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Sliced Gaming Feature: Trauma Centre Interview

Writer: Nick Schaedel
Posted: 2nd September 2006, 10:22am

Surgery and the DS went hand in hand, thanks to the stylus control. Now with the Wii remote you'll be able to slice open organs with unprecedented precision. Tomm Hulett, the Project Lead on Trauma Center: Second Opinion/Trauma Center: Under the Knife for North American territories spoke to us about the new game, and the success of the first one.


Nick Schaedel: Everyone in Australia really wants Trauma Centre for the DS. Do you know why it's taking to so long to make it to the region? Are you distributing it yourselves, or is someone else in charge?

Tomm Hulett: I do not blame them for wanting to play Trauma Center - I think it's a fun game that everyone should have a chance to experience. Unfortunately, Atlus USA only distributes titles in North America, so I'm not in a position to make that happen. I know that Nintendo is publishing the European version, but I was recently informed that Australian distribution has to be handled by entirely different companies? I'm not really sure how the publishing side of things works. I do hope it reaches you guys, though. I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

NS: How gratifying is it to know that there is such high demand for a title for which there is really no precedent? You recently announced that more units would be manufactured and distributed in the US by July - do you know how many copies you've sold now?

TH: We've been ordering more units of the game ever since it was first released. I'm not allowed to give out actual figures, but it was our best-selling title last year, and one of our best selling overall.

NS: How supportive were Nintendo in developing a game concept unlike anything we've seen before?

TH: Nintendo doesn't take part in the third-party development process at all, but Trauma Center definitely came about because of the new freedom the Nintendo DS presented. Likewise, the new version of Trauma Center couldn't have been done on any console but the Wii - because both the Wii and DS really make the player feel like they're there, operating on patients. Nintendo clearly liked the concept as, like I mentioned earlier, Nintendo's European branch published the game in that territory.

NS: Now, what do you classify Trauma Centre: Second Opinion as? A sequel? Remake? Port? Can you explain to our readers the relationship between the DS and Wii titles of the game?

TH: Trauma Center: Second Opinion is a remake of the original game with a lot of new content added. The Wii version has all the content from the original, but also features several new stages with a new doctor character, and a re-done sixth chapter featuring an all-new storyline. The development team considers this the "perfect" vision of Trauma Center. It should be clear this is NOT a port - no assets were re-used, so all the artwork and graphics are new to the Wii version.

NS: Just when we thought (continued next page)

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