Suda 51
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Marvelous's Wada and Kimura join Grasshopper Manufacture
Grasshopper Manufacture has added even more talent to its roster, according to a report from the latest Famitsu. Yasuhiro Wada, former president of Marvelous Interactive (and creator of Harvest Moon), and Little King's Story director Yoshiro Kimura, have joined Suda 51's team as chief operating officer and chief creative officer, respectively. "We haven't released a single [original] title in the past year, which is something that caused a lot of regret in my mind," Suda told Famitsu (according to 1UP's translation). "Having these two people join Grasshopper will make us a more sturdily-organized company, and it'll improve our development, technical, and release skills." Both have previously worked as producers for Grasshopper games, including both No More Heroes. Suda suggested that the new hires could help Grasshopper expand into new genres, including games for all ages.
Kinect comes to XBLA, Microsoft Game Studios reveals five Japanese titles
Microsoft Game Studios unveiled five new Japanese partnerships during its Tokyo Game Show 2010 keynote today, each intended to "provide fun for users throughout the world." Takashi Sensui, general manager of Xbox in Japan, claimed the projects would "define the future of Xbox 360 and Kinect" -- a future that now promises Kinect-enabled Xbox Live Arcade games. Out of the five new XBLA-exclusive games announced today, three will use Kinect: Haunt, a spooky adventure from Parappa the Rappa's Masaya Matsuura; Project Codename D, a stylish new endeavor from Grasshopper Manufacture's Suda 51; and Project Draco, a Panzer Dragoon-esque flight game from Phantom Dust creator Yukio Futatsugi. These will join third-party Kinect games Child of Eden, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor and Rise of Nightmares in 2011. Microsoft also revealed Fire-Pro Wrestling from Spike, and a new version of Radiant Silvergun from Treasure (much to the chagrin of eBay profiteers). Both are coming to XBLA in 2011.
Codename D revealed as Suda 51 Kinect game
No More Heroes and Killer 7 auteur Suda 51 is a busy, busy boy this TGS. During the Microsoft Press Conference the Grasshopper Manufacture head announced the studio is working on a Kinect game entitled Codename D. Mr. 51 stated that the game will not feature guns or swords but will be a core action game. The brief trailer showed a lot of things exploding and a Suda dose of weirdness. The game is scheduled for 2011. %Gallery-102401%
Shadows of the Damned announcement trailer enters the light
Shadows of the Damned, a new "psychological action thriller" from EA Partners, Grasshopper Manufacture's Suda 51 and Platinum's Shinji Mikami was just announced at TGS -- and now it has a spiffy trailer. Check out the footage featuring the "hunter of demons," whose "wrath is your hell," after the break.%Gallery-102296%
'Shadows of the Damned' is the long-awaited Suda/Mikami/EA Partners collaboration
"We've had you waiting for a long time." Grasshopper Manufacture's Suda 51 and Platinum's Shinji Mikami took the stage at EA's TGS showcase to reveal Shadows of the Damned, a new "psychological action thriller" from EA's Partners division. According to Suda, he and Mikami wanted to make this game for a long time, and searched for the right publisher to bring it to a global audience. "Finally, today, we can reveal our game that we've been working on together with EA," he said. The game is expected to release in 2011. EA Partners announced this new horror franchise in August 2008, under the direction of game "auteurs" Suda and Shinji Mikami. Since then, Grasshopper has increased its roster of stars with musician Akira Yamaoka and designer Kazutoshi Iida, released No More Heroes 2, and announced the downloadable Sine Mora. in this game, a character named Garcia travels to Hell to rescue his love. Hopefully, this will be a bit classier than Dante's Inferno... Update: Trailer now available.
Electronic Arts TGS 2010 liveblog
We're at the Keio Plaza Hotel in lovely Shinjuku, Tokyo for Electronic Arts' 2010 TGS press conference. Things are getting underway, we've taken our seats in a small, but well attended ballroom. Join us just past the break for all the news, live from Tokyo.
