Doujin STGs (Touhou-inspired, PlatineDispositif) Come to PS4

[Ceph]

Just announced at the Pre-TGS conference. They showed a few seconds of bullet hell gameplay. No release date was given.

[Bananamatic]

isn't it just going to be some old games

[ACSeraph]

Even if it was the old games that would be pretty cool. Here's hoping for a tate mode even though it will never happen.

[Aisha]

So far only old derivative games by other circles have been announced; nothing from ZUN himself. This might be ZUN just waiving his policy that prevents Touhou-based games from appearing outside of the PC doujin space -- and the exception might only apply to the PS4 for all we know.

Off topic: A new Ys game has been announced for the PS4. Except for the PS4 part, that's exciting.

[Pretas]

I thought that ZUN had finally gone commercial when I read the topic title, but it seems this is not the case. Eventually, some company's going to make him an offer he can't refuse, or he'll just grow too old, tired of Touhou and distanced from the fans that he won't care about preserving its doujin status anymore. Opening up the gates to Touhou fan releases on PS4 may be a step towards this.

Surprised that all these Japanese developers seem to be tripping over each other in the rush to get games onto the PS4, in spite of the system's underwhelming sales there. I suppose there's still a lot of confidence in the Playstation brand and its ability to persevere, and it's indeed true that the PS3 managed to rebound from its early struggles in the face of a piddling library, a difficult development environment and steep competition.

[Aisha]

I thought that ZUN had finally gone commercial when I read the topic title, but it seems this is not the case. Eventually, some company's going to make him an offer he can't refuse, or he'll just grow too old, tired of Touhou and distanced from the fans that he won't care about preserving its doujin status anymore. Opening up the gates to Touhou fan releases on PS4 may be a step towards this.

At this point it wouldn't surprise me if ZUN did eventually go commercial, at least partially. My theory is that recently becoming a father has changed his mindset a bit, making him more receptive to cashing in on Touhou before its popularity starts to decline. Just this past year alone, we've seen him go digital and drop hints about official English releases of his games -- things we wouldn't have thought would ever happen a few years ago.

[KAI]

To more specific, the games that will be part of the project are those of doujin makers, and it will also allow fans to make their own games. So it won’t be about ZUN’s work, but rather, the ones made by fans.

Non-shmups, off topic.

A new Ys game has been announced for the PS4. Except for the PS4 part, that's exciting.

No more Falcom games on PC, that sux

[professor ganson]

Cool, maybe I'll finally see what the fuss is all about. Touhou is still a mystery to me as I typically don't play games on my computer.

[ciox]

The amazing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPmxukGsn_E

Should be really interesting to see this XB1/PS4 battle pan out, what are we looking at now..
XB1: Moss, Qute, Triangle Service
PS4: ZUN, M2 (not just Iuchi's project but possibly CAVE as well)

[Elixir]

A tweet by ZUN: ちなみに今すぐに、僕が出すというわけではないのです。何とは言わず 2014年9月1日 19:40

It's derivative works of Touhou coming to PS4, not ZUN's own work and not the Touhou series. You should probably change the title.

Basically what's happening is, ZUN is collaborating with Sony to release a "platform" (ie. Game Room), the first "installment" includes three games: Fushigi no Gensokyo 3 by AQUA STYLE, Soushin Engi by Strawberry Bouzu and Touhou Sky Arena MATSURI by Area-ZERO. None of these are shmups.

I would like to see Koumajou 2 or Meikyuu 2 on there, they are good games.

[Lord Satori]

I guess it's safe to assume that these won't be localized outside japan. Though if it was, I'm sure sales would spike.

[Pretas]

When did ZUN start showing his face (often with mug of beer in hand) on a regular basis? It completely goes against a doujin creator's natural instincts.

[CStarFlare]

I'm not sure when that particular thing started (I think he's always been open about his fondness for beer), but his identity has been public for a long time. The Touhou Wiki has a translation of a speech he gave on doujin games back in 2005.

[Aisha]

Elixir touched on it a bit. If I understand correctly, the implications of this are much larger: Clips of PlatineDispositif's 冥宮惑星 desParaiso could be seen in the ZUN x PlayStation PV that was released, so not only Touhou fan games are involved in this. It appears that the entity at the center of this is a new company called Mediascape, which aims to act as a publisher between Sony and any doujin circles that express interest in releasing their games on Sony's platforms, but don't have the wherewithal to do it independently. So, we might be seeing many more doujin shmups making their way on to the PS4 and Vita in the future.

I am interested to find out if they will eventually branch out into making their games available to markets outside of Japan, localized or not.

[vvv]

It's derivative works of Touhou coming to PS4, not ZUN's own work and not the Touhou series.

They shouldn't included Touhou DDC clip then, I saw it on the opening.

[CStarFlare]

It's possible that the video was presented in the context of introducing the franchise, not the specific game. Reading Japanese probably would have helped with that, but alarm bells should have gone off when you saw two seconds of danmaku in the corner and twenty five seconds of derivative works in the rest of the video.

[Elixir]

Seems Mediascape is owned by D.N.A. Softwares, doujin circle and long friend of ZUN. ZUN's been involved in some of DNA's Touhou derivatives.

Murasame (circle: PlatineDispositif) also tweeted about the platform, he's definitely involved. PlatineDispositif doesn't make derivatives but original doujin games. This platform isn't exclusive to Touhou derivatives, it's open to doujin games in general. It also explains why desParaiso is in the trailer.

Anyway, doujin circles have been siding with PS4 since at least BitSummit. Can't wait to see what kind of doujin library the PS4 receives.