WD's Victor Ireland is Back! (Oh, And He Wants Half-A-Million Bucks.)

[Bojay1997]

Again, you haven't provided any support for your argument. I'm not saying Nintendo of America made the decision alone, both games also depended on financial support from Gamestop and Xseed and the fact that they had already been fully converted for the Western market which Nintendo then agreed made the ventures viable. Operation Rainfall also did nothing to encourage the release of the three games in Europe and frankly, failed in getting Nintendo of America to timely release Xenoblade resulting in many people essentially having to double buy the game as they already imported it. Having said all that, I have no issue with people banding together and expressing their support for things to companies. I just don't agree that in this particular case it made much difference either way and in fact it may have slowed the process as Nintendo of America felt it would lose face by caving into pressure and couldn't immediately announce it was moving forward with the releases. I also have no problem with people supporting this Kickstarter as long as they are honest about what it is. It's simply a way of releasing one specific game in a physical edition but the company expects everyone to make it totally risk free and likely very profitable for them to do so.

You're right, it is about the money. That's how companies operate. This Kickstarter is 100% about the money as well. You are fully subsidizing a game that most people could care less about and will have a digital release regardless and essentially investing in a special edition with a huge proposed print run (at least in PSP terms) at a premium (other than DJ Max Portable 3, I am unaware of any US release PSP collector's edition in the $60 price range or higher). So, yes, Namco released Dark Souls because it looked likely to make them money and because it was a good game. If it was garbage, they wouldn't have bothered since they were only the publisher and not the developer.

According the Nintendo of France....



So yeah. Nintendo of America didn't want to localize Xenoblade Chronicles given
a) They showcased Xenoblade (aka Monado) at E3 2009 but not for following years at E3 2010 and 2011
b) NoE was handling the translation first, not NoA
c) NoA themselves saying they didn't think it was going to "sell".

Thus, if Nintendo of America weren't officially releasing Xenoblade, no way in hell we were getting Last Story or Pandora Tower. Hence, thanks to Operation Rainfall's efforts, not solely Nintendo's, in approx. one week, North American gamers will have their hands on a copy of Xenoblade Chronicles, a game one year ago Nintendo didn't believe was worth it. With the Last Story coming in June and Pandora' Tower now a possibility.

So, your assumption Operation Rainfall didn't do anything was a big, fat false. Second, your logic that Nintendo wanted Xenoblade and Last Story cause they were "great games" was proven wrong. Third, it shows one example why the modern video game industry is so messed up that a whole market is ignored thanks to some bean-counter in a corporate suit in his high office in his ivory tower somewhere is so tone-deaf and ignorant of gamer culture that they thought Fortune Street was a viable venture than Xenoblade. (For the record, Fortune Street sales = 120k, Xenoblade pre-orders = 170K. Suck it, corporate idiot.)



Then why didn't Namco outbid Atlus for Demon's Souls too? Cause Namco never thought it was a good venture until after it sold over a million overseas and now look like the dam bloodsucking parasites that they are for snatching Dark Souls from Atlus' rightful hands, after the fact. Once again, you're dam wrong. It ain't about the games....."it's the money, Lebowski."

[kupomogli]

So, yes, Namco released Dark Souls because it looked likely to make them money and because it was a good game. If it was garbage, they wouldn't have bothered since they were only the publisher and not the developer.

Namco Bandai announced Project Dark at TGS2010. There's no way they would have known it was garbage since it wasn't even a game. From what I've heard though, Project Dark is because they wanted to have a western style game and they had an agreement with FromSoftware to do so, and Armored Core 5 being published in the US was also part of this agreement.

Namco Bandai picked up Dark Souls because Atlus did tremendously well in the US with the earlier game Demon's Souls. I don't see how you can argue that either game is a Western oriented game. They are niche to an extreme and yet because they are great games, they both sold quite well.

I didn't reply to this previously, but what do you mean you don't get how Demon's Souls is a western oriented game? FromSoftware easily could be mistaken for a western developer if going by gameplay from any of the King's Field, Evergrace, Armored Core, Chromehounds, or Souls games. The style of gameplay for all these games and even presentation makes it look like a western style game with some subtle Japanese influences.

