About the release of Higurashi

higurashi0

I thought it was important to inform our customers about the upcoming release of Higurashi When They Cry.

Primarily due to complications in the copyright, the following modifications are being made.

– Replacement of BGM in some scenes
– Removal of the Music Room
– Removal of the Mini Game
– Removal of the Staff Room

Now I’m sure that many people might be upset for not getting the exact same experience as the Japanese version, especially in the area of music which affects gameplay. There was some no copyright music with this version as well. In order to explain why, we have to look at where the original game comes from. This title was released as a doujin game and the creator acquired BGMs from different artists. Neither 07th Expansion nor MangaGamer.com have the full rights to them, which is necessary in a situation like this where our version is considered a “port”.

To have you look at it from another angle, there might be some people who realized that there are BGM differences in the demo version of Higurashi and the commercial version, even in the original doujin edition. Of course the console versions and the anime all have different tracks as well. However, as far as I know, the famous songs which make Higurashi what it is, such as “Thanks”, “You”, and “Confession”, do not appear until the latter chapters so they aren’t affected.

Update by Kouryuu9:

From what I’ve heard, the issues are as follows:

Music Room-Because a few BGMs/SEs were replaced, the original license holder requested that we remove this feature as part of our adaptation of Higurashi.

Minigame-This was removed because of technical issues as well as copyright issues with some characters from other companies who have a cameo appearance in the minigame. In the original game they were used without permission, and we have not received permission to use them either, so the minigame was removed.

Staff Room-What many of you are thinking of is what’s called the “Otsukaresama-kai” in the DS and other versions. This is the scene where the characters gather and discuss the events of the game and their own theories and hypothesis about the culprit or culprits. These will be included as far as I know, and I believe Evospace said as much earlier. The Staff Room section is similar to a diary for Ryukishi, and contains various topics relating to games, products, and other material during the time he worked on Higurashi. Since we have no permission for any of the games or products he discussed, this section was removed as well.

We sincerely apologize for these differences between our version and the original, however the actual story and elements important to the story still remain just as they were in the originals. As a doujin game, Ryukishi was able to use many songs, characters, and topics without permission for these features, but as an official release we need permission from the copyright holders to use them. Since we couldn’t obtain all the licenses for all of the characters and products featured in these sections, they were unfortunately removed. If we ever have any new updates about these features, I assure you we will make the information available as soon as possible.

Again, while these features have unfortunately been removed, aside from the few BGMs which were replaced, the original story and other elements important to the story have not been removed or altered.

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91 Comments

  1. Staff room? Isn’t that where the characters gather around and talk about what went on in the events before? And, of course, 07s own banter later on?

    Why would this be problematic? It’s kind of distressing…

  2. This is gonna stir up some fans trying to create a patch for the game soon. Or… perhaps, just keep their Japanese version and wait for Mion&Shion’s patch.

    After all, the BGM plays a big role in sound novels.

    Oh well, better than nothing.

    • Wait! But What is This Game for. For What System? for Ds? Cuz if it Is Sweet! Cuz im Trying to Get one of these Games For Ds!?!? Anyone no where i can get higurashi no naku koro ni For Ds?!?! Cuz Im getting Streessed out With trying to find these Games Dude!

  3. Why should the Staff Room be removed? I can understand the music, since apparently it was just.. publically available tunes (at least until Kai)… and I can understand the minigame… but why the Staff Room?

    Also, what will be done with the music as far as replacing? D:

  4. >Isn’t that where the characters gather around and talk about what went on in the events before?

    This Omake will be included though.

  5. fair enough that’s the way things go nothing of msjor importance there.

  6. Hm. Just wondering.
    If there were problems with licensing the music, then why did the french release of Higurashi (which is also an official release) contain the intact BGM, music room, the minigames, and staff room? As far as I understand the circumstances of the two releases should be essentially the same, yet the french release didn’t have any of the above removals/replacements. (It was even stressed by the localizer that the 7+ PEGI rating it received weas the result that PEGI only rated the minigames)

    Also: What difficulties cause the removal of the latter three? License difficulty shouldn’t be an issue with those, as they are the property of the original creator.
    Were the minigames incompatible with the engine Mangagamer uses?
    Thanks for your answer in advance.

