Whoops.

So I've been holding off on buying an Xbox 360 until there's a decent number of games I really want to play on there. Notice I didn't say 'good games', I said 'games I really want to play'. My life doesn't consist solely of sitting around playing video games, however much this 'blog makes it appear that way. No, I pretty much have to be assured of being REALLY into it, in order to buy and spend time playing it.

So up to this point, the Xbox 360 has had about three games I've had lined up to buy right away when I finally knuckled under and got the console. Shutokou Battle X (Import Tuner Challenge), Senko no Ronde (Wartech), and Earth Defense Force. All badass, all truly kvlt.

Anyway, three games do not an expensive console purchase justify. Then the news that a number of STGs originally designed by Cave were going to be ported to this machine. Holy crap, that accelerated my timetable!

But wait. By all accounts, the first Cave port, Dodonpachi Dai Ou Jou EX is utter rubbish! Nooooooo!

Cave ports to consoles have been something of a mixed bag, with only software house Arika really seeming to nail them down to being 'arcade perfect'. BUT. They are all playable. Occasional graphic or slowdown issues aside the games look and play recognisably like their arcade counterparts.

I haven't delved deep enough into the issues surrounding the new Dodonpachi for the Xbox 360, but as I understand it, as soon as you start to play using the deeper mechanics that Cave shooters are known for... that is to say, not just moving and shooting... the whole game falls apart. The company responsible is already online apologising and talking about issuing a patch to fix it. This does not bode well for the future planned ports, which I believe are from this same developer... assuming Cave doesn't pull the license from them for such a botched job.

I'm being a bit of a cock not just buying the Xbox for the three (and probably more) games I want to play. But to play the Cave games I'm looking at an import console, and that ups the price again. I guess in a way I should be grateful I've been spared spending the money since things are a bit tight in my life at the moment!