EA's Suda51, Mikami horror collaboration will be at TGS; no mention of Wii, PC anymore
Last Friday, EA announced a "Tokyo Showcase" event to be held the night before the annual Tokyo Game Show kicks off. We speculated that it was a prime opportunity to share EA Partners' highest-profile project: the Shinji Mikami-produced, Suda51-directed, Akira Yamaoka-scored, Q Entertainment co-developed horror title first announced in 2008. David DeMartini told Eurogamer that the title would be revealed at TGS (we're guessing at EA's aforementioned showcase) and explained the unusual pairing. "The key thing is not for us to tone down Suda or try and Westernise Suda, but to try and make sure the game gets broad enough exposure that more people appreciate it," DeMartini said. "Obviously with EA's publishing and sales team [...] people are going to get an opportunity to finally listen to what you guys have been writing about Suda for a long time." DeMartini also confirmed that the game would, unsurprisingly, be released on Xbox 360 and PS3. What is surprising, however, is the omission of the Wii. The announcement press release stated that the title was in development for all three console platforms as well as PC: "The title is being developed for the PC, Xbox 360 video game system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Wii." We've asked EA to comment on the title's intended platforms, but more than likely we'll be waiting until the September 15th event.
Suda 51 announces 'Sine Mora' for XBLA, PSN
Suda 51 just announced Sine Mora for PSN and Xbox Live Arcade this evening at Gamescom. The horizontal space shmup is being co-developed through a new partnership between Suda's Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality. Grasshopper will provide art direction, music and sound. Digital Reality, perhaps best known as the developer of the Imperium Galactica games, will be publishing the title. The partnership between the two companies will also include "a range of [other] titles," though no information about further releases was forthcoming. Sine Mora is scheduled for a worldwide Q3 2011 release and will support 3D in the PSN version. The lack of major announcements at this year's convention prompted Suda to joke that "this is going to be the biggest announcement of this Gamescom."
No More Heroes 2 finally coming to Japan with deluxe edition
Marvelous has finally gotten around to announcing a Japanese release date for No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle. Suda 51's revenge-themed action sequel will be released in Japan on October 21 -- nine months after the game's North American release. Marvelous is compensating for the delay somewhat by offering a lovely "HOPPER's Edition" that contains the game, a soundtrack CD, a DVD recapping the events of the first game, and a new "No More Heroes 1.5" movie written by Suda 51, detailing what happened between the two games -- which means, we guess, that Travis didn't spend the whole time watching wrestling in his motel room. We hope. Those interested in this version will have to provide some compensation of their own, to the tune of ¥8,980 ($102). A regular edition will also be released for ¥7,140 ($81). Early purchases of either version will come with an "erotica comic" featuring character artwork and a recap of the previous game.
Suda 51: 'no plan' for No More Heroes 3
Suda 51 has said in the past (using typically scatological terms) that Grasshopper Manufacture has thought about making a No More Heroes 3. However, according to a Cubed3 interview with the designer, the studio has yet to start any kind of work on a new sequel. "Unfortunately, the story for Travis alone is completed in No More Heroes 2. I am very curious about his life after this," Suda told Cubed3, "however, we have no plan for No More Heroes 3." Later in the interview, Suda expressed his enthusiasm for the Killer 7 franchise, saying that it was "a very very important game for me" and "part of my soul." As for the long lost DS port The Silver Case, Suda revealed that development on the port of Grasshopper's first game was finished, and now Suda is considering "what would be the best way to debut this game on a worldwide basis. "
Suda 51 has 'many ideas' for 3DS
No More Heroes and Killer 7 creator Suda 51 is thinking about what he'd like to do with Nintendo's 3DS -- and, naturally, the designer's first idea manages to be both movie-inspired and kind of insane. Speaking to Official Nintendo Magazine, Suda offered one of his "many ideas" for the 3D handheld: "I hope for the realization of a training remote like Luke Skywalker used for force training in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope." "I would love to try to develop a game for 3DS if I have a chance," Suda added. Perhaps he'll get his chance after completing the mysterious project he's making for EA with Shinji Mikami. By then, he'll probably have changed his mind about making a DS game about being shot with lasers while blindfolded.
