More Details on GameCube MMORPG

We've previously mentioned Homeland, Chunsoft's cell-esque massive gaming coming to the Gamecube. Joystiq has a bit more information on the title, including what appears to be a hand holding mechanism in the game. From the article: "By holding hands with a fire spirit, for instance, you and everyone else in the chain gain the ability to traverse pits of lava without taking damage. By holding hands with a wind spirit, you gain the ability to blow obstacles out of your path. In battle, the hand-holding mechanic serves a few purposes."

Had to be said:

[ehlertjd]

By holding hands with a parent spirit, you can cross the street...

too bad

[turbopunk]

the company has no plans to officially release the game, much less release it in america.

acourding to to their website /* and ign had information about this too */ they are going to sell the game off thier website to japanese customers, and not shit the game to retail.

and i was looking forward to putting my gcn broadband adaptor to use . . .

Re:too bad

[Arctic Dragon]

"...they are going to sell the game off thier website to japanese customers, and not shit the game to retail."

Looks like retail stores are getting the shitty end of the deal.

Re:too bad

[turbopunk]

wow, that was quit a slip. it was supposed to be ship. of course, i does seem kinda fitting there . . .

Re:too bad

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, you are one non-typing motherfucker.

Re:too bad

[turbopunk]

eh, i think it's less of that and more the fact that i normally don't bother to go back and check what i wrote.

i mean, i'm a programmer, i only have to spell things consistently, not correctly . . .

So Obvious I'm Embarassed

[yotto]

Holding hands with a cheerleader spirit means you're going steady.

Re:So Obvious I'm Embarassed

[Guppy06]

No, it means you're doing her homework for her.

Let's all be friends.

[tommyth]

Holding hands? That has to be the lamest feature ever.

Coming Soon: Unreal 2K5! We've replaced running with skipping, and instead of bullets, you shoot love-beams. Also instead of robots, there's CareBears.

Re:Let's all be friends.

[Phisbut]

Holding hands? That has to be the lamest feature ever. Coming Soon: Unreal 2K5! We've replaced running with skipping, and instead of bullets, you shoot love-beams. Also instead of robots, there's CareBears.

That's similar to just about any lame argument I've heard against Nintendo and it's "friendlyness". Why is a game automatically considered as not good if it doesn't have blood and gore in it? Are you so starved for violence that you need it every single time you power up your console or PC?

If you're unable to appreciate a good game because of its lack of violence, then I pity you.

Re:Let's all be friends.

[DaveJay]

Exactly. When I want to blow things up, I go over to a friend's house and play PS2/XBox games. When I want to play WITH friends (and my wife) even when I'm playing against them, we pull out my gamecube and play WarioWare, Donkey Konga or Mario Kart.

Re:Let's all be friends.

[Guppy06]

"Holding hands? That has to be the lamest feature ever."

Whassamatta? Can't find someone to hold your hand?

"Coming Soon: Unreal 2K5! We've replaced running with skipping,"

They do that anyway with their constant jumping.

Re:Let's all be friends.

[likewowandstuff]

Shooting Care Bears? I think there would be a market for that. The mounted trophies might not go as well.

And holding hands with the "tin man"....

[LordPhantom]

...means you're "off to see the wizard"

Intriguing Idea

[blueZhift]

Jokes about handholding aside, there are some intriguing possibilities here. Could this be the sort of MMORPG we might eventually see released by Nintendo, the kinder, gentler MMORPG? And the idea of having individual GCs act as mini-servers opens up possibilities if you throw in a wireless adapter and DS support. Imagine a bunch of these set up in your typical college dorm! With enough nodes you've essentially set up a local virtual neighborhood.

and

[Joe the Lesser]

Holding hands with a wheat thresher will give you the power to... aauahauahahaghghg...

Hand-holding

[Pluvius]

Sort of like the auras in Warcraft 3 (and WoW, I presume), but a lot more fruity. Couldn't you just pat the fire spirit on the back or something?

Rob

Re:Hand-holding

[basics]

trueshot aura ftw!!

err...maybe

Hmm?

[say__10]

What happens when you cup a sprits balls?

Re:Hmm?

[say__10]

oops perhaps i should spell correctly. "What happens when you cup a spirits balls?" Sorry.

ICO

[wickedj]

ICO made you drag the princess everywhere while holding her hand. It worked well to develop an emotional attachment to the characters. Of course, I think the idea in this particular case is a little different. I don't see it working quite as well.