Born Under Punches

From Nokia to Nintendo: Ghostwire

Ghostwire trailer (mobile version).

Swedish developer A Different Game announced Ghostwire this morning, a game in which you find ghosts around your home using the DSi’s built-in camera and mic. It’s a really neat idea, and there are also puzzles and riddles you can solve to help the spirits find peace.

This augmented reality game actually began its life on mobiles, as shown above. Nokia even awarded the studio €40,000 ($56,000) last October for its Mobile Games Innovation Challenge. Looks like that cash went towards bringing Ghostwire not just to handsets, but to DSi. It’s strange to think that Nokia sort of funded this project!

Screens from the Ghostwire mobile (click for more):

Tentative story:

“1903. Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the radio, claims to have recorded the voice of his father. His father had been dead since eight years. 2002. Globus Electronics lab in Kobe claim that digital signal processors can communicate with ghosts.”

Interestingly, JC and I came up with a very similar idea for a DSi game using the system’s cameras several weeks ago, except instead of ghosts, the title featured ninjas. In fact, we called it What Is The Deal With All These Ninjas.

The concept was that you’d use the DSi’s camera to find ninjas hidden in shadows. Once you located them, you’d throw a shuriken or engage them in some other minigame, recruiting them into your growing clan.

We attached some flimsy Suikoden-style story over it, with a quest to locate other clans online or locally, to bring together all the descendents of the disciples of the 36 chambers. It was a pretty crazy concept!

See also: Trailer for Yamake, Three awesome-looking Gameloft mobile titles that I want on DSiWare