A new team, Grasshopper Social Network Service, has been created to work on a joint venture between DeNA and Grasshopper Manufacture for Japan’s Mobage platform.

“Our new venture with DeNA will allow us to explore creative ways to bring Grasshopper Manufacture’s universe to a new world of players,” said Goichi Suda, CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture. “Mobage’s world-class entertainment network and the power of social mobile games will unlock new types of experiences for our fans.”

A similar collaboration between Square Enix and DeNA was recently announced and will see a game based on the Final Fantasy IP hit the Mobage platform.

There’s no word on Western release for either project as yet.

Thanks, Destructoid.

• There’s so much information we don’t understand in this Final Fantasy Type-0 post, but apparently it’s about Alto Crystarium details, Phantoma credits and female governments.
• No More Heroes on Facebook will be bloody.
• Fat Princess is 2, and the full game plus the Fat Roles DLC along with avatars for your PSN ID and a new Dynamic Theme can be yours for $14.99.
• The Humble Indie Bundle is back. As usual, pay whatever the hell you want.
• CCP has cancelled EVE’s Quarterly Economic Newsletters.
• Phantasy Star Online 2 screenshots are here, and alpha testing starts in Japan next month.
• TimeGate Studios has announced the release of Skirmish mode for Section 8: Prejudice.
• A lauch trailer for The Sims 3: Town Life Stuff has been released.
• Gamefront got hands on time with War in the North. I think they should have taken me along. They would have appreciated it more.
• Farming in Free Realms has been updated and new places have been added.
• Risen 2: Dark Waters will make use of Steamworks.
• There’s the packshot for Dead Rising 2: Off the Record posted below.
• For every Games for Windows online purchase made between July 25 and August 1, MS will email you 400 Microsoft Points.

“We’re aiming to make it the social game with the most blood,” Suda 51 said of his upcoming social entry in the No More Heroes franchise during a recent press conference.

In a space overrun by candy coated farms and cities presumably born of Bob the Builder’s blood, sweat, and tears, No More Heroes might seem a bit out-of-place. Suda, though, is well aware of that, and wants his social slashfest to stand out from the crowd. He hopes, then, that it’ll generate enough “power” and “impact” to make the jump over to our side of the pond.

That, however, is just the tip of a very large (and – knowing Suda – probably in some way phallic) iceberg. Next on the menu: 100 social games. Never at a lack for ambition, Suda hopes to see every last one of his ideas come to fruition one-at-a-time. But hey, the current crop of social games is sorely lacking in lightsabers and talking guns that appeal specifically to the part of our brain that’s still 12 (read: all of it), so we can’t complain too much.

Thanks, Andriasang.

• Battlestar Galactica is no longer in beta, and had 3 million folks register for it.
• No More Heroes: Red Zone’s PS3 viewer mode is rather naughty.
• Funcom is proud of the fact Age of Conan is “the best-looking game in the MMO space.”
• Nyko’s Kinect clip-on Zoom device will release on August 23 for $29.99.
• Wizard101 will hit the 20 million user mark this week sometime.
• OverClocked Remix has released NiGHTS: Lucid Dreaming, a free album with 27 tracks and art, celebrating the 15th anniversary of NiGHTS into Dreams.
• Guipit, a gamer from the Philippines, is officially the first player in the world to see all 16 endings of the Witcher 2. He got a cool t-shirt for his efforts.
• Sony has updated the Euorpean PSP comics store. The US end too.
• Here are some shots of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
• RPS got hands-on time with Guild Wars 2. Lucky gougers.
• Details on Best Buy’s in-store game store have surfaced.
• Urban Champion is the next 3DS classics release to hit the eShop come July 13.
• Fight childhood obesity with The Quest to Lava Mountain.
• Gama has a history of the Donkey Kong’s development posted on the site.
• Here are some shots of The Testament of Sherlock Holmes.
• The Canadian Game Development Talent Awards have been announced.
• Old-school gamers take note: the Dungeons & Dragons: Conquest of Nerath board game is pretty cool.
• Italian police have arrested 15 suspected Anonymous members.
• Here are some new shots of the Zumi race from Eden Eternal.

