Shin Akai Katana Confirmed for North America

[DJ Incompetent]

I just went to gamestop, it appears each gamestop only received 1 copy and they all opened it and put ugly price sticker on it already. Guess I am ordering on amazon now.

It was preopened for like, 2 hours. And the sticker came off right away. Because, 2 hours.

[mrsmiley381]

I just went to gamestop, it appears each gamestop only received 1 copy and they all opened it and put ugly price sticker on it already. Guess I am ordering on amazon now.

It was preopened for like, 2 hours. And the sticker came off right away. Because, 2 hours.

Fuck Gamestop. Order form Amazon and actually get your shit sealed.

[Deca]

I figured out this foolproof method for getting new games sealed from gamestop 100% of the time, and I'm going to share it with you.






Preorder your shit.

[NeoStrayCat]

Yep, although for me, I'll be rather renting it, can't afford full price, will wait for a price drop anyway...

[Shelcoof]

any canadians get their hands on this yet?

[njiska]

any canadians get their hands on this yet?

I didn't see any when I was Diablo hunting yesterday. Since Aksys is handling distribution I expect most stores won't have copies until Friday at the earliest. Amazon possibly until next tuesday. This is how it goes with every game they ship.

[colour_thief]

any canadians get their hands on this yet?

I don't trust the Gamestop clerks much, but they let me pre-order it yesterday and said it was coming out today. I think Deathsmiles came in multiple days after the supposed release date, so we'll see.

[denpanosekai]

any canadians get their hands on this yet?

vgp.ca says shipping May 17th so I assume other channels have been delayed by at least a couple days. Did they bother to translate the box art to include French? They probably had to do it for their European release...

[Cagar]

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[mrsmiley381]

Here, a local gamestop clerk didn't know what an arcade-controller means and I had to explain, he gave me a strange face and "Oh... I think we don't have those..."

I went to four in a row that didn't know. Four Gamestops with at least four different people that didn't know what an arcade stick was. Funniest part? I went to an Exchange in Pennsylvania, bought Raiden III, and the clerk talked to me about Raiden and Touhou. Go figure the record/game store combo guys know what the hell a niche product is.

So I thought this was coming next week, but it's out today, right? I guess my copy has been shipped to my Ohio home address. Come June 1st there had better be a full noob's guide to this game so I can actually learn to play something right, for once.

[Thjodbjorn]

I was in the GameStop at the Mall of America somewhat recently with a friend who was looking for a Brawlstick. The guy claimed GS didn't carry them anymore. Not only did the other GS there have one, but the first one had it the next time I was in there.

They're real hit or miss as to their employees knowing anything.

[Op Intensify]

Amazon shipped my copy this morning; I should have it by Monday.

[Shelcoof]

any canadians get their hands on this yet?

I didn't see any when I was Diablo hunting yesterday. Since Aksys is handling distribution I expect most stores won't have copies until Friday at the earliest. Amazon possibly until next tuesday. This is how it goes with every game they ship.

any canadians get their hands on this yet?

I don't trust the Gamestop clerks much, but they let me pre-order it yesterday and said it was coming out today. I think Deathsmiles came in multiple days after the supposed release date, so we'll see.

any canadians get their hands on this yet?

vgp.ca says shipping May 17th so I assume other channels have been delayed by at least a couple days. Did they bother to translate the box art to include French? They probably had to do it for their European release...

Thanks guys for the info. I totally forgot that Canadians usually get the game a week after the official release depending on the title. I think it's due to some of the major retailers getting stock from their US warehouses. I forgot who told me this but guess this might be one of the reasons.

It has been so long since I actually walked into a store to purchase a game. I usually order my games on Amazon.ca because it is fast and reliable. I know other sites take pre-orders but guess I have a hard time changing my shipping habits

[malchitos]

I figured out this foolproof method for getting new games sealed from gamestop 100% of the time, and I'm going to share it with you.






Preorder your shit.

I picked mine up this morning...I was preorder...but alas mine was open and had a nasty sticker on it. His excuse was he only had one copy...yeah duh the one I ordered....maybe I'll go amazon next time.

[malchitos]

got it this morning...loving it. Credit fed it just to see every thing...ill start playing for a 1cc and score later.

I'll say one thing for it...it's an achievement buffet. I think I got 370g just from that credit feed session.

[subcons]

Amazon shipped my copy this morning; I should have it by Monday.

Lucky. Mine is set to ship next week, but Amazon usually ships sooner than they list on your account when it comes to releases like this.

[Kiken]

One more review... this time from Official XBOX Magazine. He does give it 8/10.

+ Unusual resource-gathering mechanics add an absorbing layer of shape-changing strategy.

He hasn't played too many Cave games.. but that's ok. Glad he enjoyed the save-up and cash-in system that the game employs.

