Oh, Marina. By far one of the most mysterious of the all the members of Squad 7: a seemingly cold-hearted sniper with deadly aim – but also one who holds a soft spot for cute, cuddly forest animals.

In the upcoming DLC pack, Marina’s challenge is built for those of you who love everything that snipers symbolize: stealth, accuracy, and a quick single shot to the head. A single error in this mission and you’re in big trouble, as you’ll be starting out with only two units. I brought along Marina for my run – anyone else would have just seemed a little… insulting, you know? As the mission began, Marina went over the details.

However, as she went over the details, she spotted something else. An enemy?! Ah… not quite.

The conversation only gets better from there when she asks to pet it, but you’ll have to play through the DLC to see the rest!

Tips for Marina’s Sniper Challenge

• Level & prepare your snipers beforehand! This should go without saying, but when you’ve only got two units to pick from, the difference between a kill and a miss is everything.
• Use your surroundings to your advantage. As any good sniper – and Welkin – will tell you, the environment can often be a great ally.
• Use Marina. Mostly just because she’s awesome.

If ever you have had the urge to simply use Marina (or any sniper) and do nothing but constantly send bullets flying into imps, then this mission is your new holy grail. It may prove a challenge for those used to the shocktrooper or scout method of charging headfirst into battle, but the sweet taste of victory for a sniper is found in that single, perfect shot – because you only need one.

Tomorrow (or today, technically!) the DLC is going live on the PSN store! As mentioned in the last blog, all six missions will be going out together. Besides our celebration tomorrow – which will include free stuff, of course – we’re also going to be taking a look at someone who calls herself the “Jewel of the Battlefield.” Love her or hate her, she’s got a chip on her shoulder for a certain shocktrooper named Rosie, and she’s back again with her own challenge – Edy’s Shocktrooper Challenge will get the spotlight tomorrow!

P.S. – A cool tip: while there aren’t English dubs for the short mission briefings in the DLC, we have included the full Japanese audio, which you can listen to by switching your voices to Japanese. So, if you’re more into Japanese voice acting in general, or if you’d just like to hear your favorite characters again, try it out!

P.S.S. – Ted, keep on trying. She’s got to laugh one of these days. … Right?

This article was written by RubyEclipse over at SEGA of America for their blog. I’ve just localised some parts of it (the pricing).

Howdy Valkyria Fans!
As promised, it’s time for the first look at what’s coming this Thursday in the fourth batch of Valkyria Chronicles DLC! The DLC, which you can pick up for £3.19 (3.99 Euro), comes packed with a total of six different missions, all of which will also become two extra pages in your Skirmish section. Today, we’ll be taking a look at Jann’s challenge – the Lancer mission!

As a fan who came to work at the company, I must admit that I have become a little jaded over these last two years. I have seen and heard things that weren’t exactly what I’d have liked or hoped for. But I have also witnessed great successes and fantastic games, and there are some series that still manage to rekindle the spark that I hold for the future of SEGA. Needless to say, Valkyria Chronicles is one of them.

So it was with a smile on my face and no small bit of unsuppressed glee that I sat down to finally immerse myself in the latest addition to one of my favorite PS3 games ever. In the Lancer Challenge, one of (in my opinion) the funniest characters in the game, Jann, immediately greets you and briefs you on the mission. I won’t spoil it all, but his lines crack me up every time – like this one:

Big ol’ rockets, indeed.

Now, knowing it was the Lancer challenge I figured it would be wise to take in a few more lancers than normal. Four lancers later, I started up the mission and braced myself for some fun. Immediately upon starting, three things went through my mind:

• “Wow, they weren’t kidding. That’s a lot of Tanks!”
• “…Wait… there’s more?”
• “…Oh my God. I’m so going to fail this.”

My almost-complete failure was saved only by the grace of the Alicia cutout standee we have also sitting in the community room, who started giving me tips on how to turn things around. Thanks to her, things held together- and so, ahead of the curve, I’m going to pass on some of those tips for you guys, if you’d like them.

Jann’s Lancer Challenge Tips:

Go get ‘em, Jann!

• Bring Lancers – at least two or three.
• Likewise, remember to include some units that can handle infantry. It’s not just tanks out there!
• Look behind you. Trust us.

With Jann’s Lancer Challenge, what awaits you is a mission in the game with more tanks than any other mission in Valkyria Chronicles – period. I found that it was satisfying in two ways: First, at that moment of realization when winning seems almost impossible, and two – and most satisfying – when you finally beat the odds and victory is almost within your grasp.

Oh, and God bless you, Aika. After as many tank rounds as you dodged in that battle, you deserve a medal the size of Pirates’ Isle. (If you don’t get that reference, you need to play another game from some of the people behind Valkyria Chronicles!)

