Omega Five

Excuse me while I weep quietly into my hands.  See, I am not in Tokyo right now enjoying the XBLA riches that flow forth from Japan.  And that is why I hate Eurogamer so much.

Not only do they get to play games filled with exiting, extending, shooting, more shooting, and even trigger hearts (whatever those are), but they decided to post up their impressions just to rub it in my face.  That's right.  To spite me.  Specifically.

Damn them.

[via Eurogamer]

Continuing the flow of media out of Microsoft's pre-Tokyo Game Show announcements comes these screens for Omega Five.

Omega Five, if you will remember, is the side-scrolling 2D shooter with 3D elements from Hudson Entertainment (Bomberman Live!) and Natsume (Harvest Moon series). The game looks to be shaping up nicely. Let's hope the control issues have been ironed out.

After taking a peek below tell me: anyone more interested now? Less?

[Update]: 1UP's preview of the game indicates the single-stick controls have been ditched for the now typical dual-stick controls.  But then they have other issues with the game.  Thanks, lastof7.

Here's an old screen:

And here are the new ones (notice the few visual changes since last we saw the game):

Okay, so we all know now how wrong I was about the Brutally Fun site.  However, it was not a total loss.  Alongside the announcement of Ninja Gaiden 2 was a bevy of Japanese themed XBLA games that are coming.

And guess what is among them?  Ikaruga.  It even says "available soon."

As awesome as it is to hear Ikaruga's solidly confirmed (not that we didn't expect it), I must say the surprise story for me is the announcement of Rez coming to XBLA.  Then again, maybe it shouldn't surprise me after all.

The full list of mentioned XBLA games is as follows: Every Extend Extra Extreme (Q Entertainment), EXIT (Taito), Ikaruga (Treasure Co. Ltd.), OMEGA FIVE (Hudson Entertainment), Rez (Q Entertainment), Triggerheart Exelica (Warashi), Braid (Number None Inc.), Castlecrashers (The Behemoth), and Schizoid (Torpex Games LLC).

I'm too tired to say anything else of value, so just read the details after the break and let all this all sink in.

News Flash from xbox.com after the break.

[via xbox.com]

A little while ago, we broke a story about the upcoming Natsume developed shooter Omega Five.  And up until now, our only impression of the game was from a couple screens and some bad machine translation.  Well that has all changed.  We finally have a better picture of what Omega Five is all about thanks to a hands-on preview at Joystiq.

In the game you control a flying, gun-wielding ninja pitted against a massive army of robotic combatants.  Don't think that this ninja's blade skills will go unused -- there will also be a way to execute sword attacks.  If that doesn't sound bizarre enough for you, movement and aiming (which can move independently) are both controlled by a single thumbstick.

...how in the...?

Yup, both are controlled with a single thumbstick, but the controls are still being modified and tweaked.  Zack Stern (of Joystiq) even admits that the controls were a little troublesome.  Let's hope Natsume and Hudson iron those issues out before release.  The game will follow Bomberman Live! as Hudson's next XBLA offering so don't expect it anytime very soon.

[via Joystiq]

Looks like Hudson has more than just Bomberman Live! up their collective sleeves.  Xbox Gazette broke a story (in French) on the upcoming Natsume (you know, the Harvest Moon devs) developed, Hudson published Omega Five.

There are a bunch of images of the game at the site so check 'em out.  It seems to be a side-scrolling 2D style shooter but with 3D elements.  Machine translation of the page is pretty rough, but apparently the hook of the game will be enemies emerging from the 3D background and not just from the top and bottom of the screen like most side-scrolling shooters.

Based on the images available it looks like the game is close to completion but we never can tell.  (I said the same thing about Mutant Storm Empire six months ago...)  The article states it will likely cost 800 MS Points.

[via Xbox Gazette]