• Eurogamer’s got an interesting article on EVE Online’s Incarna expansion and the resulting economic crisis and player revolt.
• A trademark suggests Naruto Shippenden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generation may escape Japan.
• Noted eSports commentator Diggity reckons League of Legends is gaining momentum in the competitive scene.
• See an actor dressed as Travis Touchdown demonstrate No More Heroes’ PlayStation Move controls.
• The latest Final Fantasy XIV producer’s letter suggests the game will move away from grinding.
• PopCap’s got more gorgeous goods up for auction, as part of ongoing charity efforts. There’s some amazing stuff there.
• SOE has launched the promised All Access pass, which grant you subs to all of its games for just $19.99 per month.
• Civilization V has had a thorough patching. The balancing is ongoing.
• In Serious Sam: Double D you can stack four chainsaws on your gun. Boom.
• Elevator Action Deluxe has been rated by the Australian Classifications Board. There’s a game I didn’t expect a re-release of.
• Siliconera asked NIS America what’s happening with its Imageepoch deal, and was told it’s still on.
• The Black Ops mod tools are out at last. Go ye and mod at will.
• Devil Survivor: Overclocked, the 3DS remake, will release in the US ahead of Japan, the first in the franchise to do so.

Today’s unrelated street art.

Speaking in an interview with Destructoid, Suda said that he was aware that he had promised NMH3 for the next Nintendo console, and said he has no plans to break hearts on the matter.

“However, I was at the Nintendo booth yesterday and today, and I actually had a chance to take the Wii U into my own hands. And as soon as I grabbed it things started swirling in my head,” he said in the video interview posted below. “I don’t know if it’s going to be one male character, it seems like maybe there’s a possibility that I may come up with some ideas.

“I’ll leave it at that for now. We’ll see what happens. Of course I can’t reveal who that guy is in my head.”

Earlier this year, Suda said he would like to make a third No More Heroes game, but that it wouldn’t “happen soon”.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

Konami went quiet on the Grasshopper Manufacture title, which was last heard of several months ago, but has confirmed its release this week – Australia will see the game on Thursday, with UK retailers expecting it on Friday.

The PS Move-enabled title allows players to take control of Travis Touchdown’s lightsa- beam sword in a quest to dispatch the world’s best assassins. As you’ll see below.

Thanks, CVG.

“I want to create new IP, definitely, because I have so many ideas and this is my first priority,” Suda 51 told NowGamer. “At the same time, I think Shadows Of The Damned and No More Heroes… if we have so many fans who want to see Travis or Garcia again then we will make another one.”

Speaking about Shadows of the Damned specifically, he added:

“Well we’re finishing it off now so that’s the first end. I’d like a sequel there, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen. It’s all about the people. If there’s enough who love the game, we will give it to them.”

Fortunately, we don’t think that’ll be too much of a problem. The game has a weapon mode called “the boner” and a talking gun named Johnson who we can only describe as delightful. If that’s not worth a sequel or 12, then this industry has failed us.

The PS3 port of the game with Move support is bound for Japan on July 21 and contains five bosses from No More Heroes 2, ten missions that were not included in the Wii version, boss battle mode and online ranking mode, and a “forbidden view” mode and other bonuses.

Carrying a CERO Z rating, the game has plenty of added blood, cursing, and women leaving very little to the imagination.

• Bobby Kotick is up for re-election head of Activision-Blizzard. The only real news would be if he wasn’t re-elected.
• The Pixeljunk shooter soundtrack can be yours via PSN for $7.99.
• Want an Age of Empires Online beta key? BigDownload is giving some away.
• A video for Ubisoft’s Rocksmith, a real-guitar-compatible music game, can be watched here.
• IGN is hosting 12 watermarked shots of DiRT 3 multiplayer. When we get these, we will post ‘em for you.
• PS3-exclusive No More Heroes: Red Zone will include Move support when it hits Japan. Here’s a first look.
• NetherRealm has reiterated that it can rebalance Mortal Kombat on the fly, without the need for patches.
• Impulse, D2D, and GoG have a a few PC sales going on.
• Masthead Studios has released two new bits of vehicle concept art for Earthrise.
• Amnesty International has released an iOS game called Bulletproof from Mobigame.
• There’s and exclusive Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale video posted over on Eurogamer.
• Unsurprisingly, Black Ops topped the XBL Actvity charts again last week.
• More proof that Steve Jobs is loaded: Apple has sold 187 Million iOS devices which equals: 19M iPads, 60M iPod Touch, 108M iPhones.