That’s it for today’s look at the DLC – in the meantime, the three new screenshots above can also be found in full size here on our flickr page.

Tomorrow, check back in as we check out another much-loved character’s mission: Marina’s Sniper Challenge! Until then – if you guys have any specific questions about the DLC, feel free to ask them in the comments below!

I’m happy to be able to finally tell you that the sequel to Valkyria Chronicles™, one of the most highly reviewed tactical RPGs ever to appear on the PS3 is coming out exclusively on the PSP.

The story of Valkyria Chronicles II takes place two years after the conclusion of the original game. A group of young Gallian Military Academy cadets find themselves plunged into a bitter civil war when the newly formed Gallian Revolutionary Army stages a coup. As the epic drama unfolds in the game, players will experience stories of friendship, love and growing pains during a time of war and revolution.

Check out the teaser trailer below.

The “CANVAS” engine, originally developed internally by SEGA Game Studios Japan for Valkyria Chronicles™ on the PLAYSTATION 3, is being fully redesigned for the graphical capabilities of the PSP. This incredibly distinctive engine will power over 20 new distinct and visually stunning environments within which players will have hundreds of different missions to explore.

Valkyria Chronicles’ “BLiTZ” battle system has also been re-designed to offer players the freedom to strategically move around the environment and attack enemies using real-time controls, something never before seen in the tactical role-playing game genre.

PSP owners will be able to experience the highly acclaimed mix of distinctive visuals and addictive gameplay first seen in Valkyria Chronicles™, when the game ships in 2010.

We’ve teamed up with our buddies over at SEGANerds to give you the chance win one of five (well, they’re not available outside Japan), capsule toys for the Game Valkyria Chronicles.

Competition details can be found at their site here.

The competition ends on Tuesday 28th April. Good luck

Don’t forget the new Valkyria Chronicles downloadable content packs are available now. If you’ve not picked up this PS3 exclusive title yet, check out your favourite retailer, tell em Martin the Fat Ninja sent ya. They know I mean business!

I’m very happy to announce that the three downloadable content packs for Valkyria Chronicles™ will be available on PSN for download on 16th April.

The content packs are as follows:
Hard EX Mode – fight your way through the entire Imperial army, where the enemies are more lethal and your main tank Edelweiss is unavailable. You’ll have to be more strategic in order to overcome your opponents.

Edy’s Mission “Enter the Edy Detachment” – six members have been separated from Squad 7 and on their journey to reunite with their squad, they stumble upon a tiny village under attack by the Imperial Army. Play as Edy and command your outnumbered team to defend the small village from annihilation.

Selvaria’s Mission “Behind Her Blue Flame”– Taking place right after the outbreak of Gallian battle lines, you play as Johann, a young and meek engineer assigned to Selvaria’s troop. See the action as it unfolds behind enemy lines and experience the war play out through the eyes of the enemy.

Each pack will be priced at £3.19 or €3.99 each

We’ve uploaded a load of new screenshots for this content; you’ll find them on on Flickr account.

Which pack are you most excited about, or are you going to grab them all?

If you’ve not picked this game up yet, then don’t delay, Amazon.co.uk are currently selling this for less than £25!!

Hi all – I realise that this is the SEGA Europe blog, but Australia happens to fall under the European remit and our friends on the other side of the world can clearly read this! I just want to point any Australian readers towards a new competition that will be running until 30th November.

To celebrate the release of Valkyria Chronicles SEGA Australia will be giving away 5 copies of the Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion V1 DVD. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is send an email with the subject heading ‘Anime Comp’ and include your full name, address, age, contact number and email and tell us in 50 words or less what you like most about anime. Please send competition entries to animecomp@soe.sega.co.uk.

For full terms and conditions of the competition, please check out the Valkyria Chronicles Competition page on SEGA-Australia.com. Please note this competition is only open to permanent residents of Australia aged 15 or older.

Over the next two weeks there are going to be trailers for Golden Axe: Beast Rider going up all over the place, in fact there are already some up with a new one today in the shape of the third beast Miragore.  That and we’ve even MORE trailers for Valkyria Chronicles and Samba De Amigo. So let me first hit you with the 4 latest GA:BR trailers.

Golden Axe: Beast Rider – Developer Diary #2 – Re-genesis

Golden Axe: Beast Rider – The Beasts #1 – Abarax

Golden Axe: Beast Rider – The Beasts #2 – Lynth

Golden Axe: Beast Rider – The Beasts #3 – Miragore

Now of course we’ve got the Valkyria Chronicles trailer that shows the gameplay mechanics and gives you a good idea of the look and style of the game… in action(!)
Valkyria Chronicles – Gameplay Mechanics Trailer

And finally the final final final Samba De Amigo trailer – gameplay trailer number three.