Nintendo News | Tecmo Reveals New DS Project

Following Masahiro Shidara-san's previous DS project, the stylish text-adventure game 'Kyotaro Nishimura Suspense Series: Deadly Intent', Tecmo has revealed to Cubed3 that the man also famed for his work on the Fatal Frame franchise is already hard at work on another DS game. The game is set to be called 'Penelope' and is based on the work of the traditional story from the well-renowned duo of Anne Gutman (the author) and Georg Hallensleben (the illustrator) that goes by the same name.

For those unaware, Penelope is a very cute three-year-old little blue Koala girl who has featured in numerous books, such as 'Penelope in the Winter', 'Penelope Says Good Night' and 'Penelope at the Farm'. The Penelope DS game is set to be one filled with charm so that families with small children can enjoy it on a daily basis. Penelope loves to play and learn and her adventures take her all over, teaching children lots of fun things via the books' special tabs approach, whereby readers can open up pages to uncover, for example, baby animals that have hidden themselves all over the farm. The DS game will reflect her many escapades and will aim to do what Shidara-san and the team did with the Kyotaro Nishimura DS game, attract an audience that would normally overlook the DS. However, clearly rather than going for the older demographic, Tecmo is trying something different in going for the under-10s sector.

Considering the vibrant and colourful nature of the books, clearly the same will be achieved on DS and the company is keen to make the portable game edition as attractive as the picture books.

But why would a Japanese developer bring a property such as this to DS, given its French roots? Well, since 2003 when the first book was published, 140 million copies have been sold around the world, with it being especially popular in Japan. In fact, a cartoon animation version is shown on TV over there, and DVD sales are strong as well. With other forms of property expansion proving popular as well, it becomes clear that a videogame is the next logical step for this loveable character.

So far Penelope for DS has only been confirmed as coming to Japan sometime in 2008, but given its European roots, presumably it will see a release over here at some point eventually.

In the meantime, be sure to check out Cubed3's preview of Kyotaro Nishimura's DS Suspense Series title on DS and let Tecmo know if you want the game brought to Europe by posting in the comments section of the article!

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