Hope Piqued for a Sequel to The World Ends with You... But don't get too excited.

It's been a fairly exciting week for gamers these past few seven days, and for good reason. Some speculative screenshots for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V have been released, a number of minor bits and pieces regarding the next Smash Bros. game have found their way from Sakurai's mouth to the web... But, despite these exciting, mainstream games being reported on these past few days, one teaser site spawned from a 2008 underground hit has been the most exciting for yours truly. If, like me, you're a fan of The World Ends with You (well, I'd consider myself more than a fan but that's beside the point) then you'll have most definitely heard the big news in relation to this teaser website. Yes, the time has finally come: In just under seven days time we'll be seeing the announcement of the next installment in the vast lore of The World Ends with You... Hopefully.

The teaser website, featuring a countdown much reminiscent of The World Ends with You's erasure clocks, as well as a remixed version of the song 'Calling', point in the direction of a new installment. However, various sources state otherwise. Here's hoping said sources are wrong...

At this enthralling teaser website, you'll find what started out as a seven day countdown for something clearly related to The World Ends with You. Various things have 100% confirmed this: The site features a remixed version of a song from the original game's soundtrack, titled Calling, as well as an unfinished logo that shows the stylish silhouette of Shibuya's 104 district, also featured in the original game along with its logo. The original game's art and character designers, Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi, are also credited at the footer of the site. Something all-new in relation to The World Ends with You is definitely coming, but don't get your hopes up for a sequel just yet. Why? Well, various sources have all but confirmed something else; Something that practically forced me to grab some metaphorical hype paint remover upon painting myself hyped when I initially discovered the site this morrow. You see, there's a good chance that this much-proclaimed sequel, one I'm sure we're all hoping to see on 3DS or Wii U, is actually some kind of social game or network for PCs and various smartphone devices. Bummer, I know. What exactly points in this direction? First off, the Twitter account of a Japanese Square-Enix representative posted a link to the site alongside a number of words which lead one to believe the prospect of a PC and smartphone release as opposed to what we actually want: A proper sequel or prequel, or at least a remake. In fact, I'd be more excited for the latter in the event that they screw up the continuity like they did with Kingdom Hearts upon developing a sequel.

Secondly are more speculative hints that the game, or whatever it is, will be on the wrong platforms. The site features a link to Square's mobile gaming partner, GREE, alongside various links to other social networks in order to share the news of the teaser. The source code of the website also includes hints at GREE's involvement in the project, as well as a mobile site. I'm hoping that this is merely an extra feature in ties with what we're all hoping is a brand-new game on 'proper' gaming platforms, but we'll just have to wait and see. The mobile site found in the source code might be just that: a mobile version of the site. Really, in basic terms, we don't know whether this teaser site will reveal a brand-new game set in The World Ends with You's stunning Shibuya-based universe, or just some odd social networking game that everyone's going to ignore outside of Japan (Square-Enix have been doing this sort of thing lately, after all) and all we can do is wait.

Here's hoping one of my favourite games of all time - my most beloved RPG and number one handheld game, no less - is getting a proper sequel and not some ridiculous smartphone sub-game.

Despite the disappointing prospect that this big reveal won't be what I truly want, I am excited for the high possibility of new artwork and music. After all, we've already got the remixed version of Calling, not to mention a fancy new logo, so there's a much higher chance that we'll at least be seeing more of these mediums in relation to The World Ends with You, whether this new project happens to be a PC and smartphone exclusive game or not. When it comes down to it, nothing is confirmed and we don't know squat as of yet. All we can do is wait, unlike the original's players who fought against an ever-ticking time limit on a daily basis. For us, just under seven days remain. Hopefully we're in for one hell of a prize after this wait...