Coincidentally, Irem, which developed R-Type, removed several titles from the Japanese PSN back in August, including several R-Type games. No reason was given for those edits either.
R-Type being removed from Virtual Console on Sept. 30
by Alexander Sliwinski 
on Sep 28th 2011 4:58PM
28
Coincidentally, Irem, which developed R-Type, removed several titles from the Japanese PSN back in August, including several R-Type games. No reason was given for those edits either.
Reader Comments (28)
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:00PM Timjoy said
As much as I love digital distribution, stories like these make me want to go back to hard formats.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:04PM bittermang said
@Timjoy They suffer the same problems. Games go out of print all the time due to licensing issues. The only difference being maybe you can find a used copy, if there's not some crazy order to seize or destroy them.
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Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:27PM nerdydesi1 said
@bittermang But wait until everything becomes digital only. : (
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Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:28PM nerdydesi1 said
@bittermang Unfortunately, I've realized for instance that Steam isn't perfect. I am disappointed in its region controls. While recently in India, I couldn't purchase "Lonesome Road" for Fallout: NV because it is banned there, as well as Fallout 3. This is even when I have a U.S based Steam account. : (
A digital only future of gaming wouldn't be good at all.
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A digital only future of gaming wouldn't be good at all.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 8:32PM kmeisthax said
@Timjoy Hard formats still have out of print issues; but you can at least buy used - oh wait, with all this online pass bullshit we have to go through it will only be a matter of time until used gaming is completely dead. Already there's some online passes that you can't even purchase and can only be found in a new copy.
Really, it shouldn't be legal to claim copyright on an out-of-print work in a particular country. If you aren't willing to sell a work then there is no harm in pirating it. But, of course, allowing this would piss off Disney which is notorious for it's "stop selling stuff and then bring it back 10 years later" bullshit.
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Really, it shouldn't be legal to claim copyright on an out-of-print work in a particular country. If you aren't willing to sell a work then there is no harm in pirating it. But, of course, allowing this would piss off Disney which is notorious for it's "stop selling stuff and then bring it back 10 years later" bullshit.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:02PM Xiegfried said
It may have to do with it releasing on Android recently.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:03PM EndynOmni said
How many points is it? I might get it before it goes away.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:35PM Marco le Polo said
@EndynOmni
According to the left side of the post it will set you pack $1.99, I'm not sure how that translates to points.
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According to the left side of the post it will set you pack $1.99, I'm not sure how that translates to points.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:15PM Softserve said
I didn't even know SEGA had anything to do with this series. Did they recently get the publishing rights or something?
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:18PM Epoque said
There's always the superior, near-arcade perfect TurboGrafx version on VC.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:26PM BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam said
@Epoque
What if that's getting pulled, too? What if Irem is pulling all of its titles from VC, just like how it pulled a lot (if not all) of its titles from PSN?
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What if that's getting pulled, too? What if Irem is pulling all of its titles from VC, just like how it pulled a lot (if not all) of its titles from PSN?
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:22PM ghostwolves said
get the arcade perfect HD remakes of R-Type 1 & 2 (R-Type Dimensions) on XBLA intead. you can switch back to the original graphics if you want.
Posted: Sep 29th 2011 11:23AM fohf said
@ghostwolves
Yup, the best version ever. Both original arcade games with really nice HD polygonal versions and the ability to switch back to the sprites with the press of a button.
My favorite part is the mode that gives you infinite lives and the purpose is to see how little you can die. I would never have finished the games without them.
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Yup, the best version ever. Both original arcade games with really nice HD polygonal versions and the ability to switch back to the sprites with the press of a button.
My favorite part is the mode that gives you infinite lives and the purpose is to see how little you can die. I would never have finished the games without them.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:24PM darkinchworm said
I like when we gets a heads-up for things like this, Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, etc. I'm still pretty bummed that I missed a few titles on XBLA, Lost Cities especially, just because they were pulled so suddenly.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:24PM (Unverified) said
Just buy the TurboGrafx version on the VC. It's better.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:30PM pluupy said
Oh I knew that new R-type game on the android market was too good. So it was a real game.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 5:49PM Calatia said
Wow, so not only are they not releasing new Virtual Console games, but now they're taking away the games already available. FAIL!
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 6:12PM killdash9 said
Irem is also about to pull the plug tomorrow on all PlayStation Home spaces and items that they made, and I think all their games in the PS Store are being removed, too. This stuff has already been done for the Japanese region.
We may be saying good-bye to Irem for good, at least as a video game company. Hopefully, their development heart will live on in the offshoot developer Granzella.
We may be saying good-bye to Irem for good, at least as a video game company. Hopefully, their development heart will live on in the offshoot developer Granzella.
Posted: Sep 28th 2011 7:42PM ecco6t9 said
Hopefully someone snatches up the IP's soon.
Posted: Sep 29th 2011 4:40AM Dehnus said
@fskalfd9sa Sigh... Ecco .. what has become of you...Whoring yourself out to Spammers... I tell you SEGA's third party move made nothing but victims out of you and your friends didn't it.
Here.... *throws the Dolphin a Fish*... to hold you over for a while.
Here.... *throws the Dolphin a Fish*... to hold you over for a while.
Posted: Sep 29th 2011 10:28AM therandomizer said
And videogame companies wonder why ROM downloads are such a big problem nowadays. Boneheads decisions that Irem (or any other so-called "legal" issue) only exacerbates the problem What or why are there legal issues, the company owns the game, do they not?
