東方 Touhou 14 Demo announced – Double Dealing Character!
東方 Touhou 14 – Double Dealing Character! (Demo)
Yes, you’ve read that correctly. Some were expecting it, some weren’t. Though with Reitaisai and their 10th festival being around the corner, it was quite inevitable for our master mind, ZUN, to come up with fireworks. And what kind of fireworks it is going to be. Not only Hopeless Masquerade (Touhou Fighting game) is going released but as well as a demo for Touhou 14!
So why don’t you convert to a shrine maiden/priest already and join our discussion board to follow the thread or have a good time with fellow priests and maidens? You can find the thread right here at our news section.
Be sure to follow us when the demo is released for some elaborate game play discussions or articles and possible early translations of the demo characters.
–Helepolis
Source: http://kourindou.exblog.jp/
Get well Suzuran!
Some of you may have already heard, but for those of you who haven’t, resident frills and hello kitty expert Suzuran has been seriously ill and hospitalized the past few days. He’s stable and made it through the worst of it, but he has a long road ahead of him and he needs our support and love.
A lot of you may not know him, but in a lot of ways this entire community owes a great deal to him. He may not hang out much on the forums but he is quite a presence on IRC and in the main East Coast Touhou convention crew. As far as tangible community contributions go, he has been graciously administering and hosting our IRC server on his own time and expense for several years now, after I was unable to continue said duties. But it’s the intangibles that makes him such a wonderful person, and why he needs your help and support more than ever.
He is one of my best friends in the whole wide world, and if it weren’t for him I’d likely not be talking to you guys right now. He has pulled me through rough situations, and has offered me a roof (and to forcibly rescue me) on more than one occasion. He dragged me out and paid for me out of his pocket to go to Otakon the year my aunt got diagnosed with cancer. He’s bent over backwards and taken in perfect strangers and helped them out. And he has more than on one occasion offered to give me an out if my life ever became too much and I needed a reset. He sometimes causes mischief and sometimes causes a ruckus and overreacts. He’s a troll and a goof and horribly politically incorrect, but he means well and would give the shirt off his back. As I like to put it, sometimes he takes things to 14 and get ultra super serious. But hey, he makes life interesting and he’s a good person.
Right now though, he’s the one that needs help. I’d like to show him he still has friends and family across the world, even if they can’t be there in person they will be there in spirit. I am organizing a get well package to send to him and if you’d like to participate please send me a PM or send me an email at tso@shrinemaiden.org. Anything, whether it’s a gift, a card, or simply a note of support, it will all be greatly appreciated. I will make arrangements to forward anything you wish to him personally.
Please keep him in your hearts and in your thoughts and wish him a safe and speedy recovery! Get well soon Suzuran!
TH13.5: Touhou Shinkirou ~ Hopeless Masquerade web demo released
From cuc
This demo sounds like it has the same characters as the Comiket demo, with network capacity added, and I presume, more polish?
http://www.tasofro.net/touhou135/index.html#130412
The download might be quite a trouble for people outside of Japan, so… perhaps you should wait for someone with a fast connection to Japan to download it and host it at a better place.
Mirror by koumakan.jp:
http://shinkirou.koumakan.jp/files/th135_trial.zip
Mediafire (thanks to the uploader):
http://www.mediafire.com/?6lqvsn67ongivu1
Reimu II: Lord of Maidens released
Gensokyo takes in the forgotten. What if one day, something that was once powerful was suddenly forgotten? Something so pervasive that it could twist the land of fantasy. Diablo III was released less than a year ago. The hype made many forget the game that was Diablo II. Now Diablo II and its expansion, Lord of Destruction, have made their way into the world of Touhou. Diablo in Gensokyo gives you Reimu II: Lord of Maidens.
Lord of Maidens (LoM) is the result of just under 2 years of development. LoM features the original story of the Diablo series rewritten in the setting of Touhou. The 7 playable classes of D2:LoD are remade into 7 core classes which have 5 sub-classes each. This gives the player access to 42 Touhou character classes and many more possibilities in mixed class builds.
No RPG game can do without loot and fancy items. LoM has almost 200 new item sprites, all custom made to fit the Touhou feel. Weapons and armour can be crafted throughout the game with the technology of the Kappa Cube. Collect Power, Graze points, Life and Bomb pieces and many other fragments of the Touhou world to make your character stronger equipment to take on the twisted Gensokyo.
As a mod, the core game remains the same. But side areas that you wouldn’t visit in a normal playthrough have been made into side dungeons that offer new challenges and the best rewards. The realms-only Pandemonium events are also available in single player via the PlugY add-on. These events have been modified as well. LoM can be played over LAN multiplayer if you can’t take on the challenges alone.
