Translations of Non-H Bishoujo games? (TokoMemo, Senti G

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

Hi all. I’m new here, so apologies if this question has been answered recently. I have looked thru the forums for this year and can’t find anything on this subject; but you seem like a pretty knowledgeable bunch here. Soo…

Why are there almost no English translations of Bishoujo / Ren-ai games other than adult ones / ones with H scenes? (“Almost”, because I’m aware of Graduation. Also Hirameki’s upcoming DVD games, which look highly cool. But a DVD player is not a game machine like a PC or console…)

For example: Sentimental Grafitti and/or Tokimeki Memorial are massive names, as I understand it, in the east. Sufficiently so that there are 3 or 4 translation projects on the net for non-Japanese-speaking fans to play through the imported Japanese language games. That to me suggests that there’s a certain amount of demand So why is there not even any talk of any company translating these games?

I recall someone on a different forum saying something like, “They could translate TokiMemo to Swahili and make a profit”. J-List has a large non-adult section as well as the large amount of adult stuff that they sell. So why is there the huge absence of non-H ren-ai games or bishoujo games of any form?

#2

Welcome to the board.

The short form of the answer is that non-adult ones do even worst than the adult titles, and the adult titles aren’t breaking any sales records.

Yes, titles like Tokimeki Memorial are well known, but there’s a difference between a group of fans working on translating something and a company risking investments to put out something professionally. Look at how anime has blossomed. For quite awhile, most of what was available were fansubs and it was only in the past couple of years that it’s become a viable industry.

And sex sells, especially in the Western world. ADV Film’s first title, Devil Hunter Yohko, while not as hardcore as other titles, was known (or at least it was at my school) more for it’s nudity and sexual situations than anything else, and that’s one of the reasons people bought it. Since then, they’ve been able to build on that to release titles aimed more at the general populance and relying less on sex.

Right now, you need to support what’s available, and help others get interested. Eventually, someone’s going to take a risk and then we hopefully can watch it grow into a viable industry.

#3

Also, keep in mind that the popularity of something on the Internet is not necessarily related to how popular it will be. Tastes differ between Japan and here, importers can be deceived by the Japanese text, and many other things can happen.

Grandia is a prime example of this.; While I personally enjoyed the game, I can recognize why people wouldn’t. But this game got immense hype from the importers, so I understand, and then the game gets brought to the States and it’s less than stellar.

The other unfortunate side effect is that most of the people who do things like post webpages or haunt boards like this one are the particular subject’s rabid fans. I know I certainly qualify in that regard. So what we would buy is not necessarily related, at all, to what normal people buy. If you ask most of the board occupants here, X-Change (the first one) is a sucky game that cannot compare in the slightest, really, to Snow Drop. And yet XChange is their number one selling title. (I understand Critical Point used to be close behind…)

#4

There are no console releases because the big 3 have no balls. They don’t have anything down there. They put all their faith into sequels nowdays and have rarely gone off the path. I’d say the ps2 mosquito game would be the biggest thing they have done to releasing a diverse game here. As for the pc b-game translaters, I don’t think they could afford the licensing for a console title. I’m assuming it would cost a pretty penny compared to a pc game.


There is Eve Burst error which is not adult, but someone might have already posted that.

#5
quote:
Originally posted by smog:
There are no console releases because the big 3 have no balls. They don't have anything down there. They put all their faith into sequels nowdays and have rarely gone off the path. I'd say the ps2 mosquito game would be the biggest thing they have done to releasing a diverse game here. As for the pc b-game translaters, I don't think they could afford the licensing for a console title. I'm assuming it would cost a pretty penny compared to a pc game.


There is Eve Burst error which is not adult, but someone might have already posted that.

Are you in the console industry? If the answer is 'no', then might I suggest you refrain from insulting everyone in it (including, if only tenuously, myself)? You have no idea the business decisions that have to factor into this...hell, I only have a vague understanding.

But it goes like this. Anything that would do well over here, has to be fairly well known. That usually means it has to be quite famous in Japan, and this means the Japanese creators are going to want lots of money. Then couple this with the fact that someone would have to pay for it, pay for the localization, etc. and you realize this would be a huge expense.

Because you can't just translate the game. If you want it to be a breakout success you have to pour marketing muscle behind it.

RPGs were a niche market over here for a very long time, but FF7 didn't break the market wide open because it was such an awesome game, it broke the market wide open because it had TV commercials featuring Sephiroth grabbing Jenova's head and ripping it off.

