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Red Star reignited, Raiden III release readied

Acclaim action title picked up by XS Games, set for release later this year; publisher will also bring Taito arcade shooter to US PS2s.

When Acclaim Entertainment's bankruptcy came to light in September of 2004, it had a number of hot properties in development that met varying fates. The publisher's street racer Juiced was picked up by THQ and published in June of 2005. The comic-based 100 Bullets was scrapped, with the license winding up in the hands of D3Publishing of America, who announced the development of an entirely new 100 Bullets game earlier this month.

Then there was another comic-based effort, The Red Star, an action game set in an alternate-reality Russia where magic is a key component to military might. Players take control of three rebels in their quest to take down the country's dictator and rescue a fellow comrade. With no news of the game being picked up for a year and a half in the wake of Acclaim's bankruptcy, it appeared The Red Star had been quietly extinguished.

But now, almost two years after Acclaim went under, The Red Star is finally set for release on the PlayStation 2. A representative of XS Games today confirmed for GameSpot that the publisher has indeed picked up the rights to the title, and is tentatively planning on distributing it to retailers in early August. As for the Xbox version of the game, the publisher is examining the possibility of releasing it, but at this point, "it could go either way."

The representative also confirmed another recent acquisition in Taito's arcade top-down shoot-'em-up Raiden III. The latest installment in the classic arcade series is tentatively scheduled for release in August or September. According to XS Games' representative, Raiden III will carry a budget price tag, while The Red Star will be priced somewhere in between the budget range and a full-priced game.

43 Comments

  • Carmensk

    Posted Mar 13, 2007 11:57 am GMT

    Expect XS games to bastardise the games (see, Shikigami to Mobile Light Force 2, Shikigami II to Castle Shikigami, Gunbird to Mobile Light Force.)

    They may as well not translate the game at all and just sell the Japanese language version! At least it is coming here...

  • djillmattek

    Posted Dec 11, 2006 12:50 pm GMT

    This game is going to be fantastic. I got the opportunity to play the xbox version about a year ago when the game was almost completed and this is a game that will appeal to fans of intense 3rd person action with a little twist of arcade shoot-em-up. Grats to the development team for the release of your excellent game, especially the boss designer (you know who you are).

  • Lhornz

    Posted Jul 10, 2006 4:25 pm GMT

    Awesome news, there is very few "shoot 'em up" shooters in the US. The last best shooter I've played was R-Type Final and I had always been a fan of the Raiden Project, so seeing Raiden III was the best news. Let's just hope that other Japanese "shoot 'em up" shooters can get ported to the US Playstation 2 as well

  • Spirit_of_87

    Posted May 23, 2006 4:05 pm GMT

    SnuffdaddyNZ said:
    "What!? Why put it on only US PS2's?

    I'd like to play Raiden too. At least put it on all PS2's." [end 'quote"]

    Raiden III has been available on European and Japanese PS2's since, last year.

    This is good news for shoot em' up fans in the U.S.

    XS games also ported Castle Shikigami II on the PS2 for the budget price of $10.00. Expect Raiden III to retail for the same price or at least no more than $20.00

    This price is a steal, compared to the $72.00 dollars it cost me to import a Japanese copy.

  • FreakmanJ

    Posted May 23, 2006 1:01 pm GMT

    YES! YES! OH GOD YES!

    But seriously, if it doesn't come out on Xbox, I'm gonna flip.

  • bunty_007

    Posted May 23, 2006 9:58 am GMT

    How likes shooter?

  • unseendemon

    Posted May 23, 2006 6:18 am GMT

    meh.. red star for xbox has been on torretn sites for years !

  • chrisdojo

    Posted May 23, 2006 6:10 am GMT

    meh.

  • Bloodreign1

    Posted May 23, 2006 5:20 am GMT

    Raiden 3 seeing a US release is excellent news, I'd hoped for awhile it would happen, and now it looks like it will.

  • naruto82us

    Posted May 23, 2006 4:50 am GMT

    i'll testing this game hope is a good game for me

  • guardianlegend7

    Posted May 23, 2006 12:01 am GMT

    Yay! Red Star is coming. I saw the demo at a CompUSA and thought it looked cool. I need to read the comic...

  • Matarick

    Posted May 22, 2006 9:54 pm GMT

    About time The Red Star has a retailer. I wanted to preorder that back in the day but I was unsure of Aclaim's status to go ahead or not. I had a first hand look at E32004 and I was actually excited about a multigenre action game.

    Raiden III looks tight as well and hope they bring out the PC version as well.

  • Baroque-Legacy

    Posted May 22, 2006 9:39 pm GMT

    Yes, yes, yes, YES!!!! Finally someone who knows a good game when they see one! I was truly bummed when I found the game to be cancelled a mere two weeks before release. All I've had is the demo to keep me hoping someone would grab it. This is great news!

  • DrKill09

    Posted May 22, 2006 9:15 pm GMT

    Raiden II was kick ass! I have it for PC. I'll buy Raiden III for sure if it's a budget game.

