Nintendo fans launching massive campaign to get Wii RPGs localized, Reggie laughs

Lord Jezo

Drez

Chris FOM wrote: »

Except that NoA and NoE use different localizations. Look at Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (North America)/Dark Conflict (Europe) as an easy example. Same game, drastically different localization. NoA could use the European version, but I'm not sure there's any precedent for them ever doing that.

Are you just talking about the title or is the script very different?

But anyway, how about we talk about how fucked up the localization industry is? There really is no legitimate reason why the UK and the US should have different localizations. I don't care if a game comes out here with "spanner" for wrench and "fanny" for vagina or if some British idioms make there way here, and I doubt the Brits care too much if the situation is reversed. That is totally ludicrous. As far as I'm concerned, the less localization, the better.

RobotSpammer

Sad to hear that Operation Rainfall did not achieve the ending we all wanted to see, but at the very least it got NOA to acknowledge the issue and respond. I know many people are upset at the nature of the response and the way it was delivered but having experienced Nintendo's actions on Another Code:R(ignore it until it goes away) and Fatal Frame:Mask of the lunar eclipse(hide behind software bugs that are not apparent until it goes away), this issue was actually given closure.

Maybe for the next disappointment, we will actually get a detailed response!
"We are glad to see you're enthusiasm but at the moment we just don't feel like doing whatever the hell you are asking us to do. Keep it up the loyalty though, Your friends at Nintendo"

-Tal

Operation Rainfall isn't over.

Shadowfire

No. Any new facebook post Nintendo makes is being pretty well flooded with Rainfall messages, and the letter writing campaign continues.

Drez

I think Nintendo is once again entering their N64 era of hubris.

Turkey

Operation Rainfall's Twitter claims that Pandora's Tower was confirmed for European release.

CygnusZ

Drez wrote: »

I think Nintendo is once again entering their N64 era of hubris.

Wii : Snes :: WiiU : N64?

Vegan

So, some good did come from NOA's response to this localization stuff: I finally bit the bullet on importing The Last Window and Another Code: R (Trace Memory 2) tonight.

Coercionist

Turkey wrote: »

Operation Rainfall's Twitter claims that Pandora's Tower was confirmed for European release.

Both Last Story and Pandora's Tower were shown off at Japan Expo in Paris. Tower wasn't officially announced to be coming, but it looks very likely.

Peewi

Drez wrote: »

Chris FOM wrote: »

Except that NoA and NoE use different localizations. Look at Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (North America)/Dark Conflict (Europe) as an easy example. Same game, drastically different localization. NoA could use the European version, but I'm not sure there's any precedent for them ever doing that.

Are you just talking about the title or is the script very different?

But anyway, how about we talk about how fucked up the localization industry is? There really is no legitimate reason why the UK and the US should have different localizations. I don't care if a game comes out here with "spanner" for wrench and "fanny" for vagina or if some British idioms make there way here, and I doubt the Brits care too much if the situation is reversed. That is totally ludicrous. As far as I'm concerned, the less localization, the better.

I don't really know the details, but all the characters have different names between the European and American versions of the game.

carmofin

No way....
All three games coming to europe? That's crazy! I'm buying them no questions asked, it's an effort well worth my support! I'll put them right next to my copy of Terranigma!

LBD_Nytetrayn

Cantido wrote: »

RidleySaria wrote: »

The localization effort has already been made for some of these games though, as they're being released in Europe in English. The money has been spent. They just don't want to release the games here.

I wonder if The Queen's English is really that different from ours.

All three are basically fantasy games, are they not? Wouldn't a Queen's English sound, especially a natural one (rather than bad imitation) likely enhance the atmosphere?

carmofin

LBD_Nytetrayn wrote: »

Cantido wrote: »

RidleySaria wrote: »

The localization effort has already been made for some of these games though, as they're being released in Europe in English. The money has been spent. They just don't want to release the games here.

I wonder if The Queen's English is really that different from ours.

All three are basically fantasy games, are they not? Wouldn't a Queen's English sound, especially a natural one (rather than bad imitation) likely enhance the atmosphere?

Oh yeah, in my opinion Dragon Quest IX had some of the most solid and atmospheric voice acting ever. (Speaking of which, I wonder what all this means for Dragon Quest X...)

