Shadows of the Damned director, Massimo Guarini, has formed a partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

Massimo Guarini left Grasshopper Manufacture after completing Shadows of the Damned and started an independent studio in Italy called Ovosonico.

Publishers stampeded Japan with a rush of new releases last week, including Dark Souls, Senran Kagura: Portrait of Girls, and Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection.

Electronic Arts is preparing to release Shadows of the Damned in Japan with Tadanobu Asano as Garcia and Chiaki Kuriyama as Paula.

Aside from publishing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Times as a first party game in Japan, Sony has sat on the sidelines when it came to overseas releases. Sony Computer Entertainment Japan changed their stance with the World Game Project.

The two companies have come a long way from when Electronic Arts released unlicensed Genesis cartridges in North America.

Electronic Arts went all out for Shadows of the Damned and hired actor Tadanobu Asano to voice Garcia.

While some video game studios are cutting back staff (or closing), Grasshopper Manufacture is steadily growing.

Grasshopper Manufacture’s second Shadows of the Damned developer diary has Suda and Yamaoka talking about using sound effectively in the game.

Your sidekick in Shadows of the Damned is very, very talkative. Best get used to it.

Shadows of the Damned is a 3D shooter where you enter the depths of Hell as demon hunter Garcia Hotspur. Well, *most* of the time it’s a 3D shooter. Grasshopper Manufacture’s game has some 2D action too.

If you’re wondering, yes, Johnson is the name of Garcia’s talking skull partner gun thing.

Garcia is fixated on something in this batch of Shadows of the Damned screenshots.

Reserve Shadows of the Damned and you’ll get a digital download with twelve songs from Grasshopper Manufacture’s game.