Luminous

If there's one genre of game that's immensely popular in Japan, and practically non-existant elsewhere, it is that of the dating sim. For whatever reason, these games have never really taken off in North America land, and perhaps, really haven't been given the chance to. Thus, here in lies my many questions of ponderance, as per usual.

Would you buy localized(As in, translated, etc..) dating sims if a game publisher was willing to bring them over?(Atlus, I am so looking at you)
Do you think there is a market for these types of games that just haven't been tapped into yet? An audience, that although niche, would be sustainable for a publisher?
Why do you think these types of games do not click with the North American audience?
Would you buy a Western developed dating sim?

And for the lightning round:

Do you think North America/Europe will ever see near borderline crossing games(Content-wise) like Doki Doki Majo Shinpan! and Osouji Sentai Clean Keeper, or if it did happen, would the ESRB rating people just laugh and say "NO!"?

Feel free to chime in with any other applicable questions or comment on this most interesting genre of game.

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Tbaism

Well you can already find a few flash in the states, but primarily smaller ones with a lot lower quality. Can find a few on "Newgrounds" for instance, and I am sure there are others out there.

I would probably buy one myself, as long as it isn't a really bad one. I am actually pretty sure some are made in the U.S., but idk. Of course this is a very big maybe, since you can buy plenty of the overseas ones and you can buy the translators for them, or whatever they are called.

On a side note, a think they do click with the audience in a sense. It may not be as big, but if americans can love ecchi and hentai, why not love a game featuring it?

Eria

I would buy one out of curiosity because I want to see what the appeal is.

I have learned a long time ago not to ever say "I don't like" something before trying it. When I was younger I used to say I don't like Anime, its silly, I finally gave it a shot and now I am addicted.

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I'm just me.

abby724

First of all, you have to be clear on what a dating sim is. More often than not people don't distinguish the difference between ADVs (what people would call Interactive Visual Novels) and actual "dating sims" (real simulation; most common kind I've seen involves stat-raising).

Haha, you guys are aware there's a bunch of market sites just for localized "beautiful girl" games, right? Yes, only one genre... Another shady, very-perturbing-to-many is started to be waded into though...

If you're talking about ADVs... I already buy 'em. Heck, I even import them, untranslated, and use freeware programs to extract the text and Babelfish to translate. And I save up for swag...

I personally think that perhaps publishers could tap into the power of teenaged females here especially. Alright, they're not into games, but you have admit the American female teenager market is powerful, especially in entertainment. Remember Titanic? 15 weeks, and that's all because lovesick teenagers wanted to see the movie over and over again. We just need to utilize that sort of obsessiveness...

These games don't really click with the NA audience because... There hasn't been a chance. Already game developers and publishers laugh at ADVs and sims. Without trying them. I feel so sorry for poor Hirameki Intl'. To quote from an article that I can't find... "They don't understand that these are games."

A western-developed dating sim? I guess I would, but I would always start out feeling awkward... Most of mine come from Asia, but I'm not prejudiced to try something new. For western ADVs? I'm only hoping they have good replayability, voice acting, and storylines. The market for localized ADVs (and I'm talking about those aimed at adult heterosexual males) is already flooded with garbage... Well, sexy garbage, but still garbage.

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GALERIE : Limited Internet access for certain reasons...