Death Smiles: Countdown to North America Invasion

[emphatic]

I'm rather disappointed about this. I actually enjoy the game the way it is, and more slowdown would seem like overkill IMO. Likewise, the Ice Cave doesn't feel like it needs more slowdown. I think some people are overreacting to the change. Like jerks on cave-stg forums who tell people their US scores are not allowed and they should start a new thread for posting them.

If a patch is released, I do not expect that I will download it unless the slowdown can be toggled.

So if you enjoy an obviously broken port, those who don't agree are jerks? Keep your fingers crossed that they implement it with a "wait on" option or something like that, or unplug your network cable when you play the "superior" fast version.

[brentsg]

Like jerks on cave-stg forums who tell people their US scores are not allowed and they should start a new thread for posting them.

It doesn't matter if a port is easier or harder than the PCB (or a diff port for that matter). As long as it is different, it needs an independent high-score board. It has nothing to do with a port being good or bad, the scores simply cannot be compared directly.

Love,
cave-stg jerk

[MR_Soren]

So if you enjoy an obviously broken port, those who don't agree are jerks?

The average person would not find it to be "obviously broken". The game is fun to play, has the same enemies and bullet patterns, plenty of options, leaderboards, etc. It's more like "elitistly broken." People have started hate campaigns on Amazon, treated people like jerks who aren't playing the import, and generally made Cave's first US release a miserable experience for everybody involved. Great work guys.

It doesn't matter if a port is easier or harder than the PCB (or a diff port for that matter). As long as it is different, it needs an independent high-score board. It has nothing to do with a port being good or bad, the scores simply cannot be compared directly.

Love,
cave-stg jerk

If people want to disadvantage themselves by playing the US version, I don't see it as a valid reason to block them from posting. The games have the same scoring potential, and we're talking about a scoreboard that mixes J360 and PCB scores even though it's been widely acknowledged that the slowdown isn't identical there either. Instead of a valid reason to prohibit scores, I see it instead as a childish attempt by elitists to punish Cave/Aksys for the change, but it really just results in them being jerks to people who buy the US game. "You! You're not cool enough for OUR board. Go sit over there by yourself!" Killed any interest I had in signing up.

I know, time for the "good, we don't want you there anyway" post. Ha ha, good times.



Being rude to people because you're mad at Cave is ridiculous. Posting 1-star reviews on Amazon because reduced slowdown is apparently a 4-star penalty is ridiculous. Hopefully this patch will restore some sanity, and hopefully elitist jerks haven't already turned off most of the potential customers. The US release is a fantastic game, with or without a patch.

[brentsg]

If people want to disadvantage themselves by playing the US version, I don't see it as a valid reason to block them from posting. The games have the same scoring potential, and we're talking about a scoreboard that mixes J360 and PCB scores even though it's been widely acknowledged that the slowdown isn't identical there either. Instead of a valid reason to prohibit scores, I see it instead as a childish attempt by elitists to punish Cave/Aksys for the change, but it really just results in them being jerks to people who buy the US game. "You! You're not cool enough for OUR board. Go sit over there by yourself!" Killed any interest I had in signing up.

I know, time for the "good, we don't want you there anyway" post. Ha ha, good times.

The differences in the USA version are much more significant than those between the Japanese port and the PCBs. Sure, an additional layer of scores could be added to the table.. but the high score tables are maintained by volunteers that we're lucky to have. They are providing a service, and frankly it's a pain in the ass. If the person that maintains that particular board doesn't want to take on the USA version on top, then it is what it is.

I'm sorry that you see it as childish or whatever. It's not possible to please everyone.

[emphatic]

People have started hate campaigns on Amazon

LOL

[NR777]

The broken slowdown in the US port completely screws up optimal scoring. Scores between the two versions are not comparable. Allowing scores from the US version on the same board as the JP version would be like putting Uo Poko on the same board as the regular ships in Dangun Feveron.

[njiska]

The broken slowdown in the US port completely screws up optimal scoring. Scores between the two versions are not comparable. Allowing scores from the US version on the same board as the JP version would be like putting Uo Poko on the same board as the regular ships in Dangun Feveron.

*cough* STGT2010 *cough*

Though i completely agree with you, they may as well be different games. When you sit down and do a run in all three back-to-back, the differences become obvious.

[NR777]

To be fair, I probably could have used a better example...that post was certainly flavored with personal experience.

[mesh control]

People have started hate campaigns on Amazon

LOL

Imagine the Japanese version of Street Fighter IV running at a different speed than the US version, and both versions being region locked to their respective systems. Not that different really.

fighting games = shooting games

ihatehatingthings

[MR_Soren]

The broken slowdown in the US port completely screws up optimal scoring. Scores between the two versions are not comparable. Allowing scores from the US version on the same board as the JP version would be like putting Uo Poko on the same board as the regular ships in Dangun Feveron.

Ignoring the obvious STGT2010 jab, is it much different than putting Casper on the same scoreboard as Rosa? And perhaps I'm spoiled by this awesome website, but I believe the Deathsmiles board here is accepting US scores.