[Bojay1997]

Namco Bandai announced Project Dark at TGS2010. There's no way they would have known it was garbage since it wasn't even a game. From what I've heard though, Project Dark is because they wanted to have a western style game and they had an agreement with FromSoftware to do so, and Armored Core 5 being published in the US was also part of this agreement.



I didn't reply to this previously, but what do you mean you don't get how Demon's Souls is a western oriented game? FromSoftware easily could be mistaken for a western developer if going by gameplay from any of the King's Field, Evergrace, Armored Core, Chromehounds, or Souls games. The style of gameplay for all these games and even presentation makes it look like a western style game with some subtle Japanese influences.

How are any of those games "Western"? Just because they don't have cute characters doesn't make them Western. Those games sold far better in Japan then they ever did in the West, so they are at least as "Japanese" in appeal as they are "Western" whatever that means. I will agree that they are niche titles however, regardless of where they are released and given that all of them were released in the US, it's yet more evidence that good games get released over here if they can be profitable and not as the result of Internet campaigns or Kickstarter efforts.

[Edmond Dantes]

How are any of those games "Western"?

RPGs that encourage nonlinear exploration and experimenting with customer characterization as opposed to the standard linear quest with story-dictated characters. At least for KF and the Souls games, dunno about the others.

[kupomogli]

Edmond Dantes said it a bit better than I would have.

FromSoftware games are like western titles as they are somewhat open world and encourage you to explore rather than giving you a specific direction you must follow and/or offer much broader options for customization by not following any specific template.

What FromSoftware does though, is incorporates Japanese nuances into a game that's clearly a western design.

King's Field series, Eternal Ring, Shadow Tower, Dark Souls, Evergrace series, and to a lesser extent, Demon's Souls. You're dropped off at one point in the game, might hear a bit of storyline, and then you're free to proceed and make progress however you want. These games are open world, but unlike the Elder Scrolls titles, they don't have long stretches of nothing. You actually make progress in a timely fashion. Your characters are also customizable in their actions and how they will be played as. In Demon's Souls and Dark Souls mostly, but all of the games have a little depth in how your character will be built. Not as customizable as in the Elder Scrolls games, but again, progress to character types are made much more quickly.

Armored Core. It's always had an extremely deep level of customization where everything is taken into account. Even compared to the Mechwarrior series it has a much deeper level of customization. I've always seen the series as a much faster paced Mechwarrior. Chromehounds is Mechwarrior with the customization of Armored Core.

But look up and find where Namco Bandai stated that they wanted to expand into the western market, then after four failed games they said they're not going to use any western developers anymore as they were inefficient in comparison to Japanese developers. Then right after that they have an agreement with FromSoftware to develop Dark Souls. I'm certain their end goal was to break into the western market.

[Nz17]

Own a PSP? Like Class of Heroes? Want Vic Ireland's most deluxe Deluxe Edition... perhaps the most fancy-schmancy Premium Edition ever? Just want to support JRPGs in the West? Then look no further than the Super Mega Deluxe-su Edition of Class of Heroes 2!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...the-psp-system

The good boys and girls over at Gaijinwork's new Kickstarter project are trying to amass $50K monies to make a megalu deluxe version of the game. How supreme will it be? Well...

Meeting the Kickstarter funding will allow:

* A Physical Deluxe Pack to be made
* English Voice Acting in the Digital and Physical releases
* English Opening Song and Video in both releases
* Extended game fixes and features (extra save slots, better controls, etc) for both releases
* Translation and release of Class of Heroes II webcomic series during development

Exceeding the funding limit by 15% will allow:

* Additional language localizations
* Clear license to retain Japanese audio option

What's in the Deluxe Pack?

* Deluxe blind-embossed box
* Soft faux-leather embossed manual/art book
* Arranged soundtrack CD
* Character Standees
* Game UMD

Three additional items will be voted on by backers from this list:
* Watch
* Pendant
* Cloth map
* Dagger letter opener
* Coin bank
* Inflatible sword
* Pen/pencil set

So check on out http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...the-psp-system if you wanna make it happen. The time to contribute will end in 13 days from the date of this posting... so getcha pledgin'!

