/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Hoping they tank.

I think porn.

lol

Mangagamer is faggots

>>7590562
>I have heard one miracle like that before.
what is he talking about?

>>7590572
Crackers delaying cracking things because of a request from the company involved I think?

fuck mangagamer

So, what ero-game is he talking about that was supposedly not pirated for a month?

So basically, his incredibly lengthy question boils down to: "if we constantly ask them nicely, can we convince people to not pirate?" This is, essentially, a question that shouldn't really have to be asked since the answer should be readily apparent.

>>7590580
not >"if we constantly ask them nicely, can we convince people to not pirate?"

but "if we constantly ask them nicely, can we convince people to pirate LATER/SLOWER?"

>dont advertise
>sell only download copies
>release shitty fandiscs
>release unvoiced vns
fucking pirates

PLEASE BUY OUR STUFF WE NEED MONEY

HERE BUY OUR NEW MOE FLUFFY DA CAPO GAME

WE NEED MOAR MONEY BUY STUFF

PLEASE

-Bamboo

>The well-informed part knows exactly what MangaGamer's situation is, but also know every negative thing about MangaGamer right now (cut voices, DRM, etc) and in the past (bad translations, cut music, etc) and will inevitably talk about it in the thread, so don't even try unless you can stop that from taking over the entire thread.
I'm not into VN, but do they really ship them with DRM? That's beyond ridiculous.

>>7590582
go ask him

>>7590584
I asked about that on Irc I got told something like "You don't know how advertising works"

i hope you don't believe your anti-pirate shit is going to work on /jp/. there is so many people want them to fail here it's funny. i don't even play or pirate the games they release but i'll buy them and release them for /jp/ before what you described ever happens. there is plenty of people who can crack it if someone buys it and gives the link here.

>>7590589
No.

>>7590575
I know that, I wanted to know hat eroge released outside of japan has been delayed by people asking on the forums. Sounds like bullshit, no cracker is going to stop just because the buyers ask.
Also, that guy is forgetting that with the downloadable editions it doesn't take a computer wizard to upload a game, and once it's uploaded it's even easier for someone else to crack the single exe.
It's almost impossible to single them out and ask them to not do it.

>>7590588
It's just entering a key you get when you buy it; not that the crack doesn't get released within a day usually for their more popular releases. Which a fair amount of people have to resort to using even if they bought it from what I've read in release threads before.

GUISZE PLZ BUY OUR NEWEST RELEASE

-Bamboo

>>7590590
what the hell

>>7590585
That's mean, bamboo sounds like a cool dude and he even said his favorite eroge character was Multi.

Can't release a better product without more money, can't sell enough without a better product.

I know I'd buy a physical copy. Can patch the voices in later.

>>7590589
I would if I can read their freaking awful captcha to register an account

Dumbest shit I have ever read. I was going to type in a solution to their problem but they would be too incompetent to understand.

>>7590622
>Multi

Oldschool.

well best of luck to Mangagamer, but this is the reality of the environment their doing business in.

I just want to read Cartagra. After that, I really don't care whether they sink or swim.

>>7590562
Most people, especially here, would view such an activity as something that should be done as a side job rather than full-on job.

Personally, I don't, but a lot of people do.
This is one of the main reasons a lot of piracy exists because others think the same way.
They don't think of content production as an actual job, they think of it as something like sitting in front of a PC and singing some songs, or dragging and dropping some crap together to make games / VNs, etc.

But some people are also in the middle ground who would potentially consider buying if the price was lesser, a sort of preview price in a sense.
It has sold a lot of shit recently, such as Minecraft, probably one of the bigger results of this method.
But with VNs, this is a little harder to pull off since they are mostly sequential.
Closest thing I think could work be giving a preview download people could buy to help fund the production of the full thing.
This way, they get a taster of what the entire thing will be like, and they help produce it.
Even allow feedback.
I know people will probably hate me for this idea, but I'm one of those few people who do like to support people, despite being a person who does content production as a side job and release for free too.
I'd personally consider trying this method myself at one point since some people are partial to help funding development if the price is very decent.
Anywhere under $5 seems to be the sweet spot.

>>7590622
How is it mean if he said something just like that?

apparently no one pirates shit jast releases. i mean how else would they make profit

>>7590647
>Closest thing I think could work be giving a preview download people could buy to help fund the production of the full thing.
>This way, they get a taster of what the entire thing will be like, and they help produce it.

You mean making people buy a TRIAL version of the game? That's even worse than what the guy on OP is saying

>>7590658
That's because some people actually support JastUSA's official localization of Nitro+ games.

Don't ask me why, it confuses me too.

>>7590562
>Jun 25

Might buy the game once my credit card works again.
Oh and VDZ, stop talking nonsense about CR and update the ftp.

>>7590647

They release trial versions (sometimes, I'm not sure). But if remember correctly the price and the DRM are there because the companies demand it to be like that.

Mangagamer, stop releasing shitty nukiges and get Musumaker localized

>>7590656
Doesn't need to be a full-on trial either.
It could be a completely free preview with a donation link at the end.

"Like this? Want to help it be completed? Consider Donating, every little helps"
I've donated to quite a few projects because I found the content producers perfectly decent people who just want to get some sort of income from something they love.

>>7590669
They sell physical copies. Having something physical is nice, see figures.

>>7590658
jast doesn't censor their products and remove voices, music, and other stuff to cut the cost of releases? they also give physical releases too.

>>7590683
and I think they have J-list to cover up losses whenever they occur...

>>7590562
>I have heard one miracle like that before. There was a new company release a certain eroge outside of Japan, and since the community was so excited (that was the first official licensing since a long time has past) they promoted on the forums to delay the piracy for as long as possible. And in the end the piracy was delayed for 1 month, and legit buyers all laughed at those who asked for a download on the forums.

given that he said it was a miracle i was waiting for the part about how the sales were dramatically increased because of it but it never came. hmm.

damn that piracy! stealing all the money we would have earned from people who don't deem it worth buying in the first place!

>>7590683
MG censors?

>>What the hell maybe I'll give MG some money
>>look at their page
>>decide on Koihime Musou
>>$50 digital download for some dumbed down no voice version
>>NOPE.jpg

I'm 90% certain MG will go the way of Hirameki. Even more reason for bros to learn Jap, because you don't want to depend on craptastic JAST for this stuff.

>>7590715
Support JAST etc

>>7590683
>jast doesn't censor their products
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
They censored out a beautiful loli characters from X-Change Alternative and perma-banned from their shitty forums every people who bitched about it/made a patch to put her back.

>>7590715
>>$50 digital download for some dumbed down no voice version
It's funny because they themselves said the price wasn't made cheaper because of the prospect that the voices could be added later without price change.
So people basically paid for voices they'll never get.

>>7590727
And don't forget Kazoku Keikaku.

Meanwhile, MG has never censored loli, and has only taken out voices for reasons of practicality (plus not censoring Suika's CGs because the original uncensored ones were lost so they couldn't get them).

If one company is censoring, it's JAST. MG at least has had real reasons for everything they've omitted.

torrent where

>>7590738
Yeh they also censored an underage character by adding panties at some point. Which is even worse, because she was far from being loli however she was still censored because some informations could make you think she MIGHT had been underage.

>>7590738
Make that
>plus not uncensoring
I'm way too tired.

I don't support MG and such because official localizations are often worse than the fan translations.

