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NEWS: Site to Sell Da Capo, Other Japanese Games in English


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FireChick
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Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Posts: 2385
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:39 am Reply with quote
So visual novels CAN be released in English (sort of)! I wonder if someone will show us Clannad or something.
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Oronae



Joined: 05 Oct 2006
Posts: 165
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:31 am Reply with quote
FireChick wrote:
So visual novels CAN be released in English (sort of)! I wonder if someone will show us Clannad or something.

While Hirameki may have died last year we've always had JAST G-Collections and Peach Princess to release pornographic VNs. It's a pity they don't seem to be filling the ero-free void that Hirameki left with their departure.
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whoisfriend



Joined: 06 Oct 2006
Posts: 369
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:29 am Reply with quote
Well, D.C.'s an instant buy from me. Nice to see a company releasing titles with brand name recognition. Too bad it looks like the rest of the games are just screwfests though. I would like to see more story based VNs out here. Yume Miru Kusuri is easily one of my favourites.
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MJP



Joined: 06 Nov 2003
Posts: 126
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:01 am Reply with quote
Holy shit, I'm going to pay retail for this. If nothing else, it might, MIGHT be a shot to eventually get Comic Party in English.
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CakeStealer



Joined: 12 Jan 2007
Posts: 50
Location: Chicago, IL
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:17 am Reply with quote
WOAH WOAH WOAH.
NO WAY! Shocked

I can't WAIT to play Da Capo.
I'm so excited for this! I hope it's true Very Happy
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e-imi



Joined: 28 Jul 2007
Posts: 65
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:30 am Reply with quote
This is great news!

However, I wonder why they decided to go with downloading it. I know I would personally like to own the game, not just store it on my computer. Plus, what if the computer was to die? Then wouldn't all the games you've downloaded be gone and your money wasted? Surprised

Great news, but I don't think I'll buy these just because of that. Crying or Very sad
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:41 am Reply with quote
I wonder what, if any, region restrictions may apply.
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Draneor



Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 355
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:14 pm Reply with quote
FireChick wrote:
So visual novels CAN be released in English


Well, I suppose it will come down to how much they sell. At least the industry seems to be experimenting with the idea.

e-imi wrote:

However, I wonder why they decided to go with downloading it. I know I would personally like to own the game, [...]

Where would you sell it? At least in North America retail stores that sell video games do not stock games with adult content. It's doubtful that Sony would approve of a visual novel for a PS2 release either. There are several popular visual novel game series, such as Galaxy Angel, Tokimeki Memorial, and Sakura Wars, that have never had any adult content. Still, they haven't been brought over for whatever reason. Hirameki tried to go the DVD route and, towards the end, the PC route for non-adult games. However, I think we can presume it did not work well since they are no longer here. The J-list bunch more or less only sell their games online and at conventions, as far as I know, and they don't really have any big titles (as far as Japan goes).

Bottom line is that, while I would love a full limited edition, worldwide release of D.C.~Da Capo~, it doesn't seem feasible to me at this point. I think online-only is the only way Circus (and the others) could truly reach an international audience with games that have admittedly limited appeal. Granted, I did buy the Japanese release of D.C.P.C., among others, so I don't really mind not having a physical release.

Personally, I'm more concerned that they hire a decent translator and/or a native-speaker-of-English rewriter. A poor script could kill it. Certainly, Hirameki has their issues in that regard. But time will tell how it turns out.


Last edited by Draneor on Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:17 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Tokimemofan



Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:15 pm Reply with quote
I'd hate to be the cynic around here but looking at the DRM and the poor track record of these companys, i'm a bit worried. 10 games, 7 in the main section, 3 in the Release Schedule, and they are barely open for busness? And read this:
http://www.mangagamer.com/hentai/Information/HowToStart#how2play
What if they go hirameki on us, how do we activate our games then, and considering that the other publishers have problems keeping a simple release plan I would wait at least 6 months before buying from them, until we know these answers, besides 50 euros is way too expensive (Do they even know there own market?) and 3 of the 4 games I would buy are that expensive (American Dollar doesn't help either).
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Hagaren_Otaku726



Joined: 16 Mar 2006
Posts: 137
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:18 pm Reply with quote
Oronae wrote:
FireChick wrote:
So visual novels CAN be released in English (sort of)! I wonder if someone will show us Clannad or something.

While Hirameki may have died last year we've always had JAST G-Collections and Peach Princess to release pornographic VNs. It's a pity they don't seem to be filling the ero-free void that Hirameki left with their departure.


