• Song of Saya ~ Saya no Uta
• Kikokugai: The Cyber Slayer
• Hanachirasu
• Sumaga
• Outlaw Django ~ Zoku: Satsuriku no Django

These games will be produced in cooperation with the same expert localization staff (and others) who brought you the quality of translation content included in the Demonbane release, as well as under the close supervision of Nitroplus. Nitroplus is on board with us in the understanding that the Demonbane development cycle was undesirably slow, and we intend to have all of the above games released by the end of 2012.

Song of Saya and Hanachirasu will be released in a packaged bundle, and are available for preorder at J-List with release scheduled for Fall 2011. Download editions of the games will be available for those wishing to purchase them individually.

The remaining titles will be released over the course of 2012, with Kikokugai and Django planned as a bundled package release and Sumaga as a standalone release. Official sites for the games along with additional information will be available here at NITROPLUSUSA.COM in the coming weeks; also see our Twitter feed for up-to-the-minute news on all things Nitro+ in English.

Thanks for your continued support of Nitroplus games in English, and we look forward to bringing these five great games to you soon!

See this post at JAST USA for more information on the individual titles, as well as other new release announcements from AX 2011.

• Buy Demonbane at JAST USA
• Buy Demonbane at J-List
• Buy Demonbane at Peach Princess

The three shops listed above carry the download edition as well, which is being prepared at the time of this writing and will be available within the coming hours.

The limited edition package version of Demonbane includes:

• The game disc in a standard DVD case, featuring the original game release cover illustration
• A cardboard slipcase featuring the DVD release cover illustration
• A 16 page full color artbook/manual with gallery of Demonbane promotional art

From everyone at JAST USA, we hope you enjoy the Demonbane experience that was the product of much collaborative effort over the past two years. Stay tuned for more Demonbane updates and news on future Nitroplus games to come!

06/01/11 Update

A note regarding voice in the game: the original Japanese release of Demonbane was partially voiced, and our JAST USA collaborative release retains voiced portions identical to those in the Japanese release. Since this was an element that was left unchanged in our version we initially omitted it here, but as a subject of inquiry we would like to note that the periods of unvoiced text in the game are present as intended in both Japanese and English version releases.

Price and Release Date

Demonbane will be released in mid- to late March in the following formats:

• $39.95 MSRP limited package edition
• $34.95 download edition

Preorders for the package version are open now and will be until the game ships, and all preorders placed at JAST USA and J-List receive free shipping within the United States and discounted shipping to other parts of the world. The download edition will be available for order shortly after the package version ships.

Package Contents

The first lot pressing of Demonbane includes the following items:

• The game disc in a standard DVD case, featuring the original game release cover illustration
• A cardboard slipcase featuring the DVD release cover illustration
• A 16 page full color artbook/manual with gallery of Demonbane promotional art

We’ll update again with photos of the actual box and insert when printing is complete. Once the stock of the limited edition is exhausted, future printings will consist of the game DVD and case without the box and artbook-style manual. The download edition includes the manual in .pdf format.

Localization Notes

Graphics

In the process of coordinating the graphic localization of the game with Nitroplus, they expressed concern over releasing the game with the erotic content uncensored given potential issues with the domestic industry in Japan. We reached a compromise that allowed the images to be present uncensored in our localized version, complete with a revision pass to the artwork to ensure consistent quality of the uncensored images. In return, Nitroplus required that the following disclaimer be present on the sexually explicit CG within the game:

Click on the image for a better representation of the proportional effect it has on a typical in-game shot. Other than this watermark, no images have been changed or removed from the original Japanese release of the game.

Text

The majority of the English translation was produced by the TLwiki Demonbane team (fully credited as part of the game’s credit roll), with supplementary translation of some scenes provided by various JAST USA and other staff. The TLwiki translation was fully vetted by Nitroplus, and has not been altered from the content of the original Japanese. Note that the original game contains a few references to censorship made for humorous purposes; these are not edits or removals made by us, for example:

Minor edits for quality and consistency have been made throughout the game, and a patch to further correct minor text errors and bring a few passages in line with the quality of the rest of the game may be forthcoming synchronized with the game’s release.

Content Management

Both the package and download editions of Demonbane will be protected at launch by the Software Defender content management system. This comes with a sunset clause for the package edition, where after the game’s initial period of sale has passed the DRM requirement for the game will be removed via patch. Princess Waltz is an example of a game that began with the Software Defender DRM and has since had it removed. The download version will retain the DRM through the life of the product (unless the DRM system is obsoleted by the provider, in which case we will remove the requirement there as well).

