Cave titles confirmed for 360

[Soundwave]

Really disappointing after Futari wasn't. I know I'm going to have to cough up the cash for a JP 360 because of Ketsui. But what was the point of making Futari region-free? Surely it did get enough imports to warrant more region-free games?

You can blame the localisation of DS for this.
I reckon CAVE probably stand to make more money by selling the localisation rights then they will by releasing the games as Region Free...gauranteed income of X amount is inffintley more attractive then potential additional sales of X amount.

Well thats how I see it anyway.

Still it is a shame really.

Neil

[teddymeow]

I was considering selling my JPN 360 as the only game I have for it at the moment is Death Smiles and Futari is region free.

If Ketsui and ESP.Galuda II turn out to be region locked then I'll keep hold of it as I'm not missing out on those two.

[englishbob]

If its (region locking E2) because they have managed to sell the rights to Death Smiles, I hope they got a really good deal upfront, rather than sales per-copy sold. DS will bomb badly on retail, no way is it going to make that much money or sell many copies, so I hope it works out for them selling future games to Western publishers after DS fails.

Oh well, my dalliance with Cave shooters was short lived. Shame really, that's by their design, not mine.

On a footnote though, I have never understood why even the most niche Japanese 360 titles are region locked, it doesn't make any sense to me why you would want to limit yourself in that way, as a business.

[kingmobster]

On a footnote though, I have never understood why even the most niche Japanese 360 titles are region locked, it doesn't make any sense to me why you would want to limit yourself in that way, as a business.

I assume because region free == paying for MS testing & certification for all regions? Which probably amounts to quite a lot of money if you only estimate ~50k lifetime sales.

I'm not holding my breath and will keep my japanese 360 around. I did buy Dodonpachi for it as well, so at least I have two games to play on it.

[fuse]

I assume because region free == paying for MS testing & certification for all regions? Which probably amounts to quite a lot of money if you only estimate ~50k lifetime sales.

That is pretty much the case. GP posted over at Cave-STG after one of the Matsuri's they hold that in short, their attitude towards it is that it's too much time and effort for something that yields them little return. Which is fair enough.

If you've got western companies showing an interest too then it makes sense for them to hold off from making games region-free anyway. No-one's going to rush to pay them money to license a niche game when anyone who's interested already bought the region-free Japanese version months back.

[englishbob]

[QUOTE=kingmobster;1651863]I assume because region free == paying for MS testing & certification for all regions? Which probably amounts to quite a lot of money if you only estimate ~50k lifetime sales.

That is pretty much the case. GP posted over at Cave-STG after one of the Matsuri's they hold that in short, their attitude towards it is that it's too much time and effort for something that yields them little return. Which is fair enough.

Is that true? I don't get it, why would they need to pay for regional testing if going region free, it doesn't make any sense. I mean Futari didn't have any other language than Japanese (although menus where in English, pretty much the norm anyway, all the prompts etc where in Japanese).

[fuse]

Post I was talking about is here

[englishbob]

Post I was talking about is here

Thanks, interested reading.

Well its a shame, so goodbye Cave. There is no way I am buying a Japanese 360 to play these games on, its stressful enough owning one of the machines, never mind two!

If they get regional domestic releases (highly unlikely) I will buy them, but for now I will just download them for free and use MAME instead. I have no qualms against doing this. Its like the old Radiant Silvergun thing, there is no way I would pay ?100+ for a game in short supply. Either make it available to the masses, or face what I would call a legitimate reason for downloading and emulating games you just can't get hold of, even with some cash in hand!

[donpepperoni]

Is that true? I don't get it, why would they need to pay for regional testing if going region free, it doesn't make any sense. I mean Futari didn't have any other language than Japanese (although menus where in English, pretty much the norm anyway, all the prompts etc where in Japanese).

I was going to ask the exact same thing... in that forum post linked above it states:

'He was glad that foreigners bought Futari, but they were still considering whether to do it for BL. There is apparently far more work than flipping a flag to make a game region free. It has to be approved in every region it plays in'

Why would a game being released in Japan have to be approved in every region just because the disc isn't locked? Do PS3 and DS games have to be approved for all regions even if they are JPN only releases... seems totally absurd.

[Family Fry]

I would imagine it's something to do with MS, Xbox Live intergration and current/future DLC.
DSi ware is region locked and isn't PSN game content tied to region of the game?
Mushihimesama Futari being region free has got to be a sole one off so they could see some figures.
If they wanna pursue a good case for future NA/Euro publishing deals they now have some market figures to back them up, alongside black label DLC region sales too.
Reminds me I need to play Mushihimesama more.

[fuse]

I'm fairly sure the approval process is a Microsoft-specifc thing.

Don't want to kick off an argument either, but this isn't a green light for people to pirate games. These aren't old titles in 'short supply' or even with artificially inflated eBay prices - these are new games that you can buy easily, of a dying genre, that need as much support as possible.

Region locking is not a new thing, and I'd like to think that especially amongst members of an import gaming site people understand that sometimes you have to go out of your way to play the games you want to. It's really not even that big of a deal - J360s are not *that* expensive, and they will use your existing power supply, AV leads, controllers, hard drives, profiles etc. Fair enough if you don't want to fork out, but playing these games is not some right you have. Not to mention, none of the newer games are even going to be in MAME.

In short - buy a J360

[Jay]

Annoying though isn't it? I mean it's a shame that making MF region-free didn't result in a large increase in sales for Cave, but the fact that their fans are reaching out and buying it at all should be encouragement enough for them to make the effort to free up future titles, non? Plus, their foreign user base isn't going to expand if they lock us out now, is it? Like englishbob, I'd happily continue to support Cave and import their releases (and this is from someone who *very* rarely buys games full-price) but I'm not buying a japanese 360 in order to do so. Unreliable, breaky machine from the other side of the world = trouble IMO.

Shame.

[Vince]

I'm not buying a japanese 360 in order to do so. Unreliable, breaky machine from the other side of the world = trouble IMO.

This is the same for me, I have no problem with importing and always have but it was different in the old days, my Super Famicom, Neo Geo, Megadrive, Saturn etc are all still working and running, my 360 has broken once and i don't even use it that much. Its also about the weight and postage, i begrudge the fact i would probably have to pay £250+ for a shipped arcade when i could get a uk one for not much more that £100. Finally the power supplies are not the same for all generation 360's, so i would have to hunt one down on ebay.

Ultimately though in my opinion i do not believe in region locking, not now in the current global economy. If someone region locks it then as far as i am concerned they are asking me to pirate it, i will not be discriminated against because of my global location.

[Atticus]

Guess it all comes down to how much you want to play the games.

I think the current Cave/360 activity is a dream come true. Yeah, I'd prefer not having to buy an additional 360 and finding space for it under the TV, but I wouldn't let that keep me from playing these superb games.

As I've said before, the alternative is far more hassle (personally speaking); supergun + CRT TV you don't mind standing on end, or a cab, + mega-bucks on PCBs/kits.

With the 360 versions I can play them on my normal TV, they look amazing, there are extra modes and features, if I want to play the Black Label version I don't have to sell a kidney ...

Very little to complain about IMO.

[Strider]

I really want to play these games as well as I love shooters, but the 360 is one of the most unreliable machines of all time. I certainly don't love my shmups enough to continually replace my Xbox when they do break (and they will). On my 5th machine now, so I can only imagine the hassle of replacing a Japanese machine.

Guess I'll just have to watch videos of them on YouTube or wait until a machine comes up at a reasonable (under £120) price.