  7. I somewhat understand the music removal/changes, but what the heck is the reason for the removal of the other aspects?

  8. Why the removal of the staff room?

  9. Why are the mini game and staff room being removed?

  10. FUCK.

    After the Satoko thing, it seemed perfect. Now this had to happen?

  11. Also, can you explain the full extent of the changed BGM? What will it be replaced with? How often does this occur, and for how many tracks? Were attempts made to obtain the rights to use the music?

    My understanding is that Higurashi’s music was all free stuff found on the Internet, so I’m not sure how complicated the licensing could be.

  12. I’m more confused by these changes than anything.

    Music I can understand, sure, either MangaGamer couldn’t get a hold of some people who originally did the music, or for one reason or another they refused.
    But the three other things? Is this an engine problem or what, can we get a clarification on this too?

  13. I understand the music issue, and why the music room would need to be removed as well, but removing the mini game and staff room doesn’t make any sense. I’m with Vodka in wanting a few more details, not to say I don’t appreciate the release, but if there is going to be content removed, there should be solid reasons for everything.

  14. BGM – copyright issue. Couldn’t be avoided, and we could’ve known, as it’s blatantly obvious. 07th copyright policy (basically ‘you can make whatever you want by stealing our work, have fun with it’) counts for everything except for their music, as that’s the only thing they don’t own the copyright on.

    Music room – MangaGamer too lazy to rework it for the new music? Sheesh. Oh well, extracting music from BGI games is simple, I’ll just rip the soundtrack instead.

    Minigame – Lazy lazy MangaGamer. You insist on using BGI, yet can’t be bothered to port a minigame to the engine.

    Staff room – What is this?

    Anyways, can you tell us which BGMs have been removed exactly, and which ones have been kept?
    (You better have kept 8.mp3…that track is fucking great. We’ll need a reinsertion patch if that one is removed.)

  15. The music is just easy to change again to the old one, but I’ll wait till I hear, maybe the new ones are better (higurashi’s song were mostly plain for the whole game,they can’t be compared to good and if the goood ones in Kai are left it’s okay). But Mangagamer’s just lazy for not changing the music room because of the new titles, a 20 min operation, knowing that Higurashi’s main selling point is plot with music

  16. Why would there be copyright problems with the music room, minigame and staff room? The BGM I can understand, but not those. I am inclined to agree with VDZ that you guys are just being lazy here. It’s things like this that make me feel like VN translation should be left to fans. I won’t be supporting this translation unless you explain exactly what these “copyright issues” are.

  17. I’m confused on one thing. From what I understand, the TIPS function is interactive in episode 8. Does this mean when we get the answer arks that won’t be included, seeing as the minigame was cut from this release?

  18. On the music issue, I was kinda expecting it (considering the situation), so as long as the music is replaced by similiar music (in tone) than I don’t mind all that much.

    As VDZ says though, the music room and mini-game thing just sounds a bit lazy to me. (fortunately, I have the original game, so getting the music that way isn’t a huge deal.)

    And yeah, like others, I’m not sure what the “staff room” is. Is it a place for extra notes? In that case, I’m sad we arent’ getting that :/ . Seems kinda strange.

    Finally. Hmmmm… how to put this….? Well. It seems kinda jerky to release this info THE DAY BEFORE the release. Just sayin’.

  19. I’ve been told the staff room is similar to Umineko’s first Tea Party, just not as important plotwise. Anyway, this is truly disappointing; while Higurashi’s OST is not that good (except the PS2 version which has a different soundtrack), removing some tracks is not good at all. I know you couldn’t do more about this since copyright issues are complex (I don’t think something so obvious like talking to the owner of those rights and making a deal was possible, you would have done so otherwise), but the other removals seem to be your fault as VDZ said.

