Ah, yeah. More news that sets my old school 2D fighting heart a flutter. This news is kinda old, and I’m probably the only person in this community who cares about this game–let alone heard of the series of games. But, ‘yall know me. If it’s 2D, fighting, or a combination of the two, I’ve gotta mention it here.

Arcana Heart 3 is coming to Playstation3 and Xbox360 sometime this winter, and none other than Arc System Works is at the helm for coding duties for this project. Who is Arc System Works you might be asking? They are the creators of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger/Continuum Shift. If you haven’t played either of these games, you should. Not only is BlazBlue one of the best fighting games out there, it is one of the most gorgeous games around–period.

For those who don’t know, Arcana Heart is a series of AQ Interactive 2D arcade fighting games from Japan, that depict girls ranging from little kids, to college co-eds who beat the crap out of each other with super powered martial arts. Combat is fairly simple, but quite deep when you really start digging into it. I have the first two games released on Playstation 2 (in Japan) and they are a quirky blast to play (Arcana Heart 2 was a poor port of the arcade, and had a lot of gameplay issues–but it was still cool).

Now, Arc System Works is going to add their own special brand of digital magic to this series, and from the screens, its going to be awesome. Siliconera.com has some of the gameplay images, as well as art showcasing 3 of the new console only characters. Gameplay modes include 6 player vs online play, score attack, and arcade/story mode. The game is scheduled to be released in Japan sometime this winter, and there was no mention of a US release. Here’s hoping Arc System Works brings this game to the States. I have full confidence that the talented team at that company will take both graphics and gameplay of this series to new heights.

Read Siliconera’s write up and screen shots here.