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GDC 2011: ArenaNet's Adam Vance talks localization for Guild Wars
Ask the average Guild Wars player what makes the game so enduring, and "localization" is probably not on the top of the list. But the game is truly a masterpiece of blending players across an international community, with a single multilingual client supporting a wide range of communities across the entire world. ArenaNet's Adam Vance hosted a panel on the localization process for the game at GDC, discussing the many trials and tribulations the game faces from both a business standpoint and a cultural standpoint. It certainly doesn't seem like a difficult task from a conceptual standpoint -- even just running a block of text through secondhand solutions such as BabelFish can produce something that looks somewhat translated. But as Vance explained, simply changing the text from one language to another is an issue, and linguistics only scratches the barest element of what's needed for adapting a game. "Localization should be as much a science as an art," as he put it during the panel. While the focus remained on localizing Guild Wars from a business standpoint, players will still find interesting facts within the discussion.
Report: Hudson Entertainment shut down
A blog post by Hudson Entertainment brand manager Morgan Haro reveals that Hudson Entertainment, the California-based American arm of Japan's Hudson Soft, is closing down. "It was revealed today," Haro said in the post, "that all of Hudson's previously planned projects have been canceled and that our office will be closing it's doors at the end of February." Hudson Entertainment has been active since 2003; prior to that, "Hudson Soft USA" published games from 1988 through 1995. The closing is a result of Konami's full acquisition of Hudson Soft, after which Haro speculates "there apparently won't be any need for the talents within the San Mateo offices of Hudson Entertainment." Haro also speculated that the difficulty of finding an audience for Japanese games in the west, and the proliferation of both giant publishers and indies, as recent problems for Hudson. "You're either a hit, or an indie developer looking to be a hit." Hudson's most recent American release was Lost in Shadow on Wii.
Namco Bandai teaser site suggests Tales of Graces F localization [update]
Yesterday, Namco Bandai posted a link on Facebook to a series of glyphs on its company site. It turned out each glyph represented a letter, and with the puzzle solved a new site was spelled out: ATaleOfTwoRichards.com. And that site has brought us the blurred image seen above, which bears a notable resemblance to the logo (posted after the break) for Tales of Graces F, the PS3 port of Tales of Graces that was released in Japan in early December. Additionally, the "Richard" in the URL could be a reference to the character of the same name, who appears both as a child and an adult in the game (which could sort of be considered "two Richards"). Even more conclusive evidence that Namco is doing the impossible and actually localizing a Tales game can be found after the break, in the form of the less blurred image that was initially posted on the teaser site, according to NeoGAF poster miladesn. Update: Namco has refreshed ATaleofTwoRichards.com with an even blurrier image and the date "2.2.2011" (February 2). Update [2/2/11, 3:20PM ET]: Namco has updated the teaser site with -- if you can believe it -- the blurriest image yet. Additionally, the teased date of "2.2.2011" has been removed. So now what? Update [2/2/11, 4:30PM ET]: Well, hey now!
PlayStation expansion into China planned
Sony is finally ready to take on one of the largest emerging markets in the world: China. A report in China Daily details Sony Computer Entertainment's plans on expanding into the Asian mainland. According to the report, Sony recently signed a letter of intent detailing plans to implement training and R&D facilities in Guangzhou province. The project is apparently "the first investment by SCEI in the mainland." In addition to localization, Sony plans on developing games in the region. Facilitating homegrown content for local markets follows the standard set by Sony's other recent expansions into India and South America. Although a timetable for launch hasn't been set, expectations are quite high for PlayStation's first release in the country. Guangdong Animation City (GAC), an investor in PlayStation's Chinese expansion, noted that the industry could expand its worth to over 100 billion yuan (about $15 billion) annually within the next five years. Obviously, Sony would do well to capitalize on such staggering potential.
Mobiola WebCamera gets localization, AppleScript support
It's always nice when developers respond to the suggestions of reviewers. A few weeks ago, I wrote a review of Mobiola Web Cam from SHAPE Services. It's a combination of an iPhone app and a desktop (Windows and Mac) client that turns your iPhone into a webcam. At one point in my review, I suggested that it would be nice to see scripting support built into the Mac desktop client for automating the process of capturing screen shots or video from the camera. Just over two weeks later, the app has a slightly different name (WebCamera instead of Web Cam), it's localized in German, Italian, Spanish, French, and Dutch, and AppleScript support has been added. The app is currently on sale for US$1.99 from the usual $4.99 price, so if you're thinking about picking it up, now's a good time. A quick look at the Mobiola WebCamera Scripting Suite from AppleScript showed three new verbs: take snapshot, start recording, and stop recording. With these, and a connected property that's part of the application class, it's quite simple to write an AppleScript that waits for the iPhone to connect to the desktop app, and then takes a picture or timed video at regular intervals. I found that I also no longer needed to specify an IP address and port for the client and app to get the camera to connect, so it's obvious that the developers at SHAPE Services are paying attention to reviewers and customers to make a good app even better.
