yeah about koihime maybe it will be out soon
thing like that is why i wish jast had a person that could at least post of twitter or the forums
that issue better not be about censoring the game.
-nevermind-
just wondering if the battles get any harder than they are in the demo
Well, I can tell you that I know people who - despite my recommendations - would never have even tried eroge if they could not have got a pirated game to play with first. Now those people are fairly active consumers, so there is some indication that piracy can help a market. I know others whom have pirated material with the philosophy that, if the game/book/whathaveyou turns out to be good, they purchase the real deal in order to support those companies, but never would have bought the product if they hadn’t got to check it out first. So, in one argument it could be said that piracy allows people on the fence to make informed purchase decisions. People who pirate and never purchase the product even if they like it are often the same people who would never have bought the game in the first place.
“Often” in this context has very different implications depending on degree. 50% of the time? 90%? 99%? If you suspect that 9/10 players of any given English eroge are pirates, then even 10% of pirates being people who would’ve bought the game if they couldn’t pirate it is huge–that would double sales.
Another factor is “sampling”. Even if you trust pirates at their word, it’s more likely that a person with such “morals” would speak up than a person who has no such qualms.
Coincidentally, a person who doesn’t speak up would also tend to be the type of person who wants to hide this hobby from sight as much as possible. Piracy provides a very convenient way of obtaining the games and keeping them out of sight without leaving tracks that could be picked up by those around them (e.g., a box or money trail). This sort of person will NEVER buy your games as long as he can obtain such games digitally for free–the pirated game has more value to them, always. Remove the option of piracy, and he just might swallow his paranoia/embarassment.
In this case, it’s less about putting down money as it is about privacy, something piracy can always provide better than a legitimate purchase. I personally know a person just like this. I used to be like this myself. This sort of thinking also leads to the apparently contradictory thinking that “I’m not going to pay for a digital download. But I’m not going to risk having a physical product around either.” They’re suffocated by their own paranoia.
My first experience with eroge was playing a downloaded copy of Kanon (I was enjoying the 2006 anime and wanted to play the original.) I now have a couple thousand dollars worth of eroge sitting on my shelf. One of the first titles I bought was Kanon, since I wanted to make up for pirating it.
I’m sure they do (even though I have played only the demo). I mean, the only enemies in the demo are the Yellow Turbans, and they have no Generals, no Ougi (spelling?), no Strategists, and no archers or Heavy Infantry. They don’t even have any sort of formation! Judging by the fact that certain formations have an advantage over some formations, but are at a disadvantage against other formations (like a rock-paper-scissors game; you can see the details during a battle) and the fact that there will surely be enemy generals with their own Ougis…
My first experience with eroge was Seasons of the Sakura and Nocturnal Illusions, both less than legally acquired. I was a broke college student then. After I found out exactly how low the sales actually were, I decided that I had no excuse to not be a paying customer. By the time this happened though Milky House and Jast USA were gone, replaced with Peach Princess. So I’m fully aware that piracy can serve to attract new customers.
Much later, I was at a panel at ACen where someone was talking about bishoujo games. And they intimated that the music didn’t work in the, uh, “version” of Tokimeki Checkin! they were using to demo to the crowd. I really got up in their grill about it. After I pointed out to them how poorly the games were selling and that they were being choked to death by lack of willingness to pay (NOT lack of interest), they mumbled a bit about how they’d keep that in mind in the future. Then I said “And what about TCI?”
There was an awkward pause, and then the guy told me flat out “… But I already have it.”
Piracy is attractive to a lot of people for many different reasons. But one of the big ones is because it’s cheaper. People will knowingly buy bootlegs, because they’re less expensive than official releases. (Even though there’s little difference between downloading a series, and deliberately buying a bootleg, other than one costs more money.) I don’t deny that piracy can have positive effects, but I’m perfectly willing to go out on a limb, and guesstimate that at least 1 in 10 pirate copies of a game would have been legit sales if the pirated copy wasn’t available. Based on the number of reasons for piracy which are plausibly a reason a significant portion of piraters would have, and based on guesstimations of what a reasonable proportion among those reasons would be.
