Sometimes we just can't figure out what Sony Computer Entertainment America is thinking. Their oft-mysterious decisions not to publish games that were developed even by international Sony teams just leaves us scratching our heads. Stuff like PaRappa was greenlit, but even releasing something like Vib Ribbon, which really didn't need any localization nor a marketing budget (how would you even market the thing?) was never given the go-head.

Others, like WipEout Fusion or Wild ARMs: Alter Code F (or Wild ARMs 4 had previous entries in the series picked up by Sony (hell, WipEout defined the PlayStation, and later become arguably the best PSP launch game[/game]), but were dropped later on. It's because of moves like this that we're never really sure what will come out here by way of SCEA -- even if other wings of Sony published the game in their respective territories.

Luckily, they're all too happy to take on the unenviable task of localizing and translating the encyclopedia-sized script for Rogue Galaxy by this October. Built by the boys and girls at Level-5, who are still riding high after a tidal wave of accolades for their work on Dragon Quest VIII, RG still retains the developers' trademark cel-shaded look and feel, but expands on the gameplay to encompass and adventure even longer than their last game (Sony is touting something in the area of 100 hours, but we've heard tell of as much as three times that).

Trading ships and thieves for... uh, ships and thieves in space, Level-5 has crafted something of a coming-of-age action RPG centered around Jaster, a kid living on the far-flung dirtball planet Rosa with dreams of getting off that rock and out into the inky black. Being at the edge of space means nobody notices your little planet, though, -- at least until an intergalactic war breaks out as a bunch of different races all realize your planet is rich in resources and aliens decide to enslave all the humans living on it.

Luckily, Jaster manages to get himself onto a ship after meeting Dorgengoa, a pirate who takes a shining to the boy, and the pair and the rest of the crew of the Dorgenark-Go head out search of a lost planet that holds the secret to immortality. Beyond that, we still have yet to figure out (on-the-fly translation isn't exactly our forte, and the pre-E3 event where Sony showed off the game didn't allow a ton of time to play around with the game.

Luckily, Rogue Galaxy's gameplay shines through just fine even through a language barrier. Level-5 has done a stunning job crafting a deep immersive world rife with detail in both the environments and the characters running through it. Not wanting to break that immersion, the developers went to great pains to stream nearly the entire game off the disc, meaning there are next to no load times after loading up a savegame.

This isn't restricted to just heading into buildings; battles are completely seamless, occurring as random encounters, but loading up without ever breaking out of the environment we were running around in. In a bit of a nod to Final Fantasy XII, you'll control one character while the AI handles the others.

As part of the process of bringing the game Stateside, each character will be given new attacks based on the weapon they're using. In fact, the near year of time between the Japanese and US versions of the game will be put to use ironing out the kinks from the first release, as well as the inclusion of an entirely new planet and section of the story.

We didn't even get a chance to play around with the game's wepon-crafting system (you'll actually inherit a factory that'll allow you to make your own weapons -- over 500 of 'em), nor the side quests that range from bug hunts to rate item collection to specialized battles, but we should be able to check things out as we get a little closer to E3. When it does finally hit in about a week or so, we'll be all over this game.