AX09: Adult Games Coming to US
In a time when adult video games are in trouble even in Japan, it seems weird to hear that big-name hentai games are finally being brought over to America. But that's exactly what MangaGamer.com announced at Anime Expo this past weekend. Erotic anime games being licensed, released, & translated in the US are nothing new, but for the most part they've always been low-key obscure games that you've never heard of. Certainly we've never had the likes of KEY games released here. & considering how expensive those must be to license, it might never happen.
Still, MangaGamer.com announced two big adult titles at Anime Expo, news that we're not accustomed to hearing. They are the "Shuffle" romance game & the Higurashi horror series. Specifically, they've got the rights to the first 8 Higurashi games, of which the first half will be released in late October (just in time for Halloween). NAVAL's Shuffle will be released this summer, & more NAVAL games are expected to be announced soon. As with all of MangaGamer.com's titles, these can purchased as downloads on their website.
In somewhat related news, another hentai game American licensing company, JAST USA, announced some big titles of their own. Nitroplus, which is a bigger studio than what JAST usually gets, licensed several of their titles to them. The biggest one here is "Zanma Taisei Demonbane," which is what the Demonbane anime series is based off of (as seen on NebsTV).
Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-07-05/mangagamer.com-acquires-shuffle-romance-visual-novel