No Name Losers retired on September 28th, 2007. Our final fansubs are available here. For older fansubs, use the BitTorrent link at the top. Jump on another bandwagon: 2008.06.30. Due to personal matters, there will not be any updates during July. Thank you for your understanding. 2008.06.21. VGL's concert wasn't as good as the indoor version in 2006. Outdoor acoustics will do that to you. It was also very crowded. Right after the concert, it started to rain. But Brian Lee (left) and I decided to stick around for this pic!
2008.06.20. Video Games Live returns to Toronto tomorrow. I went to the concert in 2006, and I had a wonderful time. I even got to go up on stage and won a Radeon X1800 GTO, which is no longer in use today. I'll be there about an hour before it begins with my DS and wi-fi t-shirt, which glows in the dark! Here's hoping Mr. Tallarico calls me up again! If you are in the area, I highly encourage you to come. Tomorrow's concert is outdoors and free. I had to pay $40 in 2006. Now where is the sheet music for this stuff? 2008.06.19. My family secured a new apartment. Get this... it's on the thirteenth floor! Since the apartments are multi-floored, the elevator only has six real stops: G, 3, 6, 10, 13, and 16. There's even an apartment 1313! But that's not our apartment. Anyway, I can't wait to get out of this current cockroach infested hole. Estimated move date is in about six weeks. The problem is moving to the new apartment without carrying any of the cockroaches with us. It's more difficult than fansubbing! 2008.06.17. ExtractData 1.15 is out! And it can extract .paz files from ef - the latter tale! So I decided to take a little peek. The good news is that unlike ef - the first tale, there are no dummy files that make the game seem larger than it actually is. The bad news is that the game is actually huge; over 2.6GB worth of background CG and event CG alone! The ugly news is that the tool no longer requires a clean executable for verification. It is probably doing some behind-the-scenes work in order to circumvent minori's pesky copy protection. So is the .paz format entirely solved for ef - the latter tale? No, since ExtractData cannot create .paz files. But if a project were to happen, we wouldn't need to figure that out. During the canceled ef - the first tale project, I made the decision to release any finished work as a standalone. The long explanation is on the ef development page, but I'll sum it up here. The advantages of a standalone over a patch are: 1. There should not be a double standard for video fansubs and game fansubs Point one is covered in-depth in the development page. Point two? As of this moment, ef - the first tale is out of print, which means minori is no longer making any money from sales of the game. It is regrettable that I have to tell people interested in purchasing Wind DVD PC that it's also out of print in favor of the PS2 version. The only easy way to get it now is to pirate it. So what about point three? Hirameki International (see 1/5 post) once admitted that a considerable portion of their fanbase was already skilled to some degree in Japanese. Having the English text at the bottom only served to provide a reference in case the player could not understand the audio. Their largest problem was breaking through to the mainstream. From personal experience, I agree. I can't think of one place besides the Otakuism boards that would welcome a complete newbie to bishoujo games. Every other place will simply rub the truth in the poor sap's face: that they know Japanese and you don't. They are content to continue their lives as elitist scumbags who would rather frown upon different approaches. Using that logic, fansubs are pointless as well. Everyone should learn Japanese instead. But as we all know, not everyone can. Anyway, that's enough of that. Back to the main topic. All content from ef - the first tale was shoehorned via the ef Supah Preview executable, bypassing all of the copy protection. The conversion was almost flawless. Only the Memories option in the main menu was inaccessible, but we figured that was a small price to pay. The demo engine wasn't crippled, and all scripts played back as intended. ef - the latter tale would have likely been dealt with in the same manner. The proposed standalone build was reduced to 1.7GB through the magic of double .png brute force optimization and dummy file removal. This optimization took about a day with a Core 2 Quad working at full load. For ef - the latter tale, I think it'll be nice if the game can be reduced to 3.5GB. Oh, last little bit! ExtractData is able to extract ef second fan 2008.06.16. I may be on TV tonight for less than ten seconds! A CityTV reporter stopped me on the street and asked what Canada meant to me. I wanted to say that it meant not being able to legally import Words Worth, but I decided to simply say "freedom" instead. Watch CityNews at six or eleven. Otherwise, it may be on Breakfast Television tomorrow morning. 