Working Designs release date update

[01.04.00] » Vanguard Bandits delayed, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue production update, Lunar: Silver Star Story for PC, and yet another mystery RPG in the works. Whew!

   Publisher Working Designs today updated their official release date of upcoming titles for 2000, practically confirming their first foray into PC game publishing and revealing release date revisions on existing PlayStation titles. First up, upcoming strategy RPG title Vanguard Bandits (previously known as Detonator Gauntlet) was delayed once again, this time to a specific release date: March 27th. The name change, forced by legal pressure from Gauntlet Legends' publisher Midway, was also reiterated in the update. (A new logo for the game is now available.)

   Second, Working Designs president Victor Ireland had earlier hinted at "a really big announcement for y'all just after the first of the year." While no great fanfare was made in today's company website update, the "announcement" likely comes in the form of a silent addition to their release date listings: Lunar: Silver Star Story for the PC, due out sometime in Spring 2000. The news backs up previous rumors that the company was planning a PC port of their PlayStation RPG, which sold over half a million copies in the US. Curiously enough, when the E3 '99 guidebook listed Lunar: Silver Star Story as both a PC and a PSX title, Ireland rebuked the PC listing as "a misprint."

   Lunar's sequel, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, also received a website update. The game has been narrowed down for a late Spring 2000 release (likely around early June), but Working Designs has included a 5 minute demo movie for the sequel with the now-shipping Silhouette Mirage. The movie features assorted battle, anime, and story sequences.

   Finally, the company has also resumed the tradition of listing a "mystery RPG" in their release schedule. The unnamed PlayStation RPG has been slated for release in Fall 2000.