Publisher Namco Bandai broke so many hearts in April when it revealed Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch would not be available in the United States until “early 2013.” Thankfully, Namco cleared that up with an official launch date. The PlayStation 3 version of Ni No Kuni will hit stores on January 1, 2013.
Ni No Kuni is a collaborative role-playing project between Studio Ghibli, the animation studio behind My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away, and game developer Level 5 (Professor Layton). The result is the moving-yet-whimsical story of Oliver, a boy who journeys into a magical and dangerous world in search of his mother.
Namco revealed a new trailer that introduces Shadar, a powerful servant to the White Witch who seeks to test Oliver’s capabilities.
The PS3 version of Ni No Kuni, which shares thematic consistency with (but is not a direct remake of) the DS game, will not ship with the ornate book of magic the handheld original did. The book served as a guide to various spells Oliver could use and offered backstory to characters that the game often referenced.
The PS3 edition will incorporate the information found in the real-world book of magic into the game world, but players will miss out on owning a copy of the beautifully constructed reference guide.