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NEWS: Hirameki No Longer Publishing Interactive Visual Novels


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ChiisaiRamen



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 2
Location: Fullerton, CA
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:58 pm Reply with quote
I visited their shop. Its sad really, the owner was really friendly. Me and my friends had a long talk with him before we left, he said he's just going to pursue something else other than this.

What really ruined their store is because a few blocks away is a retail show that happens wednesday and saturday that has ALOT of people selling bootleg stuff, so his stuff never sell cept to us and a few others.


On the bright side he opened up the gotcha balls dispenser and i was able to complete my My Hime and SEGA collection plus a few others for a 25c per figure.
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Ojamajo LimePie



Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 762
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:31 pm Reply with quote
DmonHiro wrote:
Wait....does that mean Ever17 mas censored as well? Witch games are you saying were censored?


No, Ever17 was not censored. From what I remember, the games that were censored were Tea Society of a Witch and Animamundi.

It's a shame that the only company to release non-ero visual novels is going under. I don't personally have a problem with ero content, but there are several non-ero titles I was hoping to see translated. Maybe another company should consider making a new division/brand that translates all-ages titles.
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domino



Joined: 25 Nov 2004
Posts: 373
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:34 pm Reply with quote
I felt bad about this news until I remembered that this was the group infamous for their typos and game editing/censoring. I won't miss them, but I hope some day someone else takes their place in publishing quality English visual novels.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15279
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 6:44 pm Reply with quote
L.A.'s a horrible place to do business right now, which is partly why I'm not surprised about BV's prices. Tokyopop and Broccoli are probably the only industry companies willing to stick it out this long.
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CatzCradle



Joined: 25 Apr 2007
Posts: 230
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:09 pm Reply with quote
So sad... I enjoyed playing Animundi and was really hoping to buy the fanbook (because I heard alot of scenes were cut out), which is now impossible to find. I was also hoping to try Yoh-Jin-Boh. For someone who's played it before, is it any good?

This was probably one of the few anime companies that actually sold games for girls...
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Unholy_Nny



Joined: 22 Jun 2005
Posts: 622
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:27 pm Reply with quote
DmonHiro wrote:
Wait....does that mean Ever17 mas censored as well? Witch games are you saying were censored?


I think the censored ones were Tea Society of a Witch, Phantom of Inferno, Ishika & Hinori, amusement park and day of love. Not completely sure on those last three, but I'm 99% certain Phantom was edited.

Oh, and the PC version of Hourglass of Summer had ero content. But we got a port of the un-adult PS2 version.

Other people may have more info on it...
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 8:03 pm Reply with quote
Nobody else would replace them because interactive DVDs don't sell, except for pr0n.
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slickwataris



Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 1334
Location: Carol Stream, Illinois
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:28 pm Reply with quote
I remember picking up a pack of free Hirameki postcards at ACEN and Wizard World for the past two years. To be honest, I have no desire to play these types of games but it’s sad to see them go.
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CCSYueh



Joined: 03 Jul 2004
Posts: 2707
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:44 pm Reply with quote
I got the very nice Animamundi artbook from that one bookstore (Kinokunia?) at Comic-con so you should be able to get it from them. They have a shop in LA & one in Orange County

I have Yo-Jin-Bo, but haven't gotten to it (working on Enzai & Obedience...)
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grgspunk



Joined: 03 Mar 2007
Posts: 136
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:12 pm Reply with quote
To be honest, I'm not really suprised. Not necessarily because of the fact that they released games that could only be aimed at a niche audience, but because they had a habit of releasing those games in a way that pisses off that said audience.

Although they did pretty well with Ever 17, they gained a poor reputation in terms of how they handle the localization of their games. They weren't necessarily the kind of company would be known to keep close to their original counterparts:


*They've gotten to be known for censoring their games, which include both H-games like Tea Society, as well as non H-games such as Animamundi, where they toned down a lot of violent scenes. Man, if you don't want to localize material with content that is not intended for all ages, why bother localizing them in the first place? Do you even bother to throughly check the product before agreeing to localize it? You could've localized something else, saved your reputation, and let it be acquired by someone who is willing to release products with such content like PeachPrincess or something... Hell, the fear of buying a butured product from them was the exact reason why I was hesitant to buy Ever 17.

*The whole "AnimePlay DVD" format didn't go so very well with fans, where they converted CD-ROM PC games to a DVD player. Navigating with a remote instead of a controller or a mouse/keyboard was a major pain in the ass, and there is that stupid password save system. Why couldn't they just localize the PC versions and release it for the PC?If you want to satisfy fans who demand adherence to the original product and not risk losing anything that may have been in the Japanese version, why port a game to a format it wasn't meant to be played in? Couldn't you also just save money by simply translating it and not do some weird port job? What the hell was the point of porting it to the DVD format in the first place?


Although Hirameki's attempts to bring visual novels into the American market are admirable, they kept taking the wrong steps. That's why they couldn't gain as much respect from fans of this sort of stuff. I'd say they could have survived releasing these games to the otaku audience, had they not destroyed their trust...

However, as weirdly optimistic as it may sound, I doubt the belief that nobody is ever going to be willing to localize these kinds of games again. There will be risk takers.

As good as Ever 17 was, I wouldn't put their withdraw anywhere near the same level as that of Geneon; maybe if Atlus or NIS America were to withdraw, THAT would definitely be comparable...

