Friday, March 25, 2011

Mamoru-Kun PSN Demo now available

The upcoming PS3 port of Mamoru-kun ha Norowareteshimatta (Mamoru-kun has been cursed) now has a demo available on the Japanese PSN.  It's best if you grab it now, since the Ryu Ga Gotoku Of The End demo was removed after only a week or two, and that was before the Tohoku Earthquakes.  Not sure what good releasing and taking down a demo for a game before it's release does. I've also noticed the Catherine demo has disappeared which is a real shame. 

In happier news there is a collection of free Malicious avatars.  I'll talk about the new and supposedly improved Malicious camera soon too.

Mamoru-kun PS3 official site
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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 26, 2011 at 1:56 AM

    Mamoru-kun is an underappreciated gem. I'd take it over Deathsmiles any day.

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  2. SketczMarch 26, 2011 at 5:34 AM

    I'd read that for Catherine they pulled it after reaching a certain download number - I wonder if that's the case for most Japanese PSN demos?

    I find it utterly bizarre, since I can't see how in any way it makes business sense. Even if a game is several years old, having its demo on PSN would show new hardware buyers, "Look, we've got hundreds of games out right now."

    Plus it bolsters the reputation of a series and a developer's profile.

    I've bought many an old game based off the demos which are still up, and in the case of something like Armored Core which is having its fifth instalment out soon, surely it's beneficial to have the two earlier demos up? Actually, Armored Core 4 and 4A might both still be up, I'm not sure. But Sega should have left all the Ryu ga Gotoku demos up (Kenzan, 3, and 4), since it creates a strong presence for the franchise.

    There's been a bunch of weird and/or awesome stuff on the JPN blog which is now gone.

    Do they really cost developers so much having them up that it's cost-effective to remove them? I think this whole situation highlights one of the failings of Japanese developers when it comes to the online realm.

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  3. AnonymousMarch 26, 2011 at 11:53 AM

    Chances are they removed a few things as some servers were turned off (to save energy, like those mmorpgs did).

    also, unrelated, will there ever be a Grandia series article on the site? you've mentioned it alot in other articles but a full indepth thing would be good (ok it may take time to play all 3 main and 4(?) spinoffs but it'd be worth it, right?).

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  4. DiscoalucardMarch 26, 2011 at 12:31 PM

    Grandia was one of the many, many series I began an article for (started screenshotting) but just never really got off the ground. I played the first three when they came out (not including Xtreme and that Gameboy game) so I'm pretty familiar with the series. Stick it in the "maybe someday" column. Such rad battle systems, but the stories get progressively more embarrassing as they go on.

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  5. SketczMarch 26, 2011 at 12:46 PM

    @anon:
    They've been removing stuff from the Japanese PSN since it started, years back. Nothing to do with recent tragedies over there.

    There was an obscure visual novel for PS3 (Ikibikisu or something - I always forget the name, story involving narcotics) which came off years back.

    I'm not sure whether it's Sony's Japan division in charge of PSN, or simply Japanese developers, but there's something afoot with demos being pulled a few weeks after going up.

    I can't actually think of any demo on the US or UK PSN which have been pulled, whether western or Japanese developed.

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  6. AnonymousMarch 26, 2011 at 6:17 PM

    maybe a grandia article? yippeee!

    though the upcoming(?) Grandia mmorpg may ruin those plans. heres still hoping for a true grandia 4 someday.

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  7. RudieMarch 27, 2011 at 11:23 PM

    Deathsmiles is great in every way you take that back annon.

    And blogger ate the first time I wrote this comment! An easy justification for why they take down demos is the used games market. The re-sale turn around time is getting shorter and shorter. Japan also doesn't have a policy for returning unsold stock (which is why you see FFXIII new for 500 yen!) So after a month, there is no financial reason to have the game available, because it will no longer make them money.

    This theory falls apart when you realize they still have the demo for Ryu Ga Gotoku 3.

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  8. AnonymousMarch 29, 2011 at 8:09 PM

    Hey, no disrespect to Deathsmiles, but personally, I enjoyed Mamoru-kun a lot more. Dual-analog mode works really well, too - it's even better than the original arcade controls.

    I think you're right about the Japanese demos, Rudie. The Ryu ga Gotoku 3 demo is probably still up because there's a Greatest Hits version.

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