Ikaruga news incoming...

[KBZ]

Don't know why some are upset that they chose to go through greenlight. It's not perfect, but I for one do not wish to rely on any publishers for releasing shmups if I don't have to. If it works out well, it could set a precedent for many games that wouldn't otherwise get a western release.

[Necronom]

It's incredibly depressing to see Treasure reduced to groveling for Greenlight votes when Sine Mora got a direct publisher.

Well, imho you're exaggerating a little bit. For Treasure this is uncharted territory so they're just testing the waters to find out whether it's worth it to put serious resources into it or better do a vanilla port for the quick buck. Different resolutions, maybe even filters and support for different joypads/sticks...would be really cool if they'd do it the proper way.
Voting for it without any intention to buy what probably ends up being a 10$ title isn't really helping btw

As already mentioned by others there's a high probability that more will follow. It's not particularly difficult to port 360 titles over to a modern PC. It also helps that user numbers on Steam are huge and sales result in lotsa impulse buys
Imo Steam might be the win-win situation developers and players of arcade style games were looking for. Even more so when moddable Steam boxes hit the market next year...

[replayme]

I think if I ever got into games development (Game Maker most likely), then I'd want to make either a shmup or JRPG. With that said, I'm surprised that Treasure are having to go through the Greenlight process, but I've cast my vote anyway.

I'm also somewhat surprised that whenever there is a feature on Treasure, that the brains behind Gradius V, RS, and Ikaruga is never interviewed. An article on Iuchi would make fascinating reading, as his output is literally the only reason for why I like(d) Treasure.

Iuchi should start a Kickstarter in order to make a new shooter. I'd back that, and in the commentator's words in Smash TV, I'd buy that for a dollar.

Seriously, it's almost criminal that the workd hasn't gotten to experience more games from Iuchi.

[Zeether]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =184523004

Greenlit right off the bat in the next wave of games. Sweet.

[Atra776]

Awesome! Going to be looking forward to this.

[Domino]

Good news, but I don't like to buy games on Steam.

[cskcsk]

Super news! Another shmup to add to my steam library. Love shmups, love shmups on steam.

[hail good sir]

The screenshots show some minor changes so I have a small glimmer of hope for something like slowdown or fixing the hitboxes on those gigantic stage 5 enemies but I should know better right?

[replayme]

Any chance of Iuchi making an unofficial sequel to this? I know that Ikaruga is a spiritual successor, but what is stopping Iuchi from just going it alone, creating a Kickstarter if necessary, and just making a proper shmup? I don't think he'll ever go back to Treasure, given that they cancelled his RS3 project anyway... But with digital distribution making it so easy for lone creators to strike it alone, I'm just really surprised that we haven't heard more from him recently.

EDIT: Iuchi's website is also down.

[Pretas]

Kickstarter isn't open to people or companies in Japan who don't have representation elsewhere. Along with a cultural mindset that discourages begging and handouts, it's the biggest reason why we've seen few JPN developers use KS.

[BulletMagnet]

Even disregarding that factor, I'd assume that raising enough money for a "full-fledged" shmup in this day and age would be a daunting prospect all by itself, regardless of which source you're attempting to tap.

[Pretas]

Agreed. It would have to be for something like Sine Mora or Jamestown to have a hope of succeeding.

[replayme]

I just want another game by Iuchi. A proper shmup.

[BulletMagnet]

Apparently it's not easy to hack your way through a contract written only in a language you don't natively read.

[heisenbergman]

This is awesome. I wonder how much it sells for when it gets released. I'm thinking maybe $14.99 - give or take $5?

Hope I make enough steam wallet credits from trading cards by then

[trap15]

complete with mouse and keyboard support!

Simultaneously laughing, dying and crying.

[AntiFritz]

complete with mouse and keyboard support!

Simultaneously laughing, dying and crying.

What's wrong with keyboard support?

Mouse support is dumb though.