/r/ 34 of Mangagamergirl translating games pls

so what would you do to save mangagay?

>>7590727

I never knew that. Anyone have a link to said patch or at least to pictures of the characters?

>>7590768
looking at this thread... nothing

Funny how they aren't advertising the hard copies..

>>7590768
Do full eroge releases like they get in japan with all the goodies and shit for like $100-$120 and have the only changes made to the products be decensoring of the CG scenes.


Would buy the shit out of their stuff if they did that, same with JAST

>>7590783
BUY THREE COPIES OF EACH OF OUR GAMES PLZ

-Bamboo

>>7590715
Epic misuse of the quote function.

Reported.

>>7590783
bad idea

>>7590792
but people answering that would assume he's only getting one CD with a game in it (or worse, a 600mb-2gb file to download). Throw in artbooks, OST CD, posters, etcetc and it's a different story

I never pirated their translated version. I did however pirate and play the japanese original back when it was released. Now what, MG?

lets not be jerks because of which games their releasing or the quality of their translations.

Some localizations is better than no localizations, and we need to support the industry if we're to get more VNs in the west.

>>7590792

>>7590815
I'd rather not have any.

>>7590815
>if we're to get more VNs in the west.

And what good would that do? It would just lead to less loli characters and more censoring of everything except sex scenes.

>>7590815
>Some localizations is better than no localizations
Flyable Hearts?

>>7590774

>>7590837
It makes me sick to my stomach that they would censor out stuff like this.

>>7590562
What's the point you are trying to make with this thread? Can't you delete this eyesore instead please?

>>7590837

That's regular X-change, not Ying-Yang.

See, the issue is, I'm not gonna buy games no matter the price because I don't want VNs to get popular in the west. I'm hipster like that.

>>7590815
>lets not be jerks because of which games their releasing or the quality of their translations.
"buy everything regardless of quality or tastes, just buy"

As if i am going to PAY for unvoiced VN's.

NOPE.jpg

I WOULD PAY FOR SOME PORN OF MANGAGAMER GIRL

>>7590852
Nail on the head.

>>7590852
Don't twist people's words, I meant lets not be nit-picky about the releases. No one should unconditionally buy things.

>>7590917
Get out of this thread mangagamer devs!

Full contents (voice, music, I don't care about censoring) plus a physical copy, and release it for $50. I'd be all over the fucking thing.

>>7590947
>Full contents
>I don't care about censoring
Censoring characters isn't full content anymore...

>>7590803
Thanks for saying that in a better way than I could. I mean, they could still release the Hard-copy with only like the disk and a manual and then a digital copy with just the fucking game but I would totally buy the fuck out of a box set with what you listed in it. Imagine if they had little papercrafts for the characters in there too.

>>7590958
You're aware that the Japanese versions are censored, right?

I don't want any company bringing stuff over from japan to fail. I just don't want to play 50 fucking bucks for a visual novel. It's not worth money like that.

>>7590658
They make a profit because the pirates are too scared to cross Peter Pan.

i would gladly buy some mangagamer titles, but unfortunately no physical copy = no buy for me

You guys keep talking about censoring like it's the end all be all detail that makes people buy these games, give it a rest.

Also give me some examples of this censoring, I can only think of one at the moment with that loli in Family Keikaku or w/e it's called.

>>7590998
>I can only think of one at the moment with that loli in Family Keikaku or w/e it's called.
She wasn't loli, she was underage.
It's also been stated they actually censored a blatant loli character in X-Change 3.

>>7590983
Paaaaaaan!

>>7591004
I see, never really played the x-change games. Are there any others

>>7591009
Too lewd

May Club had a route for the loli removed too, I think.

In order for me to buy, the following conditions must be met:
- Physical copy. Even if it's just a disc and a DVD case with a printed cover, there needs to be something. Include a figure or other extras and I'll be willing to pay more.
- No DRM. Not interested in messing around with cracks for something I've already paid for.
- Nothing removed or censored that was present or uncensored in the original.
- Voices, if present in the original, must be included. At minimum, if they can't get the license for the voices, then the game better be cheaper, and they better make it damn easy to patch the voices back in.
- It has to be something actually worth buying in the first place.

If they can't meet these conditions, I don't mind if they go under. Fans will continue to translate, and I will continue learning Japanese.

It would probably be illegal for them to release loli content in the United States.

Such is life outside glorious nihon.

>>7591015
Only play the newest ones. The first 3 are shit.

What was the name of that VN Hirameki consored to hell and back? It was about lolis and they removed all references to sex and stuff. Also reworked the game mechanics, dumbing it down...

>>7591054
I think that describes half their catalogue, but you're probably thinking of Ishika to Honori.

>>7591054
Ishika and Honori

>>7591033
I agree with this

MangaGamer's biggest mistake is that they expect people to suck up to them and follow stupid shit like "if we sell this many copies, we'll get you voices!".

I don't give a fuck if you're in the red. If you didn't have enough money to deliver the full product to your customers in the first place, you might as well have not started a company at all.

>>7591065
>>7591072

Oh, yeah, that one.
I still wonder what they were thinking.

Speaking of localization fuck-ups, honorable mention goes to Crescendo.
Japanese had 2 versions: a) initial non-voiced release; b) full-voiced re-release with added content (like the good end for the piano girl and stuff). English release had the script based on the version a, but with voices from the version b. Yeah, no additional content.

So we kinda got 75% of the game.
Pic related, cut stuff.

I am not sure when Peter Payne bought G-Collections, so I don't know whom to blame for this shit.

>>7590658
Elderly Japanese people don't put their money in banks, preferring to keep cash in their homes.

Peter Payne will break into their house, sniff the old womens' underwear, then steal all their money.

>>7591085
Seriously, Mangagamer is horribly mismanaged. Begging isn't a business model.

I will not buy anything that is censored.

Grow some balls and protect first amendment rights, or go out of business.

If you're not willing to fight for your product, then why should I be willing to buy it?

>>7591298
>>7591085
you fags sure have an entitlement complex, or maybe you need to make excuses because you're cheap stakes.

People will sell their product how they want to, and customers will pay what they'd like for it, that's all. Take your bratty attitudes elsewhere.

>>7591362
>ad hominem

Doesn't make Mangagamer's lack of a sustainable business model any less of an issue.

"SUPER EROTIC DATING SIMULATION"

"BEST EROGE EVER MADE"

"VOTED BEST EROGE ON EGS"

"EPIC YURI HENTAI RPG"

This thread is now about loli and ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWA!

>>7591362
People spending their money on visual novels are certainly not the ones with entitlement complexes.

>>7591362
>cheap stakes

Hey, my stakes aren't cheap! Mine are made of redwood!

>>7591382

What is this referring to?

I'm kinda afraid of what JAST could do to My Girlfriend is the President.

>>7591396
>Not using stakes made out of half wood and half silver for your stake gun
I mean, god forbid you run into a vampire and a werewolf at the same time.

maybe they could try releasing their games on steam

>>7591419
JAST is planning on doing that, apparently. With non-erotic ones, anyways.

>>7591430
Link please?

>>7591419
Pff. Steam? There's no multiplayer in VN's.

>>7591409
>Not using stakes with a silver core encased within wood harvested from trees fed only with holy water.

I seriously hope that none of you guys do this.

