Class of Heroes tardy, gets detention until June

[AtlusAram]

CLASS OF HEROES TARDY, GETS DETENTION UNTIL JUNE
This is going on our permanent record

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA -- MARCH 30, 2009 -- Atlus U.S.A., Inc. today announced that Class of Heroes™, the upcoming first-person dungeon crawler for PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, will be delayed until June 9th. The anticipated RPG, an homage to the genre classics, promises to bring expansive character and party customization options and deep, involved dungeon crawling to PSP system owners across North America.

"Just days prior to manufacturing, a show-stopping bug was discovered," explained Aram Jabbari, manager of PR and Sales. "We will under no circumstance ship a product with foreknowledge of such an issue, and so we must delay the game to resolve the problem and deliver a final product to our fans that lives up to the high standards we aspire to and that they deserve."

Class of Heroes is now scheduled for release on June 9, 2009 with an MSRP of $39.99.

For more information, visit the official website:
http://www.atlus.com/classofheroes

Class of Heroes has been rated "T" for Teen with Alcohol Reference, Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, and Mild Suggestive Themes by the ESRB

###

About Atlus U.S.A., Inc.
Located in Irvine, California and founded in 1991, Atlus U.S.A., Inc. is renowned for its proud tradition of publishing exceptional role-playing games with strong niche appeal. The Atlus library of critically acclaimed video games includes Odin Sphere, the Trauma Center series, and the award-winning Shin Megami Tensei series. For more information, visit http://www.atlus.com.

For breaking news, special promotions, insider info, and more, visit http://www.atlus.com/faithful to join the ranks of the Atlus Faithful!

©2009 ACQUIRE Corp. Licensed to and published by Atlus U.S.A., Inc.

[jeffx]

I'm cool with it.

"Just days prior to manufacturing, a show-stopping bug was discovered," explained Aram Jabbari, manager of PR and Sales. "We will under no circumstance ship a product with foreknowledge of such an issue, and so we must delay the game to resolve the problem and deliver a final product to our fans that lives up to the high standards we aspire to and that they deserve."

That almost sounds like a subtle jab to NISA's recent problems. If it is, well played.

[BR3WZER]

Wow, I'm glad you guys are fixing it, but this is still terrible news. Oh well, stuff happens, still looking forward to playing it. I'm just going to have to try moving my anticipation for it further back in my mind.

[Zachalmighty]

I'm cool with it.

"Just days prior to manufacturing, a show-stopping bug was discovered," explained Aram Jabbari, manager of PR and Sales. "We will under no circumstance ship a product with foreknowledge of such an issue, and so we must delay the game to resolve the problem and deliver a final product to our fans that lives up to the high standards we aspire to and that they deserve."

That almost sounds like a subtle jab to NISA's recent problems. If it is, well played.

I hope it is a stab at NISA because Atlus has not once delivered me a faulty product where as NISA has.

[Damien]

Darn, and I way waiting for April 7 to launch my video game shopping spree X_X. Oh well I guess I'll save it for the next shopping spree in June with the other Atlus titles.

[sdragon21]

Thank god they found it when they did. If Class Of Heroes did indeed ship with that game breaking bug in it, Atlus's reputation would have gone down the Crapper.

[kolaces]

At least there was a reason and they hadn't just over-optimistically judged the time it would take to do the game.

And that's one less game to sell in April, right? What with Hammerin Hero, Dokapon Journey, the Super Robot Taisen Game, Steal Princess, Dark Spire, and 101 in 1, I think they got enough.

Still, :very_sad:

[Ike.]

Thank god they found it when they did. If Class Of Heroes did indeed ship with that game breaking bug in it, Atlus's reputation would have gone down the Crapper.

Somehow I don't think Atlus' whole reputation lies on the shoulders of one PSP game.

Thanks for announcing this, though. Most companies would've just said "Game's delayed" and left it at that. I am curious about the nature of the bug and how it managed to not get noticed sooner, though.

[Kakizaki]

Thank god they found it when they did. If Class Of Heroes did indeed ship with that game breaking bug in it, Atlus's reputation would have gone down the Crapper.


That's quite the overreaction.

[Enzeru]

Thanks for finding the bug! ^^

[TheMagicHat]

Good call, Atlus! I'd rather a game get delayed and the problem be fixed than get something that'll cause me to tear my hair out. Now THIS is the love, care, and time game publishers should put into their product, not just shovel them out to appease the microwave-gamer crowd. I'm definitely looking forward to a fun game this summer, now.

Especially since I'm fully paid up on it. ;)

[ShadowRaskolnik]

The wait is a small price to pay in order to make corrections, but at least it will give me time to finish the other games I currently have.

[poiuiu]

Unfortunate, but not completely unexpected but everyone is thankful for it. In addition to fixing bugs, having two long ass dungeon crawlers released in the same week is never a good thing for both Atlus or their fans.

[jeffx]

Hopefully everyone (with a DS) will look into The Dark Spire now, if they weren't getting both already.

