Japan Goes Countdown Crazy: Sega, Marvelous Join CC2
Countdown sites appear for mystery Marvelous game and a new title from Phantasy Star Universe producer.
By Nick Des Barres, 01/13/2009
Last week, CyberConnect2 of .hack and Naruto fame revealed a mysterious countdown on their website -- and it's still ongoing, set to end January 16. Today, two more maddeningly obscure countdowns have appeared on the Japanese interwebs, courtesy of your friends at Sega and Marvelous.
Sega's countdown offers more information than the impenetrably abstruse Marvelous page (see below), with a giant "Takao Miyoshi produce" announcing the game as a work by the Sonic Team senior member and Phantasy Star Universe producer. More mysterious is the familiar-looking pixel mushroom, which reminds us of nothing so much as a certain flagship series by one of Sonic Team's rivals. Could this be a countdown to a Mario & Sonic at the Vancouver Olympics, or something else entirely? We'll know in nine days.
Marvelous' page displays an imponderable floating triangular clock, counting down what appear to be Triforces (!). Hey, if Sega's doing Mario, why not let Marvelous do Zelda? Although we seriously doubt that will be the case, it does make for an amusing dichotomy. If our calculations are correct, the second counter on Marvelous' site will also end nine days from today.
