Written from the perspective of an industry insider.
Era 1:The PC-98XX series of computer's success, despite its inadequacies in processing power and special features had erotic games (Eroge) on floppy disks contributing to its success. (Note: He may be overstating its influence, but the (super?)majority of PC games sold in Japan are eroge, the PC game market is so abysmal that Fallout 3 had to get a fantranslation). For the most part, the eroge just consisted of go to girl -> pick up line -> sex, but this quickly got old. This persisted utnil a company relased Dokyusei (同級生 - Classmate)... (read 584 more words →)
Here's some more data on the eroge situation in Japan:
History of Visual Novels
Summary:
Written from the perspective of an industry insider.
Era 1:The PC-98XX series of computer's success, despite its inadequacies in processing power and special features had erotic games (Eroge) on floppy disks contributing to its success. (Note: He may be overstating its influence, but the (super?)majority of PC games sold in Japan are eroge, the PC game market is so abysmal that Fallout 3 had to get a fantranslation). For the most part, the eroge just consisted of go to girl -> pick up line -> sex, but this quickly got old. This persisted utnil a company relased Dokyusei (同級生 - Classmate)... (read 584 more words →)