While North American and European gamers have been seeing the typical Square Enix fare recently, that is Final Fantasy ports/spin-offs/entries, the perpetuation of existing series like Kingdom Hearts and the occasional new title like The World Ends with You, Japan’s been seeing more unusual items. Nanashi no Game the first entry in a DS horror series from Square Enix, is one of those games.

Since Nanashi no Game‘s sequel, Nanashi no Game: Me, is going to making it’s Japanese debut soon, I figured now would be a good time to borrow and review a friend’s copy of Nanashi no Game…

Video games are designed to take players into an entirely new world. The goal of developers is to make this new environment identifiable, and to create an atmosphere where players can lose themselves in this virtual world and feel they’re a part of events taking place. An interesting mechanic that can be used to help players make a connection is to include some familiar aspects or tools from daily life into the game. Developers have been particularly successful in this endeavor when it comes to DS games.

When game developers choose to create a DS game in a manner where the DS a person is playing on is involved in the story, it can help break down reality’s boundaries. What if a game could really cause a person to die in a week? What if your DS could help you find your long lost father? Many times the scenarios presented by video games are totally unbelievable, but by including a familiar device, a story becomes more plausible.

Let’s look at Contact first. In this game you’re supposed to be helping an alien being, the Professor, and a boy he recruited named Terry, find the necessary components to repair his space ship. At the beginning of the game, the professor tells you that, while Terry is doing all the dirty work, you are using the DS device to control and guide his every move…

Happy Halloween everyone! In honor of the spookiest holiday of the year and the fortunate (or is it misfortunate) coincidence that my column would land on this date, I decided that it would be a good day to honor some particularly spooky Japanese video games.

All of the games below have never been released in the US, so hopefully you’ll learn about something scary and new that would delight while possibly frightening you. Then tonight, go out and trick or treat, party, watch a spooky movie or play a spooky game in honor of the holiday. I’m having two wisdom teeth removed today, so I know I’m in for a fright…