Ahem.
Hot on the heels of a Twin Peaks revival, Sony's decided to make Monday even crazier by announcing Vib Ribbon is coming to PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3 and Vita. It'll hit PlayStation 4 eventually, too.
Hallelujah!
When Sony mentioned Vib Ribbon multiple times at E3 earlier this year, the company seemed to be setting up a chance to right a great wrong: Vib Ribbon had never been released in North America. Instead, the tease came and went, and Vib Ribbon remained, essentially, lost to history.
This week, that will finally change.
"It was not my intention to rub salt in the Vib Ribbon wound, but to express my admiration for it as the genre-busting title it is and was," wrote SCEA CEO Shawn Layden in a blog post today. "My mistake was that I had assumed that everyone who had been around in the original PlayStation era would have had their chance to play the game. I had forgotten that the American gamer was effectively denied the opportunity. To mention it at E3 was to delight some and to squirt lemon in the eyes of others. For this, I apologize. It was not my intent to dangle the delight of Vibri in front of those who longed for but could not have. It was to make a point about having the courage, and talent, to break the mold. To do what your heart demands. To me Vib Ribbon--well, to be honest, Nanaonsha for that matter--has always been committed to that ideal. An ideal I wish to celebrate.
For the PS3 version, Sony's even managed to retain the ability for the game to generate new levels, based on the audio CDs you own. That is, if you still happen to own any audio CDs. It's unclear if that will be part of the PS4 version, but let's hope so.
"Sometimes games like Vib Ribbon require backing and belief that do not comport with the marketing wisdom of the day, or the forecasted financial upside. Sometimes you get behind a project because, well, you gotta believe," said Layden. "Vib Ribbon is finally making its way to North America, and the major catalyst was all of you who wrote, posted, blogged, tweeted that you wished to see this game come back and wanted your voice to be heard by the suits. Well, it has. Now I look to all of you experiencing this singular game for the first time."