MangaGamer tried with their all ages titles, and were turned down

Jast is trying with Eien, on the basis that it is actually a game, but as of now we do not know if it will go through.

>>7591463
you're not looking at it the right way

steam has at least 3 million users. let's say at least 30% of them browse the store occasionally and buy games. now let's say, 1% (I'm being as pessimistic as possible) of those who look at the game in the store page actually buy it. that's around 10,000 sales.

They should try releasing things other than VNs. Release some Doujin games too or something. I'd never buy a VN but I might consider some other genre if it were translated.

>>7591471
But everybody already played eien no aselia and frankly, the plot itself was decent in its anti-war theme but the gameplay was CRAP. replaying the game for the other routes is impossible for the fact you will spend 3 hours reading new plot elements and the other 37 hours refighting the same crappy battles.

>>7591463
Recettear doesnt have multiplayer.

>>7591522

>I'm being as pessimistic as possible
>10,000 sales

try again

It would be nice if Mangagamer were like gog.

Most people are going to be reluctant to buy something pornographic, even VN fans, so Mangagamers et all are already at a disadvantage here. Selling a digital copy of a VN with a substantial amount of content removed (all the voices) for $50 is financial suicide, however. Many people won't even pay $50 for a physical copy of an actual game, let alone a digital one.

I'm pretty sure I know what kind of mindset Mangagamer's has. They put money, time, and hard work into their product, so they feel that they can charge "what they think it's worth." Plenty of types of small, amateur-driven businesses get stuck in this pattern of thinking. After all, if it's something with as niche an audience as VNs, they believe they have to charge a fairly large amount of money for each copy, or else they'll never break even.

What they're really doing is failing to understand the market. They're setting themselves up to fail. If you're going to survive as a small publisher, you need a compelling product, the best marketing that you can muster, *and* at least a price that matches what the *consumer* thinks your game is worth. In fact, if you're going to be making your money off a digital release, it's ideal if you can set the price even lower than that, certainly not more than $15 or $20. It *has* to be low enough for someone to buy on an impulse. Your audience *has* to start thinking "well, that's the same price as dinner/a movie ticket/a book/etc, that's nothing!" If you can't do that, they'll hesitate, and since you're an unknown, you probably won't make that sale, and they'll forget about you.

>/jp/ hates Mangagamer, run by people with no money, for releasing shit as download only
>/jp/ loves Aksys and will vigrously defend them releasing Arcana Heart 3 as download only when they can easily afford a physical release

>>7592962
because
/jp/ - Hypocrisy/General

>>7591471
Can I get a source for this?
Not calling you a liar or anything, I just wanna know more.

>>7591454
23:44:51 <bay|AX|JAST> Aselia the Eternal ... considered on of the best JRPG games around when released
23:43:00 <bay|AX|JAST> it's also an all ages game
23:43:12 <bay|AX|JAST> there is another version with adult content
23:43:27 <bay|AX|JAST> we'll be releasing the definitive all ages version, it may come to steam

HEY GUISE I JUST MADE THIS NEW SOFTWARE AND I LOST OVER 9000 BILLION DOLLARS BECAUSE YOU GUYS NEVER BOUGHT IT

YEH I COUNT THE LOST MONEY FROM SALES THAT NEVER HAPPENED
PROBLEM?

Man, I don't know. I would like to support Mangagamer, but KiraKira (the only title I would have seriously considered paying for) is $40+ (DRM, no physical copy). Even something like Ever17 was "only" around $30 (heard it got even cheaper, but I bought it before Hirameki tanked).

>ｱﾉﾝｵﾌﾊﾞﾝｺｸ
thread over

>>7593661
you're a fucking scum for making me lost money
yeh you may never intend to buy my software but who the fuck cares, it's a lost sales anyways

>>7593643
>>HEY GUISE I JUST MADE THIS NEW SOFTWARE AND I LOST OVER 9000 BILLION DOLLARS BECAUSE YOU GUYS NEVER BOUGHT IT
>rip translation from tlwiki
>rip tools from tlwiki
>still manage to fuck it up somehow
>charge money for translating the entire thing yourself

So apparently they make hard copies of Da Capo II and another game, but can't even be bothered to notify people that bought hard copies of the first DC. And now they can't be bought. It's like these dumbfucks don't even want customers.

>>7593803
I thought they only sell those in certain parts of Europe or something?

>BAWWWW PIRATORS RUINING THE INDUSTRY
people need to get over that stupid notion

>>7593816

Which is true. It's a european country, after all.

it also makes me laugh whenever ameritards cite the 1st amendment as defense for MG when they aren't an american company operating in america.
Though, MG still needs to grow a spine.

>>7593816
Their hard copies are made by Hendane which is in California.

http://www.hendane.com/shop/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=173

>>7593842
>it's a european company*, after all

Is there a reason mangagamer releases no-voice versions? Aren't they taunting their buyfags with releasing a voice patch when they get a certain number of sales for one title right now or something? Why the fuck would anyone buy into this?

The fact is anyone who is actually into this shit isn't going to need a localisation company, even if they are a buyfag. Either they can read it raw or they're gonna buy it from the actual studio and apply a community patch. Why fuck around with all the costs and drawbacks of another company in the mix? And for the people who aren't into VNs already, you're never going to convince them to buy a 50 dollar porn game.

It's not like this shit is impossible, Recettear is probably a great model, but it's not the approach VN localisers are taking at all.

>>7593886
You know, it sounds a lot like what some local companies in my town were doing before corporates took over.

You could see big signs saying "PLEASE SUPPORT THE LOCAL TRADE". But then, when you went to their stores, they were messy and filthy. A pizza restaurant, for example, had these round cardboards drenched in oil they called pizza.

Nowadays they are all gone.

As for me, I would rather import my stuff. I learned japanese for a reason.

>>7593886
>Is there a reason mangagamer releases no-voice versions? Aren't they taunting their buyfags with releasing a voice patch when they get a certain number of sales for one title right now or something? Why the fuck would anyone buy into this?
Look at the archive, lurk moar, etc

>The fact is anyone who is actually into this shit isn't going to need a localisation company, even if they are a buyfag. Either they can read it raw or they're gonna buy it from the actual studio and apply a community patch. Why fuck around with all the costs and drawbacks of another company in the mix? And for the people who aren't into VNs already, you're never going to convince them to buy a 50 dollar porn game.
Their reasoning is that community patch doesn't really encourage people to buy the original game as importing from japan can be difficult (sites not shipping to outside japan, etc) and expensive (having to go through middlemen, currency difference, shipping cost). If they can provide a legit english copy which is easy to obtain and use (unziping things is much easier than applying buggy patches) they have the potential to turn english VNs into profit

>>7593913
Evidently that isn't the case though. MG sells like 1000 copies per game. 4channers and other internet dwellers who actually play these things clearly aren't buying them.

As for the Japanese difficulties, digital sales, man. Though Japan really needs a Steam equivalent (or just to start using steam.jp or something).

If localisers are going to break into the normalfag market, they need to sell at 10-20 bucks, fuck hard copies, and start trying to port to iDevices. Recettear sold at a bunch of various low prices, but I'm sure its made magnitudes more in profit than the VNs localisers are holding out for full price sales.

The Japanese companies involved are probably part of the reason for high prices though, being used to what Japanese buyers are willing to pay, which simply isn't the same as the Western market. I think if there's gonna be a break-out VN success it'll be when a small translation startup finds a progressive thinking doujin willing to try something new.

