Kotaku: the world ends with you

The World Ends With Batman, Brando And The Spy

AJ Glasser — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:30:00 MDT

Today's Kotaku pumpkin patch includes the Godfather, Batman, the Spy from Team Fortress 2 and the World Ends With You. Cheers to Chris Wells, Lee Harris, Kevin "ShadesBot" Moore and Chae Wells!

Some of you keep starting your pumpkin emails with "Mine's terrible, but..." Seriously, guys, it doesn't matter. You want to see how bad my pumpkin skillz are? Check out the last image. It's supposed to be Bubs from Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (which is really just a Bubs stencil from Homestarrunner.com) — but it kind of looks like a retarded Popple. Or Gary Busey, depending on whether or not it's lit up.

So, don't be shy! Send me your gaming pumpkins!

The World Ends With Totilo

Brian Crecente — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:00:00 MDT

Released last year in the U.S., The World Ends With You brought action role-playing to the real-world setting of Shibuya reimagined by Square-Enix.

In the game, Neku Sakuraba searches the alternate plane of Shibuya's "underground" for predatory "noise." Since we were hanging out in the fashionable Shibuya area much of today, we thought it would be fun to have Totilo reenact some of the scenes from one of his favorite games.

Awesome TWEWY DS Was A Present From Nomura

Leigh Alexander — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:00:00 MDT

So the other day when I was visiting Xseed, checking out Valhalla Knights 2 and Little King's Story, I espied this sweet The World Ends With You DS. My photo quality is poor, so the little caption beside it says "It's A Wonderful World."

Turns out that Square Enix's Tetsuya Nomura gave the TWEWY DS as a gift to Xseed's company president, Jun Iwasaki, who was Square's CEO before he left to found Xseed. Nomura also gave Iwasaki one of those Crisis Core PSPs, but apparently, while Iwasaki decided to keep the TWEWY DS, he gave the PSP to one of his colleagues.

The DS is even more awesome-looking in person; it's gloss silver, and the logo is nice and shiny.

This Square Enix CD Cover Does Not Hurt Eyeballs

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:20:00 MDT

Phew, yesterday's Final Fantasy Remix album cover? Man, that was brutal. My eyes still hurt at the mere thought of looking at that! This, this right here is quite nice. Here is the CD cover art for The World Ends with You CD soundtrack, which is also getting an iTunes release. It goes on sale next month.

Side note: Shame that this game didn't do better.

Subarashiki Kono CD [Famitsu]

Zero Punctuation Takes On The World Ends With You

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:00:00 MDT

Sorry for the hold-up! Here's this week's Zero Punctuation, which is taking on Square Enix's DS title The World Ends With You. Totally agree about using the dual screens during the combat. Totally.

The World Ends With You [The Escapist]

Square Enix Goes Modern Day, The World Ends

Mike Fahey — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:20:24 MST

Square Enix isn't all about Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. It's also about Kingdom Hearts, and from the makers of Kingdom Hearts comes The World Ends With You, coming to this Spring to the Nintendo DS. Released in Japan as Subarashiki Kono Sekai, The World Ends With You is the story of a guy named Neku who wakes up to find a message on his phone telling him that he has seven days before his existence ceases to be. Then it gets weird.

Only with the coolest fashions, friends and fighting skills can Neku restore hope to the city's population and prevent being stricken from existence altogether!

*raises an eyebrow quizzically* Okay! This is Squenix's first foray into the modern world, set in Shibuya, which is "the coolest district in Tokyo". It features 'achingly hip' characters, each with a different fashion sense, a soundtrack full of 'bleeding-edge' music, telepathic powers, and a combat system that utilizes the microphone.

Yeah, it sounds like they've gone completely insane, but perhaps it's just so crazy it might work? It certainly worked in Japan, where the game's quirky art style and Tetsuya Nomura character designs were a pretty huge success. For more information on the title, check out the game's page at Wikipedia.

Right now only a European release announcement is official, once the game is in English you can be pretty sure it's heading stateside.

SQUARE ENIX ANNOUNCES NEW NINTENDO DS TITLE FROM THE MAKERS OF KINGDOM HEARTS THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU
London (5th December 2007) - Square Enix Ltd., the publisher of Square Enix® interactive entertainment products in Europe and other PAL territories, today announces that THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU™, an exciting new title from the makers of KINGDOM HEARTS, will be released exclusively on the Nintendo DS™ handheld system across all PAL territories in spring 2008.

Previously known as Subarashiki Kono Sekai™ on its release in Japan. THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU is an innovative new title from Square Enix that fully utilizes the capabilities of the Nintendo DS, and takes major influence from Japan's modern day culture including its people, music, clothes, food and design.

Set in Tokyo's trendiest district, the story begins with the lead character Neku waking up to find a phone message stating he has only 7 days before he will cease to exist. Only with the coolest fashions, friends and fighting skills can Neku restore hope to the city's population and prevent being stricken from existence altogether!

John Yamamoto, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix Ltd. comments, "Square Enix has traditionally been associated with RPG's set in fantasy lands, but THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU is our first ever game to be set in modern times and real-life locations. The use of the Nintendo DS functionality is second to none. We believe gamers of all ages and abilities will be able to enjoy all that THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU has to offer."
More...

About THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU

Story
The story begins as our hero, Neku, wakes up amidst the hustle and bustle of Shibuya, Tokyo. Confused and disoriented, he receives a message on his phone warning him that he will cease to exist unless he completes a certain mission. With his life seemingly on the line, Neku plunges into the back streets of the urban labyrinth...

Features
- Experience the urban grit and neon of the coolest district in Tokyo with a distinctive, high quality style of in-game artwork
- Meet an achingly hip cast of characters each with an interesting personality and stylish sense in fashion, music and culture
- Highly innovative and intuitive combat system that makes full use of the Nintendo DS Touch Screen, Dual Screens and Microphone like no other game before it!
- Use fantastic psychic powers to read the thoughts of the population, put words into people's minds, and move objects to help you progress in your adventure!
- Immerse yourself in an amazing audio soundtrack featuring a diverse fusion of bleeding-edge hip-hop, rock, and techno
- A tale of friendship, hope and overcoming your challenges, creatively told with a modern edge
- Shop till you drop! Keep abreast of the latest Trends to stay one step ahead of the fashion scene and your enemies. Trade items with friends using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection too
- Action-packed minigame fun that can be enjoyed by up to four players via DS Wireless Play!
- Engage the Chance Encounter mode via DS Wireless Play to share data with fellow game users you bump into in the real world