News of a North American release of the creative .hack has arrived from a rather odd place. A recent interview with voice actress Wendee Lee revealed her work on the localization of .hack, saying her part would take a year to record. With a large amount of experience in animé series, Ms. Lee fits in well with the highly animé-focused .hack, which will even be packaged with an original video animation DVD for the Japanese release.

In addition to the experienced voice actors, .hack will feature artwork by Neon Genesis Evangelion character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, as well as animation directors from other high-profile animé series. The game itself introduces the concept of a player portraying a gamer attempting to save a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing game before it melts down. The game will retail in Japan at the price of 5800 yen, or approximately $44.00, and though no concrete North American release date has been announced, RPGamer will bring news as it arrives.