#siliconera

Every Holostars member who's been interviewed on Siliconera recently has said something along the lines of something big happening in 2027...

I was remiss in not posting this earlier, but happily, the pre-orders are still ongoing for what is probably the most unusual DR merch since, uh.... well, either the insanity-flavored curry or the engraved V3 wine? Hard to say. It's been a banner couple of years in Weird-But-Official Danganronpa Merch.

"The craftsmanship of these tea sets are a testament to the Togami name."

Siliconera shared the news with us English-speaking plebes: Byakuya Togami and Celestia Ludenberg-themed tea sets and related accoutrements are now available to pre-order on Amnibus. This is but the latest in Amnibus' ongoing series of wholly unique DR merch offerings.

The pictured crystal goblet and (Mondo) butter cookies are NOT part of the set, mind you; you can only order the teacup with dish, teapot, coaster, sweets plate, leather tray, and the spray bottle. ... That last one comes empty, by the way. The site recommends filling it with sanitizer or perfume. Not sure how that item fits with the "tea set" motif, but...

Perhaps if your tea is sub-par, you can use this to spray your servant in the eyes?

Red Candle Games has announced that it will be releasing Devotion and Detention to the Red Candle Games e-shop. This storefront, run by the developers, is where future projects of the team will be available for purchase. The official announcement through the Red Candle Games Twitter account states that all games will be released in a DRM-free format.

Currently, both Devotion and Detention are available to purchase through the Red Candle Games e-Shop. Consumers can purchase the games separately, or together in  a dual pack. Additionally, the soundtracks for both games are also available to purchase.

This is the first time Devotion has been made available to purchase outside of the Steam storefront. The GOG storefront had announced that Devotion would be available to purchase through their service. However, before the game was listed the publisher retracted their statement. After that incident, Red Candle Games assured consumers that they would find another way to make Devotion available for purchase.

Devotion was originally taken down from the Steam storefront due to a Q&A check. At the time, Red Candle Games had released a statement regarding the title returning to the Steam storefront, and that it would not be happening any time soon. In February 2020, the Harvard-Yenching Library announced that Devotion would be preserved at the institute.

Siliconera, a video game blog had the awesome opportunity to speak with Tara Badie, Senior Director of Brand Strategy over at Bandai America. Their conversation sparked from the announcement of the Tamagotchi On Wonder Garden, and took a deep dive into the localization of Tamagotchi products in North America.

The interviewer from Siliconera, Jenni Lada immediately asks about any interesting response from specific demographics regarding Tamagotchi, and if certain people seem more vocal about specific models. Tara Badie’s response was that original millennial fans are still their most vocal fans and they love hearing from them. Bandai America’s research shows that they have multigenerational fans of the brand. What’s really interesting is the statistic that Tara drops, the demographic of the Tamagotchi On is about 60% kids, and 40% adults.

Jenni then asks about the decision behind Bandai America bringing the Tamagotchi On to North America, and what made last year the time to do that, and why previous versions were not brought over. Tara says that they decided to bring a more modern Tamagotchi to the US and Canada because they felt they had an item that made sense for the new generation. Tamagotchi has been in the Japanese market for most of 23 years, whereas in the United States it has been more sporadic.

We love statistics so there’s even more information packed into his interview we really enjoyed. When asked how active the community is on the Tamagotchi On app, Tara informs us that per Bandai America’s research, 89% visit the Tamagotchi On App weekly.

One question that really caught our eye was the localization of licensed Tamagotchi Nanos, such as the Gudetama and PAC-MAN Tamagotchi. Jenni asks about the localization and licensing process for the Gudetama model, and how this differed from the PAC-MAN model since it was a North American exclusive. Tara says that programming, design and development were all done in Japan, so the process wasn’t too much different. The only difference in process is that the US team is brought into he process earlier on with Western launches. For the Gudetama Tamagotchi, Bandai America worked with the local Sanrio team on packaging, though they agreed to closely follow what they did with the Japanese version. The PAC-MAN Tamagotchi was a different story since the licensor is a sister company, the two brands worked together in Japan and kept the US team in the loop.

