No More Heroes

[James McGeachie]

Well the fact is the game, at least the US build, is built around over the top STYLISED violence that works perfectly with the style. If it was just the gameplay too I probably wouldn't care much about the blood, it's the fact it'll be removed from every cutscene and character deaths will be altered too (for example in the very first trailer, in the Japanese version of it the other guy wasn't beheaded, he just fell down).

 

How can it be watered down when it was made by a japanese developer? surely that is the original version? Anyway like I said before I actually like the effect it uses way over blood...

 

Plenty of games made by developers in Japan are censored and cut down in their own country, but they get to keep their original vision for the game intact for overseas, so at least some people get to experience it.

[mr_bogus]

I get the feeling it's actually a lot simpler than what they say:

 

Suda51: NMH is more violent than Manhunt 2.

BBFC: Manhunt 2 is too violent for this country. Censor it.

Capcom: Let's avoid the hassles & just release the censored version in UK/Europe.

 

The sad part of this is:

BBFC: +1 point to us. We have the country under control.

British Public: Baa.

[pedrocasilva]

I get the feeling it's actually a lot simpler than what they say:

 

Suda51: NMH is more violent than Manhunt 2.

BBFC: Manhunt 2 is too violent for this country. Censor it.

Capcom: Let's avoid the hassles & just release the censored version in UK/Europe.

 

The sad part of this is:

BBFC: +1 point to us. We have the country under control.

British Public: Baa.

Capcom is not publishing the game.

[ShadowV7]

Capcoms involved in this now? When will the madness end!!!

[steggy]

Rising Stars reply

 

"There are two versions of No More Heroes that are going to be published in the West," he said.

"Ours, which will be drawn down from our parent company, Marvelous Interactive, which is directly from the Japanese iteration of the game, and there will be a version in the US that is a full-on gore, beheadings, dismemberment…and it seems some confusion has come to the fore in the past few days as to which version Rising Star Games will publish.

"Why the decision [to add in additional gory detail to the US release] has been made is a difficult one for me to comment on - that's a Ubisoft decision for the North American market.

"We've always drawn down our games from Japan, we tailor them in language, in text and audio, and nothing else."

 

And this from Suda51

 

A joint statement issued by the game's designer Goichi Suda (better known as Suda 51) and Marvelous Digital president Yahsiro Wada reads as follows:

"First, let me say how honoured I am that everyone in Europe is expecting No More Heroes. The sales point of this game is action. Both I and Wada san have concentrated on making the best possible action game for Nintendo Wii.

"We have chosen to release in Europe the same version as has shipped in Japan considering the broadly growing Wii market. We are certain you will definitely enjoy playing it."

 

From www.gamesindustry.biz

 

All I can say is, that the original video's that came out with blood in it, were released before Ubisoft were annonced as publishers.

 

And I'm still not going to buy the European version, roll on Freeloader for Wii.

[Adrian DX]

Guess what I found in my mailbox this morning guys. No More Heroes!!! =D

 

I've been playing it for about an hour and its really great, living up to its expectations so far ^^,

 

I might write a little more detailed, post some videos or whatever later.: peace:

[philcollins]

I don't really like GTA. I played the 2D ones to death and I ocasionally play the new ones, but they're so damn boring after 15 minutes and they're so bland. Either way this games has NOTHING to do with GTA, just because it has a small town where you ride in a bike doesnt mean anything

 

well a big thing about this game is that suda51 stated its quite inspired by GTA, which is a big deal cus its a western game or something like that.. i have to agree it doesnt look that much like gta but this is where the comparisms are coming from anyway.

[Hellfire]

its a little inspired by GTA in the sense that you have a city to ride around and you have to assassinate guys and have some minigames to get money, but the focus of the game isn't to be a sandbox

[david.dakota]

Reply from Richard Barclay:

Thanks For your e-mail. We know there has been much speculation in the press this week over what some people consider to be the censoring of our brilliant new action RPG, No More Heroes.

 

 

 

We’d like to bring to your attention the recent joint statement by Suda 51 (the game’s writer and director) and Yasuhiro Wada, (President of Marvelous Digital Contents Company) the game’s Japanese publisher regarding the release of No More Heroes in Europe.

 

 

 

“First, let me say how honoured I am that everyone in Europe is expecting No More Heroes. The sales point of this game is action. Both I and Wada san have concentrated on making the best possible action game for the Nintendo Wii. We have chosen to release in Europe the same version as has shipped in Japan considering the broadly growing Wii market.”

 

 

 

So, to be clear, Rising Star Games has not censored No More Heroes. The decision to release the same game as that successfully released in Japan was taken by the game creators.

 

 

 

Here is a link to the joint statement from trade weekly MCV’s site:

 

 

 

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/29132/Devs-decided-to-censor-Euro-No-More-Heroes

 

 

 

Also, please check out these great previews, each highlighting that fundamentally the action, characterisation, story and humour are the key elements to this highly anticipated gaming masterpiece.

 

 

 

Games Radar

 

http://www.gamesradar.com/gb/wii/game/previews/article.jsp?releaseId=2006121210125293056&articleId=2007121192142843056&sectionId=1001

 

 

 

Gamespot

 

http://uk.gamespot.com/wii/action/heroes/news.html?sid=6183960&om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;title;2

 

 

 

Eurogamer

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=89321

 

 

 

 

 

With regards

 

 

 

Richard Barclay

 

 

 

[DCK]

I'm not believing the fact that Suda 51 would do such a thing for one second. Maybe Capcom though.

[LazyBoy]

[jammy2211]

I wouldn't put it past Capcom to sensor a game they've absolutely no affiliation with whatsoever. Oh, wait....