2008.06.15. Oops, I missed my daily update. Phooey. This time I'm going to give my two cents about the changes in the original collectible card game, MTG. I started playing the game in 1995 (right when all the expensive cards became out of print) and now I wish I had invested in some money cards back then. Last week, there were two major announcements that stirred many players. First off, MTG was the only CCG in print with only three rarities. They decided to change all that starting this October by introducing a super rarity called Mythic Rare. This is a dumb idea. It's a cash grab, plain and simple. There are many people who have written paragraphs and paragraphs about it, so that's all I really have to say about the matter. Next, they made the largest restriction in Vintage in nine years: Brainstorm. Vintage is the format where virtually every card is legal, but the ones that are fundamentally broken are restricted to one per deck. Brainstorm is a card that lets you draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your deck. Does that sound broken to you? No. It's one-for-one, smooths out draws, and reduces the luck factor of the opening hand. By restricting it, control decks will have to rely more on luck of the draw when playing against a combo deck. Hmm... I need something anime-ish to write about. Oh, right. I purchased the Negima! boxset the other day. The dub is fantastic because Evangeline and her right hand robot both have a British accent. I'm a sucker for British accents. She alone makes it worth viewing, but everyone else is forgettable. Can't they just hire teenagers with high voices instead of asking 30-year old voice actresses to imitate them? The imitations sound artificially high, which is a shame. Anyway, the show itself won't win any awards this century, but it's a good diversion from the doldrums of everyday life. Was it worth the $90? Mmm... probably not. ef - the latter tale cost that much and it's the "educational" buy. Speaking of which, I should get back to playing that. 2008.06.12. Today I'm going to talk about the new monitor I purchased in late January. Before we get to that, I'd like to first mention the two monitors that came before it. NNL's first monitor was a no-name 17" CRT with skewed geometry. It died sometime in 2004. Then came the 19" Philips 109B5. It was value priced at $300 and supported up to 1600x1200 @78Hz. Unfortunately, the value price meant skewed geometry, inaccurate color gamut, and fuzzy text. Some of the earlier NNL fansubs have subtitles shifting to the right a bit because I compensated for the presentation on my monitor. Oops. Anyway, that sucker lasted for the remainder of NNL's lifespan and all the way into January of this year. I got sick and tired of dealing with subpar displays. I wanted to match my new Core 2 Quad Shuttle computer with a deserving LCD. After a few hours of research, I purchased what many people considered to be the best consumer level 24" display on the market: the BenQ FP241W. Reviewers rated it better than its MVA panel competitors, Dell and LG. The monitor and the calibrator set me back $750 after tax and shipping. I could have spent $400 on a 6-bit TN panel model, but I did not want to settle for anything less. The only 24" panels that are better than the BenQ FP241W are prosumer level displays such as the NEC 2490, which is nearly $1500 after tax and shipping. No thank you. The cash was well spent. After calibration, the BenQ FP241W has a phenomenal display. The colors are deeper than any of the value CRTs I owned in the past. Standard definition looks great as long as you're sitting at least three feet away from the screen. High definition is absolutely stunning. I only saw minimal pixelation in the ef HD Op even with my face glued to the screen! I've seen TN panel LCDs at internet cafes, and they're not in the same league. I only wish that LCD technology was prevalent earlier in my life. Earlier CRT tech was brutal, and my eyes were weakened when I stared at a 13" Commodore 1701 for most of my childhood. The first PC in the family was a Pentium 75, which featured a 14" MAG monitor with a terrible refresh rate. I swore it was under 60Hz. Yeah, that destroyed what was left of my eyes, putting me at -2.00 diopters before I hit 18. My mother's genes might have saved me a little bit. She is only a presbyopic (farsightedness due to age), while my father and brother both have the supah myopia gene. My brother's diopter power is -7.50. Unfortunately, the BenQ FP241W has been discontinued. Only the silver bezel model is left at ncix, and less than ten of those are left. Manufacturers are dropping MVA panels and switching to 6-bit TN panels because they're cheaper. As a result, the BenQ FP241W will likely become a hallowed monitor, just like the 24" Sony FW900 CRT is today. Hmm... MGS4 is out. I don't own a console, so no MGS4 (or GTA4) for me. Meh, it's no big deal. I'm more of a handheld gamer. 2008.06.11. Three consecutive daily updates. Hopefully I can keep this daily thing going. I'm getting used to it, really. I'm late to the party because this was released during Anime North, but I finally got to take a look at the "Flaws of Fansubs" documentary. The actual name is something else, but alliteration is fun! Many people have responded on Animesuki about the documentary. Most of it is negative. Most of the comments on YouTube are also negative. What do I think about it? I thought it was good, and all the haters can go to hell. Have you read about NNL's translation style? If you haven't, hit the about button. Things will make more sense after you've read it. The documentary explains how early fansubs used dynamic equivalence, while modern day fansubs use formal equivalence. It argues that dynamic equivalence is elegant because things are kept simple. On the other