DOAX3 officially not being localized for the west

[WeepingAngels]

The irony is getting good. For years it's been articles, blogs, forum posts etc all about the state of women in gaming and trying to change it, and as soon as someone comes up and says "okay we won't release the game that offends you so much because of all the griping you do" everyone wants to deny they had an impact, or even could. What, was the last few years of cultural commentary just everyone in love with the sound of their own voices?

This is one of the results feminists wanted (the other being that games be changed to suit them) and now people don't want to believe it. Maybe it's because sooo many gamers were all aboard the pro-feminism train and they may not be pleased with the results. It's like they didn't know what they were going to get.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Meh. Even if the current toxic "progressive" political environment is to blame (it's not the only factor here; Japan's game industry is struggling to retain presence at all), I take solace in knowing that this likely won't become normal.

Dead or Alive is a niche franchise to begin with, but also notorious for exploiting the female form and pandering to horny guys. I remember actual gamers criticizing the franchise for that nearly a decade ago, well before any of the current feminist hacks and pseudo-intellectual types decided to co-opt the spotlight.

 

[NiPah]

I think we may witness the implementation of the term "SJW" as an actual internet weapon.

1. either the outrage was real and they stepped back (unlikely)
2. they kind of know the game would be a dud so they're using all kinds of smokes and mirrors to generate buzz around it

Doubtful, even TK wouldn't be stupid enough to think an import only release coupled with internet outrage would sell more then a domestic release. Japanese are very mindful of their image and brand in other countries, sometimes stupidly so, even if it is misguided it's still likely that they didn't want to further tarnish their name given the current American gaming climate.

It's pretty likely that the reason is exactly as they've stated, low sales hasn't stopped them from releasing any of their other titles, this would be an extremely weird title to not release for fear of failure, for better or worse the charged politically correct climate has prevented this game from a US release.

 

[Redd the Sock]

The irony is getting good. For years it's been articles, blogs, forum posts etc all about the state of women in gaming and trying to change it, and as soon as someone comes up and says "okay we won't release the game that offends you so much because of all the griping you do" everyone wants to deny they had an impact, or even could. What, was the last few years of cultural commentary just everyone in love with the sound of their own voices?

This is one of the results feminists wanted (the other being that games be changed to suit them) and now people don't want to believe it. Maybe it's because sooo many gamers were all aboard the pro-feminism train and they may not be pleased with the results. It's like they didn't know what they were going to get.

Much as I'd like to think this is all because some well meaning people didn't realize how far others they sided with wanted to take it, I think it's more the tone of how this came out: not an apology from people turned to the right way of thinking and possessed of a genuine desire not to offend anymore, but rather a more harsh "okay to brats, we won't release the scary boob game so you won't bombard us with tweets and articles about how unhappy you are about it."Being happy about this runs the risk of admitting that any progress made to their cause is probably less to do with changing minds, andmore to do with how much social media has been turned into a weapon of coercion.

 

[VanQ]

Snip

I want to know what they said because you listing Kotaku as a reason why Japanese developers as a whole don't want to export to the west is a rather large statement that needs some backing up. Yeah, and they're one isolated example. I need more to go on if we're going to be cataloging statements.

She. I looked it up and it's a she. Exactly this is a pretty isolated example, there aren't exactly massive trends saying Japanese developers are white supremacists.

Well, got no linkable sources on this, and I absolutely refuse to divulge his name for obvious reasons, but a friend of mine who has been a game developer for over 20 years regularly tells me that despite my disdain for the site, Kotaku is where a lot of game developers go to get an idea on what the gaming community wants. And with Kotaku having one of the largest, if not the largest reach and audience of any games site I can think of, that makes sense to me on a fundamental level.

If developers are really going to Kotaku for their readings on what the community wants, and with the fact that Kotaku was one of the main sites pushing to women in games angle for the last 5+ years, it's no surprise that Eastern developers will assume that Western gamers don't want tits in their games anymore.

