It’s now almost to the point that we’re desensitized to anything weird or crazy that comes from Japan. It’s their job, and they’re doing it well, so we sometimes it all starts to run together. But, just when you were least expecting it, Japan hits us with something like SEGA’s upcoming Wii title Miburi & Teburi to remind us once again how messed up they are.
Miburi & Teburi almost defies explanation, but would best be described as a gesture-based crossword puzzle quiz game featuring costume play. Hey, I don’t make this stuff up, I just write about it.
I won’t pretend to fully understand exactly how the gameplay works, but I don’t know that even Famitsu fully gets it. We do know that gestures are associated with words in the word puzzle. It seems that players watch gestures and then guess the associated word. The game will give hints, by way of additional letters or even sounds, to those who have trouble guessing. It sounds like an insane Japanese take on Wheel of Fortune.
This puzzling puzzle game (which is listed under the “Etc.” genre on SEGA Japan’s Web page) combines live-action costumed girls and heavily bearded men with a digital cardboard cutout visual style reminiscent of old SEGA CD games. It sounds like a match made in hell, but the screenshots from Famitsu seem to draw you in, making you want to play out of curiousity.
Miburi & Teburi will be coming to Nintendo Wii in Japan sometime in 2008, though no price has been decided. It’s hard to say if anything like this would succeed outside of Japan, but times are changing, and their crazy seems to be rubbing off on others.
Weirdest new game? Definitely.
