In an interview to appear on RPS at 10am today, Ubisoft tells us that they will no longer use their controversial “always-on” DRM. In fact, they quietly scrapped it months ago, but haven’t made that official until now. In what is a really remarkable turnaround, the publisher pledges that from now on they will only require a single online activation after installing, with no activation limits, nor limits on how many PCs it may be activated.
Finally.
It is about time.
I was almost going to avoid Simcity due to this and everything else Ubisoft does.
Isn't SimCity an EA project?
CRAP
Quick! Uhhh... say Heroes of Might and Magic 6!
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
Wow, look at those Vita numbers! It's about fucking time! I doubt it will sustain, but it does go to show that video games are the answer. Ones that aren't ports or side-titles. What the heck is that Sega game anyway?
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I should've read on in the thread, I got my answer of what Project Diva is. So the Vita is still fucked in the long run. XD
There's a bunch of Vocaloid Personalities by now though, so just how Miku got a game they could give each of the other ones their own games. Sort of like how Pokemon gets different versions.
That shit would keep the Vita on life support for months I tell you hwat.
Alright and in this next scene all the animals have AIDS.
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
That one with the green hair is the one that appears everywhere though. She's the face of the program. This game had a load of other 'personalities' in it too, but they were nowhere in the marketing.
I imagine it's a DLC goldmine though, like Rock Band.
Oh brilliant
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
There's a bunch of Vocaloid Personalities by now though, so just how Miku got a game they could give each of the other ones their own games. Sort of like how Pokemon gets different versions.
That shit would keep the Vita on life support for months I tell you hwat.
In Japan, though. In North America, it'd only garner support from the niche group that knows what Vocaloids are and enjoy them. And yeah, like Dark Raven X said, that character in particular is THE face of the program. She's the Ronald MacDonald, the Planters Peanut, the Monopoly guy of the whole thing.
Here's an interesting article that notes Sony officials said without Virtua Fighter, the original PlayStation would have been 2D oriented. And fucked.
Sega’s Virtua Fighter inspired Sony, then one of its chief rivals, to make the PlayStation a 3-D gaming machine.
Two Sony Computer Entertainment alumni shared these insights during a recent event on “Thinking About the Future of Entertainment” in Tokyo, as reported by Japanese blog 4Gamer.
“If it wasn’t for Virtua Fighter, the PlayStation probably would have had a completely different hardware concept,” said former Sony Computer Entertainment producer Ryoji Akagawa.
When Sony was developing the PlayStation in the early 1990s, videogame graphics were transitioning from 2-D sprites to 3-D polygons. However, Akagawa said that it was challenging to properly budget and push for games that used 3-D graphics.
“What if we make the PlayStation using 2-D hardware? Such an idea was seriously considered,” Akugawa said.
Former Sony Computer Entertainment chairman Shigeo Maruyama explained that Sony employees visited other game companies to see how 3-D graphics could be presented, as no one inside Sony besides “father of the PlayStation” Ken Kutaragi really understood it.
“Personally, I had no idea of the specifics concerning what PlayStation games could do,” Maruyama said. “I was giving presentations on it without knowing much about it.”
Around that time, Sega’s revolutionary arcade game Virtua Fighter became a huge hit in Japan, wowing arcade crowds with its early use of polygonal graphics to produce a game in the popular one-on-one fighting genre.
“Once Virtua Fighter was out, the direction of the PlayStation became instantly clear,” said Maruyama.
Had Virtua Fighter not been released, Sony might have saddled PlayStation without the capability to render high-end 3-D graphics, which would have put it well behind the technology curve compared to the Saturn and Nintendo 64.
“With great timing, Sega saved our hides,” Maruyama said.
Ironically, Sega was at that point one of Sony’s chief competitors in the console space. It was preparing for the launch of Sega Saturn, which ended up beating PlayStation to market in Japan by a few weeks. In fact, the Saturn, aided by a home version of Virtua Fighter, initially outsold the PlayStation.
Akagawa said that demand for Saturn “intensified [his] confidence that the PlayStation would succeed.” Which, in the end, it did: Sony sold over 100 million PlayStation units worldwide, while Sega sold fewer than 10 million of its ill-fated Saturn.
