Afrika teaser launches in Japan

Since it was first teased at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Afrika from Sony Computer Entertainment and Rhino has been as much a mystery as the Serengeti plains. Although Sony has piqued interest in Afrika--a moniker which itself is a work in progress--the publisher hasn't given its curious audience much more than a pair of brief trailers and a handful of screenshots.

Today, however, Sony signaled that the veil on Afrika may soon be lifted. The publisher launched a placeholder site for the game's official Japanese Web site, which presents not much more than the game's name, a nondescript grazing rhino, a trilling bird awash in a rare African downpour, and the words "Coming Soon..."

Where, exactly, the game will be "coming soon" is equally a mystery. Speaking to European trade site Eurogamer, a Sony representative said that it would not be publishing the game in the region, and that the recently launched Web site holds bearing only for Japanese gamers. Though the game is far from ruled out in North America, GameSpot contacted a SCEA representative who would not confirm the game's stateside release, and said only that, "We haven't announced anything about the title for the North American market."

In development at Japan-based Rhino Studios, Afrika appears to be a safari-simulation game, with early looks featuring an African menagerie of rhinoceroses, giraffes, zebras, caribou, wildebeests, cheetahs, and more. As of the 2006 Tokyo Game Show, the game was roughly 30 percent complete and was slated to arrive in Japan during 2007.