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Buffering ... Buffering ... Majo Shinpan
If you've been following Doki Doki Majo Shinpan with the same level of interest as we somehow have developed, then you probably saw our first video footage of the game, taken from a store demo. But that was in a noisy store, shot with a handheld camera, and not really the ideal presentation for game video.Well, this is significantly more ideal. It's a Windows Media stream of that same video, in much better quality. The only problem-- like we said, it's a Windows Media stream. Expect to wait a bit.[Link goes to a streaming .WMV video.][Via Dengeki]
Doki Doki Majo Shinpan has sound?
Here's an interesting item for people whose primary interest in Doki Doki Majo Shinpan is the music: an official soundtrack CD will be released on July 25th. We've only heard a few seconds of drowned-out music from the game, so we have no idea as to its quality.There's also the Doki Doki Majo Shinpan Special Fanbook, which contains artwork from the game and developer interviews, as most fanbooks do. In addition, it comes with a mousepad, two posters, and ... a paper doll. For some reason, we think this is going to be the bigger seller.
Doki Majo ads to make shoppers uncomfortable in public
We can't resist posting this gallery of advertisements for our favorite witch-groping game, Doki Doki Majo Shinpan. Like pretty much everything else about the game, these ads show a brazen sexuality that we aren't used to. Sure, American ads have plenty of scantily-dressed women, but they don't have Shift-JIS mascots pointing at those womens' chests and exclaiming "Breasts! Breasts!" We aren't going to turn this into a debate about decency. We just want to enjoy this game and these ads, which display the website's "Are you a bad person?" entry question, on the level of pure hilarity. This game doesn't make us want to discuss society's issues. It makes us want to giggle.
The witch hunt goes international
SNK's Doki Doki Majo Shinpan has been doing great business in preorder, and seems to be getting a lot of attention. Now it looks like SNK is responding to this success by marketing the game in ... China! A new translated version of the website has appeared, offering the same content in Chinese. No, it doesn't help us any, but at least they're thinking about some international marketing. That's one baby step closer to an English localization, right? The Japanese page has been updated too, with the screen cleaner shown above (which some Japan-based reader should really think about securing for us) and new screens of the first-person Magic Battle Mode. Apparently, somehow, you can do something to upset the girls. Just touch the "Read" button to determine if it's a witch check out the screens.[Via Canned Dogs]
Amazon.co.jp shoppers are crazy about witch-hunting
SNK's Doki Doki Majo Shinpan, the already-infamous adventure game about examining young girls for evidence of witchery, seems to have gotten Japanese gamers' hearts beating. The preorder listing for DDMS is now the top-listed video game on Amazon.com's Japan store.It's currently ahead of the Final Fantasy Tactics PSP remake, Vanillaware's rather delicious-looking Odin Sphere, and even Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. We have to admit, we're happy to see SNK experiencing such success, though it's weird that we think of SNK as underdogs now when they used to charge people $300+ for their games.[Via NeoGAF]
Another look at Doki Doki Majo Saiban
We've talked at length about SNK's suggestive Doki Doki Majo Saiban before, mostly about the controversy involved in the game. We've discussed the most obvious feature of the game, which is the witch-hunting mode that has players investigating young girls with the touch screen to determine witchery.Well, we'll focus on the other part of the game today. As self-avowed adventure game freaks, we feel that we should focus on that part of Doki Doki Majo Saiban at least once; we've chosen new screenshots to that effect. We are interested in the adventure aspects of the game. We like SNK, and to be honest, if there's real puzzle solving and item collecting to be found, then we'll actually be interested in Doki Doki Majo Saiban. If it's just a matter of walking from location to location trying to find the right girl to talk to, then we aren't as thrilled. The fact that the main character keeps a log is promising, indicating that there is stuff worth keeping track of. We've been surprised by DS games before. Remember the comedy game about murder trials? That turned out okay. If the gameplay's there, we might even be able to see past the questionable content. With a C rating, the game shouldn't be too out of control. There's always the chance, too, that the game is actually satirical and pokes fun at the assumed perv audience. The website supports that theory.
Doki Doki Majo Saiban gets C rating
Whew. The official Doki Doki Majo Saiban website has been updated, and it looks like SNK's troubling game isn't as troubling as it ... could be. CERO, Japan's equivalent to the ESRB, rated its content a C, which means it is appropriate for ages 15 and up. At least we know it's definitely not full-on pornography, and that following the development of this game is somewhat less like watching a train wreck in slow motion than it was when we thought it was going to get a Z rating (18 and up). The website also corroborates our idea of the story and gameplay; the player, as a high-school boy, is compelled by an "angel" called Lulu to hunt witches by staring and prodding at girls to make their hearts beat quickly; their facial expressions and the background indicate their level of tension. [Via NeoGAF]