The Playstation came along during a period of time in the graphical evolution where it was very hard to do both 2D and 3D at the same time, so I'm not surprised they wanted to lean on one over the other.
It's amazing how some games merely in their conceptual stages can shape the industry.
Alright and in this next scene all the animals have AIDS.
So, now that we've seen how good Hatsune Miku did on the Vita, any predictions on how Ys Celceta & Zero no Kiseki Evolution will do? I think those are the biggest Japan-centric games coming out for the Vita for the rest of the year.
Zero no Kiseki sold 84k in its first week on the PSP in 2010. The Vita version is an enhanced port like Persona 4 Golden. Ys Celceta, on the other hand, is a total remake of Ys 4 like Ys: Oath in Felghana is for Ys 3. Both games are from Falcom.
I'm thinking Zero no Kiseki has a shot at 100k for the first week, and while Ys seems like a somewhat bigger deal I think it'll "only" reach 150k at the most.
I wonder when the sales are going to start trailing off for good though? In that respect I expect Ys to stay around longer, maybe something like five to six weeks, while I think Zero no Kiseki Evolution might stay on the charts for about three to four weeks.
Alright and in this next scene all the animals have AIDS.
A pretty long time. Before they made uplay, they had starforce, which was a whole 'nother can of worms. Heck, to fix one of the problems with one of their ghost recon games they 'accidentally' used a crack
In the US most of the popularity for the vocaloid thing is because you can use it to make "nightcore" mixes (a type of techno remix which, as a comparison to others, is sped up quite a bit, and the normal voices get destroyed being remixed that way, but the 'robotic voice' scales with it nicely).
The well done nightcore mixes are actually pretty decent (bad ones are like any bad mix, awful). This is not to be confused with "trance" which is a techno remix, but without the massive speeding up.
I don't know if any of that will translate into sales for a game based on them though. As in, how much are fans of the vocaloid, and how many just like the tech.
This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
Simplest thing I can say is go to youtube and type in "nightcore", hit search. You should have a pretty good idea of everything you need to know after a few videos.
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Dark Raven XLaugh hard, run fast,be kindRegistered Userregular
This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
Vocaloid concerts sell out arenas. It's a big deal in someplaces! I've seen the Hatsune Miku mascot popping up all over the place for years. Pretty sure the game has blown Gravity Rush's sales away, and that was the big anticipated Vita seller.
This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
Vocaloid concerts sell out arenas. It's a big deal in someplaces! I've seen the Hatsune Miku mascot popping up all over the place for years. Pretty sure the game has blown Gravity Rush's sales away, and that was the big anticipated Vita seller.
Gravity Rush had mediocre sales though so blowing it away isn't saying much. Hatsune Miku did beat Persona 4 Golden's week 1 sales (137k) so it's the best opening of any Vita game in Japan. It would bomb bigtime in the US though. It MIGHT have enough of a niche following to justify a translated release in English on the PSN, but definitely not a retail release. What Sega should do is just release the Japanese game untranslated on the US PSN - the kinds of people who are likely to buy it are unlikely to be deterred much by it being untranslated so they'd get a few sales with minimal cost on their part. Plus it's a music game so it's not like there's a serious barrier to playing the game if you can't understand the text.
So with the Ubisoft giving up on always-on DRM thing; what are the chances they turn it off for past games? Like, any chance I'll get a patch for Heroes VI that disables the requirement to be on UPlay to access my Dynasty stuff?
This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
Vocaloid concerts sell out arenas. It's a big deal in someplaces! I've seen the Hatsune Miku mascot popping up all over the place for years. Pretty sure the game has blown Gravity Rush's sales away, and that was the big anticipated Vita seller.
Gravity Rush had mediocre sales though so blowing it away isn't saying much. Hatsune Miku did beat Persona 4 Golden's week 1 sales (137k) so it's the best opening of any Vita game in Japan. It would bomb bigtime in the US though. It MIGHT have enough of a niche following to justify a translated release in English on the PSN, but definitely not a retail release. What Sega should do is just release the Japanese game untranslated on the US PSN - the kinds of people who are likely to buy it are unlikely to be deterred much by it being untranslated so they'd get a few sales with minimal cost on their part. Plus it's a music game so it's not like there's a serious barrier to playing the game if you can't understand the text.
