Calling (video game)
Encyclopedia
Calling, or in Japan, is a survival horror video game developed by Hudson Soft
exclusively for the Wii
console. The game was released in Japan on November 29, 2009 and in North America on March 9, 2010.
Shin is the first to end up in the Abyss. He wakes up in the home of a man who became obsessed with making dolls. After finding Chiyo unconscious on the floor and several of the dollmaker's creations (which are alive), he flees back to the point where he began. He gets a call from from a little girl who tells him "Gotcha". Losing his composure, a ghost of a little girl holding a black cat
doll soon appears (along with several disembodied hands) and attacks him.
Rin is next to enter the Abyss. She finds herself in a school after having a dream that she hasn't had for a long time. Wandering through the school, she hears something in the janitor's office, but lacks a key to gain entry. While searching for a key, she sees a scared, living person run into the boy's bathroom; attempts to get him out of the stall he's in are unsuccessful. After finding the key, Rin encounters a live black cat that runs away. Following it, she finds she is no longer in the realm of the living. On a computer, she finds the Black Page website. Shin soon runs in, hiding from a ghost. Exchanging pleasantries, both of them observe the website until a ghost that is different from the other ghosts scares Shin away. Following the ghost, she meets Makoto. He shares all he knows of where they are, the connection between the Abyss and the Black Page and the fact that people who lose hope become spirits. He tells Rin of his worry for Shin, for his worried condition may cause him to become a spirit. Oddly, the phones they possess can be used as teleporters. The ghost that led Rin to Makoto is really Makoto's dead partner, Sadao. As Rin tries to leave, the door closes and a voice says "Just you stay here forever...with me...". The voice belongs to the ghost of the little girl who attacked Shin. She grabs Rin, but lets go, saying "You're a liar..." before disappearing. Rin meets the black cat again and follows it through the school.
Rin meets up with Shin in the nurse's room. Rin tells Shin that they can use their phones to teleport to another, but the phones switch places, meaning, if you had two phones, and teleported to the other, you'd teleport to the other phone, but you'd have the phone you teleported to, but not the one you used. Rin tells Shin that you can't phone your own number, but before being able to tell Shin that it'll kill you, Shin phones himself, having a stroke and vanishing. Rin takes his phone, and uses it to teleport between a crack in a door. There, she learns about the black page, and sees a phone-number. Then, a ghost summons the three-schoolgirls' ghosts that've been attacking Rin and Shin, but Rin teleports away with the phone-number. She appears to be in a room full of dolls - the same room where Makato was. There, she meets Chiyo - an elderly woman who has no idea how she got there. Rin hears a phone, and tells Chiyo to stay there until she comes back. After finding the phone, she is attacked by Shin's ghost momentarily, it pleading to be "helped". Rin shoves Shin away, and he disappears. She makes it back to the doll-filled room, encountering a ghost staring at all the dolls he made. Instead of attacking Rin, he states that his dolls make him proud, before disappearing. Chiyo sees a ghost of a mailman, and follows it into a void, which leads into a hospital, where she was meant to get hospitalised before she found "The Black Page". Rin comes back, finding a note in Chiyo's place, having a phone number on it. She teleports into what looks like a 2-story house, and wonders around until she finds another number. She later gets into the hospital, where she sees Koronueko's ghost. Koruneko is a sweet young girl who was bitter inside because she never had much friends. When she tried to kill herself by jumping out a window, a nurse, who she became quite close to, tried to stop her, only falling with her. Rin wonders around, looking for a way to apologise to Koruneko for breaking their promise: her coming to visit her in the hospital. Eventually, Makato contacts Rin, telling her that she can contact ghosts: with her phone. She talks to Koruneko, telling her that she didn't break their promise, and that she got in an accident, and their beds where right next to each others. She explains that she, too, will be a part of this world soon, so they could be friends again. Koruneko walks away, to the third-floor, with Rin chasing after her. There, she tries to jump out the window again. Rin tries to stop her by grabbing her, but falls right through her, falling to the ground and dying, closely followed by Koruneko jumping face-first, causing a snapping sound, supposedly indicating her death.
