New Member with Question(s)!

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

Hi everyone!
First of all I would like to apologize for my bad english , but I’m from Germany (Old Europe :wink: ).

My Favorite Game is the “Sagara Family”. Can anyone recommend me similar Titles? Thanks.

However-I’m wondering why there are only so few english translated and uncensored Games out there.
I’ve an good Contact to an German Anime Publisher and he is trying (for years) to license some Games for Germany(or Europe) but as he told me its really difficult! He says that its mainly not the Money but that the Japanese Creators
won’t simply allow an Version outside of Japan!
The Rights with the Creators would be difficult to clear.
Could this be true?
Anyway if someone would like to have the Contact of this Guy he can Contact me via PM.

So I hope in the Future we will see some “newer” and “better Games” - perhaps also in Germany- or an international version with english , german and
other Languages. (Dream!)

I would like also to see such titles like “No Surface Moon” , “Dragon Knight 4” and “Words Worth”. Do anyone know if there are planned for an english release?
Thank you for your answers.

All the Best
Animefan666

#2

You mean, in the genre of “boy moves in with all-female family and gets a lot of sex”? Easy.

-Do You Like Horny Bunnies?
-Do You Like Horny Bunnies? 2
-Come See Me Tonight
-Come See Me Tonight 2

Some developers are Japan-only-minded.
Others don’t think it’d be worth it financially.

Never heard of No Surface Moon.

Dragon Knight 4 is from Elf, who already tried to localise several games in English, of which Knights of Xentar (Dragon Knight 3) is the best-known example, back in 1994. It failed. It’s unlikely that after this they would try again. If a company like Peach Princess would try to license it, it’d cost too much money.

Words Worth would likely be too expensive to license.

#3

The Rights with the Creators would be difficult to clear. Could this be true?

yes, it’s true. here’s a real life example that i have heard of in person. i am friends with the owner and some staff from a certain bgame comapny (whose name i will not disclose, but i can tell you for sure that it’s not roots/orbit or elf :stuck_out_tongue: ) and the owner (who is aware that i work for a company that ports b-games to english) told me during a dinner with him that they have previously refused an offer from a foreign company who wishes to port their games outside of japan, because they fear that their games will not do as well (in terms of sales) outside of japan and also the difficulty of communication due to language barriers (they only know japanese, and maybe some amateur english).

not to say that i solicited the company in question myself, in fact i dont think i ever will (due to personal reasons; turning friends into business relationships is the last thing i want to do)

anyhow, at least those 2 issues are the concerns of a particular company…if you can convince them that language issues will not be a problem and sales outside of japan will match the sales inside japan (good luck on the latter), then you can give it a try, but that’s not to say that the comapny does not have any other reasons for refusing. also keep in mind that japanese people tend to have a different mindset than westerners so you need to be thinking on their terms if you want to convince them.

and also a question (at least a question to myself) will be the removal of mosaic in the games drawn by artists who are really famous in japan. are they willing to do it? i think this is of course a very subjective thing but it comes down to the question of principle, which of course will vary from person to person. for animefan666’s example for no surface moon, i really dont know if carnelian will allow uncensored images to be released. personally if i were in her shoes, i most likely wont (i think it kinda relates to animefan666’s point about not allowing a version outside of japan). so you may possibly get to release a game in english with the mosaics still intact, but will people here (not hardcore fans, but the general average john doe) be able to accept a mosaiced version? im sure coolgamer wont at the very least :stuck_out_tongue:

[ 03-25-2007, 02:00 PM: Message edited by: Lamuness - BBS Admin ]

#4

No Surface Moon is the real title of the game and OVA that was licensed under the name “Moonlight Lady”

#5

Not a few erogames use almost imperceptible mosaics, enough for successful release in the West, in my opinion.
Of course, those same games could give problems of a different sort :wink: :stuck_out_tongue: …

#6

baldo, i think i need to make a new rule regarding making a warning regarding loli links, or any non-worksafe graphical links, especially for us canadian users

i only loaded about 10-20% of the image and i turned the browser off right away since i kinda guessed what was coming at me :stuck_out_tongue:

ADD:
and i wonder if i should just disable the [img] tag altogether and have you guys use actual links instead from now on…i should seriously consider writing board rules in the near future

[ 03-25-2007, 04:15 PM: Message edited by: Lamuness - BBS Admin ]

#7

Hey Lamuness, the average clerk -Canadian or otherwise- is not supposed to surfing this filthy site during work, besides ALL my Links are driven by pure academic interest. do you know :wink: …

#8

i personally am not disallowing any loli links, but i still think that an informed prior warning is nothing but a courteous matter, that’s all…and for the matter, i dont work on sundays :stuck_out_tongue:

we dont want anybody to get in trouble (during work) because of something they didn’t expect…anyways i should start a new thread in bbs junkyard regarding possible board rules

anyhow to go get back on topic:
mild mosaic (even if it’s just a 2x2pixel block :stuck_out_tongue: ) is still mosaic, it still can be an issue to some people…

[ 03-25-2007, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: Lamuness - BBS Admin ]

#9

Please don’t, it’s a huge pain in the ass. I think we have shown that we can be responsible with the tag.

