New lawyer is named Odoroki Housuke.

Odoroki means "surprise". 

The female lead is named Mineki.  She's a magician.

This new series is set 7 years after GS3.
I hope we see some cameos from other GS characters.

http://www.famitsu.com/interview
If you want to see the creator interview in Japanese, the password is osakedaisuki.

English:
http://ds.ign.com/articles/712/712982p1.html
It's coming out end of 2006.

There's some old characters coming back.

In the screens, you can see Prosecutor Payne sportin' a hideous new 'do.

the First case is a Russian theme.

Wow, that's pretty fast.  Isn't the remake of 2 not scheduled to come out until early 2007?  Or is that just an American localization of it?

AKAIK, the remake of GS2 has only been announced for the U.S.  Has anyone heard of a Japanese release for it?

Mullet chops for the win, baby!

IGN must be condemned to hell for continuing to make the mistake that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was based on Gyakuten Saiban 3.

The game looks to be on the same timeline as the previous games.  The other rumors are as such, culled from The Court Records forums:

- The main prosecutor will be named Hakanai Shun'ichirou.
- Naruhodou (Wright) disappeared in pursuit of a case, and it is unknown if he's alive or dead, and Mitsurugi (Edgeworth) taught Odoroki, who was also involved in that case
- Odoroki becomes a lawyer to search for Naruhodou.
- Minuki is also involved in said case. Seems to be the equivalent to case DL-6 in GS1

And a translation, taken from the interview:

Q. What kind of person is Odoroki?
Taku: A hot blooded, mischeivous, lively young man.

Q. What's that bracelet on his left arm?
Taku: It's symbolic -- you'll understand once you see the logo. But please don't try to guess. We'll be embarrassed if you get it right.

Q. What role will Minuki-chan play?
Taku: Same as Mayoi. (Maya)

Q. Why is she a magician?
Taku: Felt like it... (laughs). She's kind of like a tradesman's daughter who sees everything in terms of money. Like "This testimony is worth 350 yen!" or something (laughs).

Q. What's her personality like?
Taku: She's a precocious young girl, the kind that stands up on her toes to get at you (laughs)

Q. And the name Minuki?
Taku: I wanted it to be an unusual name. But I hear people wonder about the "nu".
Matsu: "Nu" doesn't sound right in a girl's name (laughs)

Q. And Odoroki's name?
Matsu: He was almost named "Ikinaki-kun" (laughs) *("ikinari" = "all of a sudden")
Taku: It was hard finding kanji for his name.
Matsu: The "doro" is a little... but we thought it would be okay as long as we had the "o" and "ki" in there.
Taku: If he ends up being no good we'll change it to "odoroki" (laughs)

Ack!  Winston Payne actually grew more hair?

Why didn't the judge age in the 7 years?  heh

It would be interesting if Edgeworth trained the new defense attorney.  It brings his background story full circle.

I'm new to the Phoenix Wright/GS series, so I have a question: Which GS game is the US Phoenix Wright?

It's a remake of the original game in the series + an extra case (making 5 total, as opposed to the original 4.  It's a pretty hefty addition!).

Awesome, man! Thanks.

I'm working my way through the third case, right now. Will Powers, you will not go down in vain.  *slams palms on desk*

Powers is like a great big teddy bear to me.  ^_^ 

You're remembering to 'Press' on every statement in the cross-examinations, right?  If it doesn't lead to something informative, it almost always leads to dialogue that's amusingly entertaining.  ;)

I went back to the first case to press all of Frank's testimonies, since they didn't formally teach me how to 'Press' until case two.

Seriously! He's so big and harmless. I know he's innocent. He just needs a hug.

Yeah, since case two I've been Pressing every part of the testimony. I need to work on my evidence pushing though... sometimes I'll just blank out and present something stupid and get a point taken off. I hate it too, because I'll be on to something, and then Phoenix goes through his, "Your honor! What do you think about the witness' testimony?" bit, and I realize I'm in trouble. >_<

But, yeah. Thank you again for the recommendation and links, Angela. This is seriously an amazing, amazing game. I can't believe people have a DS and don't have Phoenix Wright.

Well, the new game with the new lawyer is coming out
April 12.

THere's a special box set where you get a dvd where you get all the trailers/promos from the previous years, and DS cartridge that contains names, case files.

There's also a pair of red headphones, but I think they're dumb looking anyways.

I'm actually excited to be finally playing this game after such a long wait.....

SPOILERS

The Psycho-lock feature seems to have been removed. That's a shame, I actually liked that feature.

Not sure if there's a English language ability...While I can read better now, it sure would be nice to have....

Ema Skye makes her return.
She's grown up from a cute 16 year old to 25 year old.
She's becomes one of the CSI type people with her luminol techniques.
Oddly, she's aged 9 years.

The game is supposed to be 7 years in the future.....

I'm wondering where Lana is...

Your archrival this time is your mentor's brother.
He's a prosecutor/rock star....

Yeah and then....there's Phoenix....
WTF happened him in all these years?
I'm in shock....

END SPOILERS>>

Yes, but keep in mind that Ema was 16 years old by the end of the first Gyakuten Saiban.  Each successive game takes place one year later, so when you think about it that way, 25 sounds about right.

oh yeah. I forgot about that .
That makes sense now.

Thanks Angie!