hand, formal equivalence results in a mountain of notes. Through numerous examples, it argues that introducton of Japanese terms within formal equivalence is causing fansubs to drift into grammar hell. Some of the examples become quite ridiculous. It advocates that dynamic equivalence is the method used by professional translators, and should therefore be the method that fansubbers use. I agreed with the documentary on many of the points. Most of them were noticed by us only after we gained enough experience to realize that formal equivalence is inefficient. Intrusive notes suck, explaining jokes suck, advanced and impractical karaoke effects suck, and over-the-top subtitle effects suck. NNL's logo at the top of the page is never larger than the topic logo. However, I still think directional subs and colored subs are good for the viewer, since they make the subs easier to read. As for honorifics, we made the decision to use them only when a person is being directly addressed. They are removed in every other case. This was a result of agonizing over the excessive honorific usage in the Wind script and making a compromise. The fruits of this wise decision were apparent during ef Supah Preview editing; ESP in my opinion is NNL's most polished fansub. ESP's workaround sentences were rather liberal, but we felt they conveyed the intended minority spirit. Direct honorifics were left in to keep the hardcore fans satisfied. Everyone was happy. Anyway, go watch the documentary if you haven't already. I give it an 8/10. It would have been 9/10 if the narrator didn't pronounce pwn as poan. What follows is the final short list of terms we edited: Okay to leave as-is Situational Toward a person only Never 2008.06.10. A few weeks ago, the Malaysian o2jam server shut down, along with the company that ran it. The Korean and Japanese DJMAX servers shut down earlier this year. Now that they're both out of commission, there is no longer an easily accessible 7-key rhythm action game. I'm shedding a tear, because back in 2003, a group of fansubbers introduced me to o2jam. I was terrible at first, but I played it on and off for almost the entire lifespan of NNL. I never became the uber pro, but I became good enough to pass some of the more difficult songs, such as Euphorium Hard and Seeker Hard. By the beginning of this year, there was barely anyone playing the game. Rhythm action games were eschewed in favor of MMOs. The few North American players moved on to Guitar Hero. It seems that all good things must come to an end. Anyway, I cleared chapter 3, Chihiro's chapter, in ef - the latter tale. Doing it in one sitting gave me an idea of what the general gist was about. Realy good stuff, and only one ero scene instead of two! Now I have to go back and Anki it. I'm wondering whether I should blog my experiences Bluemist style. Hmm... I'll need a couple of days to think it over. The only question is whether my readership is high enough to be worth it. 2008.06.09. ef - the latter tale is out, and I finally got it. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that minori will be putting out a demo for us to fansub. Instead, I think it's about time that I got serious about becoming fluent. My free time is being poured into playing the game, using it as an educational tool. Inputting sentences into Anki has never been so much fun! Unlike first tale, latter tale is at the top of the erogamescape charts. 90%. 90 freakin' percent. That's better than any other minori game, including Haru no Ashioto. I'm not at the "zomg it's a masterpiece" scene yet, but I suppose that'll happen real soon. My goal is to Anki input every text block in the game that requires more than a shred of elementary Japanese to understand. (Ero squeals won't be Anki'd!) However, the flash cards will not contain a direct English translation (for now), since understanding the line is more important to me than translating if I am to reach fluency. My editing experience is probably good enough to turn moonspeak into flowery phrases. Therefore, these flash cards will be in Japanese to Japanese. If I ever finish this monstrous undertaking, perhaps I will make the Anki files available. Then, anyone with one year of Japanese under their belt could conceivably use my notes to fansub the whole thing. I've got a whole summer to do this, and Reikoku can bail me out of some of the nastier text blocks. I'm thankful to have him around. Hopefully I don't become a mikkabouzu (person unable to commit) and abandon this in a few days. Yuuko is just too awesome to abandon! None of the unpacking tools we used for ef - the first tale work for ef - the latter tale. Well, unless pigs fly and we fansub this, it won't matter anyhow! Oh, and thank you, everyone, for 160K hits. I never imagined it would break 100K, let alone 160K. See you around! 2008.06.06. It's my Anime North 2008 con report!
