Under Defeat HD

[FetusZero]

It's not that easy. You have to apply for certification in multiple regions and present a good case to Microsoft about why you think your game should be region-free. It drains time and money.

You only need to apply for certification in the region that the game is intended to be sold in, region free or not. If they were 'worldwide' versions, meaning the game is to be sold in every regions, then yes, they'd have to go through certification for multiple regions, but seeing as the majority of shmups are only intended to be sold in Japan (hence why we need to import them), there's absolutely no reason to lock them.

[HydrogLox]

Would definitely rather have on 360 than PS3.

I wouldn't, because there's no guarantee the patch will ever materialize.

You are certainly entitled to your personal position. But in the greater scheme of things an English language PAL PS3 localization can be enjoyed globally - barring the non-typical use of region locks. An Xbox 360 locked to the PAL region is useless to "The Americas". So an Xbox 360-only NTSC-U release would in fact provide better global and platform coverage than an PS3-only release. But that is not the issue here as the PS3 version is a given.

Also, Torisu, WTF is up with the "product features" on the Amazon page?
...
Is that really the best you can say about this game? That we like it?

Is there evidence that Torisu is personally responsible? How about something constructive like the features already listed on the Rising Star Games Product page:

• Full game disc
• All current DLC (New chopper to control) and patches
• Digital art book
• Soundtrack CD featuring tracks from the New Order Mode
• Letter from G.rev CEO and UD executive producer, Hiroyuki Maruyama

Yes - there is a disconnect between the Rising Star Games product page and the Amazon product page - but who knows who is responsible?

[Op Intensify]

I wasn't trying to pin the blame on Torisu, but he's the company's representative to the community who answers for stuff like that.

[Zero Gunner]

Hey wait a minute?!?!?! Isn't everyone here always claiming that publishers won't license region free stuff? And yet the PS3 version, which HAS NO REGION CODING, is the one being made available in both Europe & the US. Well I guess we can clearly see that this puts the truth to the uneducated lie about publishers being unwilling to license region free games for release outside Japan...especially since the entire fucking PS3 library is region free and shit still gets licensed! Dumbasses....

Woah there, cowboy. This is the first time a PS3 shmup has ever been licensed for a retail release outside of Asia, so there was no precedent for it until now. And the rest of the PS3 library consists of genres that are far more popular (and thus far more likely to get localized) than shmups, and most of those games are far more text-heavy which renders them not very import-friendly. It's a known fact that Sony doesn't have minimum print-run rules that are as strict as Microsoft's (at least in the US), so that's probably one of the major factors at play here. I guess that's good enough for RSG to consider giving it a shot at localization, and no one knows how well it's going to perform. But even if it's a success, it's not like there are many other shmups available on the PS3 that RSG can license.

I'm not really sure how this supposedly counters my point, if that was your intent. If anything it reaffirms my point.The fact that RSG is willing to license it kind of negates the whole "Companies won't license Region Free games" claim. I concede that this is a first time scenario for a PS3 shmup, but clearly being region free is not the death knell of a game's chance to get licensed. Which makes me posit that perhaps the region free Cave titles were never licensed due to Cave more than anything else.

As to the minimum print run claim...can you point me to a legitimate source that affirms this? I'm not saying that it isn't true but given that a quick google search reveals only an article on Kotaku which is clearly marked as a rumor...well that's about as reliable as sales data from VGChartz....

It's not that easy. You have to apply for certification in multiple regions and present a good case to Microsoft about why you think your game should be region-free. It drains time and money.

And where did that come from? Because even if MS required approval (which no one still seems to be able to prove, merely conjecture about) all a developer would have to do is submit a final version to MS and then when they send their master to the factory make it region free...you know kind of like what Sega appears to have done with Virtual On Force...no one knew it was region free until it showed up in the states and NCS made the discovery. I seriously doubt Sega even bothered to get MS's approval...they just did what they wanted. If they were going to have gone through some approval process retailer would have known in advance like we see with virtually every other Region Free release?

