About the Catherine Decision...

[Gigano]

A shame, it seemed like a console title - the only one so far - that had a shot at dealing with the theme of more overt eroticism properly for once.

...I probably wouldn't have bought it, but it's regrettable that a game like that doesn't get wider western exposure (and subtitles so it could at least be imported).

 

[Alphakirby]

A shame, it seemed like a console title - the only one so far - that had a shot at dealing with the theme of more overt eroticism properly for once.

...I probably wouldn't have bought it, but it's regrettable that a game like that doesn't get wider western exposure.

Am I the only one considering Atlus' apology to be a possible tease for Catherine from looking at the details...I mean really I posted something from Daikatana to prove my point, DAIKATANA!!!,one of the biggest bombs ever made! My point is that the game will or has a relatively good chance of now coming out in the US due to all the outrage about the lack of plans to do so. Read my other posts god damnit,and stop being so hopeless!

 

[Gigano]

...

Am I the only one considering Atlus' apology to be a possible tease for Catherine from looking at the details...I mean really I posted something from Daikatana to prove my point, DAIKATANA!!!,one of the biggest bombs ever made! My point is that the game will or has a relatively good chance of now coming out in the US due to all the outrage about the lack of plans to do so. Read my other posts god damnit,and stop being so hopeless!

I suppose it could be a marketing move to test/generate US interest for the game (like the stunt GOG pulled), but there's a fair bit of optimism involved with such assumption.

But yes, given your arguments it doesn't exactly seem preposterous that it might still see (a hopefully uncensored) US/EU release at some point, at least if the reaction to this cancellation announcement is widespread enough.

 

[Cheery Lunatic]

Well, I think the game looks like shit anyway, so I don't care that much.
I mean, Atlus is one of the only companies that has spun out any decent JRPGs, tbh (Odin Sphere, Shadow Hearts, and Demon's Souls) but Catherine just looks beyond bizarre (and seems to be playing too much on shock factor).

I'm still hungover on the fact that it sold twice as many copies as MvC3. I mean, I know it's Japan, but HOWWWWWW.

edit: Schweet, 1000 posts. Time to bust out the Dr. Pepper.

 

[Outright Villainy]

I know nothing of Atlus, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a personal vendetta against everyone outside of japan, or something ridiculous. They just thought it wouldn't sell enough, and if that's what they thought, no one can blaming for not releasing it.

Simple as.

 

[Alphakirby]

Well, I think the game looks like shit anyway, so I don't care that much.
I mean, Atlus is one of the only companies that has spun out any decent JRPGs, tbh (Odin Sphere, Shadow Hearts, and Demon's Souls) but Catherine just looks beyond bizarre (and seems to be playing too much on shock factor).

I'm still hungover on the fact that it sold twice as many copies as MvC3. I mean, I know it's Japan, but HOWWWWWW.

edit: Schweet, 1000 posts. Time to bust out the Dr. Pepper.

Look,I said this earlier,make a JP Xbox Live account and get the Catherine demo,play it and see if it really is as bad as you think. I personally enjoyed the "push and pull blocks to reach the end as blocks fall out from below you so you have to hurry or you will fall and die" gameplay of the nightmare stages,I still don't get the story,but then again I don't know Japanese

 

[King Kupofried]

Doesn't affect my opinion of Atlus at all.
I am sad that it won't be seeing a NA release, but I can't exactly blame them.
An extremely difficult, Erotic Horror Puzzle game. While many Atlus fans are eager for this, just by the sound of that it is certainly a game that would probably end up with little more than a small dedicated following outside of Japan.

Somehow I'll find comfort in the tiny mountain of other exceedingly fantastic games I own that are developed and produced by them. Somehow.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

I could never hate you Atlus, you brought us Demon's Souls and now a sequel.

I'm just really sad that Catherine is not coming here, or maybe not coming rather, but I will get over it.

