Cavefest

[mjclark]

I doubt red katana will be region free, my hunch is due to it been a hori theyll push for it been localised.

So what makes the decision on region free or not? I see MMP/Pinksweets is region free so why not this.
Forgive me if all this has been covered before but I'm still ignorant about the subtleties involved in the decision.

[Fudoh]

So what makes the decision on region free or not?

MMP/PK are Yagawa shoot'em ups which are likely to have a smaller audience than other Cave titles. Also MMP/PK don't have upgraded graphics, so I guess Cave sees no chance to license these for an overseas release. Akai Kaitana on the other hand is a sure candidate for a US and/or european release after Death Smiles and a future Daifukatsu release.

[Frederik]

Nice, iOS Deathsmiles I know most of you don't care, but I'm really happy about it. Hope it controls as well as the other two games, and I'm curious if they add another iPhone mode to it.
And MasaKING sure loves his costumes

That Ninjump title looks kinda neat, interesting artstyle, but the kids in the foreground look really distracting if they cover up such a big part of the screen. Wonder who did the music - sounds a bit like Ryu Umemoto from Akai Katana to me.

[Skykid]

Akai Katana pleeeease!

Cheers Cave.

Nin Nin looks really cool. That Golden Harvest opening was amazing!

[apple arcade]

Nin Nin Jump looks too much like Takama Race or whatever that bonus game was to make me even think it might be fun.

[hedorah]

So is Cave done with Arcades? With nothing at AOU, nothing announced at the Cave festival, and Akai Katana coming home so soon and with an enhanced port, is cave slowly exiting the arcade market?

[mjclark]

So what makes the decision on region free or not?

MMP/PK are Yagawa shoot'em ups which are likely to have a smaller audience than other Cave titles. Also MMP/PK don't have upgraded graphics, so I guess Cave sees no chance to license these for an overseas release. Akai Kaitana on the other hand is a sure candidate for a US and/or european release after Death Smiles and a future Daifukatsu release.

Thanks-that makes it clear and now I understand why everyone gets fired up about the whole region locking thing

[Skykid]

So is Cave done with Arcades? With nothing at AOU, nothing announced at the Cave festival, and Akai Katana coming home so soon and with an enhanced port, is cave slowly exiting the arcade market?

Of course, but we've known that for ages. Start grabbing that back catalogue of PCB's now.

[brentsg]

So is Cave done with Arcades? With nothing at AOU, nothing announced at the Cave festival, and Akai Katana coming home so soon and with an enhanced port, is cave slowly exiting the arcade market?

EOJ reminded us on cave-stg that Cave was beginning development of a new arcade title in February. I was just hoping that they'd give us a teaser.

Found it, was SP actually.. http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php ... 3#msg23733

[Cers]

I expect Mushi 3 by the end of 2011

[BPzeBanshee]

I expect Mushi 3 by the end of 2011

Try 31 December 2012.

I'm still waiting for an ESPRade XBLA port, Cave. I'd go mad with joy if that happened. Wishful thinking though.

[Wonderbanana]

So what makes the decision on region free or not?

MMP/PK are Yagawa shoot'em ups which are likely to have a smaller audience than other Cave titles. Also MMP/PK don't have upgraded graphics, so I guess Cave sees no chance to license these for an overseas release. Akai Kaitana on the other hand is a sure candidate for a US and/or european release after Death Smiles and a future Daifukatsu release.

Whilst I agree AK probably won't get a region free release, I can't see what upgraded graphics proves since Futari falls into this catergory and was still region free.

[exquisite_torture]

Don't all the single game non XBLA Cave 360 ports have a visually enhanced 360 mode?
This is more likely to be region locked, and more likely to be licensed because it's 16:9, also.
Might even end up on PS3 as a result... maybe. Although they like Resistance, so I doubt they'd know what a good game was. Treytards.

[whoozwah]

Don't all the single game non XBLA Cave 360 ports have a visually enhanced 360 mode?
This is more likely to be region locked, and more likely to be licensed because it's 16:9, also.
Might even end up on PS3 as a result... maybe. Although they like Resistance, so I doubt they'd know what a good game was. Treytards.

not all disc based cave ports have graphics upgrades. AFAIK, the DDPDOJBLEX and Ketsui ports don't.

Also, the official AK 360 website has the "only on xbox 360" insignia on the bottom so that probably rules out a PS3 release.

[StarCreator]

So what makes the decision on region free or not?

MMP/PK are Yagawa shoot'em ups which are likely to have a smaller audience than other Cave titles. Also MMP/PK don't have upgraded graphics, so I guess Cave sees no chance to license these for an overseas release. Akai Kaitana on the other hand is a sure candidate for a US and/or european release after Death Smiles and a future Daifukatsu release.

Whilst I agree AK probably won't get a region free release, I can't see what upgraded graphics proves since Futari falls into this catergory and was still region free.

