Okamiden, the follow-up the the criminally underplayed Okami for the Plasyatation 2, has a believable release date set in place for March 15th of next year. Okamiden follows the exploits of the children of the characters of the original Okami, meaning that the beautiful art style of the first game has gotten a whole lot cuter. The game is being directed by Kuniomi Matsushita, who was responsible for the Wii port of Okami. Hideki Kamiya, the lead designer behind the original Okami, appears to have little input on the development of Okamiden.
The original Okami is often sited as an ambassador for the video games as a valid art form movement, and for good reason. The game was gorgeous, thoughtful, had important things to say about environmentalism (without being too preachy) and most importantly, was fun as hell. Okamiden looks like it will share the heavily Zelda inspired gameplay of its predecessor, with a few minor adjustments for the limitations of the DS. All gamers have a moral obligation to play Okamiden, simply because the commercial failure of the original. If gamers want to have nice things (i.e. good games), then the quality titles need to be paid attention to. Also, you get a sweet paintbrush stylus for pre-ordering, so there really is no excuse.
[Joystiq]
