Yeah, I think the problem with those two pulled out games was more their title than content. I hope The Queen and Princess as your rewards will be released as planned.
Any CG, even menu CGs like “Quit Game” “New Game” can technically be counted as well.
Those words can and likely will be interpreted narrowly otherwise there could be a backlash.
You know… menu buttons are rarely “HCG”… though that would be an interesting menu design… And CG means event CG in most cases.
Behold, the almighty power of loopholes. Did they say event CG? So if a button is an H picture, would that count as one ‘HCG’? Yes, yes it would.
I just realized that what I posted here is different from what had been posted in the Japanese gaming forum. Apparently the rules (obtained from the source link) have been updated for clarification.
I see…that’s a little different, but still theoretically possible to get around depending upon how they define HCG.
Lots of everyday life events… while topless?
We won’t know until someone leaks the exact text of the regulation. So far, everything that has talked about the regulations have been paraphrased versions and not the exact text.
I’m pretty sure those won’t count as HCG, since no H (sex) is being portrayed, unless someone’s fondling her all day.
No, those would not work probably.
1st way: make a bunch of very similar scenes with small changes for the other ones, like eyes and mouth. Those usually don’t cost extra as the amount of change is minimal.
2nd way: as zalas mentioned
3rd way: define “violation” narrowly
4th way: make them into animations (other than gif animations or strung together pngs), 3D interactions, etc.
What if you make your slave girl clean house all day while topless and containing a vibrator? 
(Some people are into that…)
And cook that way as well.
It’s just stupid.
And how can their really be a backlash? What are they worried about? Their japanese language games being banned in the EU? NOW coming out and denouncing them? The Christian Coalition decrying that they are evil and Satan’s tool and should be boycotted?
It would look really bad if the head of the EOCS were selling his company’s “banned” games overseas, wouldn’t it? 
Didn’t they just prove that this is in fact exactly what they are afraid of? Wasn’t the whole EOCS reg change specifically in response to public pressure precipitated by a sudden storm of overseas interest?
And the RapeLay incident was just one guy selling some used copies on Amazon. That were not officially sanctioned for release anywhere but Japan. Well, I’m sorry, but look at the title: “My sex slave is a classmate” is obviously about underage sex slaves *. And it WAS officially translated and designated for release to world+dog. It represents an even more potent lightning rod for controversy than RapeLay.
- – The title is not my cup of tea, so I did not and would not ever buy it. So it’s possible that it was actually not really about that. Does’t matter - the name is enough to condemn the title in the press.
Nandemonai, you know that no character in any Japanese eroge is actually under the age of 20. Remember YMK? They explain it very thoroughly in that game to comedic effect.
And in that particular title, ALL of the girls CONSENT to be trained (and they can quit anytime they want). Indeed, at least one of them does it because she is shy, and has had a lifelong crush on the hero of the story, so it seems like the perfect opportunity to get in a “romantic” relationship to her.
Frankly, it isn’t a very dark title. Peach Princess sells much darker titles. It’s basically just a submissive or passive girl romance in most of the paths from what I’ve seen of the game (I haven’t completed the game yet, but I’ll get there eventually). So the only objection to the game is PURELY in its title and description. Frankly, if they renamed that game “The Secret To My Success”, they could sell it just fine, and no one would notice. Of course, it WOULDN"T sell as well as with the title and description “My Sex Slave Is A Classmate”, but thems the breaks.
Even if it was a hardcore dark title of humilation, subjugation, and the complete breaking of a girl’s will and spirit, it STILL wouldn’t be as nasty as half the hentai mangas out there. So again— who cares? As long as videos and manga and “clean” bishojo games are out there, there’s going to be hentai bishojo games, and most of them are still going to START the game with the hero saying “Hello” to the girls to start the intimacy— and many of those females will be drawn in the art style of “loli”, so there you go.
And lastly— LET THERE BE A STORM about a title or the whole industry. It will just generate MORE SALES. What eroge seller or producer COULDN’T use that money?
The entire point of the whole chain of events is that the product risked becoming too hot for stores to want to carry the games, since they also carry other software and were concerned about a drop in sales overall. So it’s not at all accurate to say that the only thing that could possibly happen due to controversy is sales go up.
For more evidence of this, see: Six Days in Fallujah and the upcoming Guantanamo Bay videogame! … Oh, wait, you can’t. They were cancelled. Because of public outcry.
Six Days in Fallujah was just dropped by Konami. It wasn’t cancelled.
And yet, sales of Rapelay went up. The price for it went up on the auction sites, and a lot of other Illusion titles got sold, AND more people know about lllusion and other eroge companies.
The kind of (Western owned or Western ran) stores that would CARRY eroge with titles like “Rapelay” or “Slave Bazaar” or “My Sex Slave is My Classmate” isn’t going to cancel it because of some public outcry from “pro-Christian” or “Child Protection” or Feminists groups. That’s like saying “Penthouse is too scared to have their models dress in Victoria Secret outfits because they are scared that the Christians for Decency will start boycotting them because they are currently boycotting Victori Secrets due to its clothes humilitating women.” (MangaGamer pulled the titles because their JAPANESE companies wanted them pulled.)
The only thing the Japanese Eroge companies have to fear is their legislature deciding to outlaw ALL hentai graphics in video games. That might happen— if the Japanese parliment feel embarassed enough about its “world image”. Other then that? It’s just spreading the knowledge that there are “naughty” games depicting naked toon women or toon women engaged in sexual/erotic fantasy stories— and some feminists are OUTRAGED about it. Again, not a big deal. “Feminists groups” in the news are ALWAYS outraged. It’s the only reason to feature them in a news item. You don’t get “someone had to move from their house to an apartment and their new places doesn’t allow pets. Look at this beautiful persona nursing mother and her 4 itsy bitsy cute litle kittens he has to put up for adoption to a good home. Feminist groups approve.” (actually, this HAPPENED on one of my local TV stations— and the local feminist group were OUTRAGED that they showed a nursing CAT on TV as it was “insulting to females everywhere to show a mother in a natural act to merely raise viewership”— I KID YOU NOT!)
Again— as long as the Japanese Diet don’t ban the industry, who cares? This is barely a burble on the “what outrages various political and news friendly groups” out there.
Well said. The publicity is honestly one of the best things for them. Before this incident only the select few knew. The fact that this is yet another attempt to tell people to stop doing things and to get rid of freedoms of speech and expression is more than anything going to gather people’s interest. Feminist groups are laughable at best as they say they are for women’s rights but in reality all they wish is to promote their often religious moral values. Banning rape games does not save women if anything it will probably hurt them even more. Still with all this news their games are being noticed more and more and no doubt they will begin selling overseas even more rather than less. Even if some companies do chicken out it would just mean they don’t have what it takes to be in the eroge industry. The EOCS is easily escapable as the companies can go to someplace different.
Manga Gamer does seem to pull a lot of their products and hopefully the new website means a new leaf for the company. I am interested if they have anything planned for AX but am rather happy with kirakira that was just released. Now I just have to play it and make sure it wasn’t screwed over by them.