New Love Plus 3DS Details Revealed at Christmas Event

The latest Love Plus tie-ups at more were announced at a Christmas event.

Konami held its first ever official Love Plus Christmas event at Tokyo Midtown yesterday. Titled "Love Plus Christmas Event Merry +mas 2010," the event saw the latest announcements for the Love Plus series, including the new 3DS version.

As reported at 4gamer (the leader when it comes to Love Plus coverage -- they held an unofficial Love Plus Christmas event last year), the event was attended by some 500 boyfriends. Overall producers Akari Uchida, producer Akihiro Ishihara and character designer Mino Taro were on hand for announcements.

Girlfriends Manaka, Rinko and Nene kicked off the event with songs and some banter. This was followed by announcement of the latest Love Plus tie-ups. Love Plus is teaming with Halls for a pink grapefruit flavor that will see release on January 31. You can see a commercial clip here:

A Love Plus VISA card is also on the way. This has a new illustration of the girls from Mino Taro, and comes with a student id card. The card accumulates points which can be used to obtain limited goods. Applications will be accepted later this winter.

Details on upcoming Love Plus games followed, first with the two arcade games Love PLus Arcade Colorful Clip and Love Plus Medal Happy Daily Life (The names are different, but these are the same two Love Plus arcade games that were shown at Tokyo Game Show). 4gamer has a clip of Colorful Clip showing a card game, a darts game and clothing from Konami's beatmania series.

Visit 4gamer for a shot of their Love Plus correspondent (the guy with the shades) holding printouts from Love Plus Arcade Colorful Clip. The arcade title has a "Shutter Plus" feature which allows you to snap pictures of your girlfriend in realtime as you play. At the end of play, the game prints the pictures for you.

(And now for this week's edition of Anoop Stalks the Japanese Press. 4gamer's Love Plus correspondent was also at Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIII premier event last year)

A few details on Love Plus 3DS followed. Ishihara revealed that the game will have the most voice in series history. There was also mention of the game carrying over your girlfriends and hairstyles from Love Plus +, along with mention of connectivity with the two arcade titles, although details on how these will happen were no shared.

The previously detailed feature where the girls will remember your face has the internal codename of "Kareshi Lock," or "Boyfriend Lock." When someone other than you plays the game, the girlfriend will ask "Who are you?".

A slide show analyzing the game's September promotional video ended with an announcement about the game's release date. It won't be February 26. This means no Love Plus 3DS at launch.

The event ended with a major announcement. Konami has started up "Love Plus Productions." This team will handle Love Plus, Tokimeki Memorial and the Tongari Boushi series -- any of Uchida's "love" and "communication" themed games.

Visit the newly opened Love Plus Productions site for a closer look at the studio's lineup, and visit 4gamer for pics from the Christmas event.