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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Games Atlus: A Love Letter

Posted by Earnest "Nex" Cavalli on Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 8:31 PM

I know, in my mind, that I'm not alone in my love for Atlus — the company is still afloat, so on some level it must be doing something right — but I don't know if anyone really loves the company like I do.

Plus, they totally have the best swag
  • Atlus USA
  • Plus, they totally have the best swag

Ok, back up a sec ... that was stepping pretty close to creepy, "I'm under your bed, listening to you breathe" territory. I just mean that, well, if it weren't for Atlus, where would I get to live out my fantasies of being a hardassed Japanese teenager?

How would I express my need to pummel construction workers with oversized mallets?

Who would cater to my constant need to decry the various world religions as paper-thin manifestations of man's inclination to rule other men while piloting a teenage boy dressed as an overly fat bear/cat hybrid?

Atlus is the Pink Floyd of gaming publishers. Some of their games are amazingly well crafted, cerebral and stand as truly legendary creations, and others are pure bizarre experimentalism, seemingly existing solely to prove that some developer, somewhere could convince a group of moneymen to fund his pixelated mindfuck of a game.

Atlus, I salute you for having the courage to do your own thing when so many other publishers just regurgitate Tony Hawks and John Maddens all over a comatose general public (or the poor fiscal sense to know any damn better).

 

Comments (6) RSS

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1
Where the fuck is that Demon's Souls review? I actually trust your opinion and I need to know if I need to pre-order.
Posted by Sock Puppet on September 22, 2009 at 9:49 PM · Report
2
God damnit, stupid drama over on ?land messing up my logins. That was supposed to be posted by this account.
Posted by Graham on September 22, 2009 at 9:51 PM · Report
3
It's coming! I was just typing parts of it actually. Film at 11.
Posted by Earnest "Nex" Cavalli on September 22, 2009 at 11:16 PM · Report
4
HEAR HEAR. I'll buy any goddamn thing with that Atlus stamp.
Posted by rocketpunch on September 23, 2009 at 9:45 AM · Report
5
It should be said that Atlus is "just" a publisher. Not everything with the Atlus logo is gold, though many Atlus-DEVELOPED games have been consistently awesome.

I love Atlus about as much as any gamer can "love" a publisher because of its attitude. It knows its audience better than any one else, and panders to it with a passion that extends past pure exploitation. When reading their PR and seeing their promotions, it truly feels like they CARE what you think, or at least know exactly what you want.

Through this they've built up a solid, nigh-unbreakable core of fans who will buy most anything they put out, even their less-than-stellar releases, then whine and squeal to anyone in reach as to how great this or that Atlus-published game is. As Atlus branches out into other, less-niche genres, they can rely on that core audience, like rocketpunch, me, and Nex.

I officially salute Atlus' Aram Jabbari, their PR dude. He's one of the most skilled, creative, and energetic people in the PR business. He makes marketing and PR departments look good.
Posted by unangbangkay on September 23, 2009 at 9:17 PM · Report
6
"It should be said that Atlus is "just" a publisher."

Sure, but that's what I love so much about them. If they were just a dev they wouldn't have the power to greenlight other devs crazy ideas for release here in the States. Atlus wins double points for exposing Americans to the weird Japanese games we would otherwise never see.
Posted by Earnest "Nex" Cavalli on September 23, 2009 at 11:27 PM · Report

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