New childhood friend character Naoto also revealed

Bandai Namco Entertainment began streaming a promotional video for its Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters Nintendo 3DS game on Wednesday. The video reveals the game's December 1 release date, and also shows some parts of the game, including Appli Battles and the Applink feature, as well as a new character named Naoto, the protagonist's childhood friend.

An advance "Digimon Universe Cyber Arena" version of the game already launched. Just as with the full packaged version of the game, the advance version is compatible with Appmon chips to acquire specific Appmon.

The game is billed as a "deck battle RPG." Players can scan special chips to acquire specific Appmon. Players can use the ability to "Applink" certain Appmon together to enhance certain Appmon. Certain Applinks also trigger particular Digivolutions.

The Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters multimedia project is getting hobby products and a television anime. An "Appli Drive" toy device shipped in Japan in the beginning of October for 4,500 yen (about US$43), and individual chips to use with the device will cost 240 yen (about US$2.30) each.

The anime premiered in Japan on October 1.