The O-Talk Podcast

JAST USA, the leading publisher of Japanese PC games in English, has announced the Golden Master status of School Days HQ, a collaboration between JAST Densetsu, Japanese developer 0verflow, and translation group Sekai Project. Golden Master is the final master before printing, putting the release of the game mere weeks away.

School Days HQ is a dramatic story of love and jealousy featuring one of the most famous love triangles in Japanese media. Players assume the role of Itou Makoto, a young man who finds himself caught between two girls: the shy and bookish Katsura Kotonoha, and the playful, energetic Saionji Sekai. If he succumbs to temptation or indecision, he might wind up at one of the game's infamous bad ends, as depicted in the shocking conclusion to the School Days anime series. But if he plays his cards right and comes to terms with his own feelings, he'll find plenty of opportunities for true happiness with Kotonoha, Sekai, or one of three other heroines.

With respect to gameplay, School Days HQ is best described as an "interactive anime." The story is told through animated video sequences with Japanese dialogue and English subtitles. At times, players are presented with choices -- sometimes over 40 in a single playthrough -- that determine what course the story takes. These choices are timed, and waiting for the clock to run out is also a valid choice that can mean the difference between happiness and a broken heart. This makes for a game of incredible complexity, with hundreds of branches and multiple paths to reach over 20 diverse endings.

JAST USA president Peter Payne said, "After a decade and a half of working to grow the market for visual novels, the release of a top-tier game like School Days feels like we've really achieved something great. And since it's important to our customers, we're releasing the game DRM-free, so no one will have to worry about activation."

For the release of School Days HQ, JAST USA has prepared a Japanese-style Collector's Edition that comes in a large box together with an exclusive mousepad and keychain set. Details on the Collector's Edition can be found on the official site, located at http://schooldays.us/, which also contains character profiles, screenshots, and more.

School Days HQ is fully uncensored and suitable for adults at least 18 years of age. It is available for preorder now on the JAST USA website, as well as at JList.com.

JAST USA, the top publisher of Japanese PC games in English, today unveiled the collector's edition of School Days HQ, a fully-animated bishoujo game (also known as a dating sim or eroge) that is famous for its violent bad ends. School Days has attracted mainstream attention since the anime adaptation shocked audiences with its unexpected and gory conclusion.

This collector's edition is the first such release in JAST USA's history, and includes two items that are not available from any other source.

The first item is an "oppai" mousepad, which is an illustrated mousepad with a breast-shaped wrist rest. The mousepad included with the School Days HQ collector's edition features original artwork of heroine Katsura Kotonoha in a wedding dress. This illustration was drawn for the mousepad by School Days character designer Goto Junji.

The second item is an illustrated rubber keychain. The illustration, designed with fans of the School Days anime in mind, is super-deformed art of protagonist Itou Makoto's head.

JAST USA president Peter Payne said, "Without a doubt, School Days is a very important game for the English eroge industry. We really wanted to make it special, so we worked with Goto Junji and School Days developer 0verflow to create an amazing collector's edition that fans are going to drool over."

These two items will be packaged together with the game in a distinct collector's box. The full set can be viewed and ordered on its product page at http://www.jastusa.com/schooldays.html .

School Days HQ is currently in the final stages of testing, and is expected to go Golden Master in May, with release following shortly thereafter.

JAST USA, the leading publisher of adult Japanese games in English, is announcing that My Girlfriend is the President, the latest “bishoujo game” collaboration between JAST USA brand JAST Densetsu and Japanese game developer Alcot, has finished printing and will ship to customers this week.

My Girlfriend is the President is a multi-scenario love simulation game full of cute girls, hilarious parody, and touching romance. Players step into the shoes of Junichiro Honda, who wakes up one day to find that the world has been transformed by aliens into a bishoujo paradise where cuteness is the ultimate authority. His childhood friend Yukino Ohama has become President of the United States of Nippon, and whatever she says goes! Junichiro has to find a way to set the world right before the madness goes too far.

Joining US President Ohama are Russian President Irina Putina, Chief of Staff Ran Miyoshi, and a mysterious girl called Ell who just happens to be an alien starship in human form. Through their choices, players will be able to decide which of these cute and quirky heroines Junichiro ends up with.


