Steel Battalion
Gameplay. At the beginning of every mission, the player must 'start up' the machine and operating system; this is handled through a series of switches and buttons dedicated to this purpose. If a corner is turned too fast, the machine will tumble over. If the player's machine overheats, its operating system must be reset. The game even simulates window wipers in case of mud hitting the monitor. If the player does not eject when prompted, the player's in-game character will "die", and the game will delete its own saved data, prompting the player to start  over from the beginning. Vertical tanks (VTs) are the vehicles piloted in the series. Essentially bipedal walking weapons platforms, VTs are classed by their developmental generation and sub-categorised by their combat role. Primary combat roles are standard combat, assault, support, scout, and fast attack. Vertical tanks are divided into three weight classes: light, medium and heavy. As the player progresses, new generations of VTs become available. This allows a newer, more advanced operating system, startup sequence, and combat functions, as well as a wider cockpit view and layout. New generation VTs also handle better and can provide better firepower  over previous generations. Development. "Steel Battalion" was developed by Capcom Production Studio 4 in collaboration with former Human Entertainment designers that would go on to form Nude Maker. Producer Atsushi Inaba stated at the Game Developers Conference in 2005 that the "Steel Battalion" was a "product-focused project" in which the team initially focused on creating a new peripheral and software designed to go with it. Inaba's superiors were skeptical about putting such a game on the market. The number of staff working on the project grew according to the team's experience with making new hardware. The earliest  build of the game was created for the PlayStation 2. However, when the Xbox became available, the development team switched to it because of the system's greater power. Online play was taken out of consideration close to the development's start due to being too ambitious. While the game and its special controller received critical acclaim, the project turned little profit. Inaba said that "Steel Battalion" was developed to show "what can be done in the game industry that cannot be done in others". Reception. The game received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In  Japan, "Famitsu" gave it a score of 35 out of 40. It was nominated for "GameSpot"s 2002 "Best Graphics (Artistic)" and "Best Game No One Played" awards among Xbox games, but also the publication's "Most Disappointing Game on Xbox" prize. "Steel Battalion" was the fifth best-selling game during its week of release in Japan at about 15,092 copies. Inaba concluded that the game ultimately broke even in terms of units shipped and units sold. A reviewer on "IGN" wrote "where "MechAssault" and "" wouldn't let us into the cockpit, "Steel Battalion" won't let us out" and joked  the US$200 cost was for the controller while the game disc was free. Sequels. A sequel called "" was released in 2004, and also used the game's unique controller. The third installment called "" was released in June 2012. This installment uses the Kinect motion sensor control rather than the original controller.