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Namco Bandai On Level-5 Partnership

At the Level-5 Vision press conference earlier this month, Level-5 briefly mentioned the localisation of the Playstation 3 version of Ni No Kuni, which will be released Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Instead of self-publishing, Level-5 had handed over the duties to famed publisher Namco Bandai for both North America and Europe. Talking to Siliconera, Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing at Namco Bandai, talks about the partnership and how it fits with the overall aim of the Western side of the company in terms of making partnerships with Japanese developers.

“For us, if you look at the course of what we’ve done last year, we’ve narrowed our slate to really good titles. We focused on less is more. When started talking to Level-5 — look guys we have a great opportunity. We have a great team in the States and we can maximize the potential of the game in the West. Those are the kinds of things we brought to the table because at the end of the day we want to bring the best games to the market.”

There was also a brief mention on whether this new deal will be a multi-title deal, like with the other partnerships. This is how Choi responded to the question.

“That is still in discussion.”

A multi-title deal would be the best option for both Level-5 and Namco Bandai, considering what was discussed at Vision. Games such as Fantsay Life, Youkai Watch and Time Travellers would be perfect for the niche market that exists with some Japanese games.

Level-5 joins From Software (Dark Souls, Armored Core V) and Game Republic (Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, Knights Contract) with partnership deals with the company. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is expected to be released in early 2012 for North America and Europe.

Joshua Spudic
Joshua Spudic
Josh is the name, writing is my game... well my degree will say that. But, when uni gets me down (and it does), there is no better way that to grab a chair, sit back and slicing up some DarkspawnI started my gaming interest back in the good old 16 bit era with the Sega Mega Drive and Sonic The Hedgehog 2. I was roughly five years old. To this day I still try to fire up the dusty companion and speed through the wacky and bright levels, jumping on some Badniks, collecting those damn Chaos Emeralds. Then I moved onto Sony's disk based console the Playstation (thanks to my uncle). Since then I have picked up each of Sony's consoles from the 5th to current generation that has been released in Australia (with more to come).In terms of writing about games, I am quite new to the field. I started out late last year with my own blog before deciding to move to greener pastures. I have written a few reviews for the Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable. Features as well. I hope I can flex my muscles while writing with Capsule Computers.If I'm not gaming, however, I'm writing narratives. I am currently trying to kickstart a high fantasy novel (which, hopefully, turns into a complex RPG) that I want done in five years or so. My passion of writing has been there for a long time and has flourished as I grew. I'm into the fantasy genre, both games and novels, and thoroughly enjoy a deep and complex RPG, whether it comes from the East or West.Oh and anime is awesome!