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Atlus unboxes Catherine 'Love is Over' deluxe edition
Depending on how interested you are in something, unboxing videos can either be incredibly exciting or the most boring things you've ever seen. Catherine's "Love is Over" deluxe edition may be a different story, however, on account of the underwear and pizza boxes.
The Joystiq Show - 003: Localization of the Damned
This week, the Joystiq Show talks localization. From the cry of gamers wanting Nintendo to bring niche Japanese games stateside, to inside information straight from the localizers themselves, we have the topic covered from all angles. Is Catherine the first game from Atlus to include underwear in a special edition? You'll have to listen to find out. Also, stick around after the main show as Mark MacDonald from 8-4 joins a lengthy Spoiled Rotten roundtable on Shadows of the Damned. Part 1 (2:50) - Operation Rainfall Part 2 (15:10) - Atlus on Catherine Part 3 (28:40) - Mark MacDonald of 8-4 Part 4 (52:30) - Spoiled Rotten: Shadows of the Damned Let us know what you think of the show in comments. Also, we still need some sweeter than sweet art for The Joystiq Show, so you creative types should get on it! Note: Most game clips from Audio Atrocities. Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast in iTunes [Zune] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Host: Richard Mitchell (@SenseiRAM) Guests: Chris Ward, Aram Jabbari, Clayton S. Chan, Mike Meeker and Mark MacDonald Producer: Jonathan Downin (@jonathandownin - Game Thing Daily) Production Coordinator: Richard Mitchell (@SenseiRAM) Music: Trash80 and Broke For Free. See the full guest list, and stream the show, after the break.
Your first date with Catherine: demo coming next week
If you're eager to see what exactly Catherine is all about -- or, alternately, if you have a few minutes to try some random game -- you'll get your chance to sample the surreal relationship drama and unreal tower-climbing of Atlus's latest on July 12. That day, Atlus reveals, a demo will be released on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The content is the same as the Japanese demo you may have grabbed from that region's PSN, but with the crucial addition of words you can understand. And any assistance with understanding this weird game is welcome. More visual aids are available in the form of NSFW-ish new screenshots, and a new trailer after the break.%Gallery-127769%
Catherine trailer screams for about an hour and a half
We know some people are of a mixed opinion regarding the English version of Catherine's voice acting. However, after watching the trailer below, you kind of have to give it up for whoever's providing the pipes for Vincent -- that dude can scream for a super long time.
Catherine trailer pops the question, fans answer
Last month, Atlus asked its fans to be featured in this new Catherine trailer -- they just had to answer a few, short questions about marriage on camera. Were you one of those foolish enough to take the bait?
Catherine screens feature adult conversation, adult nightmares
Atlus loaded some new Catherine screens into its pizza box and delivered them hot and fresh to us. And it's the kind of stuff we've come to expect from Catherine media: jarring, out-of-context quotes about relationships ... and a dude in his grundies climbing up a physically impossible tower of ornate blocks. "Cheating is pathetic," says one of Vincent's pals over in the game's version of the real world. Meanwhile, in other screens Vincent says nothing, as he clutches his pillow and tries not to fall off of the nightmare architecture.%Gallery-122916%
Catherine Deluxe Edition delivered in a pizza box, topped with underwear
When the marketing team at Atlus sat down to evaluate Catherine, the company's creepy concoction of nightmarish puzzle realms and adult relationships, it established what needed to be done in order to make the game stand out amongst the year's other offerings: absolutely nothing. But if you're Atlus, lasciviousness is no excuse to omit lavish special editions! The "Love is Over Deluxe Edition" of Catherine is delivered in a "Stray Sheep" pizza box, fresh from the haunt frequented by in-game boy toy Vincent. In addition to the game, on either Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, the special package contains a Catherine pillowcase, a large shirt depicting a depleted heart gauge, and Vincent's boxers. (Not boxers with pictures of Vincent on them -- Vincent's dotted underwear that he removed and sent to you.) The "Love is Over Deluxe Edition" will set you back $79.99 and will be available only in limited quantities. Pre-orders for both the regular edition and special release incur further bonuses in the form of the Atlus-obligatory 11-track music CD and a 36-page Catherine art book. If you're already envisioning your perfect evening -- lying on that pillowcase in your new shirt and boxers, listening to the soundtrack while you flip through the art book -- you might need to take your relationship with Catherine down just a notch. We You have until July 26 to modify and/or hide your obsession.
