Mushihime-sama Futari 1.5 coming to 360

Kid Aphex said:

unbelievable! now is the time to support shmups.

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LOL, if you only knew!

Yeah this is great news. Preordered this morning as well. I'd just like to see Daifukkatsu region free when that is inevitably announced. So buy up

Yep, I broke and decided to pre-order the game on the wave of this good news. I was this close to importing a 360, but now, if things go well, I'm hoping Cave will not only port other games to the U.S. 360, but also put out Death Smiles and Dodonpachi.

I'm going to preorder that ASAP. I really hope it does well and G.Rev and other compaines will get the right idea and get rid of region locking for SHMUPS and other games that might have a small audience outside of Japan.

just pre-ordered at Playasia! cant wait

Sadly I fear Cave's good intentions will go unrewarded when only a small fraction of the internet masses who were clamouring for a domestic or region free version of this game end up picking it up...

- TGM

Anybody have an extra code for Play-Asia? It figures, every time I order from them and get the cupon, it expires and I never end up using it. I tried pricing from them and from NCXS and NCXS wants almost 12 more bucks with taxes and shipping. I'll just get it from Play-Asia with the cheapest shipping and just wait for it. If anybody's got a code, please PM it to me, and when I get my copy, I'll post the code up so somebody else can use it.

For those with JP xbox live accounts there is a TGS 2009 Mushihime-sama Futari ver 1.5 trailer on JP xbox live. Damn it looks good.

- TGM

This is definitely great news.

Few comments though, if you bought a JP system, there are still a few jpn-locked shooters you can get, so don't feel so bad. Plus since Mushi2 is region free you can still play it on that unit. There is no guarantee other games from cave will be region free, this is a test. So enjoy it while it lasts...

Mushi2 will be able to "float" between my different setups(jpn and us) which is awesome. I just need to decide which should remain (somewhat) permanently hooked up to the tated crt. Ive got the domestic release of Raiden IV and Aces and I can't play on my jpn system. DDPDOJ BLEX, DS and COS III can only be played on the jpn system.


Also don't confuse region free, with being "ported" to the US. Its not being released here, its not localized- just import friendly.

I think the region free bit is only a stop-gap solution. in the long run Cave could make the most $$ releasing the game in foreign territories or licencing to other distributors. This test could give them legs for negoiating. Games formally released in territories will sell better than region free titles that only come from importers.

Look how well Raiden IV and Raiden Fighter aces did when they were released in the US, they outsold Japan (accordiing to vgchartz). Of course alot of this has to do with the delta of users in Japan and US, but this is a great angle to exploit as a publisher.

Re-releasing DS region free would actually cost them more money than its worth. But I understand the point of dreaming. And dodonpachi doj blex was not published by cave, so I wouldn't hold your breath on that being region free. Specially with all its issues, 5pb wouldn't brave that fence. Lets hope they get ketsui right

/endrant

originally in my last post, but its so important it needs its own post. specially since you may not want to sort though my mess of thoughts above.

Thunder Force said:

From another forum, Cave contact info below, in case any international fans want to send Cave personal letters of thanks for making this Region free:

(Of course, the most important thanks is to make sure you buy/pre-order a copy of the game, since that is what Cave have said they are measuring.)

adversesolutions said:

Here's CAVE's snail mail address:

株式会社ケイブ　CAVE CO., LTD. Attn: Makoto Asada
〒160-8581 東京都新宿区内藤町87番地

CAVE Co Ltd. Attn: Makoto Asada
〒160-8581 Tokyo-to Shinjuku-ku Naitou-cho 87 banchi

For those who want to just email them and let them know your appreciation:

blog360@mail.cave.co.jp

Feel free to cross-post this info.

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looks like i was wrong bout the whole DS never leaving Japan. Its mentioned specifically

http://kotaku.com/5370354/cave-wants-to-bring-its-manic-shooters-global

its worth its own thread though

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2824680#post2824680

well damn, just when i thought everything was good i had to go and read this thread......now i need a JP 360.

agustusx said:

I think the region free bit is only a stop-gap solution. in the long run Cave could make the most $$ releasing the game in foreign territories or licencing to other distributors. This test could give them legs for negoiating. Games formally released in territories will sell better than region free titles that only come from importers.

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How would they make more money by releasing in other territories? They would have to spend money on localization, marketing, shipping, etc. And it's not like someone is going to walk into a store and be like "Oh, hey, a Cave shmup. I guess I'll pick that up." No - people who are going to buy Cave's games know about them already and would do anything to get them.

They've been scorned before by licensing their games to other devs. Just look at what happened to DDP on 360 - it was horrendously buggy. If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself.

agustusx said:

looks like i was wrong bout the whole DS never leaving Japan. Its mentioned specifically

http://kotaku.com/5370354/cave-wants-to-bring-its-manic-shooters-global

its worth its own thread though

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2824680#post2824680

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Oh HELL yeah!

Back in the day, when it seemed like the only way to play Cave's new games was on PCB, I had a hunch that A) the games would eventually be ported and B) they would make it for a worldwide audience. I thought that because, if I remember right, I heard that the only reason Cave didn't license their games to the US PS2 is because they wanted to sell the games at full price and Sony was against that. That was mostly a Sony policy, and now that the games are coming out for a MS system, that policy no longer stops them. Plus I thought they may eventually crack and sell their games at lower prices. I'm glad I didn't buy PCBs or a J-360 even though I was tempted to.