  20. @VDZ: Patch? Just replace the arc file with music in it. That doesn’t require an installer, regardless of how much time Message spent working on that NSIS toaster fork.

    I really wish you guys would stop using that ugly Buriko.

  21. That’s why I hate commercial translators…

  22. Man, you guys really love throwing up lists of changes at the last possible second, don’t you? Not that this affects my buying the VNs all that much, but this stuff sounds like it could have been addressed sooner than one day before the game’s release.

  23. im kinda pissed at the staff room being removed. can you please tell us why? im ok with everything else. music makes sense, and i can see the mini game interfering with you bgi.

  24. There is way too much drama at MangaGamer recently…
    I wasn’t going to get Higurashi in the first place, but this is still really disappointing to see. I don’t see why stuff like the mini game and staff room aren’t going to be included…

  25. I;’m hoping this can be clarified, it’s only a few scenes that had to have the BGM replaced because of copyright issues right? I see people talking as if you have removed all the BGM in the game or something. Are you able to tell us just how many scenes needed the BGM replaced?

  26. Actually as a slight add on to my previous comment, could you tell us what tracks that you were unable to get a hold of?

  27. Hmm? I could have sworn all the music in the first 4 chapters was public domain stuff anyway.

  28. I love how MG’s staff heavily censor the blog.
    I know, I know, it’s good business sense for them. Still, I think it’s rather shameless.

    Both MG and JAST have succeeded in losing my business.

    • I actually haven’t censored any of the comments on this blog yet. I simply require users to have at lest one approved post to help prevent and cut down on spam. If users have a complaint with our company, I’d rather hear it so we can either address the issue or provide an explanation.

  29. From what I’ve heard, the issues are as follows:

    Music Room-Because a few BGMs/SEs were replaced, the original license holder requested that we remove this feature as part of our adaptation of Higurashi.

    Minigame-This was removed because of technical issues as well as copyright issues with some characters from other companies who have a cameo appearance in the minigame. In the original game they were used without permission, and we have not received permission to use them either, so the minigame was removed.

    Staff Room-What many of you are thinking of is what’s called the “Otsukaresama-kai” in the DS and other versions. This is the scene where the characters gather and discuss the events of the game and their own theories and hypothesis about the culprit or culprits. These will be included as far as I know, and I believe Evospace said as much earlier. The Staff Room section is similar to a diary for Ryukishi, and contains various topics relating to games, products, and other material during the time he worked on Higurashi. Since we have no permission for any of the games or products he discussed, this section was removed as well.

    We sincerely apologize for these differences between our version and the original, however the actual story and elements important to the story still remain just as they were in the originals. As a doujin game, Ryukishi was able to use many songs, characters, and topics without permission for these features, but as an official release we need permission from the copyright holders to use them. Since we couldn’t obtain all the licenses for all of the characters and products featured in these sections, they were unfortunately removed. If we ever have any new updates about these features, I assure you we will make the information available as soon as possible.

    Again, while these features have unfortunately been removed, aside from the few BGMs which were replaced, the original story and other elements important to the story have not been removed or altered.

    • Characters from other games… you mean that Cloud/Final Fantasy VII reference? Or what?

      That could have simply been removed, or edited…

      • I hope it’s not that. Since that was just like a one sentence *wink wink* sort of reference :/ . (which made me giggle.)

      • The minigame was removed because I think Card Capter Sakura, Black Frost, and Shin Megami Tensei all made an appearance in it, along with a few other things. I don’t think the Cloud reference would be a big deal, because it was fairly vauge from what I remember.
        I agree that it could have just been edited out… its a little silly.

    • If I may make a suggestion, add this to the story, where most people check.

    • Ah, okay, now it all makes sense. Thanks for the clarification. I plan to get this as soon as I have the funds to do so.

    • I suspected that it was something along those lines, just like the original author of Zeta Gundam’s OPs decided to be greedy and Bandai simply removed them from the american release. They are awesome and help to immerse us in the show’s universe, but their removal wasn’t something that could ruin the experience that was the entire show, so Higurashi will be the same thing, it will lack some impact due to the lack of some BGMs, but the core of what is Higurashi will remain.

