3DS Project Zero/Fatal Frame game outed

By Robert Purchese Published 31 August, 2011

Relies on AR Notebook accessory.

The Project Zero (Fatal Frame) team are working on a new, similar-sounding game for 3DS.

Japanese magazine Famitsu (translated by Andriasang) revealed the game's name as Shinrei Shashin (Spirit Photo).

The game comes with an AR Notebook item that is apparently used heavily throughout.

Spirit Photo's main mode is AR Story: Zero: Purple Diary. This has you work alongside a girl you brought into the real world to solve the mystery of the spooky Purple Diary - the AR Notebook. Will each page have hidden codes that the 3DS camera can read to produce pictures of objects and, perhaps, ghosts?

Spirit Photo also has a Horror Notebook mini-game mode and Ghost Camera photo mode.

Project Zero (Fatal Frame) is a highly regarded series about exploring dark, haunted places infested with malicious ghosts. You can only see these spirits using a camera, however, and you can only damage them by taking pictures.

Eurogamer's Project Zero review awarded 9/10 in 2002. Eurogamer's Project Zero 2 review awarded another 9/10 in 2005. Our Project Zero 3 review turned up an 8/10 in 2006.

Eurogamer's Fatal Frame IV review on Wii turned up 7/10.

Project Zero is known as Fatal Frame in the US and as Zero in Japan.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • mcreddie #1 9 months ago

    This is quite literally the best news I have heard or will hear all day!

  • Malek86 #2 9 months ago

    A minigames spinoff? That's... not exactly what I hoped. Also, we'll need to stay in a decent daylight in order to use the camera. Never thought I'd have to play a PZ game with the light turned on.

    PS. there's some good news though. This doesn't mention Nintendo anywhere, so I have some small hope it's Koei Tecmo publishing it this time. That would give us a bit more chances of seeing it localized.
    Edited by Malek86 at 31/08/11 @ 10:43

  • Silent-Hal #3 9 months ago

    Using a real world notebook to interact with a survival horror game sounds cool. Makes me wonder how many people are going to want to keep the thing after they finish the game!

    I just hope this doesn't get the shaft like Fatal Frame IV did...

  • Silent-Hal #4 9 months ago

    @Malek86 - The article does refer to the game having a story mode - I would assume it meant the mini-games would be optional extras and not the main focus.

  • kassmageant #5 9 months ago

    at least that is some start of games taking advantage of 3ds capabilities

  • Old_Books #6 9 months ago

    Given Nintendo's recent barmy release strategy, I expect this will be released in Japan and Greenland.

  • RawNinjaKid #7 9 months ago

    oooohh, I hope it makes it here!!

  • Malek86 #8 9 months ago

    @Silent-Hal: considering it's supposed to be a spinoff title, and apparently heavy focused on the AR, I wouldn0t be surprised if even the main story mode turned out to be little more than "take a photo where we tell you to".

  • Ror1984 #9 9 months ago

    This sounds good. PZ is a game that could really exploit AR well. Let's hope it gets a release here.

    I've only ever played the first PZ, and what an amazingly atmospheric, genuinely unnerving experience it was! We're seeing all these HD 'remake' collections, how about a PZ Collection? I'd be all over that.

  • ilmaestro #10 9 months ago

    The death of the 3DS staved off by a game about dead people.

  • metroid455 #11 9 months ago

    ugh if this doesn't get a western release i think im gonna cry!, add to the fact that 3DS is region locked.
    arrrg I love and Hate Nintendo at the same time. "region lock is just pure unadulterated evil"