Steins; Gate is a visual novel from developers 5pb and Nitroplus that has been released on numerous platforms over the past six years, with its debut in Japan on Octoer 15th, 2009 on Xbox 360 and the most recent port on March 31st, 2014 for PC. The PS Vita version was released in Japan on March 14th, 2013 and was set to officially come west some time this year. Shopto.net has posted a preorder for the Vita version in Europe in early April, which can be seen here.
Steins; Gate has a significant following in both the gaming and anime communities. There are many spinoffs and adaptations, from anime and manga to drama CDs and an internet radio show (just to name a few). In the story for the game, protagonist Rintaro Okabe develops a means by which he can send text messages into the past and through the course of events this ultimately leads to developments that allow for the moving of a person’s consciousness into a past version of themselves. Both of these methods of time travel can have significant effects on the future, as one might well expect, and the plot centers around his attempts to prevent the death of a girl named Kurisu Makise from happening by time hopping to circumvent disaster. The game is filled with wonderful storytelling, beautiful artwork, interesting characters and numerous plot twists. Even better, the choices the player makes and the messages he decides to send and receive directly determine the game’s ending
Here is a video clip of the opening cinema for the Japanese version of Steins; Gate on PS Vita.
Steins; Gate will be released on April 10th, 2015 for PS Vita in Europe. The Vita port was announced for North America but no release date has been confirmed as of yet.