Chiyo wakes up in hospital, surrounded by her family, waking up from the nightmare.
Then time rewinds itself just when Rin gets to the hospital, but rewinds itself completely for Makato. He wakes up in what looks like an anime-obssesed man's room, to a barber shop, to the school, until he meets his deceased partner, Sadeo. Sadeo kills Makato, deciding that they can be "partners" again. Meanwhile, Rin meets Koruneko for the second-time. She apologises over and over. And, this time, whilst Rin is running after Koruneko, she isn't saying that it'd be better if she never existed. They get to the part where Koruneko jumps, also showing what the nurse did when she and Koruneko where still alive. Except Rin grabs onto Koruneko, them both falling down, and down, and down as the credits play. Koruneko eventually disappears, her soul being fulfilled, the screen going white, and after about 7-seconds, Koruneko says, "Thank you", before disappearing completely.
's pointer function to interact with objects and move around. The controller also acts as a cell phone in which ghosts speak to the player via the speaker. In addition, the player can also use the phone to warp around to different locations, as well as take pictures and record ghostly voices which appear as strange sounds.
The ghosts also confront the player in featured "fright events". Players have to fight the ghosts off by swinging the Wii Remote and following button commands.
company's servers. The game was officially revealed in Famitsu
in July 2009.
Hudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
exclusively for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
console. The game was released in Japan on November 29, 2009 and in North America on March 9, 2010.
Plot
Rin Kagura, Shin Suzutani, Chiyo Kishibe and Makoto Shirae visit "The Black Page", a mysterious website with only a counter that is said to show the number of people who have died after visiting the site. Rin is drawn there because six years ago, she made a promise to a little girl in the hospital. Over an online chatroom, she promised the girl she would come visit her. When she got there, the girl wasn't anywhere to be found. Rin thought "The Black Page" might hold some answers. Shin loves anime and the supernatural and was drawn to "The Black Page". After Chiyo Kishibe's grandson bought her a laptop, she heard rumors of "The Black Page". She thought she might be able to meet her late husband. As for Makoto Shirae, an editor for a newspaper, his friend died under mysterious circumstances. When he took over the investigation, it led him to "The Black Page". After entering a chatroom on the site, Rin, Shin, Chiyo and Makoto are soon drawn into a strange void that lies between life and death which manifests the memories of the dead known as the Mnemonic Abyss. Using their cell phones, these people must try and escape from it.Shin is the first to end up in the Abyss. He wakes up in the home of a man who became obsessed with making dolls. After finding Chiyo unconscious on the floor and several of the dollmaker's creations (which are alive), he flees back to the point where he began. He gets a call from from a little girl who tells him "Gotcha". Losing his composure, a ghost of a little girl holding a black cat
Black cat
A black cat is a feline with black fur. It is not a particular breed of cat and may be mixed or of a specific breed. The Bombay, known for its sleek black fur, is an example of a black cat. The all-black pigmentation is equally prevalent in both male and female cats...
doll soon appears (along with several disembodied hands) and attacks him.
Rin is next to enter the Abyss. She finds herself in a school after having a dream that she hasn't had for a long time. Wandering through the school, she hears something in the janitor's office, but lacks a key to gain entry. While searching for a key, she sees a scared, living person run into the boy's bathroom; attempts to get him out of the stall he's in are unsuccessful. After finding the key, Rin encounters a live black cat that runs away. Following it, she finds she is no longer in the realm of the living. On a computer, she finds the Black Page website. Shin soon runs in, hiding from a ghost. Exchanging pleasantries, both of them observe the website until a ghost that is different from the other ghosts scares Shin away. Following the ghost, she meets Makoto. He shares all he knows of where they are, the connection between the Abyss and the Black Page and the fact that people who lose hope become spirits. He tells Rin of his worry for Shin, for his worried condition may cause him to become a spirit. Oddly, the phones they possess can be used as teleporters. The ghost that led Rin to Makoto is really Makoto's dead partner, Sadao. As Rin tries to leave, the door closes and a voice says "Just you stay here forever...with me...". The voice belongs to the ghost of the little girl who attacked Shin. She grabs Rin, but lets go, saying "You're a liar..." before disappearing. Rin meets the black cat again and follows it through the school.
