Fatal Frame 4 made a serious splash for Wii-owners when Tecmo revealed that it would be a Wii-exclusive title.  I mean one of the scariest franchises in gaming coming exclusively to a “casual” console?  The fact that this franchise has always been a PS2 exclusive?  That’s a big deal.  Well, new details have surfaced regarding the title, and the news is bound to make almost any Wii-owner happy.

The first details are regarding the staff of the project.  The title will once again be directed by Shibata Makoto.  Keisuke Kikuchi returns as a producer for the franchise.  That’s all well and good, but the real shocker is that Suda 51, visionary director of Killer 7 and No More Heroes, is also working on the project.  Suda’s role, according to IGN, is acting as second-director on the project.  With these names attached to the project, good things are bound to come of this.

The other news is that this title is a full-on partnership between Nintendo and Tecmo.  Basically, the situation is similar to that of Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube, and the relationship between Nintendo and developer Silicon Knights.  Nintendo will be publishing the product and, according to rumours, will even be working on some aspects of the project in-house.  But that last note is only speculation.  In fact a lot of speculation has arisen about the project.  Some are reporting that Nintendo has fully-purchased the license itself.  Either way, the core audience on Wii has something to truly celebrate.

Never played/heard of the franchise, though?  Well here’s a simple rundown.  Each game in the franchise is a very singular story, so you don’t need any backstory.  The titles usually revolve around haunted, creepy locales such as haunted houses or towns.  Some of which are based off of real haunted locations such as the house in the first game which was apparently home to numerous grisly murders, strange rooms, and apparently, underground tunnels leading to other homes.

Anyways, the game doesn’t really let you ‘fight’ the ghosts and paranormal beings which attack you.  I mean would a pistol really do anything on a ghost?  Instead, you’re armed with a special camera, and while the game is usually in a third-person perspective, when you bring up the camera, you’re thrown into a first-person view.  While in this view, you need to face the ghost coming at you, and at just the right time, you’ll need to take a picture, harming the specter.  The concept is creepy, unique, and it’s simply freak.

Wii-owners really have something to be happy about here.  This will undoubtedly be one of the best-looking titles we’ve seen on the platform thus far, and the high level of quality attached to the franchise makes this even more exciting.  No release date yet on the title in North America (while Japan is slated to get it this year), but expect more news in the coming months.