Akai Katana Shin PAL confirmed!

[Elixir]

Play-Asia still has the game in stock for $82. A completely region-free version that could be imported for $45 would certainly hurt Play-Asia and other retailers who are stuck with $82 JPN-only copies.

What are these "other retailers" you speak of? And is that in Japan?

I'm sure Play Asia is not the only retailer in the world that has Akai Katana Shin in stock right now. The location is irrelevant.

What does this have to do with Rising Star Games? Play-Asia is an import store out of Japan, they're not a direct influence. They're not going to import 200 copies of a game and "hope" they're all sold.

Play Asia sells Asian games to people all over the world. If a fully region-free version of AKS existed for $40, it would be difficult for Play-Asia to sell JPN-only copies for $80. People would shop elsewhere.

CAVE would be rather silly to hurt themselves and their retailers by allowing a licensed out product to compete directly.

Play-Asia also sell Asian versions alongside their Japanese stock, which is always more expensive, for example. The games are exactly the same beside having different regional ratings. They're selling the region-locked PLATINUM version of Deathsmiles above the price of the STANDARD American edition at present, for example. And they're still making a profit.

No, publishers really don't give a shit about marginal store profit.

[MR_Soren]

What does this have to do with Rising Star Games? Play-Asia is an import store out of Japan, they're not a direct influence. They're not going to import 200 copies of a game and "hope" they're all sold.

This discussion is about why RSG's games don't play on Japanese consoles. It is because Cave doesn't want to compete with themselves by letting somebody else sell a hypothetical region-free disc for half price.

They're selling the region-locked PLATINUM version of Deathsmiles above the price of the STANDARD American edition at present ... And they're still making a profit.

Those games won't play on the same console.

[Elixir]

What does this have to do with Rising Star Games? Play-Asia is an import store out of Japan, they're not a direct influence. They're not going to import 200 copies of a game and "hope" they're all sold.

This discussion is about why RSG's games don't play on Japanese consoles. It is because Cave doesn't want to compete with themselves by letting somebody else sell a hypothetical region-free disc for half price.

...

Akai Katana is out of print in Japan.

Import stores have nothing to do with it.

Publishers don't care about distributors, unless they strike a deal for exclusive store-specific content; east, it's "bonuses" like telephone cards, west, it's GameStop exclusives.

So what exactly is the point of a Japanese game not working on a Japanese console, again? The amount of Japanese players buying foreign versions is ridiculously marginal and isn't going to "hurt" any party.

Those games won't play on the same console.

But the point is that the more accessible American 360 version is cheaper than the less accessible Japanese version (disregarding the fact that Platinum versions are even cheaper than their original releases). In other words, even your irrelevant import stores aren't concerned.

[StarCreator]

Yeah, pretty much the point I tried to make in the first post - most likely there were only one, maybe two print runs of the game, and whatever's left is all in retailers' hands now. I find it very hard to believe there is any significant profit left to be made from domestic sales.

A lot of the arguments against the game being opened up to NTSC J aren't looking at it from the publisher standpoint, merely the retailers - and if any retailer is still sitting on significant levels of stock of the game, they made an error when they ordered their allocation. The game has been out long enough that the value of any unsold stock should pretty much be written off.

That said, I don't really mean to say the game MUST be unlocked for NTSC J - I was merely wondering what harm doing so could actually cause. Nothing that has been said in this thread convinces me doing so would harm anyone. Still, I don't mean to be forceful and say it should be done, and I'm glad the release is happening at all, which is more than I can say for those of us in the US at the moment...

It seems worth noting that region-locking is not just down to the licensor and licensee but also the platform holder - in fact, it is ultimately the platform holder's decision.

By the platform holder, do you mean Microsoft? Certainly they can intervene, but why would they? Just curious...

[hipgnosis]

Making the games region free might hurt the future japanese CAVE releases if people suddenly started waiting for the cheaper domestic release. Or this could atleast be the mindset that Microsoft and CAVE are having. They want to play it safe.

[StarCreator]

Making the games region free might hurt the future japanese CAVE releases if people suddenly started waiting for the cheaper domestic release. Or this could atleast be the mindset that Microsoft and CAVE are having. They want to play it safe.

