Just as the cockles of my heart had frozen thanks to NIS-America's disappointing news about Sakura Wars' overseas performance, Aksys and its warmth towards Glorious Nippon's less conventional titles set those cockles to thaw.

That's because it's bringing 999: 9 Nine Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, a Nintendo DS game that cannot be called anything other than a full-fledged adventure title. Without giant robots, turn-based strategy or dungeon-crawling to cloak its anime-ness and storytelling focus, Aksys has taken a gamble on this thriller story to sell the title.

Of course, it's not as if the game is unmarketable. The DS has proven a hospitable home to the likes of Hotel Dusk, Again, and the Ace Attorney franchise, and 999 definitely seems to share their company. The story revolves around nine people who wake up on a cruise ship and forced to participate in a game wherein they must race against the clock to disarm bombs planted inside their bodies. Gross. I wonder if they can feel the bombs in there.

Anyway, it looks intriguing. There aren't nearly enough decent adventure games - much less suspenseful adventure games - on the market these days. Are you interested?