Thursday Friday 10:30 - Finished unloading. Sorted out the DVD bargain bin ($7-$10 singles) alphabetically with Pete, a Hairy T employee. We decided that .hack//SIGN would come before everything else. 12:30 - Volunteering at Hairy T finished, so I had to hand back the dealer's pass. Attempted to leave the TCC in order to meet up with Reikoku and line up for a regular weekend pass. but the door was locked. An old man who was part of con ops (who later turned out to be the charity auctioneer) saw this, and after hearing my story, allowed me to be the very first registration of the con! Yahoo! 1:00 - Reikoku needed his pass, so I lined up with him. Some people in the lineup had DS units, so we played 3-player Tetris. I won every round. 1:30 - Reikoku obtained weekend pass. Lined up for Doubletree hotel check-in. 1:50 - A number of people in their lineup brought their DS units. We ended up playing 6-player Tetris, Mario Kart, and Bomberman. Who said girls weren't gamers? A girl owned us fair and square in Mario Kart by winning three rounds in a row. Reikoku slightly edged me out in Tetris this time, getting his revenge. Bomberman was boring due to the obscene download times. 3:00 - Check-in complete. Unpacked all material, took a shower, blah blah blah. 4:45 - Went to the convenience store and purchased AAA batteries for my wi-fi shirt. 5:00 - Dealers' room. Made my first purchase of the convention, an English bishoujo game called Snow Sakura for $38. Apparently it's good, getting a respectable 75% on EroGameScape, which is higher than Wind -a breath of heart-'s 70%. (Note: I played this later, and unfortunately, I have to say that it's worse than Wind. Maybe Wind only got 70% because it had such high expectations and failed to capitalize. No one was expecting anything out of Snow Sakura.) Considered getting the Japanese yuri game Sono hanabira ni kuchizuke o - watashi no oujisama (Kissing Those Petals - My Prince), but decided against it. It was $40 and had stickers gstrategically placed for great justiceh so that it could be displayed in public. 6:00 - Ate at Mama's Panino. Ordered Cheese Tortellini. Okay, but a bit expensive for the quality. 7:00 - Loaded all my Nominoichi goods into my storage bag. 7:30 - Nominoichi setup. Two dealers saw my copies of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin on sale for $20 and snapped them up before the event was open to the public. 9:00 - Nominoichi. Sold: So I made exactly $375 for the night. Good deal. Reikoku made $5 because he only had two things to sell. 12:30 - Performed an interview with Brian Lee, a fan of NNL and a radio host of an Initial D website. 2:00 - Sleep! Saturday - 10:00 - Momoist CALL workshop. This was unadvertised in the print schedule due to a printing error, so two girls went around the con handing out slips of paper in an attempt to advertise it. Unfortunately, only about twenty people showed up. Together with the fan club, we practiced a number of songs from the CALL booklet. Unfortunately, they refused to play Nostalgia because they claimed there wasn't a realistic chance of it being played. The key highlight was practicing the intermediary chant in Ai no Medicine. 11:00 - Lunch. Ate at Kelsey's, and the female waitress was very nice to us. She even came out with a refill just as I was about to request one! Now that's service. She got a generous tip, and I highly recommend that you eat there next year if you want outstanding service and food at a moderate price. 12:00 - Halko Momoi concert lineup. Reikoku and I were near the front of the line, and we, along with some people around us, kept practicing the intermediary chant in Ai No Medicine while getting freak looks from everyone else. 12:30 - Front row center seats, baby! The best seats in the house that you can get without spending $65 to be part of her fan club. The security guard let us have those seats because I told her we would be doing CALL. Fan club members started to hand out glowsticks. 1:20 - Halko Momoi concert. Without a doubt, the best anime concert AN has ever put on, and was worth the $55 con admission alone. Due to audience participation, there was a level of energy and enthusiasm that dwarfed the KOTOKO concert two years ago. The key highlight was Halko performing the Popotan game opening (Icchau Popotan) out of the blue for the first time in four years because she encountered a Mii cosplayer during the Meet and Greet on Thursday. She claimed that even her panties were accurate! Nostalgia wasn't played, but hey, Icchau Popotan more than made up for it. 3:30 - Halko's autograph session. The limit was two items per person. I got her to sign a beige t-shirt with gano ko ga hoshiih written across it, and she promised to sing Nostalgia next time if she were to ever return to Canada. The second item for her to sign was a Mouse boxset, which I picked up for $25 at Hairy T before the con. She seemed genuinely surprised that I knew she did the opening for that show. 5:00 - Masquerade. Due to the autograph session, we had to settle for seats near the back of the ballroom. It was actually one of the worst masquerades in years because many entrants dropped out. As a result, the masquerade ended half an hour early. What a disappointment. Highlights included Squirtle and Mr. Game and Watch. There were also numerous Odin Sphere entries, with the last one being the best one. 8:00 - Anime Game That Tune. It was actually Name That Tune, but they said they would mix some video game clips in as well. It was an extreme embarrassment, because I got 0 correct. Oh well. It was still fun nonetheless. 