November 9, 2006 - Hi everyone, it's Shingo Mukaitoge, the producer of "Elebits," for our third and final developer diary on our game for the Wii. I am sad to say that this will be our last diary, but we'll be going out with a bang, going into detail about some gameplay mechanics in Elebits.

Before we begin, I have I bit of great news to share with everyone. Elebits received the Future Award at TGS 2006 -- one of the top honors for the show. This is the same award that games such as Katamari Damacy and Shadow of the Colossus have won in previous years, so we feel very honored to receive this accolade. It's always rewarding to see people respond well to your game, so we are feeling very good about Elebits as we move into the home stretch of development.

BERJAYA
So let's get into the game. To give everyone a quick refresher on the story, Elebits are mysterious creatures that are the source of all the energy in the world. But one day, they stopped generating power for the humans and hid all around the town. That's where the player comes in -- they have to pick up their Capture Gun and track down all the Elebits before they are lost forever.

Using the Capture Gun, the player can manipulate nearly every object in the game. For example, if you pick something up, there might be Elebits hidden underneath that you can collect. You can even give the object a good shake to see if there are any Elebits hidden inside that you might have missed. There are also context-specific actions you can take to uncover hidden Elebits, such as turning a water faucet (in which you literally twist the Wii controller) and putting a piece of bread in a toaster and watching Elebits fly out once the toasting is complete. This gives you a sense of just how crafty the Elebits can be -- you'll really have to try everything to find them all!

BERJAYA
The basic premise of the gameplay is that you get two kinds of energy as you capture different types of Elebits. One energy type is wattage that lets you activate more electronic devices and the other adds more power to your Capture Gun. It was an important challenge for us to balance the two types of energy, since you need both to progress in the game.

Allow me to give you an example of this gameplay mechanic in action. You'll start off building wattage by capturing Elebits, and at a certain point, you will be able to activate basic electronic devices -- let's say a can opener. Once you activate the can opener, Power Elebits will come out, powering up your Capture Gun and letting you pick up heavier objects so you can search for Elebits in new places. As you continue this energy gain, you will be able to activate larger devices, such as a microwave. Don't forget to put the tub of popcorn in the microwave before you turn it on! After the microwave runs for 30 seconds, your popcorn will be done and more Power Elebits will come out. You shouldn't just sit around for the 30 seconds though -- every moment is precious, so you should continue your search while the microwave runs.

BERJAYA
We've built a couple different game modes around our core gameplay. There is of course a story mode with many levels for you to explore and an interesting narrative about exactly why the Elebits revolted against mankind. We also have a multiplayer mode that lets up to four players compete together to collect the most wattage in a given amount of time. You can even work together to solve certain puzzles, so it's not an entirely competitive way to play. There are also a few secret game modes that I can't reveal just yet, but will be variations on the main game that are quite interesting and fun.

I hope this series of diaries has given new insight into what Elebits is all about. It has certainly been fun for me to reveal new information about the game to the IGN readers! The entire development team is really excited for the game's release -- we think people around the world are going to enjoy the fun characters, original gameplay and unique use of the Wii hardware. Thanks for reading!