 

[Alphakirby]

I just thought of something from Extra Credits that is relevant to the topic of why Atlus was at first not too contempt to put Catherine in a sure release in the US http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2505-Sex-in-Games

 

[moretimethansense]

I'm wondering if maybe the letter is a way of hinting something to the fans without breaching any agreements, and that some of us (especially me, embarrassingly) may have jumped the gun on that beefhack announcement.

Okay, not wondering, hoping.

With this, I have to say...

Atlus is by far one of the most sensitive game developers/publishers out there (almost to a fault). I mean, even Square-Enix had to go through two MMOs before sending an apology or something like this. As for Catherine, sure, I'm miffed that it's likely not being released here, but it doesn't mean that I'd boycott them. I like their other stuff too much for that. As for the message itself, I know it's shallow, but I'd have suggested a different color for the image. Kinda grates on my eyes.

Two points here:

1. Atlus USA still isn't a developer, they publish games. They do, however, publish a lot of games developed by Atlus.

2. The color could perhaps be a reference to a certain game.

It makes sense to not release it in the USA. Not only is the market for that kind of thing much smaller in the first place, but it'd almost certainly be slapped with an AO rating, meaning virtually no retailers would carry it. Translating and localising a game costs a lot of money. They would, not see a return of investment if they brought the game to the USA - so who can fault them for deciding against it? What would you do if someone asked you to hurl a ton of money in the trash because a relatively small number of people would really enjoy seeing you do it?

I don't see why people assume this game would get an AO, it's certainly got more sexual elements than most mainstream titles, but it's not like it's actually porn. CERO gave it a C rating, which is the equivalent of a high T or a low M rating from the ESRB. This puts it on the level of Uncharted or MvC3.

By comparison, Killzone 3 and Bayonetta are rated D, which is a step higher.

Yeah but in america this:

Spoiler: Slightly NSFW

Caused a fucking panic attack, it's not too unlikley that the prudeish folks in america would pitch a fit about tyhis even if it was rated AO.

OT:
I'm really pissed off, mostly because I'd been hyping myself up about this for a while now, but also because there has been a lot of hype in general around this game, I was sure there'd at least be a US relase that I could import.
Not that I can stay mad at ATLUS for long, tell you what; Send it over here to the EU, we won't start screaming about "morally depraved games" PLUS Yanks that really want it can import it from us for a change

 

[Alphakirby]

Not that I can stay mad at ATLUS for long, tell you what; Send it over here to the EU, we won't start screaming about "morally depraved games" PLUS Yanks that really want it can import it from us for a change

But,I don't wanna,I want to be able to purchase a game where I live, locally, not wait 6-8 weeks for delivery! T.T Though I do have some connections here in New Jersey,hmmm I must consider this

 

[moretimethansense]

Not that I can stay mad at ATLUS for long, tell you what; Send it over here to the EU, we won't start screaming about "morally depraved games" PLUS Yanks that really want it can import it from us for a change

But,I don't wanna,I want to be able to purchase a game where I live, locally, not wait 6-8 weeks for delivery! T.T Though I do have some connections here in New Jersey,hmmm I must consider this

Well pity about ya!
Us poor folks here in the uk may never get to see great games at all, oftentime it's a sequal which makes it that much worse.
No Suikoden 3 for us!
No Grandia 3 for us!
No Devil Survivor for us!
And we very nearly didn't get Demon's Soul's either.

We poor bastards get royaly shafted.

 

[Alphakirby]

Not that I can stay mad at ATLUS for long, tell you what; Send it over here to the EU, we won't start screaming about "morally depraved games" PLUS Yanks that really want it can import it from us for a change

But,I don't wanna,I want to be able to purchase a game where I live, locally, not wait 6-8 weeks for delivery! T.T Though I do have some connections here in New Jersey,hmmm I must consider this

Well pity about ya!
Us poor folks here in the uk may never get to see great games at all, oftentime it's a sequal which makes it that much worse.
No Suikoden 3 for us!
No Grandia 3 for us!
No Devil Survivor for us!
And we very nearly didn't get Demon's Soul's either.

We poor bastards get royaly shafted.

