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Posted by John Layfield on Wednesday, 06 August 2008 Konami Corporation has trademarked the name "Suikoden Tierkreis" in North America for use with "video game software". Could these mean a new release in our favourite series? Perhaps, seeing as this is how news of Suikoden Tactics first reached our ears, through a similar trademark. However any Square-Enix fan who remembers Chrono Break knows to remain at least a little cautious. For those of you pondering the meaning of the word "Tierkreis", it's German for "Zodiac". Suikoden Tactics was first discovered via a similar trademark made by Konami on April 18, 2005. While considered slightly suspect at first (Konami have a small history of trademarking lots of terms they'll likely never use "just in case"). We all know that Suikoden Tactics turned out to be very real indeed. Another similarity is that the trademark has only been made in the United States thus far and not Japan. This also happened with Suikoden Tactics, likely because there seems to be a greater chance of legal confusion regarding the American system, at least as compared to the Japanese. Given the title (Tierkreis meaning Zodiac in German) and comparing with the also slightly esoteric Japanese title for Suikoden Tactics, Rhapsodia, it would not be entirely foolish to presume that this entry, if it manifests to anything playable, is likely to be another side-game in the series and perhaps even another Strategic RPG, in the same vein of 2005's Rhapsodia/Suikoden Tactics. If the wait for information and pictures of this potentially new Suikoden game follows a similar pattern to Suikoden Tactics, however, we could be waiting for news until October, which is shockingly (or not, if you see where I'm going with this), the month where the Tokyo Games Show is being held (From the 9th to the 12th). Other possibilities include a connection to the Star Dragon Sword, rendered more accurately in Japanese as the Zodiac Sword (星辰剣). Suikoden V brought with it some additional intrigue surrounding the Night Rune, the Star Dragon Sword's natural form, with the character Zerase, her Star Rune and focus on the Night Rune as well as tales of how the Night Rune abandoned the Sun Rune due to jealously, forcing the creation of the Dawn and Twilight Runes to keep the Sun Rune balanced. Whatever happens in the end, the least fans of the series are hoping for however, is just some confirmation and a continuation of this long-lasting series. |