Requirements:
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction installed.
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction patched to version 1.13c.
PlugY (optional).
Game discussion thread here
ZUN in America: What to Expect and What Not to Expect
For the three Touhou fans in New Guinea that haven’t heard the news yet, ZUN will be making his first stateside appearance at Anime Weekend Atlanta in September. Many are excited, and understandably so! But the biggest favor the Western Touhou Community can do for itself is to keep expectations realistic. You don’t want to ruin such an unprecedented serious affair for yourself by building your hopes up to the sky only to have them come crashing down. So, for those of you that have never been to a con, have only been to a few and have never attended guest programming, or are just too delusional with glee to think straight, I have for you some things to keep in mind. Hopefully, by knowing what you should and shouldn’t expect, your experience can be as enjoyable as possible!
What’s the single most important thing I should know?
That ZUN is here on AWA’s dime.
Right off the bat, a very important distinction is to be made. This is not like when Mizuki Hitoshi came to AnimeBoston or T. Stebbins came to AWA last year. ZUN is not the Touhou panelists’ guest, he is not the southeast community’s guest, he is not the United States Touhou Community’s guest. He is AWA’s guest. He has AWA commitments to fulfill, and AWA is going to handle his presence as best they feel is appropriate. Everything that follows here is an extension of either this fact or basic human decency (which will not be and should not need to be covered in any detail).
Okay, so what are ZUN’s AWA commitments, and how can I be involved?
While AWA has not yet posted their con schedule, the safest bet is that ZUN will host one, maybe two panels, at least one of which will be mostly a Q&A Session, as well as an autograph session.
In general, guest Q&A sessions tend to be pretty packed with lots of con attendees with a common fandom. What this means for you, the individual, is that you are no more or less special than anyone else in the room not holding a microphone. There will be a lot of people in that room, and there will be a limited amount of time. You are more than welcome to want to ask something, but you are not entitled to ask any questions you may conceive. (In fact, if you actually get called upon, you should consider yourself lucky.) In the event that you get an opportunity to ask a question, do keep in mind that there is a room full of people waiting to ask their own questions and time is ticking away. Please try to not take very long in saying what you have to say. It is also exceedingly likely that ZUN does not especially care about self-insert trolls or colored horses, so don’t even.
The autograph session will likely be your best bet to give ZUN a gift, should you choose to bring one for him. However, AWA may have rules in place about what can be given as gifts. In particular, they may not look happily upon the open transaction of alcohol. I am personally not sure about AWA’s gift policies, but the Touhou fan panel panelists are in ongoing contact with AWA staff, so either they’ll update when they know (if they doesn’t already) or they’ll relay it to me and I’ll update. Regardless, in choosing a gift, make sure it is something that either will be consumed (or otherwise exhausted) before the con is over or is something ZUN can take home with him, both in terms of getting past customs and safely fitting in his luggage. (Also, if you’re bringing alcohol, make it microbrew. Give ZUN a little something special he can’t get anywhere else!)
It is also worth noting that AWA may have restrictions in place on the number of things any individual attendee can get signed. Just like at the Q&A session, there is a whole boatload of other people that want stuff signed, and there is a limited amount of time for him to do so. Don’t dump your entire collection of music CDs on the table and expect him to go through all of them, and don’t try to chat him up unless staff makes it obvious such a thing is okay. Even if there isn’t a restriction, you should really only be bringing one or two things anyway, just to be polite to everyone else. Give your gift if you have it, get one or two things signed, then thank ZUN and get out of the way so the next person has their turn. (It should go without saying that the best and most tasteful items to get autographed are official Touhou works, but I’m saying so here anyway.)
Surely Q&A and autograph sessions won’t take up the entire con! What else will ZUN do?
Now this is where things may get really exciting. Different cons have different policies on guest activity, but many cons are satisfied as long as their guests meet their allotted commitments and give their guests leave to do whatever they like outside of those times. Assuming AWA is like this (which seems a safe assumption, though we’ll definitely know for sure some time in advance), ZUN will be spending the majority of the convention doing whatever he feels like doing. This could range anywhere from enjoying the convention to getting smashed in his hotel room to wandering the Atlanta streets. If you’re lucky enough, you may get to chat with the man for longer in a more casual setting! Just don’t go into the con expecting to get oodles of free time alone with him.
(Just between us, if you do get to meet him for a little while when he’s on his own time and not the AWA clock, you will have a much better chance of giving gifts that AWA will frown upon in an official capacity. While they will obviously not admit it directly to attendees, there is a reasonable chance any given AWA staffer will look the other way on something that AWA as an entity disapproves of if that something is done strictly on ZUN’s personal time.)
