Elebits on Wii

I have to admit I haven’t been excited about the game industry for quite some time, but this year Wii seems to be changing that. What’s odd is that when I first heard about Wii my thinking was “this machine can’t live up to the hype” and sure enough I was right, because the deserved hype isn’t so much about the hardware as good old fashioned game design which feels much more innovative and more interesting than the usual “Football 2007” and “Yet Another More Realistic Shooter Game”.

Elebits on Wii is an example of one of those games that’s going to make the Wii a sure winner. Even from a casual glance Elebits from Konami looks like a fun game to play. The game design works like this:

“Elebits are creatures that serve as an energy source for the world, which strangely, suddenly go on strike. The name is a portmanteau of “electricity”, for their power, and “bits”, for their tiny size. As the player hunts the Elebits, the game world will slowly evolve.”

Here is a promotional video explaining the back story and some character designs:

And cuter yet here are some supersized Elebit mascots walking around NintendoWorld in Japan:

Elebits on Wii will be coming out sometime this December…