Bullet Witch was one of the early titles that Microsoft touted in Japan. It’s developed by Cavia who made the Drakengard games and Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles. AQ Interactive published the title back in July and Atari picked up the game as the publisher outside of Japan. But the version we’re getting is not exactly the same Bullet Witch that Japan. Cavia has been working with Atari to tweak the title for the upcoming February 27, 2007 North American release. Jeremiah Cohn the US Product Manager and Matt Rush the producer explain how.
What made Bullet Witch stand out as a title that Atari wanted to localize?
Jeremiah Cohn (U.S. Product Manager): First of all, the story and characters were instantly appealing to us. The genre blends in mythical goth-like elements with apocalyptic themes, we loved it right away. The second thing was that the physics engine really takes advantage of the Xbox 360. It’s one of the most physics-intense titles we’d seen and felt that it showcased some of the best that the next-gen platform had to offer. We felt that this could be a title that we could really wrap ourselves around and do great things with.
In 2013 the world is a wasteland. What happened and why is Alicia out to save it?
Jeremiah: Well, that’s all part of the mystery. You’ll see a chain of events at the beginning that turn the world as we know it into a desolate violent atmosphere. It’s actually really quite disturbing, because you can sort of imagine it really happening. Alicia is definitely in the mix because of certain events that unfold, but you learn more and more about her and her mission as you play the game, so I don’t want to give too much away just yet.
How does ten minutes of Bullet Witch play? Can you give us an idea of how Bullet Witch plays and Alicia’s magical powers?
Matt Rush (Producer): That depends…if Alicia’s wearing her downloadable Schoolgirl costume the first ten minutes are a distraction- But seriously, in ten minutes you’d be surprised at the amount of destruction Alicia can cause, especially with the Meteor spell that wipes out entire city blocks…it truly is amazing.
Which of Alicia’s spells is your favorite to use?
Jeremiah: The lightening is nice….nice and destructive.
Early reports from the Japanese release said that Bullet Witch had some collision detection issues. Are these problems being fixed for the USA release?
Matt: The stages are huge and when Alicia starts wreaking havoc on the massive environments there’s a lot to keep track of, but Cavia’s done a superb job at tightening things up for the US version on top of that.
Are there any other changes made to the US release to make it a better experience?
Matt: Yes, besides exceptional American voiceovers, Cavia was able to tweak things like the AI, the shooting view, textures, lighting, and fine tune the gameplay of course.
Bullet Witch had a bunch of downloads like extra costumes. Are we going to see these on the Xbox Live marketplace?
Matt: Definitely, these will include the aforementioned Schoolgirl costume, as well as additional fantasy inspired outfits like the White Witch, the Mummy, the Secretary, and more!
Who is providing Alicia’s voice for the US release?
Matt: That would be the talented and beautiful Sarah Natochenny. (editor’s note: she’s also the voice of Ash in the newest Pokemon series)
Wasn’t Alicia featured in Playboy? Why did Atari decide to put her in?
Jeremiah: LOL – Isn’t Alicia much too modest for that? *Wink*
Published: Feb 8, 2007 08:36 am