What about the Touhou fan panel and photoshoots? Will he be involved in those?
Maybe! Ultimately, that will be up to him – I certainly don’t see AWA or the panelists telling him no if he says he wants to be a part of them. But, again, don’t go into the con expecting this to happen. And if it does happen, don’t let his presence hijack the panel unless the panelists steer things that way.
Can someone record the Touhou events with ZUN in them? I can’t go but I wanna see!
No one that’s not going should be concerned that there’s going to be no evidence this con ever happened. If someone thinks that absolutely no one will bring a camera or camcorder to this event without being prompted, they are crazy. Full stop.
However! Both AWA and ZUN may have policies that restrict or forbid live recordings or even photography of guests, panels, or other sessions. For example, many cons now contract with professional studios to record the conventions and produce commercial DVDs. If this is the case, filming his panels or autograph sessions may be prohibited. In the past, some guests have requested that video not be used during their panels, due to restrictions put in place by their producers, agents, or publishers, or because they are not comfortable with the idea of being recorded. While it is unlikely that ZUN would be put under such a restriction, we do not know how comfortable he would be with having a completely unknown person recording him. In short: If ZUN or the con staff asks that you not record, please respect those wishes; the last thing we want to do is make ZUN uncomfortable. Getting thrown out of the con or having your video equipment confiscated would also be poor form.
As for photographs with ZUN, the best time to get them is if you happen to run into him casually during the con. Very few cons allow photographs to be taken with guests during autograph sessions, as this takes up valuable time. If he is at a photoshoot, we can probably expect that he would be willing to join a large group shot with all of the cosplayers. Any individual or small group shots with ZUN should be at his discretion – we just don’t know enough to say whether he’ll be game for these pictures or not. We will make every effort to make him aware of when the photoshoots are so that he can attend if he chooses.
What are the chances the American Touhou Community overruns this con and cements the worst possible opinion of Westerners in ZUN’s mind? Inquiring tin foil hats need to know!
Less than you might think, for a handful of reasons.
- If cons couldn’t control their attendees around guests, guests would never agree to come to cons. If nothing else, AWA staff can be trusted to shut down things and people that need to be shut down in the interest of protecting their investment.
- Because this news is so huge for the Western Touhou Community, we have more or less ended up acting as our own echo chamber in regards to attendance. There may indeed be people coming in from all over the continent (and possibly even other continents) to see this happen! This doesn’t change the fact that the Western Touhou Community is not a big huge thing, with millions or even tens of thousands of people descending on Atlanta for 72 hours. Even for something of this magnitude I would honestly be surprised if the number of rabid Touhou fans that try to attend, say, the Q&A session breaks three figures.
- Related to the second point, AWA is at the end of September. There will be a number of Western Touhou fans busy with school when this rolls around, which means they will be unable to attend.
- No one is going to ruin this through violence for the lulz. There’s many a reason why the Kuroko no Basuke terrorist incident is the exception rather than the norm.
- ZUN attends multiple annual events in his home country where gobs of people sell all kind of unsavory smut using his creations. If he keeps going back to those people year after year, what is any individual Westerner going to do to disgust him so much?
tl;dr: Don’t worry your pretty little heads over this. In the grand scheme of things, ZUN is just another in an extremely long line of con guests throughout American history.
Hopefully this has been helpful to you, whether or not you’re attending AWA this year. Remember, the key is to temper expectations. ZUN is not here for the individual “you”, but he is here for the collective “you” of the fandom. All any attendee has to do is keep that in mind and their weekend is bound to be one of the most exciting weekends of their life!
ZUN coming to America!
Mark the date, Anime Weekend Atlanta has just announced ZUN will be a guest at this year’s convention September 27th-29th. More information in their press release here.
Raiders of the Lost Ask Box now on sale!
First Official Ask Udonge Book, Raiders of the Lost Ask Box, is Out!
Raiders of the Lost Ask Box
Some of you may already be familiar with the Ask Udonge blog. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s a good way to spend a couple hours. After months of prep, Leo finally had his book “Raiders of the Lost Ask Box” printed, and you can currently buy a copy online at http://doublepuma.bigcartel.com for $10+shipping. The book features select questions and answers from the Ask Udonge blog itself, plus new material no one has yet to see! Unless you have the book already. So go buy the book already and support a guy who deserves it for making such an awesome Touhou fan book!
Raiders of the Lost Ask Box sample
Front page migration complete, and plans for the future
Whew!