Well they're making a remake of Devil's Survivor for the 3DS, maybe you'll get that after all,and as I said I have connections so I may be able to get the PAL version (If there is one) of the game if a US version isn't concidered. But as I said a million times by now, the apology is a tease for Catherine while being an apology so a US release has a large chance of happening but I would guess EU would get the game too.

 

[moretimethansense]

Not that I can stay mad at ATLUS for long, tell you what; Send it over here to the EU, we won't start screaming about "morally depraved games" PLUS Yanks that really want it can import it from us for a change

But,I don't wanna,I want to be able to purchase a game where I live, locally, not wait 6-8 weeks for delivery! T.T Though I do have some connections here in New Jersey,hmmm I must consider this

Well pity about ya!
Us poor folks here in the uk may never get to see great games at all, oftentime it's a sequal which makes it that much worse.
No Suikoden 3 for us!
No Grandia 3 for us!
No Devil Survivor for us!
And we very nearly didn't get Demon's Soul's either.

We poor bastards get royaly shafted.

Well they're making a remake of Devil's Survivor for the 3DS, maybe you'll get that after all,and as I said I have connections so I may be able to get the PAL version (If there is one) of the game if a US version isn't concidered. But as I said a million times by now, the apology is a tease for Catherine while being an apology so a US release has a large chance of happening but I would guess EU would get the game too.

I really have my doubts, about it being a teaser that is, if it gets a US release I imaagine we'd get one as well, if we didn't I might just go off ATLUS...
Naw, I can't hate them, Persona was too good.

 

[Alphakirby]

Not that I can stay mad at ATLUS for long, tell you what; Send it over here to the EU, we won't start screaming about "morally depraved games" PLUS Yanks that really want it can import it from us for a change

But,I don't wanna,I want to be able to purchase a game where I live, locally, not wait 6-8 weeks for delivery! T.T Though I do have some connections here in New Jersey,hmmm I must consider this

Well pity about ya!
Us poor folks here in the uk may never get to see great games at all, oftentime it's a sequal which makes it that much worse.
No Suikoden 3 for us!
No Grandia 3 for us!
No Devil Survivor for us!
And we very nearly didn't get Demon's Soul's either.

We poor bastards get royaly shafted.

Well they're making a remake of Devil's Survivor for the 3DS, maybe you'll get that after all,and as I said I have connections so I may be able to get the PAL version (If there is one) of the game if a US version isn't concidered. But as I said a million times by now, the apology is a tease for Catherine while being an apology so a US release has a large chance of happening but I would guess EU would get the game too.

I really have my doubts, about it being a teaser that is, if it gets a US release I imaagine we'd get one as well, if we didn't I might just go off ATLUS...
Naw, I can't hate them, Persona was too good.

On the page 2 I compared the Atlus apology to the infamous "Suck It Down" ad for Daikatana, go see that post to understand my logic. And I would feel betrayed if Atlus didn't bring the game out of Japan,but I wouldn't boycott them,that's just stupid and proves nothing

 

[moretimethansense]

Not that I can stay mad at ATLUS for long, tell you what; Send it over here to the EU, we won't start screaming about "morally depraved games" PLUS Yanks that really want it can import it from us for a change

But,I don't wanna,I want to be able to purchase a game where I live, locally, not wait 6-8 weeks for delivery! T.T Though I do have some connections here in New Jersey,hmmm I must consider this

Well pity about ya!
Us poor folks here in the uk may never get to see great games at all, oftentime it's a sequal which makes it that much worse.
No Suikoden 3 for us!
No Grandia 3 for us!
No Devil Survivor for us!
And we very nearly didn't get Demon's Soul's either.

We poor bastards get royaly shafted.

Well they're making a remake of Devil's Survivor for the 3DS, maybe you'll get that after all,and as I said I have connections so I may be able to get the PAL version (If there is one) of the game if a US version isn't concidered. But as I said a million times by now, the apology is a tease for Catherine while being an apology so a US release has a large chance of happening but I would guess EU would get the game too.

I really have my doubts, about it being a teaser that is, if it gets a US release I imaagine we'd get one as well, if we didn't I might just go off ATLUS...
Naw, I can't hate them, Persona was too good.