Since, as I posted before, that 1 in 10 figure would translate (given also guesstimates on how many pirate copies are transferred) into doubling or tripling the best current estimate of MangaGamer’s sales … it seems clear to me that MangaGamer, at least, is drowning.
We don’t have a similar figure available on average sales of recent Jast ETC titles, but I suspect it’s much higher than MG’s; they sell discs, which means they have a network of resellers. I see their games at ACen pretty much every year, and they get sold. Jast ETC also has been around for a lot longer, and has (or had, I haven’t seen any recent SA h-game reviews) the whole SomethingAwful thing going. Mangagamer also has the stigma of being associated with crappy products; Jast ETC’s problems rely around cancellations and lengthy delays, but very few times has the actual product quality been a problem.
Well, it’s always a matter of net effect. If a vendor gains two new customers but loses five via piracy, that’s a net loss. In that case, the vendor would be better off without pirated copies floating around, even if those two people forever stayed away from eroge.
While I only have my own anecdotal evidence to go by, I don’t think that’s exactly true. I know plenty of people who spend hundreds of dollars on PS3 games (because they can’t pirate them) but leech all their PC and PSP games because they can. In fact, easy piracy on the latter platforms simply gives them more money to buy extra PS3 games.
Only hardcore collectors are particularly interested in buying all the products they like (and it’s usually not a matter of supporting the creator but of owning the physical product as a trophy). Most people just want to experience the games at the lowest possible cost.
Those who feel obliged to support developers are clearly a tiny minority.
This is very true. People seem to place an astonishing amount of value in battle trophies and achievements, another variantion on this theme. They’re perfectly happy to play offline games online just to have their “gaming prowess” on display for everyone to see. While I imagine a large number of such people are kids, it makes you wonder.
Unfortunately, eroge aren’t exactly trophies you can display, no matter the format. This is likely one of many reasons the genre so heavily pirated–the positive social reinforcement encouraging purchases isn’t there, unless you’re part of a community like this one.
the other thing about eroge is the negative porn stigma it has in western culture
Yet porn is a multi-billion dollar industry in the West. 
I think the key issue is that video games have always been labeled as a “for kids” thing in the west. That’s why adult or violent games are so controversial. The ultra conservatives against such video games, are quick to paint them as being for kids, when in fact they are 100% for adults. However this situation is drastically changing, because the first and second video game generations are now grown adults with kids of their own. The lie that video games are for kids, is quickly vanishing.
Of course that now creates a new issue of accessibility to the violent and sexy games… but that’s another argument in another thread. 
The other matter, is that adult games were popular in the West… but the market for them died and never got back on it’s feet.
I think that another issue is that in the west it seems more and more that games are viewed as a group activity, while playing an eroge is (with rare exceptions) a solitary activity. Even single player games have started having a communal aspect to them, such as earning achievements in games that you can show off to others.
Just hoping in here to give my experience in how i come into contact with eroge.
It started of course with downloading of : Edelweiss. in other words, i pirate it.
This was i believe year 2008, and after completing afew routes, I pursue further eroge in where i can buy it. I am the type of person who tries the product, and if i like it, i’ll definitely buy it. This is like a customer satisfaction of “owning the product and be proud of it”, we like to have something to touch and look for personal satisfaction. Anyways, this year at Anime North 2010 (Ontario), I hear a booth advertising “Yaoi” and saw some eroge for sell. At first, I hesitate because I was thinking “why i should buy it when i can download it”. However, I end up buying my first eroge “The Sagara Family” because:
- I like eroge
- I want a physical copy (for satisfaction)
- I love the art
- It helps the industry
- Its something I like and would probably play again.
So my point? Piracy can lead to people not purchasing a copy OR it can be used as advertisement. It really depends on the individual itself.
