Feature: 'Suda51 on Wii, Contact and 'Crazies''

In the first of today's main Gamasutra features, Japanese game developer Grasshopper Manufacture president and Killer 7 game designer Goichi Suda (aka Suda51) discusses his new title Contact. The game is a Nintendo DS RPG that will be released in the United States later this year by publisher Atlus, and Suda also touches on the studio's outlook on Nintendo's Wii, its partnership with Marvelous and Spike, and the proving grounds for Contact lead designer Akira Ueda creating an original IP, as Suda discusses in the following extract: "So, Contact was developed by Akira Ueda. This was his third game with us – Shining Soul, Shining Soul II, and now Contact. So we knew he wanted to make an original game, so since this was his third effort, and he’d gained a lot more experience, so as a company, we figured he was due. Naturally at Grasshopper we’d like to make more original games, but you’ve got to make licensed titles sometimes… But yeah, it’s not like we have big plans for original IP, in terms of something we want to communicate. Just to make what we want to make." You can read the full Gamasutra interview for more, including plans for Contact 2, Grasshopper's unique hiring process, and why some game designers should be feared (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).