The 4 Warriors of Light…?

Japanese gamers’ response to the announcement of Square’s new DS title was a bit reserved, chiefly because most expected the game to be SaGa 4 or Romancing SaGa 4.

38 ： ロベリア(長屋)：2009/07/01(水) 22:22:54.17 ID:v84Rl7Qt
The greatest disappointment of the year

41 ： デージー(コネチカット州)：2009/07/01(水) 22:22:58.47 ID:rNWQPbOU
This company is connected to the DS by the hip

57 ： ナズナ(dion軍)：2009/07/01(水) 22:23:31.62 ID:AGKRh+oE
Just stop making 3D DS games already!

93 ： ニリンソウ(九州・沖縄)：2009/07/01(水) 22:25:14.66 ID:Zl+dk6+/
Whew…I’m just glad the Romancing SaGa series is safe…

112 ： シバザクラ・フロッグストラモンティ(東京都)：2009/07/01(水) 22:25:58.92 ID:1riYtmX4
You people are ridiculously rough on Square.
Every day you’re all “Square makes nothing but remakes and sequels, fuck ‘em,” and when they put out a new game you treat it like shit

174 ： ナズナ(関西地方)：2009/07/01(水) 22:29:29.35 ID:OONQBAUt
>>112
It’s shit because they slapped the FF name on it
If it was actually a new title it’d be forgivable

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We couldn’t even bite into the churros

Maybe it says something about fans of MMORPGs when Sony Online Entertainment holds a weekend-long Fan Faire and the first thing people complain about on their forums is that there was not enough food.

Gentlemen, it’s a nerd convention, not the Steakountry Buffet.

Here’s a picture of the woefully nourishment-denied EverQuest II fanbase attending one of the panels, as floated across twitpic:

Your Right to Pretend Rape

I really didn’t know a lot about the Ethics Organization of Computer Software before they got mentioned in The Phantom of Akihabara. By sheer coincidence, they’re front-and-center in the Japan news media right now thanks to RapeLay, so I thought I’d discuss what they do for a bit and how it relates to the current state of Japan’s eroge business.

Before the EOCS (usually called “Sofu-rin” ソフ倫 in Japanese) was established in 1992, there were not much regulation at all of Japan’s adult game industry. There were occasional controversies, such as when 177 was brought up within Japan’s House of Representatives, but largely the industry enjoyed a remarkable amount of freedom. This all changed with the 1991 release of Saori, an adventure game which features non-censored depictions of (among other things) lesbian incest, fauther/daughter incest, and the game’s heroine taking a piss. A Kyoto middle-schooler was caught shoplifting Saori, causing a news sensation in Japan when the game’s content was fully examined. The developer and publisher had their offices raided by the police, and the president at the time was arrested for the sale of indecent images.

In response, adult-game publishers stepped up their own standards (starting with blurring sexual organs, just like adult video-makers had to do) and limited sale to people 18 and over. There was no unified system, however, and things got worse for the industry when the southern prefecture of Miyazaki banned the sale of several titles in 1992 that did not explicitly state “18 or over” on the box. (One of these, Cybernetic Hi-School, was produced by GAINAX, the Evangelion company. They fought Miyazaki prefecture all the way up to Japan’s supreme court, but lost the case.)

In response, the Japan Personal Computer Software Association (JPSA) requested that adult game publishers establish a cross-industry system to more effectively deal with legal challenges. This led to the founding of the EOCS in August ’92 and the creation of a standard “18+ only” sticker for game boxes. The EOCS initially rated software 18+ or general-audience, but introduced a 15+ rating in June 1994 for games that had some objectional content (such as underage drinking) but no graphic sex. EOCS member companies are obligated to have all of their software rated by the outfit, including any non-adult-oriented stuff they release.

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Dude, calm down

Gee whiz. Even Ueda doesn’t call it anything besides an “eagle.”

Marty Sue

Age of Stupid

Age of Conan survives one year, gains unspecified growth

Not really understanding the issue

I think Nintendo was using NeoGAF for business guidance until 2004, when they decided to do the opposite of what people post on there instead. It explains a great deal.

ShenMue 3

Sega Vintage Collection 2 Brings Gunstar Heroes to XBLA, PSN

I was going to make a joke about how Croteam would be a great dev for Kotaku comment user “Ero-Sennin’s” mind-bending dream because they havent updated their website in three years and could probably use the work, but — whoa — they went and updated it today. Darn.

Protection for wife beaters

I have zero desire to write about the Texas Rangers