Q&A at Comic-Con with Peter Payne

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

Considering I had questions from people in two threads and received info not pertaining to those questions at all I figured a new topic was in order. Bear in mind this is all paraphrased, both questions and answers, due to the nature of the event.

Q: Word is that Sumaga’s youngest witch is not underage, will her appearance be edited?
A: With her being over age the only concern he has is if the images are too graphic in some way but does not see there being any issue as of now.

Q: How long before a release will any changes to a title be announced?
A: He would like to be able to put out an answer before the title goes Golden Master but circumstances can change that (see next answer). One of the problems is that they have multiple teams working on multiple games. If it was just one game at a time then they’d be excellent, but we’d only be getting one a year.

Q: How long did you know about the changes in KK before it was released?
A: The decision to censor the images in KK were influenced to some extent by both the Handley case and the issues in Japan. As a result the censoring was very much a last minute decision, a very short time before it’s Golden Master was announced in fact.

Q: Are there any guidelines you use when looking to license something new?
A: His primary concerns with new titles is that they can appeal to both newcomers and veterans, and to bring the best games possible to the English market. The next question touches on this as well.

Q: Will you be more concerned about licensing games in the future if you may have to censor them?
A: Yes, he will pay more attention to potential future titles with content that may be questionable. By the same token however he doesn’t want to stop bringing over quality titles due to that, especially if it limits the types of games they can get. In the end if he can get a great game over but has to censor it to a small degree then he’s likely to go for it. If a good deal of censoring has to be done then he’ll probably avoid it.

Now for some extra bits of info I managed to grab.
New info on the Nitro+ front, he told me they are in fact already working on NITRO+ROYALE a 2d fighting game. http://www.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=453485
Bad news for those hoping for a Black Cyc deal, they were apparently involved in talks but it broke down when Black Cyc had some issues with their own engine.
At one point in time they were going to get the game Kingdom, by GIGA, but just before they finalized things they were told the game had to be released with mosaics in place still. Apparently a lot of companies are still wary of the English market.
Sadly they haven’t had talks with Alicesoft and somehow I forgot to bring up Eushully. :frowning:

Again keep in mind I’m no professional reporter and this is a heavily abbreviated account of what we talked about.

#2

What does he mean by “too graphic” in the first question?

#3

The answer is paraphrased, so I’m not sure. I think he means if she looks TOO young in the H scenes. In that case, she looks like Nekoko in terms of youthfulness, maybe even a little older in some scenes, based on the HCG previews iv;e seen, so if that’s it, then there shouldn’t be a problem. It doesn’t look like he sees it as a problem right now, though, just a possible concern.

#4

I asked Vardest, not you.

#5

Good to see the kingdom story confirmed and Nitro+Royale.
Bad about Black Cyc and Giga.
Overall a impressive Q&A

#6

Like I said these are not exact quotes, however Shade453 is pretty much dead on from what I gathered in our talk. The only change he mentioned as a possibility would be adding pubic hair or something of that nature, not heavily editing her or her scenes just because she may look young. He certainly wouldn’t consider doing something like removing her from the game, if it came to that he simply wouldn’t license it.

One more thing, please try to be polite in this thread. I asked the questions and made the thread so people could get some answers, not so they could hijack another thread for debate. If you want something clarified go ahead and ask but don’t snap at others if they post their thoughts on the info I already provided.

#7

So graphics are an issue. I speculate then that we won’t be seeing any more games like Jewel Knights Crusaders with very young-looking heroines and forced sex.

Nitro+Royale looks interesting, though I’m somewhat sad it doesn’t seem to have any ero. Also, some of the effect of crossover titles like this is lost if you haven’t played most of the games it pulls from. Based on the low price it’s going for on Getchu, it seems more like a fandisc than a full-fledged title, which kind of reinforces the above point. On the other hand, it has gameplay, which the English market should dig. Personally, however, I’d like to see a title like this after 5+ Nitro+ titles are already on the market, because I know I’d appreciate it more then.

