New G.Rev shooter (Strania XBLA)

[Midey]

Stella is Latin for 'star'.

And what does "Machina" mean?

Machine?

[moozooh]

Can't be! That's way too intuitive.

[Elixir]

Xbox360 『星霜鋼機ストラニア』 プレイムービー 「ミッション３」
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsU8ZarCYcc

Shows the entire third mission.

Xbox360 『星霜鋼機ストラニア』 プレイヤー武器紹介
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwjRzpyXiVc

Showcases various weapons and ships from the game.

Game comes out soon, I'll hold off on spoiling myself.

[Klatrymadon]

That pack of 'gamerpics' is already up. I know this because as I was cooing over them I unthinkingly bloody bought them.

I wonder how much of the money from sales of XBLA e-kipple goes to the developer...

[professor ganson]

Stella is Latin for 'star'.

And what does "Machina" mean?

Machine.

Is this getting a US release or do you need a JP account to dl this?

[mjclark]

Stella is Latin for 'star'.

And it is also English for lager.

And what does "Machina" mean?

It's a coffee drink, made out of espresso with a small amount of milk.

[RNGmaster]

Is this getting a US release or do you need a JP account to dl this?

Uh, use the search function. It's region free - Grev said it was being released worldwide on 3/30.

[professor ganson]

Is this getting a US release or do you need a JP account to dl this?

Uh, use the search function. It's region free - Grev said it was being released worldwide on 3/30.

I was just trying to find a complete list of 360 shmups on here, and decided that the search function sucks. Or better: I suck at using it.

[evil_ash_xero]

Is this getting a US release or do you need a JP account to dl this?

Uh, use the search function. It's region free - Grev said it was being released worldwide on 3/30.

I was just trying to find a complete list of 360 shmups on here, and decided that the search function sucks. Or better: I suck at using it.

No, it absolutely does suck.

[Sumez]

And what does "Machina" mean?

Machine.

Lol

[Drachenherz]

Hmm... I think I'll have to give this a try, looks somehow interesting.

[kid aphex]

as far as im concerned, this is one of the most important shmup releases in recent history.
how profitable this game ends up being [long term] could influence a relatively large portion of the current japanese old school dev teams out there...to go mostly digital.
[i know the majority of people on this forum [and other vg forums] want to keep POSTING PICTURES OF THE ITEMS THEY PURCHASED IN PICKUP THREADS*,
but at this point, i'd rather go digital. truth is, digital copies are a lot more permanent than their physical media counterparts.
i feel most shmup devs are very close to just running things radiohead and feeding a specialty market that will sustain the genre's evolution.
let's just do it already
( i mean, jesus, if i had the option i would stick the dollars bill directly in Treasure's individual team members pockets )]

i'll probly end up buying two copies just to support the devs. madness




*how does the entire industry look-away from this obvious signature of dysfunction?

[mesh control]

truth is, digital copies are a lot more permanent than their physical media counterparts.

Maybe if this was released on PC or something, but not on XBLA.

[KidQuaalude]

truth is, digital copies are a lot more permanent than their physical media counterparts.

imo digital copies are only 'more permanent' if their ownership can be transfrerred. for example : right now i own robotron 2084 for xbla. but if i showed this to a friend and he wished to buy it, he cannot as midway are no more and the game is no longer for sale on xbla. if he wished to buy my copy frpm me he cannot as it is not possible to transfer ownership of downloaded games/content.

[bcass]

Buy a JTAG 360. Problem solved.

as far as im concerned, this is one of the most important shmup releases in recent history.
how profitable this game ends up being [long term] could influence a relatively large portion of the current japanese old school dev teams out there...to go mostly digital.

I don't think it is that important, because it's pretty obvious to most people that this thing doesn't have any mass-market appeal in the slightest. It might well turn out to be a great game, but with graphics like that, it's not going to be a big hitter. I thought this was worth reiterating, because since I last brought the issue up, I've seen other people on other forums mention how bland/ugly it looks.

[burgerkingdiamond]

No disc release sucks

[Zaarock]

It might well turn out to be a great game, but with graphics like that, it's not going to be a big hitter. I thought this was worth reiterating, because since I last brought the issue up, I've seen other people on other forums mention how bland/ugly it looks.

I don't see how the graphics are ugly, mind explaining? especially the environment animation looks well designed to me in both the trailers and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsU8ZarCYcc Textures etc. are very simplistic but they are doing it on purpose which could be interesting if they pull off that sort of style well.

I don't like the HUD though, I guess you could argue that that is a large part of the presentation.

edit: wrong link

[bcass]

Ugly might be the wrong word. Nondescript and bland might be a better ones. Really, visually, there's nothing interesting going on in this game. And that's half the reason why it isn't going to sell particularly well.

[adversity1]

Releasing tomorrow on XBLA according to Grev blog!

http://www.grev.co.jp/blog/

Looking forward to this.

[Sumez]

It looks like Ikaruga and Gradius V, that's pretty to me.

[Paradigm]

It doesn't look as good as either of those games.

I agree with bcass, it looks very bland. There's no way I'd pay for a full priced disc release, but at 800 points it's hard to say no.