But like I said, this is me saying "my friend says this" and if that's not good enough for you then feel free to disregard.

 

[Something Amyss]

I think it's because the "SJWs" say there are too many big breasted women in fiction, plenty of people made the leap that all "SJWs" are anti-sex puritans. I must be a massive contradiction to that mindset considering that big ol folder I got.

More likely, you only picked up your folder as a smokescreen. Just like the people who want their accounts on playasia removed made them specifically to protest, and I only bought GTA V (twice) to pretend to be a real customer of the games industry so I could silently push my agenda. We're all carbetbagging, because god forbid you enjoy something and be critical of it. Or not like the exact same things I do.

 

[NiPah]

...prevented this game from a US release.

Nobody outside of Asia is getting a release. Not EU, not Canada.

Sorry for being pedantic, just this thread especially has been awful about misunderstanding that Tecmo is referring to the "west" (EU+NA) not the US specifically.

True, I was only sure of the lack of a US release so I erred on the side of caution.

 

[I can't enter my old name]

While I don't necessarily agree with it I can understand the 'SJW' disdain for the DOA fighting game series, but isn't DOAX basically softcore porn? You'd think this is a game for the moral "won't somebody please think of the children!" police to tackle, not SJW's.

They're the same group now.

The left has become the right, but they just use different justifications now. The right also still likes to use more heavy-handed methods like government sponsored censorship, while the left prefers subtler methods, like social media and the threat of lawsuits/bad PR to make people self-censor.

So do the SJW's protest against porn as well? If this was a live action video made by Vivid or some other porn company the right-wing moral police have always been against it of course, but the SJW's jumping on that bandwagon would be news to me.

I think it's because the "SJWs" say there are too many big breasted women in fiction, plenty of people made the leap that all "SJWs" are anti-sex puritans. I must be a massive contradiction to that mindset considering that big ol folder I got.

Not really. Considering that 70% of young men watch porn once or more a month, so it's quite the norm.

My issue is how some male gamers don't want to own up to the title of gamers. They don't want to be associated with the negative stereotype of gamers being sweaty nerds ogling virtual women. They want gaming to "grow up" because they can't handle being grouped with people like DOA players. I also thought that way, because I've read many articles and persuasive comments about oversexualization and very of how women are represented in games. But now I can't really say that anymore, because it ought to exist, at least as a niche.

What I really hate is those that say "We're not saying you can't enjoy sexy characters in video games" and then attack sexy characters. If I was to rephrase it, it would be "We're not saying you can't enjoy sexy characters in video games, we just don't want to see any sexy women in our video games."

 

[balladbird]

Rest assured it's certainly not fear of hostile press responses.

Japan makes Japanese videogames for Japan only.
Case in point: the Yakuza series, which A LOT OF FANS want in the West, but they don't care anymore.

Even Yakuza fans know that there's only like 5 of them grand total. Those few are just really vocal out of desperation, since they missed like 4 games by now and 6 and the remake of the first game is on the way. It's sad, but those games and the series in general is DOA (dead on arrival, kinda forgot this is a topic about Dead or Alive, pardon for any confusion) in our part of the world.

China seems to like it though. With a little luck they might translate it in english for them and we can import.

Yeah, the point I was making is that even tough fans kept asking for Yakuza games to come to the West, Sega said "lolnope".
Japanese, I repeat, seem to have a mentality in which sometimes they make games for their country alone, and when they perceive a game is "too Japanese", they don't want to bring it outside their country.
I think this is the same case with DOAX3. But really, I doubt it's a game with much dialogue anyway, so I don't see the problem.... those who really want it can simply import it.

as a rule of thumb, I adamantly refuse to comment on the subject of this thread, since it's basically a powderkeg, but I simply had to correct one thing you two brought up, in hopes of boosting a game's sales:

Yakuza 5 is coming out next month on PSN. it's digital only for the PS3, but you can preorder it now! The series isn't lost.