[Gameguy]

Meeting the Kickstarter funding will allow:

* A Physical Deluxe Pack to be made
* English Voice Acting in the Digital and Physical releases
* English Opening Song and Video in both releases
* Extended game fixes and features (extra save slots, better controls, etc) for both releases
* Translation and release of Class of Heroes II webcomic series during development

Exceeding the funding limit by 15% will allow:

* Additional language localizations
* Clear license to retain Japanese audio option

Does that mean that if the kickstarter funding doesn't meet it's goals the regular edition of the game won't contain any audio track at all?

[Press_Start]

First of all, the Kickstarter is asking 500K, no 50K.

Second, there's already a thread on the topic.

[Nz17]

First of all, the Kickstarter is asking 500K, no 50K.

Second, there's already a thread on the topic.

Well the 0 I hired for the role said it could do the work of two zeroes. I believed him, but he obviously didn't pull his weight and we're just going to have to hire a second 0.

As far as there being another thread, well I just found out about this and my search for an existing topic only spanned the previous week of threads... the moral of the story is to make sure your search terms aren't too exclusive. But it makes me feel better to know that the two threads are now merged into one.

Does that mean that if the kickstarter funding doesn't meet it's goals the regular edition of the game won't contain any audio track at all?

The way I figure it is that if they don't mean their funding goal for this Kickstarter campaign that either means A) no Japanese nor English voices or B) no Japanese songs/singing. I don't imagine that Class of Heroes 2 has any singing in it though (Admittedly, I haven't played it so I wouldn't know.), thus I think he means no talkity-talk but there will still of course be English dialog to read either way.

Doesn't look like it was too bad of an idea for me to make a post about the topic anyway as nobody had mentioned the actual Kickstarter link until then. So while I'm at it... the short URL for the project is [ http://kck.st/HbYV1w ].

That begs the question though: has anyone from here actually financially backed this project?

[Gameguy]

The way I figure it is that if they don't mean their funding goal for this Kickstarter campaign that either means A) no Japanese nor English voices or B) no Japanese songs/singing. I don't imagine that Class of Heroes 2 has any singing in it though (Admittedly, I haven't played it so I wouldn't know.), thus I think he means no talkity-talk but there will still of course be English dialog to read either way.

I forgot about dialog boxes like in old games, I thought he was just going to make a mime based RPG or something similar to Machinarium in terms of communication.

[old_skoolin_jim]

Jeez, what is his obsession with the damn character standees?!
I mean, good on him for getting back into the spotlight and such, but resurrecting the marketing tactics that killed off Working Designs in the first place probably isn't such a sound business strategy.

As for people questioning his personal character, just read his eBay feedback (if it's even still around)... I think his seller profile was "games_genie" or something along those lines. From what I recall, buyers would occasionally leave neutral or negative feedback because (surprise surprise) he would delay shipping products he sold, sometimes for weeks, and then berate the buyers for having the audacity to complain. Oh, and he would also sell sealed WD games and call buyers "mental" for opening them up. Also, if that XSeed boycott is true, then yes, he's kind of a self-centered dick.

That being said, I absolutely loved WD's efforts on the Sega CD, Saturn, and PS1, but the constant and never-ending delays on ALL their games just drove me bonkers. Vic, if you're lurking in the shadows of this forum, PICK AN ATTAINABLE RELEASE DATE AND STICK TO IT.

[xelement5x]

Also slightly on topic, he did a podcast on Anime News Network recently with the main guy from MonkeyPaw games. While part of it is the call for monies to make Class of Heroes II, it's also interesting to them recount some cool stories about Working Designs localizing games and the failure of the TurboGrafx.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/anncast/2012-04-13

[TonyTheTiger]

Jeez, what is his obsession with the damn character standees?!
I mean, good on him for getting back into the spotlight and such, but resurrecting the marketing tactics that killed off Working Designs in the first place probably isn't such a sound business strategy.

That's most certainly not what killed Working Designs. From what I gather, the extra trinkets weren't a problem. The limited options of games to localize as well as a rather unfriendly atmosphere at Sony was.