[tross]

I'm actually glad it's delayed. Now I can wait to get a psp, since I don't currently own the system. Besides, that bug will be fixed, and I would be very disappointed if a game I was anticipating happened to have a bug in it. So I thank Atlus for taking the time to fix the problem. I feel for the people who were looking forward to playing it right away though. Still, it's a small price to pay for quality, is it not?

[Constraint]

I'm cool with it.

"Just days prior to manufacturing, a show-stopping bug was discovered," explained Aram Jabbari, manager of PR and Sales. "We will under no circumstance ship a product with foreknowledge of such an issue, and so we must delay the game to resolve the problem and deliver a final product to our fans that lives up to the high standards we aspire to and that they deserve."

That almost sounds like a subtle jab to NISA's recent problems. If it is, well played.

I hope it is a stab at NISA because Atlus has not once delivered me a faulty product where as NISA has.

I'm pretty sure each company has a team where they go through the game looking for bugs before releasing the game.

[Delition]

Hopefully everyone (with a DS) will look into The Dark Spire now, if they weren't getting both already.

There are people who weren't looking forward to The Dark Spire? For shame, people, for shame.

[Juanblue85]

Hopefully everyone (with a DS) will look into The Dark Spire now, if they weren't getting both already.

There are people who weren't looking forward to The Dark Spire? For shame, people, for shame.

I didn't at first but after watching a couple of youtube vids I'm convinced to get it along with Super Robot Taisen next month.

[RayFoxSith]

At least I won't be broke after getting a DSi and worried about getting this.

Also, I'm excited about Dark Spire.

[rpgram]

Okay, yeah, I of course am grateful that Atlus (unlike so many other companies lately) is putting it's quality forefront once more to deliver us the best possible product for our money. I apprecaite the honesty. However, if I can rant just a LITTLE, the thread directly below this one states that the sequel will be coming out in Japan the same month Class of Heroes has been pushed back to. So, Japan will be playing 2 when we're playing 1. Again, grateful for the reason behind the delay, but noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! It's just bad timing that those two annoucements combined make me feel bad!

[Captain Ahoge]

Wow, good thing the QA department caught the bug, especially if it could be something as serious as erasing the contents of a Memory Stick or something. I'd rather a game be delayed than shipped with showstopping bugs. (I know the feeling all too well, I've worked as a QA tester for about two years.)

[Baird333]

The clever title almost takes the sting out of it...

[PFV]

Hopefully everyone (with a DS) will look into The Dark Spire now, if they weren't getting both already.

This is why I'm not too bothered about this being delayed. I didn't really want to juggle what little playtime I have right now on both these games.

[Pixel]

http://board.rpgamer.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?act=ST;f=4;t=19143;st=#entry420883
As I stated in the review blog:

Well, one thing I want to note is that Glenn "7thCircle" Wilson is the one that found the bug in the game and reported it to Atlus. We even sent them his save files so that they could replicate the issue. I'm not wanting to steal his thunder, but I know that he was able to finish the game still. The review embargo is now flexible, but is looking like a June date unless Atlus gives us permission to post early.
You guys can thank the kind reviewer at rpgamer for finding the bug and alerting Atlus.


Now the humor in the press release has some context. ;)

[Magical Gamer]

Definitely won't lie, I am greatly disappointed I won't be playing this game next week. On the flip side though, I'm really glad you're taking the time to fix such a game breaking bug, because I would most likely be a lot more disappointed if I found an Ar Tonelico 2-esque issue from an Atlus game.

Kudos to you Atlus.

[Birdpoopman]

This isn't so bad at all. Hammerin Hero is coming out on April 7th as well so I'll still be able to purchase an Atlus game on that day, and plus another Dungeon Crawler - Dark Spire comes out 7 days later, so I'm not too sad.

[zcbml]

I am saddened, I was waiting for it. But I am really glad that the bug is caught! Quality is definitely important! Can't wait to get it in June!

[RobotHoney]

Bad memories of DDS 1 being pushed back...and pushed back

But it's better than having a bad bug in the game I 'spose

[Futanari]

Great that the bug was picked up. :) What was the bug anyway?

[Candle Jack]

Ah, I'm actually relieved to hear this. I shan't be able to afford a New psp until June gets here, so I can just get this in one fell swoop along with my new psp.

[Patric]

I have been craving a game like this for the PSP a long time ever since I played Etrian Odyssey. I am glad that Atlus got news of the bug, delayed this to fix the bug and politely announced why it was delayed. Kudos to you guys. I tell ya', if there was a bug in this game or any of the other games I look forward to on release day, I would be very displeased.

Like the time I bought SNK vs Capcom DS Card Fighters or whatever that game was. I got it like 3 days before release and there was this game-breaking bug that prevented me from progressing in the game(like 5 or so hours into the game). I went back to the game store, showed the manager the problem, he gave me a new copy and I tested it out and same deal happened. A big waste of time that was.

Well anyway, this is pretty much a first day release purchase for me and I look forward to any similar genre(first person dungeon crawler old school) that you guys can dish out that may come out on PSP. Keep up the good work!