And yet for some reason Sega still isn't happy with its first week sales.
This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
Vocaloid concerts sell out arenas. It's a big deal in someplaces! I've seen the Hatsune Miku mascot popping up all over the place for years. Pretty sure the game has blown Gravity Rush's sales away, and that was the big anticipated Vita seller.
Gravity Rush had mediocre sales though so blowing it away isn't saying much. Hatsune Miku did beat Persona 4 Golden's week 1 sales (137k) so it's the best opening of any Vita game in Japan. It would bomb bigtime in the US though. It MIGHT have enough of a niche following to justify a translated release in English on the PSN, but definitely not a retail release. What Sega should do is just release the Japanese game untranslated on the US PSN - the kinds of people who are likely to buy it are unlikely to be deterred much by it being untranslated so they'd get a few sales with minimal cost on their part. Plus it's a music game so it's not like there's a serious barrier to playing the game if you can't understand the text.
And yet for some reason Sega still isn't happy with its first week sales.
Sega doesn't know what it's fucking doing.
Where did they say that?
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This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
Pretty sure Miku was the number one most requested performer for the Olympics.
She's pretty big.
That being said, her western following is fairly niche.
This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
Vocaloid concerts sell out arenas. It's a big deal in someplaces! I've seen the Hatsune Miku mascot popping up all over the place for years. Pretty sure the game has blown Gravity Rush's sales away, and that was the big anticipated Vita seller.
Gravity Rush had mediocre sales though so blowing it away isn't saying much. Hatsune Miku did beat Persona 4 Golden's week 1 sales (137k) so it's the best opening of any Vita game in Japan. It would bomb bigtime in the US though. It MIGHT have enough of a niche following to justify a translated release in English on the PSN, but definitely not a retail release. What Sega should do is just release the Japanese game untranslated on the US PSN - the kinds of people who are likely to buy it are unlikely to be deterred much by it being untranslated so they'd get a few sales with minimal cost on their part. Plus it's a music game so it's not like there's a serious barrier to playing the game if you can't understand the text.
SCEA would never allow that.
As for Sega being disappointed, it did sell significantly worse than the last main game on the PSP. You can't except better given the state of the system, but you could certainly be unhappy with it.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]XBL: Rakayn | PS3: Rakayn | Steam ID
Don't forget, Sega's in YARRRRRGH MUST SELL BAZILLIONS mode, with Sonic, Aliens, Total War and something else I'm forgetting being the "four pillars" that will lead them to pots o' gold or somesuch.
Switch: 3947-4890-9293
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
Don't forget, Sega's in YARRRRRGH MUST SELL BAZILLIONS mode, with Sonic, Aliens, Total War and something else I'm forgetting being the "four pillars" that will lead them to pots o' gold or somesuch.
Forget the pushing to pots of leprechaun gold. It's their "well we can only afford to produce these" options. :P
Sure, running PSP homebrews on Vita is fun, and VHBL is a very nice piece of work, but it’s about time we move on, isn’t it?
Developer yifanlu started a new project called Usermode Vita Loader (UVLoader), it will be a homebrew loader for the PSV, basically.
Not PSP homebrews, but native PSV code, isn’t it awesome?
This project is based on a PSV exploit he found (there are no details about this for now, for obvious reasons), but it’s still in its early stages.
Just a few lines of code have been written so far (you can find the code on his github), so, back to the title, developers are needed.
If you’re a developer and you want to help, fork the project on github or get in touch with yifanlu on /talk or on IRC (#vitadev on EFnet).
If you’re not a developer, there’s nothing for you…yet. But it’s still an awesome news, isn’t it?
And please, avoid asking useless questions: there’s no release date yet and it doesn’t work for now, just be patient for now and let the developers do their job.
Yifan Lu will eventually post updates about this project on his blog or on twitter, so make sure to follow him.