 

And er, anyone think the blood styles could be accessed via an xploder or action replay?

[Hellfire]

The game has nothing to do with Capcom.

[jammy2211]

The game has nothing to do with Capcom.

 

Sure it does, apparently they're the ones sensoring it :P.

 

Anywho, when do you think we'll start to have some reviews coming in for this?

[DCK]

The game has nothing to do with Capcom.

Eh? Doesn't Capcom own Suda 51? Or was that just Killer 7?

 

Now I'm completely confused. Suda 51 censoring the game, no way!

[Hellfire]

No Capcom just published Killer 7, they're not in any way connected to this game. Whoever is censoring it, is just trying to avoid trouble. It sucks but it's true.

And Suda 51 is a person, not a studio, Grasshopper Manufacture is a studio.

[jammy2211]

Eh? Doesn't Capcom own Suda 51? Or was that just Killer 7?

 

Now I'm completely confused. Suda 51 censoring the game, no way!

 

Suda 51 broke off from Capcom after Killer 7 to make his own studio, Grasshopper Manufacture.

 

Rising Star are trying to spin it that Suda chose for the blood to be cut in Europe, whether this is true or they refused any other way is anyones guess. Sounds like they're not going to reverse their decision though, I think they should come up with a clever solution.

 

See, if I was Rising Star games I'd make two versions for Europe, a sensored version which is released at retail like normal, but also the bloody one and sell it for a direct order from the website, so any die-hard fans arn't going to be upset. Surely this wouldn't cost them anything? May just be hard to supply two versions seperately.

[david.dakota]

Eh? Doesn't Capcom own Suda 51? Or was that just Killer 7?

 

Now I'm completely confused. Suda 51 censoring the game, no way!

 

I'm sure Suda 51 would be surprised to hear Capcom have bought him. Or Killer 7 for that matter

[Hellfire]

Suda 51 broke off from Capcom after Killer 7 to make his own studio, Grasshopper Manufacture.

 

 

Wrong, Grasshopper made Killer 7 it already existed, Killer 7 was just published by Capcom and produced by Shinji Mikami. It was a joint development if you will.

 

I'm sure Suda 51 would be surprised to hear Capcom have bought him. Or Killer 7 for that matter

 

Suda wakes up, checks the mail. Letter from Capcom

"Dear Goichi Suda-san,

We have bought you and now own your ass.

xoxo Capcom"

Suda goes back to bed.

[Aalborg]

I hate it when they censor shit.. Im WAYYYYY old enough to make my own decision .. now when/ if it's gets censored and hits EU it is not as suda intended it.. and im not buying it..

[Hellfire]

talk about overreacting, you probably have been buying censored games withtout knowing. Every game is censored one way or another, some just are during the development process. Not that I'm happy about this, but it looks cool even with the turning to dust thing, and the game is good so I'm not going to pass just because of that and pretend to make a statement.

[mr_bogus]

Capcom: Let's avoid the hassles & just release the censored version in UK/Europe.

 

Ok ok, replace Capcom with whoever actually did the censoring. That's the least relevant part of my statement.

 

"BFFC just won round 2" is the bit i wanted to get across.

[steggy]

My email conversation with Richard Barclay

 

Thanks for your reply Richard, whilst I understand that the decision is out of your hands I don’t think the European version of No More Heroes is for me.

 

Maybe it will be a good idea for you to mention to Suda 51, that the online petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/nmh3r03s/petition.html) has been signed by over 5,000 people. And that maybe a future release of the un-censored American version could be a good idea. Especially considering the Japanese sales of the title are currently around the 13,000 mark. This is quite a big proportion of sales, I’m not saying that all of those 5000 people that signed the petition wont buy the game. But censorship is something that a lot of people are passionate about, so you could be losing a lot of potential sales.

 

Feel free to let me know if Suda 51 ever decide to release the un-censored version in Europe, and if I haven’t already got a copy of the US version I may consider buying it.

 

And his reply

 

Hi Steggy

 

Thanks for your e-mail.

 

I wouldn't rule out a revised, 18+ version of this title some time in 2008 although no commercial decision has been made at this stage.

 

Regards.

 

Richard

[C.H]

I received the same email, his reply to you suggests they still havent ruled the possibility of the US version being released. Maybe hes feeling the pressure and is just trying to appease you for the time being. This is the email i sent back to him:

 

Perhaps you could forward my appeal to Suda and Yasuhiro. I personally don't feel censoring out the blood while broaden the games appeal in Europe. While there is a large and growing installed user base of Wii owners in Europe, the audience has yet to be understood. The typical user who buys Brain academy, smarty pants and numerous party titles isn't going to buy No More Heroes. Its clear distinctive style will only appeal to hardcore gamers, gamers who follow gaming news. After the situation with Manhunt 2 (which now looks likely to be resolved with a release in the UK), a situation where NMH is censored is only going to aggravate that crowd. With the news only having got out in a matter of days that NMH will be released censored, there has already been a reaction, which I’m sure you've seen. My opinion is (yes this is only my opinion but I am your target audience), censoring No More Heroes will do nothing but damage its success in Europe. The game could include the option to switch between blood and no blood, with parental look.

 

If you could take my opinion into account (along with my previous email), and let my feelings and those of other gamers be known to Suda and Yasuhiro and whoever else is involved in deciding which version to release in Europe, I would be most grateful.

 

Thanks for listening,

Your Violent Aesthetic admiring Chris.

[ShadowV7]

Censored or not i'll still buy it regardless. The over the top blood effects and stuff just sorts of suit the game in the style being dramatic and stuff if you get me