Namco Bandai forms 'Surge' label, targets Western gamers

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Dec 4th 2008 at 5:00PM }

Namco Bandai has announced the formation of "Surge," a new studio and publishing label aimed at "providing cutting-edge, genre-defining games that are targeted at satiating the appetite of western gamers." Much like Square Enix's recent English-centric efforts, Namco hopes to tap into a wider market with several in-development IPs, the first of which are slated to arrive in 2009.

Andrew Lelchuk, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Namco Bandai Games America, dubs Surge a "creative force," one that promises to deliver "compelling content for the discriminating player who is looking for games that are not only groundbreaking but also push the envelope." Surge's first game that is not only groundbreaking but also pushes the envelope? Afro Samurai, due on January 27th, 2009.

Tags: Afro-Samurai, Namco, Namco-Bandai, Surge

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Cerpin Taxt @ Dec 4th 2008 5:05PM

Power Rangers. Please.

Dirty @ Dec 4th 2008 5:09PM

I miss the Surge soda, which to you european types was Urge... and is now Vault... so I guess I dont miss it.

Joshua Kleier @ Dec 5th 2008 1:08PM

Sob, It doesn't taste like my Surge used to.

Mr Khan @ Dec 4th 2008 5:10PM

two pillars of the japanese game industry, who were formerly four pillars of the japanese game industry, now working to move beyond it

times are tough if you're not Nintendo or Capcom, it seems, and Capcom has really taken these steps already

Nigeria @ Dec 4th 2008 5:10PM

Surge was the name of the terrorist group in Disaster: DOC.

Important information, that.

JerJer @ Dec 4th 2008 5:11PM

PUN ALERT!

i guess they are hoping for a 'surge' of inspiration (hah. hahaha.)
all of their statements are extreeeemely generic. what 'discriminating gamer' ISNT looking for groundbreaking, envelope pushing games?
like you pointed out ludwig, afro samurai is already looking like a non-groundbreaking, non-envelope pushing game.

Duke @ Dec 4th 2008 5:13PM

I saw that name and immediately thought of Serge!

Serge:
I see you look at this piece.
Axel Foley:
Yeah, I was wondering how much something like this went for.
Serge:
One hundred-thirty thousand dollar.
Axel Foley:
Get the fu** outta here!
Serge:
No, I can not. It's serious.

Dirty @ Dec 4th 2008 5:20PM

You really miss a lot of why that's funny if you don't hear the accent and inflection in your head whilst reading that.

Sidebuster @ Dec 4th 2008 5:24PM

Yeah, but I did and it was funny.

j.howlett @ Dec 4th 2008 8:33PM

i put that on a mix CD i made. love the movies

BananaBoat @ Dec 4th 2008 5:22PM

If Bandai wants to connect with western gamers, they will... A: Spend more money making decent Gundam games B: Release the Gundam games they've already made (including Operation Troy, which was supposed to come out this year, but now appears canceled for US release) and C: start listening to American gamers.

They wonder why they can't sell the twentieth iterations of a Gundam fighting game to westerners, instead of just asking and finding out that we want a DECENT Gundam game, not just another clone.

Charlie_Six @ Dec 5th 2008 12:19AM

I think if Gundam is to become popular in America, it needs a game and/or anime story that is specifically designed to pander to the mainstream American audience. As it is, nearly all the Gundam games assume the player already knows the back story. Thus the games we get are just full of weird snippets of story that no one but the anime fans understand. If Surge makes a Gundam game, they should probably put a stereotypical white male as the hero, have the American flag flying everywhere, and load it up with the phrase "Sup bitches!"

I also think Gundam is *very* attuned to the post-WW2 history of Japan. One of its directors has called Gundam a "humanist" show. Humanism is pretty much a non-existent ideology in the US so it's hard to bring that over here.

aj @ Dec 5th 2008 11:19PM

It is pretty amazing to watch or play a war story from a Japanese perspective, coming from an American perspective. The Japanese are very philosophical about it, there's this sort of reverence and moralism in it, versus the American take on war, which mostly involves loud music and people flexing their biceps in front of American flags while stabbing dark skinned people in the eyes.

