shmups.system11.org

Most of the interesting bits are the Q&A w/ the development team. There's a pretty in-depth discussion (and sometimes translation) in the cave-stg.com forusm.

Thanks guys. I was hoping for Inoue-san to explain the always-wear-sunglasses-and-try-not-to-smile phenomenon among certain Japanese developers.

Probably inherited by the rule of thumb "don't smile in photos" which is administered by the Japanese government. You can't smile in photos for official documents (passport, license, etc.).

I take it this doesn't apply when in cosplay.

No but you have to bend your knees and make a peace sign

For anyone in the UK that is thinking of importing a JPN 360 to play these Cave ports - I can now confirm that Microsoft UK will indeed repair/replace Japanese units.

So are the J Devs in black considered cosplay?

Shit, really? Replace it with what?

ohh nice i take it they will repair US machines too

Someone on another forum said he'd had his motherboard completely replaced in a repaired JPN 360. When they transfer all your settings from the old mobo, it's likely that the region setting gets transfered too. Not had this confirmed for US 360s being fixed/replaced by MS UK though.

Just need to find somewhere that sells Asian Jasper units now!

id like to get a 2nd 360 jpn just for cave ports , so thanks for the news

i wouldn't validate something from a forum post without double-checking. even if true, could be a one off rather than standard procedure.

if you wanna phone them and check, the number is 0800 587 1102

The info comes from a very reliable source. Whether or not it was a one-off? I doubt it. Like I said before, I reckon all the settings and data from the old board are transfered to the new board. The only difference between different region motherboards is a single setting on an EEPROM.

how would they know if it's in warranty?

For what it's worth, the last time I had a new motherboard installed in my 360, they didn't seem to transfer any settings at all - I basically ended up at year zero and had to go through the entire setup procedure from scratch. So I'd have to suggest that somebody out there got lucky.

You have to enter your receipt details into the online form before they collect it.

What country do you live in?

best way to be sure: anyone in the UK who has a jap/US machine, ring this automated number, type in your serial number, and see if it says it's within their return policies:

0800 587 1105

If no one in the UK is reading, maybe someone outside the UK with a JPN or Asian 360 could PM one of us their consoles serial number so we can check?

it's obviously the main thing holding a *lot* of people back from importing a 360. i believe skykid, spadgy, and rupert H, all have ntsc-j machines

DS got reviewed in FamitsuXbox360 monthly, score being 8/9/7/8

....probably means nothing but in comparison other STG games received;
Shikigami III 6/7/7/6
RFA 7/7/6/8
Raiden IV 7/7/7/7
Otomedius G 8/8/7/7
Shooting Love 200X 7/7/6/7
DOPDOJBLEX 7/8/6/7



In other news, hints on DS blog pointing out at the next port announcement coming from Cave in a month time.
http://cave-game.cocolog-nifty.com/blog ... -cce9.html

Hirounder man, your furage game is top notch. Thanks for the Famitsu 360 cover too. Great art. Have a feeling that's gonna sell out so I'm gonna get my ass to sofmap this weekend. lol

UK.

Picked up the 360 Famitsu, haven't read through it all yet but one thing that stood out was the review of Deathsmiles, which goes 8978, and the guy who gives it a 7 notes that the resolution in the Arcade mode is so low he found it hard to play. But he says the Xbox360 mode is much better to look at and easier to play.

There's an interview with Asada and Inoue which I've just skimmed. Probably more info in here but one thing that stood out was Asada mentioning that they do plan to put DSII on the 360. Then he mentions that he sees the appeal of both package and Live Arcade titles, and that they'll probably put out future games going between the two (!).

At least it was mentioned, although it would be nice if he knew why.

Couple more notes from the Asada/Joker Jun interview:

- Joker Jun mentions that Deathsmiles II is set one month after Deathsmiles because if it was any longer after that, the characters would have to age and 'we can't have that'.

He also tells the interviewer that Deathsmiles was originally named 'Death Lolitas' but that CAVE decided before releasing it that this name wouldn't do well with arcade operators so they canned it. lol

- Some of the achievements are going to be pretty odd/unique. There's an achievement for 1CCing the game. Asada says that probably anyone will be able to get up to 800.

New Cave stuff coming between the release of Death Smiles and the release of Death Smiles 2 for 360? That's huge news.

Now let's just see the 360 emulate all that slowdown in MMP.

If they're really going to port a whole game for LIVE (and really there's no reason they shouldn't be able to, given that the download size limit was lifted for SF2:HDR and Watchmen), it's really good news for players abroad that don't have J360s. Hopefully DS2 won't be the game they pick to put on LIVE arcade...

Something tells me it won't be a newer game from them. I can see Dodonpachi sitting on the marketplace. It's old, everyone knows it, and it's going to sell well. It's too old for a retail release but it fits perfectly on the JP Marketplace.

No doubt Cave will continue to port things on 360, but I'm kinda not so sure about XBLA releases because of Microsoft attitude in the past.