Otakon speculation and discussion thread

[Decay]

It's almost convention time again! This month's big convention is Otakon, being held between August 12th to the 14th. Expect this to be another big event for VN news and announcements. MangaGamer and Sekai Project are confirmed to be there, each with a booth and a panel. It appears that JAST is once again a no-show, unfortunately. Still, the others are hoping to make up for their absence.

MangaGamer

MG's panel will be held at 10:30pm EDT Saturday evening. They currently have five announcements planned, two from new partners. There have been some hints dropped various places so we know a little about what to expect from them. Alicesoft translator Arunaru has teased his other project, a gameplay title that is "what you assume it is or relatively similar." Basically: more Alicesoft. Arunaru's fellow Alicesoft-translating cohort has also been teasing something related to that company. Unless there have been some last minute delays, it is likely that the next English Alicesoft release will be announced on Friday.

Grisaia and Gahkthun translator Koestl has also been teasing his next project at MangaGamer. Whatever hints he could drop would be "too obvious." It is probable that another Steampunk game will be announced, but that one seems a bit shakier than my Alicesoft prediction. As for the rest, who knows! While most of us had a good idea that a Chuablesoft announcement would be made at AX, I haven't seen any plausible speculation on their new partners this time around. 

Sekai Project

SP's panel will be held at 12:45 PM EDT Saturday afternoon. As usual, I don't have a good idea as to what SP is actually up to. I think we can once again expect a mix of everything, doujin stuff, indie games, bigger commercial VNs, etc. They said they ran out of time in their AX panel for their 18+ stuff, will they finally have the time for it at Otakon? Or will there be another inexplicably long informational video on one of their OELVNs taking up most of their time? Ohh, the excitement! The personnel shake up at SP might make things a little dodgy, or it might not have any real effect at all. I suppose this will be a test to see whether SP is truly falling apart or not (hint: they're almost certainly not, sorry haters).

So, what are you guys expecting?

[littleshogun]

Not expecting much here, although for Sekai I kind of suspecting AstralAir here if they want to release it quickly. Other than that, what I knew would be I must waited until Sunday for more concrete news here. Although looking from Mangagamer vote speculation that I did earlier, obviously I must eliminated Baldr Sky because it was licensed by Sekai.

[Decay]

I wouldn't get your hopes up for any further Favorite game announcements until Hoshimemo is finished. 

[wyldstrykr]

mangagamer 1st announcement: da capo 3 release date.....

[exaccuss]

4 minutes ago, wyldstrykr said:

mangagamer 1st announcement: da capo 3 release date.....

Yes please! I need some more da capo fix.

[Decay]

Seems too soon for a DC3 release date, the tech work still isn't done for it and then they have to do plenty of testing. Release date announcements wouldn't take up an actual announcement slot anyway.

[DharmaFreedom]

Is dies irae or any Light game a possibility? just curious.

[WinterfuryZX]

I think someone will announce Eustia.

[DarkZedge]

14 minutes ago, DharmaFreedom said:

Is dies irae or any Light game a possibility? just curious.

I wouldn't hold my breath for those Dharma.  

[DharmaFreedom]

Awww

 

You know when conjueror had that poll for most wanted Vn translation. Was that poll just for fun or was it to decide on which Vn they'll translate next? 

[akaritan]

Just now, DharmaFreedom said:

You know when conjueror had that poll for most wanted Vn translation. Was that poll just for fun or was it to decide on which Vn they'll translate next? 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was mostly for fun. Conjueror is working on a secret project and seemed curious to see how it would do, so I'm sure that played in to it as well.

[DharmaFreedom]

Ah i see, i remember at the time people were taking that voting seriously and getting annoyed when the Vns they liked didn't make it [Read some comments].

Thanks for the info akaritan!

[RikiSanic]

I'm interested in what MangaGamer has with those 3 titles from established partners. They definitely haven't come close to mining all the good titles from the companies they've worked with, so it'd be nice to see their partnerships continue. Maybe we'll finally get some more titles from their older partners, like Navel or Caramel Box. Or is that out of the question at this point?

As for Sekai Project, they recently had a panel last Friday at another con and nothing came out of it, and they still have at least 3 more cons planned including Otakon (one of them being another panel at Anime Fest the day after their Otakon one). Either they're spreading their announcements out or they don't have much more to announce, it's kind of hard to tell with them since they've already announced so much this year alone. We do know that they didn't get through everything at Anime Expo, so hopefully they'll at least get their 18+ news out. That would help to quell the... "fervor" within the VN community right now.