If they released "key" products, I think I would cry in happiness.

I'd like to see more ero-free visual novels as well, since as much as I want to play Da Capo, it's probably better until I wait until I'm 18 to play (Unless I want to wallow in illegalness Anime hyper)... I don't think it'll ever happen, but I would really love to see the rest of the visual novels Ever17 ~the out of infinity~ is a part of in English too. Remember11 comes to mind as one of those.

I'm interested to see whether this works out or not. Never thought I'd see the day Da Capo's VN was released in English.

I don't know much about the industry and what it takes to put out solid CD copies of visual novels, but I can imagine it's cheaper to sell them via downloads, rather than in solid CD form, with packaging and booklets. Right now, it seems like they're just testing the waters for interest.
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rg4619



Joined: 30 Jun 2007
Posts: 163
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 12:49 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
However, I wonder why they decided to go with downloading it. I know I would personally like to own the game, not just store it on my computer.


Cost. It's expensive to manufacture and ship product, so it's something they might want to avoid.

Quote:
Plus, what if the computer was to die? Then wouldn't all the games you've downloaded be gone and your money wasted?


It depends on the company's policies regarding activation. With digital distribution, I think it's pretty safe to go with reputable, financially secure companies like Valve or Stardock (virtually unlimited activation for both; they also promise to do the right thing should they go belly-up, although there's no guarantee that they'll uphold the promises) since they're likely to remain in business for several years.

However, some fly by night services have come, taken money from customers, and fled.
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
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Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:28 pm Reply with quote
I'm certainly glad to hear about this, but I can't say I'm not without reservations...
Draenor wrote:
Personally, I'm more concerned that they hire a decent translator and/or a native-speaker-of-English rewriter. A poor script could kill it. Certainly, Hirameki has their issues in that regard. But time will tell how it turns out.
No kidding, I sure hope the actual game translations aren't like the story synopses or the character descriptions on the site:
Da Capo Summary wrote:
The cherry blossoms kept blooming since 7 years ago.
Junichi Asakura is the 3rd year student at Kazami academy on Hatsune island.
When he looks at those mysterious cherry blossoms, he either thinks it's a joke or he is reminded of Japanese sweets.
As it gets close to the graduation, he walks the cherry blossom tree lined street with his step-sister*, Nemu Asakura.
*For those unfamiliar with D.C., she's actually his adopted sister, not his step-sister. EDIT: In the interest of fairness, they do later refer to her as an adopted sister.

So yeah, before I spend all those dollars euros on the games, I want to know how the adaptations are.


Last edited by Zalis116 on Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:51 am; edited 1 time in total
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Vortextk



Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 892
Location: Orlando, Fl
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:36 pm Reply with quote
That is a VERY awkward paragraph.

Phantom of the Inferno is still the only VN I've really played other than a couple ones on my computer(hentai filled of course, seems by this thread that there aren't many without). The adult scenes were taken out of that particular US release(no real loss) and some translation problems(and text not appearing/whizzing by sometimes), but it was exceptionally good. I still haven't quite seen everything in it.

I wonder if the seemingly shrinking market for anime dvds effects the other end of dealers that mainly go with games, figures, posters etc.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:16 pm Reply with quote
Vortextk wrote:
That is a VERY awkward paragraph.

Phantom of the Inferno is still the only VN I've really played other than a couple ones on my computer(hentai filled of course, seems by this thread that there aren't many without). The adult scenes were taken out of that particular US release(no real loss) and some translation problems(and text not appearing/whizzing by sometimes), but it was exceptionally good. I still haven't quite seen everything in it.


Phantom of Inferno is indeed an awesome game, but it might be worth pointing out that the specific voiced DVD version Hirameki chose to bring over didn't even have those scenes in the first place.

In other words, unlike some of their other products, they weren't the ones who removed the sex (and thus helps explain why it was an almost completely painless removal).

In any case, I'd still wait for more information, technical details and consumer reactions before deciding whether to spend any money on this latest service (if I even can).
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Shadowrun20XX



Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 1935
Location: Vegas
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:51 pm Reply with quote
nightjuan wrote:
I wonder what, if any, region restrictions may apply.
If they sell it in English,then it should be localized through and through.But if you want to rock some Japanese PC games anyway,go to your control panel,click on region and languages and change your region coding to Japanese.Your computer will need to reset itself then it will read Japanese games without fail.Everything you normally do will still be the way it was,you will just be able to play Japanese games now.Microsoft also has a program that will do it for you.
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