I am sure we have all heard of some eroge game companies began blocking access to non-Japanese IP addresses some months ago, but until recently it really hasn’t affected me all that much until yesterday… I found out one of my favorite online shop Getchu.com, they sell Anime DVDs, various Anime related merchandises, Games, Music, Books, Doujin, and the all important Eroges… and I have been using their website for the latest releases in Japan because they have a very comprehensive coverage on just about everything, not just eroges…but all genres. However, my worst fear have happened last night, they have begun blocking Non-Japanese IP. At first I thought their site might have went down…
Edited: Popular game publisher Alicesoft is also blocking non-Japan IP >.<;
Edited again: It appear in less than 24 hours since I wrote up this post, the apparent ban on non-Japan IP has already been lifted… for now.
But then I found their twitter account online…. everything seemed fine… which confirmed my fear…. I pulled myself together and found a Japan Proxy Server to use on top of my Virtual Machine.
More under the cut~
Sure enough, their website is live and well…. and that confirmed my fear….
For crying out loud, they don’t just sell eroge, they have plenty of important normal stuff too.. For example, Fate/Stay Night Movie Unlimited Blade Works Blu-Ray release schedule for September 30th…
And on a separate and related news… A new princess lover OVA is due to release on Sept. 17, with all the necessary Eroge add-on. I for one can’t wait for this to happen since I have been fond of Sylvie and the maid Yuu seems to get a fair bit of action too…
This makes me a sad panda, but I can still get around it for now by using Japan Proxy Server… but still, one more annoying thing to put up with….
Edited:
What else is new, one of my favorite game publishers Alicesoft is also blocking non-Japan IPs >.<;
This is a sad day ;-; I will survive for now, with my Virtual Machine configured to run Japan proxy server… for now.
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While it might be understandable for an eroge maker to restrict their website if they want to limit their product distribution to their own country of origin only, it is less for an online store who’s business is no doubt selling as much as possible.
I guess Getchu as a store isn’t interested in selling to the potentially large international customer base. Which does seem counterproductive… or downright silly.
Actually tried it again with some other people and we were able to access it now although it’s really sluggish. (In fact in Firefox it wouldn’t work for me at all, but it did get through in Google Chrome.)
Actually yes, I can confirm the ban is not in effect right now but it’s painfully slow to load anything…. still better than no connectivity at all though, at least for now.
Enter your comments here…Thanks for the excellent – and readable (some web sites are not) reviews and news about the Princess Lover OVA 2. Since I don’t yet read or understand Japanese (Yet!) I will wait for the subbed version – but have downloaded the raw release since I can’t wait to see it. I don’t understand why Getchu.com would restrict their availability or bandwidth outside of Japan, usually the situation calls for getting more servers and more bandwidth to meet demand! I’ve been looking for a copy of the original Princess Lover ero game to download, buy, or buy & download, but it seems to be hard to find. Apparently no English sub or dub versions either.
Regarding Yuu’s life, last June I downloaded a “Polished” version of the Princess Lover series (which only meant that panties showed rather than dark areas) but with the ‘Polished” version came some short movies (.mkv files) in two groups, one called “Secret Girl” and the other a set of Picture Dramas in mkv format. The 3rd picture drama was a 15 minute story of Yuu meeting Teppei for the first time when they were both kids and she was in an orphanage started by Teppei’s grandfather. Teppei and his father came to the orphanage so his father could cook a meal for the kids, and Teppei found Yuu out in the snow crying, and brought her back. Cool and touching story, fills in a small part of Yuu’s life.