On the page 2 I compared the Atlus apology to the infamous "Suck It Down" ad for Daikatana, go see that post to understand my logic. And I would feel betrayed if Atlus didn't bring the game out of Japan,but I wouldn't boycott them,that's just stupid and proves nothing

I saw the comparisan and I think you may just be clutching at straws my freind.
IO agree a boycott wouldn't help, perhaps a mass exodus to ATLUS US's head office armed with an axe in each of our left hnds a wallet in each of our right and a strongly worded letter telling them to pick which one they wantt would be more helpful.

Honestly I'm upset by the news but I'll keep coming back for more, explaining away the bruises as me being careless.

 

[Alphakirby]

Not that I can stay mad at ATLUS for long, tell you what; Send it over here to the EU, we won't start screaming about "morally depraved games" PLUS Yanks that really want it can import it from us for a change

But,I don't wanna,I want to be able to purchase a game where I live, locally, not wait 6-8 weeks for delivery! T.T Though I do have some connections here in New Jersey,hmmm I must consider this

Well pity about ya!
Us poor folks here in the uk may never get to see great games at all, oftentime it's a sequal which makes it that much worse.
No Suikoden 3 for us!
No Grandia 3 for us!
No Devil Survivor for us!
And we very nearly didn't get Demon's Soul's either.

We poor bastards get royaly shafted.

Well they're making a remake of Devil's Survivor for the 3DS, maybe you'll get that after all,and as I said I have connections so I may be able to get the PAL version (If there is one) of the game if a US version isn't concidered. But as I said a million times by now, the apology is a tease for Catherine while being an apology so a US release has a large chance of happening but I would guess EU would get the game too.

I really have my doubts, about it being a teaser that is, if it gets a US release I imaagine we'd get one as well, if we didn't I might just go off ATLUS...
Naw, I can't hate them, Persona was too good.

On the page 2 I compared the Atlus apology to the infamous "Suck It Down" ad for Daikatana, go see that post to understand my logic. And I would feel betrayed if Atlus didn't bring the game out of Japan,but I wouldn't boycott them,that's just stupid and proves nothing

I saw the comparison and I think you may just be clutching at straws my freind.
IO agree a boycott wouldn't help, perhaps a mass exodus to ATLUS US's head office armed with an axe in each of our left hnds a wallet in each of our right and a strongly worded letter telling them to pick which one they wantt would be more helpful.

Honestly I'm upset by the news but I'll keep coming back for more, explaining away the bruises as me being careless.

Well I like the idea of a mass exodus, just instead of going to Atlus' door,we go to the scum sucking reason Catherine is losing hope of release in other countries...Fox News,and instead of strongly worded letters,and wallets, we would have reasons that we came to argue about video games with them

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Lol, People who really want this game can just order it from Japan. I guess everyone else can't phatom spending an extra $20 dollars for an import when there's booze to buy.

This game is rated Cero C BTW, there's no way it could be an Adults only game.

 

[moretimethansense]

Not that I can stay mad at ATLUS for long, tell you what; Send it over here to the EU, we won't start screaming about "morally depraved games" PLUS Yanks that really want it can import it from us for a change

But,I don't wanna,I want to be able to purchase a game where I live, locally, not wait 6-8 weeks for delivery! T.T Though I do have some connections here in New Jersey,hmmm I must consider this

Well pity about ya!
Us poor folks here in the uk may never get to see great games at all, oftentime it's a sequal which makes it that much worse.
No Suikoden 3 for us!
No Grandia 3 for us!
No Devil Survivor for us!
And we very nearly didn't get Demon's Soul's either.

We poor bastards get royaly shafted.

Well they're making a remake of Devil's Survivor for the 3DS, maybe you'll get that after all,and as I said I have connections so I may be able to get the PAL version (If there is one) of the game if a US version isn't concidered. But as I said a million times by now, the apology is a tease for Catherine while being an apology so a US release has a large chance of happening but I would guess EU would get the game too.

