There may be light at the end of the tunnel for fright-fans after all...

Released in Japan earlier this year under a shroud of mystery, Fatal Frame IV finally sees the terrifying series find a home on a Nintendo console. Even more than that, the game was published by Nintendo and none other than Suda 51's Grasshopper studio had a hand in development. Despite this dream-team, it seemed Nintendo would never get around to releasing the game in the west. But it seems things may be looking up.

The latest issue of Official Nintendo Magazine published a feature based around the games to come out in 2009. Sure enough, Fatal Frame IV was present, with an ETA of no later than "February". This doesn't exactly conflict with recent rumours that the game may see release on the same day as Chrono Trigger: February 6th. This juicy rumour is nicely accompanied with UK retailer Play.com's listing of the title with that same release date. Could it be more than coincidence. The magazine article also stated the game would still be published by Nintendo (although at this stage, Grasshopper subsidary Rising Star may be a safer bet).

And we of course cannot forget about our friends over the Atlantic. Luckily, there's some good news in store for them too. A spokesman for US publisher XSEED had this to say on the matter:

"If you're talking about Fatal Frame 4 for the Wii then it's coming to the US, even though it won't be by us. Can't tell you who's bringing it over, but keep your eyes peeled for an official announcement, hopefully sometime soon."

Although collecting all this evidence may look heartwarming, nothing has been confirmed by Nintendo nor anyone else, so this one remains strictly 'rumour'.