43 persons arrested in Italy today because of pedopornographic material, included some perverted anime pics… speaking of the devil, and his tail pops out…
I don’t reaslly know what to think of this… the only Japanese games they have listed are Kana and H na Bunny, which they released here…
The two Chinese ones look nice, but I can’t real a word of Chinese, so that’s out.
quote:
Originally posted by Lamuness:
i will have to counter you on this one. i live in canada and at times i am a bit paranoid when it comes to customs. for those who have been on the BBS since peapri started, remember the australia guy? (i think it’s kaiser fire) he got police searching for his house and took away his stuff because one of the anime dvds he tried to import was seized by customs coz they claimed it has illegal matters…and he is never heard of since…anyways you can do a search on the bbs for more details. but my point is, it has happened.
Oi. I remember that… --
It sucks that no matter how sucky the USA’s government is, it’s still better than all the other English-speaking countries… ><
And that puts back my possible “get the fuck out of here” plans… good thing I know French. ^_^;;
I dunno, I think the UK government in general is pretty good. There are some fucked-up things, of course. The wackiest thing about customs is that they have been known to seize materials and ransack houses after finding goods that were COMPLETELY LEGAL TO PURCHASE IN THE UK!
I have both shipped hentai to someone in the UK from the US (before I had to flee the country) and ordered hentai from the US now that I am here, and customs has not bothered me. However, I wouldn’t buy a giant shipment of porny things all at once - no sense tempting them, or risking a huge cash loss if something goes wrong. (So far, the only thing I know that customs has barred from reaching me was some breakfast cereal my mother tried to send me when I complained about the lack of Chex in this country. Apparently, shipping cereal without a license is a no-no.)
Australia is known for being nastier about porn than many other places, though. The LSL game couldn’t even be sold there.
Being on a website is no guarantee of safety. After all, almost all hentai websites are completely illegal anyway… they often have stolen the content and/or are using copyrighted characters in naughty ways. It’s just that hentai is low-profile enough that nobody’s made a task force out of hunting for it.
quote:
Originally posted by papillon:
Being on a website is no guarantee of safety. After all, almost *all* hentai websites are completely illegal anyway... they often have stolen the content and/or are using copyrighted characters in naughty ways. It's just that hentai is low-profile enough that nobody's made a task force out of hunting for it.
My point is exactly that. Just because something is illegal doesn't necessarily mean it's prosecuted. If large hentai sites with lolicon images are allowed to proliferate, why would they care about small-time individuals receiving paltry shipments? Apparently my logic is lost on these governments though...maybe because checking of shipments already exists, and site-killing takes extra measures/effort?
quote:
Originally posted by Italicus:
43 persons arrested in Italy today because of pedopornographic material, included some perverted anime pics... speaking of the devil, and his tail pops out...
Were they arrested for having pedopornographic material, amongst which was animated pics, or were some of these people arrested SOLEY for possession of "pedopornographic" animated pics? There's a big difference. Either way, the coincidence is amazing... [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/eek.gif[/img]
@papillon: You had to flee the country? You're joking...right?
The first you said is the right one. Just click here. Real Player and broadband required… It’s amongst in the midst. When you’ll see a pic of a PC, then you’ll get the point.
There’s also a news in TG3 - regional service, Lazio. Again it was my uncle’s former department that did the “shot”.
P2P server was based in USA.
EDIT TG is removed every new edition, but since is big enough i believe they’ll go on for a day or two with developments…
I have to rectify a mispelling. There were 34 arrested, and not 43 as i said previously…
[This message has been edited by Italicus (edited 12-06-2004).]
quote:
dunno, I think the UK government *in general* is pretty good. There are some fucked-up things, of course.
Like the Prime Minister being Bush's dog, you mean?
quote:
Originally posted by papillon:
I dunno, I think the UK government *in general* is pretty good. There are some fucked-up things, of course.
All of the world is a small place. There are f*****-up things everywhere in every country... "To everyone, his part of sorrows". Bush, Berlusconi, Blair... All the same!
"Ne bud' lapotnika, ne bylo bud' barchatnika" - russian proverb, "If someone doesn't wear lapty ( * a wooden escorce made shoes ), the one that wears velvet ( * the nobles ) can't exist.". [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/rolleyes.gif[/img]
[This message has been edited by Italicus (edited 12-06-2004).]
