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Digital Deathsmiles 2X Sold Well, Cave Considering More Downloadable Releases

By Spencer . November 2, 2011 . 8:30pm

Digital Deathsmiles 2X Sold Well, Cave Considering More Downloadable ReleasesWhile Deathsmiles was released as a retail game, Cave decided to release the sequel Deathsmiles IIX as a digital download. The idea actually came from Microsoft who wanted to dabble with digital imports.

 

"Microsoft approached us with an offer where they wanted to take a Japanese Xbox 360 game and as an experiment put it on Games on Demand," said Makota Asada, Game Development Manager, in an interview with Siliconera. "Because our titles are shooting games, language is not that important, so we decided to try it along with Microsoft."

 

Deathsmiles IIX is the only untranslated game available on Games on Demand, but since it’s a horizontal shooter with mostly English menus its way more import friendly than only Japan-only releases like 5pb’s visual novels. The story text is still in Japanese.

 

"As an experiment, it was pretty good for what we were expecting," Asada added. I followed up and asked if he thought about releasing any more of Cave’s retail titles via Games on Demand. "Yes, we do think we might do it again in the future," Asada answered.


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  • Jrpgfanatic

    I’m a little shocked it did well to be honest. $30 is a bit much for a digital game that wasn’t even translated, in my opinion at least.

    Cave has proven they can release game content in English over iOS, it would be nice if they gave XBLA/Games on Demand the same treatment.

    • http://www.genkaibreak.com Code

      Consider the alternative o3o; Importing a Japanese 360, and then the game itself for roughly $600; it’s different for Mushihimesama, and Espgaluda, where they are regional free. But this was regional locked short of shelling out $30 there’s few other options to get this one o3o; Honestly if you ask me it’s a really decent deal.

      Also really pleased to hear it sold well enough for Cave to be surprised o3o Fingers crossed for Akai Katana, or others next owo;

      • neo_firenze

        Your point that $30 downloadable games are a cheaper alternative is true, but the $600 price you cite is a bit of an exaggeration…  You can get easily get a Japanese 4GB slim 360 for $289 (current Play-asia price) or less.  That plus a game is still a lot more than $30, but also a whole lot less than $600.

        I think it’s worth it anyway to not need to worry about waiting months/years for localizations, if they ever get localized at all.  I’ve been playing Daifukkatsu at home for almost a year now.  Currently enjoying Ougon Musou Kyoku X, and I’ll be getting Instant Brain (mainly for the included Dodonpachi port) next week – neither of which will get a localization any time soon, and wouldn’t be surprising if they never do. 

        • http://www.genkaibreak.com Code

          Even at $300, your talking roughly $100 shipping/and $100 customs opo; But keep in mind I’m not in the US either (so talking CAN currency), plus it might be cheaper to ship to elsewhere, and it might not get hit by customs either opo; But your still definitely talking a lot of money.

          But yeah I think if your going to play shmups, might as well, since then it takes the whole issue of localization out of the equation >w<' I figure I'll just pick up the PS3 Dodonpachi when it lands in the imports section. My Japanese is pretty shallow, so Instant Brain would be probably lost on me.

        • http://www.genkaibreak.com Code

          Nevermind, it didn’t eat my post o3o It was just super laggy~!

    • Aoshi00

      Yeah, the achievement didn’t even get translated.. but $30 is still a bargain compared to the $100 retail game.. I would’ve gotten it digitally if I hadn’t imported it before.. I liked the gameplay of DS2, but I’m no fan of the 3D graphics and chibi looks very different from the first game..  I guess the dialogue was pretty irrelevant for a shmup..  Guwange as an XBLA title did get translated though, it was actually dual language depending on the system’s language setting, but it was an old game.. so was Nin2 Jump at only 400 pts, actually had some funny story.. it would’ve been nice if they had put more effort in it, but if they didn’t do this, most people wouldn’t even have a chance to play this anyway, so I thought $30 was very fair.. a lot more fun than Otomedius anyway at the same price..

      I like games on disc, but I had gotten games digitally like Back to the Future ($9.99, $20 on a PS3 or Wii disc now), Jurassic Park (renewing my Plus subscription and getting it for free, the 360 disc is $40), and some DLC like Undead Nightmare for Red Dead Redemption (got it on sale for 400 points, instead of $30 on disc, or now the GotY ed)

      Can’t wait for Cave’s first VN Instant Brain.. from the demo the story and atmosphere is interesting and the interface is very smooth, compared to Dunamis15..