      Regarding the minigames and staff room, it’s acceptable that the company doesn’t want to infringe copyright and, since the discussion among the characters about what happened will be kept, I don’t see what’s the big deal, especially, when some of this stuff can be reintroduced through unofficial patches.

      • Oh, and I agree with Anon. This explanation should be added to the story to avoid more questions about what’s been removed.

  30. Can you tell us what BGMs were replaced?
    I really hope none of the more dramatic scenes were changed, as I know for example Umineko would be COMPLETELY different if the music was changed.

    I know it’s not as big an issue for Higurashi, but it’s still pretty important.

    Though I’m still going to get it either way.

  31. The amount of people I’m seeing on other sites saying they reufse to purchase this and support MangaGamer and 07th Expansion over these really silly minor issues really disgusts me. They act as if you are trying to cheat them out of their money for laughs, a couple pieces of BGM is hardly a big deal, especially when we don’t know how many and which ones. If it turns out to only be like 3-4 then I’m going to feel even more disappointed in them. Really with “fans” like them it’s no wonder why people don’t want to try anything besides hentai VN’s

  32. Oh well, I take my words then. You should have explained it like kouryuu just did to begin with, it would have prevented some misunderstandings.

  33. Well, in some of the minigames, Rena holds the staff from Cardcaptor Sakura, and Black Frost from the Shin Megami Tensei series appears.

    • OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH. Yeah, Atlus property, getting the rights to show the lil guy would probably jack the game price more than it’s worth.

      Okay. I can understand the removal now.

      But man, …..Jack Frost huh? ……damn. I wanna see that XD .

  34. I guess I can understand these license issues… Though I would like to think that MG would actually try to obtain permission for these things, and not immediately give up.

    I’d still like to know how much music was removed, though, and what it will be replaced with. By far the most important thing is that Kai’s music is ALL there, but it’s not like the question arc music wasn’t good.

    • Who said they are giving up? no one said they are giving up. They promised a December 15th release date and they’ve already pushed it back a couple times so they had to cut the stuff out that they couldn’t get the rights to and release it. No one said they’ve stopped all talks with the license holders, if they are able to make any kind of deals with them MG has said they would release a patch for them

      • Well, it sounds like they’ve just said “someone else has the license, so we can’t do it”. I don’t know the details, but it would have helped if Evospace had given more details in the first place.

        Where have they said this about a patch?

        Anyway, my concern is that I want Higurashi to succeed, and that’s hard in an industry full of pirates. It’s harder when any change from the original will simply remove their slight possibility of buying it, as they could get a more complete product through piracy. That’s really something that should be avoided.

      • They mentioned it here in the comments section that it was out of their hands more or less since the original license holders are the ones who asked them to remove stuff then theirs nothing they can do. They are still going to try and get what they can and they said that if anything changes they will release a patch to “fix” these changes in the game. Despite certain sites raging about how they are going to support the pirates now, I’m still hopeful that the sane people will still purchase the game. I know I still have every intention to purchase this as soon as it becomes availible.

  35. As long as they leave the Higurashi Kai BGMs, I’m happy. Those ones are the really important ones. @the rest of the people: Sheesh, you complain too much, I think it’s enough to have Higurashi in english at last. I can’t wait until tomorrow!

  36. *facepalm*

    Oh, for FUCKS sake…

  37. To me, “We are removing the Mini Game” sounds an awful lot like “we are porting the game to BGI and don’t know how to port that bit.”

  38. For those wondering about the French release

    http://forums.novelnews.net/showpost.php?p=64607&postcount=1289

    “As far as the higurashi music goes, I may be able to shed some light.
    Whether or not I am allowed to do so is another story, but hey, I’m not a lawyer, and frankly, I don’t care.

    So anyway.
    When I purchased the Higurashi license for the french market, the author made it clear that I had to make a deal about the music on my own if I didn’t want the nice package his partners had made out for me (which is probably what MG got). Which meant getting into contact with *all* artists who have given music towards the making of that game, and settling off royalties with them (provided they wanted royalties, of course).

