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Platinum Games' Shigenori Nishikawa, the director on MadWorld for the Wii, has told Official Nintendo Magazine that he wouldn't mind taking a second crack at the violent Wii game. "I think MadWorld was very well received and was acknowledged for its innovative graphical style and gameplay," Nishikawa said in Friday's upcoming issue. "We would definitely be interested in making a sequel in the future."

Of course, you might have a tough time believing that Sega would also be on board. The company has said it would probably not be interested in more mature Wii games, which means Platinum Games would have to shop around for a new publisher first.

Psst, we may know a publisher that isn't afraid to put out unique, mature games on the Wii.

Sega gave it the old college try in 2009, reaching out to "mature" gamers with the likes of MadWorld, The Conduit and House of the Dead: Overkill. But after none of those made much of an NPDent, it would seem the publisher may be abandoning the practice. While speaking on the performance of those games during the 4 Guys 1UP podcast, Sega of America studio director Constantine Hantzopoulos said, "That begets the question, you know, are we gonna do more mature titles for the Wii and it's like ... probably not."

Hantzopoulos then pointed to the poor performance of Dead Space: Extraction on the Wii, saying he had been using it as a litmus test for the potential of mature titles on the platform. In other news, Sega has apparently decided on "be a little more arrogant" as its New Year's resolution.

Resident Evil 5
I've long been a fan of the Resident Evil series, and while the campaign here has problems and should never be played solo, the Mercenaries mode is what kept me coming back. Those action-packed levels spent trying to survive while running low on ammo and health were some of my most chaotic, yet highly enjoyable, experiences of 2009.

Even though Sega was kinda proud of MadWorld's initial sales performance, the company has decided it won't handle publishing duties for a Japanese version of the game. Famitsu reports that the game will be available in Japan sometime this Winter courtesy of Spike, a company well-versed in violent video games. Hopefully it won't get a crash course in lackluster sales.

[Via Go Nintendo]

We're sure we don't have to tell you how violent MadWorld is. But, what you may not know is that some of the over-the-top violence originally conceptualized was a bit too violent for the game disc that's not been spinning in your Wii for the last few months. Past the break, you'll find a deleted finishing move, one we must warn you is one of the most violent things you will ever see. We know the majority of MadWorld is tongue-in-cheek, but this is like tongue-in-meat-grinder-while-being-stabbed kind of gruesome. Don't say we didn't warn you!

[Via Sega Nerds]

Sega's Mike Hayes assured Wired that the company still plans to make "core" games for the Wii, despite the relative lack of success of MadWorld. For one thing, its other games are doing well, in his opinion. "We actually regard The Conduit as a success," he said. "We shipped 300,000 units, sold through half of those and now it's at the point where it's selling consistently at a time when Wii sales are generally depressed in the marketplace."

Despite somewhat disappointing sales Stateside, Hayes also told Wired that The House of the Dead: Overkill "did really well in Europe." As for MadWorld, Hayes doesn't think one game's failure is enough to close up shop on the Wii. "The thing that we're saying is, Sega would be extremely arrogant to have a title that didn't do as well as we thought on a platform and then say, Those kind of games don't sell on that platform.'"

Quite a change from the Blast Processing / "Genesis Does What Nintendon't" days when Sega was extremely, demonstrably, arrogant.

If there's one thing that Nintendo VP of corporate affairs Denise Kaigler knows, it's first-party game sales. In a recent Wired interview, she happily expounded on the "long tail" that Nintendo first-party games tend to enjoy (we're looking at you, anything with Mario in the title), though couldn't say as much for third-party sales on Wii -- especially those of the "hardcore" variety.

When asked about slow sales of critically acclaimed titles MadWorld and The Conduit, Kaigler said that both games could follow the non-traditional Nintendo sales trend (the aforementioned "long tail"), but her comments seemed rooted in speculation. "You know, I don't know ... it could be titles have the same type of sales curve that a lot of Nintendo titles have -- titles [that] don't follow that traditional sales curve where they launch big and then that's it." She said that Nintendo remains "hopeful" that the titles will move more units in the future, calling them both "deep experiences," though we're not sure those kind words will help soothe Sega's assuredly dented coffers.

If you act fast, you'll be able to grab Amazon's Deal of the Day, MadWorld on the Wii for $20. It's actually a very important moment in our ongoing love affair with you, the reader. Because if you're not willing to drop two sawbucks on what's easily one of the best action games for the Wii (not to mention its most black and white one) then we're not sure this relationship is going anywhere.