What is exactly what you download when you buy them something besides the game? A manual or something like bonus materials?

>>7594030
The game.

If you fail at making a company, regardless of any reason, including piracy, you simply suck.

To be able to make a succesful company especially in a media that founded its popularity by none other than it being free on the internet, you have to be a really, really clever jew. Mangagamer probably aren't such jews.

PLEASE SPAM THEIR FORUMS, MAYBE THAT'LL MAKE THEM HELP US~

NE~

>>7590562
Some translators do it for free!

>>7594056
>Mangagamer probably aren't such jews.
They're charging over $40 for digital downloads.

>>7593968
I feel that the problem isn't with pricing, rather it is with advertising.

Literally nobody knows about the games Mangagamer is translating.

Like, take the population, break it into people that like anime, break that into people that like anime a LOT, then break that into people that hear about visual novels, then break that into people that like pornographic visual novels. That is your market.

I 'never' buy things. Literally, never. However, when Kara no Shoujo came out, and I decided I really liked that visual novel. I decided to buy it, even though it was the $36 or whatever, because I wanted to support MG and Innocent Grey.

But honest. How many people actually know about Kara no Shoujo? THe only reason why I know about it is because the thread on /jp/. And there's been 3 threads about it since the release, so obviously nobody's ever heard of it.

Whether the way of getting a bigger audience is to advertise more, or if it is to lower their prices, I think the main flaw with MG's system isn't their product, rather its their advertising

>>7594068
Is $40 only okay if they burn the digital copy to a disk with pretty art and give you a box with it?

>>7594096
A lot of people think that's ok

I refuse to pay for a product that's inferior to what I'd get if I pirated.

>>7594074
They could viral it all over /a/.

That takes both zero dollars and zero staff.

>>7594116
/a/ would just reply with >>>/jp/

>>7594116
On second thought, that's a bad idea for a variety of reasons.

>>7594116
Seems to be working for Cradle Song. Then again, Cradle Song seems to be legitimate within restrictions, unlike Mangagamer's trash.

>>7594173
Cradle what? what's that?

>>7594184
Some Western VN that had a large thread going on /a/ the other day. http://cradle-song.com/

>>7594096
I'd be okay with that assuming it were DRM free and they did a decent job translating it. And assuming it were actually a good VN.

>>7594190
At first my reaction was OELVN? NOPE.JPG

but after reading
>Cradle Song takes place in a desolate world. A world that has slowly deteriorated over hundreds of years.

>But Nathan has no idea about that. His life revolves around trudging to school, listening to lectures, and walking home after having failed to ask Ciri out once again.

>Many people live this way: hidden within Virtual Realities and completely unaware of the world outside... though they aren't there by choice.

it's got potential, now I'm interested

>>7594203
Sure sounds like a matrix ripoff

>>7594204
exactly why its interesting

>>7594203
Played it the other day, and besides the problems that come with using Ren'py (laggy saving and glitchy fast-forward), the interface is clean and pretty. Looking forward to the release.

>>7594203
It has a generic premise and a lot of room for improvement, but the preview is solid overall.

I bought eroge from G-Collections back in the day. I own Kana, Crescendo, Sagara Family, Virgin Roster, and 2 or 3 more.

>>7590562

>>7594193
>DRM free
This. It's not like their DRM is even one bit effective anyway, considering how they always get cracked in less than a week (and that's only because we're waiting for somebod to upload the game, not because it takes that long to crack it)

GET OUT CRADLE SONG DEVS

>>7594203
>>7594204
>>7594207
>>7594208
>>7594211

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt3OptaZ20Q

I scroll through all these threads hoping for more porn of MG-tan.

>>7591407
Nothing to censor in it. They don't have a loli character in that and none of the characters is ever stated below 18 either.

>>7594272
Cradle Song "dev" stole their game's name from a very old Japanese game.

>>7594328
To be fair, all the good names have already been taken.

Hell, they have to give the games ridiculously long names in order to stay original.

If I remember correctly, the name "Lolita", for example, was used for a DOS era game about pursuing lolis, knocking the out with a wrench and raping them.

Yukkuri panic torrent fucking where?

This whole capitalism is quite new thing over here in eastern europe ( 20 years only acutaly), but store owners are not asking customers "please buy this, so i get money to someday start selling better product, not this shitty one". essentialy building their whole buisness model on "donations". When they don't have money for "better future product" then they just simply take a loan, expecting profit margins from increased sales bigger than loan interest.
I heard it's like that over in america too. Anyone can confirm?

>Selling fan translation games when the fan translators may have never actually bought the game.

I seriously hope those Japanese companies don't do this.

>>7594385
>loan
Maybe MG could consider this, I dunno (In fact they might've been getting them already, if all the rumors about them being in the red is true)

>>7594417
Whether or not they would consider taking one, nobody is going to consider giving one to a burgeoning, dying porn localization company.

>>7594429
>burgeoning
>dying

Make up your mind

>>7594625

How about using fledgeling instead?

>>7594631
That one I can accept.

>>7594631

would've gone with bludgeoned

>>7594385
Eastern Europe is currently being pumped out of everything they had - starting from industry, passing by technology and stopping at money. Process of making "capitalism" meant they had to sell everything they had for very low prices. People who didn't agree for selling nation for cheap money are now called "communists", even thought they act truly democratic and capitalistic - they simply didn't agree to take huge loans and selling their property for prices that aren't even 5% of real value.

European Union is part of this process - these so called money to make Europe equal are only top of iceberg of many deals that countries are doing, obviously with negative effect for Eastern Europe.

Even USA experts agree that this is true.

>>7594659
Also Eastern Europe was capitalistic for long time - it was simply a lot smaller scale (read - traders, services, niche markets) and "main" branches were owned by country. They simply had closed market (just like "west" had closed market for Russian states) and they didn't accept huge corporations to make profit of them - which was main cause of buttuhurt in west.

Compare how - for now- China is "good" communist state - they trade with west. And compare how other countries that have or had in past communism and didn't agree to trade are shown as evil ones.


The more you know...

>I have heard one miracle like that before. There was a new company release a certain eroge outside of Japan, and since the community was so excited (that was the first official licensing since a long time has past) they promoted on the forums to delay the piracy for as long as possible. And in the end the piracy was delayed for 1 month, and legit buyers all laughed at those who asked for a download on the forums.

Who? What?
The first game that mangagamer released was Edelweiss right? Wasnt it leaked on the first day itself with typo like musterbate instead of mustard?

This is more like a market problem instead of piracy problem. I mean if your main source of customers are 4chan lurkers, do you really expect to sell anything?

Agree on the advertising portion. They just should go the smartphone/tab apps route, selling these thing for $1.99. People will buy them by the thousands.

Piracy sure is convenient. You don't have to go through the whole unnecessarily complicated process of making sure you have a good business model, you can just blame it on pirates if things go poorly.

>>7594659
Why would ``experts'' from the USA know shit about European economy? From my point of view, we (that is, western Europe) have to pump endless money into your ecosystem to keep the Euro stable, and instead of doing something productive with it, about 80% of the money seeps away due to corruption and mismanagement.

>>7594731
>They shall mustervate or become lily.
Basically saying they either jill off or turn lesbo.

