C-G's Virtual-Mate?

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#201
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
Well my point's just been crushed. I've never heard of that. Neither has my roommate. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 10-17-2004).]

www.tiscali.it

www.telecom.it

You can go and check. It was truly a fortune to pay a reduced DSL for me. And i have to use it for work, not to play. After all, i have to earn money too to survive - and pay for hentai, too. To pay again to connect and activate a game or to stay connected in order to play it is not worth a single sweated eurocent i gain from my job. Slave Pageant was the last money G-Coll received from me. Now they are past.

#202

@Italicus: I’m beginning to understand why you’ve been so angry, as if this whole G-collections thing was a personal insult. They really did leave you without a viable choice in the matter. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably be quite angry as well, if not quite as vocal about it.

BTW, thanks for the link, but I can’t read Italian.

#203
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
@Italicus: I'm beginning to understand why you've been so angry, as if this whole G-collections thing was a personal insult. They really did leave you without a viable choice in the matter. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably be quite angry as well, if not quite as vocal about it. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

BTW, thanks for the link, but I can't read Italian. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]


I can, and i'll tell you.

Tiscali 1.5 euro per hour for a DSL connection or 40 euro a month tax included activation excluded ( * to telecom 155.43 euro )

Telecom 2.00 euro per hour for a DSL connection or 39.95 euro a month tax included activation excluded ( * same for tiscali ).

Monthly fees are called flat connections.
No one is available for my old Pentium II - 'cuz i can put on it only a crappy 56K modem and at .75 cents in nght time, dedicated how i am to the hentai world if i have to stay connected apart of electric power i guess it 'll cost me 400 euro at month or so - if i can connect.

Mine DSL is Telecom 39.95 euro per month without activation costs and a consistent reduction since my phone line has a special contract for commercial activities. If i use it for non-commercial purposes woo-wee-woo jail here i come.


It's tiring to post these from a internet cafe - you have to watch your back to control nobody is watching at your screen, lol.... [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

Anyway as i said the world is great and thanks to heaven there's japanese too!!!!
I've learned al lot of words today, lol!!!
For example, na**a a**ut**edo, ki***a and K**oo.

PS Don't get so upset Lamuness-sama i edited all of the words. It's a tradition of mine to start learning a language beginning with insultive expressions. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

Guess i'll have to wait for LMMD to see if it's a good one. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img] Gibo a little disappointed me , but just a bit and had fun playing it. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Not to mention Leonardo De Bernardi military airbase is few kms away from my home and since it's the main SIGINT point for NATO and ItAF in Tirrenian sea lines briefly go down quite often.

[This message has been edited by Italicus (edited 10-17-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Italicus (edited 10-17-2004).]

#204
quote:
Originally posted by Italicus:
Nice someone posted on G-Coll saying offensive words to me. Truly if i offended someone was spitting then in the open face, and not using the opponent nick.

I sent a mail to G-Coll responsibles. If they don't provvide, they'll suffer the dire consequences for this coward hare's acts.


Stop being acting like a 2 year old. You don:t need to go kill a company, or attack them so violently. Petition is one thing, but all out attacking them is stupid. The whole point of complaining is, to, hopefully, sway them back into production of a normal version of the game. There is no point in lowering yourself to a .... nevermind.

Just chill out a bit man.

#205
quote:
Originally posted by Italicus:
In the hand of pirates for sure is. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/frown.gif[/img]

So if I use a screwbar to break in a store, it's a devil's gift? Don't be silly.

The point is that it wasn't created for that purpose, so it's not a devil's gift. ANYTHING can be abused.

Anyway, Italicus, you're getting shafted for DSL connections, man. Your country really has bad deals.

Nothing for your Pentium II? Why, I use a Pentium II 233 Mhz PC running Windows 95, and I have DSL. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

[This message has been edited by Benoit (edited 10-17-2004).]

