Troubled Irem Pulling Titles, Home Lounges From Japanese PSN

Struggling Japanese publisher Irem will be removing all of its downloadable titles from the Japanese PSN store on August 11, according to a report translated by Andriasang. Titles ranging from Irem Arcade Classics to Bumpy Trot Beagle Battle Tournament will be removed alongside associated demos, download content, videos and custom themes. Irem will also be closing down its PlayStation Home lounges in the country on September 1, according to the report. Irem has seen a string of difficult news in recent months, cancelling Disaster Report 4 and highly-anticipated RPG Bumpy Trot 2 in the wake of March's Japanese earthquake. And in May, longtime Irem designer Kazuma Kujo announced he was leaving the company to start new game development house Granzella. But not all the news from Irem is bad: Andriasang reports the company has just announced its first 3DS title, based on a pachinko series popular on Sony systems.