• You’ve played the game (probably), now buy the T-shirt: Portal 2 merch is on sale at the Valve store
• Fantasy MMORPG Rift is to be published in Korea
• A feel-good video montage has surfaced of some of the lovely execution moves available in Gears of War 3
• More Portal 2 goodness, this time in the form of an Easter egg that can be found in the game – minor ARG-related spoilers.
• No More Heroes is to receive another updated release in Japan. The ‘Red Zone Edition’ will be a PS3 exclusive with Move support and added bells and whistles

Famitsu, via Andriasang, reports Suda mentioned the possibility at a Grasshopper charity initiative yesterday.

“Although it won’t happen soon, I’d like to do it at some point,” the designer said, and to colleagues on stage, “Let’s make it together.”

Suda has said in the past that further entries in the series will not be released for the Wii, and that while he didn’t originally envision sequels, the first game’s sales convinced him to have another go.

The first No More Heroes and its sequel, 2010′s Desperate Struggle, were both produced for the Wii and published outside Japan by Rising Star and Ubisoft. Both games scored well with critics and sold surprisingly well given their kookiness. A PlayStation 3 revamp of the first game, with the subtitle Heroes Paradise, is expected to release from Konami in several Western territories soon.

Konami has sent over some new screenshots for No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise, which feature Travis Tochdown’s massive sword.

The game, which is slated for release this year on PS3, is a re-make of Wii’s No More Heroes, only in hi-def with additional levels of action, improved AI and Move capabilities. The game will also include a newly added game mode called Rebout Mode, “where former foes can be challenged again”. It also includes the opportunity to encounter additional boss characters that were not available in the original episode. There’s also the new Viewer Mode which allows players to re-watch “infamous cut scenes in crystal clear HD graphics”.

Tak Fuji, our own personal hero, has said the development team behind Heroes’ Paradise worked extra hard on making sure the PS3 version of No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise will not suffer the same performance issues contained in the original Wii version, and that since load times and performance issues were related, it was something he was a “stickler” about fixing.

In the new images posted below, Travis Touchdown is seen in a variety of environments utilizing his trusty Beam Katana as he strives to become the world’s deadliest assassin. An image is also revealed of Bad Girl getting ready to assault Travis Touchdown with a baseball bat in Santa Destroy. Kinky.

There’s also some shots in there that will look really familiar to you, only this time they’re in HD – because the future is now, people.

Still no exact date.

.

Tak Fuji has said the development team has been working extra hard on making sure the PS3 version of No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise will not suffer the same performance issues contained in the original Wii version.

Speaking with Game Sugar, Fuji said load times and performance issues are related and is something he is a “stickler” about fixing.

“Our top priority has been load times, and our team has been working hard day and night to modify the inner workings of the game to bring load times down to reasonable levels,” he said. “I’m actually a bit of a stickler when it comes to load times, so I’m never satisfied, and always looking to lower them further. Since performance and load times are actually quite related issues, optimizing our data has led to much more visible details of Santa Destroy, all streaming in at a much quicker pace.

“All in all, working on one issue has helped solve the other. Gamers are going to be pleased.”

Fuji goes on to say the reason PS3 was chosen over Xbox 360 for release had more to do with Move functionality.

“We have, and are still tossing around ideas for linking NMH with the Kinect for Xbox 360 gamers, but since the Kinect is such a unique device, it’s a bit more difficult,” he said. “This isn’t to say that the Kinect is a poor interface by any means, but more that in its uniqueness, it requires a bit more care and planning to bring Travis to the Xbox 360.

“So if we were to do so, we’d need more time.”

No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise is slated to release in 2011 with an exact date to be announced.

Yeah. Just in case you were under the impressions No More Heroes was a goner, it’s not.

In the No More Heroes: Hopper’s Edition, Suda 51 carries a message in the book that says:

“No More Heroes not dead”

Developer Grasshopper Manufacture is currently working on Kinect project Codename D as well as EA Partners horror Shadows of the Damned with Shinji Mikami and Akira Yamaoka.

It was announced last week that No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise would be exclusive to PS3 in the US.

