Beeps and clicks

I can feel the bottom coming up fast as I scrape around for things that I haven't read on other websites before, so this will be the last post for a bit. Insanity Naked Hunter Group seems to have gotten into the music business, since, you know, no one is making any more shooting games worth making superplay DVD's out of. Instead, INH decided to partner up with OST publisher extraordinaire, TEAM Entertainment, and put out collections of old arcade game music from companies like Jaleco, Irem, Data East and Taito. I can't think of any games put out by those companies that had particularly memorable music, but they were all around quality productions for their time. If you want to get your nostalgia fix on by rocking out to some Undercover Cops or Rastan, then check 'em out.

Quiet box

I'm spending this boring Saturday afternoon stuck at work, by catching up with old, once-relevant game makers. That's where I found the latest from Noise Factory, Noise Box for iPhone. It's pretty much a simple soundboard with a "happy" tone, "sad" tone, doorbell, etc. Really super bare-bones, which is why this thing is free from the App store. There is a drum kit add-on available for .99c. That's not even worth the asking price Noise. Now if you'd give me a Goketsuji Ichizoku/Power Instinct sound board, I'd actually give you money for that. How the mighty have fallen. *sad tone*

In GI related news, the PSX port of Gokesuji Ichizoku 2 has been available on PSN since April for ¥600.

Chaos/limited codes

In addition to Japanese Andriod games, this blog has sort of become the only place on the internets you'll find any information pertaining to the Taiwanese, KOF-"inspired" 2D arcade fighter called Chaos Code. And even then, it'll only be mentioned in passing, and likely with a snarky undertone. Much to my chagrin, the game has risen to the top of the gaming scene of note, pretty much by default, for being the ONLY original arcade game to see release in the past 5 years. Yes, after years of AOU appearances and location tests, this damn thing will finally see distribution. The publishing partner will be 2D heroes Arc System Works, and the hardware will be SEGA's Rindwide board. The game is scheduled to ship to amusement centres (*ahem*) centers sometime in August of 2011. Who wants to place bets on the time frame for a XBLA/PSN downloadable version? I say Holiday '11 for $10.

Rabbits fighting to come again

In happier news, Arc System Works' perennial underdog fighter, Battle Fantasia will be uploaded to Taito's NESiCAxLive network on July 7th, preserving it's wonky 2.5D fighting engine for all time. This game is only historically significant as the game that helped convince Capcom's top brass that a new 3D Street Fighter could be made not shittyly. Everything else about Battle Fantasia, from the character designs to the fighting mechanics feels derivative and uninspired. The last boss is a hulking armored guy who's also on fire. Great job, Arcsy.

Progress, but at what price?

Owing to the rise in popularity of owning a smart phone and/or tablet, the rise in popularity of struggling development houses to prop up their shaky operations with quick and dirty, licensed cash-in software for said devices, and the rise in popularity of people with more money than sense that actually buy that crap, Japanese game media publishing giant, Enterbrain have started up Famitsu App. The website will collate the growing number of posts from their various other media sites that get tagged "iPhone" or "Android" at one convenient URL. Already the site has earned it's keep by pointing out that Systemsoft Alpha's girls-as-war-machines sim, Moe Moe 2-ji Taisen was recently ported over to iOS, (~$25!? Eff that!) and that SunSoft has released a bunch of Mahjong/Shanghai tile matching things on Android devices. (I guess that Telnet Japan acquisition worked out so well, eh?) The tiles in those sometimes feature classic SunSoft characters instead of the usual bamboo sticks or colored balls, like that rocket pack wearing guy from Galaxy Fight, or the tank from Blaster Master. Yes, this passes for news these days. And yes, I'm just a little bit bitter that the majority of headlines I click on Famitsu.com's game page now link to the App site.