Today we spoke with SCEA Producer Nao Higo, who is working on the localization for Level 5's massive-scale PS2 RPG Rogue Galaxy. We expected to hear the standard song and dance with this title, but we were given a special announcement: Level 5 has added content exclusively for the US version.

For those of you that don't know, Rogue Galaxy is an Action RPG in the same vein as Dark Cloud 2. This time, you control a band of space pirates searching for the galaxy's greatest treasure, hidden on an obscure and hard-to-reach planet called Eden. This interplanetary aspect of the game is what allowed Level 5 to add an entirely new planet for American gamers to explore.

Also, the battle system has been significantly tweaked. While you control any of three players (the other two run on a sophisticated AI system), you collect orbs to fill up a drive gauge to unleash massive combos (much like in Kingdom Hearts II). In the Japanese version, combos were performed at random: reviewers and players found this to be frustrating. Hence, Americans are getting an upgrade in this regard as well.

Rogue Galaxy boasts a minimum of 45 hours of play, with anywhere between 70 and 100 hours to "complete" the game (side quests etc.). Expect the game to hit US shores before the end of 2006.