Games

[icycalm]

Xbox 360 and Wii ports announced by Famitsu (source).

Good news, but I wonder once again (see Raiden IV) how they will handle the resolution/tate options on the 360.

Here's a preview of the PC port, including some nice screens:

http://www.famitsu.com/pcent/news/2006/ ... 6,0,0.html



And the official site for the original arcade version:

http://www.alfasystem.net/game/shiki3/

[filterpunk]

Xbox 360 and Wii ports announced by Famitsu.

For those of us who don't read Japanese, is this for XBLA or will it be receiving a physical release?

[icycalm]

It is a regular release. I don't know why people get it in their heads that modern arcade games could possibly be released on XBLA. Apart from the fact that this would be marginalising them, has any XBLA game sold for fifty or sixty bucks?

Besides, it's a tate game and MS will not allow developers to put tate modes in their titles.

[filterpunk]

It is a regular release. I don't know why people get it in their heads that modern arcade games could possibly be released on XBLA. Apart from the fact that this would be marginalising them, has any XBLA game sold for fifty or sixty bucks?.

It's not that I think they should be released on XBLA (or VC), but I just get the impression that many publishers are treating niche or relatively unmarketable games as fodder for download services. Since Shikigami no Shiro III hasn't seen a home release that I'm aware of, it seemed pretty plausible that they'd try to push more units by selling it at a lower price via download rather than pushing it for $50-60 in stores.

[icycalm]

[It's not that I think they should be released on XBLA (or VC), but I just get the impression that many publishers are treating niche or relatively unmarketable games as fodder for download services.

I don't know which publishers you are talking about. Shikigami no Shiro is not UNO. It's a modern arcade game and Alpha System can't afford to have it treated as a third-rate game, or sell it for five or ten or twenty bucks.

Since Shikigami no Shiro III hasn't seen a home release that I'm aware of, it seemed pretty plausible that they'd try to push more units by selling it at a lower price via download rather than pushing it for $50-60 in stores.

The PC port has been out for several months. And, like I said, your suggestion should be considered totally implausible until there is precedent.

[icycalm]

One thing I'd like to mention about this game for those who have only seen screens/low-res videos is that it looks terrible next to the second one. The characters models look almost square and there are fuck all polygons. I think it might have something to do with Skonec's involvement -- I mean look at how terrible the Psyvariar games and Homura look.

Anyway, Icarus was too cool to talk about the gfx in his review, and in any case his opinion is that II and III look about the same, so I thought I'd point out how I see things just in case someone buys a port and gets pissed off or something. Also worth pointing out that it took me a while to pick out the screenshots used in the review, as they flatter the game -- most screens do not look anywhere near as nice.

Also, here's a "scan" of a Famitsu preview of the Wii60 ports:



Last and least, Arcsys' badly-named US subsidiary will be releasing the Wii version in NA in the spring as Castle of Shikigami III:

http://www.aksysgames.com/press_releases/cs_121407.html

Before, I had heard the 360 version would get localized whereas they were considering the Wii one, but it turns out it's gonna be the other way around -- fuck knows why.

[CosMind]

Before, I had heard the 360 version would get localized whereas they were considering the Wii one, but it turns out it's gonna be the other way around -- fuck knows why.

dude! because everyone knows scrolling shooters are a no-brainer for wii.
c'mon, they can sub out the duldrum of button pressing with violent jerks of the wii-mote to PUT YOU IN THE GAME! RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF BULLET HELL! FOR REAL! INSIDE BULLET HELL!

shit...

after reading icarus' review, i was really counting on the 360 drop here in the states. guess my clouds may have lost their silver lining.
but! i still have hope, and eight fingers to cross!
(perhaps they'll slip it onto live arcade like the rest of the bandwagon are?)

[icycalm]

I am betting they'll eventually announce the 360 version too. Perhaps they only announced one version to gauge reactions.

dude! because everyone knows scrolling shooters are a no-brainer for wii.
c'mon, they can sub out the duldrum of button pressing with violent jerks of the wii-mote to PUT YOU IN THE GAME! RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF BULLET HELL! FOR REAL! INSIDE BULLET HELL!

Right, I forgot about that!

[icycalm]

A handy series comparison by Rando on Shmups:

I has an intermediate boss battle between the two halves of the stage, plus your power level varies with the coin value (maxes out at 10,000), you lose power if you die.

II has always maxed out power, as you have seen, and no intermediate boss.

III has the hi-max system. Instead of a bomb, if you use a weapon stock (spot the reference!) you can get 10 seconds of fixed x8 values, without bullet-grazing. Since you get a stock back when you die and when you extend, tactical suicides (three cheers!) can play a huge role.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 667#317667

Also:

One of the first things you'll notice is the hilariously awful translation and voice acting.

http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/854/854612p1.html

I can't speak for the company who worked on Castle Shikigami II, but judging from some of their screenshots, they had a very, very difficult character limit to work with. Many people tend to forget that space or programming limitations can dictate how effective the prose will be, but thankfully, the devs gave us all the room we needed.

Regardless, I don't think you need to worry about the localization if you liked how Castle Shikigami II turned out. After working on Castle of Shikigami III, I'm pretty sure the localization for its predecessor wasn't too far off from the original—The source material (i.e. the original JP dialogue) is hilariously goofy all on its own.

As for voices, we would have liked to go dual language—or keep the original JP voices—but we couldn't due to budget constraints. Companies often can't use the original JP voices unless they pay licensing fees, which almost never ever come cheap.

On a somewhat related note, I'm a purist and would love to see every game in its original language, but people like us are just a minority.

http://aksysgames.com/forum/index.php?t ... 13#msg1213

[Molloy]

Wasn't Homura quite pretty? I haven't seen it outside of grainy youtube vids.

[icycalm]

What does Homura have to do with this thread?

At any rate, it wasn't pretty. It was certainly not as bad as the Psyvariar games, but it's a long way from what I'd call pretty.

It did have an excellent atmosphere though, and of course it was a great game, so I forgave it its ugliness.

[MAXCHAIN]

What does Homura have to do with this thread?

You mentioned its graphics about halfway down the page.

[AlphaONE]

So is Aksys releasing it over in the US? Nice!! But I still don't own a Wii :lol:

[chamchamtrigger]

I saw a review about this game's predecessor that kind of annoyed me. The parts about the how they messed up the Western releases' translations are alright, but it kinda irked me that she totally missed the point of a game that makes it quite obvious what the objective is about. I kinda thought of the essay Cocksucking Videogameland though I guess this isn't really the same case. It isn't too bad of a review in the end, but reviewers should really understand the point of a game before they review it over the simple fact of whether it is fun or not for them based on whether they understand it or not.

It's like me insulting Luftwaffe the board game just because I didn't understand how to use the pieces.