Ghibli animated game 'Ni no Kuni' coming to U.S. in 2012

I’m not usually one to get all excited about video game trailers (I’ll leave that to Mike), but when Mike told me about this upcoming game, I knew I had to share more than a tweet.

It’s called “Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch” and will be hitting the U.S. for PS3 sometime next year. What’s so special about it? The animation is by the beloved Studio Ghibli, home to Hayao Miyzaki’s great films like “My Neighbor Totoro,” “Spirited Away” and many others. The score is by go-to Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi.

I haven’t been this excited by the look of a game since “Kingdom Hearts.”

The RPG, from Level -5 (“Dragon Quest VII” and the “Professor Layton” series), will be released here by Namco Bandai. Here’s their official description:

“Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch” is an epic tale of a young boy, Oliver, who embarks on a journey to become a master magician and bring back his dead mother from the parallel world of Ni no Kuni.  Along the way he encounters some extraordinary characters, many of whom become helpful allies. They guide Oliver as he explores the vast world and learns the magical skills that will make him strong enough to face his most deadly foes, and ultimately survive an encounter with the White Witch herself.

“In the game, the beauty of Studio Ghibli’s hand-drawn animation has been perfectly reproduced, with the cel-shaded graphics engine producing stunning real-time animations of a quality normally only seen in their industry-leading feature films.  In addition, ‘Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch’ on PlayStation3 brings a wealth of new content to the ‘Ni no Kuni’ universe, with an additional cast of mysterious characters to meet, new areas to explore, and a whole different perspective on the involving story.” (It started as a Nintendo DS game.)

Sounds very cool — I just hope I can play past the first level.