Mblackwell

Some Americans absolutely cannot understand British accents (as performed by real Brits). Note that I'm not one of them, but even until we started watching a lot of British comedies together my wife just glazed over sometimes when I'd watch a British tv show. And that's BBC English there.

Chen

See Cheryl Cole on X-Factor.

Chris FOM

There's no way Dragon Quest X doesn't come over. A, it's still SE's game, so they can bring it over if they want. B, NCL is fully behind that franchise. Any doubts of that were erased when Nintendo published DQ VI in North America. If they tell NoA to bring a game over, the game comes over, end of story.

Peewi

carmofin wrote: »

LBD_Nytetrayn wrote: »

Cantido wrote: »

RidleySaria wrote: »

The localization effort has already been made for some of these games though, as they're being released in Europe in English. The money has been spent. They just don't want to release the games here.

I wonder if The Queen's English is really that different from ours.

All three are basically fantasy games, are they not? Wouldn't a Queen's English sound, especially a natural one (rather than bad imitation) likely enhance the atmosphere?

Oh yeah, in my opinion Dragon Quest IX had some of the most solid and atmospheric voice acting ever. (Speaking of which, I wonder what all this means for Dragon Quest X...)

But Dragon Quest IX doesn't have any voice acting at all. Do you mean some other game?

carmofin

Peewi wrote: »

carmofin wrote: »

LBD_Nytetrayn wrote: »

Cantido wrote: »

RidleySaria wrote: »

The localization effort has already been made for some of these games though, as they're being released in Europe in English. The money has been spent. They just don't want to release the games here.

I wonder if The Queen's English is really that different from ours.

All three are basically fantasy games, are they not? Wouldn't a Queen's English sound, especially a natural one (rather than bad imitation) likely enhance the atmosphere?

Oh yeah, in my opinion Dragon Quest IX had some of the most solid and atmospheric voice acting ever. (Speaking of which, I wonder what all this means for Dragon Quest X...)

But Dragon Quest IX doesn't have any voice acting at all. Do you mean some other game?

Dragon Quest VIII, sorry...

RobotSpammer

-Tal wrote: »

Operation Rainfall isn't over.

Bad wording on my part. I did not mean that the quest to bring these three games to the American market has come to an end, but that we finally received a black and white response from Nintendo on the issue oppose to the usual silent treatment.

Vegan wrote: »

So, some good did come from NOA's response to this localization stuff: I finally bit the bullet on importing The Last Window and Another Code: R (Trace Memory 2) tonight.

I also picked up Another Code:R after seeing that Nintendo has no plans to bring certain games to our market. I just need to pick up The Last Window and find a seller that DOESN'T want $80 for a copy of Fatal Frame 4:Mask of the Lunar eclipse. Guess NOA is content with money going to exporters than into their vaults.

Norfair

Welp, I doubt it will do any good, but I just did 27 Club Nintendo surveys (that took about two and a half hours to slog through) and included a request for Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's Tower in every single one of the damn things. I don't understand why Nintendo always treats one market like crap, instead of just, you know, treating all markets well, but I don't have a fancy business degree. There's no excuse for how poorly they handle communicating with their fans, but I doubt they'll bother to change until the next time they're struggling and not the market leader.

On the plus side, I'm now only 90 coins away from Platinum for the year already, and I finally got my three month warranty extension for my 3DS, which is nice.

RobotSpammer

Norfair wrote: »

On the plus side, I'm now only 90 coins away from Platinum for the year already, and I finally got my three month warranty extension for my 3DS, which is nice.

Days into the new Nintendo Club year and you're already that close to Platinum?
Impressive. Hopefully this year's Platinum award will be much better than the pin set. Pin set is alright judging by the images but you can't expect fans to be happy with pins when you offered a statue the previous year.

Rakai

I've been thinking about this and I wonder if that NoA not bringing it to the US has to do with Nintendo's retail policies rather than whether or not the game will make money. Normally a game ships a lot more than it sells and retailers are left with a lot of extra stock which needs a lower price to move. Most publishers will lower the MSRP and refund the difference after a certain point which helps lessen the sting on unsold copies. Nintendo on the other hand is extremely resistant to lowering the price on their games even if there are lots of unsold copies. Look at S&P2. You can find it for $15 yet the MSRP is still $50. It sounds like retailers are taking a serious hit on Nintendo games that don't sell well. Even if the localization itself turns a profit for NoA, retail might end up making no money or even lose money. So now they're looking at Xenoblade/Last Story/Pandora's Tower, three titles they've never heard of or know little about and they appear to be extremely risky for retailers due to Nintendo's strict price dropping policies. This leads them to complain to Nintendo, which leaves NoA with either unhappy retailers or having to change their pricing policies. NoA then decides to just avoid the whole situation by not bothering with the games at all. So ultimately, the games not coming to the US has less to do with making a profit on the games and more to do with preserving their prices.