There are some things that can just never appeal to "westerners", and one of those things is subtlety.

Ghen @ Dec 4th 2008 5:23PM

Dumb name. You're trying too hard.

deaftly @ Dec 4th 2008 5:27PM

SUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Josh @ Dec 4th 2008 6:19PM

I think it's going to fail. Japanese companies trying to "target" Western gamers is not going to work. It's like they're just going down a checklist of the characteristics of a stereotypical Western game and just shoving that into a typical Japanese game design.

Look at The Last Remnant, with that "Conquerer" character that's supposed to "appeal to Westerners", for example. I can just see the Square-Enix execs: OMG HE HAS MUSCLES AND HE'S BIG AND HE'S A I-DON'T-ANSWER-TO-NO-ONE MANLY MAN AND LOOK YEAH THERE'S BLOOD SPLATTERED ON HIM OMG THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THOSE WESTERNERS LOVE!

They don't "get it". Like a Japanese person with really good English, but who just don't understand our culture.

Josh @ Dec 4th 2008 6:22PM

And yes, I understand that the whole West doesn't speak English. But it seems to me that when these Japanese companies talk about the West and Western tastes, they're referring to American games.

Mr Khan @ Dec 4th 2008 7:25PM

American themes in a japanese-styled game do work, though. Suda 51 proved that, and Platinum games is continuing to prove it, and Kojima's coordination with that one guy (damned if i can't remember his name. Payton?) seemed to work well

Though you are correct. These laser-focused efforts to "target" western gamers seem to fail. The ones who don't want to play japanese games just don't want to play japanese games, and the ones that do don't want to play "japanese games made for western audiences"

-slycooper_rocker- (lorddshadow the amazing) psn: shahanasalam @ Dec 4th 2008 8:12PM

@ Mr. Khan

that would be ryan payton

Charlie_Six @ Dec 5th 2008 12:23AM

Sounds like Surge is going to be "Western" developers using Namco's funding to make games.

ducttapeBigSexy @ Dec 4th 2008 6:57PM

How about they just make another Ridge Racer game?

No, I'm serious, I've gotten bored of Ridge Racer 7. Actually, they should make the next one closer to R4 - that was by far the best game in the series. *One more win for Ridge Racer... a Ridge Racer... he gives me what I need!*

Abscissa @ Dec 4th 2008 8:07PM

I hate this trend of japanese developers focusing on western-style games. I'd take a good japanese-style game over a good western-style game ANY day (well ok, I admit, I'd make an exception for Splinter Cell 1/3). I'll play the crap out of Megaman 8/9 or just about any action-JRPG, but I don't give two shits about GTA, Lost Planet, Halo, Dead Rising, Call of Duty, or anything inspired by D&D or Tolkien.

The problem with most recent japanese-style games is not that they lack realism/guns/T&A, it's that they're either no longer "games" (ex, half of Nintendo's output in the last few years) or that the quality has been steadily dropping (ex. Megaman 1-6/X1-X6 > Megaman X7-X8/Z/ZX/Battle Network, Castlevania SOTN > Any 3D Castlevania and most portable Castlevanias, 16-bit Sonic games > 3D Sonics and both Nights games, Zelda 1/Link-to-the-Past/Minish > Zelda Hourglass, Mario 3/World > New Mario, Mario 64 > Mario Sunshine/Galaxy, most 16-bit action-JRPGs (including Alundra 1) > Away Shuffle Dungeon and Alundra 2).

And Surge is a stupid name. Makes them sound like yet another corporate entity making incredibly pathetic attempts to look "cool". Just like Scion (I'll take Toyota instead, thank you) and Revol. "Namco" and "Bandai" both sound a hell of a lot better than "Surge". Probably because "Namco" and "Bandai" don't sound like they're trying to insult my intelligence.