#206
quote:
Originally posted by papillon:
But just to rest my case, my broadband has been mucked up most of the day. Connection worked only sporadically and was mostly down. So, of course, I pulled out that copy of DOR I'd never had the masochism to play... :)

If the game required a server connection to run, I couldn't have played it. In this case, that's not a great loss, but... :)

In the case of DOR, that would actually be a feature.

#207

A lot of people seem to be ripping on DOR. Is it really that bad? I’ve never played it, but it sounded vaguely interesting from the description…

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 10-17-2004).]

#208

@ Italicus

Why are you saying that you want to learn Japanese so you don’t need to rely on G-collections to play bishoujo games? I remember several months ago you were already planning to study Japanese, and you got mad at me because I told you it would be difficult. I know older students who have studied Japanese for a couple of years in the US, then studied in Japan with intense classes for a year, and still have trouble with kanji and wouldn’t be able to understand Japanese bishoujo games without using a kanji dictionary and missing a few sentences here and there. By the time you’d be able to use your skills to play the Japanese games, the whole English bishoujo game market could have changed ten times.

As far as the whole sharing copies thing is concerned, that was probably directed toward me. The problem with “It’s okay to share the original disc as long as two people don’t play at once” comes when games do not require the disc to play. (like Brave Soul) You don’t need to make a copy to enable multiple people to play at the same time from the same game. In principle you could say that one person should delete the files before the other person is should be able to play again. But that kind of stuff does’t happen in the real world. This is not a black and white issue and you could spend days trying to debate this.

So what do you guys think, should we boycott the game? I mean, the money is pretty insignificant to me. I’m not really worried about paying the $40, and I have internet access and everything. I just don’t want to deal with all the red tape and have the risk of not being able to play this game in the future. I’m more worried about this system being used on future games that I would care a lot more about than Let’s Meow Meow. On the other hand, they say that you’ll have contact with them through V-mate? Maybe we can say how much we hate it, and they’ll know we are speaking from the experience of using it instead of just ranting. To boycott, or not to boycott?

#209
quote:
Originally posted by bishounen_blue:
[B So what do you guys think, should we boycott the game? I mean, the money is pretty insignificant to me. I'm not really worried about paying the $40, and I have internet access and everything. I just don't want to deal with all the red tape and have the risk of not being able to play this game in the future. I'm more worried about this system being used on future games that I would care a lot more about than Let's Meow Meow. On the other hand, they say that you'll have contact with them through V-mate? Maybe we can say how much we hate it, and they'll know we are speaking from the experience of using it instead of just ranting. To boycott, or not to boycott?[/B]

I will NOT boycott something BEFORE I have the chance of trying it out at least once.

Most information of V-Mate here is based mainly on people's theories/assumptions/speculations.

Does any of us know how long V-Mate's licensed period would be on a game (The 1-year expiration period that someone spoke of earlier) ? Do we know if G-C would bring us some extra features like extra paths/CGs/characters via V-Mate or not? Do we know how much the price drop of a game would be?

There are many more questions I want to ask before I boycott a good yet FRAGILE company that has brought us MANY great English B-games even though they "MIGHT" have made one bad business move.

[This message has been edited by Noirbo (edited 10-17-2004).]

#210

Personally, I’m waiting for more details to surface before I actually make my decision. G-collections will most likely make some sort of statement tomorrow, and hopefully it will answer some of our concerns. I’m not totally against the V-mate system. I think it could work.

However, I have certain conditions, which I’ve already mentioned at some point or another. If they address some or all of these conditions to some satisfactory level, then I’ll buy the game and future titles that I like…even if the whole deal is unfair to certain groups of people, and even if I think that it’s a bad business move overall.

In the end, the best thing to do is to look out for one’s own immediate interests. The sales will speak for themselves, and all of us on the message boards put together are something like 4% of the total market. It doesn’t really matter if we buy the games or not, or even if we all walk out and decide to never buy bishojo games again. G-collections will hardly be able to see the difference in sales (well, at least in the short term–there’s other factors involved). I’ll make my opinion known, of course, whether I buy the game or not, but I won’t let any sort of sweeping ethical attribution influence my personal purchasing decision. I’ll buy each game if I like it, and the price and hassle of dealing with V-mate combined don’t put me off.