JAST USA president Peter Payne said, "From the moment we saw the YouTube trailer for the game, with the corny English dubbed overlay, we knew that this was a game our customers had to play. It's a game that parodies just about everything imaginable, from world politics to its own 'moe' sub-genres. And who wouldn't want to romance cute female versions of the world's most powerful leaders?"

The official President site, located at http://www.jastusa.com/president, contains character profiles, sample images, and more.

My Girlfriend is the President is suitable for adults 18 years and older, and is available for purchase now at the JAST USA website as well as other fine anime retailers.

About JAST USA

Ever since the first computers with color displays, Japan has had a strong culture of "love simulation" computer games, which simulate emotional interaction between the player and various game characters when the player "wins" the love of a given character. PC love-sim games are also called visual novels, eroge, and sometimes "hentai" games by U.S. fans. JAST USA has been involved in licensing and translating Japanese dating-sim games since 1998, and is the leading producer and distributor of translated adult Japanese games in any form.

Game titles are available to retail customers via http://www.jastusa.com or for wholesale customers at http://www.pcrdist.com/.

JAST USA, the leading publisher of Japanese PC games in English, today announced the Golden Master status of My Girlfriend is the President, the latest “bishoujo game” collaboration between JAST USA brand JAST Densetsu and hit Japanese game developer Alcot. Golden Master is the final master before printing, putting the release of the game only a few weeks away.

My Girlfriend is the President is a fun and wacky visual novel full of cute girls, hilarious parody, and stirring romance. The player is Junichiro Hondo, who wakes up one day to find that the world has been transformed by aliens into a bishoujo paradise where cuteness is the ultimate authority. His childhood friend Yukino Ohama has become President of the United States of Nippon, who rules with overwhelming cuteness and a healthy dose of brainwashing. Will Junichiro be able to set the world right? Will he even want to?

My Girlfriend is the President is a multi-scenario romance simulation game with several endings to explore. Through their actions, players will be able to decide which of four cute and quirky girls Junichiro ends up with. Joining US President Ohama are Russian President Irina Putina (are these names starting to sound familiar?), Chief of Staff Ran Miyoshi, and a mysterious girl called Ell who just happens to be an alien starship in human form!


JAST USA president Peter Payne said, "There are thousands of dedicated fans of Japanese visual novels and bishoujo games around the world. When the fans let us know they really wanted us to license 'President,' we knew we couldn't let them down."

The official site, located at http://www.jastusa.com/president, contains character profiles, sample images, and more!

My Girlfriend is the President is suitable for adults 18 years and older, and is available for preorder now at the JAST USA website as well as other fine anime retailers, and is expected to ship in mid to late December of this year.


About JAST USA

Ever since the first computers with color displays, Japan has had a strong culture of "love simulation" computer games, which simulate emotional interaction between the player and various game characters when the player "wins" the love of a given character. PC love-sim games are also called visual novels, eroge, and sometimes "hentai" games by U.S. fans. JAST USA has been involved in licensing and translating Japanese dating-sim games since 1998, and is the leading producer and distributor of English-language PC games for adults in any form.

JAST USA is announcing the release of Aselia the Eternal, a long-awaited RPG and romantic adventure produced by Japanese game maker Xuse and translated by Dakkodango Translations. Aselia the Eternal is the JAST Densetsu label's first combination RPG and bishoujo game, with both compelling gameplay and beautiful girls to romance. The game has shipped, and is available for purchase on DVD-ROM. A digital download version will be shipping shortly.

In Aselia the Eternal, the player takes the role of Takamine Yuuto, a young Japanese man who finds himself and his sister Kaori transported to the fantasy world of Phantasmagoria. Unable to understand the language of Phantasmagoria's people, Yuuto is forced against his will to take up a magical, sentient sword and fight for a greedy king alongside the Spirits, beautiful female warriors who are treated as little more than slaves. As the story progresses, your decisions will influence Yuuto's relationships with the characters around him, eventually cultimating in romance with one of seven possible heroines.

But Aselia the Eternal is more than just a romance sim. It is also a genuine RPG, with over 50 hours of immersive strategy gameplay and combat. The player will form squads comprised of Spirits and Etrangers, each possessing his or her own diverse array of skills, and dispatch them to conquer over 38 enemy towns and strongholds. At the same time, you must build up your infrastructure, train your units, and manage their skills. With 23 tactical missions, 9 unique endings, and 3 difficulty levels to choose from, Aselia the Eternal is certain to provide a rewarding experience for any player.



