SWORD ART ONLINE

Bandai Namco Entertainment America announced on Friday that it will release Accel World VS Sword Art Online Deluxe Edition on PC via Steam on September 12. The "deluxe edition" comes with the original game and the "Castaway from Another World" DLC pack, which includes: New playable characters Alice, Eugeo, and Oberon Randomly generated dungeon "Infinite Dungeon," with new bosses Diabolos and Panopticon Appearances from Personna Vabel, Graphite Edge and Heathcliff New PVP quest Additional weapons The game launched digitally for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in North America on July 7. The game shipped in Japan on March 16. The base game features 38 playable characters, and a total of 40 playable characters were available with the Yuna and Sachi pre-order bonuses. In Japan, the Season Pass offers a total of 44 playable characters.

The rental DVD version of the Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale anime film debuted on Tuesday with a new intro text screen added before film starts. The new text confirms that the film's post-credits scene is a teaser trailer for an upcoming "new work." The original theatrical version of the film already included the teaser after the ending credits, but it did not have this new intro text screen. The retail Blu-ray Disc and DVD release of the film will ship in Japan on September 27. In the teaser, a character mentions, "Welcome to Rath." Rath is a company that is central to the story of the original novels' "Alicization Arc," which is the new arc after the Phantom Bullet and Mother's Rosario arc that were shown in the television anime. The "Dengeki Bunko Aki no Saiten 2017" event's Sword Art Online stage panel will have announcements for new developments in the franchise, including but not limited to games. Rina Hidaka, the voice of Silica in the anime, will host the segment

Film is 11th highest earning Japanese film, 9th highest earning anime film in China The Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale anime film opened in China last Friday and earned 40 million yuan (660 million yen or about US$6.11 million) in its first three days in 6,000 theaters to rank #3 in the Chinese box office. The film is now the 11th highest earning Japanese film in Chinese box office history, and the ninth highest earning anime film. The film sold about 1 million tickets. A Silent Voice opened in China on September 8 and earned 32 million yuan over 3,000 theaters (500 million yen or about US$4.95 million) in its opening weekend. The live-action Gintama film opened on September 1 and earned 61.39 million yuan (about US$9.37 million or about 1.03 billion yen) over 8,000 theaters (the largest screen count for a Japanese live-action film in Chinese box office history) in its first three days. As of May, Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale had earned more than 3.35 billion yen (ab

Players play as unnamed player in Aincrad fighting alongside Kirito, Asuna Bandai Namco Entertainment announced a new VR project titled Sword Art Online Replication at Tokyo Game Show 2017 on Friday. The game will take place in Aincrad during the events of the first season of the anime. Players of the VR game will play as an unnamed player (pictured below left) stuck in Aincrad, alongside a heroine named Mist (pictured below right) whom he must protect. The VR game will feature players fighting alongside characters Kirito and Asuna. Bandai Namco Entertainment is accepting applications until November 15 to test the game at an event held at Tokyo Sky Tree Solamachi from December 8 to December 10. Selected persons will be notified between November 16-30. Reki Kawahara's original Sword Art Online light novel series previously inspired the "Sword Art Online: The Beginning" VR demonstration last year. Bandai Namco Entertainment announced a new console game in the franch

English gameplay video, 2nd Japanese trailer also streamed Bandai Namco Entertainment announced at Tokyo Game Show 2017 on Saturday that it will release the Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet game for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam in Japan on February 8. Bandai Namco Entertainment America began streaming an English gameplay video for the game on Friday. Bandai Namco Entertainment additionally began streaming the game's second Japanese trailer on Saturday. Dimps is developing the game. The game will be a third-person shooter role-playing game based in the fictional Gun Gale Online virtual-reality massively multiple online role-playing game. The fictional game featured in the Sword Art Online II television anime series, and Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet will be the franchise's first game based in Gun Gale Online. The release will also be the game series' first title for Xbox One and PC. Original light novel creator Reki Kawahara is supervising the game's ori