    As far as the first few arcs were concerned, I had to get in touch with only 6 partners, 2 of which were clearly stating that anybody could use their material freely.
    2 of them I had to contact through 07th Expansion themselves, which took some time as they were dealing with buckets of real life issues at the time.
    2 of them I could contact on my own and strike a deal with, but the situation was rather tight.

    As for the latter arcs, I still need to contact 5 artists from 18 originally.

    I think that, in the case of Manga Gamer, the whole “no solid copies” aspect made it very difficult to set numbers for the licensing. Plus, how do you check and double check the numbers ? Etc. So I guess in their case, they got some stock music from somebody else who was ok with these kind of conditions.

    Believe me, striking a deal with a doujin circle is no easy thing. I mean, I can’t really talk, because I’ve actually achieved it, but I know I must have upset a number of people in Japan in doing so and I will have a lot of explaining to do next year…

    So anyway. I have mixed feelings about the MG release. I *know* it’s going to be not as good as I want it, but I also know that the people involved poured a lot of work into it.”

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  40. Would it not be possible to get permission from 07th Expansion to release an official patch for the original game, so we could still enjoy the full game without any removals? I’m sure there are plenty of people that would help you guys out to do the Onscripter scripting.

  41. I am sorry this was posted a day before the release.

    The internal staff didn’t even notify me about the changes till just a few days ago. I strongly urged them to give me the details so I can post it here, and even made a few phone calls.

    I figured music was the biggest issue. It’s difficult to say which song was replaced and which was not, without having the game in front of you, but if you play the demo version of Onikakushi side by side, you will certainly notice the difference. But otherwise it shouldn’t detain you too much from the game experience, because it didn’t really hit me when I was proofreading the game.

    From a neutral standpoint, I would like to see the game ported as it is. But I also see the difficult side of business. At the very least, I would do my best so you won’t lose anything important from the story, through my proofreading.

  42. I don’t understand what the big deal is over a few changes. If you never played the other versions then such changes would be unnoticeable and unknown. How can you miss something you never really knew or had. If you already played the game, then why are you playing it again in english. Just to compare and then complain about the differences?

    • The game Higurashi that is being released includes 4 Higurashi games in one. The first game is available for free as a demo from the creator’s website, and it has been fan translated into English already by the group Sonozaki Futago-tachi. Not just the demo though, they’ve translated the first game and the first chapter of the second game from the game that is about to be released by Mangagamer. Many people have already played this fan translation of the full game, but of course as the translation is yet unfinished, we are going to Mangagamer who have of course finished much faster. We know what is in the game already. We know there is the main story, the TIPS that you are able to read between each chapter of every game, and that there are 4 minigames that you unlock by completing each game. The first minigame was part of the fan translation. The others can’t be played without translation. As for BGM missing, no, we wouldn’t notice what scenes were changed, the exception being if we replayed the first game or the beginning of the second. However, the music in Higurashi is great, and if you’ve seen the creator’s art, you’d know why people are complaining and why Higurashi is called a Sound Novel instead of a Visual Novel.

  43. “MangaGamer.com will undergo a site renewal on 12/15, 10:00AM(CET). In order to prepare for the renewal, the site will be temporarily unavailable between 12/15 4:00AM(CET) – 12/15 10:00PM(CET). We apologize for the inconvinience. We look forward to continue serving you in our new website.”

    site renewal on 12/15, 10:00AM(CET)
    4:00AM(CET) – 12/15 10:00PM(CET)

    So is it going back up 10:00 AM or PM?

  44. Well, while i can understand your reasons and i am glad that you tell us about it, i am kind of mad that you had to cut out some of the BGM.
    It is just one of the big points of the game. Music makes a big difference in Movies/games and other media, it just enriches everything.
    Filiana, just imagine watching some big hollywood movie and parts of the music were missing. It would just not be the same.