No More Heroes remakes outsold the original by a little
We're not going to say that No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise is a hit, but those of us in constant fear of Marvelous running out of money can breathe a sigh of relief, as the remake has brought a little cash in (more considering that the game is a port and therefore probably less expensive to produce). In fact, both versions managed to make it into the Media Create top ten, with the PS3 version's 16,000 copies securing a #7 position and the Xbox 360 version's 15,000 copies at #8. Both of these actually outperformed the Wii original, which sold 11,700 copies in its debut week back in 2007. Now that we think about it, however, the real story might be that 15,000 people in Japan bought an Xbox 360 game in a single week. %Gallery-78530%
New Grasshopper Manufacture project not called 'Closer'
After cyber spy Superannuation shed light on a U.S. copyright document, filed by Grasshopper Manufacture in August 2008, internet speculation concluded that the idiosyncratic developer's next game would be called "Closer." However, Grasshopper's international representative has told Joystiq that the name is no longer being used for any projects currently in development. "As for 'Closer,' we currently don't have any projects under that name in development. Closer was one of the names considered for a project, but that name has since been abandoned." Grasshopper's most mysterious project -- announced in August 2008 -- is an action horror game empowered by the mind-boggling collaboration of Suda 51, Shinji Mikami, Akira Yamaoka and EA Partners. And Unreal Engine 3. Sadly, the quelling of this rumor also brings the demise of hopes that "Closer" was to be the name of Suda 51's edgy re-imagining of Kyra Sedgwick's television drama, "The Closer." It would have all of the show's intense confrontation, but Kyra's face would be an 8-bit parody of commercialism and she'd save the game by clipping her nails over an empty wastebasket. Oh well.
Beam saber savings: No More Heroes 2 for $35
If you couldn't find room in your budget for No More Heroes 2 amid the first quarter's overloaded lineup, perhaps Amazon's latest deal will encourage you to spend a little of that tax refund on the temporarily discounted sequel. Earth's Biggest Bookstore (remember when Amazon called itself a bookstore?) has marked down Travis Touchdown's revenge story to $35. It's the Deal of the Day, so when supplies run out or the clock strikes midnight Pacific Time, there will be no more cheap No More Heroes 2. If you have yet to experience the delightfully bizarre original, the Xbox 360 and PS3 ports were released in Japan this week.
Suda 51 hoping for a 'diarrhea'-like No More Heroes 3
[Famitsu] Not only has Suda 51 been thinking about a third No More Heroes game, he's been working on his scatological simile for its development -- so you know he's serious. To recap: No More Heroes was like taking a dump, and No More Heroes 2 was the result of lingering on the toilet afterwards. Yes, this is how the man sells his games. "What we are hoping to do now with No More Heroes 3," the Grasshopper Manufacture leader told The Guardian in a video interview, "is probably to digest everything we eat and then purge absolutely everything in our guts, just like diarrhea!" In no way is this ... vivid ... description a confirmation that the game is definitely being released, but it is further indication that Suda wants to make such a game. Speaking about the troubled state of the Japanese game market (without the use of poop metaphors), Suda said, "I am aware of the importance of the Japanese game industry, but we need to try not to think about how the market is behaving. Instead, we should concentrate on polishing our creativity, and taking our creativity to a higher level." [Via Siliconera]
Interview: Akira Yamaoka explains Grasshopper jump
Having composed Silent Hill's unmistakable audio ever since the series began, Akira Yamaoka is best known for unsettling even the soundest of minds with an unpredictable mixture of industrial noise, haunting melodies and straight-up rock. He left his position as producer and fan-made custodian of the survival-horror franchise earlier this year to join Grasshopper Manufacture and Goichi "Suda 51" Suda's "video game band." Although Grasshopper isn't ready to talk specifically about its upcoming collaboration with EA, we did get an opportunity at GDC to ask Akira Yamaoka a few general questions about his move and his relationship with Silent Hill. Joystiq: What have you seen at GDC this year that interested you? Akira Yamaoka: [laughs] I'm actually really busy with having interviews and I did a session, so I was busy with preparation for that. So, I didn't have much chance to look at a lot of sessions yet because of that, but the image around GDC has been changing. It seems like a lot of seminars are more like -- they don't really talk about new technology but they talk more about concepts and stuff like that. That's what I feel about GDC now.
Suda 51 wants to make new IP for Natal and PlayStation Motion Controller
Grasshopper Manufacture studio head Suda 51 is "very interested" in working on games for both Microsoft's Project Natal and the PlayStation Motion Controller, he told GameSpot UK. However, his interest doesn't lie in adapting No More Heroes or other Grasshopper games to the new control scheme. "I will make some original IP to fit that control system," he said. No More Heroes was the result of experimentation with the Wii Remote, and the same will be required for the other systems. Suda said that the new IP would be designed in response to the control scheme. Suda also spoke about Heavy Rain, saying that he approved of "designs and anything that gives new experiences to the players." Given his history with mindbending adventure games, his interest in the title comes as little surprise.
New trailer for No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise adds to our frustration
Other than providing a more specific April release date of the 15th (in Japan at least), the latest trailer for No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise which we've dropped after the break does little but fill us with frustration. First and foremost, we don't have any idea what it says because the whole thing's in Japanese. Second, the quick cuts don't give us enough of a chance to ogle the newly HDified graphics in the Xbox 360 and PS3 port. Third, we wanna see pure madness produced by that light ... sword (not a saber, that's for sure) if the game's gonna be in HD. We might normally say something at this point about hoping for the best when the game arrives at retail, but this one's a Japan-only release, folks. Time to bust out that extra milk money (and Japanese dictionary) for the import copy, eh? %Gallery-78530%
Suda 51 interested in continuing No More Heroes on next Nintendo console
First look at the next Wii's controller In an interview in July, Suda 51 told Edge that the next No More Heroes game wouldn't be on Wii. Speaking to Game Informer, the Grasshopper Manufacture head clarified the statement. It won't be on Wii, but it could end up on the Nintendo system that comes after the Wii. "If there is a chance to continue No More Heroes, I am interested in making NMH3," Suda said. "I personally think that NMH is a game for Wii, so I would be very happy if I could make a game for the Wii's successor, whenever that might be." We're already delighted about using futuristic space waggle for the next generation of beheadings.
Silent Hill composer Yamaoka joins Suda 51's 'video game band'
Akira Yamaoka, composer of every Silent Hill score except one, and producer on every title in the series since 3, has joined Suda 51's studio, Grasshopper Manufacture, following his departure from Konami last month. Yamaoka has already contributed tracks to this month's No More Heroes 2 and is working on music for EA's mysterious Suda/Shinji Mikami action horror game. Though we were once concerned about the long wait time for the collaborative project (or any information about it), now that the wait has resulted in the addition of Yamaoka to its development team, we don't mind. At all. "Ever since I saw a video of Silent Hill 2 at the Tokyo Game Show nine years ago, I've always dreamed of working alongside him," Suda told Famitsu, as translated by 1UP. "That's why I thought I'd invite him over when I started hearing rumors that he left [Konami]." "It was a case of really good timing," Yamaoka said. "I knew about Suda long before I met him; I saw Grasshopper as one of those few Japanese outfits whose games can appeal to an overseas audience. I had a chance to meet him in Los Angeles and we talked about this and that, and once we started discussing how we wanted to do something creative for a world audience, I was hooked on the company." Also new to Grasshopper: Kazutoshi Iida, creator of Aquanaut's Holiday, Tail of the Sun, Doshin the Giant, and Discipline, who will certainly make the already idiosyncratic works of Grasshopper Manufacture even stranger. [Via GameSetWatch]
