In a press conference in Tokyo today, Japanese game publisher AQ Interactive announced new games for next-generation consoles, including a game for the Xbox 360 that is being developed with the assistance by the head of Mistwalker Studios, Hironobu Sakaguchi.
Established back in October, AQ interactive publishes games for three developers: Cavia (Drakengard, Beat Down), Artoon (Blue Dragon, Yoshi Topsy-Turvy), and Feel Plus (codeveloper on Lost Odyssey). Normally these developers have made games for other companies such as Square Enix and Microsoft, but have decided now to publish their own titles as well.
Sakaguchi himself was on hand today at the press conference to personally unveil his new action role-playing game Cry On. The game, being developed by Cavia, will mark Sakaguchi’s first attempt to make an action RPG, but he has lots of backing to make it work, including a budget of 1 billion yen ($8.5 million dollars) to get the project done.
The story of Cry On takes place on a fantasy world where humanity has been coexisting with subterranean giants that have been freed from their hibernation and are now being used as instruments of war. The games’ protagonist is a girl named Sally and she will be accompanied by her giant traveling companion, Boggle. Sakaguchi said he chose the game’s title for its dual connotations, as he remarked that tears from joy and sorrow, and he wants to make a storyline that elicits such varied emotions from players.
Cry On’s characters will be designed by Kimihiko Fujisaka of the Drakengard series, and its music will be composed by the famous Nobuo Uematsu, who’s also been working on Sakaguchi’s Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey.
The second game announced by AQ today was Bullet Witch, also being developed by Cavia. The story of this game is about a dark near future or 2013, where the appearance of demons have put humanity on the brink of extinction, and the player must walk into the conflict as a witch named Alicia. Equipped with a broom-shaped gun and powerful magic, players will do what they can to bring down the demon threat and save humanity.
The director of the game, Take Yoichi said that Alicia’s magic puts a number of catastrophic events under her control, such as typhoons and meteor showers that can turn entire levels into rubble. The enemies are designed to be quite large in scale, one example of which was a dragon big enough to swallow a commercial jet. While Bullet Witch will be heavy on the action, it will also feature a deep storyline that focuses on Alicia’s past as well. Bullet Witch is being planned for a Spring 2006 release in Japan.
The last game shown was called Vampire’s Rain and is being developed by Artoon for both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. This game revolves around a member of Special Forces named John Lloyd, who has been assigned by the government to track down vampires who walk among us and eliminate them. The game takes place in low visibility and heavy rain which will hinder the player’s efforts to identify vampires from ordinary people. Also, various modes will be offered for online play (including co-op) and players can chose to fight as or against the vampires. Vampire’s Rain is being produced by Artoon President Naoto Oshima, and is slated for release in Japan during winter 2006.
We will have more information on each of these games the moment it is known, so be sure to stay in touch with Advanced Media for the latest.