 

[VanQ]

Not really. Considering that 70% of young men watch porn once or more a month, so it's quite the norm.

My issue is how some male gamers don't want to own up to the title of gamers. They don't want to be associated with the negative stereotype of gamers being sweaty nerds ogling virtual women. They want gaming to "grow up" because they can't handle being grouped with people like DOA players. I also thought that way, because I've read many articles and persuasive comments about oversexualization and very of how women are represented in games. But now I can't really say that anymore, because it ought to exist, at least as a niche.

What I really hate is those that say "We're not saying you can't enjoy sexy characters in video games" and then attack sexy characters. If I was to rephrase it, it would be "We're not saying you can't enjoy sexy characters in video games, we just don't want to see any sexy women in our video games."

And to be honest, the simplest way to achieve this would be to spend less time whining online about the sexy women in some games and to spend more time playing video games without sexy women in them. But we just keep on seeing threads and articles about how awful Team Ninja games are for having objectified women in their games or how people feel guilty/weird/bad for liking Senran Kagura or whathaveyou. Just enjoy what you enjoy, let other people enjoy what they enjoy, and stop demonizing people because they play games which dare to have things you don't like in them.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

Rest assured it's certainly not fear of hostile press responses.

Japan makes Japanese videogames for Japan only.
Case in point: the Yakuza series, which A LOT OF FANS want in the West, but they don't care anymore.

Even Yakuza fans know that there's only like 5 of them grand total. Those few are just really vocal out of desperation, since they missed like 4 games by now and 6 and the remake of the first game is on the way. It's sad, but those games and the series in general is DOA (dead on arrival, kinda forgot this is a topic about Dead or Alive, pardon for any confusion) in our part of the world.

China seems to like it though. With a little luck they might translate it in english for them and we can import.

Yeah, the point I was making is that even tough fans kept asking for Yakuza games to come to the West, Sega said "lolnope".
Japanese, I repeat, seem to have a mentality in which sometimes they make games for their country alone, and when they perceive a game is "too Japanese", they don't want to bring it outside their country.
I think this is the same case with DOAX3. But really, I doubt it's a game with much dialogue anyway, so I don't see the problem.... those who really want it can simply import it.

as a rule of thumb, I adamantly refuse to comment on the subject of this thread, since it's basically a powderkeg, but I simply had to correct one thing you two brought up, in hopes of boosting a game's sales:

Yakuza 5 is coming out next month on PSN. it's digital only for the PS3, but you can preorder it now! The series isn't lost.

I already did out of principle despite the issues with it being digital only.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

250,000 copies? Total world-wide?

Two of those were mine. No, I didn't wear out the disc. I dropped the first and it got scratched.

It is very hard to find jet ski games.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Sounds to me like a company deciding that the US market for the game is too small to make the localization profitable. Then someone makes a BS excuse so the fans are upset at someone else.

Hmmm... What evidence do you have of this?

So someone blames feminist for a game not coming out with no evidence and you believe it. Someone points out that that idea seems weak and you demand evidence.

OT: Meh. Those games never seemed to be any more than masturbation fodder. We will no longer have these deep engaging games to keep us entertained.

While they didn't blame "feminists" by name, the actual creator of this game specified that it is due to "not wanting to have talks about women's representation in videogames" that they are not going to release it. Now, who might it be that would initiate such a discussion, hmm?

I think this serves as sufficient "evidence" (directly from the horse's mouth; the official developers of the game) for this blaming.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Honestly I can kind of see this. I mean if you release a game like this, your going to be answering questions about the treatment of women in games and what kind of message your new bikini malfunction mechanic sends. (Here is a odd thought, which would be worse, adding a system where the girl's bikini falls off by accident, or a system where they take it off?) Those are hard questions to answer. Double through a translator. The problem is this plan just won't work. I mean by now there is a near grantee that they are going to have to talk about the treatment of women in games.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

250,000 copies? Total world-wide?

