PSP Sengoku Cannon - Yay, it's actually a shmup

[Ghegs]

I'm guessing that it's a bit difficult to capture direct video of a handheld system, particularly a new one with a widescreen display. I say that all game systems (home, portable or... er... otherwise) should have AV out!

*shrugs* Well, somebody did it with a time-attack with PSP Star Soldier, and, considering that the PSP's a handheld, IMO it turned out pretty well. And keep in mind, the PSP was being held vertically the whole time; Sengoku Blade's a hori, so you wouldn't even have to do that. So, I don't see why someone couldn't capture video from Sengoku Cannon.

You have your terms confused. "Direct capture video" means that the system is hooked directly into a PC capture card (for example) and the video signal is saved as an AVI right away. Of course, this means that "normal" systems like PS2, DC, XBox, NES, whatever, are easy to do direct capture on since you can just take the cable transmitting the video signal and slap it into your capture card. A slightly simplified explanation, but that's the core of it.

But for handheld systems, there is no such cable. So direct capturing usually requires some special hardware, something that's just not in the hands of a normal gamer. Or maybe a special version of the unit (like the PCE GT with AV out that was mentioned here some time ago).

The PSP Star Soldier vid you saw was not direct capture, it was taken with a video camera. The person who did it first played the game, then taking advantage of the game's replay function, he just placed both the PSP and his camera so that neither would move from their place and let the replay roll. All that was left was transferring the video from the camera to the computer. That's basically the same what I did with the Gaia Seed video a while back. You can see the image quality is much worse when compared to direct capture vids, though having a good camera for the task (which he did) helps some.

[dave4shmups]

I'm guessing that it's a bit difficult to capture direct video of a handheld system, particularly a new one with a widescreen display. I say that all game systems (home, portable or... er... otherwise) should have AV out!

*shrugs* Well, somebody did it with a time-attack with PSP Star Soldier, and, considering that the PSP's a handheld, IMO it turned out pretty well. And keep in mind, the PSP was being held vertically the whole time; Sengoku Blade's a hori, so you wouldn't even have to do that. So, I don't see why someone couldn't capture video from Sengoku Cannon.

You have your terms confused. "Direct capture video" means that the system is hooked directly into a PC capture card (for example) and the video signal is saved as an AVI right away. Of course, this means that "normal" systems like PS2, DC, XBox, NES, whatever, are easy to do direct capture on since you can just take the cable transmitting the video signal and slap it into your capture card. A slightly simplified explanation, but that's the core of it.

But for handheld systems, there is no such cable. So direct capturing usually requires some special hardware, something that's just not in the hands of a normal gamer. Or maybe a special version of the unit (like the PCE GT with AV out that was mentioned here some time ago).

The PSP Star Soldier vid you saw was not direct capture, it was taken with a video camera. The person who did it first played the game, then taking advantage of the game's replay function, he just placed both the PSP and his camera so that neither would move from their place and let the replay roll. All that was left was transferring the video from the camera to the computer. That's basically the same what I did with the Gaia Seed video a while back. You can see the image quality is much worse when compared to direct capture vids, though having a good camera for the task (which he did) helps some.

Thanks for the claification Ghegs.

So, why couldn't someone take some footage of this game with a video camera? Again, surely it would be easier then doing a vert game, like Star Soldier, on the PSP.

That footage of PSP Star Soldier wasn't perfect, nor was your's of Gaia Seed, but both still gave people a good idea of what the stages look like, and how the weapons operate. Reading a description of how the weapons work is no substitute for seeing them in action, IMO.

[icepick]

And Kiken's Superplay of Gun Spike (aka Cannon Spike) for the Dreamcast gave me a VERY good impression of what the game plays like-enough so that I bought it, and it's now one of my favorite DC shmups.

Well, I think that I understand. Thank you for reminding me that everyone has their own methods, and for giving me a chance to learn more about you in a relaxed fashion.

8 1/2's impression above sounds pretty convincing to me, but I hope that somebody is able to record a video of the game in action for you (and others!). Given that the developers could very likely have the tools to record a direct capture video of the game (perhaps from developmental hardware), it would be very nice if they did so... I searched really quick to see if there were any Japanese pages with captured video of the game just now, but with no luck. I will post information here if I happen to run across any.

[dave4shmups]

And Kiken's Superplay of Gun Spike (aka Cannon Spike) for the Dreamcast gave me a VERY good impression of what the game plays like-enough so that I bought it, and it's now one of my favorite DC shmups.

Well, I think that I understand. Thank you for reminding me that everyone has their own methods, and for giving me a chance to learn more about you in a relaxed fashion.

8 1/2's impression above sounds pretty convincing to me, but I hope that somebody is able to record a video of the game in action for you (and others!). Given that the developers could very likely have the tools to record a direct capture video of the game (perhaps from developmental hardware), it would be very nice if they did so... I searched really quick to see if there were any Japanese pages with captured video of the game just now, but with no luck. I will post information here if I happen to run across any.

Thanks man! It stinks that there's no footage of the game on it's official website. WHY companies like Psikyo and Cave can't be bothered to do this, and why a company like Triangle Service, which is now down to one employee, can just blows my mind.

[Ghegs]

NTSC-UK posted their review. 5/10.

[ThirdStrike]

Anyone here own this game and a PSP with 1.50 bios?

If so please PM me.

[LSU]

I just got this (making use of play asia's $10.90 sale) and even though it was cheap, I have to say I'm really quite disappointed.

Not only is it nowhere near as good as the previous game in the series (it simply isn't even in the same league), but honestly, it really doesn't even feel like a professionally produced product.

As has been mentioned before, the graphics performance is quite bad - 30fps at best, and it still has slowdown on top of this, plus plenty of glitches and pop-up. The handling of the character is really quite poor and the enemy waves are about as bland and unmemorable as any game I've played.

The only positive things I can really say about it is, it's a shmup for the PSP (which I suppose is in itself to be applauded) and the character artwork is of course very nice - but even this doesn't actually animate at all, and was far better implemented in Sengoku Blade (they got some nice cycling animation in there).

Star Soldier isn't perfect by any means, but at least it looks and plays like a properly finished, professionally created game. I really don't think Sengoku Cannon does at all. Psikyo would never have developed and released game like this themselves. To be honest, the homebrew Noiz2sa port is a far more polished and playable product than this.

[SAM]

THe game sounds pretty bad, LSU.

I am now considering selling my sealed copy of Sengoku Cannon...

Yes, I bought the game but still doesn't own a PSP yet.. (And DS too)

I am start wondering that I might start collecting PS3 / XBox 360's games without owning the consoles...