CyberConnect2, a Japanese video game development studio best known outside the fandom for the .hack and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja series, is recruiting programmers, designers and artists for three new projects in its “Trilogy of Vengeance” as part of its 'Next Plan' strategy.

This trilogy is composed, as its name suggests, of three games themed around vengeance:

• Tokyo Ogre Gate, a high-speed action game about schoolgirls in a historical/fantasy setting.
• Cecile, a gory action game about Gothic Lolita witches trying to kill each other.
• Fuga, an action strategy RPG with the additional themes of “War” and “Animals”.

Fuga will join such games as Solatorobo (Nintendo DS; Flayrah review) and Tail Concerto (PS1) as an instalment in the Little Tail Bronx series, focusing on what happens when children enter the battlefield. Its plot features eleven orphans, crewing a tank with a soul-fueled cannon – fighting the fascist Berman Empire, which attacked their village and imprisoned their parents.

Japanese game development studio CyberConnect2 is working on a sequel to Solatorobo: Red the Hunter, gaming news websites are reporting.

CyberConnect2's president Hiroshi Matsuyama made the announcement at Salon del Manga de Barcelona, a Spanish manga and anime festival, last weekend. It is probable the game will be released for the Nintendo 3DS, although no platform has been officially given.

Solatorobo: Red the Hunter is an Ursa Major Award-nominated video game from Japan which (according to its Wikipedia page) is “a spiritual sequel to the Tail Concerto game”, which was also released by Namco Bandai. Now the anime/manga fan site Otaku.com has let us know that the Solatorobo Sketch Book is available for import, and you can order it on their site. It’s expensive (kind of), but it this softcover book features some striking anime-style furry art.

image c. 2012 Namco Bandai

Solatorobo: Red the Hunter is a story-based role-playing game for the Nintendo DS, featuring character design that should more than appeal to furries. If anything, it's as furry as any Star Fox game, and the characters’ animal nature has more effect on the story than just punny names.

The game is some sort of prequel/sequel/something to a game called Tail Concerto. I missed that one, so this was my first introduction to the setting.

Xseed, September 2011 - $34.99 on Amazon

I wasn’t as proactive as I thought I would be, and I’m pretty sure I missed a couple posted during the first of September, so apologies there. Otherwise, here was last month’s Newsbytes.

Solatorobo, a prequel to the furry PS1 game Tail Concerto (previously covered on Flayrah) was released in Japanese for the Nintendo DS late last month. Many hope for an English translation by next year, but game developers CyberConnect2 have not released any news.

Fans of the series wishing to play this game in English may want to petition CyberConnect2 and Atlus (the U.S. publishers of Tail Concerto) to encourage them to invest in a translation.

Editor's note: A beta version of the game has been seen in French. Check out the game's 100 ad spots, which reportedly aired in one eight-hour period on Tokyo MX TV a week before release.

A trailer for Solatorobo, the 'spiritual successor' to anime-style action-adventure/platformer Tail Concerto, has been published. [tip: Goldkin]

The Nintendo DS game will be released October 28 in Japan. Import pre-orders are available; the collector's edition includes an artbook and soundtrack.