Two of those were mine. No, I didn't wear out the disc. I dropped the first and it got scratched.

It is very hard to find jet ski games.

Hey, I don't blame you. If reviews talked up the mini-games in this one, I'd have considered it.

Well, before their PR stunt, anyway. Beach volleyball is a hell of a niche sport for games.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

Honestly I can kind of see this. I mean if you release a game like this, your going to be answering questions about the treatment of women in games and what kind of message your new bikini malfunction mechanic sends. (Here is a odd thought, which would be worse, adding a system where the girl's bikini falls off by accident, or a system where they take it off?) Those are hard questions to answer. Double through a translator. The problem is this plan just won't work. I mean by now there is a near grantee that they are going to have to talk about the treatment of women in games.

That's their new mechanic? I'd thought that was a joke.

At this point Xtreme 4 will just be an H-game. Not that that's a bad thing, at least they'd be honest about it.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Honestly I can kind of see this. I mean if you release a game like this, your going to be answering questions about the treatment of women in games and what kind of message your new bikini malfunction mechanic sends. (Here is a odd thought, which would be worse, adding a system where the girl's bikini falls off by accident, or a system where they take it off?) Those are hard questions to answer. Double through a translator. The problem is this plan just won't work. I mean by now there is a near grantee that they are going to have to talk about the treatment of women in games.

That's their new mechanic? I'd thought that was a joke.

At this point Xtreme 4 will just be an H-game. Not that that's a bad thing, at least they'd be honest about it.

Let me double check that. I read it someplace, but it could have been a joke that tricked me.

Edit Ok it is real and ps4 exclusive.

Yesterday Koei Tecmo revealed a new feature of Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, with the heroines? bikinis that will ?malfunction? under strenuous activity, revealing some more skin by shifting out of place or due to straps suddenly pulling free.

So ya think about that for a bit.

 

[gyrobot_v1legacy]

Honestly I can kind of see this. I mean if you release a game like this, your going to be answering questions about the treatment of women in games and what kind of message your new bikini malfunction mechanic sends. (Here is a odd thought, which would be worse, adding a system where the girl's bikini falls off by accident, or a system where they take it off?) Those are hard questions to answer. Double through a translator. The problem is this plan just won't work. I mean by now there is a near grantee that they are going to have to talk about the treatment of women in games.

That's their new mechanic? I'd thought that was a joke.

At this point Xtreme 4 will just be an H-game. Not that that's a bad thing, at least they'd be honest about it.

Console and handheld gaming in Japan doesnt allow frontal nudity or depiction of actual sex like GTAV, Witcher, The Order 1886 or Thi4f. If it ever have nudity expect bars of censorship light

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Honestly I can kind of see this. I mean if you release a game like this, your going to be answering questions about the treatment of women in games and what kind of message your new bikini malfunction mechanic sends. (Here is a odd thought, which would be worse, adding a system where the girl's bikini falls off by accident, or a system where they take it off?) Those are hard questions to answer. Double through a translator. The problem is this plan just won't work. I mean by now there is a near grantee that they are going to have to talk about the treatment of women in games.

That's their new mechanic? I'd thought that was a joke.

At this point Xtreme 4 will just be an H-game. Not that that's a bad thing, at least they'd be honest about it.

Console and handheld gaming in Japan doesnt allow frontal nudity or depiction of actual sex like GTAV, Witcher, The Order 1886 or Thi4f. If it ever have nudity expect bars of censorship light

That is a little... well I don't have a word to describe it. Well japan seems to be at the forefront of titillation, they seem to be kind of repressed when it comes to actual sex. (Not too dissimilar to america I'll add.)

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

They don't allow things to be shown which creative people use to make really really pervy stuff that use loopholes to bypass these bans. It's kinda how tentacle porn became a thing. They couldn't show penises so they had to come up with something else that looked like that and there was this one classic painting of the fisherman's wife so it was all done and done. This repression in the "mainstream" culture leads the way to a lot of very...interesting fetishes that follow.