Ginga Force (Qute, Xbox360)

[Erppo]

Or you could just learn katakana. It only takes couple of days to learn the characters and it's extremely useful for playing Japanese games.

[Legendary Hoamaru]

As spotted on the youtube video comments, according to the official Ginga Force twitter this is region free.

[Primative Charm]

Machine translation for those interested:

"I asked in charge of development, ギンガフォース(gingaforce) is going to be region free. However Japan language is displayed."

Feels good man, feels good.

[Op Intensify]

Sweet to know that Microsoft Japan's done some backpedaling on their region coding policies. If SDOJ is also region free or localized, I can spare myself the $300+ for a J-360.

[-SD-]

Awesome news, glad I put my pre-order in now.

I wouldn't expect SDOJ to be region-free as RSG will probably want to pick that up for an official Western release. But you never know......

[bcass]

Sweet to know that Microsoft Japan's done some backpedaling on their region coding policies. If SDOJ is also region free or localized, I can spare myself the $300+ for a J-360.

There's been region free releases through the whole of this so-called period of "no more region free games", so however certain people have decided to interpret what Microsoft did or did not say should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

[Ghegs]

It does look sort of interesting, but I think I want to hear some impressions and opinions about it first before purchasing. Having a gazillion weapons to choose from is going to be tough to balance.

[Op Intensify]

The story mode isn't intended to be arcade balanced, that's why you can save in the middle of it. In score attack, you can only choose from premade ship part loadouts, so it's just like having a normal ship selection.

Story mode is also going to be far longer than a typical modern shmup. The save feature tells me that they didn't intend for people to play through it all at once. Which is why score attack is stage select only.

Anyway, this is going to play like a sequel to Eschatos and that's all the assurance I need to buy it.

There's been region free releases through the whole of this so-called period of "no more region free games"

I'm pretty certain that there have been no region-free Japanese 360 releases from JPN developers during that time.

[Cuilan]

Sweet to know that Microsoft Japan's done some backpedaling on their region coding policies.

Or perhaps their policies had never changed, and certain publishers were simply bullshitting us (again).

I'm pretty certain that there have been no region-free Japanese 360 releases from JPN developers during that time.

And I'm pretty certain that every one of those games that had a chance of being region-free has been licensed.

Japanese 3rd party publishers: "MS won't let us release any more region-free games, sorry..."

Translation: "We're currently working out some licensing deals that may or may not go through, but we don't feel like sharing every single detail of our business practices. And in the event that these deals don't go through at the last minute, we don't want to deal with all the whining and drama from disgruntled consumers, so we're just going to use MS as a scapegoat since they don't care. Consumers are so cynical towards MS anyway, that we know you'll all believe this bullshit excuse. Now shut up and leave us alone."

[HydrogLox]

... so however certain people have decided to interpret what Microsoft did or did not say should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

This should not detract from Qute's decision to put in the effort (and expense?) to obtain certification for the NTSC-J, NTSC-U, and PAL regions rather than just taking the path of least resistance of "NTSC-J-only" certification.

I wonder if the release of Ginga Force may open the door to a western localization of a "Eschatos/Ginga Force" combo pack (with or without Judgement Silversword/Cardinal Sins) some time down the road (unfortunately at the end of the XBox 360's life cycle) - in spite of the all region status of the original releases.

[bcass]

Highly unlikely IMO.

[Cuilan]

I wonder if the release of Ginga Force may open the door to a western localization of a "Eschatos/Ginga Force" combo pack (with or without Judgement Silversword/Cardinal Sins) some time down the road (unfortunately at the end of the XBox 360's life cycle) - in spite of the all region status of the original releases.

Eschatos and Ginga Force being region free already would be rather discouraging to a western publisher. But it would also depend on how much Qute would charge to license out both games together like that. Since they're such a small company, maybe it wouldn't take much to satisfy them. If the fees are low enough, maybe a PAL/US-compatible European release would be possible.

[soupbones]

Machine translation for those interested:

"I asked in charge of development, ギンガフォース(gingaforce) is going to be region free. However Japan language is displayed."

Feels good man, feels good.

Just preordered!

This and Under Defeat is a nice way to top off the year for us Americans.

[soupbones]

Play-Asia just updated the release date from October 2012 to November 2012. Still no specific ship date however.

[Aquas]

Will there be no Tate mode for Ginga Force? Judging from the HUD it looks like that may be the case.

[stryc9]

It looks like a native 16:9 game to me.