Furthermore, provided that G-collections discloses the details of the V-mate system, we shouldn’t need personal experience to make a well-informed judgment. They don’t need my money to see my opinion on the message boards, if that’s what it comes to.

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 10-18-2004).]

#211

@Noirbo: We don’t even know if there is an expiration. That was just a logical conjecture on our part, based on the Japanese equivalent and the problems that arise without such a stipulation. G-collections hasn’t actually mentioned anything of the sort…yet.

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 10-17-2004).]

#212
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
@Noirbo: We don't even know if there is an expiration. That was just a logical conjecture on our part, based on the Japanese equivalent and the problems that arise without such a stipulation. G-collections hasn't actually mentioned anything of the sort...yet.

[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 10-17-2004).]

That's why I put a "?" after that sentence...

As I was saying...There are still many questions in the air...I will make my decision AFTER gathering all the information instead of spreading untrue rumors or starting crying "G-Collections *BEEP*"...


[This message has been edited by Lamuness (edited 10-23-2004).]

#213

Yes, I agree. Shouting “G-collections BEEP” or “XP SUCKS!!!” really aren’t great ways to get your ideas across. I think waiting for more information is good, and personal experience is also good. I may have to pick it up just to check it out for myself. For me, the key factor is being able to aquire a copy for myself with no strings attatched. I don’t mind a 1-year wait. But if we can never get a copy that’s free of red tape after any amount of time, I doubt I could buy to many more of their games for fear that they will all evaporate in a couple of years. In any case, let’s keep our fingers crossed for good news this week.

[This message has been edited by Lamuness (edited 10-23-2004).]

#214
quote:
Originally posted by Benoit:

Anyway, Italicus, you're getting shafted for DSL connections, man. Your country really has bad deals.

Nothing for your Pentium II? Why

[This message has been edited by Benoit (edited 10-17-2004).]

Yup. And that was the cheapest.... [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/frown.gif[/img]

I's a laptop without modem exit. No upgrade available, and no money for a new one at least for three years

#215
quote:
Originally posted by bishounen_blue:
@ Italicus

Why are you saying that you want to learn Japanese so you don't need to rely on G-collections to play bishoujo games? I remember several months ago you were already planning to study Japanese, and you got mad at me because I told you it would be difficult. I know older students who have studied Japanese for a couple of years in the US, then studied in Japan with intense classes for a year, and still have trouble with kanji and wouldn't be able to understand Japanese bishoujo games without using a kanji dictionary and missing a few sentences here and there. By the time you'd be able to use your skills to play the Japanese games, the whole English bishoujo game market could have changed ten times.

As far as the whole sharing copies thing is concerned, that was probably directed toward me. The problem with "It's okay to share the original disc as long as two people don't play at once" comes when games do not require the disc to play. (like Brave Soul) You don't need to make a copy to enable multiple people to play at the same time from the same game. In principle you could say that one person should delete the files before the other person is should be able to play again. But that kind of stuff does't happen in the real world. This is not a black and white issue and you could spend days trying to debate this.

So what do you guys think, should we boycott the game? I mean, the money is pretty insignificant to me. I'm not really worried about paying the $40, and I have internet access and everything. I just don't want to deal with all the red tape and have the risk of not being able to play this game in the future. I'm more worried about this system being used on future games that I would care a lot more about than Let's Meow Meow. On the other hand, they say that you'll have contact with them through V-mate? Maybe we can say how much we hate it, and they'll know we are speaking from the experience of using it instead of just ranting. To boycott, or not to boycott?

Difficult or not, that's not the matter. I'll learn it even if i need my whole life.
After all - and you pointed out - most difficult side of japanese are kanji.

For Boycot or not, do s you please.

