deathsmiles-2x
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Cave and Microsoft's Deathsmiles 2X experiment turned out pretty well
Cave's decision to offer Deathsmiles 2X as a "Games on Demand" title in North America back in May has paid off. In an interview with Siliconera, Cave game development manager Makota Asada said that, as "an experiment," the offer "was pretty good for what we were expecting." So good, in fact, that Asada said Cave would be willing to try this again. "Yes, we do think we might do it again in the future." According to Asada, it was Microsoft who approached them looking to dip its toes into the digital imports waters. Deathsmiles 2X is, obviously, a sequel to the company's previous shmup, which was offered as a retail disc in North America. "Because our titles are shooting games, language is not that important, so we decided to try it along with Microsoft," Asada concluded. No matter what language you speak, we can all agree things need to get shot -- and Cave is pretty good at that, so kudos to them.
Deathsmiles 2X unavailable in Canada and Mexico
Deathsmiles 2X was supposed to be "available in North America" this week as the first Games on Demand import, except that the definition of "North America" seems to come with some caveats. The game is only available in the United States, halted at the borders for Mexico and Canada. Won't someone give Deathsmiles 2X's a VISA? A Microsoft representative told Joystiq: "We're always listening to community feedback and work closely with our partners to determine the best approach for releasing games in other regions, but have no additional details to share at this time." Ruh-roh. Siliconera reports that developer Cave is currently "coordinating" with Microsoft on the issue.
Deathsmiles 2X going straight to Games on Demand next Tuesday [update]
The Xbox 360 "Games on Demand" digital retail service has, until now, only featured games that were already available on disc in a given region. Cave is bucking the trend by sending the shmup sequel Deathsmiles 2X directly to Games on Demand in North America, skipping a disc release in the region. Cave is also skipping localization for the $30 game -- it'll be released in Japanese, which, for a shmup, shouldn't be a problem. Deathsmiles 2X will launch via Games on Demand next Tuesday, May 17. In the Facebook post announcing the unique release, Cave said it "will be giving this format a try for getting some of our Japan-only shooters released overseas." It's kind of an ideal solution for the company -- it gets to self-publish its shooters in North America, without the expense of localization, manufacturing or distribution. Oddly, Cave told Siliconera that you'd have to use a credit card to buy the game; it can't be purchased with Microsoft Points. (Note: When purchasing Games on Demand titles, the payment option defaults to credit card, though normally users have the option to switch it to Microsoft Points.) After the break, you can watch some footage of the game that's also unlocalized (because we grabbed it from the Japanese website). Update: Microsoft told Joystiq that you will be able to use Microsoft Points to purchase Deathsmiles 2X. Retrieve the pieces of that points card from the shredder!
'Death Smiles 2X' rated by ESRB, Cave publishing
Our mothers always said "If death smiles at you once, you should try to wrap up your personal affairs. But if death smiles a second time, he's probably just flirting." Imagine our disappointment then when we read the ESRB listing for Death Smiles 2X to find it was not, as we'd assumed, a dating sim set at River of Styx High, but rather an Xbox 360 follow-shmup to Cave's bullet hell release Deathsmiles (seen above). Cave will take over publishing duties from Aksys on the game, which features shooting "various projectiles (bombs, bullets, lasers, arrows, etc.) at elephants, pigs, goblins, bats, and monsters in constant air battle." ... OK, so that's probably a better concept than ours. Probably.
