And that's about all we know at this stage, other than a supposed title, No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise.

But we can't say that No More Heroes making the high-definition transition from the Wii to the PS3/360 is much of a surprise. Grasshopper lead Goichi Suda has previously expressed his interest in bringing Travis Touchdown and crew to other consoles.

And, considering Suda's interest in Project Natal—and presumably Sony's PS3 motion controller—the No More Heroes franchise seems like a no-brainer kind of port.

Or maybe Suda and crew were motivated by No More Heroes' Japanese publisher Marvelous Entertainment, which has expressed its disappointment with domestic sales on Nintendo's console, hinting at the possibility of up-res ports of its moderately selling Wii games.

We'll know for sure later this week, when Famitsu would likely reveal more.

UPDATE - The game is indeed in the latest issue of Famitsu, which reveals that it's due out in Japan on February 25. Some new stuff being added for the platform jump include Japanese voice-acting and a game mode where the ladies aren't wearing too many clothes.

You can check out some images from the game below.

Although, speaking to 1Up, Suda also made clear that "I've finished the story for Travis [Touchdown]. It's completely finished in No More Heroes 2." Anything developed will involve "a different character, or something like that within the series - starting on the next Nintendo platform."

Suda's comments themselves don't betray any knowledge or certainty of such a console, other than the assumption that, yes, its day shall come. So for all of you who took this to mean No More Heroes as you knew it was done, the answer is no.

Actually, I answered differently, and it may have been misinterpreted. What I wanted to say was, looking at the Wii, I think No More Heroes 2 will probably be the last iteration for this current platform. But there's probably going to be a "Wii 2" or other next-gen system from Nintendo at some point, so I was saying that I would want to do another game in the series on the next Nintendo platform.

Goichi Suda Interview [1Up, thanks Joseph L.]

While No More Heroes and its star Travis Touchdown have captured the hearts of many fans on the Nintendo Wii, Suda's ambition might just be too big for the platform. Once the sequel hits store shelves in early 2010, it could be curtains for the Wii franchise.

"I think ['No More Heroes 2'] is the last ‘NMH' that is going to be developed on the Wii. To expand ‘NMH' to new possibilities, we need a new platform. Wii is a great platform, but we've done everything we can with it now."

While disappointing news for Wii owners, it is a move that makes sound business sense. Despite an excellent reception, the first No More Heroes didn't exactly fly off store shelves. One would imagine that a mature title with the charm of NMH would do amazingly well on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or even the iPhone.

Where would you folks like to see No More Heroes go next?

No More Heroes Will "Need A New Platform" [Edge Online via MTV Multiplayer]

No More Heroes designer Goichi Suda is already making off-handed remarks about his desire to see NMH hero Travis Touchdown in the next Smash Bros.. Suda tells Nintendo Power:

I love him (Travis), and I want him to be a huge star. That's why I'm working very hard to make this game as interesting as possible. Maybe in the future, we can see him fighting alongside Link in the next Smash Bros. [laughs] That would be great.

Yes, yes it would.

Suda 51 wants Travis Touchdown in next Smash Bros. game [Nintendo Dpad via IncGamer]

"We developed No More Heroes with the Wii remote in mind," says series designer Goichi Suda, "but now I want to think about games with Natal in mind. I have to ask myself, as a game designer, what new games can be done with this, what can be an interesting experience and challenge, and I'm looking forward to that."

Suda adds, "It's hard to really understand it unless you use it, and it remains to be seen what you can do with it, but I think it'll be a huge device."

Japan's Game Creators Spout Their Takes on E3 [1Up via Kombo]

Alex Ward, head of Burnout developers Criterion, has said "Suda-51 came here for the day a few weeks ago. He's a hardcore Burnout fan. I checked the servers - over 700hrs play."

700 hours? Hey, Suda: get back to work!

[CrashAlex @ Twitter, via VG247]

The "middle audience".

Here, let's let Suda explain. "Well, there are a lot of core gamers, and a lot of lighter users playing on platforms such as the DS - but there's nothing in-between," he said. "I think it's going to be very important for games to be created for that middle audience, and that will help bring the market back on-track. "

This sounds like he's talking about the hard casual players. So, yeah, it could happen.

"Middle audience" to spur Japanese market revival [Games Industry]

Marvelous publishes Grasshopper's games in Japan, and the exec says this about that mysterious PS3 title: "If we do that [game] we might go bankrupt," Wada joked to game site Siliconera. "We are making it, but if we make everything then it's a little too risky."

Taking risks is good. Taking risks that bankrupt your company? Less so.

Marvelous Entertainment Publishing A PS3 Game Made By Grasshopper Manufacture [Siliconera]

Sadly, those ideas don't seem like they'll make it into the follow up to Wii adventure No More Heroes. And the Grasshopper Manufacturer CEO wouldn't tell us what those ideas were. But considering Desperate Struggle's focus on revenge and Wii Remote swordfighting, one would think monitoring a player's pulse would be regularly up.

