We're certainly sad with the results for Flagship and what's happened with Hellgate, because at the time we signed it, we were trying to get involved in a very complicated relationship between Namco and Flagship. We were coming late to the party, and trying to do whatever we could to sprinkle the game magic on the project and get it headed in the right direction.

I think that's an example where all three parties had the best interest of the game in mind, and sometimes the game doesn't work out. Hellgate is still an incredible concept. The guys who worked on it spent thousands of hours trying to make that concept work, and sometimes we just don't see something. Sometimes, we just didn't take enough time. Sometimes, things don't work out the way you expect.

It's kind of like a film with all big stars — on the script, it should be successful, but the movie doesn't turn out as good as everybody hoped. That's why EAP takes a portfolio approach with its games. You have to place a lot of bets, and hope for a lot of hits.

Certainly worth a read through — I always enjoy reading interviews that cover a lot of ground, and this certainly satisfies in that respect.

David DeMartini on the Renaissance of EA Partners [Gamasutra]

Latest Famitsu [Wii@Everyday]

I want to make a Super Mario game for adults...Maybe Mario could wear an Italian suit and have a machine gun...But Nintendo probably wouldn't like that idea.

With a gun.

Suda wants to make 'Mario with guns' [CVG][image]

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.

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.

IGNYou've got the GTA free-roaming that is used for doing individual missions, exploring the city of Santa Destroy, and hitting up a few shops and training areas, which leads the way for the action-oriented story. If the game was based only on the open world style, it would have been a pretty sizable disappointment as far as we're concerned, as there are constant frame issues, pop-in everywhere, very little NPC activity, and a huge overall lack of polish...What it all boils down to is about 10 or so stores and buildings to go into, a handful of mission points that bring you into new loading zones, and some mini-game jobs which are fun, but hardly necessitate an entire open world.

Gamespot
The crux of the action is found in No More Heroes' numerous and impressive boss encounters, where you'll use these subtleties to your advantage, though they don't usually present a foreboding challenge until the final few fights. Yet they're still enormously entertaining, thanks to your opponents' melodramatic (and often hysterical) soliloquizing, interesting attacks, and pure wackiness. Holly Summers launches missiles at you from her fake leg, while Stage magician Harvey Moiseiwitsch Volodarskii locks you up in the box used for his disappearing act...

NGamer
Never before have we played a game that felt so completely in love with being a game - text is rendered in an eighties pixellated font, your map's a sloppy digital display, the whole HUD ripped from Grand Theft Auto without mercy or apology; the ten best assassins table is the high score chart from a 1984 coin-op and the pause menu is like a scene from Tron.

4 Color RebellionThe music in is excellent. The No More Heroes theme is catchy and runs in several variations throughout the game. Fans of Lumines will recognize the song "Heavenly Star" by the Genki Rockets and you can even watch the song's music video from a tape in Travis's apartment...The voice acting is over the top and often hilarious. People have ridiculous accents, crazy rants, and seem to be doing nothing but spouting catch phrases. The dialogue is not good in an Oscar Wilde sort of way, but it is good in an "Army of Darkness" sort of way. No one really sounds like a real person, but nothing in this game ever feels very real to begin with.

InsomniaIn regards to the first point, what's happened here is that the remote/nunchuk functionality is used to mask how terribly shallow the fighting system is. So shallow, that it is quite possible to win half the fights in the game by — get this — turning your back on the TV and mashing the A button while vigorously shaking the remote in random directions.

Back to us—not dissimilarly from the public's reaction to Killer7, No More Heroes garners polar reactions. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a shot.

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.

1. Boring
2. Not super clear
3. Nor concise
4. Dull
5. Synonym of dull

But this No More Heroes manual is modeled after a comic book and looks to lack Wiimote sketches altogether. Why not take a risk on the manual? It's not like you are going to disappoint anyone if the idea's a miss. Of course, if it is fantastic, chances are that no one will notice then, either.

Marvelous! No More Heroes has a comic book manual [siliconera]

First, let me say how honoured I am that everyone in Europe is expecting No More Heroes....The sales point of this game is action. Both I and Wada san have concentrated on making the best possible action game for the Nintendo Wii. We have chosen to release in Europe the same version as has shipped in Japan considering the broadly growing Wii market.

Studio boss chose to censor Euro No More Heroes [cvg]

I love few things more than wacky villains who are unnaturally tolerated by fearless protagonists. This may be the longest No More Heroes clip we've ever seen (probably because it was cut by GameTrailers). Seriously, this is like the Lawrence of Arabia of No More Heroes teasers. They should have added a .5 second intermission or something.

