Four years later: Koei’s PS3 exclusive Ni-Oh still in development
More than a year before the Sony PlayStation 3 was released, Koei was already talking about an ambitious new project of theirs called Ni-Oh. Sadly, it dropped out of the radar shortly before the PS3 launch. Almost four years on and it appears that Koei still hasn’t given up on it, though.
More than a year before the Sony PlayStation 3 was released, Koei was already talking about an ambitious new project of theirs called Ni-Oh.
Based a script made by the legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, Ni-Oh featured a half-Japanese protagonist and a bunch of monks assigned to protect Buddha. It was supposed to be an action game that “takes full advantage of the PS3 hardware.”
Sadly, it dropped out of the radar shortly before the PS3 launch. All gamers got to see was some trailer footage and not much else. A planned movie tie-in was also canceled.
Almost four years on and it appears that Koei still hasn’t given up on it. According to the latest Weekly Famitsu issue, a Koei PR guy has said that Ni-Oh is still being eagerly worked on. No target release dates were mentioned, but it has shown up on GameWave with a Winter 2009 listing.
Until we hear any more about this game, check out this old preview vid. This is from 2005, so the final product may be loads different, but hopefully in a good way.
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Via PS3Hyper