To clear up misunderstandings about MangaGamer and JAST:

First of all, MangaGamer has NEVER censored a game. They briefly considered censoring Higurashi and Soul Link, but due to fan response they decided to not go through with the plans for censorship, and they haven't considered censoring anything since. The only thing that comes anywhere close is that they didn't de-censor Suika as the original CGs were lost, so they had to use the same images that were used in the Japanese version.
Contrast JAST, which has censored multiple games in the past, mostly for loli content, never announcing the changes until after release.

Secondly, the bullshit marketing accusations (such as >>7591382 ) were not MG marketing, but rather JAST marketing. I don't recall MG ever doing JAST-style misleading marketing.

(continued...)

Third, MangaGamer is already releasing on iOS - or actually, it's slightly more complicated; other companies release MangaGamer's games on iOS in cooperation with MG. Examples include Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. And yes, they are very cheap, comparable to other iOS products.

Fourth, about the removed voices. This happened to two games, Koihime Musou and Kara no Shoujo. As opposed to what was stated earlier in this thread, Koihime's price was dropped because MG was unable to get the voice license. Koihime Musou's unvoiced version's break-even point is 1000 copies, but with the ridiculous prices asked the copyright holders of the voices, the break-even point for the voiced Koihime is 2000 copies, hence MangaGamer deciding to release it voiced only if it reaches 2000 sales. Despite the removed voices, Koihime is currently MangaGamer's best-selling title, but still hasn't reached 1000 sales. Kara no Shoujo was released for 25 euros ($36), probably because of the lack of voices. The voice copyright holders asked for an amount that is multiple times the cost of the rest of the localization process, so MangaGamer decided to release it voiceless (the only other option would be to just not release it - I know which one I prefer).

(continued...)

Lastly, MangaGamer is putting out more and more (DRM-less) physical copies, however it's going slowly because people aren't buying them enough. So far, hard copies have been released of Higurashi, Higurashi Kai, Kira Kira, Da Capo, Da Capo 2 and Guilty.

So, I must ask of people like >>7591033, why haven't you bought Higurashi and Kira Kira yet?

Not buying is fine, but stop being hypocrites making unrelated excuses about it. You're all yelling 'NEED HARD COPIES' and 'STOP CENSORING' (they never even started with that), but the truth is, you just don't want to pay the prices MG asks for something you might as well pirate. Which is okay, but at least admit that.

>>7595083
>>7595086
>>7595089
Nice try, MangaGamer dev.

>>7595095
True, but he still makes a somewhat valid point.

>>7595083
>>7595086
>>7595089

Get out desperate MangaGamer dev

>>7595089
>So, I must ask of people like >>7591033, why haven't you bought Higurashi and Kira Kira yet?
probably because of the "worth buying" clause

>>7590674
I haven't updated the FTP or VNDDL list in a while, but what changes should I make? I'm at least going to remove all Nitro+ games due to JAST actually doing something, but I'm not going to update it by only removing more stuff than I'm adding...is there anything of note that should be on there that isn't on there yet? Also considering putting Chaos;Head back on and adding Steins;Gate, since JAST doesn't seem to have any plans to release either any time soon.

>>7595115
Remove all with ero because they're holding back eroge, which could be so much more.

>>7595089
>So far, hard copies have been released of Higurashi, Higurashi Kai, Kira Kira, Da Capo, Da Capo 2 and Guilty.
I was under the impression that those were only sold at specific conventions?

>>7595089
>So far, hard copies have been released of Higurashi, Higurashi Kai, Kira Kira, Da Capo, Da Capo 2 and Guilty.
Somebody in this very same thread complained that no notification was sent about this and when he found out trough some site it's already out of stock.

>>7595089
>If you don't spend a fortune to travel perhaps thousands of miles to a specific anime convention to buy a couple of porn games you have no right to complain about a lack of hard copies.

cool story bro

>>7595104
He doesn't. He's still making excuses for their shitty business model.

This isn't retail. This isn't food. This isn't a service. As such, the consumer is always right. They should be fucking bending over backwards and jumping through hoops to meet our needs. The shit in the OP clearly proves that MangaGamer still hasn't woken up and realized exactly who makes up their target audience.

I don't care if voices are expensive. They're a business. I won't sympathize with them because it was their choice to get themselves into this and now it's their fucking job to deliver what we want. Can't do it? Fine, go under. My money stays with me. Fan translators exist. Learning Japanese is always an option. MangaGamer is not an entity that we can't live without.

>>7595181
>The shit in the OP clearly proves that MangaGamer still hasn't woken up and realized exactly who makes up their target audience.
But that's not written by an MG staff.

>kira kira gets decent sales
release dear drops? NOPE. lets retranslate and never release edelweiss
>shuffle gets decent sales
release sequels? NOPE. lets release shitty sci-fi garbage instead and use its poor sales as excuse to never touch shuffle again
>there is great fan-translation of higurashi
put some actual work in our translation? NOPE. make it as shitty as possible so everyone could compare and see that we cant translate for shit. lets cut out some content while we at it
>still in red
FUCKING PIRATES

>>7595192
You do realize that MG staff can only directly choose to release Overdrive titles, not those by other companies, right?
They need to convince the companies that made those to want to release them.
Hell, wasn't it the Navel guy last year at AX that only said more Navel titles would be released if sales gave them reason to?

>>7595196
I think that was an age dev

>>7595198
I can't remember if it was Kouki or the Navel guy who said that anymore.

>>7595192
Deardrops is currently in translation.
Navel doesn't want other games to be released because sales for their games aren't high enough.
Said "great fan translation" of Higurashi is still translating episode 2 despite having started well over 2 years ago, whereas MangaGamer translated the entire thing (including Kai) in a year. The first four episodes do indeed have shitty editing (although translation is fine), the Kai episodes are simply well translated and edited.

>>7595196
Navel guy bitches about needing more sales at every opportunity.

>>7595140
>>7595171
Hendane sold the hard copies at their site after conventions were over. They're currently out of stock, though, not sure if they're planning to do a second print.

>>7595223
So basically you have to follow news about these weeaboo conventions to even have the opportunity to know about having an opportunity to buy them. Great business model.

>>7595223
What the hell? If they sold out, why not print more?

>>7595234
Said news is always posted on /jp/, plus reported on the MangaGamer blog, plus reported via the MangaGamer twitter.

>>7590562
What an awful thread this is. Makes me puke seeing all this.

>I have heard one miracle like that before.
The Chinese release of Yunohana was the first licensed game for years, and the community was quite happy because official licensing stopped due to piracy for years. So somehow no one released the game on the internet until 1 month after the sale.

The licensing company didn't ask for it. How how people just decided to not do it individually.

>Despite the removed voices, Koihime is currently MangaGamer's best-selling title, but still hasn't reached 1000 sales.

>>7595245
>>7595234
>>7595223
>out of stock
And how is this bad sales? Are you guys stupid?
If it is out of stock, print more dumbshit.
Are you guys thinking that this is the same as PVC figures business model where demand>supply?
Unlike the figures business, people can make unlimited copies dumbshit.

How much can burning a CDR, cardboard box and printing inks cost?

>>7595240
>>7595266
well, you know. hard copies dont sell so it wouldnt be profitable

>>7595266
Demand is only greater than supply for PVC figs because they artificially induce scarcity to justify abhorrent pricing.

