Seemingly set to follow the tradition of lackluster licensed games, Populous DS
developer Xseed games will drop Ju-on: The Grudge on North America and Europe this October (July 30th in Japan). This “haunted house simulator” for the Wii has two players running around with flash lights trying to spook each other. While some out there have reported that some of the scares are quite effective, this trailer doesn’t do it much justice:

The object of the game is to walk around a house and pick up things while getting scared by ghosts. You are equipped with a flashlight which fades while time passes requiring you to find batteries along the way. If the flashlight completely fades, the spirits will kill you. The controls are incredibly simple: move to WiiMote to move your flashlight and hold B to move in the direction that it’s pointing while using the A button to pick up stuff. The multiplayer mode allows a friend to orchestrate the scares. I’m going to go out on a limb here and just say that this game is going to be horrible. Xseed plans to release the game at a discounted price of “$20 to $30″, though I’m kind of wondering why the game isn’t just released as WiiWare.

While you’re counting down the days until you can get your Grudge, check out this little flash game that’s actually pretty nifty.