...Come to think about it, Atlus and NIS America would be perfect replacements! Although their games aren't pure-visual novels, the way in which many of their games present their storylines draws heavily from visual novels, as is the case of Riviera and Ar Tonelico. Considering this, it wouldn't be a far cry for them to localize the kind of stuff that Hirameki went after. Those two companies, although they aren't perfect, have gained respect for staying close to the original material from fans, so maybe they can pick up where Hirameki left off? At least, that's my wishful thinking.

Maybe it's time for me request a license rescue of Ever 17 on NISA's wishlist?


Last edited by grgspunk on Mon Jan 07, 2008 12:47 pm; edited 7 times in total
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biolizard_alpha



Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 10:35 pm Reply with quote
Atlus recently talked on their website (a thread about the Higurashi PS2 game to be specific) about how they're not interested in visual novels right now.
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grgspunk



Joined: 03 Mar 2007
Posts: 136
PostPosted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:11 pm Reply with quote
biolizard_alpha wrote:
Atlus recently talked on their website (a thread about the Higurashi PS2 game to be specific) about how they're not interested in visual novels right now.


Umm... They said they looked at a few visual novels in the past, but passed them on for various reasons. When they mentioned Higurashi, said they saw the title as interesting. I don't recall them saying that they didn't have any interest in visual novels, just they haven't found something they were comfortable enough to deal with.

NISA also said in an interview, after releasing Ar Tonelico, that they might consider testing the waters for pure visual novels and maybe bring a title like Hayarigami if interest holds.

I'm just saying that those two companies would be perfect for taking Hirameki's place if there was to be a company that wanted to step up, that's all.
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ScPpY



Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 2
Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 12:55 am Reply with quote
Aww, that's really too bad. I was looking forward to buying more of their games this year at AX since they were selling them for 'buy one, get another one/or two' offers. Laughing I'd gotten Hourglass of Summer a two years ago, along with Tea Society of a witch for free; and then Ever17 at AX '07, along with Phantom of Inferno and Amusement Park for buying only Ever17. I kinda thought that business seemed bad buy the way they were selling their games, but I still enjoyed most of their games. Hourglass of Summer and Ever17 I'd highly recommend. Phantom of Inferno was good too. Amusement Park was kinda lame; though, I was probably persuaded to get it because of the M rating Wink (and I only found out by this forum that Hirameki doesn't sell ero-games xD). Yeah, I gotta admit though, its kinda irritates me that there are lots of errors (grammar-wise and such) on the games translated. But their games were cheap, so I think think it was a pretty good deal. Ah well, I hope a better company comes along to take of Hirameki's place, though I'd probably refrain from selling those interactive DVDs. Rolling Eyes
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rg4619



Joined: 30 Jun 2007
Posts: 163
PostPosted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 1:10 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Hmmm, wonder if this has anything to do with their utter lack of quality control. The one game of Exodus Guilty of theirs that I did peruse suffered from horrifically bad and consistent grammar and spelling problems as well as a thoroughly ridiculous plot.


Quality was definitely an issue. However, it's worth noting that Hirameki drastically improved once they hired a native English speaker to translate and edit their games. Hirameki's last three PC releases were virtually flawless, which is more than can be said for some competing publishers (i.e. Peach Princess, Kitty Media - these companies do decent translations now, but they suffer from several spellng/grammatical errors).

Hirameki's main problem was that they could rarely generate enough interest to get B&M distribution, especially once they switched to PC software. I doubt poor quality or censorship had as big of an impact as we might think.

Visual novels might be fine as a side venture for a broader business. However, a company that subsists solely on these products seems doomed to failure.

Quote:
Such is the case with the Ai Yori Aoshi game, which was already a PS2 port of the original PC game, which they localized and ported to play in a DVD player. Why couldn't they just localize the PC version and release it for the PC


????

Ai Yori Aoshi was released exclusively on PS2 in Japan. Hirameki brought over a PC port, not a DVD game.

Quote:
What the hell was the point of porting it to the DVD format in the first place?


Accessibility and familiarity, I guess. Misguided as the attempt might have been, Hirameki wanted to pitch these to anime fans (who already buy anime DVDs), not PC or console gamers. They also hoped to secure retail distribution this way by convincing large chains to carry them in the anime section (unsuccessfully for the most part, although Suncoast took a chance).

On a related note, interactive DVDs are successful enough in Japan, so it isn't like Hirameki invented the format.

Quote:
so maybe they can pick up where Hirameki left off?


Pure visual novels don't stand a chance. However, hybrids are another matter.
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shadow_Hiei



Joined: 11 Jun 2006
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:13 am Reply with quote
Their work was pretty shoddy, anyways.

Bad translations (or so I hear), lots of typos, censorship, that terrible AniPlay DVD crap (seriously, what the hell were they thinking? Anybody that would give the thumbs up to a format that's as inconvenient as that has no business marketing anything, especially considering that they already had a very convenient format to work with), etc.

I'd be happy if the visual novel genre took off here in the States, but they definitely weren't the right people to bring visual novels to over. Good riddance.

Edit:

Also, I already know what they were thinking, but it was a bad idea. Even from the standpoint of trying to cash in on anime's popularity, "AniPlay DVDs" sound like a cheap knockoff that are trying to cash in on anime's popularity.

What they needed to do was try to market them as anime's/manga's cousin and put them near the manga sections in Borders and Barnes and Nobles. They're basically giant choose your own adventure books anyways.
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