Raystorm HD - Xbox Live Arcade & PSN

[Elixir]

I can only think of two things:

1) There is SOME small bit of content that is deemed unacceptable, and is required to change to get it published in those countries. Australia, Germany, and Korea are notoriously censor happy. I can't imagine WHAT though in this game.

2) They didn't have the resources to localize it for those languages. Doesn't make a lot of sense in AU, but German in particular causes all kinds of hell in localization. You essentially have to plan for double the amount of text you'd need for english. Perhaps it was a UI concern and they didn't have time to resize all the text boxes.

No way, NZ's OFLC is nowhere near as anal as Australia's. There's nothing in this game to warrant it being void from the NZ marketplace.

[ex.machina]

Just checked the Japanese PSN but it's not up yet.
Anyone knows when the store's usually updated? It's like 2.30pm in Japan now.
(impatient)

[evil_ash_xero]

Just checked the Japanese PSN but it's not up yet.
Anyone knows when the store's usually updated? It's like 2.30pm in Japan now.
(impatient)

Yeah, I was wanting to buy this from the JP XBLA store, since I have so many extra points. You'd think it'd be up by now.

[ex.machina]

Yeah, I was wanting to buy this from the JP XBLA store, since I have so many extra points. You'd think it'd be up by now.

Is it available on 360 yet? Though I really want this for PS3 actually... no luck as of now

[ex.machina]

Just saw the official page says May 6th for PSN, so guess I have to wait another day...
http://www.taito.co.jp/csm/raystorm_hd/

[Klatrymadon]

Bollocks! I could have had a lie in!

Edit: oh, I somehow missed that that was for PSN. Time to check the eggbox!

Edit: Taito in "lying bastards" shock!

[slapshakle]

I've never played Raystorm before so I was pretty keen to grab the xbla version, right up until I saw it wasn't available in Australia. Jerks. Guess I'll have to grab some US msp.

[Elixir]

http://twitter.com/TANTAN_U1/status/13418896270

Site's date was rwong, well whatever, it'll be out within 24 hours.

[CHR_AeON]

hy would taito not bother releasing in those contries? Its not asif theres content in it that will offend those contries unless the baddies flying the ships are Nazis or Korean Commies.

The video game industry can be abit on the daft side sometimes, why dont they copy off the US movie industry where distribution is much more universal. Making us consumers happy and them more richer.

It seems as if they simply forgot to have the game rated by the rating boards in those ountries (USK, KMRB, OFLC, etc.), thus the title cannot be released on those marketplaces.

[Aren]

The game is out. You need to go to the genre menu to find it. It's under shooter.

[ex.machina]

The game is out. You need to go to the genre menu to find it. It's under shooter.

360 yes, PS3 not yet (gotta wait till tomorrow in Japan)

[Klatrymadon]

Is my TV a bit funny, or are the lock-on markers in this version really shaky?

[supergrafx77]

Is my TV a bit funny, or are the lock-on markers in this version really shaky?

Is there a tate mode in the options or are you stuck with the wide angle only?

[Udderdude]

Is my TV a bit funny, or are the lock-on markers in this version really shaky?

Is there a tate mode in the options or are you stuck with the wide angle only?

You can tate your TV and play it as a horivertical >_>

[Kaiser]

Is my TV a bit funny, or are the lock-on markers in this version really shaky?

Is there a tate mode in the options or are you stuck with the wide angle only?

Yes you can tate your screen and play it as vertizontal. All I can say about this is:

http://tinyurl.com/lxk7xd

No offense intended but no, you can't tate it, it's a horizontal shmup like the original.

[supergrafx77]

No big deal. It's just a pain since I'm playing through a cab and have the MS9 set to vertical at the moment... I guess the better question now, is the game rubbish or not..? I probably will dl it tonight though regardless though.

[supergrafx77]

Is my TV a bit funny, or are the lock-on markers in this version really shaky?

Is there a tate mode in the options or are you stuck with the wide angle only?

You can tate your TV and play it as a horivertical >_>

LOL: That's how I make a few tots of mine play that fishing frenZy 2 game, on there side laying down across two taito stools since I haven't switched the screen back to horizontal since I tated it vertical. Those two complain of cricks in their necks but I wouldn't know since I would never be compelled to play that way. Tonight, Raystorm HD may be the game that makes me put Espgaluda in its full screen glory aside for the task. I am a lazy fucker....so confused...

[system11]

Yeah - they stretched it and zoomed it.... Sigh.

Wish I hadn't jumped in with the purchase now. Fail.

You can see it immediately in the intro, it carries on through the whole game - just compare the intro to this reference one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW2Kh0-8ZBQ

[Klatrymadon]

The zooming isn't really a big deal, but the locking crosshairs and markers definitely look rather wobbly on my screen. The explosions are pretty wimpy, too, but I suppose that was to be expected...

