...unless I'm outside the US. Oh, Jonathan, not being able to enter is breaking my heart. Next time you have a contest that awesome (is that possible?), make it possible for everybody to enter please!
GAMESREVIEWS
Rising (10+)
Notable (20+)
Popular (30+)
Promoted (Front Paged!)
People you followTaggedGeneral - Opinion/EditorialCommunity ReviewsOff-topicCommunity PodcastersBloggers Wanted ResponseLetters to Dtoids EditorsGet InvolvedGeneral BadassnessJoin a Live Stream EventListen to CommunitoidJoin a Playdate EventCompete in a Contest
The best of our live stream with Grasshopper Manufacture
I've been working on making a "best of" video of our live stream chat with with Massimo Guarini (Naruto: Rise of the Ninja, Shadows of the Damned) and Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill series, Shadows of the Damned) all week, but due to sound issues and other technical fails, I haven't been able to get it ready in a palatable form. Instead, I'll just recap the chat as best I can in bullet-point form. Sneak preview -- we talk about a lot stuff; the origins of the name "Grasshopper", Yamaoka-san's work on Snatcher, the potential for more No More Heroes, Yamaoka-san's future with the Silent Hill series, the difference between Eastern and Western developers, Grasshopper's future Kinect project, Yamaoka-san's and Guarini-san's punk rock band, and much more. Details await after the jump. Sorry if I missed anything. You can always watch a replay of the live-stream (seen above) for yourself if you want to catch something that I left out. Oh, and don't forget to enter our awesome No More Heroes 2/Silent Hill contest. It's free to enter, so it would be silly of you not to enter, especially if it's just because you don't like Twitter. It's easy enough to start a Twitter account just to enter the contest. You'd never have to use it again, ya dingus! * Before becoming a videogame composer and producer, Yamaoka-san worked on the cult hit Snatcher on the Sega CD in the programming department * Guarini-san and Yamaoka-san both state that they have a huge level of creative freedom at Grasshopper, and that they love their work environment. * Guarini-san hopes that the next No More Heroes game continues to stay away from the open world gameplay, though that decision will be entire up to Suda51. * Yamaoka-san states that he'd love to compose music for Silent Hill games again, but that first he'd need to come to an arrangement with Konami regarding the specifics. * Yamaoka-san believes that the Silent Hill series "should be made by Japanese people" because "Silent Hill, as a concept, belongs to Japan", though it's "absolutely OK" for foreigners to "join in" on the development of Silent Hill games.
* Guarini-san states that he feels it will be a "natural step" for Suda-san to make a film, though he probably wouldn't create a film related to his games. * Yamaoko-san states that the Silent Hill film was "generally well done, because the director is "actually a real Silent Hill fan" * Guarini-san feels that God Hand was a "major inspiration" for the upcoming Grasshopper release Shadow's of the Damned. He states that God Hand and No More Heroes were very Punk, and that Shadows of the Damned continues with that feel, though Shadows has a tinge of Heavy Metal that wasn't really present in No More Heroes. * According to Yamaoka-san, Grasshopper Manufacture (Flower, Sun and Rain, Killer 7, No More Heroes) got it's name from Grasshopper CEO Suda51's love of the Smiths, and the way that their music helped him to get over depression and pessimism. * Guarini-san states that he's seen a lot of Western developer's state that they are envious of Eastern developers, and vice versa. In general, he states that there is a tendency for developers from both sides of the world to have a "the grass is always greener" attitude towards each other. * Yamaoka-san states that in order to achieve success in Japanese game development, you need to "have courage", "stick out" and "resist being pushed down" by conformism. He states that Shigeru Miyamoto is one of example of a developer who has achieved this. * Yamaoka-san, Guarini-san, and other members of Grasshopper started a punk-rock group called Grasshopper deManufacture. They've played two shows so far, and plan to play more in the future. They aren't sure about releasing a CD, but they state that "it's possible."
* Guarini-san states that the utilization of visual abstraction is something inherent in Japanese culture, as seen in Japan's fine art, Manga, and many other prominent Japanese art forms. He states that this tendency towards non-literal depictions of reality are a key part of what differentiates Japanese game development from Western game development. * Guarini-san agrees that in the West, there is a large divide between big budget developers and indie developers, with little room in between. He believes that Grasshopper is a developer that has managed to be both indie and mainstream simultaneously. * Yamaoka-san has a lot of respect for Tommy Tallarico * Guarini-san states that he enjoyed Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube, though "it wasn't quite weird enough" for his tastes. * Yamaoka-san states that Grasshopper feels no need to use motion controllers like Kinect, PS Move, and the Wii Remote "just for the sake of it", but that Grasshopper's upcoming Kinect game Codename D will use motion controls in "a way unique to the Grasshopper style". * Yamaoka-san likes Kamen Rider Amazon, while Guarini-san prefers Kekko Kamen. * They both like cupcakes. Tags:#Destructoid on assignment#Destructoid Originals#Interview#japan#No More Heroes#Silent Hill#video Did you know? You can now get daily or weekly email notifications when humans reply to your comments.