Now, get on the crapper and get some ideas for NMH3.

Thanks, GAF.

Konami has announced No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise will be released exclusively on PS3 with Move functionality in the US.

It has been thought for ages it would be released on Xbox 360 as well. Not so, apparently.

Heroes’ Paradise is the Wii version of the game but with updated HD graphics, additional levels of action,  improved AI and Move capabilities, which were announced during Gamescom.

The game will also include a newly added game mode called Rebout Mode, “where former foes can be challenged again”. It also includes the opportunity to encounter additional boss characters that were not available in the original episode.

There’s also the new Viewer Mode which allows players to re-watch “infamous cut scenes in crystal clear HD graphics”.

No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise is slated to release in 2011 with an exact date to be announced.

We’ve mailed Sony and Konami regarding a UK release. We’ll let you know when someone gets back with us.

Japanese game development is dead, huh?

Try telling that to these guys.

Former Marvelous Entertainment bigwigs Yasuhiro Wada and Yoshiro Kimura – creators of Harvest Moon and critical smash Little King’s Story, respectively – have both flown the coop, choosing to land in the backyard of No More Heroes and Killer 7 creator Suda 51.

“This move will help us produce games in a more stable manner,” Suda told Famitsu (as translated by 1UP). “We haven’t released a single [original] title in the past year, which is something that caused a lot of regret in my mind. Having these two people join Grasshopper will make us a more sturdily-organized company, and it’ll improve our development, technical, and release skills.”

Wada now assumes the role of chief operating officer, while Kimura takes up the mantle of chief creative officer.

“Grasshopper’s games are enjoyed by people around the world, but they aren’t necessarily geared toward the overseas market,” Wada said of his new employer. “They just happen to resonate with oveaseas audiences as well. I think that’s because this company plays home to a great deal of different cultures that all come together to discover types of fun that everyone can share. It’s not a matter of marketing toward individual countries; it’s about finding the inner antenna that tells you what’s fun and what isn’t.”

Call it exec speak if you want, but we’re talking about the guy who made farming fun long before Farmville stepped in and shrouded the world in darkness and woe. It’ll be quite some time before he needs to buy questionably functional pills for his “inner fun antenna.” And now he and Kimura have teamed up with Suda. We’re really pulling for something special here, and we think there’s a pretty decent chance our hopes will be rewarded.

Suda 51 has compared the team’s ideas for No More Heroes 3 like a case of diarrhea purging the body.

Seriously, Goichi. Enough with the bowl movement analogies. You are no longer in middle-school.

Speaking with The Guardian, what Suda said is pretty much self explanatory.

“With No More Heroes 1, the idea came when I was literally sitting on the toilet, he said. “It was the result of trying to empty my bowels, if you like.

“With No More Heroes 2, I tried to get rid of whatever was left in my bowels, and luckily it happened. What we are hoping to do now with No More Heroes 3 is probably to digest everything we eat, and then purge absolutely everything in our guts, just like diarrhea.”

No. Words.

No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise releases for 360 and PS3 on April 15 in Japan.

Via Joystiq.

The intro video for No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise was released this week, and if it looks familiar to you, it should.

It’s the same video released for Wii – only in lovely HD – and it’s below the break courtesy of AGB.

Game’s out April 15 for PS3 and Xbox 360 in Japan.

Marvelous has sold 50 percent of its stock in Rising Star Games to Intergrow, a Japanese company that handles video, PC, and mobile games.

Due to lower than expected sales in the West and current market conditions, the sale was part of Marvelous’ revised plan for its overseas distribution.

Now, overseas publishers will have to bid for the rights to its titles such as:  Harvest Moon, Luminous Arc, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and No More Heroes, reports Siliconera.

Rising Star’s No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle is out next week in North America through Ubisoft with Ignition publishing Deadly Premonition for Xbox 360 in February.

Original: Below the break is a video for No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise.

It’s not a very high quality one, and its in Japanese, but still, there it is anyway.

Still no word on a US publisher just yet, but it’s coming to 360 and PS3 sometime or another.

The updated version of No More Heroes is now a little meatier thanks to a site update today, giving more shots and a lot of blacked out, soon-to-be-filled areas.

Looks as though there are going to be differences between the PS3 and 360 versions, too.