We'll have to wait and see though what makes it out and for what platforms. Hopefully we'll see most of their library make it to the states in some form or another.

fakeXsound said:

How would they make more money by releasing in other territories? They would have to spend money on localization, marketing, shipping, etc. And it's not like someone is going to walk into a store and be like "Oh, hey, a Cave shmup. I guess I'll pick that up." No - people who are going to buy Cave's games know about them already and would do anything to get them.

They've been scorned before by licensing their games to other devs. Just look at what happened to DDP on 360 - it was horrendously buggy. If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself.

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Your example DDP is a bad choice. DDP 360 was not a game cave produced, so 5pb botched the port. Cave still got some licensing $$ despite sales and bad press. Cave looks no worse.

I agree marketing and distro can be expensive, thats why you can let someone else risk everything If Cave was to already port the game, such as DS, and license the game to say UFO/Valcon games cave its instant $$ for the license with no risk to them. The licensor would be responsible for any marketing/shipping cost. Cave would still own exclusive rights to distro in Asia.

Did Raiden IV or RFA get any advertising in the US, not to my knowledge. At least I never saw any. But when your trying to sell less than 50k copies, inet banter and word of mouth can be enough.

Have you guys actually played the DDP port? It's not nearly as bad as it's made out to be, and aside from the sluggish menu system the core game is still quite fun and playable.

agustusx said:

Your example DDP is a bad choice. DDP 360 was not a game cave produced, so 5pb botched the port. Cave still got some licensing $$ despite sales and bad press. Cave looks no worse.

I agree marketing and distro can be expensive, thats why you can let someone else risk everything If Cave was to already port the game, such as DS, and license the game to say UFO/Valcon games cave its instant $$ for the license with no risk to them. The licensor would be responsible for any marketing/shipping cost. Cave would still own exclusive rights to distro in Asia.

Did Raiden IV or RFA get any advertising in the US, not to my knowledge. At least I never saw any. But when your trying to sell less than 50k copies, inet banter and word of mouth can be enough.

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Yeah, I suppose as long as Cave themselves handled the port, it would be OK. But as for your Raiden IV and RFA example, Raiden has a pretty solid reputation in the West. People may go into the store and think "Oh man, remember playing Raiden at the arcade?" and pick it up. People are far less likely to impulse-buy a game that they've never heard of and cannot pronounce the name of.

brentsg said:

Have you guys actually played the DDP port? It's not nearly as bad as it's made out to be, and aside from the sluggish menu system the core game is still quite fun and playable.

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I have, and I'm not nearly good enough for most of the bugs to effect me. The slow loading and whacked out menus are a different story. I was happy the game was released because I missed out on the PS2 version and I refuse to play the ebay price for it.

fakeXsound said:

People are far less likely to impulse-buy a game that they've never heard of and cannot pronounce the name of.

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Agreed. and Translating Mushi to "The Insect Princess" would make things even worse.

Perhaps Cave would get clever and do some youtube marketing and sell copies via google checkout and amazon

Put my order down on Play-Asia last night and I'm ready baby. I really hope G.Rev will follow and make Senko no Ronde 2 region free as well. Then I can get destroyed by Hentai Sama in that one as well.

agustusx said:

I have, and I'm not nearly good enough for most of the bugs to effect me. The slow loading and whacked out menus are a different story. I was happy the game was released because I missed out on the PS2 version and I refuse to play the ebay price for it.

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PS2 DDP DOJ is not rare. Arika have consistantly reprinted copies due to fan demand. The average going rate is around $60-$70 (which is pretty much what it sold for when it was initially released). Same goes for ESPGaluda.

Mushi and Ibara both skyrocketted in resale value when Taito (who had published both games) announced the cancellation of the Ibara The Best re-release and that they weren't going to be publishing any more arcade conversions.

I stand corrected. DOJ is readily available. Generally speaking I've found it hard to pick up some older titles. I guess I was displacing my experience from Mushi to DOJ. took me bout a year to get Mushi at a decent price.

I am really thinking about importing this. I have never played a cave shooter but have been enjoying Raiden 4 and ACES alot on the 360. Is this the cave shooter to start with??

j_heiger said:

I am really thinking about importing this. I have never played a cave shooter but have been enjoying Raiden 4 and ACES alot on the 360. Is this the cave shooter to start with??

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If we were talking PCB I would say no. But I think they will have some more accessible easy modes in the port so I think you would be good.

The bullet hell games can be a bit intimidating to jump into.

YuckMud said:

Anybody have an extra code for Play-Asia? It figures, every time I order from them and get the cupon, it expires and I never end up using it. I tried pricing from them and from NCXS and NCXS wants almost 12 more bucks with taxes and shipping. I'll just get it from Play-Asia with the cheapest shipping and just wait for it. If anybody's got a code, please PM it to me, and when I get my copy, I'll post the code up so somebody else can use it.

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Will a Play-Asia code work on a pre-order? I need this game desperately. Especially since it doesn't require another $300 investment for a NTSC-J system.