They're willing to take risks. The problem is that _people don't buy it_. Every indication is that this market is not a market at all. Heck, from what I heard at a convention--Sega wants to bring the Sakura Taisen series over to the states, but they're not even sure a series of THAT stature (with the TV and OVAs being released) would work.

Now I have to go to bed or I'd rant on some more. (...uh...you should probably consider yourselves lucky?)

#6

I think I may have mentioned this before, but when the game isn’t a first party product there’s a lot of licensing costs involved, and coupled with the overhead of hiring translators, it’s a pain. You know how hard good translators are to come by? Evident in the large number of Engrish translations for localized games. If you haven’t ever done translation work before, trust me it really is no walk in the park, because the work isn’t a 1 to 1 comparison, some expressions don’t have equivalents in other language, and you might say ‘Yorokobi mashou’ in Japanese, but saying ‘Let’s happy!’ or ‘Let’s enjoy!’ in English and you get ridiculed. The surest way to even pave the way for new genres are invariably hybrids of successful formulas. Sports games are incredibly popular in America, especially football, but in Japan they fetch lukewarm sales figures. You can’t gauge what would be popular in America by gauging what’s popular in Japan, because just like the language, the appetite for gaming isn’t a 1 to 1 between Japan and America.

#7
quote:
Originally posted by bokmeow:
I think I may have mentioned this before, but when the game isn't a first party product there's a lot of licensing costs involved, and coupled with the overhead of hiring translators, it's a pain.

Not only that, sometimes it's a pain just figuring out who does have the license. I know that's was a problem with bringing over a lot of anime and a couple of movies as well.

And Nandemonai-san, I don't think myself as a rabid fan. I had all the necessary shots... [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]

#8

I work on and off game testing for nintendo and microsoft. A lot of talk floats around about releasing titles so this is where my opinion is coming from.

#9

Hi, and Welcome!!!

#10
quote:
Originally posted by smog:
I work on and off game testing for nintendo and microsoft. A lot of talk floats around about releasing titles so this is where my opinion is coming from.

*nods*

Then you weren't talking out of your ass (not that I thought you were, but lots of people do that online, hell, myself included).

OK, so I'll take that as your reasoned opinion. I still don't think you were very nice ^^ but there are a lot of people who aren't nice, and if they really HAVE been sitting on their butts not taking chances they deserve to get yelled at.

But here's the thing. I just don't see people buying these games in numbers. I just don't see it; if I had to make a prediction I'd say you'd sell less than 5,000 copies of even a game like Kanon. Even for the gaming industry that's chicken feed. And your $25k in income would very rapidly be burned through. You'd lose money. And that's on a game like Kanon.

And you're wrong. Mister Mosquito was NOT the weirdest, riskiest title to be put on the PS2. Ever heard of Adventures of Cookies and Cream? Not to mention all the weirdo PS1 titles out there. Who here besides me recognizes the name Carnage Heart?

#11

Of course, it wouldn’t be impossible to make your OWN game (for the PC, console development costs are too high) if you can find an artist. The programming requirements of a ‘basic’ multiple-choice game are not too high. (Higher for more complications or things like RPGs and stuff, obviously.)

But even if you manage it, will anyone be interested, or will they reject you because you’re not authentically Japanese-imported?

#12

Oh, there are several native-English-language renai-style games being written out there. http://www.lemmasoft.net has one small one finished, and a couple of others in development that actually seem likely to finish. (Unlike the majority of such efforts, where some guy thinks “hey, this’d be cool” and starts coding or scriptwriting for a bit, and then abandons it when it gets too much like hard work… been there, done that…)

Their tips for aspiring game creators at http://www.lemmasoft.net/renai/tips.htm seem very sensible.

#13
quote:
Originally posted by Nandemonai:

Grandia is a prime example of this.; While I personally enjoyed the game, I can recognize why people wouldn't. But this game got immense hype from the importers, so I understand, and then the game gets brought to the States and it's less than stellar.

The original Sega Saturn Grandia was a masterpiece from the brilliant minds at Game Arts, when it was "translated" and released in the US, sony completly screwed the game up with that attrotious voice acting and terrible translation. It is one of my 3 all time favourite games on the Saturn (along with the 2 greatest RPGs of all time, Lunar The Silver Star and Lunar Eternal Blue on the Mega-CD) but I could not even play 1 hour into the English version of the game cause I hated it so much.

[This message has been edited by AUSTIN316 (edited 07-30-2003).]

#14