Spotted at the Cave Matsuri, they're priced at ¥4,800 (US$50) and come in two sizes: medium and large. Sorry fat Japanese people!

Strategically placed cone not included.

ゴスロリSTG『デススマイルズ』のキャラクターの絵がプリントされたパンツ [はちま起稿]

Not free for me or you, we've still gotta pay. But rather, free for arcade owners. Instead of having arcade owners buy costly arcade set-ups and then trying to make money back on the machines, Cave is planning to offer its arcade games for free. Nothing is free, what's the catch? Cave gets a percentage of the take earned by game center operators.

This means arcades have much lower risk than with traditional arcade games.

Cave is planning to kick off its "Revenue Share Plan" with Gothic Lolita shooting game DEATHSMILES II. Arcade operators getting "free" arcade games, thus reducing the risk and increasing incentive for them to carry the games and Cave to keep making them? Now that's something to smile about.

Another thing is smile about is the DeathSmiles prequel getting a console release developed by Cave and not ported by someone else. Hooray.

『デススマイルズII』を0円で店舗に設置!? ケイブ新作発表会で新プラン発表 [Dengeki Online]

Originally an arcade game developed by Cave, DEATHSMILES was the company first effort at self-porting and self-publishing an Xbox 360 title. Previously, Cave had brought in developer 5pb to handle the porting duties.

The second highest shooter debut for this generation is Konami's Otomoedius G, which sold 15,000 copies in its first week. Check out the DEATHSMILES trailer here. It's fantastic.

Death Smiles (Xbox 360) hits #6 on the sales charts - tops for a shooter this generation [Arcade Renaissance]

Starting April 18, DeathSmiles boob-shaped mousepads. While the game is not played with a mouse per se, those who like DeathSmiles might use computers, so it ALL MAKES SENSE.

There are three different versions of the pads, which are priced at ¥4,500 (US$45.60). This bit of information comes our way from a blog that covers only boob mousepads. They're specialists!

デススマイルズ立体マウスパッド3種類 [立体マウスパッド監視ブログ NSFW via 読みゲー]

The game will be out April 23 in The Land of the Rising Sun. As we previously posted, there's also a limited edition of the game (priced at ¥9,240 - US$103) besides the regular edition. The limited edition version also includes a soundtrack CD as well.

【360】「ドリームクラブ」、動画ではなく連続写真が公開される [はちま起稿]

Junya Inoue, who did the DeathSmiles II character design, jokes that the reason why the recently announced title takes place a month after the first game is that they would have to age and "we can't have that."

According to Inoue, DeathSmiles was originally dubbed "Death Lolitas", but that name was scraped over concern on how it would go over with arcade operators. DeathSmiles is a great title, but not nearly as bad ass as "Death Lolitas".

Cave has released several ports of its bullet hell shooters and is very much interested in releasing packaged 360 titles and games on Xbox LIVE — helping to solidify the 360 as this generation's shoot-'em-up console

DeathSmiles [shmups.system11.org]

Last month, we broke the news that DeathSmiles was getting a sequel. DeathSmiles was released in Japanese arcades in 2008 and is getting an Xbox 360 port this Spring. Watch a clip of gameplay here.

Called DeathSmiles 2: Hell's Christmas, the game is a Gothic Lolita winter wonderland — a ruffly petticoat Christmas nightmare! (Fitting, as the prequel took place during Halloween.) Cave artist director Junya Inoue, whose work added so much flair to Cave shooters ESP Ra.De. and Guwange, is once again handling the game's look.

The horizontal side-scrolling DeathSmiles 2 is expected to hit Japanese arcades later this year.

Promotional images in the gallery below, plus some in-game shots as well as the "Stage Cleared" and "Game Over" screens.

ケイブのシューティング最新作「デススマイルズⅡ - 魔界のメリークリスマス」プレイアブルムービー in AOU2009 [GIGAZINE]

As we previously posted, there's also a limited edition of the game (priced at ¥9,240 — US$103) besides the regular edition. The limited edition version also includes a soundtrack CD as well.

Amazon Japan is offering a special DeathSmiles arcade stick from Japanese peripheral maker Hori, priced at ¥14,800 ($165).

DeathSmiles 2 is expected to be revealed next month at the AOU arcade show in February.

お待たせしました [Cave-Game Blog Thanks, brokensphinx!] [Pic]

DeathSmiles 2 will be officially announced at AOU 2009 arcade amusement expo according to a recent Cave financial report. DeathSmiles 2 is slated to be on display.

The game's prequel first hit Japanese arcades in 2007. An Xbox 360 port has been announced and is scheduled for release this spring.

The AOU show runs from February 21 - 22 at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

[Pic]

Xbox 360用ソフト『デススマイルズ』の価格、初回限定版、予約特典が明らかに [Famitsu]

According to the company's official blog, Deathsmiles for the 360 is going to see a serious resolution update in a "rearranged" mode, the first pics of which were released just prior to Tokyo Game Show. Now let's all chant "Please be region free. Please be region free."

今週は色々ありすぎて… [Cave Blog via Siliconera]

ケイブ祭りで新作シューティング [Sazanami via Canned Dogs via Siliconera via Game|Life]

September's Shooterfest continues as side-scrolling arcade shmup lovers will be pleased to see Cave's new gothic horror effort Death Smiles. Like Tekken 6, it's on display at the JAMMA expo in Tokyo. A much longer, but less clear video of the game on display at JAMMA is available at YouTube. It's a good time to be a shmup fan, no?