About games that doesn’t have voice patch. let me ask you this: Have you ever think about the source of why companies have no faith in the market? try thinking from their perspective, not as a consumer, but as someone who works in the eroge/anime industry.
About Koihime musou, I myself am abit disappointed in finding out that There is NO PHYSICAL COPY!!!. I tried the trial version and liked it, problem is they don’t distribute physical copies of the game. I don’t really mind the voices, just not fond of the DRM, the voice issue comes second. I am debating whether to sit this one out and wait until a voice patch or just go /wth, go and buy it for the sake of it.
My review on the trial:
The Good:
- Game Story is unique, rare to see the Protagonist warping back in time to change history
- Battle System (for ALL those who say its easy, difficult WILL increase as you WILL FIGHT enemy generals with formations with Ouji’s)
- Unique artwork of the female cast
The Bad:
- No voice (its ok since Story attracted me)
- DRM (OMG (excuse my language), not a fan of DRM)
there might be a physical copy and most likely be voiced at worst if the sales aren’t there fans will just make a voice patch which is a fairly easy fix
lets just hope that is the case, but i do know nothing is really perfect, and its really hard to get something you really want unfortunately. Have to make use and stick to what we have 
By the way, this question pops out for me about Koihime regarding this voice.
Can a company, for example JAST comes in and do translation & have an agreement to do Koihime again? I am curious whether such thing can happen where another company attempts to take on the project again and attempt to make it better because it was not done well? or is it not possible?
Not possible in this case since MangaGamer is co-owned by Nexton (with Overdrive and, i’m not sure, Circus).
And Base Son (Dev of Koihime Musou) is a sub-brand of Nexton ^^
It was like G-Collections when it was still owned by CD-Bros (which Trabulance, Sekilala, Angel Smile and almost all the brand used in G-Collection was owned by CD-Bros)
Anyways it’s just without voice at the release… And it was decided by Nexton itself, not by MangaGamer…So even if another translator/editor pick it up, it will be the same.
Jast wouldn’t do that, and right now they’re the only other company translating these games. (Well, OK, I will have to include Kitty as the exception, but they’ve localized a grand total of like three games, all tied to OVAs they’ve released.)
Peter has already passed on several games (the XChange R series) because they were too similar to games they’ve already done. He feels it’s better to cover new ground than to re-cover ground that’s already been covered. And there have been a few times where he acquired the rights to, and re-released, some very old games; so far as I know, minimal changes were made. If Jast were to acquire the games, he’d probably just re-release the version MangaGamer already made, possibly with a change to the DRM so he could sell it on discs.
Also, these contracts tend to run for a set length of time, measured in years. They’re typically exclusive for that length of time. (No company is going to take the risk of all the expense and work required, when the original licensor can turn around and re-license the property to someone else.) At the end of that time, the license either lapses or is renewed. This is why a lot of older anime is out of print now. Card Captor Sakura went out of print; the licensor lost the license, it wasn’t renewed.
And I belive MangaGamer is run by a group of Japanese b-game makers, one of which includes the makers of Koihime. It would be a very strange day indeed for them to license a game to Jast over MangaGamer. That’s not to say it won’t happen: the same thing happened with G-Collections. The original Japanese company fell on very hard times, the US branch that was GC was dissolved, and Peter bought up the remains. Short of that happening, though, I don’t see anyone else getting Koihime away from MG anytime soon.
^ i guess , with the game coming out. Better than nothing :roll:. Glad that in my lifetime i can see some good eroge getting deliver to us where we can read it.
btw, how many endings does this game have…? just tell me the #, just curious. i heard its 3 somewhere and i already know one of them is kan’u (obvious heroine).
and…does anyone where i can find additional pictures like these? i’m specifically looking for Chouun, but anything else is fine. I tried searching image galleries but no luck, i even checked the japanese Koihime website too…
Uploaded with ImageShack.us