Every Extend Shows Off Free Japanese Shooter Stylings

Thanks to Insert Credit for pointing to the freely downloadable PC shoot-em-up Every Extend, advertising "The Ultimate UCHU-Action From STG" - over at fansite Doujinaroni, there's an interview with the creator, Omega (scroll down for Frenchlish version) rating the game as "a real drug", and when asked about the hidden boss' name, ABA, says "I show my respect for [TUMIKI Fighters creator Kenta 'ABA' Cho, previously featured on Slashdot Games] so I use his name in my game."

Comments

makes me glad.

[himitsu]

It's great to see that Japan isn't so far in economic trouble that its youth has given up on making free games for us all.

Re:makes me glad.

[linzeal]

It is good to see that anyone is willing to make free games in this hard economic times instead of milking every last dime out of what you do no matter how routine or original.

Re:makes me glad.

[paulymer5]

I've always wondered how much of the free game / free stuff community (such as all the doujinshi etc.) comes as a result of the culture over there. Lost in Translation was less fictional than most people think. My relatives in Japan, born in the States, told me to watch it saying, "See, that's how I feel!"

I've also been told that those who can't really do well on the dating scene (being nerds, and I've heard that the girls really go for foreigners anyway), either work or goof off all the time. Strikes me as the perfect environment to start churning out a bunch of free, fun games. Especially when adults love playing around (think pachinko, for one) as much as the kids and teens.

Re:makes me glad.

[himitsu]

well, I understand that concerning doujinshi many artists make hentai and non hentai doujins to establish a name for themselves in the manga market, and then move on to bigger projects from their previous material. I always thought it was funny to think that all the really crazy hentai is actually produced by some large publishing houses and that someplace old Japanese men are regarding the sales figures for "Tentacle Sex Commando Girl Ayaka! vol 6". Also, I guess most of the artists that make the original anime/manga turn a blind eye to doujin writers because any publicity is good publicity. I don't know exactly what you mean by the attitude from Lost in Translation... On your third note, being a nerd myself I know what its like to sit at home and work on some obscure project and not get the girls. But friends who have homestayed in Japan tell me you are correct on the foreigner angle, because Japanese girls seem to know that marrying outside the country's own will net them a man who isn't so male centric as the Japanese man. It's a tough balance, because I am all for women's equality like here in the US, but if women get a bigger stake in Japan, then I don't get as much fan service in anime....

Re:WTF

[obeythefist]

"Every Extend" is the name of the game. It's a pretty average translation from Japanese to English
You think that's bad?

There's this new game out there called "Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow". That's not the funny part. The developers *wanted* to call it that. In english.

Go figure. Or tell me what it's supposed to mean!

An alternative link

[zr-rifle]

Here

Re:An alternative link

[Anonymous Coward]

Where's the mobs, and bloodspray?

I want gory violence in my shooters, or else I will murder someone!

Re:An alternative link

[jeremywjones.com]

I agree. Games need violence so we don't have to take it out on other people.

Re:WTF

[NSash]

I don't think you're being fair. Pandora Tomorrow is a fine name, compared to what they could have chosen.

Re:WTF

[lightspawn]

You think that's bad? There's this new game out there called "Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow". That's not the funny part. The developers *wanted* to call it that.

It's not so bad. I remember the very same Insert Credit posting a link to Kanosshu 2 -Triangle Vacation.

It is good to see that some people are giving their triangles time off every once in a while in these hard economic times instead of milking every last hour of work out of them.

Re:WTF

[Boiotos]

Never played Splinter Cell, probably never will. But assuming it is the usual Jack Bauer, you're-the-only-man-who-can-stop-the-terrorists action, I'm guessing they're referring to the Pandora of Greek mythology, who released all evils upon the earth.

The following likely has nothing to do with the game, but Hesiod tells us additionally that 'hope' (elpis) was also in the jar, and that was the only thing that didn't escape. About which, scholars for centuries have been re-echoing the title of this thread, WTF??

This game is amazing.

[skermit]

I had a fun time with this game, and its graphics are very reminicent of games like Rez, or even back to Tempest 2000. Plus, if you win, it gives you funny ratings such as Dot Eater (pukman I guess?), GAMMBARE ("do your best!"), and A++- (yeah, that's A plus plus minus heh).

Re:This game is amazing.

[hooverbag]

if you win, it gives you funny ratings such as Dot Eater (pukman I guess?)

This may be a reference to Ikaruga, which gives you a rating of "Dot Eater" if you complete a level without firing a single shot.

Absorbing enemy bullets of the same colour as your ship charges up a smart bomb type attack, so defeating the boss and completing the level is still possible.

Re:This game is amazing.

[|/|/|||]

Yeah, but you can't use the "smart bomb attack" either. To get a dot eater rating, you have to just hang out and avoid attacks until time runs out.

Ikaruga is an awesome game, BTW.

Re:WTF

[cluke]

There was a funny comment in the Guardian about that, saying the name sounded more like an entry in Adrian Mole's diary than an action game.

Anyway, don't talk to me about that game. My girlfriend bought me the PC version for my birthday (I had actually wanted Final Fantasy X-2 but I was afraid to ask lest the name and box art made her think I was asking for some sort of pornography) and I went through the henious 4 CD install progress only for the game to crap out every time I ran it. I check the back of the box, and in minscule print it informs me that the game does not work at all on GeForce MXs. WTF? Apparently the MX just cannot render the action with the sufficient subtely of uber-shadowiness that Ubisoft demand, so they just said "sod it" to supporting that card in any form.

And of course she never kept the receipt. And Game don't accept PC returns either.

Hrumph. Rant over.

Other Offerings from Across the Pacific

[MiceHead]

If you enjoyed Every Extend, you might also enjoy Kenta Cho's Tumiki Fighters, A7Xpg, or my personal favorite, Parsec 47. Tumiki Fighters is a stylish shooter, where pieces of your battered enemies glom onto your ship; eventually, you become a behemoth that can't help but stumble into incoming fire. I love Parsec 47, because it brings me back to arcades during the early '80s. MAME does this in a nostalgic manner, but Parsec does a great job of overwhelming the player with bright, flashy, fun graphics. It's what I remember arcade games to be.

Cho's games are why I'll contend that smaller developers can still wow audiences with style -- Parsec's not art-centric-beautiful, the way Doom III is; it's just damned pretty.

Re:Other Offerings from Across the Pacific

[xenocide2]

I've been working on porting the Mr Cho's games to Linux, but its something of a pain. Even though he uses several technologies designed to make the process simple, there's a few gotchas. He uses a library called libBulletML that parses XML files for enemy firing patterns, and the latest two are written in D. So far I've only been able to get parsec47 working. Additionally, installation on a *nix machine is going to be problematic, since it just assumes the game has been placed in entirety in one directory.

That said, parsec is a pretty awesome game. It could use a few more improvements to solidify and use all the available ways to present information to players, but none of it matters much to anyone who wants to pick it up and enjoy for five minutes.

Re:WTF

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Whine about old crap card not running current games.
2. ???
3. Profit!

Re: Your sig:

[King_of_Prussia]

you may want to change your sig, k5 registration has been closed for weeks, with no sign of ever reopening.

Re:WTF

[obeythefist]

Hey, at least you'll have some catching up to do when you upgrade. And upgrading is part of the fun!