For more information on Software Defender and how it works, see this page.

Questions or comments on the Demonbane release? Stop by our forums, support desk, email, or follow us on Twitter for daily updates!

Deus Machina Demonbane, the first title produced in JAST USA’s collaboration with Nitroplus, is now complete and headed to the producers for replication! At this time the game is scheduled for shipping to customers in March.

We appreciate the patience shown by fans over the long wait for this highly anticipated game, and we think the end product will be a captivating and delightful gaming experience that lives up to the reputation both of Nitroplus and the Cthulhu Mythos-inspired Demonbane legacy.

We will be posting here shortly with detailed notes on the release, including the package contents, localization decisions, content and crediting, DRM, and more. Stay tuned for detailed information on what to expect with the deluxe first pressing edition of the game!

Preorders for Demonbane are still open at JAST USA and J-List, with both providing free shipping for all preorder games to destinations within the United States.

Follow JAST USA on Twitter for daily updates on Demonbane and other great visual novels currently in production!

We received the release candidate from Nitroplus in January and have been busy testing and polishing the game here at JAST USA HQ since then. With the final pass complete this week, the game goes back to Nitro for a final build, returns to us for a last bug check and then, all else gone smoothly, out the door to master up!

When the game goes gold, we’ll post with a list of all the localization decisions that have been made as well as further information about the special packaging of the first lot press and other details of the release. We’re committed to providing full information so fans can make informed purchasing decisions, and in close cooperation with Nitroplus we’re looking forward to finally being able to bring the first NITROPLUS USA game to completion!

Demonbane can be pre-ordered with free shipping of the premium packaged version at JAST USA, J-List, and other online anime retailers.

They sent some screenshots of the current working version of the game, shown for the first time below (the blur in the red colors is a result of jpg compression):

A screenshot from the old engine is below, for comparison. The lack of punctuation and proper line wrapping are the fault of the engine, not the translation:

We look forward to bringing news of the final engine wrap-up early in the new year.

If you’ve been following the news over at JAST USA you’re aware that our summer target for the release of Demonbane didn’t unfold as anticipated. The fundamental work on the game is complete, including the entire script translation as well as the design for the package and artbook/manual (the game will be shipping in a slipcase with a deluxe full color booklet included).

The current delay lies in conversion of the script to a new game engine that Nitroplus is developing in house, and which has been experiencing some difficulties with certain English character display due to the way the code is put together. Nitro+ has been handling this themselves, and having gone through a relocation of their physical offices in Japan this fall have had their hands busy with more than the usual tasks in addition to work on their upcoming games and this collaboration with us on Demonbane. They are also in the process of reviewing the script to ensure it complies with the standards they envision for the game.

We are corresponding with Nitroplus almost daily to ensure that everything possible is being done to bring the game to market in a timely manner, and we’ll provide an update here as soon as the status changes and we’re able to shift to the next phase of the project — the final check on our end prior to going Golden Master and printing the game to be shipped should be little more than a formality given the thoroughness with which Nitro is currently proofing the game.

We look forward to providing more news on Demonbane’s progress soon! Until then, you can keep track of other game-related updates at our sister site, JASTUSA.com.

Demonbane Official Site

JAST USA will be in attendance at Anime Expo 2010 this coming weekend, July 1-4!

Come visit us at our booth in the exhibit hall, or come to our panel on Thursday evening, July 1st at 10:30 PM in room LP3 for all the latest news on our Nitroplus collaboration projects, as well as some very exciting news on Demonbane.

We look forward to seeing you there!

On the official website, we updated with two new character descriptions: the nurturing nun Leica whose hospitality gives Kurou his starting point, and the mad Doctor West, villainous goon of the Black Lodge Syndicate whose madcap machinery is wreaking havoc throughout Arkham City. Check the Demonbane character page for more!

Progress continues in game production, with the translation team, the JAST USA localization team and the Nitroplus technical and quality assurance staff all collaborating to bring the pieces together in a presentation to be proud of. We are committed to releasing the game ‘when it’s ready’, but that “when” can now be said to be soon, Summer of 2010.

Watch this space for more Nitroplus and Demonbane news as the summer anime convention season approaches!

The script translation is nearly complete, and a game engine update to ensure compatibility with all modern English Windows operating systems is also in the final stages of testing. We’ll be posting again soon with more website updates as well as preliminary screenshots from the current game build, so stay tuned!