Took me a while but I’ve gone ahead and went through the ENTIRE Front Page Headlines forum and have moved them to this frontpage. So all of your hard work over the years has not gone unnoticed, or unthanked. Thank you all for making this site as great as it is.
We are still definitely accepting member submissions, and the process hasn’t changed. If you have something you think may be newsworthy, go ahead and make a new thread in the Front Page Headlines subforum. Your thread will end up in our approval queue, and we will handle the rest (and you will get credited for the submission). If you wish to submit anonymously you can always email us at staff@shrinemaiden.org, or send a PM to anyone in the BunBunMaru Staff group on the forums.
We will also be digging through the forums and looking for any noteworthy threads to highlight to spotlight community activity, as well as regular threads to help tour some of the lesser known corners of the shrine. We also have ongoing plans to begin a review series on the vast cornucopia of doujin works that the Touhouverse has to offer.
So stay tuned, this is only the start!
Smite! Clang! Bang! A front page has been forged!
This is Helepolis, reporting you live from the deepest pits, where the forges of Maidens of the Kaleidoscope are located. I can finally confirm that a front page has been created. However, at first glance it seems impure and requires refining. But the solid base has been set forming a milestone for the community.
Maidens of the Kaleidoscope greets you
As one of the BunBunMaru writers I have the honour to introduce you to the front page, forum and community. There is quite a lot of available for you Touhou fans. So what is the deal?
A soon-to-come article system
Perhaps one of the largest changes going on, I have caught rumours of plans to recruit devoted writers for a preview and review system. These devoted writers will be given the opportunity to follow the footsteps of Shameimaru Aya when it comes to reporting global news, games and so on. Oh my, it is so unknown and confusing, I’ll just have to report about this as soon as there is more information available!
A vast and enjoyable forum
For almost all your regular Touhou needs there is a section available on the forum. Some people are so addicted to Touhou, they might want to relief their thoughts in the Touhou Addict Recovery Center to share their excitement. We have medical staff attending in case of high fever. Perhaps you are a devoted and stubborn Touhou player, who prefers to focus on winning spell card battles and discussing the games themselves? Friendly bragging now and then in Help Me, Eirin! can’t harm. Be of good cheer!
Creative people fear not. You shall not be put away in some corner to rot away. Patchouli’s Scarlet Library contains lots of fan-written stories, featuring our lovely Touhou girls. Grab a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy reading other people’s stories. A bucket of paint and a brush are your combat tools? Most likely Alice’s Art Atelier will get you in touch with fellow artists. Even for the geeky programmers and developers, we have Rika and Nitori’s Garage Experiments offering you plenty of tools to experiment with your own Touhou creations or mods for existing games. The famous Touhou mod for GTA San Andreas is just one of the examples!
Every hour of the clock is playtime in Rumia’s Party Games, allowing you to join or host dozens of text-based forum games. They can be Touhou related but also typical popular forum games. Speaking of unrelated, Sara’s Audio-Visual Import-Overflow Retail and Akyu’s Arcade take you beyond the borders of Gensokyo. Talk about other games, anime, shows, news that might not be related to Touhou at all.
If none of the above is in your field of interest, and you rather just slack around while posting random posts, you might want to order a drink at The Shrinemaiden Café. Feel free to relax, slack and be silly but try not to break furniture in the café. We don’t serve alcohol for people below 21. Pay your tabs, otherwise some Oni will toss you out.
Chatting and chilling with Cirno and friends on IRC
Don’t feel like browsing forums and prefer a more “live” interaction? Cirno and her fairy friends are all over IRC. The server can be accessed either through the webclient or by manually adding the server (irc.ppirc.net port 6667) to your favourite IRC client. The IRC server has several popular public channels. A few popular ones highlighted:
#Shrinemaiden, the global chat channel
#Scarlet-Library, mainly harbours artists and writers from the forum.
#Ijiyatsu, the lunatic shmup players can be found here.
#Danmakufu, Rika and Nitori’s live support garage is located here.
#dots-meido, a general gaming channel (non shmup).
#triviamaiden, when you feel like playing trivia!
–Helepolis
All new account registrations are currently closed (UPDATE: reopened)
I have disabled new account registration for the time being, no ETA on when it will be reopened.
Sometime late last night someone with a dumb bot net decided registering a new account every 2 seconds was cute. I currently have about 5000 accounts I need to purge. Shockingly enough the server had no problems handling the load, and so far no spam posts have occurred.
Apologies for the inconveniences. If you registered in the past 24 hours you’re probably gonna lose your account. Please register again after things are back to normal.
UPDATE:
Registrations are reenabled, all users with zero posts got purged. Please reregister and apologies for any inconveniences.
are closed