Game Dev Story 2 coming to iPhone, eventually
Can you believe this is our first Game Dev Story post? And about the sequel, no less? Believe it. We'll try to rectify our previous oversight today by bringing you the welcome news that Game Dev Story 2 will be coming to the iOS platform ... at some point. "We will be developing a sequel," Kairosoft, the Game Dev (uh) game dev, told Touch Arcade, "but we are not planning on releasing it soon." Like the original -- a quirky, standout management sim that's currently just hanging onto a spot in the Top 200 App Store games ranking -- Game Dev Story 2 is expected to be a localized port of an ancient Japanese PC game. The first Game Dev Story actually dates back to 1996, while its sequel debuted on PC roughly a decade ago. "We are thinking of improving the game by adding elements of networking in the sequel, such as sales score rankings and sending employees to a friend's company," Kairosoft said of the planned iPhone port. "The next iPhone App will be a CMS [construction and management simulation] game like SimCity, where you touch to scroll, zoom in/out, etc." Most importantly, Kairosoft would "like to release English versions" of Game Dev Story 2 and all its numerous, adorable little titles on iOS. Bring on that "Cruise Great Trip" story! [Pictured: Game Dev Story 2 (PC); source: Kairosoft]
Bluehole Studio's TERA westernization team interviewed
Inevitably, one of two things happens when we post a story about TERA's westernization. First, folks compare it to Aion (and the general consensus is usually that it will be similarly grindy). Second, people bring up Brian Knox, currently an En Masse producer who formerly worked as an NCsoft producer responsible for bringing Aion to western audiences. Happily, TERAfans has brought us information rather than speculation about TERA's journey overseas, in the form of a lengthy interview translation with members of Bluehole Studio's Korean localization team. The article, translated from the Korean original, touches on the challenges inherent in bringing a game to the North American market that values story presentation a bit more than the game's native Asian audience. "The English version really takes priority for the game's story. NA players consider a game's story a portion of the game's content. With that in mind we are currently working on how we can best convey TERA's story. For example, the story cannot just be told through simple text, but with many background stories for the NPCs and zones," says Young-Kwang Kim. The piece also makes clear that the job of westernization is much more than simply translating quest text into the appropriate language. Whether you're talking about the German, Japanese, or American markets, Bluehole's team is especially mindful of what it terms "culturalization" as opposed to localization. "It is true that we are careful about cultural differences more than anything. TERA's localization is more than a simple translation, word for word. We want to make it easier for players around the world to understand the game without hitting cultural walls," says Hee-Soo Lee. Head over to TERAfans for the full interview.
Microsoft bringing Windows Phone 7 to some languages without Xbox Live or Zune?
Microsoft has already gone on record saying that Windows Phone 7 will be initially launching in just five languages, all with essentially the same easy character set -- English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish -- but they're undoubtedly champing at the bit to ramp that list up to a few more. In fact, the latest word on the street is that they're going to be cutting a bunch of corners on those additional tongues, presumably in an effort to get them on shelves sooner rather than later. Not a bad strategy, perhaps, but the rumored list of features on the chopping block is an ugly one: Xbox Live support, Zune functionality, and "limited" Windows Phone Marketplace capability, just to name a few, and only the browser and email views will actually support the native character sets; phone menus and keyboards will initially be in one of the "big five." As much as we'd like to see WP7 in as many places as possible right away, we'd have to say this is too great a sacrifice if true -- all the best stuff would be gone. Keep chugging, guys.
Call of Duty: Black Ops getting separate subtitled and dubbed SKUs in Japan
Are you in Japan, and simply aren't satisfied with only being able to purchase one version of Call of Duty: Black Ops? Chill out! Square Enix, the game's Japanese publisher, is localizing the game in two separate SKUs. According to the Call of Duty: Black Ops Japanese blog, the subtitled version will be released first on November 18, while the dubbed one -- featuring a "major voice cast" -- won't arrive until December 16. The dual release comes as a result of a survey of Modern Warfare 2 buyers in Japan, which found a split among consumers (60 to 40 percent, favoring subtitles) when it came to language options. Both versions will carry the same ¥7,980 ($95) price.
Aksys localizing '999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors' adventure game [Update: it's official!]
