Kelsey emailed to let us know she read about a new video game. It’s called Trusty Bell: Chopin’s Dream.

Read this:

Sometimes you just have to sink to the floor and say a quiet prayer of thanks for the game design bravery of the finest Japanese studios. Here’s the latest case in point – and apologies if you’ve already heard about it from other sources. Namco has released screenshots and information on a forthcoming Xbox 360 RPG entitled, Trusty Bell: Chopin’s Dream. Now, you may think the name itself is a gift from the gods, and you’d be right. But the excitement doesn’t end there.

Trusty Bell is set in a dreamworld conjured into existence by composer Frédéric Chopin during the last three hours of his life. In this world, he teams up with a young girl suffering from an incurable disease and her teenage swordsman boyfriend. Together they must search for a magic potion that can save the kingdom. It seems that, logically enough, music is going to play a key part in the game with Russian pianist Stanislav Bunin drafted in to perform key Chopin works for the soundtrack – perhaps Ballade in (RP)G minor?

Now, imagine if this bizarre scenario were to be pitched at a western commissioning executive. If he actually understood what you were going on about at all (because you wouldn’t have used the magic words ‘gangsta’, ‘respect’, ‘ultra-realistic visuals’ or ‘Halo-beater’) he would have some kind of seizure. Simple as that. You’d be trying to explain your reasons for reanimating this giant of piano music within a classic RPG framework, and he’d be convulsing in disbelief while slamming his shaking hand against a button on his desk marked, ‘security’.

Whoa.

I’ve never played a video game. Well, okay, I confess I attempted Myst for a short time when it first came out. But I don’t have the time, patience or interest in games like that. But this one? Am I actually going to have to check this one out? I wonder.
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