Jenni even goes as far to mention the Demon Slayer, Eevee, and Neon Genesis Evangelion Tamagotchi’s, expressing the popularity and huge sensation that they have generation. She then asks how likely or unlikely would worldwide release be for each one. Keep in mind this is weeks before Bandai America’s recent announcement on the Kimetsu, Demon Slayer Tamagotchi’s North American launch. Tara tells Jenni that they review and decide the level of interest in the North American market and decide what items to bring to bring here.

The grand finale! This is an excellent question, Jenni asks what the consideration process looks like when any Tamagotchi model is created, and if other crossover models such a Demon Slayer, and PAC-MAN varsities are being considered. Tara responds with great information here, finally giving fans visibility into the creation process. It takes about 12-18 months to bring an item to market, and Tara says that the Bandai America team is working on various items for the Tamagotchi brand, and teases that they have existing products coming!

Siliconera Talks to Tsuchiya About Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection

Strong women stand up!

Gamefreak officially consecutively stated in the media conference that it is a main core series game. The 2019 game is as well.

Gamefreak have targeted this towards newer / casual fans.

Gamefreak officially stated that core games will come in two supplements for the future, Games like this for the newer crowd and your typical Pokémon game for hardcore fans. The 2019 release is geared for hardcore fans. This is targeted to introduce new players into the franchise adopting some familiarity with the ever successful Pokémon Go.

The 2019 game won’t have casualisation because of this game.

Pokémon Go isn’t required to play

The Accessory isn’t required to play.

Gamefreak and Serebii have given official confirmation that the games have online activity. Their was a mistranslation earlier in the stream which caused hysteria among fans.

Pokémon can use 4 attacks just like in the main core games rather than Pokémon Go’s. The attack system mirrors the main core games.

Pokémon Attacks have the standard animations from the main core games as we see with hyper beam, Swift, seismic toss and the like. They do not function like Pokémon go. The animations are crisper and cleaner.

Wild Pokemon have levels that mirror the original wild Pokémon from Kanto, we see this with the mt moon clefairy being the same level as the original gen 1 games and the other overworld Pokémon matching the rest of the wild Pokémon of mt moon.

Wild Pokemon have both levels and Cp. The Cp likely is a modifier from transfer and for familiarity since the game is targeted for that audience in mind.

Wild Pokemon are caught like in go.

The accessory makes it easier to catch Pokémon

Standard core series items can be used in the wild before throwing a ball to increase or decrease capture.

Items can be used in battles.

Double Battles are back

Players can co op with other players at any time freely

Co Oped players can participate in story mode battles and help you battle in double battles. You can do the entire adventure together or separate. Perfect for couples and siblings.

Co Oped players can help to catch Pokémon, both getting the spoils.

The game features Pokémon centres.

Wild Pokemon appears in the overworld like standard JRPG games meaning you can catch what you want, no more spending hours trying to get that elusive Clefairy, meaning you can enjoy the action more.

The story mode features Team Rocket, they use some new Pokémon they didn’t use previously giving variety to their typical rosters

The new device is an OPTIONAL separate tool much the pokewalker. It’s not needed to play the game, but rewards you like the pokewalker allowing you to take your partner Pokémon for walks and getting rewards.

You can transfer Pokémon from Pokémon Go to the Switch games

Transferred Pokémon go to a Pokémon pal park clone, exactly the same as gen 4.

All pokemon follow you like in HGSS

Pokémon Amie clone returns

You can dress up and stylize your pikachu and eevee as you want without restrictions

The story Pikachu and Eevee cannot evolve exactly like Pokémon Yellow. Others however can

The standard Pokédex Returns, no more rotom lol

As revealed by Gamefreak and Serebii, a brand new Pokémon is being offered for players as an exclusive.

What we learned from the official QA Gamefreak meeting:

The online features use their own separate features.

The core game in 2019 WONT USE ANY features from Pokémon Go

The special Pokémon exclusive to this game is brand new

The 2019 game is confirmed to use all features from sun and moon and XY

Gamefreak confirmed FOR THIS GAME ONLY there will be minor differences in how you level up, raise & train Pokémon in Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee, citing they wanted to simplify it

The games have infinite save files with save files being tied to user accounts.

The games don’t store save data on the cartridge.

Pokémon breeding is unavailable

Any Pokémon among the first 151 available in the game that could carry a trainer are rideable