More arcade shooters make life better!

There’s been a listing over at Amazon for a few weeks now for Raiden Fighters Aces, but it didn’t give a lot of detail and, just to make it a bit harder to verify, listed the publisher as Zoo Games.  As it turns out the publisher is Valcon, which would explain why the friendly people over at Zoo had no idea what I was talking about.

Now that the question of publisher is sorted out it can be confirmed that, yes, Raiden Fighters Aces is getting a US release at last.  A Valcon rep has verified this.  The release date of March 24 is an estimation by Amazon, so don’t mark your caldendars yet, but it’s going to get here sooner or later.

Raiden Fighters Aces is an anthology of the three arcade Raiden spin-offs- Raiden Fighters, Raiden Fighters 2:  Operation Hell Dive, and Raiden Fighters Jet.  There’s a demo on the Japanese marketplace, so check it out if you’ve got the appropriate account.

And it’s free, too!

World of Goo is more than just one of the cleverest puzzle games to come along in years, it’s also got a fantastic soundtrack that fits the game’s cheerfully odd mood perfectly.  Now that soundtrack is available to anyone who wants it, whether you bought the game or not.  The tunes have been remastered and a few even reconstructed, and the entire download provides about 49 minutes of music.  That’s a fantastic deal for free.

Check it out, it’s definitely worth the download.

The XBLA release date is still unknown

Explanatory note-  normally I don’t consider “Game coming soon!  Set your calendars now!” to be newsworthy, but there’s a lot of misinformation out there about the Gridrunner+++ release.  So, in the interest of clarity-

My all-time favorite arcade shooter is Gridrunner++, so I’ve been waiting with more than a little impatience for news on a date of its sequel, Gridrunner +++ (working title, subject to change and a plusectomy).  Now it has a projected release window of “end of April”, making the long winter months look all the colder and darker for the wait.  The important thing is that it’s finally coming, though, so that’s worth being excited about.

It’s important to note, however, that the version being talked about is for the PC.  There will probably be an XBLA version if Microsoft ever gets around to communicating with Llamasoft, but until that happens there’s no way to know when.  It’s going to be just a bit longer for news on when we can play Gridrunner+++ in glorious widescreen with full leaderboard support.  Soon, please!

Bulling the web one more time.

Space Giraffe is one of the best shooters ever, and now it’s available on PC.  More than just a simple port, though, this new version features a new graphics engine for snazzier effects along with two versions of the game.  The original layout is available as the Acid Mix, in all its incredible eye-melting glory, while the NUXX mix more clearly separates the foreground from the all-new backgrounds.  There’s also a free demo from the linked page, letting those not sure of their PC’s graphic prowess run a few tests while blasting and bulling through the first nine levels.

Check it out, for it is awesome.

With Llamasoft providing the pyrotechnics.

Space Invaders Extreme is one of the best games released for the Nintendo DS this year, but it always felt like it could use a bit more “Oomph!”  One of the great pieces of news from the Tokyo Game Show is that it’s going to get an upgrade thanks to an XBLA port by Backbone Entertainment with background visualizers custom-created by Llamasoft.  Details on any upgrades outside of audiovisual quality in the primary single-player game are scarce, but there are new multiplayer modes for up to four gamers, either single-console or online.  It’s a bit of a wait to the projected release date of “2009″ to see what’s new and what’s changed, but Space Invaders Extreme is worth looking forward to.