So far we have…
Chaos;Head Noah - already released
Steins;Gate - to be released next month
Phantom of Inferno - remake with character designs from Phantom anime - TBA
I’m wondering if there’s any interest at JU to publish this titles overseas at some point, after all ChaosHead 360 port managed to outsell PC version 2:1 in Japan…guess that’s the reason why SteinsGate is being “360 only” release for now…
Probably not. Publishing a computer game is easy, you just write (or, in Peter’s case, localize) the program, press copies, and sell it. (Peter has the games rated by the ESRB, but he doesn’t strictly speaking really need to.) Publishing for consoles is a much more complicated process (deliberately so on the part of the console maker). In this context, “complicated” and “expensive” are interchangeable.
The short version is, there is not enough profit to jump thru all the hoops that would be required, and there is no guarantee the consoler makers will let you (so you’d have to expend significant resources on a project that might have to be killed).
Long version: Each step of the process for making a console game costs money. PC programmers can simply go download a copy of Eclipse and begin writing anything they please in Java. Total cost: 0. Console developers have to buy specialized hardware dev kits for thousands of dollars each. Console games have to be certified for release on the target platform by the console manufacturer. This adds more expense. Peach Princess does not get high enough sales to justify this expense.
Console makers are also extremely unlikely to want to associate with these titles outside of Japan. Like it or not, the games available reflect on the console as well as the maker of the game. These games are made by “porn game makers”, and Peach Princess’ software lineup is almost exclusively “porn games”. This is a huge potential image problem for the entire console platform as a whole, and given the consistently-demonstrated lack of Western audience interest, there is almost no upside to this potential downside.
It may merely have to do with the console market dwarfing the PC market in Japan. It’s been years since I last followed selling figures but I kinda recall that a good galgame would usually outsell its PC counterpart.
While it’s certainly true that publishing game on console is more expensive than doing it to for Windows PC for reasons stated, who can really say that it would be less profitable in the end, that’s why I used ChaosHead as an example. Same goes for saying that console makers wouldn’t allow this sort of content being published in the west, again who knows…in the past year or two we saw some really niche japanese stuff being published on all consoles, Sakura Wars V is coming to PS2, looks like gothic-lolita 2D shooter DeathSmiles will also see it’s western release on 360, in short doesn’t seem to me that console makers are THAT strict these days.
There’s strict, and then there’s strict. If Playboy or Hustler made an M-rated game, I doubt very much that the console makers would allow them to put it on their consoles. Similarly, I find it unlikely a console manufacturer would think the value from letting Peach Princess put games out on their console would be worth the small, but real, risk of severe damage to the entire brand as a whole.
You’re overblowing it a bit. No disrespect to anyone but JASTUSA/PP is rather small company hardly known by mainstream media, don’t think any console maker, in this case MS, is that self-aware to think “We’ll be ruined if we let JU publish games on our console”. I mean what average Joe will say about it if you tell him is “who f***ing cares”. As for gaming media, pretty much everybody knows that Xbox360 is THE nextgen console for this sort of games in Japan with all the Idolmasters, Dreamclubs and what not, it’s not like anyone will be shocked if some of that stuff comes to west.
And well now that you mentioned it there was actually Playboy game on an old Xbox.
This is why JAST won’t be dealing with Microsoft anytime soon: http://kotaku.com/5342256/independent-x … -reminders
Probably scared by the Rapelay outcry, Microsoft has imposed a whopping double standard: bishoujo games for the 360 are fine in Japan, but try to bring them overseas and Microsoft might can the game entirely. Forget about Peter; no way would Nitro+ take that risk by even offering the option to JAST USA. If Microsoft came down on a game that innocuous, it’s extremely unlikely games in Nitro+'s lineup would pass muster.
Behold, censoring at its finest. Of course, since the game was snuffed out rather than altered, I’m sure certain people wouldn’t mind. 
I highly doubt it’d come to pass–Visual novels in general have never really had a chance on consoles overseas to begin with. Even without factoring the censorship issues as of late, the visual novel market over here has always been too small/obscure for a title with no explicitly erotic content to have a good chance of attracting sales. JAST has relied on exclusively releasing 18+ games for a reason–Sex sells, and the market is too tiny to be safe enough to release a title without such content. Why else do you think Cosplay Fetish Academy was marketed to make it seem like more a sex romp?
(Of course, there is Mangagamer and Higurashi, but that’s for PC and there’s still no telling how it’ll do anyways)
However, I have to say if JAST did want to produce a non-H N+ title that had been released on consoles, porting it to PC could be an option–How much money/effort would it take to do so and how would it stack up against the costs of actually releasing a title on consoles?
I asked this question in a gaming forum. The majority of replies were that porting a game between platforms is more expensive / time-consuming than localizing a game for the same platform. This makes it unlikely that JAST itself would ever attempt to port a title; note that right now they don’t even deal with most of the progamming involved in localization–they let the developer handle that.