However, this outlines a greater flaw in how we run these scoreboards. Maybe the scoreboards should be in a database like I assume they are on XBL rather than in plain text. That way people could filter them to display only the results they are interested in seeing. Want to see the highest Casper scores? Done. Want to include or exclude US scores? Done.

I am a fantastic programmer and could make that happen.

[emphatic]

Maybe the scoreboards should be in a database like I assume they are on XBL rather than in plain text. That way people could filter them to display only the results they are interested in seeing. Want to see the highest Casper scores? Done. Want to include or exclude US scores? Done.

Can you please fix the XBox leaderboards for me, mr fantastic, I can't see the US scores on my Japanese 360. It must be a conspiracy.

[MR_Soren]

Maybe the scoreboards should be in a database like I assume they are on XBL rather than in plain text. That way people could filter them to display only the results they are interested in seeing. Want to see the highest Casper scores? Done. Want to include or exclude US scores? Done.

Can you please fix the XBox leaderboards for me, mr fantastic, I can't see the US scores on my Japanese 360. It must be a conspiracy.

Since you're from Sweden, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and pretend that you're not being a total asshole and simply misunderstood me. I obviously cannot modify the functionality of the XBL scoreboard because I do not work for Cave. I was describing what could be done with a database-driven web scoreboard.

[NR777]

Ignoring the obvious STGT2010 jab

I was not taking a jab at STGT2010. Why would I make fun of something I didn't really pay attention to? You are really grasping at straws with that one.

[MR_Soren]

Ignoring the obvious STGT2010 jab

I was not taking a jab at STGT2010. Why would I make fun of something I didn't really pay attention to? You are really grasping at straws with that one.

No, I was declining to make that jab.

[bcass]

However, this outlines a greater flaw in how we run these scoreboards. Maybe the scoreboards should be in a database like I assume they are on XBL rather than in plain text. That way people could filter them to display only the results they are interested in seeing. Want to see the highest Casper scores? Done. Want to include or exclude US scores? Done.

I am a fantastic programmer and could make that happen.

Squabbling aside, it's funny you should mention this, as I was thinking about the same thing only a few days ago. I was going to offer to do it (PHP and MySQL) as a small project as I've done some intermediate PHP/MySQL stuff in the past. If you were going to do it, what would you do it in and where would you have it hosted? Is there anywhere you can get free PHP/MySQL hosting these days? Come to think of it, maybe the the owner of this site (malc?) would consider hosting it on their server?

[emphatic]

Since you're from Sweden, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and pretend that you're not being a total asshole and simply misunderstood me.

I guess I'm a just a typical Swedish asshole. As you are from wherever people are this serious 24/7 while playing games casually I'm willing to give you the benefit of a doubt as well and pretend that you have no humour at all and simply misunderstood me.

[MR_Soren]

However, this outlines a greater flaw in how we run these scoreboards. Maybe the scoreboards should be in a database like I assume they are on XBL rather than in plain text. That way people could filter them to display only the results they are interested in seeing. Want to see the highest Casper scores? Done. Want to include or exclude US scores? Done.

I am a fantastic programmer and could make that happen.

Squabbling aside, it's funny you should mention this, as I was thinking about the same thing only a few days ago. I was going to offer to do it (PHP and MySQL) as a small project as I've done some intermediate PHP/MySQL stuff in the past. If you were going to do it, what would you do it in and where would you have it hosted? Is there anywhere you can get free PHP/MySQL hosting these days? Come to think of it, maybe the the owner of this site (malc?) would consider hosting it on their server?

If I did this, it would be done with PHP and MySQL. I imagined it being hosted on this site as a more sophisticated scoreboard system, but it just occurred to me that the message boards are externally hosted and shmups.com might not have the necessary PHP and MySQL support. If shmups.com was not interested or not able to host the scoreboards, I could just as easily cover the $5 a month to host it elsewhere if I had any indication that people would use it.

This system could also be used to run contests like STGT.

Since you're from Sweden, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and pretend that you're not being a total asshole and simply misunderstood me.

I guess I'm a just a typical Swedish asshole. As you are from wherever people are this serious 24/7 while playing games casually I'm willing to give you the benefit of a doubt as well and pretend that you have no humour at all and simply misunderstood me.

Not sure if I was deliberately baited or if you made a great save, but thanks for reminding me that we're talking about games.

[bcass]

Might be worth contacting malc then to see if he can host it, and start a new thread asking what everyone thinks about the idea. No point in building it if people aren't going to use it. Would be a nice feature for the community to have its own XBL-style leaderboards system with filtering etc.

[dan76]

Who'd have thought it, complaints about an arcade port being patched to make it more accurate to the original arcade game...

[roker]

I enjoy the game the way it is.

I'm curious to see how the patch will affect it.

but I wouldn't stay away from the game because of this.

It's still a fantastic game and now that a patch is on the way there should be no reason not to support Cave (and Aksys).