Vitality Sensor use in Suda's upcoming game probably won't happen, but Wii MotionPlus support might. Suda says Grasshopper is "going to definitely try to use" the peripheral for No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, one of the few properties the developer has worked on that's spawned a sequel.

If they can figure out how to dual-wield beam katanas with one-to-one motion tracking, we could have something interesting on our hands. Just not our fingers.

The game once again stars beam katana assassin Travis Touchdown and Japanese Ukrainian co-hort Sylvia Christel. There's a new character — a hip-hop killer named Nathan Copeland who is ranked 50th by the United Assassins Association. He carries a shape-shifting boom box.

In Desperate Struggle, Travis learns the art of dual beam katana wielding. Details are currently scant about how this translates into gameplay. Expect more details at E3 — hopefully!

Oh. One more thing. The game's developer, Grasshopper Manufacturer, appears to be taking applications for in-game t-shirt designs.

Game site 1UP asked Goichi Suda, the game's designer, whether No More Heroes could ever appear on another platform in the future. "Actually, a lot of the fans were dying to play the game on other consoles, so I think it'd be great if I could do it, but there's no plan yet," said Suda. "[If so,] I would match the content to [fit] the other consoles. No More Heroes could be a big title, like a big IP, so it'd be good to have a chance to release the game on other consoles, and that would maybe maximize the market."

The designer also revealed that the game's sequel, No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, is at the "very end of production". Desperate Struggle, however, will not be playable at E3.

Suda 51: No More Heroes Sequel at "the Very End of Production" [1UP via Develop] [Pic]

You're looking at a mini replica Space Invaders table top arcade cabinet that's actually a piggy bank from Takara Tomy. The bank's LCD screen acts as the coin counter and lights up each time a hundred yen coin is entered. It holds 80 hundred yen coins, which is the equivalent of roughly US$89.

I love tabletop style arcade cabinets. Perfect for playing. Perfect for resting drinks on. Game developer Goichi Suda loves them, too. Learned that he has one in his office when interviewing him for Arcade Mania. One of this in your office — how cool is that?

Space Invaders Piggy Bank [JeanSnow.net]

"What's with all the secrets? Making another No More Heroes game doesn't seem outrageous," I said. "It seems rather obvious." Grasshopper Manufacturer doing No More Heroes 2 should come as big of a shock as Grasshopper Manufacturer doing, says, No More Heroes 3.

"People would get angry at me," Suda said. "Marvelous would get angry at me." He's signed a contract, and most likely a big chunk of that contract included stipulation that he was not to discuss the game.

In film, some directors talk eons in advance, letting everyone know what type of project they're working on, thinking about or even writing. But film is not gaming and gaming is not film. The game industry is different. (Take, for example, the other day when we asked the Ninja Blade producer what the hero's name was, he turned to the Microsoft staffer asking if it was okay to answer. Who cares, really.)

"There are always secrets in the game industry," Suda said, "which is why there's so many rumors." He is right, but things should change. Why not announce that you're working on a new game? Why not say what the game is? Or what's it about? Is the one-two-punch of announcing the game and then showing screenshots or a trailer really the best way? Would it be better to release a trailer much closer to the actual sale date instead of years in advance?

People are waiting for those first images. So make them wait. And drawing that out them, instead of starting with them and literally showing them for years makes a lot more sense.

For the way it's done now, there is a logical progression Suda assured. "You don't simply watch a game," he said. "You have to actually play it, and it takes time to explain that. Players might feel cheated if they don't know exactly what they were getting. Play time is important." No one is disagreeing. It is important. Though, whether or not it's necessary to wait to even talk about a title until there is a batch of screens or a new trailer is another issue altogether. Announcing a new title is no big deal. Announcing what that new title does is.

Don't count on seeing an Xbox 360 version anytime soon. "We don't have plans for an Xbox 360 No More Heroes. There is nothing of that sort scheduled in our development cycle." When No More Heroes was originally slated for the Xbox 360, Suda hoped to capitalize on the system's graphical power. That doesn't mean he's given up on the Wii's power. "There's still room for the Wii's graphics to get better and better," Suda said.

Suda51's PS1 Game The Silver Case Coming to PSN [1UP]

Shinji Mikami: Money. [Laughs]

Goichi Suda: I was really surprised at things such as the size of their studios and their massive marketing and production teams. I've never had the experience of working on such a massive team before. We haven't done voice recording yet, but I know EA would be a huge help in finding talent and getting them to the studio and the motion capture as well. In other cases, I would want to do something before but couldn't, and since working with EA, they've provided everything I wanted. I get tremendous support from EA... Of course I had a chance to present it to different publishers, but EA was the company that understood the game and understood my approach to it. That's why I took the chance to work with EA. Also, EA produced Rock Band, so they understand the "soul of rock."

Shinji Mikami: ...Also, EA has strong marketing power. If Suda just keeps on doing what he wants to do, players might not understand what they're playing. But with EA's strong marketing power, they know what people want from a game, and we combine both their knowledge and his creativity to help create a better game.

This is one to watch.

Mikami and Suda Talk EA Partnership [1Up]

Latest Famitsu [Wii@Everyday]

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!]