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According to the latest scans, the mysterious "key girl" is Mikumo Ichijou, a thief whose targeted treasure is "truth".  the other revealed character is Makoto Yuuki, a high ranking prosecutor who views Edgeworth as his rival.  Apparently he's trained his reflexes in court through being a sports buff.  The first case (which implies the game will indeed have multiple cases) centers around a murder that takes place in Edgeworth's own office.

Unfortunately, the estimated release date as of right now is Spring 09.

The gameplay is apparently split up into 3 different phases:

Investigation Phase

Investigating the crime scene (and other areas) for clues, taking evidence into the court record.  Unlike in the normal AA games, it sounds like if you find a contradiction during this investigation phase, you can present pieces of evidence to something in the scene...?

Logic Mode

Once you think you have enough pieces of "information" you proceed to Logic Mode, where you combine evidence and info to try and solve how the crime was committed.

Confrontation

Confront people related to the cases by listening to their story and presenting evidence when they contradict themselves.  The article describes this as being almost exactly the same as the cross examination phases in any other AA game.

Other things we can infer from the new scans:

-We now have 7 confirmed characters: Edgeworth, Gumshoe, Mikumo, Makoto, and three unnamed.  Oldbag also appears to be in the background of one of the screenshots but we don't know yet if she'll be a game character.

-There appear to be at least 3 specific crime scenes so far, indicating at least 3 cases (unless one case has more than one dead body).  One in Edgeworth's office, one in a back alley (possibly outside a music venue, judging by the screen shots pictured with it), and one outside an abandoned funhouse.

-The newest screenshots picture Edgeworth and Gumshoe in what looks like part of the prosecutor's office, with life sized objecting statues.  This same location is shown in earlier scans, along with the blonde poofy-haired gypsy guy.