>>7595277
>well, you know. hard copies dont sell so it wouldnt be profitable
How can it "dont sell" if it's bought to the point it's out of stock? It'd sill be in stock if it "dont sell"

>>7595217
its like you cant read or something

>>7595297
┐|*╹ー╹|┌

>>7595245
Yet simple, effective techniques that businesses usually use such as sending emails out to existing customers didn't occur to Mangagamer or Hendane. Instead they expect people to follow their blogs and social networking sites.

Hell, Mangagamer sent out emails regarding the original D.C. hard copies, and even recently for Kara no Shoujo, but I guess it would be too much effort to do so for these hard copies.

And they wonder why they don't make any money.

>>7595334
Mass mailing is a complicated thing. Send too much, and people will get annoyed. Finding the balance between giving as much information as possible and annoying the customer is difficult and risky. Hell, even I temporarily unfollowed MangaGamer on Twitter during AX because they spammed so many tweets.

>>7595199
They both said it.

>4chan I believe is the main source of early piracy/cracks and putting a stop to that....isn't exactly easy.

Try HongFire. Thanks to /b/, anything negative on the internet is attributed to the entire userbase of 4chan. I think it's hilarious

I will glady buy MG games when they begin to meet the following conditions.

1. Nothing removed or edited from the game, this includes not being "creative" with translations (Ex: In Koihime, Chouhi isn't saying "dick"), including voices, etc. etc.
2. NO DRM

I'm not buying a game I have to crack to play. Sorry. Still can't activate my legit copy of Da Capo.

>>7595524
>Even if you were to take /jp/ down, everybody except the VN newbies will just get the news and links elsewhere.

Apparently /jp/ is the go-to for VNs for newbies. How does this make you feel, /jp/?

>>7592962
>>/jp/ loves Aksys and will vigrously defend them releasing Arcana Heart 3 as download only when they can easily afford a physical release
But this isn't correct at all. The a "physical release wasn't possible" just doesn't seem right.
No matter the case, I don't defend Aksys, I defend Zen-United for bringing wonderful bundle packs such as this, despite it being delayed until the 20th of August.

To be honest, despite their problems, I believe they have a much better view of things than MangaGamer.
Zen-United are also small, hence why they are prone delays and various mishaps making things take longer time than they perhaps should.
But they don't go the route of MangaGamer where they hope people to support them out of pity or something whenever a mishap occurs. Although when not always perfect, they still try to meet their consumers somewhere along the way, adding something extra even if it might not be much etc. But it still beats MangaGamer who won't change squat and still insist on full price.

They also, as blatantly obvious by their cool releases, do, physical copies despite not being as big as Aksys or other common localization companies. It's expensive for them, but they know the worth of physical copies for their target audience.

>>7595556
But MangaGamer might perhaps also be undermining the thing about how they are selling not only highly niche titles, but also titles with erotic content. This erotic part by itself cuts out lots of sales, and to withhold physical copies at that also holds off additional sales from a fair share of people who might be interested and cool with the erotic content otherwise. So basically MangaGamer is doing all sorts of the wrong approach in regards to a market in which such an approach is especially unsuitable.

But for Aksys? They messed up. Zen-United also messes up, but they still try to give their customers what they want. MangaGamer just does the wrong thing the wrong way in regards to the wrong crowd/products.

People on /jp/ are incredible ingrates imo, if you really like VNs you should atleast pay for the goddamn translations, if it's not profitable at all no company will translate anything anymore. I also think it's funny how people keep claiming the translations are bad when they don't know the first thing about Japanese, they can't even read it yet they have the audacity to claim something was poorly translated. If you actually like VNs you should pay for them, instead of expecting companies or fans to translate them for free. Shit like this is the reason I will never help translate anything, because it's always taken for granted.

>>7595584
I would pay if the game was the same thing I played in the untranslated ver.
Except what do you know its not the same, things are either removed or changed and they expect you to pay for it.

>>7595584
1/10, best I can do.

Also glad you don't translate. Your sentence structure is shit, bucko.

>>7595584
If you actually like VNs you should learn Japanese.

>>7595621
Most people on /jp/ barely have enough motivation to get out of bed, learning Japanese actually takes long term dedication and effort, something which NEETs lack.

>>7595584
you really don't need to know japanese to think an english sentence is poorly written.

>>7595562
>erotic content
>I think ero is really holding back the potential of eroge. This medium could be so much more.

Why dont they just port console titles over?
I will buy the fuck out of the infinity series, 5pb titles, memories off series, Im@s and the upcoming MLA port.
Just look at how well 999 sold.
Sometimes I wish I have the resources to start up a localization/translation company.

>>7595631
You don't think that has anything to do with the medium? Most VNs aren't exactly that well written even in Japanese. If you're actually in it for the reading you'd be better off getting a library card.

>>7595634
>He doesn't use a notebook, an hour to himself, and Nama-sensei

>>7595643
>Most VNs aren't exactly that well written even in Japanese.
Opinions aside they at least have proper grammar, which alone is enough to place them above many translations.

>>7595584
But you know, I do buy titles, even certain ones in Japanese.
And I really look forward to Jast's new lineup, and hope they might be able to include some cool bundle items with the bundle pack they have hinted at. But a bundled pack of 2 or more titles is rather nifty in itself if the price is reasonable, and it is about physical copies.

But I can't find myself to buy MG's stuff, I can't even find myself to buy things on steam.
No physical copy, that's a real downer here, it's as if the product has near zero value. With no collectors' value it is as if the product is worth squat beyond the experience itself, which in a sense also renders it near useless once you have read it.
But to cut out voices makes me yearn for having the original japanese product despite not being able to read it.
And if they mess up other content, be it images/music/sound/whatever, or even the translation itself which have happened with their varying degrees of trouble with the concept of proof reading and quality control, it makes all the harder to buy the products. It happens I don't even bother to pirate some stuff like that, let alone paying for a product inferior to even that.

>>7590562
The same thing happens with JAST and ask Peter Payne if he is in need of any money. Oh, right, he doesn't shoot his own feet as bad you guys do.

>>7595638
>>I think ero is really holding back the potential of eroge. This medium could be so much more.
Now, you are putting words in my mouth I never really said. Doesn't really matter all that much I guess, but I didn't mean this, at all. Eroticism is an art, it can be done amazingly or poorly, and straight out porn can be respected for what it is as well.

But my point was basically how VNs are a niche market in itself.
But even among people who enjoys and reads such stuff, there is a fair portion who would shy off puting erotic content on their shelves and so on, and as a result not buying such stuff.
Or is this assumption wrong? I believe it actually means alot.

The main reason for why I still never bought the Higurashi titles are because they managed to lose BGMs, and refused to have physical copies.
Though sure, they did have physical copies at that AX convention that time, but it was still missing BGMs, and well, I am not travelling overseas only to get a small VN.
Oh, and since then I have gotten spoiled, also the reason for why I dropped it partly through.

>>7595089
>people aren't buying them enough

Kouryuu stated that they had to get more copies from their warehouse during the three days of AX. It's already proven that there is an interest in physical copies and that it's only due to MG's lack of them and their poor advertising that they're suffering.

>>7595714
Peter Payne also has this thing called J List which he makes a fuckton of money on.

>>7595768
And he also says that he makes a profit from every title that JAST sells.

>>7595769
That's what he said. Why'd he tell anyone if he didn't

>>7595780
Like MG, right?

Did they really think they were gonna make money over sex games? even with pirates,come on. who gives a shit.