The chances of that being an issue are pretty much zero. First, these international releases are exceedingly rare to the point that there is no guarantee they will ever come into existence in the first place - the fact that RSG went ahead with DFK at all was a surprise to everyone especially after Aksys seemingly abandoned their relationship with CAVE after Deathsmiles NA, and there are a number of releases that came in between Deathsmiles and Akai Katana that are simply being ignored internationally, at least for the time being. Second, even if you are somehow able to predict which games make it over and which don't, all of the international releases have come about a year or more after the original product - I don't speak for everyone, but I don't have that kind of patience to wait a full year to play a game I already have access too just to save a buck.

[Elixir]

Third, there are already region-free 360 titles from Cave.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Making the games region free might hurt the future japanese CAVE releases if people suddenly started waiting for the cheaper domestic release. Or this could atleast be the mindset that Microsoft and CAVE are having. They want to play it safe.

Its worth taking into account that the 360 is coming to the end of its life cycle so CAVE doesnt have the luxury of making western gamers wait a full year before they can grab hold of the cheaper release. I do suppose it all depends on what future plans CAVE has for the system as it would make sense for CAVE (if MS allow it) to allow RSG to go full on regoin free once theyve finished developing for it.

Not that I have a problem with any of this im just trying to 2nd guess CAVE's reasoning

[torisuRSG]

...

It seems worth noting that region-locking is not just down to the licensor and licensee but also the platform holder - in fact, it is ultimately the platform holder's decision.

By the platform holder, do you mean Microsoft? Certainly they can intervene, but why would they? Just curious...

Yes, Microsoft is the platform holder in this thread.

The platform holder doesn't "intervene" as such; the publisher must persuade the platform holder away from the default position, which is that any software will be region-locked.

[StarCreator]

Yes, Microsoft is the platform holder in this thread.

The platform holder doesn't "intervene" as such; the publisher must persuade the platform holder away from the default position, which is that any software will be region-locked.

Interesting. Has this default position shifted recently? I can't profess any knowledge of how things have been in the PAL territories, but in NTSC U/C games that are locked out of NTSC J are the exception rather than the norm, thus my being able to own a Japanese 360 while residing in the US with practically no issues. I'd certainly think what's OK in the US should be OK in the PAL territories as well, but maybe Microsoft in Europe sees things differently somehow...

Thanks for the insight, and don't let my rambling distract you from bringing over a great game =p

[Mills]

Not that impressed with the game's visuals but hey, its a Cave game, bring it on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAogqaeQNB8

[Mills]

Another youtube link arcade pcb.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a97LY4jG ... re=related

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Heres a 720p vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSDcckYY ... re=related

I think the game looks really good and while I prefer HD Futari and Galuda 2, I like how the stage and the enemy is muted and the bullets and gold are super vibrant. I love the colour palette that CAVE uses in their games.

[mdsfx]

I thought this was funny/interesting. Why even respond? I'm not drawing any conclusions though... (LIE) *CROSSES FINGERS*

[AntiFritz]

I thought this was funny/interesting. Why even respond? I'm not drawing any conclusions though... (LIE) *CROSSES FINGERS*

Yeah i was thinking the same thing, if they didnt have an answer WHY answer at all?

[MR_Soren]

Import stores have nothing to do with it.

Publishers don't care about distributors,

I think publishers have to care about the distributors enough that they don't start thinking, "We always get burned on these CAVE games. Let's cut our order by 5%"

Regardless, I'm just speculating, I'm not sure why you continue responding with these overly drawn out angry rants where half of your words have nothing to do with what I am saying. It's not like I'm the guy region locking this shit.

[Elixir]

I think publishers have to care about the distributors enough that they don't start thinking, "We always get burned on these CAVE games. Let's cut our order by 5%"

Distributors do not care if an identical game differentiates in price in another region, as I linked to. Whatever their prices are--sale or not--especially concerning import stores, are profit.

Regardless, I'm just speculating, I'm not sure why you continue responding with these overly drawn out angry rants where half of your words have nothing to do with what I am saying. It's not like I'm the guy region locking this shit.

