Marvelous Entertainment had a plan to take over the world. They already developed and distributed games in Japan, but they had moved into North America recently and even co-founded Rising Star Games in Europe. They were ready to dominate this globe with games the likes of Harvest Moon and No More Heroes. However, their not so evil plan seems to have gone awry.
The company has announced that they will be switching to a licensing model from her on out in the West. They've sold their 50 percent stake in Rising Star Games and will now be licensing their games out to Western publishers like Ubisoft, who is bringing us No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle next week (glee!).The cause of this, Marvelous says, is a drop in the market and lower than expected sales of their games.
While this probably won't affect any of us all that much, it is now up in the air who will be bringing No More Heroes HD to Western shores, if anyone at all. Keep your fingers crossed that Ubisoft wants more No More Heroes action next week.
Marvelous Switches To Licensing Model, Sells Stake In Rising Star Games [Siliconera]
Matthew Razak is Destructoid's Associate editor and co-founder of film site
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Contest:
8:00 PM on 01.23.2010
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Don't give up, we might still see DP yet, as it seems to be an interesting kind of game.
D:
But really, that's a shame, but it's not too surprising. Economy's rough and the company needs to scale back a bit. As long as the quality of their distributions stay the same, I'm satisfied.
That's why I'm hoping Ignition tells us if Deadly Premonition is region free real soon. The whole 'licensing' aspect of this deal has got me thinking that Marvelous will be region locking their games from now on.
I played a bit of NMH: Desperate Struggle at my local GameStop yesterday. Overall, the game is much better than the first one in every way. The visuals looked better and the music is good too (but some of it comes from the original Dark Side soundtrack). From what I saw, the story seems to be a lot crazier and more interesting than the first game's story. As for the mini games, the one you can play on the tv is surprisingly fun and addictive and other few mini games I got to play were fun (certainly better than the first game's). However, I found some of the jobs to be a mixed bag. Like with the first game, you'll like some of the and dislike doing others. Fortunately, doing any of the mini games is optional. Graphically, the game looks crisper and you'll notice some character design changes made to few of the returning characters including Travis, Silvia and Naomi.Oh and by the looks of it, the bosses are even cooler than in the first game.
If you liked the first game then you'll love the sequel in my opinion. This is especially the case if you didn't care for the first game's barren overworld and frustrating mission structure.For being Grasshopper's first big sequel, I'm quite impressed by what they've managed to improve upon. They certainly listened well to their fanbase.
I can't wait to get this game next week.
No, the problem is that it is a Grasshopper Manufacture game. It's simply not going to appeal to everyone. In fact, that's the blessing and the curse of all of the developer's previously released games. Quite frankly, even Grasshopper Manufacture itself appears to understand its place in the industry given the company's slogan " Punk's not dead."
It really wasn't until the release of Killer7 when most people became aware of Grasshopper Manufacture's existence. Gradually, the developer has started its path to entering the mainstream while staying true to its game design philosophy in terms of the company's artistic and cultural beliefs and the importance of creating original IPs. Ironically enough, Grasshopper Manufacture's titles, at least with Killer7 and No More Heroes, have been far more popular and successful overseas than in the company's homeland.
I'd feel a little more optimistic if these distributors had taken a little more chance on these games and not just the brand ones. For these niche titles it all depends on how well they sell and the demand for them.
Love the armpit shot, too!