Catherine screens go from the bar to the nightmare tower
These new screens from Atlus's localization of Catherine illustrate the dichotomy of this weird, weird game. Judging from the media we've seen so far, it's half "mature storyline about infidelity" and half "dude in undies and sheep horns climbing a surreal tower." See both after the break.
Put your thoughts on marriage into a Catherine trailer
Atlus is giving fans the opportunity to participate in a Catherine trailer, which will then be used to market the game to ... well, those same fans, really. The publisher is soliciting video responses to the following three questions: Do you ever want to get married? If so, to the person you're with now? If not, why? Some of those video responses will be put into a new trailer, similar to this one made in advance of the Japanese release. "We'll likely cut something that is similar in structure to the Japanese trailer," Atlus PR and sales manager (and, now, Catherine pre-trailer star) Aram Jabbari told Joystiq, "although sans a film crew roaming the streets of a city." The goal of the questions, he said, "is just to get people thinking about and talking about their relationships." If some of those relationships happen to come to an untimely end as a result of unwise, broadcasted responses ... well, that's more time for your newly-single self to play through Catherine. For more information, check out the video after the break and the rules on the YouTube page.
Catherine screens and trailer, now in English
Atlus has released some screenshots and a trailer to accompany the localization announcement of Catherine. The English text helps to make this game about terrifying sheep-men easier to understand ... theoretically.
Catherine confirmed for North America, coming this summer
Your dreams have come true! Atlus has confirmed plans to bring Catherine (and Katherine), "the HD adult horror title from the makers of Persona," to North America. The game's official site pegs the release for "Summer 2011" (but a link to Amazon therein offers a more precise target: July 26). Just like the Japanese release, the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions will feature different box babes, as seen above.
Catherine conquers Japanese sales charts, Atlus sends mixed messages
The extraordinarily weird and difficult Catherine was finally released in Japan this week, and -- go figure -- they loved it. The title topped the sales charts, selling more than two times the amount of the next most popular game, which was no slouch itself: Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Catherine was the top title on both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 over there, picking up two slots in the overall top ten. Quite a debut. Despite the success, Atlus released a statement this week that the game isn't coming to North America any time soon. "Catherine is a Japan-only game," the statement reads, "and there are no plans for a NA release at this time. Sorry about that!" The company subsequently sent an email out to its "Atlus Faithful" mailing list, containing only the above image, whose background looks suspiciously similar to the color of the Catherine box art.
Atlus toning down Catherine's difficulty with upcoming patch
Apparently, Vincent's "nightmares" in Catherine are a bit too scary. In a post on the official Catherine blog, director Katsura Hashino noted that fans have been complaining about excessive difficulty in the "Nightmare" climbing puzzle segments, even when playing on the easiest difficulty setting. Hashino and the team wanted the climbing segments to convey the "thrill of a nightmare" and leave the player with a "clear sense of accomplishment," admitting that perhaps the staff had become too well-versed in the game to realize that it had become too hard for the people who didn't make it. A patch is currently in development at Atlus, aimed at balancing out this difficulty, so people can follow the story instead of merely falling from illusory block towers.