I'm not, lol, and haven't been "angry" on this forum in a long time. It's a bit hard to when people create their arguments on-the-fly. There's nothing drawn out about "Akai Katana is out of print in Japan."

[spadgy]

Not much earth shattering info in there, but I've pasted the official AK PAL press release into the first post.

[Iori Branford]

I thought this was funny/interesting. Why even respond? I'm not drawing any conclusions though... (LIE) *CROSSES FINGERS*

Yeah i was thinking the same thing, if they didnt have an answer WHY answer at all?

Possibly, hopefully, they just don't know because they are CAVE-World, the mobile division.
(Given how some fans treat them, I wouldn't be too surprised at a kick in the balls like "We determined that the US is not ready for Akai Katana Shin at this time"...would be stupid, though, as it sure wouldn't make those fans behave any better.)

[StarCreator]

The guys running the cave_world_en Twitter account seem to be fine taking questions on just about anything CAVE related, even if they're primarily the mobile division (which I'm not entirely sure is true anymore). I've even gotten support for issues with the International Shop from that Twitter account.

I'm sure if you ask them something they're not qualified to answer, they'd either say so or simply not answer at all.

[Vamos]

I thought this was funny/interesting. Why even respond? I'm not drawing any conclusions though... (LIE) *CROSSES FINGERS*

Yeah i was thinking the same thing, if they didnt have an answer WHY answer at all?

Possibly, hopefully, they just don't know because they are CAVE-World, the mobile division.
(Given how some fans treat them, I wouldn't be too surprised at a kick in the balls like "We determined that the US is not ready for Akai Katana Shin at this time"...would be stupid, though, as it sure wouldn't make those fans behave any better.)

The way fans treat cave? are you kidding me? i think the way cave treats fans is far more questionable .

[Iori Branford]

The way fans treat cave? are you kidding me? i think the way cave treats fans is far more questionable .

It's true, many have shown incredible patience and loyalty despite everything. Sadly, bad apples have a way of sticking out (in our case with insane demands like top-dollar retail releases while getting dumped by one publisher after another). I'm sure CAVE is better than to let it get to them...usually...I hope.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

I think its most likely CAVE are still keeping their options open until they find out the sales figures from DFK, if the sales arnt too great they might try some other way to bring AKS to NA.

Either that or its just CAVE taking a back seat since its RSG who would announce this sort of thing

[Sumez]

_IF_ Cave are looking for a US publisher for Akai Katana, I doubt they'd allow the disc to be open for NTSC-U..

Otherwise, they probably wouldn't care.

[AntiFritz]

You all didnt behave too well when deathsmiles first came out in us with the slowdown removed (even if it was no fault of the fans).

[Estebang]

On the bright side--if this turns out to not be region-free or dual-region, I'd say a US release is quite likely.

I'm sure Rising Star wants to open the game up to NTSC consoles, the question is whether Cave will let them.

[StarCreator]

You all didnt behave too well when deathsmiles first came out in us with the slowdown removed (even if it was no fault of the fans).

Unless there's been another radical 360 SDK change, I doubt that's an issue we'll be running into again.

[Estebang]

I still contend that Deathsmiles was a better game without the slowdown.

[MR_Soren]

I still contend that Deathsmiles was a better game without the slowdown.

Same here. Unfortunately, I had to apply the patch to continue posting on the leaderboards.

[BPzeBanshee]

I still contend that Deathsmiles was a better game without the slowdown.

Same here. Unfortunately, I had to apply the patch to continue posting on the leaderboards.

I'm guessing I'm in the majority group that thinks the both of yous are mad - I just can't see Deathsmiles being playable with no slowdown at Rank 3, but then most people seem to say something to the lines of "hey Deathsmiles is easy, I totally 1CCed it in less than 10 goes hitting Rank 1 and Rank 2" while never actually having seen suicide bullets and thus not seen any logic to the slowdown = playability thesis. I'm normally not one for saying that the harder mode is better but rather play whichever mode is "meant to be played" and since the boss patterns are gimped on Rank 1/2 I consider Rank 3 to be the way to go.

On top of that I think the Raiden games are the best series around, so by other standards *I'm* the mad one in the minority there.