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3ITUZUKPZYUV2VUCVXUW3DVO6Y AJ

    It really did sell well?  That’s great.  Good job Cave.  I bought the first Deathsmiles, and had a blast with it.  No pun intended.
    I didn’t get the second due to not having any money at the time.  I’ll correct that at some point.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jstack Jon Stachewicz

    I’m glad that it sold well, but I feel like going forward, the manner in which these imports are put up on the store could be improved.  There was no context for the game apart from a few screenshots, and really not much in the way of advertising either.  Even as an avid fan of the original ‘smiles, I didn’t find out that 2X was up for download until long after the fact.  When I got to its page in the shop, I was greeted with a $30 price tag, an untranslated Achievements list and no demo to gauge whether I liked the game enough compared to the original to justify dropping a rather hefty fee (for a digital game) on it. 

    I know Microsoft is only the publisher in this case, and that it’s up to the developer to put together demo materials for the games they create, but it certainly makes the buying decision process a much easier one.  In all honesty the only reason I even own the game now was because I received enough points as a gift to purchase it; $30 of my own non-refundable money is a pretty heinous amount to pay for a game I can’t even test drive first.

    • Aoshi00

      yeah, I wish they advertised some of these things.. like Mushihime-sama Futari was a region free game, but I had no idea the Blk Label DLC was also somehow available on US Live.. so I bought it on Jpn Live instead.. 1200 Jpn pts cost much more than 1200 US pts :(.. it’s weird, some premium themes for Jpn games are available on US marketplace too even though the games are not here…

  • godmars

    What price was it offered at? Hope it wasn’t anything close to retail.

  • Go2hell66

    That is awesome!
    more iOS games please!!?!?
     :D

    • SupaPhly

      playing shmups on iphone?

      *bursts with uncontrollable laughter*

      get it on 360 and play it with an arcade stick if you have one. I guarantee its the best way

      • neo_firenze

        Nobody with half a brain really thinks Espgaluda II on iOS is a superior alternative to playing on a console with a good controller.  That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, the iOS Cave shooters are actually shockingly well done and a lot of fun even for people who are used to the “real thing”.  Certainly a better way for me to kill 10 minutes when I’m not at home than Angry Birds!

        I’d hate to see iOS become the priority over full featured console releases, but there’s no reason the two can’t co-exist. 

        • TrevHead

          Ive seen more than a few coments from iphone gamers who love the touch controls and cant imagine using a pad / stick. Same goes for all those who play flash shmups with a mouse.

          I wonder if its another Mouse / pad, PC / Console FPS thing thats brewing :/

  • http://whatistheexcel.com/ Excel-2012

    But did it have to be IIX in particular?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Corey-Williams/100000977724247 Corey Williams

    Excellent News!

  • Zonic505

    I’d love to see more imports in general for digital download. Hopefully, Cave will help encourage other companies to release JPN games on Xbox Live.

  • http://www.jb2x.com/wordpress/ JB2X

    Now this is MY kind of news!

  • https://twitter.com/#!/SplashdownTiger STiger

    Steaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam…

    STEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM…

    • mikanko

      There’s really not a PC game market in Japan the way there is in the US/EU so I think that’s a pretty big reason they’ve stated they have no plans to pursue Steam.

      If you have a PC that can run them there’ll be Mame versions of most of their arcade games pretty soon as they’ve just about finished hacking their primary arcade board.  Galuda II, Mushi Futari, Akai Katana etc. don’t have much time left before they’re all playable. 

      Deathsmiles IIX might be in a different boat because it uses a different engine, but still plenty of Cave to play on PC if you don’t want to spend on an Xbox 360.

      • https://twitter.com/#!/SplashdownTiger STiger

        I was wondering about arcade rips… good to know that Espgaluda II is one of them, I like that game.  It’d be nice if they put their Android releases out in the U.S. too…

        • mikanko

          Didn’t know they even have any Android releases for their shooters yet.  Last I read a couple months back It’s something they’re working on.  They’re just having a hard time with it because iOS has fewer ram limitations.

          • https://twitter.com/#!/SplashdownTiger STiger

            DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu and Espgaluada II are in the Japan Android Market, just that the device I was using wasn’t compatible with them.

          • mikanko

            Ah.  Google tells me those releases are from the last couple weeks, so yeah pretty new development.

            Google also tells me Cave has said they plan to release them in other territories as well, just takin’ them some time.

            http://twitter.com/#!/cave_world_en/status/126582674738524160

      • http://twitter.com/Ale598 Ale598

        There is a Cave English office (or maybe just a website? :P) that is focused on the NA market, so for them focusing on Steam is a must.

