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Is it worth watching X-Play to see some No More Heroes footage?
We say it is! No More Heroes is the pinnacle of Wii awesomeness. Unfortunately the G4 website is the nadir of annoying Flash navigation. You have to click "Videos," then the X-Play icon, then the No More Heroes link. But once you've jumped through all those hoops-- beautiful gameplay footage. And English voice acting!No More Heroes looks as stylish and cool in motion as it does in stills. Sword combat looks great, with insane duels ending in explosions of blood. It looks like a real action game-- much more so than Killer 7. The motion-controlled Beam Katana charging is, well, inspired. The wrestling moves appear numerous. And then, as if merely to fill space, there's a surprise Suda 51 interview.No, there's no explanation of the tiger graphic. Yes, we're a little disappointed too.[Via NeoGAF]
No More Heroes character bios
The official No More Heroes page has updated with three brief character bios. We immediately put on our Secret No More Heroes Fan Club Decoder Rings and set to the task of figuring out the mysterious secret code in which they were written.Travis Touchdown is #11 in the assassin ranking. He loves pro wrestling, competitive fighting, and a "Japanimation" (their word) called "Bizarre Jerry." Sylvia Christel is an agent of the assassins' group. A mysterious, cool woman, she organizes the ranking competition herself (we think.) Holly Summers is ranked #6. She is a model who also works as an assassin.None of this is entirely new, but it does have the benefit of being about No More Heroes. And it's another excuse to go look at the character art.
Suda surprise: The Silver Case will be localized
Back at GDC, Grasshopper Manufacture's Suda 51 announced that his Playstation text adventure The Silver Case and its cellphone sequel were getting ported to the DS. We tempered our interest in this development with doubt that the games would be released outside of Japan, due to their limited appeal and the large amount of text involved.Sometimes, we don't mind being wrong. During the Australian G03 event, Suda announced that the game, which was "a minor hit" in Japan, would receive a worldwide release. Now we should all buy it and let him know he made the right decision![Via NeoGAF]
Kojima and Suda 51 tease Snatcher fans
Last Saturday, Suda 51's company Grasshopper Manufacture held the coolest event ever, at least for game nerds: Snake vs. Zombie vol. 2, a series of informal panel discussions by big names in the Japanese game industry, including Hideo Kojima, Shinji Mikami, ICO's Fumito Ueda, and Tetsuya Mizuguchi. There were also musical performances from Metal Gear Solid 3/Portable Ops soundtrack composer Norihiko Hibino and Silent Hill series producer and composer Akira Yamaoka.As if the mere existence of this event (and our non-attendance at said event) weren't causing us physical pain, now we have unbearable anticipation buzzing around in our heads. During a Kojima/Mikami panel hosted by Suda, Mikami, a man of taste, mentioned that his favorite Kojima game was Snatcher, to which the other two responded "Ah yes, Snatcher," followed by "Oh, should we announce it here?" To sum up, in italics, there is a possibility that Hideo Kojima and Suda 51 are collaborating on some kind of Snatcher game. We do not care if it is a sequel, a remake, a port, an action figure, or an official recipe for Neo Kobe Pizza. We want ten.
Possible No More Heroes t-shirt surfaces
This weird-looking t-shirt with the phrase "NO MORE HEROES" was spotted in Japan recently. Just from looking at the shirt, we have no idea if it's related to the Wii game, but the 4cr poster who purchased it seemed to think so, indicating that it is part of a line of No More Heroes shirts. We'd like to see the full line of these shirts; we'd be unlikely to purchase this one, but we really like the idea of having some No More Heroes memorabilia. Suda 51's games and his company Grasshopper Manufacture's website prove that they are capable of remarkable stylishness. Check their shop for some amazing stuff that doesn't look like it was designed by a video game company. Of course, the store is for Japan only, but go and gawk anyway.
GDC07: Classic Suda 51 weirdness hitting the DS
Suda 51's first games as part of Grasshopper Manufacture are being remade for the DS. The games, called The Silver Case and The Silver Case Ward 25, were originally released for the Playstation and mobile phones, respectively. Suda revealed this fact during his GDC keynote "Punk's Not Dead".Both are graphical text adventures; Ward 25 uses static art and the original Silver Case uses full-motion video. Unfortunately, because of the amount of text that would have to be translated, Suda isn't sure the remakes will be released outside Japan. Someone tell him that American DS players love graphical text adventures! And tell him that we <3 Grasshopper Manufacture too.
No More Heroes to be most violentest Wii game. EVAR!
