SUPER SWAG: THE EARTH DEFENSE FORCE ANT FARM

In what might be the greatest trade-show promotional move of all time, publisher D3 have shown off the swag they’ll be bringing to this year’s Tokyo Game Show: an official Earth Defense Force Insect Observation Kit, purchasable for the low price of ¥500, which I will be massively, sorely disappointed if a fellow journo/attendee doesn’t pick up for me.

If the amazingness is lost on you: the farm will be in promotion of Earth Defense Force 3 Portable, a PlayStation Vita remake of the elder Xbox 360 exclusive Earth Defense Force 2017 (the third iteration, but the first to come to U.S. shores), due out in Japan later this month.

The EDF series as a whole, which began with a discount-price original nearly 10 years ago, is a hugely under-appreciated B-game cult-classic: an action-shooter that pits you typically against little more than a stock-3D-model of an ant or a spider, sized up to 50-feet-tall, and then multiplied so there are hundreds coming at you at once. It’s an almost cardboard-thin but beautifully-balanced design made brilliant through perfect self-awareness of its own limitations.

In a surprise move, D3 has also just announced that developer Sandlot will be returning in 2013 with a brand new Earth Defense Force 4 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with the first trailer above coming in just hours ago, and a field of screenshots just in from Famitsu.

There’ll very likely be many more updates here coming over the next month as more details emerge, but in the meantime, you should familiarize yourself with the series, if you haven’t already, with a fast, cheap download to your 360, a decision I promise you will never regret.