#216
quote:
Originally posted by bishounen_blue:
Yes, I agree. Shouting "G-collections DIE" or "XP SUCKS!!!!" really aren't great ways to get your ideas across. I think waiting for more information is good, and personal experience is also good. I may have to pick it up just to check it out for myself. For me, the key factor is being able to aquire a copy for myself with no strings attatched. I don't mind a 1-year wait. But if we can never get a copy that's free of red tape after any amount of time, I doubt I could buy to many more of their games for fear that they will all evaporate in a couple of years. In any case, let's keep our fingers crossed for good news this week.

Yup. sometimes when i got carried away in a blue rage i exagerate. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]

Anyway, since i'm in commerce, i can tell you one of the most important needs is to sense where the market is going. I got a bad vibe 'bout this stuff from the very first time. They scared and pissed a lot of their old customers, even if they pleased some others, that's true. But i don't think these bastards that pirated their games will go and buy their games because of this V-Mate, don't you think so?

Strategically speaking, they're reducing their range to a even more loyal customers' "Hardcore" group. But this loyal troopers will be enough to allow them to survive? Let's speak frankly, hentai is not a widespread genre outside of Japan.

And i doubt they'll even release a non red string copy version. Vaga42Bond said this was a testbed. That's why i discouraged as many people as possible from buying that game.

Anyway if their sales will go down, i really hope this is not going to decisively damage them. As i said in some previous post time will give us justice.

#217
quote:
Originally posted by Noirbo:

I will make my decision AFTER gathering all the information instead of spreading untrue rumors or starting crying "G-Collections *BEEP*"...

Wise decision.

BTW i didn't spread false rumors. I quoted Vaga42Bond and posted G-Coll links. That's all. And 45 potentail customers were gone.

This is pretty enlightning for me on how most of these customers are going to welcome this "parade".

The point is not h-games or something.
I'm against this "big bro" thing. I don't like the whole idea. Being checked, registered and all is bothering me.

Heck, i sell meat to retailers, but i don't ask them to bookmark everytime they sell a single piece of it, or to check their fridge all of the time. The only thng i do is sell that to them. Sure me too have to fight clandestine butchers, but i rely on law, not on a spy control 24/7.

[This message has been edited by Lamuness (edited 10-23-2004).]

#218
quote:
Originally posted by Italicus:
Strategically speaking, they're reducing their range to a even more loyal customers' "Hardcore" group. But this loyal troopers will be enough to allow them to survive? Let's speak frankly, hentai is not a widespread genre outside of Japan.

The idea is that the lower prices and "additional services" will offset this. As you say, only time will tell.

#219
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
The idea is that the lower prices and "additional services" will offset this. As you say, only time will tell.

I'm not that sure, especially if you have to pay on your own to connect to their service. At this point lowering prices is futile if you have to pay again that game in another way. As you say only time will tell.

#220

Having thought about this VM issue over the weekend, basically my thoughts boil down to this:

1. Offering a non-VM version alongside would be acceptable to me. I would just pay the extra $$$ for non-VM.
2. VM will not have any real, long-term impact on piracy of G-C games. Piracy has been with us a long time, and probably always will be. VM will be cracked probably sooner than later.
3. I already do my part against piracy: I buy legal copies of the games.
4. Let’s Meow Meow is certainly already at the duplicator, replete with VM spyware included. Anything we post here will fall on deaf ears for the time being.
5. Vaga42bond already indicated in another thread that we board members are in the ~5% range of G-C’s customer base. I also respectfully submit that we are their most loyal customer segment.

Given points #4 & #5, we have the power to make a difference. Companies are in business to make money, so those of us who are displeased with the VM situation, I say this:

Let’s vote with our feet and our wallets!

If we refuse to buy into the VM crap, we get the decision-makers at G-C where it hurts, and they’ll have to listen then. If we just suck it up and take whatever crap they decide to pull, we’re just enabling their bad behavior.

I want to see G-C continue to thrive and produce games because I like them and normally would continue to support them (GC). However I think it’s time for some tough love.

EDIT: PS: I also thought Divx was a huge mistake at the time (what do you expect when you get a bunch of lawyers together to define a technical standard?) and rejoiced when DVD won out over it and it died the wretched death it so richly deserved.

[This message has been edited by Nameless Mofo (edited 10-18-2004).]