Bad news about Gradius 6

[Aquas]

Give it another 5 or 10 years.

[ptoing]

I wonder how Cave would do with designing a less bullethell shmup in the style of Gradius.

[S20-TBL]

and let's not forget the "Let's-Take-Metal-Gear-Solid-and-Set-It-During-Medieval-Times" Castlevania: Lords of Shadow done by Kojima Productions and MercurySteam.

Or we could forget it.

That's what I'm doing myself. You know something's wrong when a guy who seems more interested in making movies than video games tries to one up a guy who actually flashed "2D GAMES will NEVER DIE!!" in a PowerPoint presentation for the DS. Never mind that the former's MGS4 game got dumped in bargain bins in Japan only a few months after release while the latter made two of the best handheld Castlevanias in existence (the Sorrow series). I wish game developers would realize that people vote with their wallets, not with hype and rave reviews on a viral website.

I think they had a policy in the early days of Playstation 1 (nearly two decades ago now, ffs) but even that was real inconsistent (see: Tombo, Alundra). Inconsistency is the name of the game with them.

The real problem with Sony is that they were never a game-centric company to begin with. They're more focused on "total entertainment" and thus the need to take over the living room with an all-in-one entertainment machine that could play movies and music and browse the web. Games are like an afterthought to them; it's all about the technology and surround sound and HD and glasses. Those 3D glasses. No wonder we ended up with "$599 U.S. Dollars" and all those memes.

[Drum]

Re: Gradius V: I doubt modern Konami could top Gradius V, but it's not like it's the pinnacle - in almost every way it was a step back from Gaiden, and if I'd played Gaiden first I would have been really disappointed. Hell, a cell phone developer managed to make a Gradius that's nearly as good on the GBA.

[Obiwanshinobi]

You know something's wrong when a guy who seems more interested in making movies than video games tries to one up a guy who actually flashed "2D GAMES will NEVER DIE!!" in a PowerPoint presentation for the DS. Never mind that the former's MGS4 game got dumped in bargain bins in Japan only a few months after release while the latter made two of the best handheld Castlevanias in existence (the Sorrow series). I wish game developers would realize that people vote with their wallets, not with hype and rave reviews on a viral website.

Capcom sure as hell learned that lesson, disbanded Studio Clover, let angry people leave them and look what they have now.
Kojima is actually quite good at making games, though. With gameplay and all that. Whether he's interested in making more MGS games... Well, I wouldn't bet on it.

The real problem with Sony is that they were never a game-centric company to begin with. They're more focused on "total entertainment" and thus the need to take over the living room with an all-in-one entertainment machine that could play movies and music and browse the web. Games are like an afterthought to them; it's all about the technology and surround sound and HD and glasses. Those 3D glasses. No wonder we ended up with "$599 U.S. Dollars" and all those memes.

U-huh, and the real problem with Microsoft is that instead of being game-centric, they were all about subjugation of the PC platform first, and when that evil scheme failed, about extinction of it. That's right, the whole juggernaut Xbox turned into now serves that purpose alone.
I'd say Sony as game developer and producer did overall better job than as hardware designer and manufacturer.
As for taking over the living room, Final Fantasy: Chrystal Chronicles comes to mind (to play a co-op hack & slash on a console, instead of just two joypads, you needed two handhelds and a pair of separately sold GBA-to-GameCube connectors). Oddly enough, you didn't need such things to play Champions on Norrath in co-op on one telly, and you could also play that online. I'd take a barebones "games console" with good games on it over a more expensive "entertainment box" any day, but I don't recall Sony playing the sort of tricks Nintendo was infamous for during the days of GameCube. Okay, not being able to save PSX games on a PS2 memory card sucked, but that's about it.
Last but not least, need I remind anybody that Dreamcast had early shot at turning a "games console" into a "versatile home entertainment unit"? Back when PlayStation was good only for gaming and playing Audio CDs, just like PC Engine CD or Sega CD.

[moozooh]

I wonder how Cave would do with designing a less bullethell shmup in the style of Gradius.

A giant brain last boss transforming into a giant loli brain that tries to attack but instead dies after its speech…

[Elixir]

Heard this news but didn't know if I should report it, since it sounded highly fake.

Apparently Sony forced companies to announce future titles pre-launch. There's no indication that Konami were even working on Gradius VI.

[S20-TBL]

Hold it.

I did a quick Google search and nothing came up about the news. The only references to Gradius VI being cancelled and Konami following up the sudden announcement with a clarification are from 3-year-old articles on Destructoid and 1UP. Everything else is message forum posts about Gradius VI being late and speculation threads about what it would probably be like. The only other reference is to Gradius Arc, a mobile phone Strategy RPG that was mistaken for a PS3 release.

[Elixir]

That's because it's from Famitsu, which is, surprisingly, in another language. Usually the news is reported on 2ch and Famitsu scans are frowned upon, deleted or users banned.

http://nekonyan15.blog85.fc2.com/

>発売中止：グラディウス（PS3）
Discontinued: Gradius (PS3)

[NzzpNzzp]

A giant brain last boss transforming into a giant loli brain that tries to attack but instead dies after its speech…

Girls who try to attack but clumsily fail are pretty moe. Sounds about right.

[S20-TBL]

That's because it's from Famitsu, which is, surprisingly, in another language. Usually the news is reported on 2ch and Famitsu scans are frowned upon, deleted or users banned.

http://nekonyan15.blog85.fc2.com/

>発売中止：グラディウス（PS3）
Discontinued: Gradius (PS3)

Ah. Sorry, forgot about the first post.

