Just this morning, I was hanging out with G4 mini-bosses Billy Berghammer and Robert Juster, jawing about how it often seems that Japanese game companies make idiosyncratic games in their own little "gaming" bubbles that sometimes don't translate to the Western world. Then, just a few minutes later, I'm checking out the front page of the website for MadWorld developers PlatinumGames, and read this:

"Japanese game companies are notorious for not 'getting it'. They are thought of as slow moving, orthodox, and out of touch. One of the places where Japanese companies seem to not “get it” is community. Sure, you may have an American branch leading a great community effort, but it is very rare for a Japanese company to reach out in a meaningful way to its Western users."

It was weird serendipity! PlatinumGames promises their online presence won't consist of an English translation of a Japanese site. They aim to build a community via game-specific blogs, full-on fan forums, video podcasts and more.

I suggest you join up, if for no other reason than to have insider information about upcoming, insanely stylish and ridiculously cool game MadWorld: I've seen this game in action first-hand, and if it lives up to the demo, this black, white and red action game is going to rock, I promise. It comes out for the Wii in 2009.

Click the cut for a free, video taste of MadWorld.

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