[Daria]

Jeez, what is his obsession with the damn character standees?!
I mean, good on him for getting back into the spotlight and such, but resurrecting the marketing tactics that killed off Working Designs in the first place probably isn't such a sound business strategy.

As for people questioning his personal character, just read his eBay feedback (if it's even still around)... I think his seller profile was "games_genie" or something along those lines. From what I recall, buyers would occasionally leave neutral or negative feedback because (surprise surprise) he would delay shipping products he sold, sometimes for weeks, and then berate the buyers for having the audacity to complain. Oh, and he would also sell sealed WD games and call buyers "mental" for opening them up. Also, if that XSeed boycott is true, then yes, he's kind of a self-centered dick.

That being said, I absolutely loved WD's efforts on the Sega CD, Saturn, and PS1, but the constant and never-ending delays on ALL their games just drove me bonkers. Vic, if you're lurking in the shadows of this forum, PICK AN ATTAINABLE RELEASE DATE AND STICK TO IT.

I bought my Nall plush straight from Ireland on eBay, and he shipping was delayed a few weeks. But when I questioned him on it he apologized profusely, apparently Nall had fallen down behind a filing cabinet and missed his shipping date. So from my personal experience he was nothing but professional and courteous.

[TonyTheTiger]

I bought my Nall plush straight from Ireland on eBay, and he shipping was delayed a few weeks. But when I questioned him on it he apologized profusely, apparently Nall had fallen down behind a filing cabinet and missed his shipping date. So from my personal experience he was nothing but professional and courteous.

I'll one up you on that. I bought a couple things from him, too, and every single auction I've seen of his had a disclaimer right in the text that shipping would be delayed. He didn't really get into specifics but it's not like he wasn't being straight with people that the stuff might take 3-4 weeks to deliver. He was also friendly in the few emails we exchanged and gave some insight into Lunar sales figures (info he had no obligation to provide, mind you).

I don't know him personally by any stretch but from the many things I've read from people who do, Victor is a good guy who is also very passionate when he finds something he feels invested in, sometimes to the detriment of professional relationships. Not a small number of people have referred to him as a fanboy who happened to get a chance to "live the dream" so to speak. Some people refer to that phenomenon as the inmate running the asylum. I'd rather frame it as a guy who got a shot to do something he wanted to do when nobody else was doing it at the time. Regardless of whether or not the Working Designs philosophy is relevant in 2012 (I think it is albeit with perhaps some modifications), it sure as hell made a mark in the 90s. And I don't think that's something that can be pooh poohed without some revisionist history going on.

[Nz17]

Well $91,528 has been pledged to him thus far... but with only four days left in his Kickstarter campaign, I don't think they are going to make the goal.

[TonyTheTiger]

Regardless of the merit, $500,000 is probably too much for anything on Kickstarter. It's not so much a lack of interest as it is a rather insurmountable number value. That's the sad part. You've got plenty of interest, if only judging by the number of people who've pledged, even without sufficient advertising. But it's just too much money to expect a fan community to generate regardless of how large and willing that community may be.

[Bojay1997]

Regardless of the merit, $500,000 is probably too much for anything on Kickstarter. It's not so much a lack of interest as it is a rather insurmountable number value. That's the sad part. You've got plenty of interest, if only judging by the number of people who've pledged, even without sufficient advertising. But it's just too much money to expect a fan community to generate regardless of how large and willing that community may be.

Disagree. There are only 830 people backing this effort which is really pretty terrible regardless of the absurdly high goal of $500K. There really isn't much interest in this game or in Vic's plan. I have seen much more amateur and less publicized efforts attract literally thousands of contributors and far more than the $91K or so pledged so far. Vic just didn't plan this campaign well and frankly, he has received plenty of coverage in the mainstream gaming press, at least as much as efforts like the Leisure Suit Larry remake or the Jane Jensen package, both of which look like they will fund relatively soon.

[TonyTheTiger]

Disagree. There are only 830 people backing this effort which is really pretty terrible regardless of the absurdly high goal of $500K.

