.hack: Infection

An offline action RPG that takes place in a simulated MMORPG may sound redundant, but .hack proves that a little anime subculture can go a long way.

Set in the year 2010, .hack ("dot hack") is an offline action/RPG that takes place within The World, a fictitious online game played by millions of hep cats around the world. The World suddenly falls out of whack one day, though, with powerful monsters respawning and killing players. Playing as a swordsman named Kite, you'll have to form a party of characters and find out what's going on.

Although .hack will function like your typical RPG with dungeons to explore and rare items to find, the pseudo-online atmosphere will hopefully paint the genre in a fresh new light. Sending e-mail and reading fictitious message boards will be vital to advancing the plot, and Kite will use a "data drain" capability (a way of altering the game's code) to keep the game's berserk monsters in check.

Bandai has hired some heavy hitters from the anime industry to work on .hack, including Kazunori Ito (writer of Ghost in the Shell) and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (character designer for Evangelion). Bandai is planning to make .hack a four-episode series, each with a 45-minute animated DVD covering the characters' lifestyles away from the computer. The first game will hit America this October.

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