Yeah, the Bush’s-poodle thing kind of stinks. It doesn’t have too much effect on the average Brit, though, other than making them annoyed. As far as I can tell.
My fleeing the US is a long story and doesn’t actually have anything to do with porn or with me committing any crimes or anything like that. It was an immigration foulup regarding my husband. In case you ever need to know, England’s immigration system is a LOT nicer than the US’s one.
Government systems are big and slow-moving. They have a department in place to go through international mail and look for things and act based on what they find. They have a task force that hunts for real-life bad pictures sites to try and get them or anyone who’s a member. They haven’t yet bothered, afaik, to assign anyone to hunt specifically for lolicon stuff. Assumably if enough guys in the REAL photo stings start being caught with loli-hentai on their machines, someone might eventually decide to go after that.
quote:
Originally posted by Italicus:
[img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/rolleyes.gif[/img] Whatever, Dark Shiki. But still I implies subjectivity. So, if i say "They reached a new low", it's from my personal and exclusive point of view.
It isn't whether or not you implied subjectivity. It's your implied judgement that X is low, tends to mean you judge people who likes X as low as well, which is a personal insult.
In a valiant attempt to get back on topic …
It appears that VMate was a prelude to introducing this system for online downloads. This probably means VMate is here for the long haul, as long as it’s going to be (I really have to question how long GC will be around).
quote:
Originally posted by Nandemonai:
It appears that VMate was a prelude to introducing this system for online downloads. This probably means VMate is here for the long haul, as long as it's going to be (I really have to question how long GC will be around).
So far only Japanese and Chinese games are available for download. My guess is that they are going to implement current English games as they run out of stock, so they won't have to print more of them if they sell out. As for future releases, I guess that will depend on how well it works with the games already available. IF it works out alright, downloadable games will likely be cheaper than straight V-Mate games. Without the expenses of printing CDs, boxes, the manpower needed for handling shipping etc, the price could drop even more.
I'm kind of curious, will this affect their business relationship with other companies that sell their products (like J-List/PP)? I much doubt they'll go away from CDs completely, as a lot of people don't have the bandwith required to download games in a timely fashion.
V-Mate is looking more and more similar to Steam. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, IMO.
[This message has been edited by AG3 (edited 12-06-2004).]
quote:
Originally posted by Jason4:
I just noticed one other thing. Maybe I'm blind, but has the game, Heart de Roomate, been taken off the list? I've had that game in mind as one to buy, but never really gotten around to ordering. Now I'm wondering if that was a mistake. Another thing: I thought the prices were lowered on a few products, but I only see that the newest games have the "low" price. What happened there? Was it just a temp sale?
If yer talking about the G-Collections site, it's there, just click the "Products" button. Only Virtual-Mate games have the lower price.
quote:I think they accidently edited it out. Try here.
Originally posted by Jason4:
I have clicked on the "Products" page. Still no Heart de Roomate
quote:
Originally posted by papillon:
I dunno, I think the UK government *in general* is pretty good.
Eh, it's pretty good, but there is still some fucked-up stuff that they do that would make the average American question the sanity of those in power.
In general, there's a greater amount of governmental mucking with personal lives and other things I care about over there than there is over here. That's why I couldn't move to UK/NZ/Australia/Canada, etc. -_-
Haven't looked into other countries, though...
...but I'm rambling now. >_>
quote:
Originally posted by Italicus:
Whatever, Dark Shiki. But still I implies subjectivity. So, if i say "They reached a new low", it's from my personal and exclusive point of view.
quote:
Originally posted by Nandemonai:
It isn't whether or not you implied subjectivity. It's your implied judgement that X is low, tends to mean you judge people who likes X as low as well, which is a personal insult.