A tiny company like Qute seems to have no problem with it.

Just take a look at Microsoft's first-party games, some of which are region free across the board and some aren't.

You really should break the bad habit of taking everything corporations tell you so seriously.

Which really just shows us that the policy isn't firm and ultimately it's up to each pub/dev to do what they want. Personally I wish MS hadn't bothered with region coding. It's a pointless and archaic mindset that only penalizes your best supporters. It certainly would have made things easier for us shmuppers this gen.

[Friendly]

The fact that RSG is willing to license it kind of negates the whole "Companies won't license Region Free games" claim. I concede that this is a first time scenario for a PS3 shmup, but clearly being region free is not the death knell of a game's chance to get licensed. Which makes me posit that perhaps the region free Cave titles were never licensed due to Cave more than anything else.

It being region-free was no problem for Demon's Souls getting licensed. On the contrary, BECAUSE it was region free people imported it which led to positive word of mouth, which led to it being released worldwide. Region locking is NEVER a good thing. It's a short-sighted anti-consumer move motivated by greed.

[Cuilan]

As to the minimum print run claim...can you point me to a legitimate source that affirms this? I'm not saying that it isn't true but given that a quick google search reveals only an article on Kotaku which is clearly marked as a rumor...well that's about as reliable as sales data from VGChartz....

Regarding the rules in the US for both the 360 and PS3, my source is someone who works at Aksys games, and for their sake I'd rather not reveal who they are. But I am very confident that they are trustworthy. Last time I checked, Microsoft requires a minimum print run of 50k copies for a 360 game sold in the US (I don't remember what the number was for the PS3, but it was definitely much lower). As for Japan, Asada posted enough information on the Cave blog regarding the initial sales of the Futari 360 port to make an educated guess of what the rules for the 360 are there (somewhere around 20k copies). As for the rules regarding the PS3 in Japan, I remember Gulti's blog mentioning something like the Mamoru-kun PS3 port selling most of its initial shipment, and since the game didn't rank in the top 50 for the week it went on sale, its sales couldn't have been much higher than 5k.

Personally I wish MS hadn't bothered with region coding. It's a pointless and archaic mindset that only penalizes your best supporters. It certainly would have made things easier for us shmuppers this gen.

The style of region coding that Microsoft adopted is far more progressive than what used to be commonplace or what Nintendo still does. Microsoft chose to try to strike a balance between being pro-consumer and being pro-business in this regard. What they've chosen gives consumers some chances of buying/playing games from outside their regions, while at the same time still allowing 3rd party publishers to control which games they do and don't want to license, and control the way they make money on their games. The main reason region locking was created in the first place was to control the prices of games in every region in the world.

What I really wish Microsoft would do, is relax their minimum print run rules, and least in the US. I'd say that's a far bigger issue than their region coding rules.

It being region-free was no problem for Demon's Souls getting licensed. On the contrary, BECAUSE it was region free people imported it which led to positive word of mouth, which led to it being released worldwide. Region locking is NEVER a good thing. It's a short-sighted anti-consumer move motivated by greed.

You fail to acknowledge the fact that Demon's Souls is a type of game that is considerably less niche than a shmup and also far more marketable, so it isn't a very good example. On top of that, the game's servers are region locked, which made it an even more attractive target for localization.

[NeoStrayCat]

Do we honestly have to turn this into a comparison/complain and RF topic, yeah I know the issues what's going on lately, but whatever, but what really grinds my gears is no 360 port for UDHD for NA...yet. (Still working on it unless announced or not.)

In short, its pretty much "meh" for me right now...

[Cuilan]

Do we honestly have to turn this into a comparison/complain and RF topic, yeah I know the issues what's going on lately, but whatever, but what really grinds my gears is no 360 port for UDHD for NA...yet. (Still working on it unless announced or not.)

This got me thinking that some of my previous post would be more appropriate in another thread.

[Strider77]

can we ban the word "meh" ?

[brentsg]

can we ban the word "meh" ?

ehh..

[NeoStrayCat]

can we ban the word "meh" ?

ehh..

