Even though Valkyria Chronicles 2 just got out the gate that’s not stopping Sega from pushing the franchise ahead. The company has accidentally announced that they will be debuting Valkyria Chronicles 3 at this week’s TGS. The snafu arose when the company released a .gif image announcing their lineup for the show, complete with an “unannounced game” to be shown on Thurs. However, some ingenious sleuths discovered that if the image was converted from a .gif to a .jpg a new schedule was revealed, with Valkyria Chronicles 3 showing up clear as day. So much for secrecy.
Then again, it’s not as though Sega has been working hard to hide their intentions on the latest entry in the franchise. Last week the company put up a teaser site strongly hinting at Valkyria Chronicles 3, and they’ve also already registered the Valkryia3.jp website. In short, try and act surprised on Thursday when the big reveal is made.
The only real mystery remaining is what platforms will host the new game. The original Valkyria Chronicles was a PS3 exclusive, while its recent sequel was released on the PSP. Is the series staying exclusive to Sony devices, or could this be the year when we see the franchise move to machines manufactured by Nintendo or Microsoft?
Though we’d normally call it a bit presumptuous to announce a new game in a series so soon after the last was released we’ll make an exception for Valkyria Chronicles. The strategy game is a quite unique experience and both games thus far have been quite impressive. While we continue to drown under the tide of rehashed shooters and action titles it’s nice to get a breath of fresh air from time to time, so we’re looking forward to more Valkyria, regardless of which platform hosts it. We’ll gladly take any excuse we can to flex our strategic muscle while blowing up tanks with rockets and point-blank range.