We last heard of Earth Seeker in early June. It was part of one of those annoying headliner Famitsu stories where the magazine doesn't show any actual screenshots.

Almost two months later, and there still aren't any screens. But the game did get an official site today.

Either the site is not loading right for me, or I'm totally missing the point, but all I see at present is just some scrolling clouds:

For kicks, see if you can see any shapes in the clouds. I definitely see an alien in the screen grab I posted above.

There's nothing else at the site for me, so I'll translate what's at the bottom. Earth Seeker is a trademark of Enterbrain. Wii is a trandemark of Nintendo. The site, including all text, images and videos are copyright properties of Enterbrain. It is forbidden to sell, rent, or broadcast all or any part of the site without permission of Entrbrain or the copyright holder. The site is offered for Internet Explorer 8.0 and up.

Didn't people stop putting browser compatibility notices on their pages a decade ago?

Lucky for us, Famitsu's print edition had a followup on the game this week. In a two page spread, the magazine shared a few specifics, along with first screenshots.

As detailed back in June, Earth Seeker is an original Wii title from Crafts & Meisters, a studio formed in 2004 by ex-Capcom talent. The game's background story starts off as Earth is about to be destroyed. Mankind loads spaceships with refugees and cultural artifacts. These ships crash on a planet somewhere. The ships' computers attempt to recreate the planet in the image of Earth, but due to bugs, they end up creating strange monsters.

The game begins 1,000 years after the crash landing. You'll have to team up with the planet's native residents, known as Guardians, to combat the monsters created by your ship. The Guardians aren't too fond of you because of what your ship did to their planet, but they're willing to work with you in exchange for booze.

Early concept art for Earth Seeker.

A few samples of Earth Seeker's Guardians.

Famitsu reveals this week that you don't actually play as a human character. The main character is of a species known as Earthnoid. Earthnoids were created by the spaceships similar to how they created the monsters that now roam the planet. They do look like humans, however. Based off the text in the magazine, it's unclear if there's a difference.

Its still not entirely clear what your overall goal is in Earth Seeker, but Famitsu reveals some components of the gameplay side.

You'll be able to explore a variety of fields across the planet's surface. You need to be careful, though, as the planet's air is loaded with poisonous viruses. If you touch the air, your power will drop.

As you explore, you'll encounter your ship's creations. Famitsu introduces two beasts: Protopros and Mamuma. Protopros looks like a combination rail gun and grasshopper. Mamuma is described as a combination of dragon and light bulb. Both creatures have specific environments where they reside, and specific specialties in their attacks.

There's definitely a Monster Hunter feel to the creature descriptions. That's not too surprising, though, as Crafts & Meisters founder Noritaka Funamizu worked on the original Monster Hunter back when he was at Capcom.

The battle system for facing off against these beasts is known as the "Time Stop Battle" system. It combines real time and command based elements. As you move about the battle field, you'll be able to lock on to enemies. The camera will then set itself to keep the enemy in your sites. You can press A to pause the action and select commands from a command menu. Commands shown in the screenshots include such things as "Blade Rush," "Air Strike," and elemental attacks like "Flame," "Ice," and "Thunder."

To perform actions, you need "Action Cartridges," shown as a meter at the bottom of the screen. These are added to your stock with time and via items. You can execute commands as long as you have remaining cartridges. When selecting an action, you can also choose to perform four power levels for the action. Higher power levels require additional cartridges.

The Guardians play a major part in the battle system as, from what I can see, they seem to be the ones doing the fighting. Screenshots show the main character surrounded by five Guardians. When you select a command, you're making the Guardians use their Energy Balls to attack the enemy. It's not clear if your character does any actual attacking for himself. The few battle screens in Famitsu don't show the character getting near the enemy.

Famitsu's article is still unclear on a number of aspects of Earth Seeker. We'll have to wait for an update for additional details. That update will presumably come once the clouds clear from the official site.

Update 23:37: The page now loads for me. Check out the silhouettes of a few Guardians: