The Odd Couple - EA & Grasshopper or Suda 51 & Shinji Mikami

It might seem weird that Japanese independent studio Grasshopper Manufacture is partnering up with US powerhouse publisher EA; but it seems weirder to me that wacky, artsy Suda 51 is pairing off with serious, horror-loving Shinji Mikami of Resident Evil fame.

I went into my interview with the two Japanese developers with a bunch of questions I knew I couldn’t ask; I lived in Japan long enough to learn that the direct approach is usually not the best. The questions I did ask, though, had some fun answers:

Shinji Mikami: Money. [Laughs]

Flower, Sun, and Rain Hits Europe In October

Suda51's PlayStation 2 mystery masterpiece is heading to North America via Marvelous Entertainment, but what about you charming Europeans? Rising Star Games has you completely covered, announcing Flower, Sun, and Rain for the Nintendo DS, coming to Europe in October. It's a unique adventure game is full of Suda's trademark bizarre style, placing you in the shoes of a detective who must locate and diffuse a bomb by solving puzzles, just like the real bomb squad.

Commenting on its imminent release, Goichi Suda, aka Suda51 commented, “It’s great news that European gamers are getting to play Flower, Sun and Rain. All of my creative work involves a touch of the bizarre and unexpected and this game is no different!”

There's a trailer for the game coming out on Friday. Hopefully these latest screenshots will tide fans over until then.

No More Heroes Mobile Is Less Bloody, More Adorable

Suda's No More Heroes is violent. It's also really, really stylish. Those are the two things the game's probably most renowned for, so when a Japanese mobile version of the game turns up looking neither stylish nor violent, should you care? Yes! Because there's not just one mobile game, there's three of them, they take Travis and co. and turn them into fat-headed children, and because each game only costs ¥100 (USD$0.95).

NO MORE HEROES FLASH ゲーム [Game Watch]

Masafumi Takada on Music, Games, and Inspiration

Yes, Have A Look Or Two At Fatal Frame IV

This week's Famitsu has a look at the Nintendo published surivival horror Zero ~Tsukihami no Kamen~ AKA Fatal Frame IV. The Wii game is being directed by Tecmo's Makoto Shibata and Grasshopper's Goichi Suda. While Shibata worked on the previous Fatal Frame games, Suda was roped in to work on Fatal Frame IV. Hit the jump for another look at the game.

Zero Punctuation Relishes No More Heroes

While Yahtzee was a little bit late to squeeze into our No More Heroes Frankenreview, he still offers a pretty enjoyable review of the game, likening the experience to, among countless other colorful, non sequitur metaphors, Branston Pickle. Having never consumed Branston Pickle, I can only assume that this review is absolutely, utterly false in its conclusion. And as I don't plan on visiting Branston's home in England any time in the near future to try it (or even going to the shelf in any large chain store to buy it), I should live a life of blissful ignorance for some time.

Zero Punctuation: No More Heroes [The Escapist]

The Dawn of Literary Video Games

Some of us here at Kotaku are fond of the idea of highbrow literature getting the game treatment. Suda 51's Kurayami, based on Franz Kafka's The Castle, could be leading the pack in games inspired by literature not really associated with great fodder for the gaming medium. But what of the downsides of a gaming landscape that includes Joyce and Lawrence?:

... With all this high regard would come pretentiousness, and everybody would be too scared to admit that they didn't particularly like - or even understand - Konami's latest FPS based on the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, or Square Enix's RPG adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, in the same way that nobody in the art community will admit that, really, Damien Hirst's stuff is a load of bobbins.

His suggestion on what to do with Finnegan's Wake is brilliant. I'm not sure the world is quite ready for a Dostoevsky-Squeenix mash-up, but it would make for some interesting reviews to be sure.

Blogs
The Ryan Lambie column: the dawn of literary videogames [Den of Geek]

Fez Music Dude Makes Suda Remix!

Goichi Suda, Shinji Mikami Team Up For More Awesomeness?

Word has it that No More Heroes creator Goichi Suda and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami have joined forces for a yet unannounced project. (Previously, the duo worked together on Killer7.) We've been hearing rumblings about this for a while, as has game magazine GamesTM. The latest issue dishes:

UNTITLED PLATINUM GAMES PROJECT
One of our spies informs us that Grasshopper is currently discussing a new game with the ex-Clover studio.

[Thanks, 87th!]

No More Heroes Does OK In America (Probably Better In Europe)

Suda Wants To Make Mario With Guns

Suda Wants to Make Xbox 360 Games For Your American Love

This originality will always remain, but I also want us to challenge ourselves by working at making realistic visuals as well. The next title will have a very different style, but keep the Grasshopper feeling at the same time... The Xbox 360. Definitely, I want to develop on this platform. It is really easy to work with. It is also quite popular outside Japan on markets that I would like to aim at. Specifically, I think of the American market as the Major League — I would like to go there and be successful.

Watch No More Heroes Lose Gallons Of Blood

Want to see what Wii owners in Europe and Japan are missing out on, in terms of flowing rivers of blood, decapitations and amputations? Then watch xserothx's No More Heroes Death Scene Comparison clips for a study in regional censorship. This is grisly stuff, folks, and not for the faint of heart of virtual murder. Anyone wary of spoilers should skip 'em, as they're essentially every boss fight in the game.

No More Heroes Death Scene Comparisons [YouTube - thanks, Sidepocket!]

There's no doubt about it—the Wii is in dire need of some decent third party titles. That's why we find director SUDA-51's/Grasshopper Manufacture's No More Heroes so intriguing. A sort of Grand Theft Auto meets Killer7 meets light sabers, the game promised to bring action, humor and style to the Wii...without Mario or his friends.

So what did the critics think? Hit the jump for our Frankenreview to find out: not quite every review, but probably more than you're going to read anyway.

3rd Party Titles Not Selling Comment "Misinterpreted"

I am concerned to learn my comments in one interview regarding the success of Nintendo 3rd party titles have been misinterpreted. My point was that "NO MORE HEROES", unlike a lot of Nintendo Wii titles currently available is the kind of product which will attract a different kind of consumer to the hardware. ie. gamers who are looking for a different genre to the products which have been successful on this platform thus far.

Whilst the sales weren't as high as I hoped, other titles for Wii aren't selling so well either. Only Nintendo titles are doing well. This isn't just because of the current situation in Japan, as this is happening outside Japan... Actually I was very surprised about the reality about Wii, because before I was making this game, I wasn't expecting that Wii would be a console targeted only for non-gamers. I expected more games for hardcore gamers. The reality is different to what I expected.

We are constantly inundated with stories of games getting their release dates bumped back, but rarely if ever do we hear about something releasing early. In a statement to IGN yesterday, Ubisoft announced that Suda 51's No More Heroes will be coming to the Wii a little over a month early. Originally slated to release Feb. 29, the quirky cel-shaded cousin of Killer 7 is now set to hit store shelves on Jan. 22. The original release date would have pitted No More Heroes against heavy hitter Super Smash Bros. Brawl, so was this a shrewd marketing move on Ubisofts's part, or merely a coincidence?

No More Heroes Ships Early [IGN]