9:00 - The World Ends with You DS meetup. This meetup, which was in the handheld gaming area (Haliburton 2), was arranged at gamefaqs.com. Unfortunately, everyone who came brought pirated European versions that could not connect with North American versions. I had to call Brian Lee to bring his laptop over so that I could convert my save into the European version. Once that happened, everything went as planned. I demonstrated final time attack in under 3 minutes (2:41) and #96U in under 1 minute (0:38). My FTA looked so effortless to them that they thought FTA in general was easy. 11:00 - Reikoku went back to the hotel room to sleep. We had nothing scheduled here, so Brian and I waited for the next event. I used his laptop to do some last-minute cram studying of the G-Collections catalogue because I thought the majority of eroge shown in Name That Hentai Game Show would be English ones. It's difficult to differentiate Virgin Roster from Chain or The Sagara Family. 12:30 - Name That Hentai Game Show. It was delayed thirty minutes because they wanted to wait until the Gay Sex 101 panel in the other room was done. When it started, Brian and I stared in disbelief. It was Name That Hentai, Game Show, rather than Name That Hentai Game, Show! Obviously, the people who put the schedule together need to grow a brain, because Name That Tune is called just that; it is not called Name That Tune Game Show. I think there were only two pictures that came from eroge: Maple Colors, and Suika. I couldn't answer those because I could not answer any of the qualifying questions. The highlight of the event was a question that asked what the boy in a certain picture was about to do to a girl. The contestant then demonstrated the action (spanking the butt) with the help of an enthusiastic volunteer. There were also three hand inspections, but no one was caught. I don't see why anyone would; h-anime art quality is so bad compared to eroge that you couldn't get off on it even if you tried. Note to co-ordinators: Please rename this event to Name That Hentai Anime next time in order to avoid confusion! 2:00 - Brian gave me a lift to the Doubletree, which was a good thing, because it was freezing outside and I was still wearing my wi-fi t-shirt. Sleep! Sunday 10:00 - We did not have anything slated for this time, so we went into the dealers' room again. Reikoku purchased some player pins from The World Ends With You. I didn't end up buying anything, since I was saving my money for the Halko Momoi dress. 12:00 - Lunch at Kelsey's again. Unfortunately, the female waitress wasn't there. However, their unparalleled quality of service shone yet again. I left my Nintendo DS stylus on the table, and the male waiter came all the way out to the parking lot to give it back to me! 1:30 - Lineup for Halko's Q&A panel. Nothing of note here. 2:00 - Halko's Q&A panel. She seemed very happy to participate. The most memorable questions were if she ever had a boyfriend before being an idol, favorite Nico Nico Douga video (with an off-the-record response of hacked Idolm@ster videos with her music), and favorite Toronto attractions. The attraction question eventually ended up with someone who is CN Tower staff offering her free admission to the Sky Pod, the highest public observation area. 3:15 - Halko's Charity Auction. Four lots were up for grabs, but one of them eventually became replaced. The first lot was a box that used to contain many glowsticks for the concert. Inside was a single glowstick, but the outside of the box was covered in Halko's writing. The bidding started at $10 and went for $50 to a person in Halko's fan club. The second auction was a standard autographed Halko t-shirt. They were selling them for $30. Bidding started at $20 and ended at $35. That person simply paid an extra $5 to not endure a lineup. The third auction was a black AN2K8 XXL t-shirt with every GOH signature on it. It started at $20, but ended up going for $100 to some person who came in from the United States. Then came the crown jewel, the one item I was waiting for: Halko's dress that she wore in the Love.EXE music video. I activated one of my final Halko Momoi glowsticks and played Nostalgia from Witch's a-la-Mode in the background for good luck. Brian Lee started to record the auction with his camcorder. The auctioneer first suggested a starting bid of $50. In order to make a statement, I instead started the bidding at $100, raising my glowstick in the CALL manner. Three more people made bids that raised it up to $200. Then I stepped in with $250. A flurry of incremental bids from other people raised it to $560. That whittled the field down to three people: a girl, another guy, and me. I made my final bid: $700. The auctioneer was about to orgasm. The girl shut up and bowed out. However, right when the auctioneer said g$700 going twice,h the guy stepped in with $750. If I wanted to go any higher, I would have had to use my debit card. After mulling it over for a moment, I decided to bow out. The $750 bid was the highest in Anime North history, and was higher than what any of Halko's dresses fetched in Japan. Turns out the guy was from Halko's fan club. Oh well. 4:00 - Attempted to get into Halko's autograph line just outside the ballroom, but it was capped. That is BS. I poured my heart and soul into the final auction, and I got punished for it. Since I already had two items autographed by her, I didn't bother arguing. Instead I went to the HaruHaru dance contest. That's not a typo. 4:10 - The organizers for the HaruHaru dance contest didn't show up, so a con op requested a CD from the audience. I thought about handing them my karaoke CD, going up on stage, and belting out Halko Momoi karaoke with Halko herself within earshot to pass the time, but decided not to. Instead, we had standup comedy for 20 minutes. By 4:30, someone came back with a Haruhi CD, and random audience members did two performances of Hare Hare Yukai and one Lucky Star opening performance. 