360 Games on Demand gets first import titles

Cult Japanese shooter develop Cave has announced that 2D shooter Deathsmiles is to be released digitally on Xbox 360 in the US.

This is notable because it will be the unaltered original Japanese game – the first time a foreign territories title has been released on the Games on Demand service.

Cave says it was approached directly by Microsoft which said that "it will be giving this format a try for getting some of our other Japan-only shooters released overseas".

Deathsmiles received a boxed release in the UK thanks to a partnership with Rising Star Games.

Cave has previously said that it’s exploring several ways of bringing its hardcore shooting titles to Western markets. In the UK, for instance, Deathsmiles got a boxed release but it chose to release Guwange on Xbox Live Arcade.

In other markets it has so far released two shooters – DoDonPachi Resurrection and Espgaluda II – on iOS, with Deathsmiles also heading to the platform.

It has also released two non-shooters – twin stick shooter Mushihimesama Bug Panic on iOS and platformer Nin-2 Jump on Xbox Live.