Archive for the ‘Eroge’ Category

New fax from the EOCS with schedule

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

suzuki

A new fax from the EOCS has been sent out and as with previous faxes companies are still not allowed to release any of the information for some reason. But the same guy that leaked info on the previous fax had appeared in 2ch again with some of the new details.

  • New judging criteria will start from October, all sales of older rape games will also have to stop, no matter if they’re downloadable games or physical package games.*
  • The period from 5th June to 31st September will be the changeover period where rape games will still be allowed to a certain extent, and the new restrictions will go full force starting from October. Games released sometime by the end of the year will most likely still be okay as games go through the judging process earlier before the actual release.
  • Shoujo (girl) and school council keywords managed to escape from the list of NG words.
  • Normally big decisions like this would need to be done through official meetings where companies can show their disapproval, but the EOCS is really forcing it in this time, and the person leaking the info suspects the EOCS is under huge pressure for them to be doing something like that. However he does not know if there are any other entities pressuring the EOCS other than the politicians.
  • CSA’s regulations will be released next week apparently so some are waiting to see how that goes.
  • The person who leaked the info says he thought they might be able to do something if he gathers 30 companies that he knows personally, but he contacted 5 companies and they were all talking about quitting the industry.
  • Via: エロゲ表現規制対策本部 104

    Eroge programmer Kenji Kakera also mentions on his blog that they received the fax too. He can’t release any of the information in the fax, but he wonders what is the point of the EOCS existing anyway, and comments that this is all so stupid that it’s meaningless to even think about it.

    Also it was mentioned a few times in the comments, but that certain Japanese site getting a lot of attention right now has too many Japanese comments in that post that is bashing a certain site that I don’t want to mention and don’t want to get involved with, so I’m not going to make a post about it.

    Edit: * The date for the new restrictions are written in the fax, but the actual date to stop sale of all older rape games was not detailed, so it’s assumed the stop of sale not going to happen yet

    VisualArts blocks foreigners too

    Monday, June 29th, 2009

    kaikoku site kudasai yo

    Following the lead of minori and yuzusoft, the VisualArts Visual Antena website has also blocked foreign IPs, displaying the message “PLEASE PLAY THE GAME OF YOUR COUNTRY IF YOU PRAY FOR THE WORLD PEACE!:-)」” to foreign visitors.

    As of writing, only Visual Antena seems to be blocking foreign IPs and the websites for brands under VisualArts are still accessible.

    It seems it is definitely the new trend to block off all foreigners!

    Also minori has apparently been using their block to urge foreign visitors to write to the Japanese government through the government website. I hope polite informed comments were being sent instead of emotional mail centering around kill and rape.

    Tony and Carnelian art keyboards up for order

    Sunday, June 28th, 2009

    noroiE☆2 magazine has announced that they are taking orders for the production of illustration keyboards featuring art from Tony and Carnelian. The art is directly printed on the keyboard instead of using stickers so it looks a lot better than what you’d normally see.

    For a moment I thought the art was photoshopped on top of the keyboard in the photo. Costs 10,000 yen (US$100) for one though.

    Owner of Tachibana shoten in Akiba arrested

    Thursday, June 25th, 2009

    zetsubou

    Game director, scenario writer, and AV director Toriyama Jin reports on his blog that:

    1) On the 23rd of June, police have done a search on the Akihabara branch of Tachibana shoten. The shop owner is arrested. It is not known exactly the reason he was put under arrest for, but it is likely for distribution of indecent material.

    2) Many of the products that were taken as evidence were of the loli genre. The exact titles are not known, but it is likely that they are games by either brand R or brand M.

    3) The most likely reason why the police have tried to charge tachibana shoten for distribution of indecent material is because they wanted to have a scenario where somebody was arrested, in time for the meeting on the 26th of June where the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, and Democratic Party of Japan are meeting to discuss changing the existing child porn laws. However as tachibana shoten was quite thorough in keeping in line with the law. One likely theory is that they were unable to charge tachibana shoten under child porn laws, and instead are trying to use distribution of indecent material so they would still have a case where somebody has been arrested.

    Toriyama Jin says he had already known that the police were stepping up before the meeting on the 26th as there have been an increase in arrests related to the child porn laws over the last week, but did not expect a bookstore would become a victim and that they would use distribution of indecent material to make a case as child porn laws did not cover pseudo-loli.

    On top of that, the place where they did a house search was in Akihabara, no matter how you look at it, the police is obviously trying to assist the LDP and the Komeito. When this gets reported, Toriyama suspects there’s a high chance that it will probably be used to mislead viewers that there is a need for stronger child porn laws.

    The stuff above contains a little speculation, but Toriyama writes that he has confirmed the information from two different sources, so the main points should be true.

    Also the 2ch thread for eroge industry people to post in has become quite depressing over the past days with posts where industry people talk about how they had their projects canceled or a writer who specializes in rape and sexual violence stories wondering how he can possibly find a new job now, and even one report from somebody who claims his friend at a small eroge development house had commited suicide as they were already doing pretty bad and now had to give up their next game project which meant the company had no chance of survival (info cannot be confirmed).