JAST USA president Peter Payne said: "We love the awesome games that Japan makes, from the adult-themed visual novels to great anime-themed RPGs, and want to make them accessible to as many people around the world as possible. Japanese PC RPGs are an underrepresented genre in the West, and we hope that this new title will enable a large number of new fans to find out what they've been missing. We're confident that this is a game that a lot of fans will enjoy playing."



The game is appropriate for ages 15 and up, and is available for purchase now at the JAST USA website as well as other fine anime retailers. The official game site with full character profiles, sample graphics, and more is available at http://www.jastusa.com/aselia

About JAST USA

Ever since the first computers with color displays, Japan has had a strong culture of "love simulation" computer games, which simulate emotional and sexual interaction between the player and various game characters when the player "wins" the love of a given character. PC dating-sim games are often referred to "hentai" or "H" games by U.S. fans. JAST USA has been involved in licensing and translating Japanese dating-sim games since 1998, and is the leading producer and distributor of English-language PC games for adults in any form. The company has a catalog of over 50 English-translated games with every theme from maids to "cat girls" to "yuri" (female-female) and more.

Game titles are available to retail customers via http://www.jastusa.com or for wholesale customers at http://www.pcrdist.com/.

Recently, Atlus registered a teaser site only showing the site's web address. However there is something familiar about this site, it is in the style of Persona 4.

Really, Capcom? You are that damn greedy that you need to re-release a game that came out about 5 months ago. For those who do not know what I'm talking about, Capcom is releasing a new version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 in November of this year. This new version is full of broken promises and crap.

The so called new features this game are balanced fighting mechanics and a spectator mode. First of all, balanced fighting mechanics should be for free as downloadable content. Why must you force your customers to spend $40 USD just to have up-to-date balancing in a game? As for the spectator mode, it's total bullsh*t. Many months ago, Capcom promised that they would release spectator mode as an update. As you can guess, it never happened.

Let's see what else is new, oh 12 new characters to the roster, that means the roster is up to 48 characters now while being compared to Marvel vs. Capcom 2 has 56, this sucks. These new characters can be downloadable content. What Capcom could have done is sell each individual character or even sell them as combo packs. One more thing, half of these new characters, no one gives a crap about. Capcom should have a poll asking what characters we would love to see in the game. However, we get what random crap they throw at us.



When looking at this predicament, one must think that Capcom doesn't have the technology to release big updates like this but they do. Recently, Capcom released Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition which has 4 new characters and fixed more balancing issues. The thing is, they released a physical version for $35 USD for those that did not own the regular version of Super Street Fighter 4 and if you already own the Super Street Fighter 4, you are given the option to download the patch that fixes the balancing issues for free or you can pay $15 USD for the complete update with the new characters. They can do this for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 but they choose not to.

Many years ago, this was an acceptable practice because the technology was not there. However, we live in an age that if a game does not have some form of downloadable content, it wont even sell. What everyone around the world should do is to boycott Capcom by not buying their constant re-releases of games and if they do take notice, they'll listen.

Today's post is a bit different, I want to share my top 5 fighting games of all time. These are my personal favorites fighting games that I will always enjoy. My only rule for this top 5 is one game per franchise.

5) Bushido Blade
This is one of the best weapon based fighting I have played. There are no combos, timer, health bars, and special attacks. It is just you and the weapon that you picked to cut down your opponent in a single strike. If you haven't figured it out yet, this game is based on realism. I have memories of playing hour long matches because my friends and I would block and dodge each others attacks. I will admit, Bushido Blade has a big learning curve and it is more of an acquired taste.

4) King of Fighters 98: Ultimate Match
I was going to pick the original King of Fighters 98 as the number 4 spot, but it is so broken. It has a lot of overpowered characters that have endless combos and to tell you the truth, it made me lose interest in it. However, for the ten year anniversary of the game, SNK Playmore remade it and fixed most balance issues it had and has a roster of 64 playable characters. There is one problem that was not fixed, the character sprites are really outdated. But old graphics should not matter with it comes to fun gameplay.

3) Tekken 3
My goodness, this game is the best example for a 3D fighter. The fighting mechanics are really tight and movement is fluid. It feels satisfying when a punch or kick connects. Also, the story line for Tekken 3 is great.