5:00 - It's over! Brian Lee, being the nice guy he is, drove Reikoku and I halfway home. He is a gentleman and a scholar, and is a genuine NNL fan. He doesn't seem like any of the phonies I encountered in #nnl. Thanks, Brian. I almost feel like fansubbing again because of you. 6:00 - Home sweet home! Halko's concert made this the best Anime North I have ever attended since I first participated in 2003. I'll be there next year, that's for sure! Monday - Hope you enjoyed the con report! 2008.05.27. AN2K8 is over! The full report is coming very soon, but you can catch an NNL exclusive about how I tried to obtain Halko's dress that she wore in the LOVE.EXE PV at the charity auction! Fifteen minute video interview, courtesy of allgames: HERE! Have fun! 2008.05.21. The NNL ANorth 2K8 itinerary is up! Reikoku and I always try to follow it to the best of our abilities, but other stuff always happens. Therefore, this time there will be two columns: primary and alternate! X = private stuff, so you won't be able to see us.
The most anticipated event is obviously the Momoi concert. Canadians always get the hand-me-downs, it seems. The most WTF event is Name That Eroge. They are probably going to show HCG or an interface shot and you have to identify it. If I get chosen and do not win, I am going to cry in a corner. I'm going to peg the odds of a Key game being all but guaranteed, TYPE-MOON having even odds, a Navel game being 2:1, a minori game being 7:1, and an F&C game being 10:1. Also note that unlike in past years, we're going to very few panels. This time we want a change of pace. The Nominoichi is probably the best shot you'll get at meeting us. I will not be wearing an NNL t-shirt; instead, I will be wearing this. If you recognize me, I'll give you a discount on some of the Nintendo DS lites I am selling. For the Momoi concert, attendees are being encouraged to CALL. WTF is CALL? Synchronized cheering. They have a Japanese guide here, but what's interesting is that they translated it to (non-natural) English just for ANorth, here! Unfortunately, the rules in Japanese make little sense, and it makes even less sense in English. Okay, let's see...
Did you get all that, especially PPPH? I sure didn't, so I'll need to attend the workshop! Let's say 30:1 odds that Nostalgia (Witch's a-la-Mode Op) will be played, and 2:1 for Ai no Medisun. (For those of you who haven't followed NNL in its entirety, we were going to fansub Magical Nurse Komugi in 2003 with some other fansub group, but backed out because it made absolutely no sense. Good CALL.) As a result, I'll practice the CALL for Ai no Medisun (because I have the song memorized already) and nothing else. The site doesn't list Nostalgia. =( Let's flood the hall with glowstick's radiance! 2008.05.09. Let's titter like little girls! This game actually happened... (image here) I ended up winning by three points. Yay! I am so immature. I'm going to have a table at this year's ANorth Nominoichi (flea market). I'll be selling some new Nintendo DS lites. If you want one, mention this site and I'll give you a good discount! ef - the latter tale comes out in three weeks. We're still not going to do anything from it... or are we? If the demo is typical of minori (under 1500 text blocks), we might do it. But no promises! Reikoku has been working extra shifts because he wants to splurge at ANorth. I can't blame him. If we do anything, I will probably have to translate the damn thing instead of Reikoku, so it depends on how I feel after ANorth. Yay! SPECIAL Since I don't have Wind installed on my computer anymore due to the fansubbing purge, some of the descriptions may be inaccurate. These scripts were pulled out of a random folder, and some of it was incomplete. Whatever. Once I post a script up here, it's final. NNL will not entertain any additional offers of assistance. These scripts are internal bonuses from Reikoku and myself for the few people who still care about it. They are not canon NNL releases, and there is no ETA on the completion of the entire thing. In fact, the next script probably won't be up for a couple of months. This is just a diversion in case I get insomnia. If I had lots of free time, I'd work on ef instead. Wind just turned SIX years old last week. It's ooooold, and virtually no one gives a damn anymore. Consider yourself lucky that you're getting these at all. These scripts will not have the original Japanese text. Reikoku simply translated from scratch files, and I'm too lazy to make a tool that integrates the Japanese text with the English text. Just use the fandisc to compare the text blocks. You do have the original game, right? If not, then these scripts are not for you. I don't think I need to remind anyone that these scripts spoil the main game, but here's your obligatory warning. Spoilers abound! 2008.04.20. fd001 and g005 added.
