Almost immediately following reports that XSeed was no longer distributing Vanillaware's anticipated Wii exclusive Muramasa: The Demon Blade in North America, Ignition Entertainment has stepped forward to reveal that it's got it in hand. 

Ignition says it secured the exclusive North American publishing rights to the title, which will now launch in September 2009. It had previously been slated to be published under XSeed's co-publishing agreement with Marvelous, but XSeed recently announced it was "no longer involved."

"Ignition Entertainment is immensely proud for the opportunity to bring Muramasa: The Demon Blade to the legions of North American gamers yearning for top-quality, original action games on Wii," says Ignition new business development director Shane Bettenhausen.

The title released in Japan as Oboro Muramasa on April 9th, and was widely reported to have received a decent 34/40 rating from magazine Famitsu. It features a casual Wii Remote-controlled scheme as well as a more detailed traditional option for more experienced players. Incorporating themes of traditional Japan, it employs the same art style that popularized Odin Sphere on PlayStation 2.

"We developed Muramasa: The Demon Blade in the same way as we did Odin Sphere, so there are bound to be a lot of similarities," says game director and Vanillaware president George Kamitani. "I want it to be a very fun game for everyone who picks it up."

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23307

Muramasa = fun?  I'm sure that won't be a problem!   :)

This game will be awesome. I loved Odin Sphere and I know I will love this too.

Easily one of the best looking games out there, period.

Sweet! Can't wait until September

Oh yeah! September! Now I can get it as a birthday present for my sister and keep it since she doesn't play.

That sounds like something that I would do when I was 7.

I still wonder what prompted this change -- but at least we know it is coming.

Mike from Morgantown

What prompted the change was that it sold a disappointing 25,000 in its first week. At least it is still coming. Though I know nothing of Ignition's track record with jrpgs. I wish Working Designs was still around.

 How many games has Vanillaware ever had Princess Crown, Odin Sphere, Grim Grimoire?  One  would think a game that has been discussed as much as Muramasa has would move a lot more than 26,000 copies on the most popular console in the world in its first week.  And, I wouldn't call the drop down to 10,000 in its second week as the preview has it great legs either.  It will probably do better than Fragile, but that's not a great feat.

Still, I think it is probably a good game, so I'm looking forward to it coming to the states, but I would think sales numbers would have something to do with the shift in publishers, if not why wasn't it announced before the game's release that there would be a different publisher?   

yeeeha!

Ugh September now. Was set for July but oh well. Still good to at least know it is still coming to NA. Although I doubt the title will sell well at all, at least I'll get to play it haha.

Getting to play > sales  IMO