Oh, and maybe Sekai will announce a more specific release window for A Clockwork Ley-Line. It has to have been in the pipeline for a while now and their website still says "releasing in 2016."

[akaritan]

Happy to help 

[Decay]

13 minutes ago, RikiSanic said:

I'm interested in what MangaGamer has with those 3 titles from established partners. They definitely haven't come close to mining all the good titles from the companies they've worked with, so it'd be nice to see their partnerships continue. Maybe we'll finally get some more titles from their older partners, like Navel or Caramel Box. Or is that out of the question at this point?

As for Sekai Project, they recently had a panel last Friday at another con and nothing came out of it, and they still have at least 3 more cons planned including Otakon (one of them being another panel at Anime Fest the day after their Otakon one). Either they're spreading their announcements out or they don't have much more to announce, it's kind of hard to tell with them since they've already announced so much this year alone. We do know that they didn't get through everything at Anime Expo, so hopefully they'll at least get their 18+ news out. That would help to quell the... "fervor" within the VN community right now.

Oh, and maybe Sekai will announce a more specific release window for A Clockwork Ley-Line. It has to have been in the pipeline for a while now and their website still says "releasing in 2016."

I do wonder what's holding up ley line. The translation has basically been finalized for many months now, so it's just tech work and red tape holding it back. That, or SP is making major changes to the translation, which seems unlikely. 

edit: I will say that SP has been hyping up Otakon a little. Pretty much right after AX, they switched the AX discussion channel on their discord to Otakon, indicating that would be the next con where they will actually have something interesting to talk about. 

[ChaosRaven]

MangaGamer teased a yuri title recently on twitter which might be true... or not. A Rance title is very likely and a Steampunk title from LiarSoft certainly a possibility. Still, I don't think they'll announce anything of interest for me.

Most interesting announcement is Cojuerors secret project. Is it reall Eustia or was it just a big troll. I'm not so sure about that.

Sekai already announced so much that's it really surprising that they are still not finished. Quiet curious about what they might have to announce.

[Decay]

23 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

Most interesting announcement is Cojuerors secret project. Is it reall Eustia or was it just a big troll. I'm not so sure about that.

I would not put money on that actually being announced at Otakon. It will most probably be announced abruptly with no fanfare in the middle of some random week, and not anywhere interesting like an actual convention.

[Funyarinpa]

Lemnisca Translations probably wasn't just sleeping every day since the release of Root Double. Perhaps they will announce if they have a new project. Hope it's 12Riven or another Uchikoshi and/or Nakazawa VN.

[john 'mr. customer' smith]

2 hours ago, Decay said:

they will actually have something interesting to talk about. 

What, more interesting than Baldr Sky?

[Decay]

I was comparing it to whatever con they were apparently at a week or two ago and didn't announce anything at.

[SilverLi]

No matter what Alicesoft title they are hopefully announcing I am supporting it. Sometime in the future they must release what I want. 

[Decay]

At this point whether they announce Evenicle or Rance, there will probably be an equal amount of backlash from whiney babies not getting what they want. So if any of you were planning on being one of those babies, please don't. If MG happens to announce a cool game that isn't the cool game you want, just be happy that the AS/MG relationship is working and hope for something more up your alley next time!

_{(I'd rather have Evenicle)}

[Chuee]

40 minutes ago, Funyarinpa said:

Lemnisca Translations probably wasn't just sleeping every day since the release of Root Double. Perhaps they will announce if they have a new project. Hope it's 12Riven or another Uchikoshi and/or Nakazawa VN.

I remember hearing about some Japanese article talking to various developers about English localization and Regista said they were planning something, and combined with the whole Lemnisca website redesign thing, I'd imagine those two are doing something. 

[WinterfuryZX]

20 minutes ago, Chuee said:

I remember hearing about some Japanese article talking to various developers about English localization and Regista said they were planning something, and combined with the whole Lemnisca website redesign thing, I'd imagine those two are doing something. 

Secret Game, then...

[Dergonu]

Well Mangagamer, you gave us Maggot Baits, so do Nyuu Jene next and I'll literally worship you guys as a God, just saying.