Those of you with a penchant for reading a lot of text in your DS games (or, to put it another way, those of you into adventure games) have something new to look forward to: Chunsoft's Extreme Escape: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, a graphical text adventure released in Japan last December, appears to be receiving an English localization. Siliconera first spotted a listing for the game on Gamefly and has now posted English screenshots of the interactive novel/room escape game. It appears that publisher Aksys plans to call the game 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors. 999 is a graphical text adventure with a sort of Saw-like premise. Nine people are trapped on a cruise ship and somehow wired to explode. A sadistic mastermind requires them to work together (but only in groups of up to five people) in order to open the nine doors that correspond to the nine passengers and escape from the rooms in which they're held. We're contacting Aksys to find out more details about when the game will escape to retail. Update: There's now a big 999 image at the top of Aksys's site. In case you didn't believe before, the localization is now confirmed! We've also put the press release after the break.
Passing the torch: WAR's GOA-to-Mythic transfer explained
Despite what your grade school friends told you, there are take backs in life. Last week we brought you the breaking news that GOA was transferring Europe's Warhammer Online operations to Mythic Entertainment, a significant event considering that GOA's been handling WAR on the continent since 2006. Today Mythic posted a rather extensive "WAR EU Takeback FAQ" which is as informative as it is rhymey. Fortunately, it does not appear as though the transfer will be too disruptive to current players. Characters, levels, gear, servers and friends lists will remain intact, and no new client download is required. Mythic will also be hosting German and French-specific servers for any wishing to play in a particular language environment. However, all players are asked to register for a new Mythic account, and will need to make sure that their payment plans and options are set up accordingly in it. Mythic's also stated that they have long-term plans to allow players to transfer to and from North American servers, although no decision's been made regarding transferring to non-English speaking serves. The transfer begins tomorrow, June 29th, and will continue through July 7th. For the rest of the details, or just to settle your mind, read through the Takeback FAQ over at Warhammer Online's site.
Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage includes both English and Japanese voice
Chances are, if you're interested in playing Tecmo Koei's Fist of the North Star game, you aren't just tolerant of Japanese voices in video games, you prefer them. The company is aware of anime fans' preference for Japanese audio, and told Eurogamer that it will retain the original voice track in the North American and European releases of the Dynasty Warriors-alike. You'll be able to hear "ATATATATATATATATA" in the original Japanese. In order to satisfy both the audience who craves authenticity and the audience who likes knowing what the characters are saying, Tecmo Koei is also including a full English voice track. That way, you won't have to have your screen filled with subtitles reading "ATATATATATATATATA." %Gallery-94946%
Level-5 opening office in Santa Monica
Professor Layton, Dragon Quest IX, and White Knight Chronicles developer Level-5 is moving forward with its plan to establish an office in the US. Level-5 International America Inc. will open in Santa Monica, California this September. The company will further expand in 2011 with an office somewhere in Europe. CEO Akihiro Hino has said that these expansions are focused on releasing games overseas. At the very least, this should mean more localization staff, but it could also be a sign of Level-5 attempting to establish a publishing business outside of Japan. We're okay with there being a different logo on our Professor Layton games, as long as we have those games soon. [Via Siliconera]
Dragon Quest IX launches in North America on July 11 [update]
Nintendo and Square Enix have announced that the North American release of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinel of the Starry Skies for DS has been set for June July 11, exactly a year after it launched in Japan. As was revealed in February, Nintendo will be publishing the game here -- although the English localization is being handled by Square Enix and not NOA's Treehouse team. Dragon Quest IX has sold more than four million copies to date in Japan, where the game's WiFi "Pass-By Guest" feature has proven very popular. North American gamers will get a chance to experience it as the renamed "Tag Mode," silently trading character stats, battle records and play data with other DQIX players simply by walking near each other with their handhelds in sleep mode. If you encounter a player who's logged more than 400 hours in the game, it's probably this guy. You'll find pre-order information (and a rather delightful trailer) on the game's official website. Update: Dragon Quest IX will be released in Europe on July 23. %Gallery-93250%
Starcraft 2 offering subscription plans in Latin America, Asia and Russia
Plans for a subscription-based StarCraft 2 are in the works for Latin America, Asia and Russia. While US gamers will only pay a one-time fee to start harvesting Vespene Gas on July 27, players abroad will be offered two different ways to play: subscription or an all-access fee. A press release detailing plans for localization in Latin American Spanish for Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Chile covers the subscription model. By picking up the title for $299 MXN / $119 ARS / $13,900 CLP -- about $30 USD -- gamers will be given access to the single-player and multiplayer portions of the game for 60 days. Once that period ends, they can re-up their subscription for a fee (which hasn't been disclosed yet). The other option is to download the game directly from Blizzard for a one-time fee of $59.99 USD, granting permanent access to the title. During Activision's annual investors call yesterday, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime confirmed that Blizzard would pursue a similar pricing structure for Asian and Russian territories. Source - Official press release Source - Big Download confirms Asia and Russia inclusion
WoW Rookie: Essential WoW terminology in other languages
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. For links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's, visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide. Együtt szaladjunk vissza a temetötöl hogy ne vesszünk el. In the sprawling, global environment that is the World of Warcraft today, there's really no telling who you'll end up grouped with. Even on a white-bread American realm, I've met players whose primary language was not English. Gamers are everywhere now! In the spirit of international cooperation, WoW Rookie has crowdsourced a list of basic WoW terminology for PUGging. The next time you run into a situation where you need to communicate with someone who doesn't speak your language, reach for our translations in the Newbie Guide, linked under Guides in the drop-down menu at the top of the site. Kudos to the hundreds of readers who responded to our call for translations. Merci, gracias, tack, hvala! Let's crowdsource corrections, too -- if you spot anything incorrect, drop me a line at lisa (at) wow (dot) com. Oh, and "Együtt szaladjunk vissza a temetötöl hogy ne vesszünk el?" That's "Let's run back from the graveyard together so we don't get lost" ... in Hungarian.
