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Google expands mission to make automated translations suck less
What started with Mandarin Chinese is expanding to English; French; German; Japanese; Korean; Portuguese and Turkish, as Google has increased the languages its Neural Machine Translation (NMT) handle. "These represent the native languages of around one-third of the world's population, covering more than 35 percent of all Google Translate queries," according to The Keyword blog. The promise here is that because NMT uses the context of the entire sentence, rather than translating individual words on their own, the results will be more accurate, especially as time goes on, thanks to machine learning. For a comparison of the two methods, check out the GIF embedded below.
Argue about the offside rule in Portuguese with Rosetta Stone's Futebol app
We're big fans of Football English Soccerball, but even we aren't hardcore enough to be able to discuss the technicalities of the game in Portuguese. Thankfully, and just in time for the World Cup, Rosetta Stone (amongst others) is unveiling a Futebol Edition of its travel app, helping you to say escanteio (corner kick), un meio-campista (midfielder) and por favor, queremos saber onde fica o estádio (excuse me, we're looking for the stadium). The app, which is available for free on iOS and Android will give you tips on navigating public transport, but since all of the data is offline, it won't rinse your data connection as it does so. We've tried the app and it's missing a few practical phrases (o árbitro é um bastardo) but otherwise it's golden.
Neverwinter to penalize PvP cowards, launches in Brazil
Neverwinter's upcoming PvP patch is shaping up to be significant, as Cryptic Studios has said that it will add in a matchmaking system and penalize players who leave early. The matchmaking system will lump players together for domination matches based on their skill ratings. What's a skill rating? It's a fancy number that rises and lowers based on your wins and losses in comparison to others' rating. You better stick it out when you do queue up, however, because the game will block you from queuing up for any group content for a set amount of time. In other Neverwinter news, the game has launched in Brazil, fully localized for Portuguese. Perfect World has partnered with UOL BoaCompra to handle the local support, payment, and marketing for the title.
Line for iOS gains browser, themes and three more languages
Line is updating its iOS app with a trio of features designed to keep you nestled to the free messaging service for as long as it can. The biggest addition is an in-app browser, which negates the need to switch over to Safari (etc) when someone shares a link. Users will also discover German, Italian and Portuguese language support, not to mention a choice of themes -- including a tasteful pink version that'll sit well with your smartphone, game console and sports car.
Fully localized WoW launching in Brazil
Brazilian gamers will be happy to know that Blizzard has announced that a fully localized version of the World of Warcraft client, as well as localized game payment options and subscription rates, is coming to Brazil later in 2011. Brazil has grown into one of the largest video game markets in the world, despite heavy taxes on entertainment. The free-to-play market has thrived in Brazil, and Blizzard aims to grab the Brazilian market with local pricing options and support. The new client is fully localized in Brazilian Portuguese, with Blizzard changing names, places, items, monsters, and everything in between. The monthly cost associated with playing WoW in Brazil looks like it will cost 15 Brazilian Real, or about $9.67 a month, with cheaper plans for purchasing more months in advance. This probably does not take into account the taxes that are usually levied against entertainment products in Brazil. With the localization comes an official Brazilian Portuguese WoW community site and Portuguese customer support. A free language pack for players currently subscribed to the North American servers will be available in Portuguese as well. Congratulations to all of the Brazilian WoW players out there who get to experience the game in their native Brazilian Portuguese. As more information comes out about the launch and the language packs, we will be sure to let you know all of the details. Until then, check out Blizzard's WoW Brazil page for more information.
World of Warcraft coming to Brazil
A fully localized World of Warcraft is on its way to Brazil, complete with a Portuguese client and customer service platform. This marks Blizzard's ninth officially supported language according to a press blurb on the company's website, and the third supported language in Latin America (following the English and Spanish versions). Blizzard is providing a full suite of payment options for Brazilian customers, with the base game (plus the Burning Crusade expansion) available for BRL 29.90, while Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm will retail for BRL 99.90 each. If retail boxes aren't your thing, the Brazilian version of WoW will also be available through Battle.net. Finally, subscription plans come in 30-day, 90-day, and 180-day flavors, and 60-day time cards will be available in retail stores. North American players who wish to play on the dedicated Brazilian realms may install a language pack or purchase the Portuguese client, and Blizzard says that "additional pricing details and an official release date [...] will be announced closer to launch."