Yes, but about 90% have pledged $60 or more which essentially qualifies as a fully paid preorder and then some. Of those 830 people, about 740 have committed to at minimum buying the game. For a no-name niche PSP title by a guy who's last major release was in 2004, getting that kind of commitment from the small number of people who even knew about the campaign isn't too bad. Had the goal been $200,000 and had there been better marketing, I think it could have worked. But $500,000? I doubt EA could raise that much via Kickstarter.

There really isn't much interest in this game or in Vic's plan. I have seen much more amateur and less publicized efforts attract literally thousands of contributors and far more than the $91K or so pledged so far. Vic just didn't plan this campaign well and frankly, he has received plenty of coverage in the mainstream gaming press, at least as much as efforts like the Leisure Suit Larry remake or the Jane Jensen package, both of which look like they will fund relatively soon.

I think you're overemphasizing the amount of coverage. It took this thread to put me on notice, for instance. And, even among the places that have mentioned it, the information itself just isn't clear. There weren't any videos, for example. Victor hadn't provided any early on because it was all in Japanese but people clearly wanted to know WTF they were being asked to invest in. Meanwhile, people know Leisure Suit Larry. There was a lot of high concept "Working Designs redux!" talk but very little talk about the actual product which was the ultimate mistake, I think. That must have hurt the campaign. It just wasn't well composed. It seems like it was anchored on "hey, that guy who made that game you liked in the 90s wants to do it again." And then to make matters worse, when people see the goal many probably scoff.

[Bojay1997]

Except he has stated repeatedly that the project won't be financially viable unless he gets a minimum of 7,000 preorders. So, he only really hit 10% of his target regardless of the $500K overall goal. Even no-name niche PSP titles sell several thousand copies on PSN, so it's just more evidence that there was very, very minimal support for this whole effort. Heck, even homebrews on AtariAge can sell a couple hundred copies with zero publicity and no real marketing whatsoever.

As for raising $500K, there are plenty of other gaming efforts that have raised tons more than that. In fact, as I stated earlier, the Leisure Suit Larry remake is almost at $500K and of course the Double Fine and Wasteland Kickstarters raised several times more than that, both of which were sight unseen with games at least a year off. Now I agree they are higher visibility titles with larger potential fanbases, but they also set realistic goals and did things in a more organized manner.

As for the publicity, I strongly disagree that Vic's project got less coverage than the others. In fact, I have seen almost no coverage of the Leisure Suit Larry or Jane Jensen projects and both have far more backers and funds raised than this one. I saw literally zero coverage of Banner Saga and that did 20K supporters and over $700K for a tiny niche new IP about Vikings. Vic's project appeared at least once on every forum and news site I visit regularly and even made appearances in places it didn't belong like the deals forum of Cheap Ass Gamer, a forum with tens of thousands of unique visitors a day.

In the end, he picked the wrong game, wanted too much money and frankly was too out of touch with the fanbase to make this project a success. As I stated earlier, this isn't 1994, there are so many other means of getting niche titles whether it's over a download service or in a deluxe retail package through Atlus, Xseed, etc...that releasing a deluxe version of a game few people even want was never a viable plan whether he had sought $500K or not.

Yes, but about 90% have pledged $60 or more which essentially qualifies as a fully paid preorder and then some. Of those 830 people, about 740 have committed to at minimum buying the game. For a no-name niche PSP title by a guy who's last major release was in 2004, getting that kind of commitment from the small number of people who even knew about the campaign isn't too bad. Had the goal been $200,000 and had there been better marketing, I think it could have worked. But $500,000? I doubt EA could raise that much via Kickstarter.



I think you're overemphasizing the amount of coverage. It took this thread to put me on notice, for instance. And, even among the places that have mentioned it, the information itself just isn't clear. There weren't any videos, for example. Victor hadn't provided any early on because it was all in Japanese but people clearly wanted to know WTF they were being asked to invest in. Meanwhile, people know Leisure Suit Larry. There was a lot of high concept "Working Designs redux!" talk but very little talk about the actual product which was the ultimate mistake, I think. That must have hurt the campaign. It just wasn't well composed. It seems like it was anchored on "hey, that guy who made that game you liked in the 90s wants to do it again." And then to make matters worse, when people see the goal many probably scoff.