Babes & bikinis & blood, oh my!
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Dec 11th 2006 at 10:15PM }
The latest installment of the Onechanbara series will debut on Xbox 360 next week in Japan. Is it significant that this cult franchise has jumped from PlayStation 2 to Xbox 360? Has Microsoft finally scored a key victory in Japan? Definitely not. In fact, Microsoft likely prefers to distance itself from this unexceptional achievement.As Onechanbara Vortex opens we find our heroine washing off the day's grime, her schoolgirl sister eyeing the news just as zombies emerge. Newly rinsed, our heroine elects to don a cowboy hat, bikini, and blade, and, joined by sis, embarks on a bloody quest to save the world. The one-button hack n' slasher is rounded out by a dress-up mode.
While seemingly an amalgamation of two high-profile titles -- Dead Rising and Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 -- Vortex's budget production likely means the game will never see release outside of Japan.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Morgan @ Dec 11th 2006 10:52PM
I would play this if it came over.
I mean there's zombies in it.
Anita @ Dec 11th 2006 10:29PM
Well, it certainly looks like some teenage boys are going to be enjoying their xbox 360s this year!
Author X @ Dec 11th 2006 10:39PM
Ah, nothing quite sells rape or murder to young men like incredibly sexualized violence. The only thing that could be better is if it were the half-naked girl getting attacked and mutilated... but that's what slasher flicks are for!
(it should be obvious, but please note, I very much do not condone rape or violence against, well, anyone defenseless persons, but I'm just commenting on the trend of pairing sex with violence in such extremes, and where I think it leads)
The Lamonster @ Dec 12th 2006 3:05AM
Author X: That is why there is a RATING SYSTEM!!!
I am 22 so my mind isn't as weak as a helpless little 10 year old...and I really hope this game comes to the US. Because I want to dress up a hot chick and take her out on the land to slaughter evil zombies.
Psaakyrn @ Dec 11th 2006 11:18PM
The bigger question would be, Why move to 360 to begin with? Almost all reasons point to the 360 having more of an advantage than it seems.
A) Console numbers: 360 does have a lead in total numbers right now compared to PS3, but it is only marginal and arguably temporary. Unless of cause they forsee that the 360 will indeed succeed.
B) Development difficulty: Unless there's a drastic difference in development difficulty, there isn't many reasons why they would choose the 360 over the PS3. (though the reason above is one of the few, if it is true). Perhaps small-time developers would find it excessively harder to develop for the PS3 as opposed to the 360.
C) Development access: Another reason could be that small-budget companies find it harder to get the dev kits for the PS3 than the 360. By the same vein, it also means that the 360 will get more small-budget developers.
It should be noted that budget-strapped developers have to take all the small factors into consideration since they generally don't have too much to fall back on in the case of commercial failure, and they can't use large advertising budgets to force themself into the cunsomer space. If budget developers start shifting towards the 360, the PS3 lies in a precarious position, having only the big innovative companies, company loyalty, and 1st/2nd party developers to rely on. And big companies are just as likely to develop for both PS3 and 360 unless there's some unique capabilities on the PS3 which the 360 doesn't have.
anoon @ Dec 11th 2006 11:20PM
Just looking at the gameplay and ignoring the scantily clad nature of the heroine for a minute, I have to say that the original PS2 version had the seeds of a few interesting game play systems. The combo system took some amount of timing to master. Swinging the sword was satisfying due to good attack animations and nice squelchy hit sounds. Realtime character switching was done well. Managing your blade and costume cleanliness was a pretty darn cool feature that I had not seen before.
You have to keep it in perspective though; these were budget titles. I'm hoping that the 360 version was allowed a decent budget and amount of dev time to refine some of the rough spots of the PS2 games.
plooby @ Dec 11th 2006 11:26PM
I hope it comes over. I'd play it.
Ben Hobbs @ Dec 11th 2006 11:52PM
#4 "360 does have a lead in total numbers right now compared to PS3, but it is only marginal and arguably temporary"
If by Marginal you are meaning it has currently outsold its direct competitors by more than ten times, and by temporary you mean at least a year until Nintendo and Sony can catch up to where Xbox360 sales are today.
FSK405K @ Dec 12th 2006 12:06AM
[eye twinkle] Us "round eyes" get screwed again. Thanks, Japan.
Psaakyrn @ Dec 12th 2006 12:42AM
to #7 Ben Hobbs
In case you didn't notice, we're talking about Japan here (the article mentioned that it is only coming out in Japan, so I'm using the Japanese market as my basis). Sorry if I didn't make it clear.
Chessasaur @ Dec 12th 2006 1:51AM
OMG! I just looked at the screen shots over on IGN! If they brought this to the states, I'd buy a 360 in a heartbeat!
driven2sin @ Dec 12th 2006 2:01AM
reminds me of the anime Burst Angel.. good work.. lets import it then I'll get a 360...
Silver @ Dec 12th 2006 2:17AM
Girls in bikinis with swords, girls in bikinis playing volleyball, girls in bikinis kicking the teeth out of each other, girls in bikinis getting run over by crazed hit men in stolen cars...and to think I had given up on gaming because it had become tired, burned out, and clichéd...
P.S. thank you Wii, for getting me interested in gaming again.
Author X @ Dec 12th 2006 6:31AM
Well, I actually believe that yes, people have a right to make movies and games with as much blood and violence and sex and nudity as they want, and I do believe it is as much the job of the parents to watch what their kids entertaint themselves with as it is the industry's (actually, more-so the parent's as it is impossible for the ESA to police every child and every store). However, even if I respect their right to exist and be sold, that doesn't mean I can't scowl dissaprovingly at things I dissaprove of. And, yes, I still consider 17 young enough to be impressionable... (assuming it's impossible for kids under the reccomended age to get ahold of appropriately rated video games and movies... ha-ha).
Besides, I'm not saying anyone, anywhere who plays this game will become a wife-beater. I'm just saying that building an association (which happens when ltos of different media has the same themes) between violence and arousal can't be a 'good' thing, can it?
cybereality @ Dec 14th 2006 4:06PM
Xbox360 seems to be getting a small stream of softcore hentai games, I wonder if this is a start of a trend. Games like this, Rumble Rose, DOAX2 and in some ways, DOA4. Where you can dress up pretty game girls and take pictures like Sexy Beach or whatever. I know its a niche market, but at least there are some "adult" orientated games unlike anything you'll ever see on a Nintendo system (aside from homebrew, lol).
I really hope they make some dating sims for the 360 like Tokimeki Memorial. Or just any anime cel-shaded games would be cool. Cult games can definately go a long way to getting some support in Japan. Especially if smaller studios are the ones producing the niche titles, I'd imagine they would develop for 360. Just please port this over to the US. I really don't want to have to mod my system or anything.