It’s Thanksgiving weekend, OK? Thanks, elronathon.

Ubisoft has confirmed that it will not be the publisher of No More Heroes or Heroes’ Paradise on Xbox 360 and PS3 when released in the US.

“Ubisoft will not be publishing either of these versions,” a company spokesperson told G4, although it still plans to publish the sequel on Wii – No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.

Rising Star, which is the European publisher, has not announced one for the US, but we’ll send ‘em a mail to see if a decision has been made yet.

More through the link.

This week’s Famitsu’s confirmed Grasshopper’s No More Heroes for both 360 and PS3. Check out scans on Siliconera.

According to that report, the game will have new modes, Japanese voice acting – No More Heroes only had English voice acting in Japan – and will cost 5,040 yen on February 25.

No idea if it’s coming west. Hit the link.

Grasshopper Manufacture’s Goichi Suda has told 1UP that No More Heroes 2 would be the last game in the series on Wii, until the next version of the console is released.

“Looking at the Wii, I think No More Heroes 2 will probably be the last iteration for this current platform,” he told the site. “But there’s probably going to be a “Wii 2″ or other next-gen system from Nintendo at some point, so I was saying that I would want to do another game in the series on the next Nintendo platform.

“I want to continue the No More Heroes series, but I’ve finished the story for Travis. It’s completely finished in No More Heroes 2. So I want to think of a different story — a different character, or something like that within the series — starting on the next Nintendo platform.”

There’s loads more of Suda goodness through the link there.

Suda51′s told Edge that No More Heroes needs to move past Wii if it’s to flourish.

“I really want to make NMH a big franchise,” he said, “and with this second episode have bigger success. I’m putting a lot of care into developing this IP, as I feel there’s a lot of potential.

“I think this is the last NMH that is going to be developed on Wii,” he added. “To expand NMH to new possibilities, we need a new platform. Wii is a great platform, but we’ve done everything we can with it now.”

Now look at this. Good news for 360 and PS3 owners, no doubt.

Marvelous is considering porting the likes of No More Heroes and Muramasa: The Demon Blade to Xbox 360 and PS3, Siliconera reports.

In fact, the publisher appears to be looking at moving its large Wii catalogue HD-ward, if a slide in a financial presentation is to be believed.

There’s no detail apart from that, but hopefully there’ll be more soon.

Don’t own a Wii? Want to play No More Heroes? Tough. Suda51′s told 1UP there are no plans to do so. “Yet”.

“Actually, a lot of the fans were dying to play the game on other consoles, so I think it’d be great if I could do it, but there’s no plan yet,” said Suda.

“[If so,] I would match the content to [fit] the other consoles. No More Heroes could be a big title, like a big IP, so it’d be good to have a chance to release the game on other consoles, and that would maybe maximize the market.”

There’s a full interview through there. Via Develop and Kotaku.

Goichi Suda told attendees at the Nordic Game Conference that many different films and actors inspired Grasshopper Manufature’s No More Heroes – most notably Dirty Harry, Jackass: The Movie, and Spaceballs.

During Suda’s presentation titled “The Birth of No More Heroes”, he showed films clips from  movies that prompted the ideas prevalent in the game.

Some of the antics in the Jackass movie provided the background and design for the game character Travis Touchdown, mainly Johnny Knoxville being beaten up by Butterbean and getting bitten on the nipple by a baby alligator.

Spaceballs was the inspiration for the beam katana, the city of Santa Destroy was based on the depiction of San Diego in Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry (actual setting was San Francisco), and the hotel in Memento was the inspiration for the hotel in the game.

Travis Touchdown was modeled not only after Knoxville, but UFC/Pride champ Josh Barnett who was also the basis for Destroyman. A bit of Scarlett Johansson can be seen in Sylvia , Henry can lay claim to bits of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, Dr. Peace got his characteristics from Charles Bronson, and Thunder Ryu was Japanese pro wrestler Genichiro Tenryu.

Loads more is through the link.

Thanks, 1UP.

According to this, Suda 51′s No More Heroes has been put back slightly in Europe to March 14, a delay of a week.

The Wii game has attracted high praise at review, but only managed to sell 40,000 in its native Japan, faring better in America with sales of 100,000. It sounds awesome, so make sure you buy it when it hits, Euro Wii owners.