+ Completely insane local co-op sessions.

I guess that's cool.

– Rules of play aren't exactly intuitive; occasional slow-down; no online co-op; at $40, game is overpriced.

Ok, his first point I agree with. But we've discussed this to death. At least RSG have been producing their little tutorial vids for Youtube (would have helped if they were actually implemented in the game somewhere). Second point... ok, here we go again with not understanding the danmaku sub-genre or that the slowdown is intentional... we've read this all before. Third point... really, online shmup co-op is pretty awful... outside of maybe Aegis Wing. Fourth point... he just had to throw that in there, didn't he?

? Why so few English subtitles to go with all the Japanese speech?

Would you really be trying to read subtitles in the middle of a boss fight (a la SnR)? It's not like the game has tons of dialogue.

[Zaarock]

Second point... ok, here we go again with not understanding the danmaku sub-genre or that the slowdown is intentional... we've read this all before. Third point... really, online shmup co-op is pretty awful... outside of maybe Aegis Wing.

Slowdown is mostly intentional sure, but at least for me the moment when the slowdown goes away in some cave games can feel really weird and obviously doesn't help you especially in the middle of a tricky pattern. Suddenly your movement speeds up while you're dodging and not necessarily at a stable rate. The reviewer is probably not thinking about it that much but w/e

Third point... really, online shmup co-op is pretty awful... outside of maybe Aegis Wing.

Strania has great netcode and is fun for coop because of all the stuff you can do with weapons. I think I played it with you actually? lol

[Op Intensify]

Strania has great netcode and is fun for coop because of all the stuff you can do with weapons. I think I played it with you actually? lol

The one time I played Strania on XBL, the other guy kept lag-teleporting around the screen.

[iconoclast]

Strania is the only time I had fun playing online co-op in a shooter. The other player will start teleporting if the latency is high (even this was only a problem for me on the TLB, and I played with people from Japan), but it still plays perfectly fine on your end because there's no input delay. Game's awesome, especially when you're trying to fit two fat robots through the laser corridor on the final stage.

[NeoStrayCat]

Well, guys, some of you should play Straina co-op with me sometime, lol, if necessary...

OT:Impulse buy, yeah, had no choice since renting it would take a while anyway, looks good, other than I almost 1cc it Normally, until I get screwed here and there, lol.

[AntiFritz]

http://au.ign.com/articles/2012/05/16/a ... ana-review

FACT: Sine mora is better then akai katana

....I think I almost threw up reading this.

[Formless God]

But it's not quite enough to land Akai Katana in the upper echelon of 2D shooters. Ikaruga is cleverer. Sine Mora is more beautiful.
Recent 2D shooter Sine Mora blows Akai Katana away.

What in the ever loving fuck am I reading?

[Klatrymadon]

Blimey, I've read more detailed previews than that. Telling your readers a game doesn't do anything new and then conceding that you don't know what it does is particularly shoddy. It's just bad form, no?

With the best will in the world, I can't think of a single thing Sine Mora genuinely does better than AK.

[NeoStrayCat]

Pfftt, cant spell IGNorant without IGN, I'd rather wait for Serraxor to do an honest review for this game on Bullet Heaven (Ep. 51 me thinks, lol)

[Cagar]

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[BPzeBanshee]

http://au.ign.com/articles/2012/05/16/a ... ana-review
Sine Mora is the better, more exciting, more interesting shooter in every way, and it's a $15 Xbox Live Arcade game. These cheap thrills might be more enticing if gamers could download them for cheap, but right now Akai Katana costs the same as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Oh god. What the.. fuck? Not even funny anymore

Pretty sure Skyrim costs more here than Akai Katana even including shipping delivery price and currency conversion. That piece of shit reviewer is wrong on every level.

[IseeThings]

That's pretty much what the general public think tho, hence why Cave is struggling.

Right or wrong, paid for by corporate interest or not, people will take what gets posted on IGN as gospel and it is usually reflective of what the masses think anyway.

[Stevas]

Man, I love this game. Wish I had more time. Or some way of... slowing time down...

True story: I was about an hour or so in before I realised that you had to press left/right to get to the different modes. I just figured they would unlock, or something. Herp - and indeed - derp.

What in the ever loving fuck am I reading?

Woah, takes me back to the comments I used to get when I wrote "reviews".

It was usually a fair comment, but for entirely different reasons.

[burgerkingdiamond]

http://au.ign.com/articles/2012/05/16/a ... ana-review

FACT: Sine mora is better then akai katana

....I think I almost threw up reading this.

It's funny that the comparison came up because I brought my new copy of AK to a friends house last night to have a little session (he's a fan of the genre but not an enthusiast to the same degree). After we played a few credits he showed me Sine Mora.

It is a beatiful game. That's hard to argue with. But the typical Euroshmup gameplay just kinda sucks.