localized
Latest
Sony starts building PS3s in Brazil, The Last of Us and GTA V to get localized releases
Even as we await next generation consoles, Sony is extending the battlefield for the current generation by focusing on Brazil. In an event today it announced that for the first time it will be building PlayStation 3s locally in Manaus, a move executives stated will inject $300 million into the local economy and drive "significant" price reductions in the region. Brazilian gamers can also expect more game release support, with news that The Last of Us will have a localized version available (you can see a snippet of it in the video embedded after the break) simultaneous with the worldwide launch, and GTA V will be the first game in the series to include Brazilian Portuguese localization. That's a major shift for the area, especially considering the PlayStation 2 (yes, that's a 2) only officially launched in Brazil in 2009. As the company extends its "Viva Em Estado Play" marketing campaign, it will also offer a 250GB PS3 bundled with God of War: Ascension for R$1,099, and is running a contest to win the first Brazilian-built PS3.
Project X Zone crashes US, Europe, Australasia this summer
Project X Zone is slated to hit the 3DS in North America, Europe and Australasia this summer, Namco Bandai announced.Project X Zone launched in Japan in October with more than 50 playable characters of 29 franchises from Namco Bandai, Sega and Capcom. The game has more than 200 characters total, including protagonists, enemies and those in cutscenes only. In September, Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada tweeted that he would push Namco Bandai to localize Project X Zone, and it seems his confidence wasn't for naught.To supplement the good news, check out a gallery of fresh Project X Zone images right here.%Gallery-176869%
BioWare delaying Star Wars: The Old Republic's European testing
International issues with Star Wars: The Old Republic started cropping up more or less as soon as the pre-order began, and they're apparently persisting. It's recently been officially announced that European testing invitations have been delayed, missing the initial weekend and being postponed for an unspecified length of time. Fortunately for the players who are no doubt sore over the delay, an explanation was included with the announcement, which kicks off by pointing out that a new build and an associated character wipe are on their way for later in the week anyway. The new build will require testers to re-download the entire client, and with the client requiring a 27 gig download, it was suspected that any players presently invited might finish the download only to have to start an entirely new download immediately afterward. Localized French and German versions of the game will be included in the new build, which further contributed to the decision to ultimately hold off on the European testing. It's cold comfort to would-be testers left out of the game, but at least it isn't without some logic.
Nintendo Power: FFIV DS coming in July
Misdirection isn't just for magicians anymore ... apparently Nintendo Power practices it too. While everyone was focused on the hints of a U.S. localized Final Fantasy IV DS in the magazine's ten-page cover feature on the game, no one seemed to notice that the game was listed with a "July" release date in that same issue's "Game Watch Forecast."Well, no one except RPGFan.com, which then in turn got noticed by our own DSFanboy, which in turn got noticed by us so you fine readers can notice it for yourselves. This could just be a typo on Nintendo's part, but more likely it's a slip-up that reveals a release window a little earlier than Square-Enix would have liked. Either way, just another pebble on the growing mound of evidence that a localized version is coming.
WoW to be localized for Latin America
Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft will soon be fully localized for Latin America. The new Latin American version of the game "will be based on the existing European Spanish version but will feature entirely re-recorded in-game speech." There will also be Latin American region servers. Latin American players as well as Spanish-speakers in the U.S. and Canada who have been playing on the North American realms will be offered character transfer opportunities.The Latin American region doesn't normally get its own official game servers even with huge releases, but as well all know, WoW is a groundbreaking global phenomenon. Adding support for this new region will expand upon its already colossal subscriber numbers.Oh, and Blizzard is hiring a whole new customer service team to offer 24/7 support for the region, so if you want to work for Blizzard y si usted habla español, this is your window of opportunity! Buena suerte! [Via WoW Insider]
In Russia, World of Warcraft page visits you!
Blizzard has released the Russian World of Warcraft webpage over at their European site. I can't read a darn thing on it, so I'm forced to rely on other's translations of it, and some good old Google Translator action on the press release. A couple interesting things. First, they'll be releasing the fully localized version of Russian WoW in a few months. The second interesting thing is that they're actually looking for some people fluent in Russian to work for them, and this is a good thing since the Russian version of the site isn't nearly as complete as other language's versions of the site. Finally, ignore the translator error given by Google: "Our list of frequently asked questions concerning the withdrawal of Russian version of World of Warcraft." There is no withdrawal, there will be a Russian WoW.The Russian version of WoW was announced back on December 10th, 2007. It's good to see that Blizzard is continuing the localization of the game. Many international users are forced to either play on the plethora of European servers or come play on the United States servers. This can be a difficult thing, in that the distance between the realm server and the player's computer is so great that very large and unruly ping times often result. This is not a good thing if you're trying to have any sort of skillful game playing.All and all a nice little present for our Russian friends.
Front Mission 1st coming to the US?
We were convinced that Square Enix would never bring Front Mission 1st stateside, leaving us to languish with only fantasy-based SRPGs for the duration of our handheld's life. Front Mission's "marketing blog" says that won't be the case, and if we're to believe the sweet whispers they've murmured into our ears when the lights are out and everyone's asleep, the localization process is already well underway.The team hasn't show much beyond a single English-translated screenshot from one of the futuristic mecha game's cutscenes, but we expect to be hit with more media once the North American version is officially announced. As of now, the only bit of information we've heard is that the US title won't be suffixed with the 1st numbering, shortening it down to just Front Mission.[Via NeoGAF]