I don’t see visual novels gaining much ground on the home consoles (Xbox 360, PS3) in the Western market–even if they were allowed. Hirameki went that route once and it didn’t work out for them (DVDPG issues aside). The DS is another story. The DS already has a number of text / adventure games. It would provide a good platform to “test the waters”, should any localization company want to do so. Of course, then you’d have to deal with Nintendo…it seems doubtful that they’d react better than Microsoft.
A panty shot is a "“Visual Sexual Assault Reminder”?!?! :shock:
Wow. How many are there of them in DOA?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that the additonal routes for the other heroines of Chaos Head Noah only have bad endings. Is this true?
Don’t know about added plot content, but it does add new CGs (maybe to existing routes?), new songs, and raises the resolution from 800x600 to 1280x720… And on a minor note, at least two new HD OPs… I don’t know if achievements and other bonuses were in the original…
I think of Noah as a more refined/complete version of C;H, even if it ends up not offering much new story content. Wonder if audio quality is improved as well?
As for the topic question…
I think it would have to be ported to PC. I don’t see these titles coming to XB360 USA.
Also I’d imagine that a new branch company would need to be formed to cut direct ties with the adult company counterparts…
And I don’t have a clue on how difficult it would be getting permission from 5pb, Microsoft or whoever also holds rights to the game. Not to mention I remember hearing Chaos;Head was like a flag ship achievement, so getting Noah’s content for a port too would be a really tricky acquisition, not to mention it could be costly… Would probably have to build up a good tested profit earning relationship first…
Technically I don’t think porting to PC will be much of a problem… long as you have/accept fan support 
I do think the market for non-adult VNs could be pretty huge. Trouble is how do you catch the public eye with a completely positive light. [thus the need to not be connected to the adult side of things] I think visual novels are an interesting NEW medium that could reel in a broad audience (espeically if VNs were playable on portable devices…), with people who are bookworms, and would be willing to try something new… Anime / japanese style is a big turn off to a lot of the serious paying crowd I think, thus the need for careful marketing and the right looking package [or limited edition!] in the right stores. The target market should be middle-aged people …
Meh well I can imagine/wish
Exactly why packaging changes like this need to be made: http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/08/which- … or-europe/
cough dies Not exactly what I had in mind either xD (personally I can’t stand the “westernized” cover pictures that have no artistic relation to the actual game…) No, my opinion is that the cover art shouldn’t lie about the art style without meaningful purpose…
Still, using the right images, taken from the game and art; one could test their box at target locations to see what works best; choosing the one that catches the most attention. Then submit for approval and also ask fans (if there are multiple mockups)…
EDIT: Here’s an example of a quick mockup that might catch my interest at a bookstore…
Folds in half to be about DVD height, big book width/Book size, or stands tall like seen in picture.
The flip-side which closes has actual CGs, excerpt and more information of the game.
Would be awesome if it were hardback like a book, but opens up and inside has the DVD case… [other side would be the manual or CD extra!]
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y133/X … mockup.jpg
And have each “Visual Novel” look like a book but state that it is a new type of audio visual medium to experience novels on the PC…
A new age of visual novels! dramatic
Very nice presentation there LexarV. Informative as to the kind of product, as well as a teasing bit of text that asks an interesting question that makes you curious about the story.
as great as it sounds, I higly doubt it
Very demanding, aren’t we? They have never, to my knowledge, ever confirmed that a game is definitely not coming over, with a handful of exceptions, all related to games they announced, then had to un-announce as problems cropped up in the localization process.
If they even see your post in this thread (questionable, since both Shingo and Lamuness seem to be almost entirely absent nowadays, and Peter never checks the boards) they will probably still not answer your question. After all, who can say? The game might be backported to PC, in which case they could probably get it out. They might be able to get it on XBLA if the rest of the games prove exceptionally popular. Who knows? Nobody knows the future, and saying “No matter what, we are never ever releasing $GAME” can really only hurt the company.
But if I were taking bets, I’d put 100:1 odds (at best) that this game would be released in the next 5 years. If you are interested in the vast bulk of Japanese software out there that is not now, nor likely ever to be, translated, then you have two options. One, wait for machine translation to not suck (which will take at least another decade, probably). Two, learn Japanese.
Just go learn Japanese. This particular game is virtually guaranteed to not be the only one you would like to play.
No XBOX 360 please. It’s been a losing venture for the last 3 years:
Microsoft Reports Third-Quarter Results
People should stop reading the company propaganda and check actual financial reports.
M$ lost 31 million dollars this year on the video game front. Also quarter earnings were $668 million last year; this year it was $221 million. MASSIVE DROP. People got fired, jobs were lost, and things went under. XBOX is an investor’s nightmare.
They are still taking losses???
At least Sony had two prior successes before the PSP and PS3. Though the PSP should be showing a profit by now and if the 10 year lifespan holds true, so will the PS3.
The X-Box brand has been in the negative since inception… though they did shoot themselves in the foot with the 360: great games, shoddy hardware.
