OKAY OKAY! STOP THROWING STUFF! Let's get to the news!
A BIT over a week has passed and the news is flying across the EVN community. Apologies for the delay but, to be fair, I thought I had already posted this.
OKAY OKAY! STOP THROWING STUFF! Let's get to the news!
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Hello all! Another week has zoomed by and we are right back here to deliver the news, believe it or not, in a timely fashion! JP the 3rd with you: Chief Writer for this here corner of the web. This week is a little light so we're going to kick this weekly update off with a note about a day that should be a little more solemn in my home country: Memorial Day. Quite frankly, if one more person wishes me a 'happy holiday' in reference to Memorial Day, I will break their jaw. If there is one holiday that America has managed to bastardize more than bloody Christmas, it is the day we are SUPPOSED to set aside to pay our respects to all of those who died in service to our country. Now it's a day off, a time to get drunk and, for those who can afford it, shop for things we really don't need. So, before the day begins and ends without anyone thinking twice about it, I figured someone should deliver some statistics to bring Memorial Day back to reality. Since the inception of the United States, over 1.3 Million soldiers have died in active duty. The bloodiest war in our history was the Civil War where over 600,000 men laid down their lives. An average soldier is lucky to make over $40,000 a year before being discharged. Every day, an average of twenty-two veterans commit suicide and according to our government one active member of the military out of every five are suffering from a mental or psychological disorder: the most common being, unsurprisingly, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. However, despite the gloomy statistics, the American military is the most frequently requested aid in the world whenever there is a disaster or tyrant destroying human lives. No group of people have done more for total strangers than the American military. Entire nations exist only because an American marine or battleship is nearby to ensure the evil of the world doesn't take advantage of the good and all that has been asked for in return is enough land to bury our dead. Every year, on every Internet platform I control, I put up the picture you see above you: the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Not all of the 1.3 Million dead have a name, but their service is another drop in the stream of blood that keeps America connected. I usually post them with a quote that, in light of recent controversies, has proven more true today than ever before: It is the Soldier, not the minister, who has given us freedom of religion. So, from VNs Now and especially from a Southern kid who grew up in the shadow of Dobbins Air Force base; thank you to all that served and died and kept us free.
NOW, to the news! So...we're back!
Apologies for the lack of updates but, honestly, I warned you guys of that when I started this gig. OKAY OKAY SORRY STOP THROWING SHARP STUFF AT ME. Hopefully with the Summer upon us, we'll get more much news to discuss. As for my experiment, despite how the positive reaction, I will be keeping the news format the same. This is to make it easier for others to step in the role when necessary. I'm not saying or announcing anything, I'm just saying it's time to get this show back on the road! And while there isn't a LOT to cover, we do have a far bit that has happened since we last spoke. So, let's start with a game that is taking the community by storm! Hello all! Here comes JP trying something NEW AND CRAZY!
It's nothing immediately permanent, but considering that we don't have a full paper to fill up for the news, I wanted to experiment with the format and try to give it to you guys in a quicker and more social media-friendly way. So, for the month of April, you'll be getting your weekly news via YouTube! It's less than a minute so feel free to pass it along to those curious about this ever-growing genre. And NaNoRenO is in the books! The completed projects are beginning to trickle out and I'm hard at work on how we'll be celebrating their releases. B) It should be a blast so keep an eye on this very website. For the immediate future, here's what is out so far!