Don't cry, we can still be friends.

[Thanks, Gary!]

We loved the mother[expletive deleted] [expletive deleted] out of Sega's recent mature pair of Wii titles, House of the Dead: Overkill and MadWorld -- unfortunately, the same can't be said for the game purchasing population of the world. The two games' sales were far from stellar, but Sega isn't ready to give up on developing family unfriendly titles for Nintendo's home console.

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Sega MD of European development, Gary Dunn, explained that the company's outlook on its two grown-up outings is far from grim -- he even claimed that "House of the Dead: Overkill was a profitable title." He went on to explain, "Whilst MadWorld commercially didn't sell what we were expecting I wouldn't say it's game over for mature Wii titles from Sega." Hopefully the company's persistence will be rewarded, if only to ensure a few dozen sequels to Overkill. (Overkill 2: Superfluous Murder, Overkill 3: The Overkillinest, etc.)

Sega's MadWorld and House of the Dead: Overkill are currently being sold at $20 off at Amazon. It doesn't appear to be a flat-out price drop for the two games, which have sold ... well, that's up for interpretation. We've also noticed that MadWorld is currently $30 in-store at GameStop.

Remember: Purchasing these titles will get more M-rated games on Wii and further research into splicing wings on pigs.

Source - Amazon-MadWorld Price Drop [GoNintendo]
Source - MadWorld, Overkill $30 on Amazon [CAG]

Prepare thy selves, Twitter fiends, as @SEGA is giving away goodies as part of its #FreeStuffFriday. The items up for the taking are:

• MadWorld Wii decal set, soundtrack CD and poster signed by the PlatinumGames team.
• OutRun Online Arcade t-shirt (size large) and free game code.
• Bleach Kon plushie and Nintendo DS stylus.
• Nights: Journey of Dreams soundtrack CD sampler, wristband and a SEGA sweet.
• Football Manager "Gameplay > Polygons" t-shirt (size large) and a SEGA lip balm.
• A grow-your-own venus fly trap plant and a SEGA lip balm.

To win the items, Twitter users need to follow @SEGA, which will follow them in return. During Friday, the account will announce the package, along with a "special code phrase." The first follower to direct-message the phrase will win the pack. Sounds simple enough ... unless the "fail whale" shows up.

Analytics firm OTX Research seems to already be making a name for itself after announcing intentions last month to track game sales. Speaking at the LA Games Conference, OTX's Nick Williams explained the surprisingly weak connection between strong online awareness of a game versus actual, hard sales numbers, citing Sega's recently released MadWorld as a striking example.

Noting the game's top position among IGN.com's games with the "highest level of unique interest," MadWorld came in at a paltry number 41 using OTX's "GamePlan" metric, a system that measures "1,000 gamers on a weekly basis, tracking 400 games at any given time." This translates to a bleak eight percent of Wii owners having even heard of the title, much less purchasing it (that's .32 percent according to April's MadWorld sales data compared with the 20 million Wii owners in the US currently). Hmm, we wonder what that data would look like for Grand Theft Auto's recent foray onto Nintendo's massively popular handheld!

It took an awful lot of numbers right there to explain an idea we've all quietly agreed upon for so long now -- hype and marketing in the "hardcore" gaming world doesn't necessarily equal copies moving at retail. Now, if you'll excuse us, we'll be over here playing BlazBlue.

Steve Papoutsis, producer of Dead Space Extraction, isn't concerned about the disappointing sales of recent Mature-rated games on Nintendo platforms.

Talking to VG247 about MadWorld on the Wii and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the DS, Papoutsis said, "I think that's happening because of what people are looking to buy, I guess." In contrast, "I think with our game right now I think we're hitting on something that's really interesting and really fun, and we're hitting on the atmosphere and the visuals that people have started to associate with Dead Space." It's hard to believe that Grand Theft Auto just wasn't what people were "looking to buy," and an unexplainable not-really-rail-shooter is, but he could be on to something! Or he could have just decided not to tell VG247 how scared he really was.

Papoutsis also extolled the cooperative play found in Extraction: "I love the Wii, I love Nintendo. I love all the platforms, but I really want something that I can play co-operatively on the Wii with a friend that hits that sweet spot I think Dead Space: Extraction is in."