>>7595785
Well, the difference is Payne can cover it up with J-list sales and pretend everything's all right. If MG does the same we will one day see them go bankrupt while they're supposedly "profiting" from eery single game they're selling and we'll go WTF JUST HAPPENED!!??

People aren't gonna pay foe these games, most of /jp/ doesn't even have a job and i wouldn't pay for these even with a job.

>>7595801
I bet both JAST and MG are making profits of each title sold. It doesn't equal braking even though, neither of them can buy liscenses and whatever publishing entails, put in lots of work into localising the stuff and then break even and make a profit on their first title sold.

No, I almost can't imagine them to lose money on their titles sold. JAST might have J-List, but I can't believe their VN/Eroge scene would be nothing but an attempt to draw people in on J-List.
No, both JAST and MG profits on their sales, MG just aren't selling enough of them.

>>7595818
>It doesn't equal braking even though
Wait, isn't braking even = getting enough money to cover money spent on production? How can you make any profit without first braking even?

>It is kinda sad that on the first day of VN release you can already see download links floating around
Stopped reading here.

You know what's the last thing to do in that situation? Bitch about it.
It simply happens all the time. With almost every game. Complaining about that on the Internet, is like when a lav attendant rants about how men can't aim.
Do you really think those downloaders read your blog? No. Only white-knighting faggots, and people who want to make fun of you do.

>Hi guize I'm currently tling my pirated Dengeki Striker into shitty engrish and once I finish it hope I'll get hired by MG and making loads of money u jelly.

>>7595089
>DRM-less

Is that some new term to hide that a game is not DRM free?

>>7595849
No, it means it has no DRM.

>>7595769
That's because every title JAST sells is a shitty sex romp which is guaranteed to make a profit. He also has ads everywhere, including places like Sankaku. All it takes is 'LOOK PORN HERE BUY HERE PORN PORN PORN' and the average Sankaku reader will be interested in buying it.

>>7595874
>Shitty sex romp

Are you even aware of the products you're talking about? Vidya games sell cause people want to play vidya. Movies sell because people like watching other people do a passable job of pretending. Books sell for nerds that love to read.

Sex sells. People want hot sex. Vidya sex games therefore sell. Beat the game, be rewarded with laughable-yet-faptastic smut.

Within that logic lies another of the symptoms as to why MG is failing so hard.

>>7595874
>every title JAST sells is a shitty sex romp which is guaranteed to make a profit
mangagamer has its fair share of shitty sex romps, they must swim in money too then?

>>7595824
Yes, there is that, but you also have to consider how people use their language. Obviously, people aren't always straight down strict and correct with their financial bussiness terms in their everyday speech.

If Payne ever said he was making profit with each and every sale, then that couldn't possibly be true because if that were to be the case the first sale would have to cover all the work and expenses put into it, and more. Obviously that have never been the case.

Rather, their planned budget ends up as profit with their products and the prices placed on them.

http://www.japanator.com/interview-jast-usa-manages-a-profit-on-every-ero-ge-18229.phtml
>a profit (sometimes very small) off of every dating-sim game we published

I would never pay forty bucks for a fucking vn.

Getting into a market where the consumers are jobless neckbeards and the commodity is a digital and easily redistributed isn't a good idea to begin with.

They deserve to go down for imprudence.

I guess one of the problems is that unlike JAST, Mangagamer is actually a japanese company looking outside, and when you come from a market where people shell out up to 100$ for shitty eroge without problem and report pirating sites to the police directly, you know you're going to be severely gimped in reading how your buyers think and react to that in the best way possible

Sure mangagamer may be completely inept, but you should support them anyway! Bad piratefags, bad!

>>unbearable translation
>>NO HARD COPIES

I think it's obvious why people pirate their shit. OP is obviously an MG dev.

"censored" translations
DRM
REMOVED THE FUCKING VOICE

I'll pass.

Mangagamer: Taking forever to bring you crappy translations and half-products.

Fucking yay.
I really wish MG had never gotten into the VN market. Fan translations are great - they're done by people who care about what they're doing and try and do the best they possibly can with it. - MG on the other hand is simply trying to turn a profit. If they can make the money with a shitty translation attached to half a product (ex: Koihime) they'll do it in an instant, as they proved by releasing Kara no Shoujo ALSO without voices. MG is the worst thing that ever happened to the VN translation scene translation (followed closely by JAST). This kind of thing simply doesn't turn out well if it's not done for the pure love of the product and the desire to contribute to the community. MG is bad business.

>>7595089
>>7591033 here. I WOULD buy Higurashi. No, seriously, I would. I was completely unaware that a DRM-free, physical copy was offered, so I went to MG's site. And guess what? I can't find any indication of a physical copy being offered, and the game's page indicates that it has DRM. So I'm calling bullshit on your post unless you can provide a link.

Besides that, if I were to buy Higurashi and Kai, it would be $85. For an unvoiced VN with content removed, DRM added, and no physical copy. MG clearly doesn't want my money.

>>7596458
It's not like they have a choice for the voices you know

If it costs 10k to get the game, and then 50k to get the game + voices, you bet your ass they're going to go for the 10k deal, given that they regularly see <1k sales on their games.

Personally, I think they just need more hard copies and publicity/advertising. I thought Kara no Shoujo was wonderful, especially since the voice patch was extremely accessible on the internet.

>>7595089
>>7591033
here. I WOULD buy Higurashi. No, seriously, I would. I was completely unaware that a DRM-free, physical copy was offered, so I went to MG's site. And guess what? I can't find any indication of a physical copy being offered, and the game's page indicates that it has DRM. So I'm calling bullshit on your post unless you can provide a link.

Besides that, if I were to buy Higurashi and Kai, it would be $85. For an unvoiced VN with content removed, DRM added, and no physical copy. MG clearly doesn't want my money.

>>7596495
http://www.hendane.com/shop/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=4
Higurashi When They Cry $29.99
Higurashi When They Cry Kai $34.99
Out of stock

>>7596458
MG isn't bad business, it's business. Translations aside (I'm hoping you're fluent in Japanese if you're claiming their translations aren't up to snuff), they release games without voices because there's no way they'll turn a profit if they have to pay extra for that, because most of you will just pirate the product anyway, voices or not. Also I'm not sure which fan translated games you've been playing, but the translations are not better than the ones by mangagamer. I should know since I played plenty of terrible translations before learning enough Japanese to read the originals. What it comes down to is that you're just not willing to pay for the product at all, no matter its form. Atleast admit you're just cheap instead of hiding behind hyperboles.

>>7596491

They have the option to find VNs without voices to translate or to use ones where they can afford the voices.

I still don't know how they haven't managed to strike a deal that just allows them to pay royalties. Sounds like they're trying to buy an unlimited license to sell the voices when they could just be paying a portion of each sale.

>>7596530
Oh well, thanks for the link anyway. Can someone confirm that the physical copies don't have DRM?

>>7596536

I challenge you to provide a basis for a single one of your accusations, Sir White Knight of MG.

Also, please, get off MGs cock.

>>7596570
He played Flyable Heart and learned Japanese in a week or two.

>>7596569

It's true, no DRM on the physical copies. However, the MG version of Higurashi has also had some content cut. Just sound effects and music so far as I know, but it still bothers the shit out of me.

>>7596577

Actually, it's missing the Minigames, Music Box, and Staff Room also.