Catherine demo returns to Japanese PSN for a limited engagement
To celebrate the release of Atlus's inexplicable adventure game/climbing puzzle Catherine in Japan, the publisher has once again enabled PS3 users to download the demo, which was removed from PSN early this month after Atlus hit its unspecified allotment of downloads. The demo is available through Sunday, February 20, at 11:59 PM, and is identical to the previous demo. We're almost certain that once you get the demo, you'll find it's not exactly what you expected -- no matter what you expected. Anime cutscenes are punctuated by a high-speed puzzle game in which you push and pull blocks to climb up a tower. And we don't mean it's a third-person action/adventure game or RPG with puzzle elements -- we mean puzzle game. Go try it for yourself before it disappears again. [Image source: Famitsu; thanks, Aaron!]
Catherine demo pulled from Japanese PSN
If you keep meaning to make a Japanese PSN account in order to download the Catherine demo that came out in late January, you can cancel that intention. Atlus has removed the demo from Japan's PSN. Notifying fans on Twitter (in Japanese), Atlus said that downloads hit the planned maximum quantity. Apparently, the Catherine demo was planned as a limited release, but Atlus didn't tell anybody that there was a limit or what it was. Perhaps the company only budgeted so much money for the PSN fees required to serve the demo. All we can suggest is that you run to your PS3 right now and download every single Atlus demo. It won't help you experience Catherine, but it will prevent you from losing out on any more demos. You can find a small, non-playable chunk of the demo -- the opening movie -- after the break.
Catherine and Gal Gun demos available in Japan this month
If you've got Japanese PSN or Xbox Live accounts set up, they're going to come in handy in the next couple of weeks, as demos for Catherine and ... Gal Gun will be available for download. January 27 will see the arrival of the Catherine demo on both PSN and XBLA, though it won't be available to Silver members until February 3. While Catherine is odd-looking but genuinely, defensibly interesting, you'll just have to pretend you accidentally downloaded the Gal Gun demo from Xbox Live on January 21. "I just picked randomly! I can't read Japanese!" It's "ぎゃる☆がん", by the way, in case you have trouble finding it.
Count the sheep men in first Catherine gameplay clip
Being in Japanese, this first gameplay clip of Atlus' adultery-balancing, psyche-breaking Catherine doesn't help much -- the erratic themes are indecipherable enough without a language we don't speak laid over it! Regardless, you'd be a fool to miss it. It does feature talking sheep men, after all.
Catherine demo due out sometime before Japanese release
You may not know much about Catherine, the action-adventure game from Atlus that's been teased with some strange trailers, but don't worry -- all will be revealed, says the game's director, with a demo coming early in 2011. Katsura Hashino says that although people have been intrigued by the weird media released so far, many have been confused about what the game actually is, and the demo is apparently designed to reveal exactly that. No word on when the demo will drop, but the game is due out in Japan on February 17, so presumably it'll be out before then. We look forward to making some sense of all the weirdness so far.
More on Catherine's nightmare stairways
The action stages in Atlus's Catherine involve the nightmares of "hero" Vincent, as he climbs stairs in some kind of dreamworld tower. That much we knew. A feature in this week's Famitsu, translated by Andriasang, offers a bit more detail about these surreal segments. There's a sort of puzzle element to these action sequences, according to the new article: the "stairway" is made of blocks that Vincent has to shift around to make a path. That path has to be made quickly and efficiently, because there's a time limit. Some of the blocks have spike or bomb traps, which Famitsu suggests can be used as items. As for those sheep-men that inhabit the dream? They aren't enemies: instead, Vincent can get clues about the mysteries in his waking life by talking to them. "I heard that girl Catherine is BAAAAAd news." Ewe'd do wool to listen to them.
Catherine and Katherine split box art duty
If you're shocked to see the seductive poses on the Japanese box art for Catherine, this is likely your first encounter with the Persona team's foray into HD games. The covers feature Catherine (on the PS3 box), the mysterious woman with whom protagonist Vincent has an affair with, and his current girlfriend, Katherine (on the 360 version). The box art is in line with the general marketing for the adult-themed game, which has used lascivious imagery to capture Vincent's insomnia-plagued predicament. Look closer -- notice the falling sheep-men? Catherine arrives in Japan on February 17, and in North America who knows when.
