Let's just get excited about this right now.
Nintendo World Report and 1UP are reporting that the next Fatal Frame game is coming to Wii.
First of all, I'm just thrilled that Fatal Frame 4 exists. Regardless of platform. They could do it as a PS2 game and I'd be there for it. But obviously Tecmo is going with Wii because they want to take advantage of the Remote controls.
Theory time.
The possibility exists that Fatal Frame Wii will be a huge departure from the franchise thus far. Maybe all third-person to simplify the controls. Maybe it's Fatal Frame: the Mini-Game Collection. But I'll be an uber-fan and assume that FF4 will arrive largely similar to the current Fatal Frame formula.
The news reports seem to be sure about Four, rather than a port of any of the previous games (although I'd buy Wii-ified versions of those as well... can you dig a Fatal Frame trilogy disk that included all the games, strung into one long narrative?). So we're likely getting a new, original Fatal Frame story. Although I can probably assure you that it will involve some kind of ancient maiming ritual and a camera that channels psychic energy. However, I would be surprised to see it land as "Fatal Frame 4"... I should think they would start a new brand so as not to ward off Wii owners who have never heard of the first three games in the series. Something like "Fatal Frame: Numberless Subtitle With Camera-Related Pun."
So what about that waggle? Historically, Fatal Frame is a third person adventure/exploration game with first person combat controls. Naturally, the Remote would handle the first person bits by pointing and gesturing.
But the Remote seems more like a flashlight when you hold it... what if you have to enter camera mode by shifting the Remote to a fully upright position, as if you're hoisting the side of a big, box-style camera? Your Nunchuk hand would probably automatically pair with your Remote hand, so it would feel like you're actually holding the famed Camera Obscura. Of course, this means the pointer of the Remote is looking at the ceiling, so we'd have to rely solely on motion sensing to change the camera's onscreen viewfinder. Point the Remote back at the screen and you leave combat controls and your right hand returns to a flashlight for third person.
The game could also take a well-deserved page from Resident Evil 4 and run the third person sections as over-the-shoulder (which is better for a pointing-Remote-flashlight anyway). Fatal Frame obviously owes quite a bit to the original-flavor RE games, so there is no shame in continuing to follow suit.
Shaking the Remote would break you out of a ghost's grip, that seems easy enough. Maybe even cause the character's arms to flail wildly (remember, Fatal Frame is not about competent, professional ghost-hunters; it's about average people trying to survive), so you could get through a fog of bats or a hallway of grasping ropes with minimal damage.
How about shaking the Nunchuk to cause gentle tingly bells to ring?
The Wii also offers possibilities outside of the controller. We need to be able to save ghost photos to our Wii Message Center and send them to other Wii owners.
We need to be able to save ghost photos to our Wii Message Center and send them to other Wii owners. Do I have to say it a third time?
Certain ghost sound effects should come out of the Remote speaker... I thought that was creepy enough in Twilight Princess, imagine it being used in an actual horror game.
I would not be above the game inserting some hidden ghosts (passive spirits who appear only for points, not for combat) that are spectral versions of your Miis.
Fatal Frame 4 should be the first Wii game to use the glowing blue disk slot as part of the game. IE, your camera's ghost-sensing filament. Play in darkness and experience that eerie ice blue lighting up your entire room.
And of course, the biggest FF dream concept: Tecmo should make a special camera-shaped controller. The wireless age of console gaming means that theoretically any stupid controller shape is possible... and far more immersive than a cabled version could allow. (I'm still shocked that Nintendo hasn't marketed a Poke Ball-shaped Remote controller.) Let's go for broke and give this real life Camera Obscura an LCD display and SD card slot, so you can use it even when not playing FF4 to take pictures around your house. Of course, these pictures would mysteriously develop with spirits appearing in the dark shadows of your snaps, just like Japan's cellphone-only Fatal Frame game from a few years back.
I suspect we'll have plenty of time to moon over this. The team tapped for this game is currently on No More Heroes, a bigtime Wii release that isn't out until next year. We're not seeing this Fatal Frame game until 2009.