I really have my doubts, about it being a teaser that is, if it gets a US release I imaagine we'd get one as well, if we didn't I might just go off ATLUS...
Naw, I can't hate them, Persona was too good.

On the page 2 I compared the Atlus apology to the infamous "Suck It Down" ad for Daikatana, go see that post to understand my logic. And I would feel betrayed if Atlus didn't bring the game out of Japan,but I wouldn't boycott them,that's just stupid and proves nothing

I saw the comparison and I think you may just be clutching at straws my freind.
IO agree a boycott wouldn't help, perhaps a mass exodus to ATLUS US's head office armed with an axe in each of our left hnds a wallet in each of our right and a strongly worded letter telling them to pick which one they wantt would be more helpful.

Honestly I'm upset by the news but I'll keep coming back for more, explaining away the bruises as me being careless.

Well I like the idea of a mass exodus, just instead of going to Atlus' door,we go to the scum sucking reason Catherine is losing hope of release in other countries...Fox News,and instead of strongly worded letters,and wallets, we would have flamethrowers and reasons that we came to argue about video games with them

I'm not gonna lie, the thought of doing that made me cry a little.
Unfortunatly it's not just Fox, it's the fools that listen to them, where there's an audience, there shall soon be a show, "dealing" with Fox news(while satisfying) wouldn't help, Americans are too hung up on sex in general.

 

[Alphakirby]

Not that I can stay mad at ATLUS for long, tell you what; Send it over here to the EU, we won't start screaming about "morally depraved games" PLUS Yanks that really want it can import it from us for a change

But,I don't wanna,I want to be able to purchase a game where I live, locally, not wait 6-8 weeks for delivery! T.T Though I do have some connections here in New Jersey,hmmm I must consider this

Well pity about ya!
Us poor folks here in the uk may never get to see great games at all, oftentime it's a sequal which makes it that much worse.
No Suikoden 3 for us!
No Grandia 3 for us!
No Devil Survivor for us!
And we very nearly didn't get Demon's Soul's either.

We poor bastards get royaly shafted.

Well they're making a remake of Devil's Survivor for the 3DS, maybe you'll get that after all,and as I said I have connections so I may be able to get the PAL version (If there is one) of the game if a US version isn't concidered. But as I said a million times by now, the apology is a tease for Catherine while being an apology so a US release has a large chance of happening but I would guess EU would get the game too.

I really have my doubts, about it being a teaser that is, if it gets a US release I imaagine we'd get one as well, if we didn't I might just go off ATLUS...
Naw, I can't hate them, Persona was too good.

On the page 2 I compared the Atlus apology to the infamous "Suck It Down" ad for Daikatana, go see that post to understand my logic. And I would feel betrayed if Atlus didn't bring the game out of Japan,but I wouldn't boycott them,that's just stupid and proves nothing

I saw the comparison and I think you may just be clutching at straws my freind.
IO agree a boycott wouldn't help, perhaps a mass exodus to ATLUS US's head office armed with an axe in each of our left hnds a wallet in each of our right and a strongly worded letter telling them to pick which one they wantt would be more helpful.

Honestly I'm upset by the news but I'll keep coming back for more, explaining away the bruises as me being careless.

Well I like the idea of a mass exodus, just instead of going to Atlus' door,we go to the scum sucking reason Catherine is losing hope of release in other countries...Fox News,and instead of strongly worded letters,and wallets, we would have flamethrowers and reasons that we came to argue about video games with them

I'm not gonna lie, the thought of doing that made me cry a little.
Unfortunatly it's not just Fox, it's the fools that listen to them, where there's an audience, there shall soon be a show, "dealing" with Fox news(while satisfying) wouldn't help, Americans are too hung up on sex in general.

Well consider that we,happen to "visit" around the time of their broadcast and correct them on every game-related misconception they've made since Mass Effect was dubbed porn by them. But if you think about it,I heard somebody say something about Catherine's sexual content being classier than most,and if you think about the fact that Fox didn't touch Heavy Rain despite having a sex scene,and being about somebody that drowns little boys, forcing their fathers to save them. Heavy Rain could've been controversial,but it was left alone