Forget 3D glasses, Nintendo DS game gives you a window to virtual reality

You don’t need to be able to understand Japanese to grasp how incredibly cool Nintendo and Good-Feel Inc.’s Rittai Kakushi E Attakoreda really is.

At first, the gameplay of Rittai Kakushi E Attakoreda seems to point to a standard hidden object pursuit, but this one comes with a cunning new twist.  Instead of hunting for your Waldo on a static 2D image, you’re required to physically look up, down and around corners to uncover hidden bounty – in this case, the letters of a specified word.

By simply detecting shifts in the DSi’s camera position, the game adjusts its angle of the on-screen image accordingly.  No iPhone-esque accelerometer required – just an incredibly clever use of existing DSi technology.  The resulting effect is akin to having a peek inside a giant diorama in your hands.  Kind of like a science fair in your DS.

The best part?  It’s not just some proof-of-concept demo (like Johnny Lee’s equally awesome Wii remote head-tracking idea), it’s finished and ready for takeoff next week at the DSiWare shop.  Again, if you live in Japan or have an imported DSi.

Oh well.  At least we have Photo Dojo to look forward to for the time being.