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Anime Play is a trademark used to refer to the visual novel games distributed by Hirameki International and a discontinued magazine profiling these games.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2023) |
Anime Play is a trademark used to refer to the visual novel games distributed by Hirameki International and a discontinued magazine profiling these games.
Anime Play DVDs are the only English-language visual novels that are playable on standard DVD players; they can also be played on PCs with DVD-ROM drives or video game consoles that can play DVDs like the PlayStation 2 or Xbox. The restrictions of the DVD format mean that these games are missing many features present in most visual novels such as separate volume controls for music and voices; controlling the speed at which text is played; and ability to save the game at any point.
The following games have been released in Anime Play format:
Hirameki International announced in 2003 that having released Phantom of Inferno earlier that year, they would be releasing fifteen more titles in AnimePlay format in the fourth quarter of 2003, and described all sixteen on their website; however, in summer of 2003 most of these titles were removed from the website. Phantom of Inferno, Amusement Park and Day of Love were the only games released in 2003. The full list of visual novels to which they apparently acquired the rights is:
In late 2005, Hirameki announced on their blog that after releasing the remaining two volumes of Exodus Guilty, the Anime Play DVD series will be discontinued, and all of their visual novel titles will be released on PC.
AnimePlay PC games are the visual novels released in the United States by Hirameki International. Currently, they include:
Hirameki has announced that all of their future releases (after finishing releasing the Exodus Guilty trilogy on Interactive DVD) will be on this product line. It is unknown whether any of the 15 titles announced for DVD release in 2003 are currently slated for a PC release.
As of January 2, 2008, Hirameki "has decided to bow out of publishing Interactive Visual Novels". The only retail store selling Anime Play products has also gone out of business.
Because of this, no more Anime Play DVDs or PC games will be sold. [1]
Anime Play was also a quarterly magazine published by Hirameki International. It featured a thin print edition, with the majority of its material on an interactive DVD. The magazine mostly reviewed the Anime Play DVD releases, but anime and manga as well. The magazine published its first issue in July 2003. It was announced shortly after the opening of the Hirameki Community Site that Hirameki will no longer publish Anime Play magazine, choosing instead to focus on releasing PC titles.
An eroge is a Japanese genre of erotic video game. The term encompasses a wide variety of Japanese games containing erotic content across multiple genres. The first eroge were created in the 1980s, and many well-known companies in the Japanese gaming industry originally produced and distributed them. Some eroge are primarily focused on erotic content, while others, such as Key's Kanon, only contain occasional scenes in an otherwise non-erotic work. Games in the latter category are often re-released with sexual content removed for general audiences. Throughout its history, the genre has faced controversy for its use of explicit sexual content, and as a result has been banned from several console platforms.
A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustrations and a varying degree of interactivity. The format is more rarely referred to as novel game, a retranscription of the wasei-eigo term noberu gēmu (ノベルゲーム), which is more often used in Japanese.
A bishōjo game or gal game is "a type of Japanese video game centered on interactions with attractive girls".
To Heart is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Leaf and released on May 23, 1997 for Windows. It was later ported to the PlayStation and given voice acting. A second PC version, titled To Heart PSE was released containing the PlayStation version as well as bonus games. To Heart PSE and the PlayStation version had the adult scenes removed. To Heart is Leaf's fifth game, and the third title in the Leaf Visual Novel Series, following Shizuku and Kizuato and preceding Routes. The gameplay in To Heart follows a plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the eight female main characters. A sequel of To Heart, To Heart 2, was released on December 28, 2004 directly to the PlayStation 2. A special bundle of To Heart 2 and a PS2 version of To Heart was released on the same day. The original PC release of the visual novel was titled To Heart, however the anime and the PSE versions later changed to ToHeart without any space between the words. The English release of the anime uses the former format.
Final Fantasy: Unlimited (FF:U) is an anime television series based on Square Enix's popular Final Fantasy role-playing video game franchise. The TV series was produced by It incorporates both 2D animation and 3D graphics, and takes elements from the Final Fantasy games. It was licensed for North America and the United Kingdom by ADV Films were released on DVD. FF:U was directed by Mahiro Maeda of GONZO, produced by TV Tokyo's Keisuke Iwata, and Square Enix's Kensuke Tanaka. Square Enix game designer Akitoshi Kawazu served as base concept planning and was intended to be the director for the planned video game series.
Air is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key, a brand of Visual Arts. It was released on September 8, 2000 for Windows as an adult game. Key later released versions of Air without the erotic content, and the game was ported to the Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Switch. The story follows the life of Yukito Kunisaki, a traveling showman searching for the "girl in the sky". He arrives in a quiet, seaside town where he meets three girls, one of whom is the key to the end of his journey.
Ai Yori Aoshi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kou Fumizuki. The manga was serialized in Hakusensha's Young Animal magazine from 1998 to 2005 and the chapters collected into 17 tankōbon volumes. It is a love story between two characters who have not seen each other in years, but were once childhood friends.
