NewNews - Treasure puts up Ikaruga on Steam

Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=183195387
Source: Youtube Channel TREASURE Channel

I might have mentioned this before, as I tell the story often, but one of my biggest regrets in gaming was not picking up Ikaruga when I saw it for $20 new for the Nintendo Gamecube at a wholesale store.  I would have not guessed that a shoot-em-up would become so rare on the Gamecube and so sought out.  I searched for years after that for a used copy and never found one.  A few years back, I was with a friend at a Gamestop and he grabbed a game and looked and me saying "look what I found".  I was excited and ready to buy it right then and there, and then he said he was going to buy it...But of course he invited me over to play with him as it supports 2-player cooperative play.  Still, I never got to go through the whole game and I'm not close by my friend's place no more.  So it was only natural that I was very happy and excited to see Ikaruga show up on Steam Greenlight front page.

If you've never heard of the game and wondering why so many people are getting excited over it, it's one of the most finely crafted and challenging vertical shoot-em-ups that featured a polarity system where players were encouraged to run into bullets of the affinity they are switched to.  It also didn't have that many prints go out for consoles which is why it became so rare.  From what it says on the Steam Greenlight page, the steam version of Ikaruga will be an updated version of the Xbox Live Arcade version which was already updated from previous versions.  Besides its simple but innovative polarity game mechanic and its challenging nature, the game was often praised for its beautiful visuals as well.  The Steam version will have vertical screen mode (Do you have a wide-screen monitor that can be switched sideways?  It's perfect for shoot-em-ups!), 2-player cooperative mode, Xbox 360 controller compatibility (WHY?  I'm okay if it's that AND other controllers, but it's ALWAYS only Xbox 360 controller!), and Double Play mode for the most extreme shoot-em-up players where you play two ships on one controller (yes, at the same time).  Besides possibly only being compatible with a Xbox 360 controller, I'm pretty excited about getting Ikaruga on Steam.

NewNews - A 3DS exclusive by Treasure

Official JP Site: http://www.treasure-inc.co.jp/index01.html
Source: Youtube Channel lije

The developers that has brought great games such as Gunstar Heroes, Guardian Heroes, Mischief Makers, Sin and Punishment, and Ikaruga now plans on making a 3DS exclusive.  I have no idea what it is, but I'm hoping it's something with good replay value or game play time.  Treasure seems to excel at making shooters.  Be they run 'n guns, shoot 'em ups, rail-shooters, or side-scroll shooters, Treasure makes games with a certain charm to them.  Guardian Heroes was one of the exceptions that wasn't a shooter, but a classic beat-em-up with branching storylines and RPG elements that had me playing the game over and over.  We can all get excited about this new game that Treasure is developing, but there's no guarantee that the Western market will get a chance to play it.  All we can do is wait and see.

Source:
-Joystiq - Treasure working on 3DS exclusive