Professor Layton Royale will be a crossover between the Layton franchise and Mobage operator DeNA’s own Kaito Royale series.

Remember when we mentioned Level-5, creators of Studio Ghibli project Ni no Kuni, was opening an office in Santa Monica? It’s open and currently has five employees working on games for the North American market.

A fascinating account of how the Professor Layton series was conceived by Level 5 president, Akihiro Hino.

Level-5 talk about the latest Professor Layton title at their Vision 2010 event.

News about a dinner meeting with Yoichi Wada, CEO of Square Enix, and Akihiro Hino, CEO of Level 5, chirped on Twitter.

Every puzzle has an answer and Professor Layton and the Unwound Future isn’t much of a riddle.

Level 5 is going a leap beyond licensing Professor Layton. Akihiro Hino, President, plans on bringing Level 5 (the company) to North America.

Nintendo’s president highlights the importance of games with a high “visibility in society,” citing sales performances of Style Savvy and Professor Layton as two examples of failed attempts with future potential.

Level 5 is expanding beyond their headquarters in Fukuoka. The Professor Layton and Inazuma Eleven developer opened a new office in Tokyo.

Can Layton solve the mystery behind a miracle giving mask? Of course! After all, Professor Layton and the Curious Village exists.

Level-5′s other two “secret” games, which may or may not have been Ushiro for PSP and Inazuma Eleven Break, weren’t in a state to be revealed unfortunately.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village sales were decent in North America, great in Japan, and phenomenal in Europe.

Level-5 teases Inazuma Eleven Future and both Professor Layton and Ni no Kuni projects for ROID.

Astounding then, that an up and coming publisher like Level-5 — far from the 320-pound* gorillas like Square Enix and Capcom — could not only introduce two new IPs in Japan in these past three years, but also successfully spin them off into other forms of media.