Legacy Comments (will be imported soon)"It's free to enter, so it would be silly of you not to enter"
...unless I'm outside the US. Oh, Jonathan, not being able to enter is breaking my heart. Next time you have a contest that awesome (is that possible?), make it possible for everybody to enter please! I missed out on the stream when it happened, glad you've put up a recap until I can sit down and watch the whole thing! Gonna have to get in on this contest as well, even though I'm already up for GHM's facebook one as well. This is great , listening to it as I play SC2 works great as a audio podcast, man I would love to meet them too :P @ Ogoda- I'm really sorry man. Maybe you can enter, and if you win, have the prize sent to a friend in the states, until you can pick it up? Should probably put that "have the prize sent to a friend in the states"-thing in brackets/italics at the top of every US only contest post. --- I love that they love cupcakes. @ Johnathan- Can we actually do that? Because when she heard I couldn't enter the competition, my stateside friend entered it herself with intention of sending me the OST CD as a present. But... if I could still win it myself, that would be awesome. Emmet: Yeah, that's fine yo. Wish more people would realize they ca do that, haha. So long as I have a US address to send to! 12:00 PM on 04.24.2013 How to order a pizza from Xbox LiveMicrosoft and Pizza Hut have teamed up to provide a service which allows people to order food through their Xbox 360 console and have it delivered to their homes. It's either the innovation truly lazy gamers have been waitin...
1:00 PM on 02.16.2012 Warriors Orochi 3 coming to PSN due to Japanese voiceoverTecmo Koei's upcoming myth-based hack-n-slash action title, Warriors Orochi 3, will be launching for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next month, in North America on March 20 and in Europe on March 30. The game will be a full-price...
12:45 PM on 01.19.2012 Paradox Interactive Con 2012: We're in a castle, b**ch!Welcome to another installment of Destructoid On Assignment: the extravagant lives of videogame blogging where you, our supportive readers, wish to swiftly murder us for doing cool things nobody should be gainfully employed t...
6:15 PM on 08.10.2011 Madden NFL 12 keeping up with free-agency roster changesThe end of the NFL lockout in late July kicked off the league's usual flurry of offseason personnel moves (trades, signings, etc.), except this time, the lockout caused the free-agency period to be compressed into the space o...
4:00 PM on 06.03.2011 MLB 2K11 $1M winner knew 'zero at all' about baseballThe March release of 2K Sports’ Major League Baseball 2K11 came with the fanfare of the publisher’s second annual competition to throw an in-game perfect game for a $1 million cash prize. This time around, 2K twea...
1:00 PM on 05.18.2011 Preview: El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron"This game is the reason I joined Ignition three years ago," said Shane Bettenhausen, the publisher's director of business development, at a recent demo of El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron in New York. "I hate games that...
3:00 PM on 05.15.2011 Hands-on: Disgaea 4: A Promise UnforgottenHoly sh*tballs, this game is crazy. How do I even begin to describe how insanely complicated, yet ridiculously awesome Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten appears to be? Explosions, demons, monsters, penguins, pirates, massive p...
1:00 PM on 05.13.2011 Recap: Valve's Erik Wolpaw speaks at NYU Game Center“I love these things, but I also know that there’s something weird, and kind of bizarre, and strange about them -- like, there’s something really dumb about them. [...] We love them, and, kind of, hate them ...
7:00 PM on 05.11.2011 Hands-on: Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3Ds's Master Quest modeBeing a huge Zelda fan myself, I can’t tell you how stoked I was to hear I had a chance to preview the 3DS remake of what is possibly the Nintendo 64’s most well-known title, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. ...
1:00 PM on 05.06.2011 Thor Wii developer discusses smiting and movie tie-insPreteens, comic books and a man dressed in tights. No, I’m not talking about your uncle's sex dungeon; I’m describing the scene at Austin Books & Comics this past Sunday, where a release party was held for th...
| Destructoid Originals
I'll admit, when EA Sports' Andrew Wilson took to the stage during Microsoft's Xbox One reveal, I tuned out. If memory serves, I used the opportunity to take a much needed trip to the bathroom because I was certain there would be nothing there to hold my interest. I was wrong. Hopefully, it's not too late for us.more
I have a confession to make: I'm terrible. Here in the Dtoid offices I have two jobs. One of those is driving wheelbarrows full of money down the aisles. The other is TF2sday posts. Sadly(!) we have waaaaaaay too many wheelba...more
The highly anticipated reveal of the next Xbox, Xbox One, has just come to a close, and I find myself sitting here thinking back a few months to Sony's own reveal of the PlayStation 4. The two shows couldn't be more different...more View all Destructoid Originals |


surf dtoid with 