The Lawbringer: WoW launching in Brazil
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? In the near future, Blizzard will be launching a localized World of Warcraft, complete with language localization and specific servers, in Brazil with a Portugeuse version of its signature virtual world. This localization accompanies a potential Japanese release, with servers for both Japan and Brazil, much as there are already US, EU, Oceanic, and Chinese/Taiwanese servers. The World of Warcraft gaming community and Blizzard especially are excited to welcome these two markets into the fold with their own local servers. We're talking all things Brazil this week on The Lawbringer -- well, not everything Brazilian. I think all of the waxing and juijitsu questions are better left for The WoW Insider Show or perhaps The Queue. No, this week is all about the video game climate in Brazil, why Brazil is a huge up-and-coming market for MMOs, how a Portuguese localized version of WoW benefits a huge number of gamers, and the potentially pitfalls of the anti-video game sentiments in the South American powerhouse market.
Inner World launches a new magazine for Second Life
The creators of the new Inner World magazine have let us know that they've got their inaugural edition out, and it's 92 pages of pretty, served up by Issuu. The Inner World magazine appears to be the brainchild of Jussara Correa, of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Available in Portuguese or (slightly uncertainly-formed) English, the magazine has a lot going for it with a panoply of advertising-supported Art, places and stories from Second Life. There's a smattering of mature content (that's 'boobies' for those of you who probably shouldn't be taking a look), so take care about when and where you choose to idly flip through the mag. The Issuu viewer that it runs on top of requires flash and javascript and is happiest under Windows (other platforms may have a less than ideal viewing experience with the layout), but nevertheless seems to be an attractive alternative to PDF-formatted online magazines and tabloids. It's colorful, pretty and doesn't represent a lot of heavy reading. Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.
EU battlegroups experiencing language problems after mergers
Tipster Nimm writes in to let us know that several EU battlegroups have been having serious issues after mergers that occurred post-patch 3.02. The mergers have seen a number of battlegroups acquiring servers with other language-dominant populations, which has resulted in a number of French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian-dominant servers (among others) all in the same battlegroups. While this is probably necessary to a certain degree to guarantee equal Alliance/Horde populations for quick queue times, it's become something of a communication nightmare in battleground matches, particularly those with lots of players using Cyrillic characters. As the player Thoughtless from the Karazhan realm asks, "Can you imagine how hard it is to organise any sort of teamplay in AB with player ???????? from <????????> guild cha(t)ting "?????? ??? ??????? ??????? ?????" in BG chat?" Nimm also notes that differentiating between ??????? enemy players is a nightmare.We knew that Blizzard was closing four EU realms (Stonemaul, Molten Core, Shadowmoon, and Warsong) and transferring remaining players to other realms in response to Russian player migration to Russian realms opened late summer 2008, and the problem's partially the result of that (which has already resulted in the inevitable "In Soviet Russia, battlegroups merge you" joke). A few amused people are rising to the occasion by translating such phrases as inc 5 schmiede (inc 5 blacksmith in German) or proposing a revival of Esperanto, but the Russian language pack would be the only possible solution for the ???? problem. There's been mention made that this is only a temporary fix on Blizzard's part to faction imbalances on battlegroups, but if you're on an EU realm that's seen a recent battlegroup merge, just be aware that Babelfish might be a useful tool in the near future.
Lila Dreams blog posts an interview with Jason McIntosh
Lila Dreams is a tiny little MMO that we've been following somewhat closely here at Massively -- from the descriptions we've seen so far (of an entire virtual world set inside the dreams of a little girl), it seems like an intriguing experimental departure from your standard online game. And now, over on their blog, they've got an interview, translated from Portuguese, that sheds even more light on this innovative little online game.Unfortunately, there's not too much new here, but the interview does follow some familiar and interesting news about the game: players will be able to actually change Lila's moods using game mechanics, and the setting of the game will change based on whatever mood she has at the moment. While there probably won't be the videogame standbys of swords and plasma guns (though apparently there will be "a mix of modern, medieval, and future stuff"), we are told that players will be able to wander instanced areas with groups, so there will be some MMO conventions in there, tweaked as they may be.Lila Dreams remains a unique little blip on our radar for now -- the game, as we've said before, will eventually be hosted on Kongregate as a 2D Java and Flash game. There's a long way to go until release -- at least a closed alpha, beta, and then an open pre-release period, but we continue to look forward to it.
NiGHTS Wii screens, interview found in Portuguese game mag
French gaming site Jeux France has what it claims is the first images of the new NiGHTS title for Wii, from magazine scans of Portuguese magazine Maxi Consola. (We're so multicultural.) So far, NiGHTS has been an extremely persistent rumor; this is the either the first concrete evidence of the title's existence or the cleverest Photoshop effort to date.The magazine scans feature an interview with Takashi Iizuka (here written Takeshi), a Sega developer who's had a hand or two in every Sonic game since 1994 as well as the original NiGHTS Into Dreams. Our Portuguese is a bit pathetic, but Play Nintendo has translated the interview. The game is purported to have a two player mode and some online capabilities. Jeux France purports that Sega will make an announcement early April.