Last but not least, congratulations to yifanlu for his Vita hack
Don't forget, Sega's in YARRRRRGH MUST SELL BAZILLIONS mode, with Sonic, Aliens, Total War and something else I'm forgetting being the "four pillars" that will lead them to pots o' gold or somesuch.
I'm still terrified/creeped out that that game and Vita skin are a thing. I guess sales are sales, but still, ugh.
You're not very worldly for someone who posts on the Penny Arcade forums.
I know about the vocaloid things, that doesn't make it any less weird. It'd be like if we had a game based around Bonzi Buddy, and people bought it.
Well, I wouldn't use those as a comparison. Bonzi Buddy crap isn't cute, or adorable, is hardly a mascot for anything, and the only thing I've ever seen Bonzi Buddy move is spyware.
The closest, most recognizable thing I could compare it to in the states would probably be Mario. Yeah, he was created for a video game, but the fact that he's such a recognizable character also allows him to be used to push other products, like T-Shirts, lunch boxes, and god only knows what else. He's not nearly as powerful a product pusher as he was in the 80s, but the amount of products that bore his likeness were bewildering.
Miku is similar to that, except instead of video games, she was created as a mascot for Yamaha's synthesizers, and just exploded from there. I think it's one part "cute mascot" and one part "first ever fully programmable singing voice" that really got her popularity going - much like Mario had the advantage of getting in on the ground floor of the 8-bit explosion in a post-Atari crash world.
This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
Vocaloid concerts sell out arenas. It's a big deal in someplaces! I've seen the Hatsune Miku mascot popping up all over the place for years. Pretty sure the game has blown Gravity Rush's sales away, and that was the big anticipated Vita seller.
Gravity Rush had mediocre sales though so blowing it away isn't saying much. Hatsune Miku did beat Persona 4 Golden's week 1 sales (137k) so it's the best opening of any Vita game in Japan. It would bomb bigtime in the US though. It MIGHT have enough of a niche following to justify a translated release in English on the PSN, but definitely not a retail release. What Sega should do is just release the Japanese game untranslated on the US PSN - the kinds of people who are likely to buy it are unlikely to be deterred much by it being untranslated so they'd get a few sales with minimal cost on their part. Plus it's a music game so it's not like there's a serious barrier to playing the game if you can't understand the text.
SCEA would never allow that.
There are untranslated PS1 games on the US PSN so it's not like releasing non-localized games on the PSN is unheard of.
Problem I have with these online verification systems is that if for some reason you can't get online you find yourself unable to even play the game you bought.
Its an issue I've been seeing pop up more and more likely and it hasn't really been addressed.
That's because the companies really don't care. We yell at them and they just shrug and don't give a fuck. If people keep buying games with these awful problems, the companies will keep doing it.
I think the problem is that there hasn't been a big enough downfall due to it.
The Diablo 3 shit was close but still not enough. I think its going to take some large scale fuckup before people really see it as a problem, like with most things.
The D3 shit involved being the fastest selling PC game ever.
I don't think they learned the lesson you hope there.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
Yeah, the suggestion of Diablo 3 being "close" to some threshold of companies learning about people being unhappy due to falling sales is... uh, that's a pretty bad example. It actually did the opposite; the message is that despite the loud voices and capslocking, people are tolerant of something.
This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
Vocaloid concerts sell out arenas. It's a big deal in someplaces! I've seen the Hatsune Miku mascot popping up all over the place for years. Pretty sure the game has blown Gravity Rush's sales away, and that was the big anticipated Vita seller.
There were reports of schools banning Vocaloid songs during lunch time in 2011 in Japan. So it was popular enough that their were reactionary types milling all over things guaranteed to corrupt the youth.
Philippe about the tactical deployment of german Kradschützen during the battle of Kursk:
"I think I can comment on this because I used to live above the Baby Doll Lounge, a topless bar that was once frequented by bikers in lower Manhattan."
Capcom's annual report has outlined its growth strategy for the future, with big changes to the development cycle, and revealed more about its sales for the past financial year.
