Popular Japanese series SLAM DUNK now goes ONLINE

One of the most popular series to come out of Japan in the 90's is now getting the online game treatment with the announcement of Slam Dunk Online. 

Slam Dunk is a sports-themed manga authored by manga artist Inoue Takehiko and was first published back in 1990.  It then had a wildly popular anime series that initially aired in October 1993 and ran for 101 episodes and 4 OAVs.  It spawned a cult following with fans all over Asia, North America and a huge following in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.  Slam Dunk follows the story of one Sakuragi Hanamichi as he joins the basketball team of Shohoku High School and dream of winning the national championship. 

In October 22, Korean-based company Goorm had announced that they would be developing an online game of this series with another Korean company, DaewonMedia.  Inoue Takehiko has also been brought on board and will be supervising the game creation and development.

This is personally one of my all time favorite anime and manga series.  I even used to run one such site which I am now in the process of revamping. So when I found out about this new development, I certainly got excited.

According to the announcement, the game's background will follow that of the manga and will introduce all the major characters from the series.  Inoue Takehiko himself wants to make sure that the game stays true to the series.  I have high hopes for this game especially with the original manga artist working on the game.

Inoue Takehiko is also no stranger to the game development scene as he has also worked with Hironobu Sakaguchi of Final Fantasy fame with the game Last Odyssey.  Though not as popular the game is visually stunning.  I expect no less for Slam Dunk Online.

No information has been released yet as to the type of gameplay it will involve but it will be in Close Beta in January 2010 and Open Beta in first half this year.  I sincerely hope this game will be released in English or picked up by a publisher to be released in English as I am no good in reading Korean at all. :D

Stay tuned for further updates.