[kid aphex]

Buy a JTAG 360. Problem solved.

as far as im concerned, this is one of the most important shmup releases in recent history.
how profitable this game ends up being [long term] could influence a relatively large portion of the current japanese old school dev teams out there...to go mostly digital.

I don't think it is that important, because it's pretty obvious to most people that this thing doesn't have any mass-market appeal in the slightest. It might well turn out to be a great game, but with graphics like that, it's not going to be a big hitter. I thought this was worth reiterating, because since I last brought the issue up, I've seen other people on other forums mention how bland/ugly it looks.

the fact this game isn't aimed at the mass-market is exactly why its success is so relevant to the future direction of the genre

[burgerkingdiamond]

I think the graphics looks pretty good. Simple, but colorful and bright. And the gameplay looks decent. I wouldn't pay the same kind of money that I would for a CAVE LE or something, but the collector in me likes having real copies of games. Shit for $25 I would buy a real copy..

[Special World]

To be honest I've never been huge on G.Rev at all, but I'm willing to give it a shot as a download title.

[jepjepjep]

... truth is, digital copies are a lot more permanent than their physical media counterparts.

BS. Microsoft could shut down LIVE for 360 any time they want to. Can you still download DLC from Xbox 1? (The answer is no).

truth is, digital copies are a lot more permanent than their physical media counterparts.

imo digital copies are only 'more permanent' if their ownership can be transfrerred. for example : right now i own robotron 2084 for xbla. but if i showed this to a friend and he wished to buy it, he cannot as midway are no more and the game is no longer for sale on xbla. if he wished to buy my copy frpm me he cannot as it is not possible to transfer ownership of downloaded games/content.

That's the catch. You aren't actually buying the game with digital distribution, you are buying a license to play it, and the license can't be transferred to another party. You are essentially paying for a rental.

[kid aphex]

BS. Microsoft could shut down LIVE for 360 any time they want to. Can you still download DLC from Xbox 1? (The answer is no).

i never mentioned xbox live games when i suggested digital games were more permanent than physical.
if you inferred i was talking about current xbox live games because the topic of discussion is strania, you were wrong.
digital copies won't end up suffering from bit-rot.

That's the catch. You aren't actually buying the game with digital distribution, you are buying a license to play it, and the license can't be transferred to another party. You are essentially paying for a rental.

once the industry moves beyond this weird transitional period [physical->digital], proper license management software and methods are going to be developed ... if not by corporations, then by individuals.

right now, its true that we're dealing with all kinds of DRM bullshit
but it's just plain stupid to fight against a change with so much inertia [and sense] behind it

[jepjepjep]

BS. Microsoft could shut down LIVE for 360 any time they want to. Can you still download DLC from Xbox 1? (The answer is no).

i never mentioned xbox live games when i suggested digital games were more permanent than physical.
if you inferred i was talking about current xbox live games because the topic of discussion is strania, you were wrong.
digital copies won't end up suffering from bit-rot.

Physical copies can and have been digitally archived, so bit-rot is not an issue. See MAME and the various dumping projects for all sorts of console games. This issue is about ownership and availability. Since we're talking in the context of Strania, what would happen if G-rev goes out of business. Microsoft's history has shown that they would probably take down all of the G-rev games from the marketplace and there would no longer be any way to buy the game (aside from jumping through hoops like J-tag 360s). If Cave goes out of business, you'd still be able to buy a disc of Futari on ebay.

That's the catch. You aren't actually buying the game with digital distribution, you are buying a license to play it, and the license can't be transferred to another party. You are essentially paying for a rental.

once the industry moves beyond this weird transitional period [physical->digital], proper license management software and methods are going to be developed ... if not by corporations, then by individuals.

right now, its true that we're dealing with all kinds of DRM bullshit
but it's just plain stupid to fight against a change with so much inertia [and sense] behind it

The digital distribution model is all about control. Those that provide the content (MS, Sony, etc.) are the ones who control how it is delivered. There is no incentive for these companies to have more sensible (to consumers) license management methods. In fact, they are adding more DRM bullshit as time goes on (ex: Final Fight Double Impact on PSN).

Individuals have never developed ways of managing licenses. History has shown that individuals will try to crack the content delivery systems with a combination of software and hardware hacks for the sake of preservation or piracy.

Edit: Sorry to derail the thread. Back on topic: Strania looks cool and I'm going to pick it up even though digital distribution sucks.

[Elixir]

Can someone change the thread's title?

[kid aphex]

Individuals have never developed ways of managing licenses. History has shown that individuals will try to crack the content delivery systems with a combination of software and hardware hacks for the sake of preservation or piracy.

exactly my point. the restrictions placed on digital content won't last forever, and when they're gone, the only thing we'll have lost in the transition from physical->digital, is the wasted space/materials.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Individuals have never developed ways of managing licenses. History has shown that individuals will try to crack the content delivery systems with a combination of software and hardware hacks for the sake of preservation or piracy.

exactly my point. the restrictions placed on digital content won't last forever, and when they're gone, the only thing we'll have lost in the transition from physical->digital, is the wasted space/materials.

Fuck that. A collection of 1's and 0's on a hard drive is just not the same. There's some things I like about digital distribution, but I want to always have the option of one or the other.