New game takes place in Aincrad, stars Ari Ozawa as new heroine Koharu Bandai Namco Entertainment announced at Tokyo Game Show 2017 on Saturday that it is developing a new smartphone game in the Sword Art Online franchise titled Sword Art Online: Integral Factor. The iOS and Android online RPG will be free to play, but in-game items can cost extra. Bandai Namco Entertainment hasn't yet revealed a release window for the game. The game takes place in 2022 during the Aincrad arc of Reki Kawahara's original light novel series. Players play as their own avatars, and along with their partner Koharu (voiced by Ari Ozawa), work to clear the 100 levels of Aincrad. The game is accepting pre-registration and closed beta test applications. Source: Dengeki Online (Tekeon)

Friday Night Lights producers join as showrunners American independent production company Skydance Television announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Patrick Massett and John Zinman (Friday Night Lights executive producers, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider writers) for the pair to serve as writers, showrunners, and executive producers on Skydance television projects, including Skydance's live-action Sword Art Online (SAO) series. Massett and Zinman are joining Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Terminator Genisys) in writing the pilot script, and are executive producing along with Kalogridis and Skydance's Marcy Ross, David Ellison, and Dana Goldberg. Skydance Television President Ross commented, "We're already deep in development with Patrick, John, and Laeta on our larger than life Skydance SAO series, in which we aim not only to satisfy the franchise's enthusiastic sci-fi and anime fan base but also to appeal to new TV audiences the world over." Skydance announced

Nobunaga Shimazaki, Ai Kayano join cast as Eugeo, Alice The Sword Art Online stage panel at the "Dengeki Bunko Aki no Saiten 2017 event (Dengeki Bunko Fall Festival 2017) event in Tokyo announced on Sunday that a television anime adaptation of the Alicization arc in Reki Kawahara's Sword Art Online light novel series has been green-lit. The third series is titled Sword Art Online: Alicization. Sword Art Online TV anime S3 announcement PV pic.twitter.com/hPku9rbcdT— moetron | pKjd (@pKjd) October 1, 2017 The series will again star Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Kirito and Haruka Tomatsu as Asuna. Nobunaga Shimazaki will play Eugeo, and Ai Kayano will play Alice. The Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale anime film (pictured at right), which opened in Japan on February 18, had teased that "SAO will return." The anime series has two television anime adaptations, an anime special, and the recent film. The franchise has also inspired multiple manga series, games, and a virtual r

Yōko Hikasa, Tomori Kusunoki star in series based on Keiichi Sigsawa's spinoff novel series The Sword Art Online stage panel at the "Dengeki Bunko Aki no Saiten 2017 event (Dengeki Bunko Fall Festival 2017) event in Tokyo announced on Sunday that a television anime project of Keiichi Sigsawa's Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online novel series is launching. Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online TV anime announcement PV pic.twitter.com/vgYEKiWgMv— moetron | pKjd (@pKjd) October 1, 2017 Tomori Kusunoki will play Llenn, and Yōko Hikasa will star in the series as Pitohui. Kazuyuki Okitsu will play M, and Chinatsu Akasaki will play Fukaziroh. Llenn will also be a playable character in the upcoming Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet video game. The story follows Karen Kohiruimaki, a 183-centimeter-tall (6-foot-tall) college student who's insecure her height, and is bad at dealing with people in the real world. She enters the world of Gun Gale Online with her

Film screens on over 7,500 screens in 27 countries The Sword Art Online stage panel at the "Dengeki Bunko Aki no Saiten 2017" (Dengeki Bunko Fall Festival 2017) event in Tokyo announced on Sunday that the Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale anime film has earned 4.3 billion yen (about US$38.2 million) in worldwide sales. The film has screened on over 7,500 screens in 27 countries worldwide. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (voice of Kirito) has held 45 stage greeting events for the film worldwide. The stage panel also revealed that Bandai Namco Entertainment will host a five-year anniversary event for the Sword Art Online series of video games in Tokyo on February 17. Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale opened in China last month and ranked #3 in its first weekend, earning 40 million yuan (660 million yen or about US$6.11 million) in its first three days. The film is screening in China in 6,000 theaters. The film opened in Japan on February 18, and sold about 308,376 tickets for 425,762,