sanahtlig

They just released Seinarukana.

@Marcus @XReaper I reported the problem in the feedback thread.

I generally don't buy games that haven't been played and reviewed by others. An unreleased game like this is almost guaranteed to receive a pass from me, regardless of how much I like the publisher. The title would likely need a personalized hook or be from one of my favorite developers to even be considered by me. I'm warming up to Frontwing and I'm willing to throw some occasional praise their way, but I'm extremely risk averse.

The problem with these breaches isn't so much the data in the particular hacked account. The real problem is that people reuse usernames and passwords across multiple sites, and once these passwords are leaked they're stored in a massive database for brute-force attempts on other sites. So one password getting linked could compromise dozens of other accounts. One site getting hacked compromises accounts all across the Web. If you reuse passwords, you're vulnerable. If you don't secure accounts with multi-factor authentication, you're vulnerable. Most of us rely on not having anything worth stealing as our primary form of security ("Security through obscurity"). On the flip side, online security is often more robust than traditional methods. Most credit card theft probably stems from offline purchases or interactions. So really, you're vulnerable no matter what. The sad truth is that security is not a priority, either for businesses OR users.

It was a good interview. That's why I reposted it on Reddit.

I'm actually rather fond of Decay's typical demeanor.

The protagonist is raped by a spirit when he arrives in Phantasmagoria. This sucks away Desire's mana and causes it to hunger for mana. This is the underlying cause of Desire's relentless urges to plunder mana from other spirits. In the adult version, the protagonist can succumb to these urges, leading to the evil route.

Expect a license from ChuableSoft, since the CEO is supposedly going to be at Anime Expo.

Companies such as 5pb and the voice acting firm(s).

No, that's not what happened. Age couldn't license MuvLuv at the time due to licensing issues involving other companies. Where are you even getting these ideas from?

I think you're confused. Negotiations were scuttled because Amaterasu fan TL'd MuvLuv but Age wanted to license KimiNozo to MangaGamer at the time, so Amaterasu just went ahead and released the fan TL publicly. MangaGamer was not pleased.

I see characters from KimiNozo in the backer update screenshots for MuvLuv. Are you supposed to play KimiNozo first...?

School Days. VNDB lists it anyway.

JAST has a dedicated licensing person. I know this because I have his e-mail address. I'm sure Peter gets involved at times also. I get the impression that JAST personnel have responsibilities that overlap with J-List. Nicholas Graham appears to be the boss at JAST, and he seems like a capable sort. Tim manages some projects. He seems less experienced. I'm not sure if Makoto is still working for JAST or not. I agree that Peter seems mostly focused on J-List, and that JAST is a side project for him. JAST's new forums are now live, and JAST personnel post there. You should ask these questions to them yourself.

This blog post makes several points: MangaGamer makes its big announcements at the bigger conventions (Anime Expo and Otakon). Nukige sell well, despite the apathy of the general community for them Story titles don't sell well Point 1 is on solid ground. Point 2 is shaky. Point 3 is very shaky. Too many generalizations, and I think the author oversimplifies why some titles do well and others don't. Haruka didn't do well because it's a nukige. It did well because of a combination of many factors: a well-known quality game with an H-OVA adaptation from a highly-regarded developer with gameplay and promoted heavily on sites like LewdGamer. One of the most important factors affecting sales of any title is its accessibility. How easily can a person not too familiar with VNs / eroge find out about it? Is it priced such that they're willing to give it a try on a platform they already use? Is it easy to get into and finish? Is it likely to be heavily discussed in the community?

For the love of God, don't use VNR to parse. Use Translation Aggregator or Chiitrans. This has been a public service announcement.

I attended both the JAST and MangaGamer panels at AX2015. Peter Payne gave a very polished presentation and clearly knew the games he was presenting (JAST staff seemed unfamiliar with the larger Japanese VN industry, however, and were unable to field my questions). MangaGamer's presentation was inconsistent and highly disorganized. Each game was presented by a different panel member, and some of them were clearly out of their league giving a professional presentation. I wasn't particularly impressed with any of the presentations, and the whole panel felt very slapped together. They spent undue time on forgettable titles and didn't highlight their best titles (especially recent releases). I brought along two people who were unfamiliar with VNs, and they both agreed that JAST by far gave the better presentation even though they had fewer games to announce. I wasn't invited to the Sekai Project panel so I'm unable to comment on that one.

JAST, again because of their library. They tend to license the games I'm actually interested in, especially gameplay titles. They also tend to promote their titles a bit better than the other publishers. Not to mention I know people at JAST and they're genuinely interested in my feedback (and the feedback of others). MangaGamer just regarded me as a nuisance. I've had no significant interaction with Sekai Project either way, but denying me a reserved seat at their Anime Expo 2015 panel soured me a bit towards them.

The "subsidiaries" were just brands, as far as I know. These were likely just consumer-facing entities for marketing purposes, and thus "shutting them down" probably involved no actual change in staff. G-Collections staff was probably absorbed into JAST/J-List or laid off, but they would've been out of a job anyway if JAST hadn't acquired them when parent company CDBros went bust.

The old JAST forums pre-date VNDB. They're a treasure trove of historical discussion about VNs and the English VN industry dating back to 2001, and they're archived inside the new forum system. http://discuss.jastusa.com/categories/archive

I created a thread on the JAST forums to solicit feedback from users on the new forum layout. I encourage everyone to comment there so JAST can view and respond to feedback. http://discuss.jastusa.com/discussion/255107/forum-feedback

I have a friend with impaired vision who is very sensitive to light. I seem to recall he was particularly sensitive to bright blue light. He absolutely hates blue LEDs. Some further insight on the matter: http://www.livescience.com/31949-led-lights-eye-damage.html

I have no ability to comment or act on such broad generalizations. Could you be more specific, @OutoftheBox?

JAST Discuss It's 100% less sucky than the terrible JAST Connect system, which resembled blogging software hamfistedly repurposed for forums. It has the usual features one expects like a private message system, file and image attachments, and configurable notifications. The system is pretty similar to Fuwanovel's. I'm also a moderator there (with highly restricted moderation powers). If you want replies from JAST staff members (Nicholas Graham and Tim), that's where to post. JAST and J-List owner Peter Payne is also expected to stop by occasionally.

Here's some advice that will work anywhere for any game: Find a shop that sells porn where you live. Ask them to stock the game(s) in question. Offer to pay up front if necessary. They should be happy to do this for you--as long as the content is legal to import. Advantages: They're a porn stop. Selling this stuff is their job, so they should be aware of all the applicable laws in your area. They're assuming the legal risk for you. They may also have established protocols that help avoid unnecessary scrutiny by customs, minimizing the risk of the shipment being seized.