[system11]

The zooming is a big issue because it means you can't see some bullets and enemies as quickly as you can on the arcade revision. The stretching is pretty obvious and ugly, I wasn't sure about the zooming until I did some frame comparisons with the intro, and played it a bit.

I nearly sold my PCB last week, I'll be keeping it for sure now.

[Zaarock]

Eh, for me the increase in resolution makes the bullets coming from the ground or background much easier to see, along with their trajectories. This is comparing to the port in Taito Legends 2 PS2 though. The addition of extra mode here is a huge plus for me though, it has VERY different enemy patterns and attacks, along with boss attacks. Some of the enemy types in extra dont even show up in the original mode.

At first I wasnt that impressed but after unlocking the R-GRAY 0 (rayforce ship) and learning a bit of the first three stages and getting to the good stuff I'm really enjoying it. Love the rayforce ship, it has the sfx from rayforce, has strong weapons and moves nice and fast. It doesn't have the bomb but that barely does any damage and I like being able to shoot while lasering so I dont mind. Just got 8th place on the leaderboard for Extra mode, died in the middle of Stage 5. The arranged soundtrack on extra is pretty sweet, wish you could also listen to it on arcade.

[system11]

Comparing to playing any game on a PSP screen it's going to come off well - fact remains though, the gameplay is broken compared to the arcade/PSX, and the aspect ratio is plain wrong.

I'm really angry, with Taito and myself for buying it blind instead of trying the demo first. No way I'd have paid for it if I'd played the demo quickly first.

[kid aphex]

sqeenix should really learn to limit their demos better --- i don't even feel the desire to purchase the full game after such a complete experience.

[Kron]

The Faux widescreen zoom really is crap, I was amazed how much of the first boss was missing visually.

[monkeyman]

Hmm on the fence about whether to buy this as I haven't played Rayforce before and the demo cuts off pretty abruptly so I can't really get a proper feel for it.

Just wondering if anyone can fill me in on the details:

How much of stage 1 do you see in the demo? Was the tank the boss or just the half way boss??
Is this indicative of later stage length?
Does the enemy design get more interesting?
I see from a previous post that extra mode offers different enemy placement, is this change pretty radical or is it just the occasional replaced ship or a few extra fire patterns?

Also, is it easy to get used to the perspective? In the few goes I had on the demo the movement felt a little 'wierd' and I found it odd that I couldn't target enemies in the top corners of the screen.

Sorry for the bombardment, it's just given the price point I want to make sure I'm getitng a decent package here. Also I realise that game length isn't the point when it comes to shmups, I just think the demo ending so quickly and abruptly probably gave a bad 1st impression!

Oh and I'd better point out that I've played the original Rayforce on Mame and loved every minute of it, if that gives you anything to go off.

Ta

[system11]

The Faux widescreen zoom really is crap, I was amazed how much of the first boss was missing visually.

Yeah - not only chopped but also stretched, witness the squashed planet in the intro.

[sh00g]

Just getting a taste of the first stage they wont even let you tackle on anything of decent threat before they throw you out in the demo. I certainly do not like the drifting back to the middle. Not my cup of tea at all.

All that talk with the cheap "HD" work; zoom in shit on screen sounds lame. I'm not going to buy this just on that principle alone.

Throw me something good like the original mushihimesama, or ddp or whatever and i'll pay premium price. No questions asked.

[ex.machina]

sqeenix should really learn to limit their demos better --- i don't even feel the desire to purchase the full game after such a complete experience.

That's a common Xbox Live issue. I seldom buy any games from Xbox Live because I just got enough by playing the demo. I probably would have bought a lot more if there were no demos... .

By the way, the game's now also up on the Japanese PSN. The download is around 40MB smaller than on Xbox Live.

[HamidoOs]

Why don't they add an option to play on 4:3 aspect ratio?

[Zaarock]

Just wondering if anyone can fill me in on the details:

How much of stage 1 do you see in the demo? Was the tank the boss or just the half way boss??
Is this indicative of later stage length?
Does the enemy design get more interesting?
I see from a previous post that extra mode offers different enemy placement, is this change pretty radical or is it just the occasional replaced ship or a few extra fire patterns?

Also, is it easy to get used to the perspective?

1. yeah, the tank is the stage 1 boss.
2. The stages do get a bit longer, there are 7 of them.
3. I'd say it gets pretty interesting after Stage 3.
4. Most of the time there are no enemies in the same patterns on extra mode and there are some different bullet patterns. The bosses are also pretty different from normal. For example in Extra the Stage 4 boss acts as a carrier and you mostly fight small ships and drones it sends at you, while in normal you dodge lasers and other weapons it has. The most difference in the whole stage design seemed to be on stage 7

5. Dunno, I got used to it pretty quick but at first died a few times because I was trying to dodge stuff by flying at the edge of the screen. I feel like I'm dodging stuff easier with the rayforce ship, probably cause its faster and you dont need to worry about switching between shot and laser.