I really didn't like it. It's gorgeous, but it's a Euroshmup through and through, with simple whack-a-mole stage design, farty underpowered weapons, and a timing system in place of lives (you lose seconds off the clock instead of dying immediately, etc). I haven't seen such a frustrating penalty for getting hit since the original Darius, either; rather than simply being partially or fully lost, your power-ups spread out across the screen, supposedly giving you a chance to pick them back up again. Quite often, though, they'll be ejected in one big lump headed straight for one of the edges of the screen, which will mean an instant loss of everything if you're already close to an edge. And then you're left to play with a peashooter and slowly try to regain your power. It's just full of tedious shit like that*. It also has a rubbish story (hailed as a work of genius by professional journos) that breaks up the action every few minutes.

So, aye, I can't really recommend it. I heard it was dirt cheap on the PC, though - if that's true, you might as well try it and see what you think. You can definitely squeeze some fun out of the arcade mode. Make sure you have an analogue controller, though. It's not for standard sticks/d-pads/arrow keys...

Not much different from the last, but here's the new Ginga Force trailer.

Former Digital Reality creative director Theodore Reiker - best known for his work on the shockingly sophisticated shmup [loooooool -YOG], Sine Mora - has left to start a new studio, Prior Games, where he'll be working on another Japanese-Hungarian co-developed shmup for 2014.

Codenamed Project Verona, little is known about it, but Reiker said in an interview with Joystiq that it would be "more conservative in its gameplay and less ambiguous in its storytelling," and that it will branch out of the genre's conventions.

Reiker also noted that he'll be working on a series of mobile "microgames" in the meantime in the vein of Nintendo's minimalist bit.Generations and Art Style series.

The first of these, Rotolla, is described as "a hybrid of Tetris' gameplay and our mad love of hexagons since Super Hexagon." It will feature a soundtrack by legendary Silent Hill and Sine Mora composer Akira Yamaoka.

"Our plan is to release four microgames this year and a second wave of three titles next year," Reiker explained. "We are a small company and we do not want to grow beyond 15 persons... We would like to keep the 'manufacture' feeling even if the company size is limiting the scope of our output."

http://www.playism-games.com/games/satazius/

Satazius is now available on Playism ($5.99), for anyone who didn't or can't get it through the other outlets. Though I'm skint, I'm actually considering paying for it a third time. What a mug.

Retro chick arcade gaming at its finest!

Just saw this announced on the shmups twitter feed - Ginga Force is now available on the Hong Kong Games On Demand service for the princely sum of $299HK. The download isn't IP locked either, so you can buy it from any region on any region console with a HK gamertag. I bought it within the UK using a HK gamertag linked to my UK paypal account and it came to £25.63. More than most shmup GoD titles for some reason but still significantly cheaper than 2nd hand copies.

Super Stardust HD.

I want this. But 60 euros. Wow