Sumioni: Demon Arts launching in Europe Jan. 16

Sumioni: Demon Arts, the side-scrolling PlayStation Vita platformer from Acquire Corp., will be released Jan. 16 for €9.99 in Europe and in the U.K. for £7.99, publisher Xseed Games announced today.

The action title, which is set in feudal Japan and was done in the Japanese sumi-e art style, launched in Japan last February and was localized for a March 2012 release in North America. As in Capcom's fan-favorite PlayStation 2 adventure game Okami, players can pause the action in Sumioni to draw on the Vita's screen in order to unleash certain attacks.

Asked about the 10-month delay between the North American and European releases, Xseed localization specialist Tom Lipschultz apologized and said, "Each new region and each new platform presents its own set of unique challenges." He also pointed out that Xseed is a "company of less than a dozen people with no physical European presence."

Xseed hopes to shorten such gaps in the future. "We're getting better about that, but there are still lots of hurdles to overcome," said Lipschultz.