’t read the text in kanji with the names >.<;; Anyone? There's also a note about the witch illustration, let's enjoy what the Babelfish made of it: “The witch of the pure blood already this character is supplementation to only of knowing. When (to also visual setting data collection it is published) being longer than the elf, the relative of the witch who is passed. It is called the survivor of the ancient people who excel in all demon roads, and the alchemy which works the mystery of life, the form between the thing of several hundred years or more has not changed.”
Is this commentary about the character, or just witches in general? The latter I think, so nothing too helpful there.

I guess time will tell if there’s more to this project than currently meets the eye.

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The SF Neo site has also seen a sizeable update today, which as usual I couldn’t really be bothered with, but I guess I ought to…

First up, we have a new video – another Anime clip in fact. Not very long, not very interesting, but there you have it. Find it in the SFC Video Archive here.

Some info has been added which I can’t quite follow, but seems to be about a lecture of some kind taking place on March 21st and involving the producer of SF Neo. Read more here (if you can read Japanese).

A little info has been added to the System section, firstly about Magic Points, and seconly about the savegame loading screen. The Magic Points section has some screenshots of the five spells available from the start: Blaze, Spark, Freeze, Shine and Dark Arrow. These are available if Max is using a Staff as a weapon. As usual, MP is used to cast a spell and the higher the level the more magic the spell uses. MP can be increased as the character progresses, and restores itself gradually over time, ala Shining Soul & Tears’ SP. The section about the loading screen is minimal, but shows a screenshot to illustrate that the list of saves includes your play-time (that is, how long you’ve been playing up until that save) and a brief title of where in the game you are (ala SFIII).

The characters section has been updated to include a few pieces of artwork of monsters, specifically Skeleton King, Vampire, Wraith and Skeleton Archer. They also include a screenshot each. I can’t say I think they look especially Shiny, except maybe the Wraith.

Finally, the story section has had an update too – several new screenies, and some more info about how Max’s journey progresses. Given the unreliability of Babelfish thus far with the story translation, I think I’ll wait for some kind soul here to offer up a more accurate one!

For now, back to the crappy day I’ve had so far which wasn’t made any better by this news… I’d hoped when the Shining Next info came out I’d be leaping around for joy. Ah well, maybe there’s more news on the horizon.