    Well, it is not that bad, someone will make a patch to put music and the other things back in anyway.
    I will buy as long as they don’t cut out story or rewrite parts. Or cut out cgs. That is a big NO NO NO NO.

  45. The mini-game does not include copyrighted characters or characters from other publications, though. I played it in the Sonozaki twins patch, and I beat the whole thing. The only characters that appear in it are Keiichi, Rena, Oishi, Tomitake, and Irie, all of whom are characters from the game itself.

  46. I’ve played a bit of Higurashi today. I think the new music is actually pretty nice.

  47. Not like I would ever play the mini game anyway.

  48. Fuck you Mangagamer,I don’t buy a worse version than the original japanese,so if yours think why is a All Ages version they can be make these fucking ridiculous measures ¬¬

    • …Offensive words isn’t going to solve things.

      • I think some of the people here are taking this _way_ to seriously. Its not mangagamers fault they can’t get the licenses to some of the BGM’s, they’ve done their best with what they could do. As long as Kai still has all of the dai tracks, and higurashi still retains most of the important music than there isn’t much of a problem. If you want all of the original tracks, get the original japanese version maybe?
        Also, the thing about the minigame…..I understand that you guys were trying to really get this game out quickly and didnt have much time to work through some of the technical difficulties , but is it possible to remove the copyrighted materials (from what I remember, it was only like 3 different images that were copyrighted material.) and make a patch including the minigame? While it isn’t really important to the storyline or anything, I’m sure a lot of us would like to play it.

        Also, I agree with SalientBlue….will there be patches for some of the grammar errors later on? I don’t want to be a grammer nerd, but it makes reading the game feel kind of choppy here and there.
        Thanks!

  49. *All Ages visual novel
    Nor the bankrupty Hirameki makes these shitty changes in visual novels for All Ages -.-

  50. These measures is makes with the visual novels for video games consoles or portables,not with PC versions -.-

    • You realize that Higurashi isn’t getting censored, right? The only thing that were removed were some things that would have presented copyright issues. The game is still intact, dude. :U

  51. I don’t get why would Ryukishi request to remove music room…………………………………………………………………………………

  52. If don’t as to release same as the japanese version it’s better who the Mangagamer’s don’t be releasing this VN -.-

  53. Yagami is really hard to understand. Can you rephrase what you are trying to say? Perhaps manga gamer would understand better.

  54. Man, most people on /jp/ seem to agree that the new BGMs are superior anyway. And the removed features are just crap nobody would care about anyway. You have to realize, MangaGamer is a business. They can’t just blow off copyrights like some fan group might be able to, as people look at a commercial entity doing such things VERY differently from some fan group doing it. They didn’t have a choice in the matter.

  55. The thing with fan groups is they tend to release patches. So you are buying the original Japanese game without anyone having to re-licence the music because it isn’t being redistributed.

    In MangaGamer’s case they are redistributing the resources, so naturally all the licences need to be ironed out. Losing a few music tracks is unfortunate, but oh well. If you really want them, the Japanese version is still available.

    That being said, the mini game didn’t seem related to the same thing, and feels like losing more to me. But again, you can get the Japanese version for that.

    I’m also sure that the twins will eventually complete their translation too.

  56. I’m not sure where to put this, so for lack of a better place I’ll put it here.

    I’ve noticed several grammatical errors in Higurashi. Nothing deal breaking, the intent is still perfectly clear, but there’s still several misconjugated verbs, erroneous plurals, etc. scattered throughout. While not a huge deal, it’s still annoying to see them pop up every couple of pages. While I would expect and forgive an occasional awkward sentence or two, most of these errors are very basic and noticeable on only a cursory read-through. Is there any intent on patching this game later to fix them? I can completely understand if this is the case, since you guys translated this so quickly and seemed rushed to release it.

    I appreciate this translation a lot and don’t regret buying it, but frankly this could really use another proofreading pass.