    Update: Toriyama has updated his post clarifying that it was the owner of “Energy” in Akihabara, which belongs to the Tachibanashoten group, it was not the actual main Tachibanashoten store in Akiba. That particular shop “Energy” actually deals mainly in photos and goods involving real people, so it probably has nothing to do with eroge or art.

    Dejipare: doujin and cosplay are not affected

    Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

    The online downloadable doujin and eroge store Dejipare had previously announced that the upcoming new regulations will affect everything being sold on their online store, but have now announced that after having received a flood of emails giving them support and advice, they had another meeting and have decided that doujin and live action cosplay will not be affected by the new rules and will be self-regulated as before.

    Doujin is saved! Comic Market usually follows industry standards in what they allow at the event so it was going in a pretty bad direction for a while. Then again dejipare isn’t even in the DHR so it is left to be seen what the other online doujin stores will decide on this.

    Also eroge are not mentioned and probably will still be affected by the previously announced regulations.

    Sengoku Hime getting ported to PS2 and PSP

    Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

    jirai

    Eroge Sengoku Hime was released late last year creating some commotion about the awesome(?) quality of the art and the number of bugs in the game. However it is apparently now going to be ported to the PS2 and PSP for some reason, and with completely redrawn art for some of the characters too.

    Comparison pics for redrawn art

    The original PC game apparently sold relatively well even despite all the problems for some odd reason. It’s either the great looking package cover that deceived buyers or the game was so bad it attracted the masochists that love crappy games.

    Online DL shop announces new restrictions

    Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

    chotto tuttekuru

    llpalace’s Online shop dejipare (NSFW) which deals in downloadable doujin and downloadable eroge has announced that adult works belonging to the following genres or have any content that have something to do with the keywords will be restricted, as according to the directions from an unnamed regulation body. (most probably EOCS)

  • Rape
  • Loli
  • Gang Rape
  • Sexual violence (陵辱)
  • Cruel sexual play (鬼畜)
  • Reverse rape
  • Shoujo
  • Forbidden sex (相姦) (such as adultery and incest)
  • Reverse sexual violence (逆陵辱)
  • Forced (強要)
  • Group sex (複数プレイ)
  • School council (生徒会)
  • Bestiality (not catgirls or vampires etc)
  • Bondage
  • Coercion
  • Train groping (車内わいせつ)
  • Enjo Kousai (wikipedia link)
  • Incest
  • Torture
  • Japanese bondage (緊縛)
  • Pregnant
  • Rape (強姦) (another way to refer to rape)
  • Slave
  • Pregnant woman
  • Imprisonment
  • Impregnation
  • Aside from the above keywords, words that attempt to make references to the above words such as (JC / JK / U18 / U15 etc) are also included. There may still be more words that will be added to the list.

    The list does not only cover written information (including scenario, speech, hidden meanings, circle name, brand name), but images and CG (both art and real life images) are also covered in the new restrictions.

    The date that the new restrictions will take effect and exact criteria on how affected media will be judged is still being decided, but will be announced soon.

    Also I couldn’t think of a good English equivalent for many of the keywords, so if anybody has better suggestions for some of the keywords it’ll be great.

    Edit: I missed this, but Minori is restricting foreign access to their website now apparently.

    Non-human heroines might possibly be restricted

    Friday, June 12th, 2009

    kusogaaaa

    Norn (NSFW) has announced in their online newsletter that the Norn games that are currently in development cannot be delivered into the hands of their fans without any modifications.

    The character settings, situations, and the game title are against regulation, and a lot of problems have popped up.

    The developers are trying their best right now to be able to provide a game that the fans want with the minimum amount of modifications.

    A lot is happening in the industry right now because of the regulations this time around, but Norn will try their best to make a game that will satisfy their users.

    Norn also reports that the various sides are still having negotiations right now, but there is currently a possibility that games featuring non-human heroines (robots, elves, cat girls, vampires etc) may no longer be accepted for sale.

    Games featuring Impregnation or having babies may also get the same treatment.

    However, Norn staff says that even if something like that happens, they will try their best to do whatever they can to get their games to their fan.

    Norn belongs in the CSA.

    I guess the push for restrictions on non-human heroines might be to close that loophole to seriously tighten loli restrictions.

    If it really happens… I guess stuff like Tsukihime will be down.

    Ugh.

    Via: Cybele/Nornってどうよ?

    Institute of Contents Culture research meeting

    Friday, June 12th, 2009

    hantai

    This is a report of the meeting by the Institute of Contents Culture which met to discuss the recent eroge censorship.

    I thought it was kinda short and interesting so I translated it, and I soon realised I am never any good at estimating length. Also I might have started regretting actually translating this report somewhere around the point where the FBI was being mentioned. I don’t know how much to believe of this.

    The report was by a person who sat in at the meeting and the report was approved by the relevant parties present in the meeting.

    (more…)

    Misc updates about regulating PC games

    Monday, June 8th, 2009

    ecstasy

    I thought I could gather reactions on the official staff blogs from eroge but they were told to refrain from commenting and they’re apparently all obeying that request so instead I wrote about other meaningless stuff and why many are looking at the VisualArts chairman as a hero now after the 2nd of June meeting.

    (more…)