After a successful campaign, Dischan Media has released the time table for Dysfunctional Systems Episodes 2 and 3 as well as for their follow-up to Juniper's Knot. This was released on their main site so we're going to use that a launch point for the next year with Dischan:
After a rough launch and negative critical reaction, Namco High will be shutting down this summer. The project was a partnership between Namco Bandai and the creator of the Homestuck webcomic and it hoped to embrace the narrative/visual novel approach to gaming that has been such a success for Telltale Games. While this website hasn’t done a review of the game yet, we have been very entertained by thoughts from such sites as Gamertell; “Namco High is too forced. It’s as though ShiftyLook did no research into the visual novel or dating sim genres, and just decided to see how far pandering could get them. The answer is, not very.” Whether or not this very website will review the title before June 30th is still in the air. However, we do hope that Namco and the Homestuck folks learn from this experience to make better games rather than surrender any attempts to create visual novels. The more the merrier after all! Now back to familiar circles, recently Winter Wolves’ Owner, Celso Riva, took to the Twitter to announce progress for the Yuri (Lesbian) DLC for Nicole thanks to a new writer. Originally, the writer for the DLC was Hope Chapman: popularly known among internet critic circles as JesuOtaku. While we will pose the question in a proper form to the head of Winter Wolves, all signs are that the parties have split. JesuOtaku’s recent contributions to the EVN community have seen both the positive profile of Cinders by Moacube on That Guy with The Glasses, as well as the unbridled panning of Sakura River’s Fading Hearts. What will happen next for JO and this particular gaming community remains to be seen, but when we have a launch date for Nicole’s DLC, this site will report it. We here at VNs Now are also happy to join with Dischan and celebrate the successful crowd-funding of Dysfunctional Systems Episode 2! While there isn’t a set launch date yet, the fact that it reached its goals isn’t just a good sign for the group, but also for the more ambitious creators in our midst. Even though it in Canadian, over 50,000 Dollars isn’t anything to sneeze at and it’ll ensure the game is the same quality as the well-received Episode 1. A new artist will be taking over for Doomfest and CombatPlayer will return to compose the soundtrack. We will be reaching out to Jeremy Miller in the near future to discuss his plans for Episode 2 now that the money is in the bank. We also want to congratulate Seraphim Entertainment with the successful crowd-funding for Seduce Me: an otome visual novel. The project will feature a young lady (of course) who finds herself in the middle of a conflict between two demon groups: one of which have decided to camp out in her house. The only problem is that they’re incubi: demons who feed off sexual energy. Hm, now I wonder why someone like me would report on this. Especially when there isn’t a…wait there IS a demo! The Chair will now entertain a motion to submit Seduce Me’s demo to You Asked For It! Considering it has been funded WELL above its requested budget, I don’t think we’ll get in trouble if we do! We are also happy to celebrate with Sakevisual and Innomen Games on successfully being Greenlit. Both Backstage Pass and Sierra Ops will be available for purchase on Steam after their release. Good work all! Moving on to new releases while the creators of Seduce Me prepare their pitchforks! Despite NaNoRenO looming overhead, there has been one notable release. Victorian Olives is a kinetic novel featuring two young people living in an alternate Victorian era. Although short, it features excellent artwork and full voice-acting. A review will be up in the near future and I hope everyone takes an opportunity to play the game and give the creators feedback as they prepare for their next release, which we will cover in another news posting.
We’ll be back to our normal news broadcast this coming weekend as NaNoRenO slides into the finish line! For now, this has been JP reporting for VNs Now! Another week has gone by and the tides are shifting towards the storm that is NaNoRenO. Welcome everyone once again to the news update and I’m back to fill Will’s shoes! While there is some news to discuss, the bulk of this post will serve as an introduction for those who are unaware of NaNoRenO and also to make a special announcement that will confuse, infuriate and substantiate (couldn’t think of another word here) many! So, let’s get started!
So –awkward wave– Hi guys.
Usually this is Will’s gig, but with the big guy on temporary hiatus I will be pinch hitting in giving you the news! And in the weeks leading up to NaNoRenO 2014 there is a lot of exciting news coming out of the community to cover. So this week, news from several big names and a few demos that caught my eye. Shall we get started? Valentine's Day is for flowers and chocolate right? Well sure, those are good and wonderful things, but so are visual novels. There are some on sale right now! Remember all that Valentine's candy will not be on sale until AFTER the day has passed. For starters we have a rather nice little selection on sale on Steam today only: And if you want even more options, WinterWolves is having a 30% Off sale on all games except for Roommates, which has just been made available in a pre-order beta form. Get some updates on upcoming projects and snag the discount code here. The discount is not set to work with bundles, so add each title from a bundle individually to your cart to get the 30% off for all of them. Well, get to buying some games and spreading some love people!
Hey everyone, ready for some news and updates? No? Too bad. Tired of pictures? Fine. How about a video for a change! There is a new trailer for Starswirl Academy, by Zap Apple Project. A visual novel about students and their life at the prestigious Starswirl Academy. Will they be able to find friendship and make it through the first year? It was reissued after the team got a notice from Hasbro to change the names and other aspects of their project due to use of Hasbro’s My Little Pony property. The trailer shows the new names, is voiced, and even has a short animated scene. The demo was reissued as well and is also available for Windows, Android, Linux, and Mac.
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