Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Nothing makes EA sound like a warm, welcoming place than two people used to dealing with Japanese publishers. 1UP interviewed Suda51 and Shinji Mikami about their new horror game with EA, and the two have nothing but good to say about their treatment from the mega-corporation. Suda was impressed with the communication:

"We actually don't even communicate that much when working with a Japanese publisher, but when something happens, we can always get in touch with EA and talk about how we both feel on an issue. Our relationship is extremely good."

This deal is four years in the making. Suda presented Mikami with his concept at the end of their collaboration on Killer 7, and the two decided that they work well together. "I mean, Grasshopper has experience in creating action games," said Suda, "but Mikami is one of the top three action game creators in the world." They described how Mikami balances out Suda's weirdness for the audience, and how Suda delivers amazing visuals. Last June they brought ideas, including this horror game, to EA.

No concrete information about the game was revealed, but Suda proffered two sources of inspiration (though there is a note in the translation that these are guesses): the Takashi Miike film Crows Zero and the Japanese drama Rookies. So something about high school gangs?

Last Saturday, Suda 51's company Grasshopper Manufacture held the coolest event ever, at least for game nerds: Snake vs. Zombie vol. 2, a series of informal panel discussions by big names in the Japanese game industry, including Hideo Kojima, Shinji Mikami, ICO's Fumito Ueda, and Tetsuya Mizuguchi. There were also musical performances from Metal Gear Solid 3/Portable Ops soundtrack composer Norihiko Hibino and Silent Hill series producer and composer Akira Yamaoka.

As if the mere existence of this event (and our non-attendance at said event) weren't causing us physical pain, now we have unbearable anticipation buzzing around in our heads. During a Kojima/Mikami panel hosted by Suda, Mikami, a man of taste, mentioned that his favorite Kojima game was Snatcher, to which the other two responded "Ah yes, Snatcher," followed by "Oh, should we announce it here?"

To sum up, in italics, there is a possibility that Hideo Kojima and Suda 51 are collaborating on some kind of Snatcher game. We do not care if it is a sequel, a remake, a port, an action figure, or an official recipe for Neo Kobe Pizza. We want ten.

Four months ago, we started mourning the sad loss of Clover Studio, the development house responsible for beautiful, original games like Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and God Hand. Well, now we can wipe our cel-shaded tears away! Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya, and Resident Evil/Devil May Cry creator Shinji Mikami have held their V-Watches aloft, shouted "Henshin a-go-go, baby!" and transformed the moribund Clover into a new development studio, called Seeds.

And they want you! You know, if you're a qualified programmer or artist of some kind. According to the site, they are in the process of looking for new people to help them make some "weird, amazing games." We Fanboys are hoping that they (and whoever publishes their future work) turn their attentions to the two weirdest, most amazing consoles we can think of; given that the Wii is the go-to console for innovation these days (and the only next-gen console that a small developer could realistically afford to make games for) it seems like a natural fit.

[Via Game|Life]

Update: Those insidious italics!