In an antique goldsmith's workshop lit by flickering candlelight, Swedish development studio A Different Game is crafting what could be the spookiest game ever created for the Nintendo DS.
Why? Because Ghostwire: Link to the Paranormal takes place inside your own home.
Using the DSi's two cameras and microphone -- yes, this is a DSi-only game -- players explore their own living spaces to communicate with spirits and help them find peace.
The effect is so chilling that producer Anders Bergman insists it shouldn't be called a game; he recently told Nintendo World Report that Ghostwire is actually "a piece of software that enables your Nintendo DSi device to access new frequencies beyond the standard Wi-Fi range."
I contacted Bergman through the astral plane (otherwise known as email) to find out more information about this bizarre and creepy project, scheduled to be released by Majesco in 2010.
Bitmob: Why did you decide to make a game involving ghosts?
Anders Bergman: From the very beginning, this has been an augmented reality title. When Tom Söderlund, one of the founders of A Different Game, presented the idea, Martin Ohlsson, CTO at A Different Game, immediately developed shape recognition of a computer monitor through the camera feed of a mobile phone. The most obvious thing to do was to lure out a demon. We had all seen the movie The Ring.
But as the Ghostwire software evolved, we shifted the focus to the paranormal. Ghosts have proven to be pretty rewarding to work with, since they are illusive, can blend in easily with the natural environment, and move in a somewhat unstable manner.
Bitmob: What inspirations did you draw on when creating the ghosts? Any particular books, movies, TV shows?
AB: The inspiration is very varied. The team has of course read up on Emanuel Swedenborg, Brad Steiger, and others, which have lead to a deeper understanding of the paranormal. However, the tools you use to localize and capture the ghosts in several cases have similarities to other, more current, ghost hunting technology, like in [the TV show] Ghost Hunters.
For instance, we have an EVP meter, ionizers, a ghost radar, and several camera extensions, like IR and thermal view. On the other hand, we also have pretty unique tools, like the EMF tuner, since we use the DSi radio circuit to detect paranormal frequencies.
Bitmob: Why do you think ghosts and the paranormal have such a powerful impact on people?
AB: Ghosts are timeless, spanning generations in both folk lore and real life. In a recent study, almost half of the UK population confess to believe in ghosts. Using the Ghostwire software will not make those people any more skeptical.
Whether it is through science or the paranormal, it seems like the human mind has an urge to find out what it does not know. When it comes to paranormal, there is often a personal aspect to the thirst for knowledge -- to meet ancestors only seen in photographs, for example, or to have a last conversation with a lost relative -- which I guess is both scary but at the same time very intriguing.
Bitmob: Finally, you've mentioned that your company is located in an antique goldsmith's workshop. That sounds like it'd be a spooky place to work late at night. Have you encountered any ghosts while working on the game?
AB: People who have visited the Ghostwire lab often ask that, but actually, we prefer not to touch that topic. Let me just state that the core team is very aware of the functionality and limits of the Ghostwire software.
Still, we have experienced what we first categorized as "bugs," but which after investigation had to be ruled out as being something much harder to explain...
