Michigan shipping in July in Japan

TOKYO--Michigan, the new PlayStation 2 adventure game from Killer 7 creator Gouichi Suda, will ship out this summer. According to Japanese retailers, the game will arrive in stores on July 22--over five months before Killer 7--and it will sell for the retail price of 7,140 yen ($63). Michigan is being developed by Suda's Grasshopper Company and it is being published by Spike, which distributes the World Rally Championship series in Japan.

In the game, gamers play as the cameraman of a news crew that has been sent to the deserted city of Michigan. The cameraman will accompany a sound man and a female reporter into Michigan, which has been turned into a ghost town full of dead bodies by a mysterious fog.

Since the cameraman must use both hands to operate his camera, players will not be able to directly intervene; players will have to signal the reporter in the hopes she will affect in-game events.

Another interesting aspect of Michigan is that it will allow players to play both moral and amoral paths through the game. For example, when the reporter or other NPCs are in trouble, you can try to warn them about it, or let them die in order to get the footage on tape for a higher score.