#8

Pubic hair? Geez, I’m concerned about all types of editing, not just the major ones. The fact that he’s even looking at the possibility of adding something like that means there are issues with the art itself, despite the characters being of age or “non-human” in the story (contrary to what you confirmed in shade’s post). How certain was he in saying that it might happen? I’ve checked the scenes before, but most of the pubic hair in the other non-loli girls are almost unnoticable. If they said the girls are old enough or non-human, wouldn’t that be enough?

#9

It’s only a possibility he mentioned. Chances are, he won’t. Who knows? He obviously hasn’t seen that much if the game. In YMK, no-one has pubic hair, not even the non-lolis. Also, I would assume such actions would be done the artist, like whatever uncensoring work they do. A lot of games don’t have pubic hair, because the EOCS requires it censored, the CSA, however, doesn’t.

You assume that he suddenly changed his policy after the recent issues, as if the Handley trial suddenly changed the policy.It probably isn’t the only reason it was done.

And of course he’s not certain, can you predict the future? They might ban lolicon outright, though that is unlikely given the current court. He doesn’t see anything as a problem right now. So do you think the stuff will always be safe?

#10

Well, the mosaic in the Japanese version doesn’t cover the pubic hair for the non-lolis.

It’d be nicer if they’d just say that they won’t do anything to instead of tossing things like “possibilities” and “concerns” here and there. It doesn’t seem that good from a marketing standpoint.

#11

You’d prefer them to lie? :slight_smile:

#12

I’d prefer them to not be scared.

#13

None of the HCG’s I saw give a good enough view to tell if the loli has any pubic hair already, especially since the “pubic hair” in this game is represented by a small patch of black, regardless of hair color…

The pubic hair isn’t covered because, unlike the EOCS, CSA allows them to show it.

Anyway, were jumping at shadows here, I don’t think he’s really seen enough of the graphics there to make a decision. If he has no problems with the other games, he shouldn’t have much with this one.

I assume he’d add it if the girl showed too much signs of being a preteen (i.e. Lipp). Mira doesn’t look like she does. She could pass as a smaller (Not necessarily younger) teenager, like Nekoko.

#14

Might it have just been an issue with the uncensored images not being available? Regardless, this makes me sad. Inability to remove mosaics, imo, should not be a barrier to localization. This is a prime example to me of how silly, minor issues end up limiting our selection of quality localized games. This is what happens when we customers make demands that tie the hands of localization companies; we only end up shooting ourselves in the foot in the end.

#15

Nope he was quite clear that as they were readying to sign the contracts they said that the mosaics couldn’t be removed. It wasn’t a case of not having the uncensored images to work with, but rather due to Giga’s apparent fear of releasing something that in their eyes would be illegal.

Without having really looked at the game in depth as they have with the two licensed titles he couldn’t give a definite answer. When you take into account that they have over a half dozen titles being worked on, Sumaga is fairly low on the priority list right now considering it’s not even licensed yet. If/when it get’s licensed it would be wise for someone to open a thread to bring up the question again, as of now though it’s all speculation.

#16

Censored.

#17

I think it has more to do with the case of it being re-imported into Japan. They probably have misgivings about giving their blessings to an uncensored version, as they ar eworried someone might get in trouble with it if it was imported. After the modded Rapelay incident, they might not want to get someone else in trouble.

Not the best reasons, but logical none the less.

#18

Are mosaics that big an issue? I mean, if these are really good games, and that’s all that’s holding things back, why not just mark ahead of time that the mosaics need to be retained and release it anyway (providing of course enough of us are willing to make an exception)?Some of Mangagamer’s games have mosaics and it’s marked as such.

As for Black Cyc, what’s the issue with the engine exactly? And if this issue can be resolved, will talks resume?

Also, any new news on the possible aquisitions of Bullet Butlers and Haruka na Aogi (there was a third game, but I forget what it was as no one seemed interested in it)?

#19

Censored.

#20

The GIGA incident happened years ago. The guy who translated the game (and tried selling it to JAST USA - he was later contracted to work on Princess Waltz, Raidy, Yume Miru Kusuri, etc.) eventually released his patch for free.