WoW Rookie: What's "move out of the fire" in your language?
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. For links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's, visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide. If you use the Dungeon Finder with any regularity, you're likely to eventually find yourself grouped with a player who speaks a different language. World of Warcraft is localized (translated) to nearly a dozen different languages, including two versions of English (USA and EU), French, German, Spanish, Russian, Korean and two versions of Chinese. While U.S. and Oceanic players can generally count on groupmates to speak English, things can be quite different elsewhere in the world. Individual Latin American and EU realms tend to attract groups of players from particular areas -- Brazilians on one server, Hungarians gathered on another, Italians dominating still another. Many players welcome the language barrier as an opportunity to polish their language skills. Still, how do you coordinate your way through a tricky pull with someone who doesn't speak a word of your language? Let's crowdsource this issue. We've compiled a list of common terms you might use in a PUG. We'd like you to list your translations in the comments, if you are fluent in another language. We're not going to cover Russian, Korean or Chinese, since those players generally do not cross paths with Western players. Please keep your suggestions brief; simplicity trumps elegance. If you'd like to see phrases we didn't include, feel free to suggest them, but keep in mind we're sticking with the basics. We'll compile the list and create a starter guide in next week's Rookie column.
LukPlus looking for Coropata publisher at GDC
If you're reading this and you're in charge of business development for a game publisher, and if you're at GDC -- as unlikely as all that is -- please go talk to LukPlus. According to Siliconera, the publisher has a meeting room at the convention, and is actively working to find a North American publisher for its cute DS puzzle game Coropata. We sampled Coropata at TGS and found it charming, and we'd appreciate the opportunity to do things like buy it in a store and read all the text. We admit that a cutesy, anime-style puzzle game similar to The Incredible Machine may be somewhat of a niche interest, though.
GDC: BioWare speaks up about Mass Effect 2's localization
"I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel." - English "Jestem dowódcą Shepard, a to jest mój ulubiony sklep na cytadeli." - Polish (machine translation) In a GDC 2010 session entitled "Localizing Large RPGs," which forms part of an ongoing localization summit, BioWare localization project manager Ryan Warden eloquently explored the revered developer's process of adapting a huge, dialogue-driven game like Mass Effect 2 for alternative markets and languages. It may surprise you to learn that BioWare's processes are significantly more elegant than hiring an army of workers to copy and paste lines of text into Google Translate. With 450,000 words and 30,000 lines of voice-over in the English version, Mass Effect 2 demanded an active approach in its translation to eight languages, including Russian, Czech and Spanish. "Trying to manage this scope is almost unfathomable," said Warden. "For BioWare titles, we don't have the luxury of waiting for the title to be fully complete before starting localization." The concurrent process was designed to provide as much information and context to translators as possible, allowing them to focus on the job without having to request further information for each new conversation. BioWare compiled a complete localization kit, complete with a pronunciation guide (that's crow-guhn, not kroggin!), an IP glossary, a collection of translator Q&A documents and an extensive character database. "Any time that a translator spends time asking questions and waiting for feedback ... that's wasted time," Warden added. The goal, he said, was to "eliminate any doubt in the confidence of the translator."
Rising Star crowdsources Spanish localization of Fragile Dreams
Rising Star Games has taken an unusual, cost-effective step to get Fragile Dreams into Spanish-speaking homes. In collaboration with fansite DSWii.es, Rising Star is helping a group of 50 fans produce their own translation of the game's 35,000-word script. The translated text will be made available from DSWii and Rising Star's site following the European release of the game on March 19. This is a clever approach to localization for a couple of reasons. First, fifty motivated kids will be able to get the job done in a fraction of the time a professional localization team would take. Additionally, it'll be much easier for Rising Star to laugh off the inevitable errors than it would with a 'real' localization.