        • mikanko

          It’s just a website.  While they want to see their games sell outside of Japan we’re still talking about a genre that’s highly unsuccessful and super niche.  A lot of of their sales are expected to be in Japan.  Their clientele in Japan don’t have gaming PCs. 

          They probably don’t see going to Steam/PC just for the sake of the overseas market, while ignoring their domestic market, as being worth it.

          I would love it if they released games on Steam. I would buy them. It’s just something they’ve obviously looked into and decided against because they didn’t like the logistics, so it’s highly unlikely to happen anytime soon.

          • TrevHead

            While PC gaming isnt that popular in Japan ild imagine there is a large number of Japanese shmup players that play Touhou and other doujins on PC.

            I think it would be a good move for CAVE to release Guwange and other games that are on MAME for the shmup players who only have PCs. Just make sure the slowdown is the same as the originals and add online leaderboards.

            One thing that does bother me with PC shmupping is making sure everybody is running the game fully optimised, or atleast make sure ppl who are playing the game at 100% can only upload their scores to the leaderboards.

            I love PC gaming but arcade games like shmups can really show its weakness. Jamestown was absolutly retarded at it had bad optimisation and half the so called “superplays” on You tube where all in slowmo due to the capture software.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Maria-Garcia/100002337521506 Maria Garcia

    what abour europe????

  • landlock

    Cool, now release it in Europe.

    • TrevHead

      Ild rather CAVE allow RSG to publish it boxed and make it region free so all western collectors can grab the boxed copy.

  • krokounleashed

    I wonder why it’s us only? Oh, RSG you motherfuckers, we get IIX after Akai Katana, right? I want ketsui next. 

    • Ladius

      Ketsui is a Cave IP, but was ported and published on X360 by 5pb (like Dodonpachi DOJ), so dealing with that could be a bit more complex.

      Then again, Ketsui is really a masterpiece and has one of my favourite scoring systems ever, so I hope more shmup fans are able to enjoy it in the future.

      • TrevHead

        It would be cool if we could have Ketsui along with DFKs Ketsuipatchi.

        Same goes for the original Mushimisama plus that recent arcade version but that would make a great boxed double pack

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000235459143 Gerardo Margatroid

    Damn! I want THE IDOLM@STER 2 for digital download >.<

    • doubletaco

      1. Too text-heavy
      2. Namco would not be satisfied with the numbers it would bring.

    • Locklear93

      Same.  I don’t see it happening, though; it’s a lot more work than a shooter, and the market outside of Japan is likely even smaller than it is for a shooter.

    • http://about.me/meancode Ken Edwards

      If you want THE IDOLM@STER 2 then I would suggest investing in a Japanese 360. I did, and have over a dozen games for it now.

  • malek86

    Doesn’t surprise me that it did well, considering they essentially spent nothing on it.

    Still, not bad news. If we get more shmups, I’m all for it. Translation is not that important, and it still costs a ton less than importing (even if they were region free, these games would cost at least $80 at launch in Japan).

  • http://twitter.com/digtrioPortable Digtrio

    I honestly don’t know why this thing hasn’t happened before now. Especially with shooters – you don’t really need to translate them if you don’t want to and even if you did it shouldn’t be too hard.

    • http://whatistheexcel.com/ Excel-2012

      There’s more to localizing any game than just translating text that no one cares about, you know.

      • http://twitter.com/digtrioPortable Digtrio

        Never said there wasn’t. Just said that you wouldn’t have to worry about a translation.

  • Ladius

    Aside from importing the original editions of Cave shmups, I prefere to pay for boxed localized versions like those published by Rising Star Games or Aksys.

    Then again, having more options is always a good thing  and maybe this kind of situation could lead to other titles being offered on the Games on Demand platform.

  • http://twitter.com/Ale598 Ale598

    Steam releases plz, kthxbai.

  • TrevHead

    I wonder if CAVE have plans to bring Mushimisama Futari and Esp Galuda 2 to GOD they are 2 of their best titles on the 360. Ild image there is a chunk of ppl who either dont know they can be imported for £25 a pop or are too scared / retarded to do so.

  • TrevHead

    Is there some anti spam thing with disqus? I just made 4-5 comments and theyve disappered?

    Edit nvr mind they popped up after 5 minutes. Christ I hope that Disqus add extra servers for when Destructiod changes to Disqus. Overwise itll be just a broken laggy mess

    • http://about.me/meancode Ken Edwards

      It has little to do with Disqus servers. It has to do with how much you want to pay for. If you pay for the VIP level add-on, you get a dedicated server for comments. My guess is that Siliconera does not pay for that.

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