Hi. I thought that it was time to come down from the top of Mount G-Collections and talk to you guys, man-to-gender-designation-of-your-personal-choice.
First, thanks for being fans of Bishoujo Gaming. I hope that you’re getting what you want out of it and me. I’ve tried my best to make what I post here insane and informative; ‘The people should know’, that’s my motto. Well, actually my motto is ‘Just because it has naked anime women moaning in pleasure in it doesn’t mean you can’t play it in public with the sound jacked up,’ but you get the drift.
Second, I think that it’s time to come down to plain truths, come to terms with things, or whatever the phrase is these days: we’re in a bit of a bind. By ‘we’ I mean 'everybody who loves Bishoujo Games, and by ‘a bit of a bind’ I mean ‘there just G-Collections, Peach Princess, a few minor other players, and who the hell else left doing this?’. There hasn’t been much in the way of new companies coming into being lately, and if a new one is looming on the horizon, I haven’t heard of it.
This isn’t exactly a surprise to anyone, of course: Bishoujo Games are about as much a niche market item as you can get without being a minority of one, and frankly getting new titles, or convincing companies to let us bring stuff over is harder when you realize that in one month, more games are released in Japan, than released here in the US in a year. If they sold better, we’d publish more of them - because making a profit’s a pretty good incentive, after all. (We can ramp up to 3 or 4 games a month if we could actually SELL that many, and I’m sure that others can too, if the could.)
Which leads us to third. I’ve had a couple people remark to me from time to time that this or that game would be a blockbuster if we could get it translated. Now, I’m not entirely certain of the work involved in getting titles and companies lined up, but even if I could personally fly to Japan, and wow the executives there with my American Bishoujo Game Fan ways… I wouldn’t feel right about it given the really marginal way the market is - and I’m not exactly tepid about Bishoujo Games. We’ll also put to one side the lunacy involved.
However, should somebody actually want to show his or her appreciation for Bishoujo Games, there’s an easy enough answer: go buy the games. A few moments online should turn up a place that will sell you the game (like here, for example); there, you’ll be able to purchase just about everything the Bishoujo Gaming Industry currently offers. This is a completely voluntary recommendation on my part; I’m leaving G-Collections, and I get no compensation or commission for it. Or go to your friendly local anime store and buy the games, or demand that they stock them. If you’ve already got them all, go buy one and give it to a friend (or a reviewer), or make it a prize in the next party that you host(you’re all hyping up this stuff up to your friends, right?), or donate it to a charity, or anything else reasonable (Or at least, won’t get you arrested.).
Now, I have noted the monstrous attitude involved in my assuming that people might be willing to shell out $39.95+ just because I said so; it’s true that I have a mental issue, but hopefully a well-adjusted one. (And a bit lunatic, but that’s another matter.) There are other things that you can do to show whatever hypothetical appreciation you might feel.
¬ïStart your own website. I’d really appreciate that, actually; my need for “affirmation that I’m not the only one who’s this obsessed about Bishoujo Games” is just as bad as anyone else’s.
•Join the G-Collections and Peach Princess BBS.
•Use the above two events as a reason to write, write, write.
•Recommend retailers, wholesalers, storeowners to game makers - something that I should do more, myself.
•Talk up the games to friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, that crazy guy on the street corner that talks to himself.
¬ïIf you haven’t started a game collection, do so.
•Win the lottery and guarantee costs for minimum print runs of new games(this would be one of those last resort kind of things, mind you).
And if you don’t particularly feel any sort of appreciation - which is, by the way, perfectly fine - but you love these games as much as I do, why not do the above anyway?
And if you already do all of this, then thank you - and, again, another ‘thank you’ for everyone who has read and hopefully enjoyed what I’ve made available for you to know.
(Thanks to Moe for inspiring me to write this, as well as providing the template…)
