Final Fantasy Tactics artist launches Traveling Fairy mobile social game

With the help of Square Enix, the character artist for the Final Fantasy Tactics games on the Nintendo DS has launched a mobile social game in Japan titled Traveling Fairy. It's available only on the Mobage social network through mode-Duo, which has been home to mobile social versions of hyper-popular franchises like Shenmue and Phantasy Star. According to Siliconera, the game uses GPS technology to split Japan in 505 regions brimming with frilly fairies.

Players will travel across Japan--hopefully not literally, for a mobile game--to collect region-specific fairies, level them up in fights against demons and take down boss demons to conquer regions and earn rare items. Thankfully, players can effectively travel to other regions without going there through a hosting system that allows players to host others in their own physical region. Think of it as position broadcasting, of sorts. Of course, the game is free to play, but features goods for sale. Even if this won't come to the US (which has not been confirmed or denied), color us excited for what it means for location-based gaming when bigwigs get involved.

[Image Credit: Siliconera]

Have had a chance to try this game somehow? What do you think of location-based gaming?

DeNA partners with Docomo, prepares for Japanese social game coup

DeNA, the massive Japanese mobile social game company, has taken another step toward its imminent invasion of the western world of social games in a partnership with Docomo. You know, the company that bought American mobile game developer Ngmoco for over $400 million last year? That massive company.

Docomo is a Japanese phone manufacturer that will link its 6 million smartphone and feature phone users in Japan with DeNA's Mobage social gaming platform through i-mode. The oddly-named feature is found on all Docomo phones, and it will provide users a direct link to DeNA's list of games by as early as May.

Not to mention that a dedicated Mobage application will be pre-installed into several Docomo phones sometime in the future. According to a statement, Docomoco users will have exclusive early access to new content and easier billing for micro-transactions. Of course, the two plan to bring the model to Europe and the rest of Asia through mobile phone operators and game developers.

However, we're going to assume that if this strategy does well in Europe, DeNA will stake its claim in the US as well. Whether this is enough to combat Zynga has yet to be seen, but know that the Far East has burst onto the scene with guns a' blazin'.

[Image Credit: Random Acts of Media]

Do you think DeNA has a chance of getting into the Western world of social gaming? How will Zynga fare against the Eastern juggernaut, if it gets that far?