Luffy’s next adventure is split into two parts

EvilGamerX’s comment (thanks for the tip!) about Namco Bandai’s next One Piece game prompted me to poke around for more information. The project’s temporary name is One Piece Unlimited Adventure 2, its final name is One Piece: Unlimited Cruise. Also Namco Bandai is going the .hack route with the pirate crew. There are two parts to One Piece: Unlimited Cruise. Episode one is scheduled to arrive in Japan in Summer ’08, episode two is slated for Winter ’08. Neither is confirmed for North America, we’re still waiting on One Piece: Unlimited Adventure to arrive in January ’08.

OK. Now we know more about One Piece: Unlimited Cruise, but now there is a new burning question. Why are there two episodes? Are we going to see original gameplay in each installment or did someone chop the game up?