It's time for Visual-Novel news. Do you know where YOUR children are?
Update: First two games are now on sale
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So what's the latest news in V-N world? Well for starters, a new translator has appeared out of nowhere. MangaGamer
will start selling major commercial eroge games on the 3rd of July, and
by commercial, we mean big name games like Da Capo and Suika A.S.+ and
more! From what I can tell, they've even gone so far as to uncensor the
CGs on some games (insider knowledge **wink wink**). From the pages of
the site I've managed to find, I've noticed some evidence of Engrish.
This is a little worrying in case the games also contain Engrish, but
their new to the scene so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for
now.
I would compare the company to J-List who offer the same sort of games,
but I feel that would be unfair since the games are much more
mainstream than the ones J-List sell and MangaGamer are based in the EU
so prices are a fair bit higher for that reason alone. However, as I
said before, the games are more mainstream and popular than the ones
J-List sell (at least in Japan) so that may be part of the higher price.
One thing that must be noted is that they only deal in download games
(with online activation of course) although I'm sure, once the company
progresses, they may start selling boxed games. Another J-List
comparison is due here, but this time it's MangaGamer on top! J-List's
"V-Mate" system requires you to connect to them every time you start
the game up. Annoying, but nessisary. MangaGamer, on the otherhand,
apparently only require you to activate once when you first start the
game (I'm judging this on the text "When you start this game for the first time, a connection to the Internet is necessary." on
the MangaGamer website). Although only having to activate once is
nicer, especially if you install on a laptop and don't have access to
the internet, it may make the games easier for pirates to crack (that
isn't to say the J-Mate system hasn't been cracked, because it has) but
only activating it once allows people to simply pass it to friends. As
I've already stated, I don't know the full details so there may be (and
is very likely to be) more measures to stop people copying.
On a personal note, since they are selling commercial games, here's
hoping for official Navel translations? Anyone? Ah well. Once can hope.
All in all, the company looks promising. I'm planning to get Da Capo
once it's out as I hear it's a really good game. I shall report on my
activation experiences once I buy it as well as what I think of the
rest of the game. I wish the company luck and I hope their launch is
successful!