2) Capcom VS. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
This game is truly remarkable. It perfectly incorporates game mechanics from 5 different games without a problem. It is a very balanced game even though it has 48 character roster. Since I'm on the topic of the character roster, each character has their own individual stats and move sets. One can have a different experience each time you play this game. By the way, don't play the Xbox and Gamecube versions because they are terrible ports.

1) Street Fighter 3: Third Strike
To me, this is an almost perfect fighting game. The animation for the character sprites are amazing, the music fun to listening to, and it is perfectly balanced. This was the first Capcom fighting game to have the parry system(SNK's World Heroes 2 invented that) which is now standard in the fighting game genre. To this day, I play this game due to it being an enjoyable experience.

Honorable Mentions
Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Mortal Combat 2
Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core
Project Justice

I'm incredibly happy that Retro Game Master is finally being released as legal stream on Kotaku. For those who don't know, Retro Game Master, known in Japan as GameCenter CX is a Japanese television show where Shinya Arino plays 8-bit and 16-bit Japanese games. It sounds simple, but it's not, he is giving a time limit to beat the game and did I forgot to mention that he is not a gaming expert.

At the surface level, it is just an hour long show about a guy trying to beat old school games. However, it's about a man trying to overcome a challenge and we see his struggle documented on film for our amusement. Seeing Arino reaching the end of a level that he fought for hours, you will fell happy and excited for him. While seeing him fail when he is so close to taste the sweet honey known as victory, you will dread and frustration for him.

In japan, RGM has 15 season with over 120 episodes released so far. The first season focused mostly on video game companies and the challenges varied from old to modern games. After the second season, they started to focus more on the old school game challenges. The odd thing is, Kotaku released episode 29 as the first episode. I can see why they did it because episode 29 is Ninja Gaiden and that game is known to be one of the the hardest games ever released for the Famicom/NES.

I highly recommend this show for everyone to watch, it's a fun and simple show that anyone can enjoy. one more thing, if you like the show, you should consider getting the DS game based on it. This game is freaking amazing and a while back, I did a review of Retro Game Challenge.


EXTRA: New episode O-Talk Bonus content is only available on iTunes.

There's one type of video game genre that I'm not particularly fond of and that's the first-person shooter. My reason behind that is because during multiplayer they tend to be unbalanced. If you find the best weapon in the game, you can dominate pretty much any one and that gets boring fast. The one FPS that I do like is Team Fortress 2. Each character has his own individual stats, abilities, and weapons. The great thing about that, its balanced because no character is superior than the other.

With the release of Nintendo's new handheld system, the 3DS. I want to look at the pros and cons of this system. This is to help me decide if I'm going to buy it or not.

I recently conducted an Interview with Shingo from JAST USA on the upcoming release of School Days HQ.

When I first heard that Pokemon Black/White was coming out, I didn't give much thought other than just another Pokemon game. Well, I was correct that it's just another Pokemon game. However, it's just as fun as if I played the original Pokemon Blue/Red.

This new game has over 150 brand new Pokemon and for a good reason, none of the Pokemon from the previous games are not in this game. The beloved electric mouse that you have come to know and love, is not here. At first, I was mad because there are many of the older Pokemon that I love using. I did find out that after you bet the elite 4 the first time, you unlock a way to transfer you Pokemon from Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver. I did some thinking and I made a realization, this game feels like a reboot to the franchise.

I will say that Game Freak took all of the great features from the past games and greatly improved upon them. The infrared technology from HeartGold/SoulSilver is used in this game for quick communication that could be done while in the middle of the game. You could also do video chatting if you are playing on a DSi, DSiLX, and 3DS. To some, these features sound amazing, but I don't. Having my Wi-Fi on all the time work quickly use up the battery, so I choose not use them and I doubt that I'll used them at all.

The majority of the Pokemon in this game suck. Well, let me reword that, the majority of the Pokemon in this game suck for competitive play. About 15 out of 156 Pokemon are decent to be used in a tournament. I would say, beat the game as fast as possible so you can transfer your Pokemon from Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver. One can easily beat more than half of the Black and White Pokemon just by using Metagross, Weavile, and Gengar.


I know that within this post, I have said quite a lot of negative things about this game. But, it's a really fun game and if you don't care about competitive play or you haven't played any of the Pokemon games on the DS, check this game out. So, if you have been playing this game, what are your opinions on it?

Sony had an event at Tokyo and they have unveiled the new PSP 2. Could this be the future of gaming or will it flop?

