Software:Real Sound: Kaze no Regret

From HandWiki
Short description: 1997 adventure game designed for visually impaired players
"Real Sound" redirects here. For the unrelated audio technology, see RealSound.
Real Sound: Kaze no Regret
Developer(s)Warp
Publisher(s)Warp
Designer(s)Kenji Eno
Writer(s)Yuji Sakamoto
Composer(s)Keiichi Suzuki
Platform(s)Sega Saturn, Dreamcast
ReleaseSaturn
  • JP: July 18, 1997
Dreamcast
  • JP: March 11, 1999
Genre(s)Audio game, adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Real Sound: Kaze no Regret[lower-alpha 1] is an adventure audio game developed and published by Warp. The game was first released for the Sega Saturn in July 1997, and was later ported to the Dreamcast in March 1999. The game was designed to provide equal access to sighted and blind players alike. Its subtitle, Kaze no Regret, roughly translates to "The Wind's Regret" or "The Wind(s) of Regret".

Gameplay

Real Sound is an audio game that plays similarly to a visual novel. The screen is blank throughout the duration of the game, and the player spends the majority of the time listening as the plot unfolds. However, at critical points in the story a set of chimes will ring, signifying that the player needs to make a decision at that moment. These choices impact how the story progresses. The Dreamcast version features an optional "visual mode", which displays non-essential still pictures on the screen.[1]

Plot

The story follows Hiroshi Nonomura (voiced by Takashi Kashiwabara), an elementary school student who is seated next to Izumi Sakurai (voiced by Ryoko Shinohara), a transfer student. The girl's grandfather unexpectedly died, and will need to move to Tokyo on the day summer vacation starts. The two decide to elope, and arrange to meet at a clock tower to begin their flight. However, Izumi never shows up and shortly afterward she is transferred away again.

Ten years later, Hiroshi and Izumi, now young adults, are dating. Izumi arranged a job interview with her HR manager for Hiroshi, but as they were riding the train, she suddenly gets off and disappears, with Hiroshi unable to contact her for several days.

Development

The concept for Real Sound: Kaze no Regret was conceived by Kenji Eno. After receiving numerous letters from blind fans of his games in Japan,[2] Eno sought to create a game that both sighted and blind players could experience equally.

In a 2008 interview with 1Up.com, Eno stated:

I had a chance to visit people who are visually impaired, and I learned that there are blind people who play action games. Of course, [blind people are] not able to have the full experience, and they're kind of trying to force themselves to be able to play, but they're making the effort. So I thought that if you turn off the monitor, both of you are just hearing the game. So after you finish the game, you can have an equal conversation about it with a blind person. That's an inspiration behind [Real Sound: Kaze no Regret] as well.[3]

Sega was interested in obtaining the exclusive rights to the game, and Eno stipulated that he would only sell the rights on the condition that Sega were to donate a thousand Saturn consoles to the visually impaired, with Warp in turn donating copies of Real Sound alongside the consoles. In explaining why the game has only been re-released once despite apparent interest in the title, Eno has stated that "it's been several years now, and of course the contract probably isn't valid anymore, but the reason that I haven't done anything with this game is that I made this promise with Sega back in the day, and it's exclusive because of those conditions."[3]

The game was written by Yuji Sakamoto, and features a number of secondary characters voiced by actors such as Miho Kanno and Ai Maeda. The game's music was primarily composed by Keiichi Suzuki (best known in the West for his work on the Mother/EarthBound series), with Akiko Yano composing the ending theme.[4]

Legacy

The Saturn version would go on to sell around 110,000 copies by early 1998,[5] becoming a cult hit like many of Warp's other titles. The game is also known for its inclusion of feelies, a signature move that Eno had become known for. Every copy contained a set of instructions in braille,[6] and a packet of seeds.[7][8] Eno later explained why the seeds were included in the package:

The main reason for including seeds was that Real Sound is a love story, and it's a game that has a totally different concept from my former games, like horror games or the smaller titles, so I wanted people to understand the atmosphere of the game. So I thought that if I included these flower seeds, then that would pass on the image and give the user an idea of what kind of game it is without even explaining the story and all that. That's one of the reasons that I decided to do this. And, also, another reason is that I felt like I wanted the users to grow and support the game. I was also thinking about releasing sequels, so I wanted the users to grow the game, grow the franchise.[9]


A number of Warp's other games, such as Enemy Zero and D2, feature sound-based gameplay elements: most enemies in Enemy Zero are invisible, with the player needing to rely on sound cues to defeat them. D2 also drew heavily from the concept of limitations to sensory perceptions, featuring portions of the game where the main character is rendered blind (with only a voice to guide her) and alternately deaf (with only vision to guide her).[1]

Real Sound was originally intended to be a series, with a second installment titled Lua error in Module:Lang/utilities at line 332: attempt to call field '_transl' (a nil value). being originally slated for a June 1998 release,[10] before getting delayed and eventually cancelled due to issues with sound compression.[11][12] Kiri no Orgel was intended to be horror-themed, and a planned third game, Spy Lunch (スパイランチ), was intended to be a comedy.

Real Sound: Kaze no Regret has since become one of the most popular games for the blind in Japan, due in part to it being one of the few commercially released games specifically designed with the visually impaired in mind.[7] In 2024, From Yellow to Orange (the current incarnation of Warp) released an audiobook version of the game to commemorate its 27th anniversary.[13]

Notes

  1. ↑ Riaru Saundo ~ Kaze no Riguretto (Japanese: リアルサウンド ～風のリグレット～)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Real Sound: Kaze no Regret". Giant Bomb. https://www.giantbomb.com/real-sound-kaze-no-regret/3030-31199/. 
  2. ↑ Torres, Ricardo. And Now for Something Completely Different. GameSpot. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Bettenhausen, Shane (1 September 2008). "Japan's Wayward Son (Page 5 of 10)". http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=4&cId=3169166. 
  4. ↑ Real Sound: Kaze no Regret. RealSound.co.jp. May 30, 1998 (via the Internet Archive).
  5. ↑ "Kenji Eno Interview". Sega Saturn Magazine (Softbank Publishing) (1998-9): 36. March 1998. https://retrocdn.net/images/c/c7/SSM_JP_19980327_1998-09.pdf. 
  6. ↑ Title - Real Sound - Kaze No Regret （リアルサウンド　〜風のレグレット〜）. Sega Gaga. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Van Tol, Richard. Real Sound - Kaze No Riglet. 14 March 2006.
  8. ↑ Herbs Enchou Yori. RealSound.co.jp. May 30, 1998 (via the Internet Archive).
  9. ↑ Bettenhausen, Shane (1 September 2008). "Japan's Wayward Son (Page 8 of 10)". http://www.1up.com/features/kenji-eno-breaks-silence?pager.offset=7. 
  10. ↑ "Real Sound 2 Advertisement". Sega Saturn Magazine (Softbank Publishing) (1998-9): 2-3. March 1998. https://retrocdn.net/images/c/c7/SSM_JP_19980327_1998-09.pdf. 
  11. ↑ "Kenji Eno Emergency Interview". Sega Saturn Magazine (Softbank Publishing) (1998-16): 116. May 1998. https://retrocdn.net/images/2/24/SSM_JP_19980529_1998-16.pdf. 
  12. ↑ Night Warp Eno@Home (Streaming Shibuya audio clips). Retrieved 6 December 2008.
  13. ↑ Danthrax (July 7, 2024). "Real Sound: Kaze no Regret Becomes an Audiobook". Sega Saturn, Shiro. https://www.segasaturnshiro.com/2024/07/19/real-sound-kaze-no-regret-becomes-an-audiobook/. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
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