Enterbrain (エンターブレイン), formerly Enterbrain, Inc., is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing founded on 30 January 1987 as ASCII Film Co., Ltd.. Magazines published by Enterbrain are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy guides. In addition, the company publishes a small selection of anime artbooks. Enterbrain is based in Tokyo, Japan, with a paid-in capital of 410 million yen. Enterbrain's current president is Hirokazu Hamamura.
Popotan is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Petit Ferret with character designs by Akio Watanabe under the alias Poyoyon Rock. It was originally released as a PC game for CD-ROM on December 13, 2002, and subsequently re-released on DVD-ROM and for the PlayStation 2 with certain scenes removed. The title Popotan is a nonsensical word meant to reflect the prominence of dandelions, spelled tanpopo (たんぽぽ) in Japanese; Petit Ferret also produced a fan disc shortly before the DVD-ROM re-release. Popotan has been adapted to other media, including a novel series by Sassami Yachiruda; a manga series by Yūjiro Izumi; a twelve episode anime television series directed by Shinichiro Kimura, animated by Shaft, and licensed in North America by Geneon USA and later, Sentai Filmworks; a radio drama (Poporaji); and several art and reference books.
Shuffle! is a Japanese visual novel developed by Navel. It was originally released as an adult game for Windows on January 30, 2004. It was subsequently followed by an all-ages release for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) and an expanded adult release for Windows. The Windows version was localized in English by MangaGamer in 2009, and the PS2 version was localized in English by YumeHaven in 2016 on Steam. The gameplay in Shuffle! follows a branching plot line that offers pre-determined scenarios and courses of interaction and focuses on the appeal of the female main characters. Shuffle! has been re-made into an expanded version called Shuffle! Essence+. It has expanded routes for the original five main heroines and new routes for six other characters. Shuffle! also has three spin-off sequels: Tick! Tack!, Really? Really! and Shuffle! Love Rainbow.
Phantom of Inferno is an adult visual novel game created by Nitroplus, directed and written by Gen Urobuchi, distributed in North America by Hirameki International. It came out for PC in Japan in 2000 and was ported for DVD in 2001 and for PS2 in 2003. It was distributed in America as an AnimePlay DVD title in 2002. The story can take either a dark action/drama path or can turn into a romantic drama depending on the choice of the player. A remake for the Xbox 360 console was released in 2012 and ported on PC in 2013.
Hourglass of Summer is a Japanese visual novel that was released by Princess Soft. It was brought to the U.S. by the Hirameki International Group. It was one of the first interactive dating games to be translated into English. Originally, it was released exclusively in Japan in a PlayStation 2 format that could only be played on Japanese systems. Later, a PC version, also exclusively Japanese, was released, only this time with erotic content added to it. The U.S. version was released as an interactive DVD that didn't contain sexual content.
Hirameki International Group Inc. was an American company founded in March 2000 which specialized in translating visual novels from Japan and releasing them to the American market. It is named after the Japanese word for the noun "flash" or "insight". On January 2, 2008, the company elected to bow out of games production.
Role-playing games made in Japan made their first appearance during the 1980s. Today, there are hundreds of Japanese-designed games as well as several translated games. Tabletop RPGs are referred to as tabletalk RPGs, a wasei-eigo term often shortened as TRPG in Japan to distinguish them from the video role-playing game genre.
An otomegame is a story-based video game that is targeted towards women. Generally one of the goals, besides the main story goal, is to develop a romantic relationship between the female main player character and one of the usually male, secondary lead characters.
Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two is a Japanese two-part adult visual novel series by Minori for Windows PCs. The first game in the series, Ef: The First Tale, was released on December 22, 2006, and the second game, Ef: The Latter Tale, was released on May 30, 2008. The opening video for the game was animated by Makoto Shinkai, and a majority of the music was produced by Tenmon, who has worked in the past with Shinkai and Minori. Female character design was by Naru Nanao of Da Capo fame, while male character design was by 2C Galore.
Koihime Musō: Doki Otome Darake no Sangokushi Engi is a series of Japanese adult visual novels and strategy video games primarily developed and published by BaseSon for the Windows and is based on the classic 14th century Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. The first game was developed by BaseSon, and was first released on January 26, 2007, for Windows as two DVD-ROMs, followed by a re-release on April 11, 2008, containing an extra CD-ROM.
Da Capo III is a Japanese visual novel developed by Circus that was released in limited and regular editions on April 27, 2012 as a DVD for Windows and is rated for ages 15 and up. It is the third main installment of the Da Capo visual novel franchise, after Da Capo and Da Capo II. The story takes place 20 years after the events from Da Capo II. The gameplay in Da Capo III follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the five female main characters. A 13-episode anime adaptation aired between January and March 2013.
Science Adventure is a multimedia series consisting of interconnected science fiction stories, created mainly by Mages, Nitroplus, and Chiyomaru Studio. The main entries mostly take the form of visual novel video games, but side entries span across several different mediums.
Exodus Guilty is a 1998 visual novel video game designed by Hiroyuki Kanno. It was released first as a CD game for consoles in Japan, later ported to Windows, and then converted into a DVD game in three parts. The DVD version was released in English by Hirameki International in portions from 2005 to 2006. The story tracks three different eras – the present, past and future – each with its own protagonist.
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