[heisenbergman]

I think mouse support can be good if implemented correctly. The only STG I've played that had it was Jamestown and it was done pretty bad... yet, I can imagine that it can be good if done right.

[ratikal]

I mean it COULD work. WASD or arrow keys for movement, left click for shot, right-click for switch, and both for homing shot.

Don't know why you would though...

[MathU]

it still needs to be run through bug testing and be integrated with Steam...

Does this mean it's going to be locked down to Steam DRM? Please don't do this Treasure. 2D shooters for PC are the only computer game genre I have left that has been almost entirely left alone by this plague. Please...

[heisenbergman]

What the heck is it about Steam that people dislike?

EDIT: It being locked down to Steam is entirely up to the developer, I think. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that even if a game is available on Steam, the developer/publisher can choose to sell it via other distributions, so then can choose to sell it DRM-free if they want.

[replayme]

it still needs to be run through bug testing and be integrated with Steam...

Does this mean it's going to be locked down to Steam DRM? Please don't do this Treasure. 2D shooters for PC are the only computer game genre I have left that has been almost entirely left alone by this plague. Please...

Don't really understand the hate for this. It's in many developers interests to want to release on Steam, just so that people have all their library in one place.

I for one welcome more Japanese games coming out on Steam. And I rarely touch games that aren't associated with Steam.

[heisenbergman]

Same here. Around 90% of my games are on Steam. I have a few on Desura.

The only games I have that are DRM-free are shmups, which are the only games with their own folder on my laptop. This is because there are a lot of good freeware shmups and those obviously are DRM-free so I decided that I'll have all of my shmups DRM-free in their own little folder on my desktop whenever possible.

There are some exceptions, such as Jamestown and Sine Mora, which I only have on Steam, but I don't mind the slightest bit. Ikaruga will definitely be a future addition to that.

[Formless God]

Are we really doing this shit again?

For the price of an extra 50M load on your memory, Steam:
- Downloads, installs and updates things silently.
- Automatically does all the registry work for you. Main drive just died along with its registry? Lost the physical disc/activation key? Have fun getting all that shit up and running again.
- Can check for inconsistency/missing files.
- The overlay lets you talk to people without alt+tabbing away from the game. This also doesn't put extra stress on your connection.
- Discounts.

[Cagar]

Are we really doing this shit again?

For the price of an extra 50M load on your memory, Steam:
- Downloads, installs and updates things silently.
- Automatically does all the registry work for you. Main drive just died along with its registry? Lost the physical disc/activation key? Have fun getting all that shit up and running again.
- Can check for inconsistency/missing files.
- The overlay lets you talk to people without alt+tabbing away from the game. This also doesn't put extra stress on your connection.
- Discounts.

Exactly. "BUT WHAT IF STEAM CLOSES BEFORE I DIE AND I LOSE ALL MY GAMES???? I DO NOT ___OWN___ THE GAMES ON STEAM, THEY'RE JUST ON MY ACCOUNT AND IN MY LIBRARY AND VALVE CAN DELETE MY RIGHTS TO PLAY THEM WHENEVER THEY WANT (AND THAT'S TOTALLY WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO DO BTW) NEVER BUY STUFF ON STEAM"

[Jeneki]

complete with mouse and keyboard support!

Simultaneously laughing, dying and crying.

If I had to guess, "mouse support" is probably for navigating the menu. There are lots of shmups that let you do that.

[KAI]

If Skynet attacks, I would like to have my Aycarumba physical.

[Atra776]

Update that was on the 30th of October on Treasure's Twitter, looks like it might be a pricing of $9.99 USD.

[heisenbergman]

Sweet. $9.99 sounds like a totally reasonable price.

I haven't been following, but has there been any word on when exactly it will be available on Steam?

[Kiken]

Update that was on the 30th of October on Treasure's Twitter, looks like it might be a pricing of $9.99 USD.

So the same price it was when it hit XBLA, makes sense.