[spadgy]

I run the DS high score thread here, and I'm happy to plough through and filter the US scores out and into a new table in the same thread. It's going to take a while though, and a lot of PM'ing, and I'm a bit bloody busy right now - but I'll do my best.

It only ended up blended, if I remember correctly, because US scores were submitted before it was clear about the differences in versions.

It's pretty obvious, but with hindsight I should have kept notes of submissions. I'll sort it though.

And just send me a nice PM if you ever take issue with one of my boards. I can always fix stuff...

[cools]

However, this outlines a greater flaw in how we run these scoreboards. Maybe the scoreboards should be in a database like I assume they are on XBL rather than in plain text. That way people could filter them to display only the results they are interested in seeing. Want to see the highest Casper scores? Done. Want to include or exclude US scores? Done.

I am a fantastic programmer and could make that happen.

Squabbling aside, it's funny you should mention this, as I was thinking about the same thing only a few days ago. I was going to offer to do it (PHP and MySQL) as a small project as I've done some intermediate PHP/MySQL stuff in the past. If you were going to do it, what would you do it in and where would you have it hosted? Is there anywhere you can get free PHP/MySQL hosting these days? Come to think of it, maybe the the owner of this site (malc?) would consider hosting it on their server?

A high score system that authenticated against the phpbb3 user database (in the same way that MediaWiki does http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension ... ntegration ) would be ideal both for here and for Arcade Otaku if someone wanted to code it.

[MR_Soren]

I run the DS high score thread here, and I'm happy to plough through and filter the US scores out and into a new table in the same thread. It's going to take a while though, and a lot of PM'ing, and I'm a bit bloody busy right now - but I'll do my best.

It only ended up blended, if I remember correctly, because US scores were submitted before it was clear about the differences in versions.

It's pretty obvious, but with hindsight I should have kept notes of submissions. I'll sort it though.

And just send me a nice PM if you ever take issue with one of my boards. I can always fix stuff...

Personally, I'm fine with the JPN/US scores being mixed, but perhaps the version should be noted. Besides, the patch should make it a moot point.

[bcass]

However, this outlines a greater flaw in how we run these scoreboards. Maybe the scoreboards should be in a database like I assume they are on XBL rather than in plain text. That way people could filter them to display only the results they are interested in seeing. Want to see the highest Casper scores? Done. Want to include or exclude US scores? Done.

I am a fantastic programmer and could make that happen.

Squabbling aside, it's funny you should mention this, as I was thinking about the same thing only a few days ago. I was going to offer to do it (PHP and MySQL) as a small project as I've done some intermediate PHP/MySQL stuff in the past. If you were going to do it, what would you do it in and where would you have it hosted? Is there anywhere you can get free PHP/MySQL hosting these days? Come to think of it, maybe the the owner of this site (malc?) would consider hosting it on their server?

A high score system that authenticated against the phpbb3 user database (in the same way that MediaWiki does http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension ... ntegration ) would be ideal both for here and for Arcade Otaku if someone wanted to code it.

I've created a new topic for this discussion here:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35030

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Just got a patch when I loaded the game.

It'd be nice if someone familiar with both versions could test the slowdowns. Not sure if this is the slowdown patch or a patch for some other thing.

[jepjepjep]

Just got a patch when I loaded the game.

It'd be nice if someone familiar with both versions could test the slowdowns. Not sure if this is the slowdown patch or a patch for some other thing.

That's great. It's supposed to fix some bugs and adjust the slowdown.

http://www.aksysgames.com/2011/02/15/deathsmiles-patch/

[njiska]

Ben just messaged me about this. I'm going to see if I can get some more precise info.

[Tyjet]

this patch (v1.02) adds A TON of slowdown. After watching some videos of the jp version, it seems to be on the lines of the XBOX JP. I don't have the JP version so don't take my word on it.

Using Sakura on:
MBL 360 mode: Noticable slowdown in all stages. A tiny bit of slowdown is added to some bosses. Level 999 now seems managable.
MBL arcade mode: more slowdown in the first 6 stages less in later stage. But still, slowdown is added.
MBL 1.1 has slowdown in all stages and duration of each stage lasts longer (like you're playing in slow motion). Where in v1.00, none was present except for a couple of places. The on screen display occassionally dissappears or sometimes the screen just goes berserk when you trigger a lot of platinum crown. I have never seem this OSD filickering in v1.00.

I'll make a comparision video that shows the slowdown. I'm very excited to play MBL again.

It fixes several key issues, including a de-sync problem that prevented players from viewing their level replays properly.

Very good news (thanks aksys and cave for listening and anaylzing the replays). However, my old v1.00 replays are all broken because of the added slowdown.

[renardqueenston]

can the slowdown be turned off in the patch? i really, really like it without.

edit: just played through lv 999 all the way on 360 MBL with the patch. felt really great, actually, wasn't as drastic as i hear people talk about.

[StarCreator]

Has the slowdown in MBL been corrected to be even closer to the PCB than the JP 360 release was? We've never had remotely accurate slowdown for MBL in any version of the 360 port.