You should stop bitching about MG's translations. They're improving and they did a good job with Kara no Shoujo.

>>7596570
Basis? If mangagamer could include voices and still turn a profit they would, they're not just doing it because they enjoy being flamed on the internet. As for fan translations being inferior, if you honestly think they're good enough than you should have no issue what so ever with mangagamer. If you hate them that much I suggest you learn Japanese.

>>7596640
Maybe because it's a translation from TLwiki

>>7596012
>I would never pay forty bucks for a fucking vn.

I'm honestly a bit tempted for the hardcopy of Da Capo. The first game must have had some substance.
But 40€...that's a bit for someone who isn't overly into visual novels, and has grown accustomed to the usual extreme price drops for games after a month or so (save Nintendo titles).

>>7596577
>>7596606
Well, as long as the text is unaltered I could maybe get over it. But that's still irritating as fuck.

I feel that if Mangagamer is losing money, and JAST isn't, then it is impossible to believe that the problem is piracy.

>>7596643
MG's first translation that was even close to decent was Da Capo, which was actually good.
But meanwhile, Suika, which still arguably turned out somewhat decent, was still neglected the much needed editing/proof reading the translator himself claimed he needed, and as a result it's very crude at places despite being good at others.

If you argue anything before this was ever good, then it's you who have no say in the matter, because such a claim would be utterly insane.

But a fun little little fact is how the editing problem was far from fixed even after these two games, despite staff claiming they were in dire need of it. So the next lineup of games after this, was actually a slight step down from even these two.

Granted MG have improved a lot since then, and have adjusted the procedures of how they work and everything.
But MG's translations are still not without flaw, and there is no certainty that any of their translations even now were/are to turn out better than fan translations, all it needs is a slight mishap on their side, cutting part of the necessary time needed for proof reading, and bam, an inferior product we surely have.
As already mentioned by others, MG is about bussiness, surely they cut editing time if they hit a tough spot, they didn't even seem to think it was needed in the past.
But yes, they have at this moment done some good translations. But it isn't that hard to guess that they might need to keep doing so for a while before gaining any actual lasting trust.

Frankly, it sounds as if you are spouting shit, since you didn't even mention any of MG's failures and/or complications.

There is no way I will pay over $30 for a VN. I know it's twice that in Japan; I do not give a shit. They pay $500 for Kara no Kyoukai DVD box sets there, and that isn't going to happen here, period.

The translation market is probably the hardest space to be involved in ever, because the fanbase is minuscule and used to fan translations.

Complaining about piracy is the height of idiocy because IT IS REALITY. You have to live with it and find ways around it. You can't expect it to simply go away.

Also, just pointing this out, you don't need to know Japanese to spot a poor translation. Knowing English is pretty much all you need to tell if a, you know, ENGLISH translation is poorly worded and awkwardly phrased. In fact, it CAN be helped.

>>7596800
Japan has a high standard of living though. That's why everything is so expensive there. They make a lot more money compared to here.

And i agree, complaining about piracy is stupid. MangaGamer and JAST are retarded in the first place for actually expecting people to buy their shit. They localize things that are already fucking translated by fans (who frankly translate better than they do, and just about as fast too), and then put a price tag on it so they can make some cash.

And then when they actually do translate something that hasn't already been translated by fans, they take fucking forever to translate it, I mean just look at how long it took to get Demonbane released. If that's always the case, I might as well just stick to reading with ATLAS, which sucks by the way. But reading with ATLAS is still better than waiting 5 years for an over-priced game and only getting an average translation for it and nothing more.

>So, I must ask of people like >>7591033, why haven't you bought Higurashi and Kira Kira yet?

Higurashi has the ugly art. I'm still on the fence though on buying it and patching it, but at the same time it feels like I'd be telling them "Sure, sell me ugly crap" so I'm not sure what to do.

Kira Kira is a trap VN, which would have been an instant buy from me if it was Otoboku, Ruitomo or such. But the band theme isn't really what I like. I put up with K-on because there is an Azunyan. It also doesn't help that I find their art poor (monkey ears and all).

However, in my case it isn't hard copies that is the problem. I'd gladly download digitally, if I didn't have to put up with DRM.

Anti piracy measures are just anti-sales. I own Diablo 2, and boy do I get annoyed on the CD demand if I don't crack it. I own Fatal Racing, and again, CD requirement. I bought them, why do I need to crack them to play them without having my CD buzz?

I'm mostly leaning towards buying Shuffle though. I liked the opening when I found it on a video, and I liked the anime. It being older I worry about the translation quality though, even if I've heard it was one of the "better" ones.

>>7596940
youre literally retarded

>>7596961
Coming from a person who cannot seem to capitalize or use punctuation, that doesn't mean much.

>>7596951
>Kira Kira is a trap VN
That aspect was so minor, I almost forgot about it.

>>7596951

Continued.

Regarding MG in general though, they suffer from being one company that has to deal with other companies. Imagine yourself if Id Software had to strike a deal with Windows each time they wanted to sell a windows version. "To use our sound drives, you'll have to pay 50k". "No problem, we'll just sell Quake 5 without sound".

This model works terribly. Especially when you have multiple companies doing games, but only single digit companies localizing them. With many companies, they'll just absorb each other when it goes bad, and keep making things... who will Jast and MG absorb/get absorbed by?

One need to remember that Eroge covers most normal genres, so having one company try and sell them all is doomed. You'd need one company selling horror, one selling RPGs, one selling loli, etc. This way you know roughly the same amount will buy each game, instead of having sales vary depending on if you picked an unpopular genre. (I always hesitate from eroge with gameplay)

Selling mixed genres is of course in some senses helpful, but it means you'll have dips and tops in sales. Perhaps MG simply hasn't sold a game worthy of a top yet.

I think they know their target audience, but they're in direct competition with a free version of their own software with an audience that is very proficient at and actively distributes video and games (since its practically required to be a fan of the genre). People make a lot of excuses but really your choice is free with no consiquences and paying a good sum of money, its not a huge surprise that they're seeing that lots of people would rather not pay.

MangaGamer target audience-Da Capo

>>7596940
>I mean just look at how long it took to get Demonbane released. If that's always the case
No offense, but how have you managed to miss how everything regarding Demonbane actually went really smooth, with the majority of it already being translated to begin with.
That is all, besides how N+ stepped in and demanded them to change the engine, and change the engine to an engine that could not be used, and that could not be altered to enable it to be used unless N+ stepped in and fixed it. They didn't, hence why it took forver.

For all the mishaps Jast actually have done, this isn't one of them.

>>7597076
Not that guy but I'm fairly certain they intended to use saya's engine to ignore all of those problems before JAST came in and they had to worry about legal issues.

>>7597109
Didn't they do that for Kikokugai too? How's that going to affect Kikokugai's release?

>>7596951
>It being older I worry about the translation quality though, even if I've heard it was one of the "better" ones.
From what I heard, Shuffle translation is fine.

>>7597146
No clue but it doesn't really matter considering the translation's out already.

>>7596690
This explains it. I stand corrected.

>>7594074

>But honest. How many people actually know about Kara no Shoujo? THe only reason why I know about it is because the thread on /jp/. And there's been 3 threads about it since the release, so obviously nobody's ever heard of it.

Reported for blatant newfag and being from /a/.

We've known about KnS for years.

>>7595874
And why can't MG advertise their own porn? Because they're retards!

Bump.