Here’s a question that I rank as one of life’s greatest mysteries, right up there with the World’s Seven Wonders: How do Adult Bishoujo Games stay afloat in Japan? I hear Adult videos in America barely shave by with profit margins, especially since you consider America is a righteous Protestant-ethic Christian society, and the numerous zoning ordinances placed on Adult bookstores, it’s no wonder AV in America needs to stay very clean like Playboy to stay afloat. Ok, maybe I’m making stuff up, but you ever seen how trashy the production values of these American AV look? How does Japanese Bishoujo games look so good? Oh my lord, if it wasn’t for the fact that the games were a bit beyond my price range, I’d buy each game as soon as it came out. Tokimeki Check-In! has really grabbed me, and I think I will pick it up if Peach Princess brings some wares to BAAF.
Well,generally,the fact that the Japanese enjoy reading mangas much more then the American enjoy reading comics…
Most of them look beyond the characters in the manga and start looking at the story and artworks,and if they like it,they’ll start paying attention to those who draw the artworks and wrote the story of the manga.
Same case for those game here,if a company did their first few games well,they’ll get a fandom for those games and those fans will always get the games made by the company.
And there’s the fact that the Japanese will never think twice about footing out a huge amount of cash to buy those games for just the artworks and nevermind about how lousy the gameplay turns out nor how bad the story is because it’s drawn by a certain artist or release by a certain company.
And of course most of those games are price at 8800-9800 yen compare to 6800 yen for a console game will guranteed that the company will never lose money,they just need to sell about,say 100 copies to pay back the production cost and another 100 copies will just be enough to make a profit,remember,there’s always fans who will never think twice about getting copies of those games,just because it’s a release by a certain company featuring a certain artist which those fans like.
Any place that is on a island tends to have higher prices, especially when they don't have many if any natural resources, or if they are in middle of a ocean. The first case is japan, the second goose for places like Hawaii and other pasific islands. This is not the case for Great Britain, because they have some natural resources, and are fairly close to France, compared to Japan to Korea.
Economic Success also raises prices, that is why things are more expensive in the US and Japan
then say Mexico or India. This is also true within the US it's self. Prices are higher on East Coast and West Coast compared to Ohio or Indiana
I am booking an AMTRAK ticket to Ohio and Indiana to buy my Hentai. (Bye!)
quote:
Originally posted by bokmeow:
I am booking an AMTRAK ticket to Ohio and Indiana to buy my Hentai. (Bye!)
Ack no, not Ohio!!!! [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]
Sorry, I spent too many years in Indiana. But before you run off (on Amtrak? Is that really much safer?) consider other factors:
Has there been market penitration in that area? When I was at Purdue, anime was easier to get in West Lafayette (pretty much the college part of town) than Lafayette itself because anime was slowly coming into it's own on campus but not in the general community. If there's no market there, there's no reason to bring in the items.
Has supply kept up with demand? Strange as it sounds, I can often find and get anime (even hentai stuff) cheaper here in Hawaii then when I lived in Chicago. In Chicago, if I wanted a certain video, usually I'd end up travelling around just trying to find someplace that had it and if they did, sometimes the prices were slightly elevated. (After all, if you're the only place that has an item and people are willing to pay a little extra to get it, why not raise the price a little.) Whereas here in Hawaii, I can find the video in several stores and they lower the prices because in this case, they're competing to get you to come to their store rather than the competitors. (And sometimes they overstock and lower prices just to get rid of the old stock.)
And yes, there are hundreads of other factors but I'm not an economics major, I'm a computer geek. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img] Yeah, I pay more for gas here but I travel 30 miles a day to and from work. My co-worker in Chicago used to travel around 100 miles to and from work plus he has to deal with snow, ice, and the occassional fence. (Sorry, inside joke.)
I am booking an AMTRAK ticket to Hawaii to buy my Hentai. (Bye!)
One other thing that hasn't been mentioned (it just came into my mind), don't bishojo games have a big crossover market. Both sexes play these games in Japan.
In America, the gaming market is locked towards males 18-25, so most games made here reflect those tastes. When games here target girls/women they're mostly Barbie type games.
Note that THE SIMS is getting a “dating simulation” expansion pack now. Wow, how revolutionary.
[This message has been edited by Mozart (edited 10-17-2001).]
quote:
Originally posted by Mozart:
Note that THE SIMS is getting a "dating simulation" expansion pack now. Wow, how revolutionary.
[This message has been edited by Mozart (edited 10-17-2001).]
I think the the main thing people like about the Sims is the high level of interactivity and customization... designing houses, changing clothes, making friends, buying things, and all that. The main problem I find with it is that it gets redundant after a while...
I wonder if there are such types of Japanese simulation games? Should be interesting...
quote:
Originally posted by Mecha00:
In America, the gaming market is locked towards males 18-25, so most games made here reflect those tastes. When games here target girls/women they're mostly Barbie type games.
Oooh, I'm going to edge out of that age range in a few months, what will I do with myself [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]
From talking to the female gamers I know, they experience the same problem bishoujo gamers have, they exist but aren't being popularized. Companies either discount them or believe them to be such a small population that there's no profit in it for them. (A female friend of mine had written a letter to a company praising their game and they wrote back that they were delighted to hear from a "female" about the game. Which shocked my friend since all the people she knew who played the game were female.) After all, why do research into a game targeted for (what they believe to be) 5% of their potential market?
There's also the misconception that there aren't any girls who would enjoy a game with violence or the like. That a game for a female populance would have to be "frilly" and "romantic". (They never met one of my co-workers who began describing to us the x-rated Tetris she played the previous night in the lunchroom.) It's the typically stereotypical view we have of gender roles and behavior.
(I apologize for not making all that much sense, I'm trying to deliver a complex idea at the end of a workday.) [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]
quote:
Originally posted by bokmeow:
I am booking an AMTRAK ticket to Hawaii to buy my Hentai. (Bye!)
You can swim right? [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/wink.gif[/img]
Oh, I know it is a bit off topic, but I just saw the trailer demo for Gokuraku Viper Paradise, and I must say, it has one of the cutest (and erotic, of course) character designs I’ve ever seen. Being an aspiring artist stuck in a career path he regrets, I especially pay attention to artwork, and I’m thinking, “Man, why am I not going out to get every Viper game on the face of the earth right now?” Although I have heard that Viper games tend to have very thin plots, not a good selling point for me then, since I am a sentimental fool, crybaby to my father that is. Also, I heard the gameplay tends to be kind of shabby, though I guess that’s a matter of opinion. I’ve read reviews that absolutely pan a game but once I sat down to play it I just lost sleep and sustenance. Being animated is a huge plus, I would so play that, it’s like watching anime.