Nope, because we already got topics that have "meh" in the title anyways...

[Klatrymadon]

Shopto have made UD available for preorder. Release date is the 26th of October, apparently!

[stryc9]

The 360 version needs that patch. I'm getting sniped Raiden style from shit off the fucking screen, and considering how fast the aimed shots are later on it's started to wear a bit thin.

Still, arrived at stage 5 yesterday in Arcade mode on a tated 80cm CRT, which was pretty good for me. The no extend thing makes this brutal by stage 5 IMO.

[Op Intensify]

I'm betting at this point that the 360 patch will coincide with Rising Star's release (which may be PAL-only on that platform).

[drunkninja24]

Spent a little more time with this the last few days. Really digging New Order mode, even with just playing with normal arcade controls. Twin stick is okay, but not really my kind of thing, though it definitely gives you a lot more versatility in your attack patterns. Hopefully we get that patch on 360, I'd like to play Arcade Mode on my tated CRT without messing with the picture.

[BulletMagnet]

This item at Siliconera has a trailer, which narrows the release date (for PAL territories, at least) to sometime this month (maybe that's changed?). The accompanying text also says that the price for the US version will be 30 bucks, instead of the 40 spoken of previously...an error, perhaps?

[e4g]

Joystiq is reporting the price has dropped from $40 to $30 for the retail and digital versions:

Playstation blog source: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2012/10/ ... ll-on-ps3/

Article: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/10/05/under ... -of-extra/

[drunkninja24]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pubK5CmmOws

Wow, wtf is with the stupid twats in the comments?

[AntiFritz]

Ign, that's what.

[1up]

Amazon.co.uk lists the 360 version at £22,50

Says it will be released the 26th this month

[Tokyo-J]

Price drop in the States to $29.99

http://www.siliconera.com/2012/10/05/un ... dtrack-cd/

It will include the game, a digital art book, all current DLC and patches, a soundtrack CD, and a letter from G.rev CEO, Hiroyuki Maruyama.

[Klatrymadon]

I knew there was a new chopper in this, but did I spy a shiny red plane in that trailer, too? Looks huge!

[Jeneki]

Nice. I was unwilling to pay the import price to double dip on a game I already own on Dreamcast, but at $30 I'll pick it up.

[EmperorIng]

$30? That's an insanely good price for so much content being offered.

[Kiken]

• Full game disc
• All current DLC (New chopper to control) and patches
• Digital art book
• Soundtrack CD featuring tracks from the New Order Mode
• Letter from G.rev CEO and UD executive producer, Hiroyuki Maruyama

I've been wondering, seeing as the replay DVD included with the JP LE release was identical to the one released with the INH superplay DVD set, does this digital art book contain the same content as the data file included with the superplay DVD set?

[Tokyo-J]

I am just glad I bought the 360 import instead of the PS3 version.

I would feel ripped off if I paid $100 for the import when I can get a region free version for $30 with so much cool stuff.

[Friendly]

Really? I on the other hand would feel ripped off if I had imported the region locked Japanese 360 game for lots of money and had to play the unfixed game (that may never be fixed) ever since. The enjoyment I got out of the region free PS3 release for about half a year is in no way diminished by the upcoming international release.

[lilmanjs]

ohh well, no 360 release here in the states means this is a no go. still I hope that the music used in the trailer isn't just a clip of some remix new to this version. its boring and not the killer rock music! Though I might just buy this anyways for the day I actually get myself a ps3.

[professor ganson]

Wow, I'm really glad I passed on this when it came out originally. Just wasn't convinced that I'd get my money's worth, given that I didn't love the Dreamcast version. But at $30 there isn't much risk. Perhaps revisiting the game will change my mind a bit, as most certainly happened with Mushihimesama this year.

[moonwhistle]

Price drop in the States to $29.99

(removed)

It will include the game, a digital art book, all current DLC and patches, a soundtrack CD, and a letter from G.rev CEO, Hiroyuki Maruyama.

That link is virus ridden, don't click on it.