Futari came out months before Deathsmiles NA was announced, so at that point there was no reasonable expectation any overseas publisher would license any of their games. They made it very clear from the start that they decided to publish Futari region-free as an experiment. Since then, we had the Deathsmiles NA (and now EU) announcement, and they didn't make the decision to make Espgaluda II Black Label region free until after the LE discs were already in manufacturing.

[Wonderbanana]

Futari came out months before Deathsmiles NA was announced, so at that point there was no reasonable expectation any overseas publisher would license any of their games. They made it very clear from the start that they decided to publish Futari region-free as an experiment. Since then, we had the Deathsmiles NA (and now EU) announcement, and they didn't make the decision to make Espgaluda II Black Label region free until after the LE discs were already in manufacturing.

And then MMP/PS. Personally I think it will depend on any interest already expressed by overseas publishers regarding publishing which I guess may depend on sales of Deathsmiles. I was disappointed at my local GAME as when I was trying to bag a promo poster the manager told me they were only selling Deathsmiles (EU) as a pre-order title - they had none coming for general stock.

Whatever happens, Cave are certainly more aware of their overseas fan base these days and that can only be a good thing.

[ptoing]

So what makes the decision on region free or not?

MMP/PK are Yagawa shoot'em ups which are likely to have a smaller audience than other Cave titles. Also MMP/PK don't have upgraded graphics, so I guess Cave sees no chance to license these for an overseas release. Akai Kaitana on the other hand is a sure candidate for a US and/or european release after Death Smiles and a future Daifukatsu release.

Whilst I agree AK probably won't get a region free release, I can't see what upgraded graphics proves since Futari falls into this catergory and was still region free.

Futari does not have a proper full highres gfx upgrade like AK, the backgrounds for most part are just scaled up 2x. So basically they did rerenderes of the 3D stuff (which is easy) and some touching up of the HUD and menu, frontend gfx (some of which are a bit fudged). Also the region free thing, Futari was the first game on the 360 released directly by Cave, no? So I guess it was a testing the waters kinda thing, see how it sells overseas.

And I would agree that the fact that AK is hori, less hard than usually Cave fare and DS having had OK sales outside Japan would make it a good candidate for a US and perhaps PAL release (probably depending on how the PAL DS version fares)

I would also not be surprised if Cave would draw back from the Arcades more or less slow. It is probably more profitable doing games directly for the 360 and then also people can not bitch about difference in slowdown and what not from the PCB

[StarCreator]

Futari does not have a proper full highres gfx upgrade like AK, the backgrounds for most part are just scaled up 2x. So basically they did rerenderes of the 3D stuff (which is easy) and some touching up of the HUD and menu, frontend gfx (some of which are a bit fudged). Also the region free thing, Futari was the first game on the 360 released directly by Cave, no? So I guess it was a testing the waters kinda thing, see how it sells overseas.

Deathsmiles was the first Cave-published 360 title.

Poring through the videos and images available so far, AK looks to be a mix of hi-res and lo-res backgrounds - prominent things like railroad lines or buildings seem to be higher resolution than some of the landscapes they sit on. Could just be a work in progress though.

[ptoing]

Futari does not have a proper full highres gfx upgrade like AK, the backgrounds for most part are just scaled up 2x. So basically they did rerenderes of the 3D stuff (which is easy) and some touching up of the HUD and menu, frontend gfx (some of which are a bit fudged). Also the region free thing, Futari was the first game on the 360 released directly by Cave, no? So I guess it was a testing the waters kinda thing, see how it sells overseas.

Deathsmiles was the first Cave-published 360 title.

Ah, forgot about that

Poring through the videos and images available so far, AK looks to be a mix of hi-res and lo-res backgrounds - prominent things like railroad lines or buildings seem to be higher resolution than some of the landscapes they sit on. Could just be a work in progress though.

That would be more similar to what they did in Espgaluda 2 then (which I think looks really halfarsed in some places) So let's hope its WIP.

[StarCreator]

Poring through the videos and images available so far, AK looks to be a mix of hi-res and lo-res backgrounds - prominent things like railroad lines or buildings seem to be higher resolution than some of the landscapes they sit on. Could just be a work in progress though.

That would be more similar to what they did in Espgaluda 2 then (which I think looks really halfarsed in some places) So let's hope its WIP.

Espgaluda II had 100% lo-res backgrounds. Not the same thing.

It's looking more like Akai Katana Shin has something like 10-25% lo-res backgrounds. It's there where it counts.

[ptoing]

Poring through the videos and images available so far, AK looks to be a mix of hi-res and lo-res backgrounds - prominent things like railroad lines or buildings seem to be higher resolution than some of the landscapes they sit on. Could just be a work in progress though.

That would be more similar to what they did in Espgaluda 2 then (which I think looks really halfarsed in some places) So let's hope its WIP.

Espgaluda II had 100% lo-res backgrounds. Not the same thing.

It's looking more like Akai Katana Shin has something like 10-25% lo-res backgrounds. It's there where it counts.

No it does not, Esp II that is. There are places where they went over the background graphics to make them match the higher res renders. It is not in a lot of places and it is fairly random, which is why I found it a bit irritating and halfarsed.