This is going to be a new segment on my site. It's going to be about what video games I'm currently play and my thoughts on them. I also want to document how much gaming I will do within a year.

It was almost a year ago, I ordered a custom skin from GelaSkins for my DS Lite. It was a great investment because it protects my DS from Scratches. When I bought my PSP, I knew that I had to buy a skin for it as well.

I hate that I have to remove every little thing before applying the skins.

On the front panel, I have Reisen. I really like that Touhou theme for my PSP.

On the back, I have Sakuya looking cool.

My PSP looks great next to my DS Lite.

If you are wonder, I like Touhou Project a lot.

For the last 6 months, I have been wanting to buy a PSP. I know it kind of late after so many year it has been out in the market. My main reason why I want one was because I wanted play Hatsune Miku Project Diva 1 and 2. Last Friday, I went out to get pizza for dinner. Since my pizza was not ready by the time I got there. I decided to kill some time in the video game store that I dislike. I found out that they were selling a used one for $100 USD. I bought it the next day.

This used PSP is in perfect condition as if it was taken right out of the box. I was happy that I found it because they are hard to find in such fantastic form. There was one catch when I bought, The store owner wanted me to pay extra $20 USD for a 34 MB memory stick and USB cable separately. I'm lucky that I already have a USB to micro USB cable and I found on Amazon a 4 GB memory stick for $10 USD. At least he was "nice" enough to throw in a hard plastic shell for free. Now you know why I hate that store.

As for the games that I currently own Mega Man Powered Up and Lumines 2. I bought them at my job, both for $10 USD. I just noticed that I bought video games at the bookstore I work at, that is a sad realization.
I was going to hack my PSP but, it has the 6.31 firmware and it's unhackable. My PSP does look a very plain at the moment, I will be ordered a custom skin fro Gela Skins in a few weeks. So, what games do you recommend for me play on my "brand new" PSP?

During my trip to the city of Miami, I had some free time to visit some old friends. It was pretty fun just like the good old days. Well, one of my friends gave me a Dreamcast because, he has too many of them at the moment.

The Dreamcast is like wine, the older it is, the better it gets. Back in the day, the Dreamcast was added of its time. It was the first home video game system that has online gaming, it has a fantastic library of games, and amazing graphics. It is sad that due to piracy and bad decision making from Sega, the system had a short life span.

I'm a fan of Nintendo, you can say that I'm a big fan. I missed the live stream of Nintendo's presentation at E3 because I was too busy studying for finals. I finally got the chance to see it and it was awesome. Seeing all of these new games that Nintendo will be releasing is mind blowing.

I'm pretty excited for the 3DS. The features on this thing are awesome, I really like the 2 cameras for 3D photos and the analog stick. I'm glad that I did not replace my DS for a DSi because I will start saving for a 3DS. I am a little disappointed that Nintendo did not mentioned a price for it. Did I forget to mention that it's also backwards compatible with all DS and DSi games.

After 24 long years, the sequel for the NES classic Kid Icarus will be coming out. This new game will be a launch title for the 3DS. The original Kid Icarus is one of my favorite NES games of all time. I wonder if the new game will have multiple endings just like the original?

I really happy that a new Donkey Kong game that does not require the use of bongo drums will be coming out. I really hate those stupid bongo drums, whoever thought up that idea should be put into a labor camp.

Seeing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword reminded me of Ocarina of Time. It also reminded me that I need to get Wii motion plus.

There are other games that I want to talk about but I don't want to turn this post into Nintendo fanboy-city. This year at E3, Nintendo's main theme was nostalgia. Most of these games are either a sequel to a Nintendo classic or the games have a "retro" feel to it. So, what are you opinions on this post?

A fairly short eroge, by a doujin circle known as Fuguriya. There are many more eroge in this series but this is a review of the first one.



Art is done by ペこ (Peko) who also did the art for the Mayoi Neko Overrun light novels, as well as many other eroges.

This story follows Nanami Oda, who has had a crush on Yuna Matsubara, her sempai, since the first day of school when she helped fix a tear in Nanami's skirt. Nanami joins the school's environmental protection committee just to be closer to Yuna who heads the committee. After a meeting Nanami forgets her gym uniform in the room and comes back to get it when she finds Yuna... ummm... doing something strange while sniffing it. Take a wild guess what happens next.

Yuna is to the left Nanami on the right.

I do really like this pic tho. dawww