  • SnuffDaddyNZ

    Posted May 22, 2006 9:03 pm GMT

    What!? Why put it on only US PS2's?

    I'd like to play Raiden too. At least put it on all PS2's.

    Putting it on XBOX Live would have been a no brainer, but then Taito isn't one of the Arcade publishers yet.

  • nintendorocks

    Posted May 22, 2006 8:55 pm GMT

    XS Games? Ouch... XS isn't that great of a publisher but maybe they can turn themselves around with these titles. It's at least good to see that Acclaim's titles are not being forgotten.

  • WolfSkill5544

    Posted May 22, 2006 8:42 pm GMT

    Yes!!!!!! Finally some good news about Red Star. I was having so much hope for the game to come up anytime soon, after I played it on E3 of 2004. I hope that it comes pretty soon. Thank You for the good news Gamespot.

  • Goze

    Posted May 22, 2006 7:19 pm GMT

    Sweet... Raiden was one of my favorite games way back when... And there aren't enough 2D scroller games nowadays... Good stuff...

  • gamegod

    Posted May 22, 2006 7:12 pm GMT

    i remember seeing this during on the spot and it looked like a great game...glad its back

  • alberto2045

    Posted May 22, 2006 7:08 pm GMT

    i never heard of this game but i think is going to be a good game for the PS2, lets hope so

  • iamsouledge

    Posted May 22, 2006 7:03 pm GMT

    HELL YEAH! Man, I was worried about this one!

  • joeamis

    Posted May 22, 2006 6:44 pm GMT

    I hope Red Star got development time beyond what Acclaim had done on it over 2 years ago. Raiden III sounds pretty sweet, I never got to play the original highly acclaimed Raiden. My hopes aren't very high since XS is a budget publisher.

  • ConManWithGun

    Posted May 22, 2006 6:35 pm GMT

    i still have the red star demo i got from oxm and it was so awesome
    i hope they release it for 360

  • blackIceJoe

    Posted May 22, 2006 6:09 pm GMT

    Red Star sounds like a cool game most go out and get this when it comes out and see how good of a game it is.

  • John_of_Fire

    Posted May 22, 2006 5:20 pm GMT

    Great to see these titles coming out. I really want Raiden 3 even if I have to buy it for my PS2. (PS2 is just not my system of choice.)

  • Supersonic2000

    Posted May 22, 2006 5:14 pm GMT

    Oh man this just made my day. I was totally bummed out when the Red Star got cancelled 2 years ago but now by some miracle I'll be able to play the game that I've been wanting ever since I played the demo at K-Mart 2 years ago. And to make this even sweeter they're bringing Raiden's much anticipated sequel to America. This is awesome.

  • nacho4511

    Posted May 22, 2006 5:09 pm GMT

    WOW ps2 xbox. I am in the new gen BABY

  • mgsseries4life

    Posted May 22, 2006 4:30 pm GMT

    I see that the PS2 has alot of exclusive games, like her sister, the PS3.

  • LordGamer0001

    Posted May 22, 2006 4:06 pm GMT

    i hope these games are good ones.

  • Ryo_Kensen

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:54 pm GMT

    I can remember playing the demo for The Red Star from the Official Xbox Magazine demo disc, it was actually pretty fun. I played through it a few times. I'm happy to see it finally come to shelves.

  • NeoJedi

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:49 pm GMT

    Meh not interested...

  • townsenda1

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:45 pm GMT

    Sounds like it should be pretty good. But we will see.

  • trancejeremy

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:44 pm GMT

    Well, MS pretty much pulled the plug on the Xbox, so publishers are stopping supporting it. If you are upset it's not going to be on the Xbox, blame them. Other companies manage to still support their older consoles...

  • Hallway_Giant

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:35 pm GMT

    Sweet, ever since I heard it was cancelled (and played the demo) I was hoping it would be picked up somewhere, so greay news. If only it wasn't PS2 exclusive...

  • Retro_Man

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:32 pm GMT

    I'm glad Red Star is coming out, i still play the demo off and on, but couldn't they release it on the Xbox too, like it was supposed to be? I dislike the dual-shock controller.

  • FlaringPhoenix

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:31 pm GMT

    Oh wow, I thought I'd Red Star would never see the light of day... and a budget priced Raiden III =0 what good news!!

  • kingofps3

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:25 pm GMT

    they are a bit late to the party.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:24 pm GMT

    looks ok....

  • anividguru

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:18 pm GMT

    Thank heavens! I have been patiently waiting for someone to pick up the Red Star after Acclaim kicked the bucket - the demo was pretty sweet.

  • linkdude777

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:18 pm GMT

    played the demo of Red Star. Was an ok demo, but i'd like to see more. Hopefully turns out to be good.

  • paulyfknt

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:09 pm GMT

    looks ehh.. not my kind of game tho

  • ahren

    Posted May 22, 2006 3:07 pm GMT

    Yes!!! I've been waiting for almost two years to hear this news! The Red Star is a great story and from what I've seen of the gameplay this looks like a great game.

  • seg555

    Posted May 22, 2006 2:57 pm GMT

    HOPe it is a good game

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