And spewing about the delay

[Op Intensify]

Native yoko makes sense for a console-exclusive game. (Don't tell that to NG:DEV Team!)

[trap15]

No it doesn't, stop being Estebang. There are advantages to being native tate for console exclusives too (as in, all of the advantages of tate for any game). There are things you can't do with yoko and things you can't do with tate. There's a reason most vertical STG are tate and most horizontals are yoko. Think, McFly, think.

[Op Intensify]

There's no use in trying to cast me as a shortsighted idiot here, I totally agree with you. Tate and yoko each have their own merits for different styles of game and level design. The problem is that the vast majority of home console players don't have tated displays, and will be forced to play the games with thick letterboxing. Many people will be alienated by it (see X-Play's infamous review of Raiden III), they may even piss and moan on the internet about it (look at Neo-Geo.com's reaction to NEO XYX being tate). In an arcade, that's not an issue, because the cabinets are already set up for those games.

So if you are developing a shmup specifically for home consoles, the best option for critical and commercial success, which ensures that all players will be getting the optimal experience, is to make it a horzie or vertizontal. I am excited about NEO XYX and will likely buy the DC version, but there will be plenty of morons who pass on it because of the tate issue.

[RaidenViper]

I really don't understand all the whining and complaining about Neo XYX being Tate. Neo Geo is a arcade platform.

And why should the people over at Neo-Geo.com care. All they do after they bought their super expensive AES games, is leaving them inside some plastic protector on a shelf to never be played.

[ciox]

This game is 16:9 but the edges are obscured so the gameplay area is good ol' 4:3, it's not quite Mars Matrix. (1.71)
Wonder if there's been a 1:1 game, that would solve the yoko/tate issue.

The idea of developing new PC/console vert shmups as vertizontals rather than yoko+tate games kinda interests me actually, maybe we should have a thread on that.

[MR_Soren]

So if you are developing a shmup specifically for home consoles, the best option for critical and commercial success, which ensures that all players will be getting the optimal experience, is to make it a horzie or vertizontal.

You are absolutely right. Oddly enough, I was just writing about this issue in my blog with regards to Dodonpachi Saidaioujou possibly having a worldwide release.

Outside this forum, most people are turned off by tate.

[Ghegs]

I really don't understand all the whining and complaining about Neo XYX being Tate. Neo Geo is a arcade platform.

Personally I don't mind and it's not a problem for me, but the reason for complaints is pretty simple. Because Neo Geo doesn't have a single tate game otherwise. If you're using an official Neo Geo cabinet or any other that is built to contain a 4:3 monitor without the slightest possibility of rotating it, you will not be able to play the game in tate. That's why NG:Dev is including the "Switchable between vertical (TATE) and horizontal controls (YOKO)" -feature.

[Op Intensify]

Because Neo Geo doesn't have a single tate game otherwise.

This. Strikers 1945 Plus was reworked to be vertizontal, and every other vert shmup on the platform (Ghost Pilots, ASO2, Captain Tomaday) has been the same way.

Twinkle Star Sprites is an exception, but it's got the split screen multiplayer deal.

[Strider77]

(look at Neo-Geo.com's reaction to NEO XYX being tate).

True but that place is pretty getto and isn't winning any IQ awards either.

[colour_thief]

Not really much news to report on this game, but the latest tweet implies that the game's script is recently finished. Judging by the hefty stack of pages I'm guessing there's a lot of dialogue and story?

[VixyNyan]

So was the November 2012 date confirmed then?

When it was first announced many months back, I preordered it at AmiAmi, and hopefully it will show up that month. o.o

[renardqueenston]

it's not quite Mars Matrix. (1.71)

ah, but CPS2 games only have the wider hardware resolution, not actual display resolution! they are still displayed at 4:3 ratio and presumably programmed / tested on 4:3 monitors, so it's still 4:3!

[colour_thief]

I'm no expert, but I get the impression they haven't gone gold yet. I don't know how fast it is reasonable to go from having finalized the game to having retail packages, but November seems like a difficult deadline.

[ciox]

it's not quite Mars Matrix. (1.71)

ah, but CPS2 games only have the wider hardware resolution, not actual display resolution! they are still displayed at 4:3 ratio and presumably programmed / tested on 4:3 monitors, so it's still 4:3!

Weird, everyone playing it in MAME has the game running widescreen, it also looks natural that way and not stretched.
As for Dreamcast i've seen people playing it both widescreen and 4:3, there's definitely a 4:3 mode included in that version.