[Danbo]

thank you cave for announcing a stupid treasure platformer a dumb visual novel and a port of a shitey hori. dont forget the iphone mode of an already fiddly as fuck game

even if its just "yeah and we're making a vert 'cade shmup at some point" that would be enough. why do you trample my desires and shit on my dreams, CAVE Company Limited.

[Skykid]

a port of a shitey hori.

[DocHauser]

even if its just "yeah and we're making a vert 'cade shmup at some point" that would be enough. why do you trample my desires and shit on my dreams, CAVE Company Limited.

BACKLASH!

But seriously, they've released about 10 vertical-scrolling shmups in the last ten years. And you're still not satisfied? You're a hard man to please...

The Cave fans I feel sorry for are the ones patiently waiting for a sequel to Steep Slope Sliders.

[cul]

why do you trample my desires and shit on my dreams, CAVE Company Limited.

Because your dreams aren't economically viable.

[Danbo]

But seriously, they've released about 10 vertical-scrolling shmups in the last ten years. And you're still not satisfied? You're a hard man to please...)

i'm actually very easily pleased, just put some bullets and some enemies on a game tape and i will dodge and shoot quite happily. but when literally the only developer in the genre looks elsewhere it's a Big Thing for fans of that genre

[StarCreator]

No it does not, Esp II that is. There are places where they went over the background graphics to make them match the higher res renders. It is not in a lot of places and it is fairly random, which is why I found it a bit irritating and halfarsed.

Where do you recall seeing this? I don't think things like destructable buildings and the stage 3 midboss's rails count since they're really animated sprites overlaid on top of the background stills.

[Frederik]

shitey hori

So you hate horis and yet you have a Progear profile pic?

CAVE has put out some weird other games before, like that "Princess Debut" DS game, as well as their medal games and whatnot. I´m not sure how the company really works internally, but I doubt Ikeda, Yagawa or Ichimura are involved in these, so they are most likely working on the next arcade game. The iOS ports are done by a completely different team in any case, so it´s not like these things are taking away manpower from their shooters.

In any case, they need to get money in somehow to keep the whole company running. If a generic adventure game rakes in enough cash to finance the next shooter then that´s a good thing.

Since hori games work so well as home console ports I have the feeling we might be seeing more horizontal titles in the future, but Mushi and DDP are strong franchises for them as well, so I´d guess it will be 50/50.

[ptoing]

No it does not, Esp II that is. There are places where they went over the background graphics to make them match the higher res renders. It is not in a lot of places and it is fairly random, which is why I found it a bit irritating and halfarsed.

Where do you recall seeing this? I don't think things like destructable buildings and the stage 3 midboss's rails count since they're really animated sprites overlaid on top of the background stills.

I did not recall specific places, so I did a quick creditfeed and took some notes.

Stage 1:

• - In the very beginning where you start, the wavy outlines of the walls and on the towers.

Stage 2:

• - In the very beginning there are 2 towers with crosses on the right.

• - Just above that, top of the railing which overlaps with water.

• - To the bottom left of the 2nd ship, border of the pavement.

• - Some rounded bits on the front of the big horizontal ship.

• - The ramp onto the final ship.

• - Platform on final ship lifting up tank.

• - Bits in the very top right of the final ship where it overlaps water, just before boss.

Stage 3:

• - At beginning, parts of the floating road structur (underside of it) as well as its back outline.

• - Second floating road structure has similar treatment, but on this one also the caps of the little upside down towers are upressed.

• - Bottom of structure after the midboss, also the back outline of this.

• - Then funny enough the big round end of the level structure before boss is NOT upressed, but the little tops of the angel wings on the left and right shrine things are.

Stage 4:

• - Front and back of first little building where tanks come out. Also bigger gate right after this.

• - And then again sameish bigger gate, but here they did not bother with the small windows above it.

• - Some wall outlining right after that.

Stage 5:

• - Big round frame of the gate thing on the floor as well as the wall in front of it.

• - Many parts throughout the first part of level (before descent) which border to the background layer. Less so in second part

• - Big opening gate.

• - After descent parts of the platforms which lift up the purple tanks

• - Outlines of most windows and arches during boss (which scroll so fucking fast you would not see it anyway)

Stage 6:

• - Again quite a few bits which border to the back layer.

• - Computer screen things (I think they also completely changed what is on the big screens). Also note where the screen is overlapped by the round frame thing, very sloppy work.

• - Quite a few things around the magical looking green octagon.

• - Gate after that.

• - Balcony thing in the alice bit to the right and then after that same to the left.

• - Gate behind first form of boss, and then behind gate the border to the graveyard.

• - Back of the red brick wall at end of graveyard.

I am sure there are some more bits which I missed, but I can not help thinking it looks like they wanted to up everything and then went like, meh, whatever and mainly upped the border between layers and such, but not nearly consistently enough.

[rancor]

mumblemumblemumblecaveonlinematsurithisweekendmumblemumblemumble.