Omega-Five
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Hudson 3DS titles listed as canceled in latest Famitsu
This week's Famitsu notes that several Hudson 3DS titles have been canned, according to Andriasang. The current list includes some of the planned 3DS titles like Bomberman, Bonk and Omega Five, which were all announced last October. Hudson has gone through a serious shift since the Konami takeover earlier this year. Konami is set to take full control of the company and replace Hudson's CEO with its own next week. Update: A Konami spokesperson tells Wired the publisher hasn't "distributed any official list of Hudson products yet."
Famitsu: XBLA shmup Omega Five coming to 3DS
It's okay if you don't remember Omega Five. The Natsume-developed side-scrolling shump hit XBLA (pictured) in early 2008 and has since shot into obscurity. According to Famitsu, the game is set to appear on Nintendo 3DS in Japan during Spring 2011 -- where it'll probably make a more memorable bow among a launch lineup otherwise devoid of "traditional" shoot-em-ups. Hudson published Omega Five on XBLA. The company hasn't made a peep about the 3DS version, but we'll check in to see what -- if anything -- it has to say about a possible North American release.
Cave shooters denied XBLA release by Microsoft
Recently Xbox Live Arcade has shown considerable potential as a home for shoot 'em ups, from the Forgotten Worlds-channeling Omega Five to monochrome shooter Ikaruga's looming release. However, to hear talk from 5pb, the devs charged with bringing Cave's nefarious DoDonPachi series as well as its latest shooter Ketsui to XBLA's digital frontier, the platform still has a few nagging hang ups keeping it from becoming a beacon for shmups.Echoing N+ developer Metanet's recent comments concerning what does and does not make it to the service, 5pb spoke out about similar frustrations in the latest issue of Famitsu, revealing that both of its ports of DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label X and Ketsui X had been summarily rejected for release over XBLA, with Microsoft claiming that it's "going to cut down on faithful arcade ports." Only faithful ones?We agree that there is certainly a glut of arcade nonsense on XBLA, but this is equivalent to throwing the baby out with the bathwater. 5pb and Cave are reportedly now working to bring both games to market through traditional retail channels in a defiant effort to show Microsoft "that their decision was wrong." Now all we need is a publisher with an eye for niche Japanese releases to pick the games up for release outside of Japan. Altus, are you listening?[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Omega Five and Tron hit XBLA
It's hard to get used to the now consistent barrage of bite-sized games offered on Xbox Live Arcade. This week brings the ever delectable combo of both a retro title and an original title. Lest you don't know which is which, Tron is an arcade game circa 1982. You may recall an awesome movie of the same name. The game features both original and improved graphics, online and offline multiplayer gameplay, and kick ass light cycles. As is the case with most retro titles, the only question you really have to ask yourself is if you enjoyed the original enough to plunk down the 400 MS Point entry fee. Of course, you can always give the trial version a go.Omega Five is an omni-directional side-scrolling shooter. In other words, you move with the left stick and shoot with the right stick, just like many other shooters on XBLA. Unlike many other shooters on the service though, Omega Five pays tribute to the Japanese shoot 'em ups that littered both arcades and consoles in the late eighties and early nineties. Pick a character, move to the right, and shoot everything that moves. Honestly, except for the addition of a few more directional options, game design hasn't changed that much, has it? Alas, Omega Five's multiplayer is restricted to local co-op. Still, if blasting is your thing, you may want to give it a try. If it tickles your fancy, the whole enchilada can be had for 800 MS Points.%Gallery-13038%%Gallery-12550%Read -- Tron - Game Detail PageRead -- Omega Five - Game Detail Page
This Wednesday: Omega Five, Tron get digitized, sucked into Xbox Live
We already knew about Omega Five (you did read that post, didn't you?) so we're not going to waste your time going through all the gory details. It's 800 points, it's an action game, we liked it. No, we're going to skip right to the retro release this week: Tron, a 400-point HD sprucing of the old arcade favorite.Not only will you experience the visceral thrill of speeding around in light cycles and killing a dude with a dinner plate, you're also going to be able to do it 2-player, an option not available on the arcade original. If we have one quibble, it's that Discs of Tron (also in development for XBLA) isn't included in the package. Are the two really worth splitting up?%Gallery-2940%%Gallery-3982%
Omega Five and Tron launch to the XBLA this week
We just received a heads up from the folks over at the Gamerscore Blog telling us that this week we'll be treated to an XBLA twofer. One that we fully expected and one that sort of snuck up on us.Both Hudson's Omega Five and some very, very old-school Tron will make their way to the XBLA this Wednesday, January 9th with a reception the scale of a presidential inauguration. Omega Five will release for 800 Microsoft points and feature pretty 3D graphics, local co-op and crazy amounts of "boom!", "kablam!" and "splat!". Tron on the other hand will release for 400 Microsoft points and feature multiplayer co-op local or over Live (double the grid bug killing fun!) as well as a versus mode too. Not to mention it'll also sport some sexy CD quality audio. Again, both games will release to the XBLA this Wednesday, so give 'em a try and be smiley.
