I Think Ninokuni Is Japanese for “Wow”
I know not every Topless Roboteer is an anime fan, but I assume most of you have heard of Hayao Miyazaki. You know, Academy Award winner for Spirited Away, the Walt Disney of Japan, the “god of anime.” Well, he and his Studio Ghibli have collaborated with Level 5, the guys who made the wonderful Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2, to make a game called Ninokuni. This is the point in which words fail me, and you just have to watch the video.
I understand that this game probably isn’t pushing the PS3 to its limits, but goddamn if it doesn’t look just like a Miyazaki/Ghibli movie. I don’t think I’ve ever seen cel-shading look or used better. The menu, with the little word balloons, is fantastic. And the environments are equally stunning; I can’t believe how close the game replicated the animation. I don’t think Ninokuni has been announced for America or anything yet, and I don’t know how well it would fare in America anyways.But still, I’ll be crushed if I don’t have a chance to play this. Thanks to Vinod for the tip!
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.