2008.04.14. We're not doing anything from ef - the latter tale... for now. That includes the opening. Because the fairy'll flap off. Besides, my fansubbing tools have been deleted from this computer. Call me back in 2009. 2008.04.10. I win! 2008.04.09. Okay, the finals is tonight at 9 PM EDT/6 PM PDT. Go to allgames.com for more info. Wish me luck! 2008.04.06. Life after fansubbing is good. Among the booty is an autographed DS Lite by Nintendo of America localization producer Tim O'Leary. Allow me to go on the record to say that aside from a few quibbles here and there, he did a fantastic job with the localization, putting the European English script to shame. Instead of going for an hardheaded literal translation like the European English script did, Mr. O'Leary infused the script with some additional mannerisms that weren't there in the original script. In fact, the Japanese script (which is embedded in the game data) took itself way too seriously. By rewording some scenes in order to make them sound campy, Mr. O'Leary made the script bearable and entertaining. Anyway, all that matters is getting the final win. It would be nice to be number one in the world at something, too. Hee hee~ Time to pray that my ISP doesn't fail me tomorrow... EDIT: The match has been postponed to Wednesday. This is to ensure a higher quality feed. 2008.03.29. As always, Reikoku and I will be at this year's AnimeNorth. However, for the first time, neither of us are going to be wearing any t-shirts identifying our affiliation with No Name Losers. (I am not wearing the Wind t-shirt for a third straight year, and I have no clue of the whereabouts of the black retirement shirt.) On May 21st, I'll post our itinerary based on the pre-schedule so you know where we'll be. If you want to talk to us in person, it is up to you to contact us beforehand so that we'll be expecting someone. As an aside, I can bring the Wind manuscripts or any other NNL relics if anyone is interested in looking at them. Time to grab the duster... We had camcorder footage for the previous two years. However, due to lack of manpower and funds, we will not be doing that this year. Also, I can't find the time to edit and release the video we have for ANorth 2007. Unless someone wants to volunteer to be the cameraman, there will be no new footage. We're finally staying at the Doubletree this time, and we've got a free spot. Contact us if you're interested in bunking with us at a special price. You're looking at two men in their early twenties. See you there! 2008.03.08. The ef - the first tale project has been canceled. Q: Why? Q: But you believed in him! Q: Will you release what you have done? Q: Will the project be revived if another translator hops on? Q: So how do we know that the project wasn't a complete ruse? Q: Will you be releasing Wind Patch Build D or anything else in the backlog? Effective immediately, #nnl is no longer supported. It is still around, but Reikoku and I will not frequent it anymore. Therefore, I have removed our IRC info. We will still respond to any feedback via e-mail. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl with Reikoku. 2008.02.02. No Name Losers is back. Sort of. We have assembled a team that is currently localizing ef - the first tale. That's right, we're doing the full game, and translation has already passed the 20% mark! Hop on over to the ef project page for more details. After ef Supah Preview, we never intended to work on ef - the first tale. The project page was an elaborate joke, set up to fool people who didn't have the attention to read the main page. It worked on some people, too. However, one day, someone in #nnl messaged me and said that he and his friend were interested in working with us. I told him that we would provide full support if he finished 20% of the script in under three weeks. To my surprise, he did, proving that he was for real. As a result, there was a ripe opportunity to localize ef - the first tale before ef - the latter tale's Japanese release. Since I did not want to be the lead editor of a full-length bishoujo game project again, all we needed was manpower for the non-translation phases. With Wind patch build D editor TDOMMX becoming available, the matchup was complete. The current team is assembled of #nnl regulars, and I have the utmost faith in them. As for me, I will only be assisting in minor tasks such as co-ordination, build assembly, and technical support. Reikoku will not be involved at all, except for occasional translation checking. However, I am overjoyed that I have the opportunity to share my experiences with the next generation. Yeah, that sounds cheesy, but that's how I genuinely feel. This warning is on the development page, but I will repeat it here: Do NOT purchase ef - the first tale just for this project, because it is very likely that there will be no patch. We are taking a controversial route for reasons explained on our development page. Due to this unexpected turn of events, we are focusing all of our time on this project. All other outstanding projects (Wind patch build D, Wind anime scripts, Haruoto Demo build B) have been canceled until further notice. We apologize for this, but I think we can all agree that it's time to let go of a game that is nearly six years old. As for Haruoto, well... no one cares about that, either.