Amid the usual banter and camaraderie, there was as an announcement from Mizuguchi that his next project "is not going to be a video game" but an interesting environmental/convservation themed something. Sounds interesting. I hope that Q? Entertainment can break out of their puzzle rehash rut.

Also hinted at was that Kojima and Grasshopper's Suda 51 may be working on a Snatcher related project. Will it be a sequel to the Sega CD classic from Konami? We don't know! But we're anxiously awaiting the next Hidechan podcast to see what Kojima has to say about it. Michael McWhertor

Kojima Meets Mikami in Snake vs Zombie Event [1UP]

As previously mentioned, the title is being whipped up by Suda 51 (Killer 7) and should be out next year. Here's a couple screenie scans from Famitsu. The game looks 31 flavors of sweet. And those in-game T-shirts we talked about? Gnarly. If there is one man who understands exactly what I want in a video game, that man is Suda 51.

More shots after the jump. Brian Ashcraft

Upcoming Wii game Heroes has been retitled to No More Heroes. The irony is divine. The game was developed by Suda 51, who also brought us the stylized Killer 7 and sounds intriguing. The plot? You're geeky Travis Touchdown, who wins a Light Saber-type weapon called a Beam Katana and kicks off a new career as a professional killer. It takes place in a fictional city in the Western United States. There's a French chick. It's a sandbox-type game. And the game's hero wears otaku-type shirts which were created by Okama, the character designer behind TV hit Densha Otoko's opening scene (above). Cool t-shirts and Light Sabers, can Suda 51 read minds or what?! Brian Ashcraft

Another Rad Grasshopper Game [VGB]

Killer 7 in one word: Cool. The game's designer Suda 51? Anyone who turns up at a promotional events for his games wearing a lucha libre mask is, likewise, cool. Currently at work on a new title for the Wii, Suda, who previously worked as an undertaker and a woman's hand bag salesman, also Game Informer how he broke into the industry:

I love Pro Wrestling, there was a company called Human that has already gone bankrupt, and they were making some very popular pro wrestling games in Japan. They were looking for some new people for a new Pro Wrestling game. I didn't really have any game experience, but I really loved Pro Wrestling, so I just applied and I got it. Since then I've been in the game industry.

And like that, the nutty lucha libre bit makes perfect sense. Gosh! Brian Ashcraft

Suda Talks Heroes And Funny Masks [GayGamer]

Earthbound-like RPG Contact for the DS is odd. It should be. The game is courtesy crazy Japanese game studio Grasshopper Manufacture, who also brought us Killer7. The game is getting English localization thanks to publisher Atlus. Game site Siliconera talked with Tomm Hulett, the game's localization director:

I'm not sure why it didn't do well in Japan, though I do suspect its release just before the highly anticipated Mother 3 had something to do with it. However, Contact's US release will be the only wackiness infusion American Earthbound fans get for a while, so we can at least corner that demographic. I also think most of the DS users in this country are still gamers (as opposed to Japan, where a large majority are non-gamers), so there should be more people who will appreciate the humor featured in Contact. Which isn't to say non-gamers won't enjoy Contact; they totally would.

Is it me or did Tomm contradicted every single thing he said? Regardless, cool game and worth picking up if you are into RPG and even if you're not. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Siliconera]

While the visual style is nothing short of impressive, the voice over work is, in a word, awful. Obviously the biggest question on most gamers minds, especially those familiar with the ups and downs of K7 is "How does it play?". Details are scarce, but we'll know better when the game ships in Q3 of 2007. Keep your eyes peeled for more details and check out The Wiire for more. Michael McWhertor

[Editor's note: If you're having issues viewing the video, VLC media player comes highly recommended.]

Heroes First Footage and Details [The Wiire]
YouTube Version [Yep, The Wiire couldn't handle it]

Goichi Suda, aka Suda51, sat down with Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield and a buncha journos to talk about his company's latest release: Contact. Best known for designing Killer 7, Suda took a producer role for the RPG Contact. Tomm Hulette described the game as "a rare breed of quirky RPG that attracts a rabid fanbase with its whacked-out story, setting, and characters." The game also includes animal-training, item-collecting, monster-hunting and mini-games.

When told that the game seems really normal and not wack-o like typical Suda titles, the designer-turned-producer replied:

I think if I'd made it it would've been called Killer Contact or something. And anyway, it's the normal people like me who make crazy games. People who make normal games like Contact are the real crazies. So Akira Ueda [Contact's lead designer] is totally nuts.

And that's coming from a guy that wore a Lucha libre mask while promoting Killer 7! Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Gamasutra]

Kurayami Is Revealed On PS3 [JeuxFrance]