Yamaoka: Shadows of the Damned Pitched Squarely Between Core, Casual

Speaking with Gamasutra about his work at Grasshopper Manufacture, ex-Silent Hill developer Akira Yamaoka predicts that Shadows of the Damned will appeal to gamers who are "neither fully casual nor fully hardcore". Slated to release for Xbox 360 and PS3 during summer 2011, Shadows of the Damned is a third-person shooter releasing under Electronic Arts' EA Partners program. The project is a collaboration between Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi "Suda51" Suda and renown game designer Shinji Mikami. Though Shadows of the Damned shares many similarities with games typically identified as "hardcore", and the creative minds behind the title are often associated with hardcore titles -- Suda with No More Heroes, and Mikami with Resident Evil -- Yamaoka believes the title could interest different kinds of gamers. "Damned is a wholly new style of game, and I think it'll appeal to a group of users who are neither fully casual nor fully hardcore," says Yamaoka, who is composing the music and atmospheric sounds for the "psychological action thriller". He adds, "Perhaps not everyone, though -- I mean, hardcore gamers are different from anime fans or people who play sports games -- but I'm hoping people who aren't in one of these categories will be interested in buying it." In Shadows of the Damned, players take on the role of a demon hunter named Garcia as he ventures "deep into a hyper-twisted re-imagining of hell where he must rescue the love of his life by defeating the armies of darkness with the power of the light." For more from Yamaoka, including Grasshopper's goal to become the number one developer globally and his less-than-hopeful take on the contemporary Japanese game industry, be sure to read the full interview, live now on Gamasutra.