The 3rd Birthday Message Board

Despite what many game developers believe, people don't actually get amnesia all that often. Just because it's been 11 years since Parasite Eve 2 doesn't mean the series' following has completely forgotten about the two titles narratively linked to, and preceding, The 3rd Birthday.

So here's the warning for PE die-hards: This isn't Parasite Eve 3 and makes no attempts to be that. No, this is a whole new animal, an unusual but workable "tactical-action RPG" unfolding as linear missions carried out by the returning Aya Brea.

Is this a birthday to celebrate? We dive into the next video game in the Parasite Eve series and deliver the final word in our official The 3rd Birthday review!

PSP owners rarely get the sweeter end of the deal in these European PSN updates, but this week they've pulled in a pretty sweet haul. Sure, the PS3 still gets Chime Super Deluxe, Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime, Swarm and Moon Diver -- but PSP owners get The 3rd Birthday, Aedis Eclipse: Generation of Chaos and all the deals. Check out the full list after the jump!

Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Yvonne Strahovski and Jensen Ackles talk about their characters and their story in The 3rd Birthday.

Gabrielle knows who those eyes belong to, so she decided to do something.

Jump right into the action and clear out a decayed urban wasteland.

Get a peek at the DNA mutation control mechanics in this gameplay from 3rd Birthday on PSP.

Aya faces the consequences of her actions in this cutscene from The 3rd Birthday.

Some of you gamers out there might recognize the name Aya Brea. She fought a whole bunch of nasty monsters in the original Parasite Eve games, which first appeared on the PlayStation in the late '90s. But Aya's troubled journey isn't over. The 3rd Birthday marks the return of the Parasite Eve series and the gun-wielding Aya Brea...

Meet the team at CTI who'll be backing you up as you battle the unforseeable evil in The 3rd Birthday!

Aya battles her way through hordes of mutated enemies in this gameplay from 3rd Birthday on PSP.

Is this a birthday to anticipate? Take a first look at The 3rd Birthday with our official preview.

The ESRB has rated 1998 PlayStation game Parasite Eve for the PlayStation 3 and PSP, a sure sign that the game will receive "PSone Classics" status at some point, likely coming to the U.S. PlayStation Store before the latest entry, The 3rd Birthday, ships stateside on March 29. More »

It looks like the North American PSOne Classics selection will get a little closer to catching up to the Japanese store soon -- and in the category that really counts: vintage Square RPGs. An ESRB rating has popped up for a PlayStation 3 and PSP release of Parasite Eve.

Square Enix hasn't said when the action RPG will be available; however, the mitochondria in our brains are telling us that we can likely expect it around the March 29 release of The 3rd Birthday on PSP. It was released about a month in advance of that PSP game in Japan.

[Thanks, Brian]

Square Enix announced today that The 3rd Birthday will come crying and cold into the world of UK retail on April 1, no joke. The company also reiterated the game will be availalbe in a "Twisted Edition" for the region. For those in North America, the due date will be a few days earlier on March 29.

The publisher also released the English version of the Japanese trailer that you may remember from late last year. It's still depressing in Englishl; see for yourself after the break.

Who am I? Answer this question with bullets.

Aya Brea's grand return to the world of video games, The 3rd Birthday, is being marked in Europe by the release of a special "Twisted" edition. Available this spring, the Twisted Edition includes a UMD copy of the game, along with a 48-page "CTI Confidential" art book, two "deluxe" lithographs, and a code to unlock an Aya Brea costume for Lightning in the Dissidia sequel.

The image of the pack released by Square Enix suggests that no one part of this bundle isn't covered with pictures of Aya Brea.

The 3rd Birthday, the PSP action-RPG entry in Square Enix's Parasite Eve series, comes to North America on March 29, 2011. Yvonne Strahovski (Mass Effect 2's Miranda) will voice series heroine Aya Brea. More »

The Parasite Eve sequel to arrive in North America on March 29 with celebrity voice talent.

We were expecting an evite or maybe one of those crazy JibJab animations, but instead Square Enix just issued a press release announcing that The 3rd Birthday, the PSP-exclusive installment of the Parasite Eve series, will hit North American store shelves on March 29. The title, which was originally under development for mobile phones, will retail for $30. This is a UMD-only release with no plans for a downloadable PSN version at present. We can only imagine that Square Enix is prepping a game card version for Sony's "NGP" platform.

In announcing the release date, the publisher also confirmed the casting of two well-known TV names for the main characters' English voice overs. The game's star, Aya Brea, will be voiced by Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah on Chuck) while Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester on Supernatural) plays Kyle Madigan. The cast of Jersey Shore was evidently too busy at the gym, doing laundry and tanning to participate.

#squareenix Survival horror game The 3rd Birthday is heavy on fan service (tentacle anyone?). For example, there's an unlockable shower scene. And if you watch that, Square Enix just might know it. More »

A costume modeled after Final Fantasy XIII's surly heroine, Lightning, is hidden in fellow Square Enix offering The 3rd Birthday. To unlock it, all players have to do is sign up for the game's official members site after completing the game -- or, if you're a madman, by beating the game 30 times.

#screengrab Spotted (via Siliconera) in PSP title The 3rd Birthday, one of several in-jokes the game has. More »

Whether it's due to its significant lack of collectible monsters, or the considerable length of time since the last installment in the Parasite Eve franchise, Square Enix's The 3rd Birthday didn't have the strong debut showing on the Japanese sales charts to which the publisher is likely accustomed. The game placed sixth on the weekly Media Create rankings, pulling in 140,000 during its first week on Japanese store shelves.

The game was buried under continuing top-sellers Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, which placed first with 404,000 units sold, and Pokémon Black and White, whose 165,000 units sold pushed the twin titles dangerously close to the five million mark. That's a whole lot of monochromatic monsters.

Play through The 3rd Birthday Dress as some of the Square Enix heroines including Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII.

Dive into the body of your allies and use their weapons and abilities for extra firepower and ammunition in Aya's fight against the twisted monsters of The 3rd Birthday.

No matter how much awesome J-rock this trailer for The 3rd Birthday has, there's no way we can see it as anything but super depressing. We don't know exactly what the problem is ... oh, maybe it's that opening shot of a bloody woman in a wedding dress asking who she is. Yeah, that's probably it.

#psp The latest entry in Square Enix's Parasite Eve franchise shows off more gunplay and more of heroine Aya Brea wearing only her, dare I say, birthday suit. More »

Aya Brea brings her mysterious mitochondria to the Sony PSP to celebrate the Japanese release of the 3rd Birthday in time for the holidays.

#the3rdbirthday Japanese actress Rei Okamoto might not be voicing protagonist Aya Brea in upcoming PSP title The 3rd Birthday, but that doesn't stop her from posing with a pistol and dangerously short shorts. More »