For those that are fans of Sword Art Online who have been patiently waiting for the official release date announcement for the western localization of Lost Song, there's good news and perhaps some bad news depending on what you were expecting.

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Sword Art Online Re: Hollow Fragment will be released digitally this Summer on PS4
- Reworked for the PS4 system, the game will look better than ever. Edit: It has been confirmed that the PS4 version will be receiving an updated translation. Thanks to vayanui8 for the update.[prebreak][/prebreak]

Sword Art Online: Lost Song will be released this Fall on PS4 and Vita
- Unlike the Vita release of Hollow Fragment, it was promised back in October 2014 that the translation for this game would actually be decent. With the game having already received an Asian English translation that appears to be fairly good, it's hard to say whether we'll get that translation or a different one.

- This game will not be releasing on the PS3 in the West despite releasing on the PS3 in Japan. It's ultimately not that surprising though with the consistently strong PS4 sales in the West. Last gen is dying out, and we all have to accept that.

- As it stands, it appears this game will be getting a physical release, although it hasn't been confirmed whether or not it will get a physical release on both systems, if the game will be cross buy, etc.

These release date windows are the same across the announcements for both regions, although specific release dates haven't been announced within these otherwise broad windows.

Personally, I'll pick up Hollow Fragment on PS4 if they make the translation less laughably horrible. I'm a little torn on what system I'll get Lost Song on. I guess it depends on which system the game actually seems like it belongs on.

Source 1 (Americas): Bandai Namco America
Source 2 (Europe): Bandai Namco Europe

 

[MegaAce™]

More like release windows announced.

EDIT: Meh, should've read the post more thoroughly. But still...

 

[vayanui8]

Hollow fragment is confirmed to be getting a new translation
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05...-get-new-english-translation-on-playstation-4

 

[CathyRina]

Probably gonna get Lost song on Vita.
Not really keen on the PS4 versions.

 

[pastaconsumer]

Of course it's for consoles I don't own and will never be able to buy... fml...

 

[CathyRina]

Of course it's for consoles I don't own and will never be able to buy... fml...

http://puu.sh/i6Trb/18ecb80280.png
So unaffordable.

 

[pastaconsumer]

http://puu.sh/i6Trb/18ecb80280.png
So unaffordable.

I don't live in Europe, so they're like $100 - $200

 

[CathyRina]

I don't live in Europe, so they're like $100 - $200

100$ is worth less than 100€

 

[vayanui8]

I don't live in Europe, so they're like $100 - $200

You could also get a vita tv which you can get for like $60

 

[pastaconsumer]

You could also get a vita tv which you can get for like $60

True, but there is also a chance of the game not being playable on the Vita TV (PlayStation TV), due to touch screen stuff. Also, since school is out, I can't sell my crap to friends for money, which means my source of income is gone for 2-3 months. I can't get a summer job, because of "reasons" from my parents.

 

[CathyRina]

True, but there is also a chance of the game not being playable on the Vita TV (PlayStation TV), due to touch screen stuff. Also, since school is out, I can't sell my crap to friends for money, which means my source of income is gone for 2-3 months. I can't get a summer job, because of "reasons" from my parents.

Both games are listed as PS Vita TV compatible
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_Vita_games

 

[CathyRina]

Someone on Reddit reported that apparently the new update on the Vita version of Hollow Fragment is 600 MB big and increases the quality of the translation.
https://www.reddit.com/r/vita/comments/3eu28w/new_sword_art_online_hollow_fragment_update_102/
Although no one could really verify this yet.

 

[Nathan Drake]

Well, I can always update my Vita version and take a look. It's nice that the update is there, but I have a sinking feeling that it's mostly just cross save support and some misc stuff geared around supporting it rather than anything that would improve the Vita release's overall quality. Actually, never mind. Scanning the Reddit comments, whoever made that thread was mistaken. There wouldn't be so many basic errors still if they improved the translation. So yeah, I wouldn't expect a translation fix.

As a side note, Hollow Fragment PS4 comes out in the US tomorrow (July 28th), but was delayed a week for Europe.

 

[CathyRina]

Yeah I was afraid this was the case but I'm still curious why the update had to be 600 mb big when the only thing it supposedly added was Cross save.
I don't think a update for such feature has to be this big especially since Borderlands 2's updates were significantly smaller and did improve performance a tiny bit.

 

[Nathan Drake]

My guess would be a total lack of optimization. They probably just put together a basic functional cross save feature, confirmed it at least worked, and called it a day.