Buena Vista working on DS Spectrobes

Buena Vista Games appears to be expanding its portfolio beyond licensed fare with mainstream appeal. While the publisher is known for putting out games like The Chronicles of Narnia and Desperate Hosuewives, last week it announced four new games from niche developer Q Entertainment, including a sequel to the acclaimed PlayStation Portable puzzler Lumines.

Today, Buena Vista Games continues to explore the world beyond licensing tie-ins with the announcement that it will publish a Nintendo DS game based on a new intellectual property. Spectrobes will be an anime-inspired action role-playing game, and Buena Vista Games has tapped Jupiter Corporation to develop it. Jupiter's previous games include Mario's Picross and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

As interplanetary patrol officers Rallen and Jeena, players will use the DS touch screen to excavate nearly 500 fossilized creatures called spectrobes. Once freed from their fossil prisons, the spectrobes can be trained and evolved for real-time battles against the Krawl, a dangerous force that could destroy the galaxy if left unchecked.

Buena Vista Games has not yet announced a release date for Spectrobes.