The plans include increasing the number of package titles released in a year, and aiming for shorter sales cycles of 2.5 years, with DLC releases in year one and year two.
"Teams developing major titles will be limited to 100 members, with multiple sequel titles developed at the same time. Also, as it will be necessary to create a large-scale development structure for shortening the development process, we will strengthen in-house development staff recruitment."
"In addition, we will increase the number of titles released in a single year and expand earnings using a hybrid development model whereby the core portions of the project are developed in-house by Capcom and the process-work is outsourced to outside development companies."
It will also focus 20 per cent of development investment funds to new titles.
The comprehensive document also summarised the company's financial performance for the year ending March 31 2012 and broke down sales by sector.
Consumer online games: 65.2 per cent (Net sales ¥53.5 million, down 23.9 per cent on last year)
Mobile content: 7.7 per cent (Net sales ¥6.3 million, up 50.6 per cent)
Arcade operations: 14.3 per cent (Net sales ¥11.7 million, up 0.9 per cent)
Amusement equipment (LCD devices, Pachinko): 9.3 per cent (Net sales ¥7.7 million, down 3.0 per cent)
Other business, publishing, licensing: 3.5 per cent (Net sales ¥2.9 million, down 26.5 per cent)
There were annual sales of 15,700,000 units, with 20,000,000 forecast for 2013. Capcom also reported it had 55 total million seller games as of June 30 2012, and had made $800 million from Hollywood films based on Capcom games.
Yeah, the suggestion of Diablo 3 being "close" to some threshold of companies learning about people being unhappy due to falling sales is... uh, that's a pretty bad example. It actually did the opposite; the message is that despite the loud voices and capslocking, people are tolerant of something.
My comment wasn't about companies it was aimed at consumers.
This Vocaloid business is blowing my mind. I had never heard of it before now, and I only barely understand what the hell it is after scouring the Wiki article.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
There are Vocaloid products available in the United States but they have created separate programs for English-speaking audiences (although I think there are some that can do English and Japanese). The interesting thing about the Vocaloid culture in Japan is that while the merchandise is huge over there, the popularity of the character is entirely fan-driven - the songs are all created by people who go out and buy the program, the company doesn't make those songs themselves. An analogy I just thought of (that only kind of works) would be people buying Gary's Mod and making videos on YouTube, which encourages other people to go and buy Gary's Mod (and other Source games).
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Quick! Uhhh... say Heroes of Might and Magic 6!
Wow, look at those Vita numbers! It's about fucking time! I doubt it will sustain, but it does go to show that video games are the answer. Ones that aren't ports or side-titles. What the heck is that Sega game anyway?
That shit would keep the Vita on life support for months I tell you hwat.
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
I imagine it's a DLC goldmine though, like Rock Band.
In Japan, though. In North America, it'd only garner support from the niche group that knows what Vocaloids are and enjoy them. And yeah, like Dark Raven X said, that character in particular is THE face of the program. She's the Ronald MacDonald, the Planters Peanut, the Monopoly guy of the whole thing.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/09/how-virtua-fighter-saved-playstations-bacon/
It's amazing how some games merely in their conceptual stages can shape the industry.
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
Zero no Kiseki sold 84k in its first week on the PSP in 2010. The Vita version is an enhanced port like Persona 4 Golden. Ys Celceta, on the other hand, is a total remake of Ys 4 like Ys: Oath in Felghana is for Ys 3. Both games are from Falcom.
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I wonder when the sales are going to start trailing off for good though? In that respect I expect Ys to stay around longer, maybe something like five to six weeks, while I think Zero no Kiseki Evolution might stay on the charts for about three to four weeks.
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
It's not the voice, it's the headcannon that everyone has created based around her. It's the same reason Touhou is so popular.
Right. It's not just the voice so much as it is the young robot anime girl that is associated with the voice.
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The well done nightcore mixes are actually pretty decent (bad ones are like any bad mix, awful). This is not to be confused with "trance" which is a techno remix, but without the massive speeding up.
I don't know if any of that will translate into sales for a game based on them though. As in, how much are fans of the vocaloid, and how many just like the tech.
