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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.

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?

It's sad to admit it, but we never expect any third-party "core" Wii game to sell well -- regardless of its quality or the hype behind it. Lowered expectations mean that when such a title doesn't absolutely tank, it's great news! And the sales of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, as reported by EEDAR in its "Retail Sales Review for January," fall somewhere in that "didn't absolutely tank" area, especially since the game was on sale for less than a week in January. (There's certainly room for a few more people to go out and pick it up, though.)

"No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle has scored top reviews averaging a 90 (out of 100) since its release," EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich said in the EEDAR report. "However, sales came less than 30,000 units for its first week (January 26, 2010 release)." Divinich compared the lowish sales to Dead Space Extraction and MadWorld, both of which also had "low marketing budgets, which is likely the wrong strategy to use when attempting to target the Wii consumer, even if you are targeting the 'core' market." When is that ever the right strategy?

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.

Europe has been waiting patiently for No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle -- except, of course, for those within Europe who imported it and had to wait only for shipping from the US. Rising Star Games has finally announced a release window for Grasshopper Manufacture's mass-assassination adventure: the end of April.

No coin fountains this time for the European market, either. Unlike the first game, the European release of No More Heroes 2 will be completely uncensored. In fact, Rising Star was careful to point out in the press release that the game contains "red blood. Lots and lots of red blood."

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]

Japan is currently in the midst of a No More Heroes drought. Not only has Marvelous yet to give a release date to No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (which is out this week in North America!), the publisher has also announced a delay for the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 port of the original game, called No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise.

Originally set for release on February 25, Heroes' Paradise won't be delivering upgraded graphics and inappropriate new costumes for the female characters until April. Siliconera postulated that Marvelous is moving things into its next quarter in an attempt to boost profits in that period.


[Via Siliconera]

The sequel to one of the Wii's best (and best-known) games dropped this week with approximately zero fanfare. Yes, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is in stores now. Reviews are starting to come in for Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture's latest -- let's find out if the new story and new bosses hold up to the first extraordinarily bizarre game, and if the removal of the navigable Santa Destroy is truly a good thing.

• GameSpy (5/5): " If Metroid Prime can be imprudently named "the 'Citizen Kane' of gaming," this is gaming's "Wu-Tang Forever" -- an intensely focused return to gritty braggadocio form, backed by high production values and a gang of inimitable emcees."
• 1UP (A-): "By being the high-quality, consistently enjoyable action game it wanted to be the first time around, Desperate Struggle is now a must-buy, and at the very least, finally makes the series deserving of the evangelism surrounding it."
• Gamepro (4.5/5): " It's evident from the game's tutorial battle that Suda has paid close attention to what his fans wanted out of a No More Heroes sequel, and Desperate Struggle delivers from start to finish
• Game Informer (8.5): "In interviews about the game, Suda51 implied that he was reluctant to do a sequel -- usually a bad sign -- but perhaps forcing his team to focus on refining a single idea was the best thing that could have happened. In No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, they have crafted everything fans could want out of a sequel. All the bad stuff from the original is gone or fixed in some way, and all of the good elements are magnified and improved."

This week's Nintendo Channel update is light on the content. There's the obligatory fresh episode of Nintendo Week (this week's episode is about marshmallows and marketing games on Nintendo platforms), but, outside of that, it's just a bunch of info videos for this week's NintendoWare Weekly offerings and some new, brief teasers for No More Heroes 2. Head past the break for a breakdown of this week's content.

All things considered, you probably shouldn't watch the No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle dev diary we've posted above. It's pretty NSFW, it's chock-full of spoilers for the original Heroes (and even some for the sequel!), and it features more shots of Suda 51 sitting on the toilet than we're really comfortable with seeing.

On the other hand, it also sets a new precedent for how enjoyable these developer diaries can be. Instead of a bunch of dudes sitting in a dimly lit room talking about how awesome their game is, it's just Suda, sitting in a bathroom stall, talking about how awesome his game is, and then his head explodes. We take back the entire first paragraph of this post. If you don't watch the video posted above, then we simply can't be friends anymore.

Okay, so it's a bit odd for Ubisoft to release a promo in January for a casual game that came out in November, starring a game industry figure who nobody in the target audience would be familiar with. But you know what else is a bit odd? Goichi Suda.

In the video after the break, see the No More Heroes creator dance to MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" with Frag Doll "Psyche" in Ubisoft's Just Dance. It's likely to be the best video of a Japanese game designer dancing to a vintage hip-hop crossover hit you'll see today! But do let us know if you see a better one.

[Via GSW]

To say that No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is an odd game is a gross understatement. The first game was certifiably insane (in a very good way), and the pair of new trailers for the game (one above, one past the break) on the Nintendo Channel keep that theme alive. They're both just downright odd, mixing together -- you know what? Just watch them. We're not even going to attempt to define what's here.

Head past the break for the full list of this week's Nintendo Channel content.

When Suda51 said there were big changes in store for the open-world segments of No More Heroes, we didn't expect a change this big. According to GameSpot's preview, roaming around Santa Destroy in search of t-shirts and Lovikov Balls (and odd jobs) has been nixed in Desperate Struggle in favor of a world map.

It should speed up the pace of the game significantly, and we know there were plenty of complaints about these segments of the game, but we'll personally miss tooling around the city on the Schpeltiger. You can read way more details about the game at GameSpot, though we wouldn't necessarily suggest it if you're trying to live a spoiler-free lifestyle.

Three brief new trailers for No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle have appeared online, each highlighting a different aspect of the game. The first trailer (after the break), from GoNintendo, shows off the cute retro-themed job minigames that Grasshopper has added for Travis's second outing. There's some kind of motorcycle racing game, a training game in which you kick weights back at your trainer, and ... oh, no. A plumbing game that's like the bane of our existence, Pipe Dream. Great.

The second trailer, from IGN, features quick clips of fighting from all three playable characters (plus Jeane the cat! Plus NSFW language). The third, from 1UP, features Shinobu being really creepy.

No More Heroes' girl-crazy otaku protagonist, Travis Touchdown, must have found the Cosmic Key, because he's crossed over into the world of Valve games -- specifically Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2.

The L4D mod uses Travis to meet the game's quota for one leather-clad survivor, putting him, in his usual red jacket and Pure White Lover Bizarre Jelly T-shirt (but no beam katana), in the place of ultra-pessimist Francis. While an L4D2 mod could address the lack of stabbing and cutting, it would seem mod creator ash_link isn't a fan of Valve's sequel, so, yeah ... that's probably not happening.

The Team Fortress 2 mod does about the same thing, replacing that game's Scout with a pint-sized, katana-wielding Touchdown. Head past the break to see for yourself. Seriously, go watch the video now.

[Via Destructoid]