It seems Italicus added that part later. I only mentioned "objective" reasons in my post because some behavior could truly be deemed reprehensible, such as looking at real child pornography. That supports the industry of sexually molesting young children...very bad. That would be my objective reason for criticizing such people, and I think my criticism would be justified in that case.
quote:
Originally posted by AG3:
So far only Japanese and Chinese games are available for download. My guess is that they are going to implement current English games as they run out of stock, so they won't have to print more of them if they sell out. As for future releases, I guess that will depend on how well it works with the games already available. IF it works out alright, downloadable games will likely be cheaper than straight V-Mate games. Without the expenses of printing CDs, boxes, the manpower needed for handling shipping etc, the price could drop even more.
Actually, I feel like I would be a little mollified if they start putting English games up for download, and at (more) reduced prices. At least then they're putting the system to actual use beyond anti-piracy. Anti-piracy alone could be handled by a much less invasive system. To me, using it to offer downloadable games would further justify its implementation. For someone like me who criticizes the system on principle, to a large extent, this is a step in the right direction. Further reduced prices would overcome my more functional objections. But then I'm highly concerned with price (ok I'm a cheap skate), if you guys haven't figured it out already. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 12-07-2004).]
Y’know, I have to wonder- for the downloadable games offered in the Chinese language area- if they have voices or are non-voiced.
quote:It would answer the question of resale, at any rate [you couldn't]. It doesn't help with offline play or multiple installations. And depending on file size, it raises the requirement for Internet connection to broadband connection. I guess it may make some people happy, but I'm not convinced.
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
Actually, I feel like I would be a little mollified if they start putting English games up for download, and at (more) reduced prices. At least then they're putting the system to actual use beyond anti-piracy.
Well I don’t think it’d be a good move overall to make the games download-only. Personally, I wouldn’t mind a bit though. I’m not inclined to keep game items around that could end up embarrassing me anyway. If I could, I’d burn the games I get now to CD-R’s and trash the originals, just so the CD doesn’t look naughty at a glance. I always throw away H-game boxes, and manuals too if they have H-pics.
And yes, I realize that all of V-mate’s faults would still be present. But, IMO, there’s a certain price point where those functional objections become less of an issue. To make an extreme example, if English games were to cost $10 to download, then who really cares about multiple installations? I can then buy 5 games for the price of what one used to cost. If necessary, I can just buy the game multiple times and still come out ahead. Ditto for the sales issue; I don’t need to sell the games because they’re so cheap new anyway. The Internet connection requirement is still a problem, but as you say, if I’m downloading them then I must have broadband anyway. In this case, I would still feel that the drastically reduced cost is worth the inconvenience of not being able to play the games without a connection.
Again, the scenario above is just that: an unlikely scenario. Also, I just said that making the games downloadable is a step in the right direction, IMO, largely because it could reduce costs (and thus price) and because I feel it would justify the existence of the system. I would still have my original reservations all the same, and any decision to purchase on my part would always bring such factors into consideration.
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 12-07-2004).]
If the games went down to the “standard” downloadable games pricepoint - $19.95 - then yeah, most of my objections would go away. I work in that business, after all. You don’t get to resell downloadable games, but you pay a not-too-high price for them and get them right away without having to go out to a store and hunt for them.
The only problems I see with that are:
1. It would still be nice to have the option of buying the expensive Collector’s Edition version that would come with nice shiny box and goodies and stuff, but that should be resellable and not VMate-locked
2. I still have the issue of having a slightly flaky broadband connection and wanting to have games that I can play when my connection has gone down. Loading up a nice relaxing b-game is a much saner method of dealing with the connection failing again then swearing at it for half an hour while rebooting the whole house and hoping it comes back up.
OTOH, on #2 at least, I would complain, but if the prices were low and the games were good I would no longer feel morally obligated to refuse to buy them.
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
Well I don't think it'd be a good move overall to make the games download-only. Personally, I wouldn't mind a bit though. I'm not inclined to keep game items around that could end up embarrassing me anyway. If I could, I'd burn the games I get now to CD-R's and trash the originals, just so the CD doesn't look naughty at a glance. I always throw away H-game boxes, and manuals too if they have H-pics.
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki
That's just... wrong. Throw away the nice box and manual? That you paid for? Copying the game on a CD-R to not see the original disc?
What the hell?
I think you should learn to accept that you are a bishoujo gamer, instead of hiding it away. I'm not saying that you should tell everyone you are, just accept it.
What's next, deleting all the H-CGs out of the game? :/