I am new to Hentai, and most impressed by this medium. The potential is endless and wonderful. However, given the state of the art in computer animation, I am surprised at how primitive the general releases seem to be. How is this changing? Any leading examples? What are the predictions?
I’ll bite. The problem is, we’re where anime was like 10 years ago. Very limited releases, of less-than-A-list titles, that aren’t even necessarily the most recent.
See other posts on this forum for more, but essentially these games sell for like $80-90 in Japan, half that here, and sell FAR fewer copies in the states. So the US market is very marginal.
Basically - better products exist, but aren’t coming out anytime soon; and further most of the best products in this area concentrate on story, not technical excellence.
Also, competition is generally cutthroat in Japan, and the companies making them tend to be small. So they tend to be, technically, unambitious. Blowing a lot of money on one product can kill a company. Still pictures, with voice and text, are the norm. (There are of course exceptions. I’m unfamiliar with them.)
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Basically - better products exist, but aren't coming out anytime soon; and further most of the best products in this area concentrate on story, not technical excellence.
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I think this is something that those who come new strictly for the 'adult' content (not that it isn't there) need to realize. The story/romance/relationship aspects are very evident in the titles on the wish lists of so many more established fans of the b-game market (say a MariSama or TokiMemo).
It is also why there has been and remains a market in Japan of putting many lighter titles into a more mainstream anime. Air, Shuffle, To Heart, ComicPa, Lunar Legend all have included enough story within the games themselves to transfer nicely to a larger medium.
In all honesty, I think one of the factors that keeps the market in the US from expanding is that the girls and the boys in so many are teenaged, and companies just aren't ready to broach the moral and in some cases legal barriers that would be involved.
quote:Lunar Legend transfered well because it was a remake of its most successful version for the ps1 which was a remake from the old sega console. It already had name and storyline recognition.
Originally posted by Miau:
I think this is something that those who come new strictly for the 'adult' content (not that it isn't there) need to realize. The story/romance/relationship aspects are very evident in the titles on the wish lists of so many more established fans of the b-game market (say a MariSama or TokiMemo).It is also why there has been and remains a market in Japan of putting many lighter titles into a more mainstream anime. Air, Shuffle, To Heart, ComicPa, Lunar Legend all have included enough story within the games themselves to transfer nicely to a larger medium.
In all honesty, I think one of the factors that keeps the market in the US from expanding is that the girls and the boys in so many are teenaged, and companies just aren't ready to broach the moral and in some cases legal barriers that would be involved.
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Originally posted by Jinnai:
Lunar Legend transfered well because it was a remake of its most successful version for the ps1 which was a remake from the old sega console. It already had name and storyline recognition.
If by Lunar Legend you mean TSUKIHIME, you're wrong. Tsukihime was originally a "doujin" (fanmade) bishoujo adult PC game released in a Japanese Anime Convention. Even considerating was made by amateurs, the story was so rich who became famous as one of the best fanmade bgames ever created.
More info, check here.
Well, right now, there are zero legal issues. The latest rulings from the US Supreme Court is that fictional sex between fictional characters, even if photo-realistic, can never violate any anti-child porn act passed by Congress. So these love stories set in a high school would be legal in the US. I don’t know about the rest of the English familar world though, so there could be legal issues there.
However, they could easily get into public trouble.
Romance and Adult games in general are very slowly becoming mainstream. Although at this rate, it might be another two decades before the local big retailers would stock a full shelf or five of such things. 
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If by Lunar Legend you mean TSUKIHIME, you're wrong.
Lunar Legend was also a GBA game. It's from the Lunar RPG series. I think that's where the confusion comes from.
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Originally posted by Darkstar:
Well, right now, there are zero legal issues. The latest rulings from the US Supreme Court is that fictional sex between fictional characters, even if photo-realistic, can never violate any anti-child porn act passed by Congress. So these love stories set in a high school would be legal in the US. I don't know about the rest of the English familar world though, so there could be legal issues there.However, they could easily get into public trouble.
Romance and Adult games in general are very slowly becoming mainstream. Although at this rate, it might be another two decades before the local big retailers would stock a full shelf or five of such things. :cry:
Yes, in the U.S., courts have ruled that virtual 'child porn' is not child porn, but that certainly would not be a guarantee that state laws might be involved or that a lawsuit wouldnt be tried, which for small translation companies with limited budgets, is likely reason enough to look elsewhere.
And Canada's laws against have been made painfully evident as of late.