Omega Five dated for Jan 9th XBLA release
Staying on top of their release schedule announcements, Hudson Entertainment today revealed that their sides scroller Omega Five will be coming to the Xbox Live Arcade next Wednesday, January 9th for 800 Microsoft points. They also revealed some information tidbits about the game's weapons and unlockable characters, all of which is readable in the press release after the jump. And if you still need more Omega Five content, we put together a handy screenshot gallery below for your viewing. Be prepared fanboys. More 3D side scrolling mayhem is coming to the XBLA next week.%Gallery-12550%
Hudson: Omega Five blasting Jan. 9 onto XBLA
Omega Five is back on the radar, receiving a Jan. 9 release date from Hudson Entertainment for Xbox Live Arcade. The game will cost 800 MS points ($10), but since this isn't the official Microsoft announcement, the date could still shift – we've already seen a major release change once before. The last time we heard anything about Omega Five, a quirky side-scrolling shmup, it was expected in November.We have no idea what the game is like now, but we fiddled around with an early build last June. Although, not seeing an XBLA game for over six months is like not seeing a regular game for years.[Via Press Release]%Gallery-3982%
December and January XBLA games revealed
In a press release announcing the Fall Update's Xbox Live Arcade Hits program, Microsoft also announced the next few months' upcoming Xbox Live Arcade games that are scheduled for release. As things stand right now, the next XBLA games to get released are Arkadian Warriors, Brain Challenge, GripShift, N+, Omega Five, Poker Smash, Rez HD and Sensible World of Soccer. No specific release schedule for each game has been confirmed just yet, but it's always nice to see what's headed down the old XBLA pipeline. And this list also lets us officially get excited for N+ and Rez HD. A big w00t to that!
Bionic Command and Omega Five trailers on XBLM
Not too much in the way of interesting content on Xbox Live Marketplace today, though we do have a pair of notable trailers. First up, the debut trailer for Bionic Commando is available now. Granted, there's nothing you haven't seen before, but at least it's hi-def and on your TV now, right? Also available is a trailer for Omega Five, yet another omni-directional shooter for XBLA. This trailer hasn't made it onto the web yet (as far as we can tell), so we've embedded a shaky-cam video from TGS earlier this year. The game looks decent enough, though we're a little miffed that it appears not to include online multiplayer of any sort. The video makes mention of "local co-op" but that's it. And there you have it folks. Go grab these videos if you are so inclined.
Rez, Ikaruga, Exit confirmed for Xbox Live Arcade
If you missed out on our liveblog of Microsoft's pre-TGS conference in Japan (it does, after all, require an excessive and strenuous amount of scrolling to access), you may appreciate and respond with delirious joy to some of the pertinent news to emerge from it. You should also appreciate the amount of effort that went into the preceding and vaguely professional sentence -- we really just wanted to blurt out that REZ ON XBLA YAY. Ahem. Microsoft confirmed that Tetsuya Mizuguchi's melodic shooter will soon make you hear everything you see and see everything you hear on Xbox Live Arcade. Other things you'll see are waves of hypnotic bullets (Ikaruga), saviors adorned with fine hats (EXIT), pulsating geometric shapes (Every Extend Extra Extreme), flying robots (Omega Five) and... er, some sort of Japanese car (Triggerheart Exelica)? No release dates have been announced for any of the games, though we suspect none of them are likely to come soon enough.
Joystiq impressions: Omega Five (XBLA)
As recently leaked, Omega Five is Hudson's next XBLA game to ship after July's Bomberman Live. At a blogger event today, Hudson briefly showed this chaotic Natsume-developed title, and I got a chance to helm a floating ninja-like character in this side-scrolling shoot-'em-up world.What?Yes. Not the first shooter to star human characters, Omega Five sure has a lot of "strange" going for it. But that could be a good thing.%Gallery-3982%
Omega Five, not another Harvest Moon
A French website dug up information on Omega Five, a Hudson Entertainment game being developed for Xbox Live Arcade. This would be the second time in recent memory a French website got a hold of Hudson information early. In March a French site published a video for Bomberman Live (the video wasn't even released publicly until this week) and that video was released four days before the game was officially announced. This time, Xbox Gazette reports that Natsume, best known for the Harvest Moon series, is working on a side-scrolling shooter for XBLA called Omega Five.The game will allegedly be a standard shooter with the exception of enemies coming out of 3D backgrounds. Details are still very sketchy and for some bizarre reason the French site says the game will cost 800 MS points, which sounds reasonable, but is probably a total shot in the dark. Now that the info is out, just like the Bomberman Live stuff, it probably won't take too long to get a basic statement acknowledging the games existence -- you know, unless Hudson and their PR pull a Beautiful Katamari stunt.[Via XBLArcade]
