Shotest Shogi Developer Interaction

Well, good news! The Shotest Shogi developers are taking an interest in the community and have posted on the xbox.com forums:

http://forums.xbox.com/22673704/ShowPost.aspx

"As requested, developer dropping by. :)

Thanks for your support guys. As you've noticed, whilst the game's doing very well in Japan we're kinda struggling back home a bit. We're talking with MS about what we can do to get some more exposure over here.

A game like Shogi's never going to have a massive userbase, but it would be nice to get *some* westerners playing!"

Good luck to the SS team!

Folding Shogi Board

Well, as I've mentioned in the past, I purchased a folding shogi board through eBay and there were delays with the delivery. I did actually receive it and I must say that I'm rather disappointed. Considering the price ($45 + $7.50 shipping and handling) and my experience with similarly priced go and chess sets, this set was not a great purchase. It's very small with poor quality wood and incredibly cheap plastic hinges. The plastic pieces are actually ok, but there are a few with excess paint or scratching.

At any rate, here are a few photos. The first is in comparison to a floor goban to get a feel for the size and poor wood quality.

Here is a close-up of the pieces and the board grain.

And finally, a shot of the plastic hinge. I doubt this will last very long.

All in all, a disappointment. But at least I have something to work with while following along with the Fairbairn book. My search for a good shogi set continues. :)