Hakuouki in English
Forgot to post this here as well...whoops XD; As some of you have probably already heard elsewhere Aksys is bringing Hakuouki over to America so make sure to support them if you have a PSP
EDIT: Miscellaneous info of all types.
Ok, now with AX officially over and my wallet completely spent, I can update this post XD So, first thing first, since there seems to be some confusion over a few things. After the panel on Saturday (2nd day of the con), I managed to accost some of the Aksys staff at their booth in the Exhibition hall. I've also got some info from other sites as well as my own knowledge about how Sony America and SCEA operate, so here they are.
First off, PS3 vs PSP. Some information about the PS3 and SCEA for those of you who don't mind the nitty gritty stuff as much. Visual novels are not allowed on the PS3 in North America as SCEA does not consider them "games" and they do not meet the criteria required to be released on the PS3 (physically by disk or by PSN). This also means games like Umineko (the updated version by Alchemist) or Fate/Stay Night (once again, updated version) will most likely not see a release in NA anytime soon. Likewise, physical copies of games (disks) for the PS3 require, by Sony's contract in America, an English dub in order to be released. Aksys's other series, Agarest, is an example of how that can be an issue. Argarest is only available via PSN for this reason, as it has no English dub and only the Japanese voice track. English dubs would take more money and time, so for niche games it actually is usually more profitable not to bother with them. This rule only applies to the PS3 and not the PSP. As the people over on Siliconera have already confirmed, there will be no English dub for Fate/Extra or Hakuouki.
Next, onto the game itself. When I asked, Aksys did indeed confirm that a large reason that Hakuouki was chosen was because there is already an existing fanbase (if small) due to the anime. In addition though, surprisingly, they also said they think even a western audience would be fine with historical Japan since the Shinsengumi and the late shogunate period in general already show up in other series such as Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin), Peacemaker, Gintama (etc etc, I can think of a few more) so it's not completely unheard of.
Also, as most of you know, Aksys's partner is Idea Factory. For them to acquire the rights to another third party group (Koei's Neoromance line for example) would be considerably more expensive. So, their first game would have to have come from Otomate. During the survey, and for initial Japanese sales, the most popular games from IF would either be Hakuouki or Hiiro no Kakera. The amount of text in both games is considerably large, so the real decision came down to which game would mostly likely sell better.
I can say right now that I know for a fact that Hakuouki (the anime) already has fans in the west while I get a much more "huh" reaction if I mention Hiiro no Kakera.
UPDATE: Ok, more stuff. It seems JSAT USA is also possibly bringing over Starry Sky.
http://angemedia.liv...com/431262.html
I was busy at the Exhibition Booth at that time, so I didn't get to see the actual JSAT panel, but good thing I wasn't the only otome game fan there XP. Anyways, personally I'm more a drama and tragedy fan than slice of life highschool (thus why I like Hakuouki XDDD) so I wasn't crazy over the Starry Sky franchise. However, English otome games are my dream so I'm going to be splurging and buying two copies of both games. Everyone else who can manage that, please do so too ;D
Anyways, I found out a bit afterwards from other websites that there is no confirmation from JSAT as to what they plan on doing with the franchise and, indeed, it's still TBA as to whether or not they actually will be translating it or bringing it over, so it's still a possibility for now (which makes me wonder why they bothered showcasing it at AX *rolls eyes*).
Anyways, JSAT produces PC games so if it comes over, it'll probably be the PC version.
EDIT: Miscellaneous info of all types.
Ok, now with AX officially over and my wallet completely spent, I can update this post XD So, first thing first, since there seems to be some confusion over a few things. After the panel on Saturday (2nd day of the con), I managed to accost some of the Aksys staff at their booth in the Exhibition hall. I've also got some info from other sites as well as my own knowledge about how Sony America and SCEA operate, so here they are.
First off, PS3 vs PSP. Some information about the PS3 and SCEA for those of you who don't mind the nitty gritty stuff as much. Visual novels are not allowed on the PS3 in North America as SCEA does not consider them "games" and they do not meet the criteria required to be released on the PS3 (physically by disk or by PSN). This also means games like Umineko (the updated version by Alchemist) or Fate/Stay Night (once again, updated version) will most likely not see a release in NA anytime soon. Likewise, physical copies of games (disks) for the PS3 require, by Sony's contract in America, an English dub in order to be released. Aksys's other series, Agarest, is an example of how that can be an issue. Argarest is only available via PSN for this reason, as it has no English dub and only the Japanese voice track. English dubs would take more money and time, so for niche games it actually is usually more profitable not to bother with them. This rule only applies to the PS3 and not the PSP. As the people over on Siliconera have already confirmed, there will be no English dub for Fate/Extra or Hakuouki.
Next, onto the game itself. When I asked, Aksys did indeed confirm that a large reason that Hakuouki was chosen was because there is already an existing fanbase (if small) due to the anime. In addition though, surprisingly, they also said they think even a western audience would be fine with historical Japan since the Shinsengumi and the late shogunate period in general already show up in other series such as Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin), Peacemaker, Gintama (etc etc, I can think of a few more) so it's not completely unheard of.
Also, as most of you know, Aksys's partner is Idea Factory. For them to acquire the rights to another third party group (Koei's Neoromance line for example) would be considerably more expensive. So, their first game would have to have come from Otomate. During the survey, and for initial Japanese sales, the most popular games from IF would either be Hakuouki or Hiiro no Kakera. The amount of text in both games is considerably large, so the real decision came down to which game would mostly likely sell better.
I can say right now that I know for a fact that Hakuouki (the anime) already has fans in the west while I get a much more "huh" reaction if I mention Hiiro no Kakera.
UPDATE: Ok, more stuff. It seems JSAT USA is also possibly bringing over Starry Sky.
http://angemedia.liv...com/431262.html
I was busy at the Exhibition Booth at that time, so I didn't get to see the actual JSAT panel, but good thing I wasn't the only otome game fan there XP. Anyways, personally I'm more a drama and tragedy fan than slice of life highschool (thus why I like Hakuouki XDDD) so I wasn't crazy over the Starry Sky franchise. However, English otome games are my dream so I'm going to be splurging and buying two copies of both games. Everyone else who can manage that, please do so too ;D
Anyways, I found out a bit afterwards from other websites that there is no confirmation from JSAT as to what they plan on doing with the franchise and, indeed, it's still TBA as to whether or not they actually will be translating it or bringing it over, so it's still a possibility for now (which makes me wonder why they bothered showcasing it at AX *rolls eyes*).
Anyways, JSAT produces PC games so if it comes over, it'll probably be the PC version.