Ninety-Nine Nights 2 falling on NA this summer

When Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 in 2005, one of its prime directives was to gain a substantive foothold in Japan. To do so, the publisher signed on a variety of high-profile Japanese game developers to create games targeted specifically at the island nation, games like Ninety-Nine Nights from Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Q Entertainment and codeveloped by Kingdom Under Fire studio Phantagram.

And though Ninety-Nine Nights didn't fare particularly well with critics, Microsoft announced that it had tapped FeelPlus to develop a sequel for the Xbox 360 at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show. Today, Konami announced that it will publish the game in Europe this spring, with the game's North American release to follow this summer. Konami also redubbed FeelPlus' brawler as N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights.

N3II will be a direct follow-up to Phantagram's original, presenting a style of beat-'em-up action similar to Koei's button-mashing Dynasty Warriors franchise. Players can wade through hordes and hordes of enemies as one of five different factions, including humans, elves, and goblins. The five factions all have unique storylines, as well as race-specific skills and abilities. The game will also feature two-player online co-op, giving gamers a chance to team up to face down waves of enemies.

For more information, check out GameSpot's hands-on with N3II.