Alpha Unit reveals first DSi-only game: Monster Finder.

If you’ve never heard of Alpha Unit, it’s the same Japanese publisher behind Rhythm de RunRunRun, Darts Wii, and other titles that never made it to the States. I suspect it wouldn’t be a great loss if this also remained in Japan, as even its title sounds like an awful ripoff of Monster Hunter.

As for why it’s DSi-only, some speculate it will use the system’s cameras for capturing/battling monsters, much like PSP’s Inivizimals, which actually looks kind of fun. Expect Monster Finder to release in Japan this Winter.

Kotaku’s sources say DSi-only games will hit stores in the U.S. as soon as this holiday season, and will come packaged as white cartridges in white game cases. I have a feeling most of the third-party DSi-only games (and probably some first-party titles, too) released this Fall/Winter will be crap, just like Ubisoft’s DSi-enhanced games so far.

One more big news item for the morning — Capcom is working on Okamiden, a new Okami for DS:

[Update: IGN posted details on Okamiden and says it stars Chibiterasu, a baby version of Okami’s wolf:

“The switch to the DS brings about some major changes thanks to the stylus. Capcom will be letting you use the stylus to make direct drawings with your Celestial Brush. Your uses of the brush once again include such things as drawing circles to make trees spring to life with flowers and drawing lines to slash enemies.

Also new for Okamiden is the presence of partner characters for Chibiterasu. Chibiterasu has to work together with the partners in order to progress.

As an example, there’s a section of the world where the two have to cross a crumbling bridge. They wouldn’t be able to get across with the partner riding on Chibiterasu’s back. To clear this part of the game, you’ll have to make use of the stylus to draw out a path for the partner character to follow on his own. Once the partner crosses to the other side of the bridge, you can directly move Chibiterasu across the bridge.”

[Via Famitsu]

tags / famitsu / alpha unit / monster finder / dsi / okamiden / capcom / okami / ec