FingerGaming

Offworld brings unfortunate news about one of the iPhone’s most promising upcoming titles. Yoot Saito’s previously announced iPhone virtual pet application Gabo has apparently been denied an App Store release by Apple for unspecified reasons. Unspecified, that is, other than Saito saying that the company “expressed displeasure” in his title.

Granted, there are more than a few things that Apple could have found objectionable in Gabo — the main character’s genetalia-looking umbilical cord is bound to raise some eyebrows, and one of the screenshots on the official website very clearly shows Gabo, uh, pooping — but the news is disappointing nonetheless.

As Saito’s team is now concentrating on developing a Seaman title for the Nintendo DS (or so says a rough Google translation), Gabo has since been put on the development backburner. Luckily, iPhone users may not have to go much longer without having a pooping caveman of their very own — Saito hopes to return to the title in the future and modify its content to suit Apple’s standards.

Tags: gabo, rejected, virtual pet, yoot saito

Yoot Saito — the developer behind odd console titles like Odama and the Seaman series, the latter having a cult following — revealed a new iPhone titled called Gabo!, which appears to be a connection to the virtual animal Seaman games.

As with Seaman 2, which released for PlayStation 2 last year and never made it outside of Japan, the iPhone title charges you with rearing a “Peking Man” named Gabo, allowing you to act as a god and alter his island environment to influence his growth. Unlike past Seaman titles, however, you probably won’t use a specialized microphone to command Gabo. Instead, you’ll likely just use the iPhone touchscreen.

According to Saito’s Japanese blog, the game is slated to hit the Japanese market next month, with a possible release for the rest of the world following. For now, enjoy this video preview!

Tags: gabo, seaman, simulation, yoot saito