Take Jackass Johnny Knoxville, make him an anime and Star Wars otaku, give him a lightsaber and martial arts skills, call him an assassin, and then toss the concoction into an open-world game infested with more assassins ... that's the premise for Suda 51's Wii game No More Heroes -- but it doesn't stop there. The Killer 7 developer has proposed a particularly un-Wii-like challenge for his Grasshopper team: "make No More Heroes as violent, or even more violent than Manhunt 2!"And afterwards? Well, there's that secret "Project S" collabo with Kojima (a Snatcher sequel?) that's been floating under the radar; and, as Suda reveals, there's interest in developing for Xbox 360. "I want to develop games for Xbox 360 as soon as possible. In fact, I am planning the next project for Xbox 360," says Suda. "As for PS3, I don't have enough materials/topics to comment on this because there is only a small chance for us to develop for the console at this point in time." Small chance? Why's that?[Via Evil Avatar]
Heroes gets a new name
Forget Heroes -- we don't need no stinkin' heroes. Looks like Suda 51's latest is going through a rechristening and will sport a name not unlike the old name, just without all that messy implied hope. The forthcoming Grasshopper title will now be called No More Heroes. We're at a loss for which title is a better choice. Here we have a game rife with murder and mayhem, with light sabers katanas and a city named Santa Destroy ... it's hard not to see heroes in that!
A trio of Contact gameplay videos
When you woke up the morning, your first thought was, "Man, I wish I had a whole bunch of Contact videos to watch." Right? That was you? Well, play along anyway. These videos, originally from GameSpot, offer a long and languorous look at gameplay and graphics, and we've embedded them after the jump for your viewing pleasure.
Metareview: Contact
Grasshopper Manufacture is certainly developing a reputation for unpredictability. Opinions on their last Nintendo foray, Killer 7, were all over the place -- some loved the twisted rail-shooter, others hated it, and many just scratched their heads and offered up a simple "wtf, mate?" Their new Atlus-published RPG Contact, while a little more straightforward, seems to be getting the same wide range of responses. As this is a metareview, Contact seems like a metagame; it's the little things that are praised, the inclusion of other games, references to games, influences from games, the touches from old school games. Unfortunately, the actual game seems to have suffered a bit -- even the most praise-worthy reviews indicate some gameplay issues. 1UP - 80%: "Savvy players will almost certainly enjoy all these little references and arty concepts, so it's a shame the entire package won't hold up to their scrutiny. In crafting their gaming curiosity, Grasshopper has made some design choices that are simply curious. The autobattle system is far from engaging ... fighting enemies in Contact is a woefully straightforward process. It's impossible to dodge or block attacks. In fact, the player can only watch as Terry trades hits with his target."Games Radar - 60%: "Contact is a mixed bag and will delight some while disappointing others. It feels "classic," but the flipside of that is "outdated." Even though it's chock-full of personality and pomp, Contact falls short on fun, with some disappointing shortcomings. Casual RPG fans will have no problem finishing this game in less than 14 hours and a lot of that time will be spent backtracking through previous areas and grinding to boost your stats before boss fights. Also, weapons and special attacks unlocked near the end are just as unimpressive as the ones you begin with. Contact does sport an incredible surprise ending that adds depth and changes your perspective on all the main characters in the game. However, its impact is greatly diminished by the extremely short play time."Yahoo Games - 70%: "The linearity is one area where Contact is particularly disappointing. You'll end up stuck because you can't figure out how to trigger a certain bit of scripting (pay attention to the dialogue!), or maybe you can't figure out the trick to defeating some inscrutable boss battle. Or perhaps you haven't quite leveled up enough to easily dispatch the latest round of monsters in a new area. At times like these, all of Contact's charm can't save it from the tedium that bogs down a lot of RPGs. But it's still as solid as they come, not terribly spectacular, but the perfect fare for devotees of the genre."So it seems Contact definitely reaches out with its intriguing concept, and Grasshopper knows how much we like references and in-jokes, but RPGs have evolved over time for a reason. Some of that evolution should have perhaps been maintained for this title.
DS releases for the week of October 16th [update 1]
Big week, Nintendo fans! Looks like the winter glut of games has begun ... and so many of us already blew our gaming wads for the month on Wii preorders! Guess it's time to start making some sacrifices, since this week brings us a new Nintendogs as well as the latest published by Atlus, Contact. Grasshopper Manufacture's new offbeat RPG is our pick for the game of the week, though there's a good possibility that anything with the Nintendogs logo might just outsell the Bible, much less any games that dare to compete.DS: Contact Disney's American Dragon: Jake Long, Attack of the Dark Dragon Disney's Chicken Little: Ace in Action Justice League Heroes Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, The Lionel Trains: On Track Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab GBA: Justice League Heroes: The Flash SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 And for our counterparts in the UK, the exciting release this week is Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007, which hits shelves on the 20th. As always, availability is subject to manufacturer delivery.[Update 1: Changed category from Interviews, which this ain't, to news, which it is.][Via Joystiq]4 leaves take 5 4 good, 6 feet under. A shame, really.