[EinhanderZwei]

You know something's wrong when a guy who seems more interested in making movies than video games tries to one up a guy who actually flashed "2D GAMES will NEVER DIE!!" in a PowerPoint presentation for the DS. Never mind that the former's MGS4 game got dumped in bargain bins in Japan only a few months after release while the latter made two of the best handheld Castlevanias in existence (the Sorrow series).

This. After seeing the true outro to Lords Of Shadow my repsect to Kojima-san got seriously shattered

[pablumatic]

You would have thought that "Gradius ReBirth" implied a continuation of the series beyond the release of that title.

[rocketassistedkea]

I would be amazed if Konami would even be able to top Gradius V.

That's it exactly, I reckon. Just look at OG, then GV...says it all.

Z

[rocketassistedkea]

I wonder how Cave would do with designing a less bullethell shmup in the style of Gradius.

Cave, you dumb but lovable bastards...do that!!!
But keep it bullet-hell...b

Z

[gameoverDude]

PS3: It only does everything... except shmups.
Konami should just move G6 onto the 360. Look at Microsoft letting all the Cave titles and Konami's own Otomedius G&X there. I don't think they'd mind it.

[Strider77]

Except Strider, he couldn't.

nope, was kinda tired of playing metroidvania on a 3 inch screen. enjoyed god of vania on my main TV.

[Kobayashi]

Too bad.

[Despatche]

Just like they're probably not going to do a brand new classic-style Castlevania, they're not going to do a brand new classic-style Gradius... except for ReBirth. Contra 4 was an exception, and Hard Corps Uprising is an entirely different game (obviously). I'm not sure what else you can do, except go make your own.

[StoofooEsq]

No surprise from me. After almost six (?) years of nothing other than a glancing mention for the PS3, I stopped expecting anything.

Then again,

I'd be happy with a Gradius V HD.

[harrihaffi]

So...Is there going to be a Gradius 6 for the ps2?

MVHH

[Sturmvogel Prime]

First "Axelay 2" never saw the light, now Gradius VI suffers the same destiny

You Fail It, Konami.

[tinotormed]

First "Axelay 2" never saw the light, now Gradius VI suffers the same destiny

You Fail It, Konami.

Yeah! Why, Konami, why? Is it because you're too focused to be with the company, Hudson Soft, who merged with you? Is it that you wanted to create a title like "Star Salamander" or even "Super Star Falsion" ?

[gs68]

Because Konami fans would probably rather play the MSX port of Contra than a new Gradius game even if it was developed by Treasure or the Gradius Gaiden team.

[drauch]

^Or any sort of addition to the Metal Gear Fanboy series

[Strider77]

^Or any sort of addition to the Metal Gear Fanboy series

You know it is possible for some of us to enjoy Metal Gear and Gradius.... I bought both and would do it again. The metal gear hate is getting a bit stale, especially considering most folks that hate on it bring up the story scene to game play ratio but then go on to rave about Snatcher.... which is nothing but a long cutscene/text adventure.

But hey, I liked all the games I just mentioned, maybe there is one or two others out there. I am looking forward to Rising but I am also sad to not have a G6 on the horizon.

Too bad.

It is, I would have gladly played metroidvania on my big boy TV if they gave me that (well, as long as it's actually built new from the ground up and not anything like that current turd xbox live game).

[gs68]

Hating on [insert mainstream game here] for any basis other than what it is is just silly. I'm sure we have some members here who, in addition to ess tee gees, also dabble in CoD, Final Fantasy, or whatever.

[tinotormed]

First "Axelay 2" never saw the light, now Gradius VI suffers the same destiny

You Fail It, Konami.

Yeah! Why, Konami, why? Is it because you're too focused to be with the company, Hudson Soft, who merged with you? Is it that you wanted to create a title like "Star Salamander" or even "Super Star Falsion" ?

Moreover, there are some titles from Konami that we're promised to be didn't happened. That includes the Salamander and the Twinbee series.

[burgerkingdiamond]

^Or any sort of addition to the Metal Gear Fanboy series

You know it is possible for some of us to enjoy Metal Gear and Gradius.... I bought both and would do it again. The metal gear hate is getting a bit stale, especially considering most folks that hate on it bring up the story scene to game play ratio but then go on to rave about Snatcher.... which is nothing but a long cutscene/text adventure.

But hey, I liked all the games I just mentioned, maybe there is one or two others out there. I am looking forward to Rising but I am also sad to not have a G6 on the horizon.

Too bad.

It is, I would have gladly played metroidvania on my big boy TV if they gave me that (well, as long as it's actually built new from the ground up and not anything like that current turd xbox live game).

The MG series started out ok. The first one for playstation I've played through many times and still bring out every now and then. But MGS 4 is such garbage.

[drauch]

^Or any sort of addition to the Metal Gear Fanboy series

You know it is possible for some of us to enjoy Metal Gear and Gradius.... I bought both and would do it again. The metal gear hate is getting a bit stale, especially considering most folks that hate on it bring up the story scene to game play ratio but then go on to rave about Snatcher.... which is nothing but a long cutscene/text adventure.

That is a fair enough assumption, yeah, but I do enjoy the Metal Gear series to an extent; I just hate the fan base. Same thing with the Zelda series. Butttttttt Snatcher isn't a convoluted and pretentious mess of clones and what-not. Also, what's wrong with digital comic adventures?

I'm done.