I'm not that old, and I doubt I'm that out of touch, but this isn't some kind of 'big' thing, right? As in there's no way in hell it'll be a big seller in the West? Or did I miss out on some fad that indicates this game is anything but the nichest of the niche outside of Japan?
Simplest thing I can say is go to youtube and type in "nightcore", hit search. You should have a pretty good idea of everything you need to know after a few videos.
Vocaloid concerts sell out arenas. It's a big deal in someplaces! I've seen the Hatsune Miku mascot popping up all over the place for years. Pretty sure the game has blown Gravity Rush's sales away, and that was the big anticipated Vita seller.
Gravity Rush had mediocre sales though so blowing it away isn't saying much. Hatsune Miku did beat Persona 4 Golden's week 1 sales (137k) so it's the best opening of any Vita game in Japan. It would bomb bigtime in the US though. It MIGHT have enough of a niche following to justify a translated release in English on the PSN, but definitely not a retail release. What Sega should do is just release the Japanese game untranslated on the US PSN - the kinds of people who are likely to buy it are unlikely to be deterred much by it being untranslated so they'd get a few sales with minimal cost on their part. Plus it's a music game so it's not like there's a serious barrier to playing the game if you can't understand the text.
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"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
And yet for some reason Sega still isn't happy with its first week sales.
Sega doesn't know what it's fucking doing.
Where did they say that?
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Pretty sure Miku was the number one most requested performer for the Olympics.
She's pretty big.
That being said, her western following is fairly niche.
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
I know about the vocaloid things, that doesn't make it any less weird. It'd be like if we had a game based around Bonzi Buddy, and people bought it.
SCEA would never allow that.
As for Sega being disappointed, it did sell significantly worse than the last main game on the PSP. You can't except better given the state of the system, but you could certainly be unhappy with it.
Forget the pushing to pots of leprechaun gold. It's their "well we can only afford to produce these" options. :P
Well, I wouldn't use those as a comparison. Bonzi Buddy crap isn't cute, or adorable, is hardly a mascot for anything, and the only thing I've ever seen Bonzi Buddy move is spyware.
The closest, most recognizable thing I could compare it to in the states would probably be Mario. Yeah, he was created for a video game, but the fact that he's such a recognizable character also allows him to be used to push other products, like T-Shirts, lunch boxes, and god only knows what else. He's not nearly as powerful a product pusher as he was in the 80s, but the amount of products that bore his likeness were bewildering.
Miku is similar to that, except instead of video games, she was created as a mascot for Yamaha's synthesizers, and just exploded from there. I think it's one part "cute mascot" and one part "first ever fully programmable singing voice" that really got her popularity going - much like Mario had the advantage of getting in on the ground floor of the 8-bit explosion in a post-Atari crash world.
There are untranslated PS1 games on the US PSN so it's not like releasing non-localized games on the PSN is unheard of.
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The D3 shit involved being the fastest selling PC game ever.
I don't think they learned the lesson you hope there.
There were reports of schools banning Vocaloid songs during lunch time in 2011 in Japan. So it was popular enough that their were reactionary types milling all over things guaranteed to corrupt the youth.
"I think I can comment on this because I used to live above the Baby Doll Lounge, a topless bar that was once frequented by bikers in lower Manhattan."
Think of a song. Any song.
The probability of a version of the song being performed by Hatsune Miku existing approaches 1 as time passes.
So yeah, she along with her partner personifications are pretty popular. I'm not sure there even is a comparable phenomenon in the West.
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
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http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-09-05-capcom-plans-more-titles-from-smaller-teams
I have no idea if that's good or bad.
My comment wasn't about companies it was aimed at consumers.
There are Vocaloid products available in the United States but they have created separate programs for English-speaking audiences (although I think there are some that can do English and Japanese). The interesting thing about the Vocaloid culture in Japan is that while the merchandise is huge over there, the popularity of the character is entirely fan-driven - the songs are all created by people who go out and buy the program, the company doesn't make those songs themselves. An analogy I just thought of (that only kind of works) would be people buying Gary's Mod and making videos on YouTube, which encourages other people to go and buy Gary's Mod (and other Source games).
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