As the market and appetite for downloadable content continues to expand, we're starting to see more and more companies experiment. An exciting development for gamers is non-localized content. It costs money to localize even the smallest of games, a price tag that prevents a great many from ever arriving.
Sony recently partnered with MonkeyPaw Games for a series of non-localized (read: no English, all Japanese) releases through PlayStation Network, and Microsoft joins them on Tuesday with Cave's Deathsmiles IIX. Like most Cave games, Deathsmiles IIX is all about dodging streams of bullets, and gamers will have a chance to pick up the game in its original form for $29.99 via Games on Demand.
According to Cave's official Facebook page, the studio's Xbox 360 producer, Makoto Asada, was "approached by Microsoft with the opportunity, and we will be giving this format a try for getting some of our Japan-only shooters released overseas." Makes it sound like Deathsmiles IIX won't be alone.
Right now, Deathsmiles IIX is only going to be available in North America, though a representative on Cave's Facebook page noted that could change, depending on the response here and demand abroad.
I think so. Cave could put out all the Bullethell shooters they want and people would still buy them. Most bullethell shooters I see have a 4 to 5 rating on XBL while other random games usually maintain a 3 or so.
I thought the same thing. If they really mean 8, I might check this game out.
@LeetBalla said:
It's Part 2 X, Learn your Roman numerals dawg!
Trust me, it takes skill to design a good bullet hell game. If it was as easy as throwing a bunch of bullets on there and calling it a day, games like King of Fighters: Sky Stage, Otomedius and all those indie shoot 'em ups would be in about the same league as Cave's games... but they're not. By any possible stretch of the imagination.
Pattern designs, slowdown, pacing, balancing, not to mention the elaborate scoring systems -- there's a reason that Cave have maintained a dedicated fanbase while almost all the others have fallen, and it's not that they just slap a bunch of bullets on the screen. They make challenging, well-paced, balanced, often quite complex games that can be played and replayed for years.
It's not big, but it exists. They probably need to change their pants atm.
This.
I don't know if I want this yet, though. I haven't been following the news on it too much, so I don't know if "original" means the arcade version, or if it means a japanese Xbox version with upgraded graphics and black label mode. (If the console ports even had that added this time.) If it's got the extras, then must have. If not, must think.
This is a port of the second Deathsmiles game, Deathsmiles II. The X isn't a numeral. It stands for "Xbox 360" or "X Mode" (a mode exclusive to this console version), or perhaps "Xtra" or "Xtreme".
Or maybe all of them, I guess?
See above.
If they're not going to spend money on localization or printing discs and shipping them to retail, there probably doesn't need to be a huge market for it. There are people who go out of their way to import these games, so there is a market, small though it may be.