Suda's Grasshopper Reveals New Casual, Kinect Games

Grasshopper Manufacture, known for its core gamer titles like No More Heroes, has announced that it is entering the social and casual game space with DeNA, one of the largest social and smartphone game companies in Japan. At a Gamasutra-attended event in Tokyo, the company announced three games for DeNA's mobile social network, Mobage; a sequel to its iOS title Frog Minutes, and two new titles, Humans Vs. Zombies, and Alien Busters. Though some of these will be more casual, some will also be somewhat core-oriented. "I think you'll see games that aren't the typical Grasshopper style, including things that verge toward education, or more family-oriented games," Grasshopper Manufacture president Goichi Suda told Gamasutra, adding that "Frog Minutes was a good start" along the company's path toward figuring out its place in the social game market. Frog Minutes, a small charity-oriented game released to benefit the victims of the Fukushima earthquake, was released earlier this year, but the new pseudo-sequel will be the flagship game in the company's partnership with DeNA. As for how Grasshopper will address this rapidly-changing market, "It really depends on the title," Suda said. "We're working to create new brands...well not brands per se, but a new level of play than people are used to from us." Right now the company hasn't announced any Facebook titles, but earlier this year did reveal No More Heroes Royal, an Android-based social game, also for DeNA. So while Grasshopper may not be ready to take the leap into the browser space just yet, "going forward we're going to be looking at more possibilities with DeNA," Suda concluded. At the event, Grasshopper also revealed a Kinect game, Diabolical Pitch, which has the player hitting balls at demonic enemies, with a number of amusing gimmicks, and also feels a bit more casual than its previous titles, while retaining that familiar Grasshopper sense of humor.