So… I took some time today to do a bit of maintenance on a few of my old video game systems. I keep a personal library of older titles that I try to preserve—just in case. Today’s focus was my PSP and PS Vita.
While browsing through my collection and checking for any patches I might’ve missed backing up, I was reminded of something frustrating: a group that created a full English patch for Starry Sky After Spring received a cease and desist and had to remove the entire project from the internet.
That happened ten years ago. You’d think that by now, the original studio might’ve taken the time to release an official translation for audiences outside Japan—but nope. Nothing. Still radio silence. And they have *eight* games for this franchise alone, not to mention all the audio books. So not a tiny VN studio or publisher by any means.
On top of that, I noticed that several games with fan-made english patches for other japanese games have functionally disappeared. Original download links are broken, and the websites that once hosted them are practically digital graveyards.
This is exactly why we keep backups. And why, whenever possible, file sharing should be done peer-to-peer.
From someone browsing the web since dial-up was a thing, shout-out to everyone sharing resources here, by the way.
I’d also like to suggest sharing torrent links when possible, so that others who download can also help keep the files alive, instead of relying solely on external file hosts with links that may get taken down.
That’s all. Rant over. Thanks to anyone reading.
While browsing through my collection and checking for any patches I might’ve missed backing up, I was reminded of something frustrating: a group that created a full English patch for Starry Sky After Spring received a cease and desist and had to remove the entire project from the internet.
That happened ten years ago. You’d think that by now, the original studio might’ve taken the time to release an official translation for audiences outside Japan—but nope. Nothing. Still radio silence. And they have *eight* games for this franchise alone, not to mention all the audio books. So not a tiny VN studio or publisher by any means.
On top of that, I noticed that several games with fan-made english patches for other japanese games have functionally disappeared. Original download links are broken, and the websites that once hosted them are practically digital graveyards.
This is exactly why we keep backups. And why, whenever possible, file sharing should be done peer-to-peer.
From someone browsing the web since dial-up was a thing, shout-out to everyone sharing resources here, by the way.
I’d also like to suggest sharing torrent links when possible, so that others who download can also help keep the files alive, instead of relying solely on external file hosts with links that may get taken down.
That’s all. Rant over. Thanks to anyone reading.