2008.01.05. The new year brings some sad news. Hirameki International has pulled out of the bishoujo game localization business. As one of the few who supported them by owning seven of their thirteen releases, I have a few parting words. First, let's rewind back to the end of 2005. Ai Yori Aoshi and Ever17 came out at around the same time. They were highly anticipated due to coverage on insertcredit and on their site. Ever17 was acclaimed by almost everyone who touched it, while Ai Yori Aoshi was a cute three hour diversion. Then there were two releases from them in 2006: Animamundi and Yo-Jin-Bo. Yo-Jin-Bo is notable because it was produced by TWOFIVE, the company who was responsible for the music in Wind -a breath of heart-. Both were otome games (the opposite of bishoujo games) and were aimed at the yaoi contingent, even if the games themselves are not, which turned off many people. They even got Don McCow, the man behind the lyrics of Wind's songs, to visit a yaoi-only convention. 2007 brought us one release, Piece of Wonder. Unlike the 2005 releases, these three games were announced with very little fanfare. Without a reputation, you're not going to make money in any business if you do not focus on advertising. Hirameki attemped to rectify that. Hirameki had a booth at AnimeBoston, AnimeExpo, and AnimeNorth for 2006 and 2007. I was fortunate enough to visit them both times. Considering their situation, I questioned the strategy of going to conventions this early because other than Ever17, they had no killer app. I thought their money would be better spent on Newtype USA coverage. The AnimeNorth 2006 booth was spearheaded by their new release, Animamundi. It was going to do reasonably well due to the fact that it looked like a yaoi game (AnimeNorth has enough yaoi content to warrant a separate website for it). Sales were brisk, due to their "buy one get two free" deal that was going on. Anyone who purchased Ai Yori Aoshi or Ever17 got two of their DVD titles for free! I paid $35 for Majyo no Otya Kai (Tea Society of a Witch) when it came out in 2004, so it was definitely the steal of the convention. The man told me that they were liquidating their old titles to make way for the new ones. I left the booth a happy camper with Ever17, Hourglass of Summer, and Phantom of Inferno. It was a promising start, and I definitely believed that 2007 would be full of surprises. My only complaint was that they didn't set up a rolling TV demo to demonstrate what they were all about. Alas, that was not to be. They had the same booth in 2007, except for Yo-Jin-Bo in one corner and Piece of Wonder in one corner. The titles that were "liquidated" in 2006 were still there. They were getting a few sales, but it was a far cry from 2006 in which their product was flying off the tables. One thing about AnimeNorth (and presumably any other con) is that the majority of conventioneers are veterans. It was like Nintendo trying to sell a Gamecube today. They needed innovation to capture the market, and they simply didn't do that. By the way, Piece of Wonder wasn't selling at all. Perhaps their business and game selection model was in shambles, but surely they were genuine people, right? If they were, they certainly didn't show it. They sent two lackeys and not their core team to Toronto in both years, which meant that there was no serious discussion of company matters. I dearly wanted to know about the history of their company and how they were doing, since they were one of the inspirations for the Wind Translation Project. The men who were there couldn't give me any of that. The man from Hendane! (which is currently a shell of its former self) in 2007 knew us, but Hirameki didn't. That was something I didn't expect. Their website didn't have much insight other than the "Ask Aoyama" section, and that section wasn't even about company matters. None of their staff were active on their own BBS. I could clearly see that the passion wasn't there. If I were an employee at Hirameki, I would have been busting my ass off building hype for the next release and trying to make the fanbase salivate in anticipation. I still think that passion is what drives bishoujo game translation projects, be it for a hobby or for commercial reasons (see my rant in 2007). I remember a web site that interviewed the enthusiastic localization team for Phoenix Wright 2 and 3, so it's not just the little guys who need it. A business model where customer service is not a high priority will inevitably come back to bite you in the end. Even their goodbye notice will invariably leave some people sour. They have pulled all support for all of their products. Where are people going to obtain patches for Ever17 now? Fan sites can be quite unreliable. I'm looking at you, VisualNews. NNL may have retired, but we will support our own fansubs until the very end. We have kept this domain through 2016. Our current situations and recent experiences forced Reikoku and I into retirement, but we may want to revisit our ex-hobby some day. When we do, we would like to have things the way they once were. I would like to finish up on a sombering thought. We may have already lived through the golden years of commercial bishoujo game localization. As computer graphic technology becomes more advanced, the chances of a renaissance on the PC platform are becoming more and more unlikely. It's not that the genre is bound to fail; see Phoenix Wright. Hirameki simply screwed up the delivery and dug their own grave. Just look at the Nintendo DS: it's a rehash of the failed game.com in many ways, yet it has recently outsold the venerable PlayStation2 in all-time sales. Presentation is everything. And that's enough from me. Updates will be sporadic from here on in, but remember, our e-mail is always open. Take care, everyone. |