#10

i actually dont see the [img] tag used as much as text links here in the first place

and to prevent this thread from derailing, please continue to post your [img] concerns in the junkyard instead

#11

@ all

Thanks for your answers.

@ Lamuness

I think the Japanese Language should not an Problem for this Company because they have over 200 German translated Anime DVDs released!
Do you know what Sales Numbers the Japanese Company expect?
You can PM me if you don’t want to write it here!
Thanks.
All the Best
Animefan666

#12

animefan666, like i said besides the language barrier there are likely to be much more issues, and this varies from company to company, and it’s up to you as to whether you can convince them regardless of how much of a disadvantage your position may be in (you are soliciting after all)

now i am not in a position to teach anyone anything (trade secrets?), but you can easily look up sales numbers in japan by reading some of the japanese bgame magazines or on japanese websites if you look hard enough, and make your judgements accordingly, as i am sure that sale expectations will vary depending on size and popularity of the company (for big companies like roots and elf i am very sure it will be very high, while smaller companies are more likely to be willing to settle for less), but due to the different nature of games vs dvds, i dont think you should use your dvd sales figures as a reference point. but keep in mind that this is also just one of the many concerns the japanese company may have, and even if you can somehow guarantee that number of sales as well as the corresponding revenue (i think elf will be pissed if you sell their games for 1 euro just to make that sales figure) it doesnt automatically mean that you can get the contract either.

are you, as well as the average gamer here, willing to accept the selling price for the games at the same rate as their japanese counterpart (which is around 80-100USD)?

are you, as well as the japanese company, willing to sell at the range where peapri is at (half price or lower)? the companies may frown at the fact that their games will have to sell for half price or less outside of their country

anyhow, this is homework that you should do from the beginning, and it seems that you haven’t yet done it in the first place so you should go do some research on your own first, good luck

[ 03-26-2007, 12:12 AM: Message edited by: Lamuness - BBS Admin ]

#13

I wish these companies wouldn’t compare different economies. The equivalent of $80 there is the regular price of a quality game. Many games go for $70 there. The Japanese are more wealthy.

In the US, people are less wealthy, and the regular price for games is $50.

Different economies.

#14

According to the International Monetary Fund’s official numbers from 2005 Japanese per-capita income is roughly $7,000 USD less than that of the United States. The biggest economic difference that enables the Japanese to afford luxury items like expensive games and electronics is that their savings rate is so much higher - they don’t spend (waste) money on things they don’t absolutely need, so when it comes time to make a discretionary purchase they have a good bit of funds set by.

Where Benoit’s observation is spot on is that you can’t really compare the American and Japanese media markets. Especially in the case of niche products like eroge, the Japanese rule is “charge as much as you can get away with to fans who’re willing to pay that much”, instead of “maximize profit by finding the highest point on the supply/demand curve”. It’s the same for anime DVDs and music CDs, and the industry colludes to keep prices high, meaning that market growth is fueled exclusively by growth in the otaku subculture and not any change on the supply side that would trigger acceptance by the broader media market (“standard edition” and “simple 2000” games excluded).

#15

I should have known this was coming. :slight_smile:

Yes, the per-capita income of the US is higher than Japan’s. However, it’s not an accurate figure of the countries’ wealth.

In the US there are a number of very rich people who make a lot of money. They unbalance the per-capita number. Dividing the number by the amount of citizens will not give you the wage of the average American. He/She makes less.

Contrast this to Japan, where few people don’t have jobs, andthe gap between the rich and the poor is small, with few really rich people. Their per-capita number is much more accurate.

To illustrate:
US: 1 rich guy, 50$ + 3 average citizens, each $10. Average: 80 / 4 = 20
Japan: 4 average citizens, $15. Average: 60 / 4 = 15

Looking at only the results, you might say: “ZOMG, the Americans are wealthier!”, but if you look at the average citizen’s wage, it’s the opposite.

#16

This was the case at one time, but not recently (since the bishoujo game boom of the past several years, at least): according to the Luxembourg Income Study Japan’s Gini coefficient was at 0.3812 in 2002 (higher = greater inequality) over the United States’ 0.368 in 2000. (source)

There is the illusion of a large middle class in Japan, but it is increasingly just that - an illusion. Regardless, associating higher media prices with higher purchasing power simply isn’t the case in Japan; the fact of the matter is that people here just tend to consume less.

Edit: it seems the Luxembourgish are smoking something, if Wikipedia is to be believed. Damn you Gini, and your coefficient too!

I think I can still make my argument however, along the lines that a disproportionate amount of bishoujo game players in Japan come from its growing underclass of freeters, NEETs, and hikikomori with little to no disposable income. These would balance out the group of middle class salaryman erogamers, I would think.

[ 03-26-2007, 08:38 PM: Message edited by: Shingo ]

#17