imabikisou posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Imabikisou's screenshots are slowly creeping up behind you

by Eric Caoili { Jun 25th 2008 at 12:30PM }

By themselves, these Imabikisou: Kaimei Hen screens barely register on the "scary scale" -- a highly advanced, experimental fear-measuring instrument that we purchased through eBay. When sorted into a collection, however, such as our massive gallery below, the images begin to grow a feeling of unease in your stomach as you peruse each shot.

Maybe it's the fact that none of the characters' faces are ever completely shown? Or perhaps it's the ambiguous, likely supernatural conflict that presumably connects all the images? We just hope that Sega decides to eventually bring this Chunsoft-developed visual novel, a port of a PlayStation 3 title (with two new chapters), to the States! Lock your doors, pull your curtains shut, and peek past the break for a creepy Imabikisou trailer.

Gallery: Imabikisou: Kaimei Hen

Continued →

Imabikisou goes to PSP ... through Remote Play

by Andrew Yoon { Nov 13th 2007 at 12:00PM }

Long-awaited Japanese horror game Imabikisou is playable on the PSP ... so long as you have a PS3, a wireless connection and Remote Play enabled. This makes the Sega-published visual novel game the third PS3 game that's playable on the PSP (Lair being the biggest game to use the feature so far).

Calling the game text-heavy would be an understatement. Considering the lack of action sequences in the game, the slow pace and engrossing atmosphere of Imabikisou make it perfect for those that have the equipment (and language skills) necessary to play on the go.

[Via Siliconera]

Imabikisou demo available on the Japanese PSN

by Jem Alexander { Oct 15th 2007 at 2:00PM }

It seems that Imabikisou, which suddenly appeared a few months ago in a copy of Famitsu, is almost to the point of being released in Japan. Who knew? Even more surprising is the fact that a demo has been plonked onto the Japanese PSN sometime within the last 24 hours. The 903 megabyte sneak peek is the first playable content of the game that we've seen. While it was at the show floor at Tokyo Game Show, there simply wasn't enough time for us to check it out. The game had quite long queues and, as a consequence, will probably do quite well over in Japan.

We're doubtful that we'll see the game released in any English speaking territories, but if you fancy seeing what it's like then go download the demo from the Japanese PSN Store. Sure it might be difficult to understand, but there are still pictures and sounds, right? Depending on whether we can decipher the demo for ourselves, we may be putting up some impressions of the game later on.

TGS07: Imabikisou, you're like an open book

by Nick Doerr { Sep 22nd 2007 at 11:45AM }

If you don't get the subject line's incredibly clever pun, so clever we're going to take a typing break to eat a cookie ... then tell you the game is an interactive horror novel. Anyway. Chunsoft and Sega are bringing this horror novel to life and from the Tokyo Game Show floor, life is a bit of a stretch. While interesting in concept, it sounds like plodding through walls of text and then selecting a path intermittently isn't as scary as we'd hoped. The strange choice was to use all live-action and real scenery in the background. Nothing pre-rendered, nothing animated.

Still, the production values are hailed as top notch and the backgrounds do have a breath of life in them. Fires will twist and dance, the hair on a character's head will flutter momentarily, and voice-overs are not uncommon. Rumble is also featured, adding a fairly scary jolt to your hands whenever a character screams or, we assume, windows break and/or hell breaks loose. Chances are this is import only, unless you trust Sega to write up a smart script and hire voice talents who can actually scream appropriately.

Sega and Chunsoft display Imabikisou trailer

by Nick Doerr { Aug 8th 2007 at 10:00AM }

Imabikisou looks like a mish-mash of Japanese horror movies, swirled together in a tasty bowl of graphic novel-like gameplay to deliver an insanely realistic experience to leave you breathless. Yeah, the trailer is about as weird as the "video" from the Ring movie, except it's in color. The best thing to do is to watch the video, tilt your head to the side, then decide whether or not you're interested in the game, brought to us by Sega, after seeing this very odd trailer.