Square Enix should really stop churning out RPG rehashes and do something new, we’ve all heard that phrase, we’ve all said it at some point, be careful what you wish for.  Square Enix has announced two new titles for the Japanese Xbox Live Arcade. 0 Day Attack on Earth, the one you see above and CUBE which is after the jump.

Both games are shooters, both made by the same company that makes the prettiest, smoothest RPGs around and both look like crap.

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It is safe to say that Ultimate Shooting Collection from UFO Interactive is far from the Ultimate Shooting Collection that most shoot ‘em up (shmup) fans dream of (a compilation disc that features Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga and Mars Matrix to name only a select few). However, in a time where most shmups seem to be XBLA or PSN bound it is nice to see a publisher paying some respect to the genre starved Wii. Even if those shmups just so happen to have been previously released on last generation consoles.

Ultimate Shooting Collection for the Nintendo Wii features three top-down shmups from Japan-based developer Milestone: Radio Allergy, Karous and Chaos Field. Chaos Field as some may recall was previously released a few years back on the Nintendo GameCube, whereas Radio Allergy and Karous; this is the first time they are setting foot on US soil…’er flying around in US air space. But like Chaos Field, all three have been previously released in Asian territories on the Sega Dreamcast. So in essence, it really should be called Milestone Shooting Collection. At any rate it is what it is so let’s move on and take a deeper look into the depths of bullet hell.

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As far as flash games go its rare to find something truly exciting anymore, AstroFlyer is one of those rare exceptions. This Game is already 6 months old and some of you may already know it but its still worth a mention. Its a faux-3D shooter akin to the original Starfox on the SNES, nothing surprising there! In fact there is nothing surprising about the gameplay either, where this game truly shines is on its design. The game has a very modern art style and a jazzy/loungy soundtrack that evolves as you advance through the levels, which can get pretty hard let me tell you. So if you’ve got some minutes to waste go on and give AstroFlyer a try!

[AstroFlyer]

Taste the awesomeness, bitches!

At Microsoft’s big pre-Tokyo Game Show press release, some upcoming titles were announced for Xbox Live Arcade. Among them are fan favorites Rez and Ikaruga. Yes, you heard me right. Not a What-If, not a dream, not an Alterna-Universe story. Two sought-out games, both from a collector’s and hardcore gamer’s point of view, are going to come out by the first quarter of 2008. According to the press release on Rez in Japan,

“We are excited to announce that Rez will be given a new life, this time in digital form,” said Mizuguchi. “The game will be presented in hi-definition and will be accessible to those who did not have a chance to experience Rez the first time around.

Rez will be presented in HD and in 5.1 Stereo, while Ikaruga’s upgrade is yet to be determined, apart from spiffed-up graphics. At least now we don’t have to pay up to our noses for these two games now. Plus, it gives me more time to think of many other possible releases. Radiant Silvergun, anyone? It’ll be $492 dollars less on Live Arcade.

[News by Kotaku]

Technorati : Q!, TGS, XBLA, japan, microsoft, shooters, took you guys a while, treasure

Oh here at DDN we do love us some nice Touhou musics! So when I saw this here video of one of them Touhou songs made on Mario Paint I just shouted YEEEHAAW! But enough with channeling dead cowboys, the video is pretty amusing and for those of you that know the tunes its pretty sweet!

Forget all about your R-type and your Touhou shooters, its all about the Neko shooter. The people from Nekogames, who make awesome cat-based flash games, made this cat shooter for Flash Game Festival 07. It has a great soundtrack, great sound effects and many many cats, longcats, hairballs and even Toro-kun. Go play it, and if you think its easy, the second time around gets much harder.

[Kokoro Zaeega / Via Japan Probe]

Well with the April Fool’s Holiday not so far behind us, this news might be hit or miss, this would be quite the elaborate joke otherwise, so lets all cross our fingers.
Apparently TypeMoon is planning a game crossing, Tsukhime Characters, with a Card Captor Sakura, and Nanoha A’s Shmup game. Yeah hard to believe, but unfortunately with my lack of being able to read moonspeak (Japanese) I cant really say. The site where this comes from looks almost legit, but the horrible artwork throws me off guard. BUT WE CAN STILL HOPE!

As dry and near dead as the shooter genre is in the west, its still a thriving genre in Japan, like that DoDonPachi Daioujou bullet hell we had some months ago. Another immensely popular shooter (and a fan-made game) is the Touhou series of shooters. And its about to become an anime series!

It makes perfect sense since Touhou has a high emphasis on character backgrounds and overall story. It makes no sense in that watching a 20 minute episode of pretty laser beams and energy orbs sweeping across the screen might not be that fun, unless you’re stoned. You aren’t stoned, are you?

Thanks Dark_Mercury

Japanese Shooters are known for being ridiculously complex. Hell, before them shooters where easy arcade games with 5 bullets on screen at most. Today I was shown this video of DoDonPachi Daioujou, one of the worse offenders of bullet curtains, its so ridiculously difficult legend has it no one in Japan ever beat it on the arcade. To reach the final boss you had to play a second run of the game. This video shows a run of all of the game’s bosses. The final boss is the very definition of bullet hell. Oh, let me correct, final bosses, thats right you fight two bosses on the last stage. Simultaneously.