Siliconera interviewed UFO Interactive's Michael Yum about their two Wii shooters, Heavenly Guardian and The Monkey King: The Legend Begins. We recently nailed down the release date for Heavenly Guardian (April 22nd!) and Spencer Yip tried to do the same for the horizontal shooter The Monkey King. Unfortunately, the release date is still somewhat in the air (and maybe being fired at by patterns of glowing bullets), with Yum able to specify only Q2, with a probable $19.99 price. The awesome news is that the U.S. version will get a "reverse mode" and a new exclusive stage!

Yum discussed the recent change in boxart for The Monkey King, from the colorful anime-style piece seen above to a cover with a less cartoony interpretation of the title character. He explained that "The American audience was just not aware of the Monkey King character so we felt that releasing the game after a new movie which I cannot say, would help people recognize the character." Presumably, then, the art was changed to resemble a live-action movie (probably The Forbidden Kingdom) a bit more.