Rin meets up with Shin in the nurse's room. Rin tells Shin that they can use their phones to teleport to another, but the phones switch places, meaning, if you had two phones, and teleported to the other, you'd teleport to the other phone, but you'd have the phone you teleported to, but not the one you used. Rin tells Shin that you can't phone your own number, but before being able to tell Shin that it'll kill you, Shin phones himself, having a stroke and vanishing. Rin takes his phone, and uses it to teleport between a crack in a door. There, she learns about the black page, and sees a phone-number. Then, a ghost summons the three-schoolgirls' ghosts that've been attacking Rin and Shin, but Rin teleports away with the phone-number. She appears to be in a room full of dolls - the same room where Makato was. There, she meets Chiyo - an elderly woman who has no idea how she got there. Rin hears a phone, and tells Chiyo to stay there until she comes back. After finding the phone, she is attacked by Shin's ghost momentarily, it pleading to be "helped". Rin shoves Shin away, and he disappears. She makes it back to the doll-filled room, encountering a ghost staring at all the dolls he made. Instead of attacking Rin, he states that his dolls make him proud, before disappearing. Chiyo sees a ghost of a mailman, and follows it into a void, which leads into a hospital, where she was meant to get hospitalised before she found "The Black Page". Rin comes back, finding a note in Chiyo's place, having a phone number on it. She teleports into what looks like a 2-story house, and wonders around until she finds another number. She later gets into the hospital, where she sees Koronueko's ghost. Koruneko is a sweet young girl who was bitter inside because she never had much friends. When she tried to kill herself by jumping out a window, a nurse, who she became quite close to, tried to stop her, only falling with her. Rin wonders around, looking for a way to apologise to Koruneko for breaking their promise: her coming to visit her in the hospital. Eventually, Makato contacts Rin, telling her that she can contact ghosts: with her phone. She talks to Koruneko, telling her that she didn't break their promise, and that she got in an accident, and their beds where right next to each others. She explains that she, too, will be a part of this world soon, so they could be friends again. Koruneko walks away, to the third-floor, with Rin chasing after her. There, she tries to jump out the window again. Rin tries to stop her by grabbing her, but falls right through her, falling to the ground and dying, closely followed by Koruneko jumping face-first, causing a snapping sound, supposedly indicating her death.
Chiyo wakes up in hospital, surrounded by her family, waking up from the nightmare.
Then time rewinds itself just when Rin gets to the hospital, but rewinds itself completely for Makato. He wakes up in what looks like an anime-obssesed man's room, to a barber shop, to the school, until he meets his deceased partner, Sadeo. Sadeo kills Makato, deciding that they can be "partners" again. Meanwhile, Rin meets Koruneko for the second-time. She apologises over and over. And, this time, whilst Rin is running after Koruneko, she isn't saying that it'd be better if she never existed. They get to the part where Koruneko jumps, also showing what the nurse did when she and Koruneko where still alive. Except Rin grabs onto Koruneko, them both falling down, and down, and down as the credits play. Koruneko eventually disappears, her soul being fulfilled, the screen going white, and after about 7-seconds, Koruneko says, "Thank you", before disappearing completely.
Gameplay
From a first-person perspective, players explore the Mnemonic Abyss' haunted locations such strange doll-filled houses, Shosei school, a creepy internet cafe, Kuromiya hospital, a bedroom and a hair salon. Players use the Wii RemoteWii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
's pointer function to interact with objects and move around. The controller also acts as a cell phone in which ghosts speak to the player via the speaker. In addition, the player can also use the phone to warp around to different locations, as well as take pictures and record ghostly voices which appear as strange sounds.
The ghosts also confront the player in featured "fright events". Players have to fight the ghosts off by swinging the Wii Remote and following button commands.
Development
The game was originally unofficially unveiled when gameplay footage was leaked on to the internet in October 2008. Hudson reported that the footage was stolen from a PRPublic relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
company's servers. The game was officially revealed in Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
in July 2009.