Could Catherine get a Western release?

There’s fresh hope that eye-catching console title Catherine could receive a release in the West.

As spotted by BeefJack, a now removed listing for the game yesterday appeared on the website of games retailer GameStop.

Until now publisher Atlus has doggedly insisted that the game would not be released in either America or Europe. However, a cryptic email sent out by the company yesterday has lead to many speculating that a US release, at least, is inbound.

Catherine gained notoriety – frankly – because of the overt sexualisation of main protagonist Catherine and the quite raunchy imagery that has accompanied the game’s marketing drive.

The title itself debuted at the top of the Japanese charts, pipping Capcom’s Marvel vs Capcom 3 in the process.

Gamers have bemoaned the difficulty of Catherine’s somewhat brutal puzzle content. But any concerns have been outweighed by the appeal of a console game that dares to show a bit of anime flesh.

UPDATE: That didn’t take long. A US release for the game has now been confirmed for summer 2011.