    • Also, an addendum about the actual article:

      Overall, these changes are reasonable and understandable. However, waiting until the day before release to tell us about these changes is not. I didn’t find this article until AFTER I had already bought the game. This is something we should have been told about from the beginning. Most of us (the reasonable ones, at least) will understand if you can’t include some content due to copyright; just warn us for god’s sake. The way you waited until the last minute to tell us makes it seem as if you’re trying to sneak something past us. As I only found out about this after I bought the game, this feels like a bait and switch. I don’t particularly like surprises with games I paid upwards of $50 for.

      I’ve not been very impressed with this release. When Kai is released, I will make damn sure to read the site thoroughly to make sure there aren’t any more unpleasant surprises.

  57. For god’s sake, dear YAGAMI, please stop tolling with your incomprehensible english everywhere. It’s really annoying.

  58. All of the new music are actually really similar to the original ones, some are even better.

    I just hope Mangagamer will do their best to keep all of Higurashi Kai’s music intact since there was some really good stuff there, especially the musics for the action scenes. That’s all I’m worried about, since it’s been confirmed dai’s stuff is going to stay in the game.

  59. Yeah I’m going to have to say that the new music is pretty good and fits the game perfectly. The original music was fairly generic to begin with and wasn’t written for the game anyway. The music that was written for the game is still going to be in it, so I don’t see what the problem is.

  60. Changes are inevitable and not that major.

    I just bought my first game from Mangagamer today 🙂 Looking very much forward to reading Higurashi, I hope it will do well for you.

  61. This is incompetence for translates this novel in totality,if yours don’t had translates the novel totally is more easy for yours cut off who as don’t be translated and makes a “make-up” for seemed who as all ok ¬¬

  62. So did they remove all minigames?
    Don’t think all minigames have copyright issues.

  63. Fonzer: They removed the minigames because of compatibility issues with the BGI engine that they used for the game.

  64. Wait… the music shouldnt be a problem if it was approved in the original.
    This is just the translation/localisation of the original game on the same platform, not a port.

    And the minigames..why were they removed ?
    I hope it wasnt scrabble with japanese signs…

    • It’s because the original was sold as a Doujin game, a product distributed as special events such as Comiket or special stores such as Tora no Ana, who allow people to sell fan products. It would be similar to going to an anime convention and purchasing something in Artist’s Alley. Because the seller is not an established business and merely selling the product as a fan creation, they can get away with using images and other elements because they don’t have to worry about business law. So while this is still a PC release, just like the original, it is also considered a commercialization port. This is the same reason why Alchemist had to remove and alter the exact same features when they produced Higurashi for the PS2 and the Nintendo DS.

  65. I hereby offer my complete willingness to go over the upcoming Higurashi Kai script FOR FREE if it will help improve Manga Gamer’s final product. I offer to check for many of the obvious bad grammar, spelling, and, incorrect word-usage mistakes that have plagued only the first eight chapters of the first arc (Onikakushi) so far. I’m seeing errors almost every other page and paragraph and it’s getting a tad frustrating knowing that every arc that follows will be just as bad.

    I’m being dead serious, I’ll go over the script for free, asking for no form of compensation whatsoever, and still buy the game day one as I did with the first. I’m no English major, journalist, or any kind of professional editor, but I don’t feel one would have to be in order to fix the obvious mistakes that were left unchecked in Higurashi’s current script.

    Finally, I thank Manga Gamer for taking a chance on this title, because it’s one I feel deserves a wider audience. At the same time, I feel it deserves a bit of a better proofreading job too.

    Thanks for reading.

    Also: In before this post’s grammar mistakes!

  66. > spelling, and, incorrect

    A diversion.

    I know I have contributed to TLWiki, because the barrier to entry is so low. If I find an error on one of their projects I can go into the Wiki, fix it, and keep reading. On the other hand if I were doing proofreading for someone and had to submit the changes to someone else so they could make the changes, it would severely discourage me from making the changes.

    Just throwing this out there. I have no idea how MG handle projects internally, but generally the easier you can make it for proofreaders to fix things, the more things they will fix, because people are inherently lazy. I see the same things in software engineering, and I’m lazy too so I know what lazy people prefer. 🙂

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