Xagarath

carmofin wrote: »

No way....
All three games coming to europe? That's crazy! I'm buying them no questions asked, it's an effort well worth my support! I'll put them right next to my copy of Terranigma!

And I next to Forbidden Siren 2, Gregory Horror Show, Global defence Force and Tingle, since Terranigma is now at a secondary price where it might as well be gold dust

Chen

And Doshin the Giant!

Bioptic

Don't forget the hidden Suda 51 gem - 'Michigan: Report from Hell'. A game about being a TV cameraman, following vacuous reporters around some sites of supernatural fuckery and trying to get as much footage of them being scared witless as possible without getting yourself or them devoured.

Soon, digital distribution will make all of this a thing of the past! Who am I kidding - games disappear and reappear on the Steam store all the damn time.

agoaj

So, why did Nintendo buy Monolith again?

Mblackwell

So they could make sure to never release any of their games.

Artereis

Bioptic wrote: »

Don't forget the hidden Suda 51 gem - 'Michigan: Report from Hell'. A game about being a TV cameraman, following vacuous reporters around some sites of supernatural fuckery and trying to get as much footage of them being scared witless as possible without getting yourself or them devoured.

Soon, digital distribution will make all of this a thing of the past! Who am I kidding - games disappear and reappear on the Steam store all the damn time.

What?! Why did I not know about this?

Vegan

Artereis wrote: »

Bioptic wrote: »

Don't forget the hidden Suda 51 gem - 'Michigan: Report from Hell'. A game about being a TV cameraman, following vacuous reporters around some sites of supernatural fuckery and trying to get as much footage of them being scared witless as possible without getting yourself or them devoured.

Soon, digital distribution will make all of this a thing of the past! Who am I kidding - games disappear and reappear on the Steam store all the damn time.

What?! Why did I not know about this?

I've had a $5 bid on this somewhere for about a week with no one contesting it so far.

LBD_Nytetrayn

...that game sounds fantastic. What's it for?

Ah, PlayStation 2, 2004... and Europe and Japan only.

Whoops, I was reading a different tab than I thought I was. <Z3

Vegan

Oh shit, it came out in Europe (assumingly in English)? My bid is on a Japanese version. D'oh.

According to the Wikipedia entry, even Suda didn't know there was a European release. lol

UnbreakableVow

Mblackwell wrote: »

Some Americans absolutely cannot understand British accents (as performed by real Brits). Note that I'm not one of them, but even until we started watching a lot of British comedies together my wife just glazed over sometimes when I'd watch a British tv show. And that's BBC English there.

Right here

My ladyfriend is a Doctor Who fanatic and a fan of BBC shows in general

I really cannot understand what the hell they're saying most of the time

plufim

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

Mblackwell wrote: »

Some Americans absolutely cannot understand British accents (as performed by real Brits). Note that I'm not one of them, but even until we started watching a lot of British comedies together my wife just glazed over sometimes when I'd watch a British tv show. And that's BBC English there.

Right here

My ladyfriend is a Doctor Who fanatic and a fan of BBC shows in general

I really cannot understand what the hell they're saying most of the time

The game will have subtitles, so you'll have that.

Chen

These are Americans we're talking about. They're not used to subtitles.

Though in all fairness, when I watch Monty Python I have to rewind occasionally too.

JoJoHoraHora

Bioptic wrote: »

Don't forget the hidden Suda 51 gem - 'Michigan: Report from Hell'. A game about being a TV cameraman, following vacuous reporters around some sites of supernatural fuckery and trying to get as much footage of them being scared witless as possible without getting yourself or them devoured.

Soon, digital distribution will make all of this a thing of the past! Who am I kidding - games disappear and reappear on the Steam store all the damn time.

It was a Suda 51 game? That explains some much about that game.

Davoid

Man, I can't wait for Xenoblade and The Last Story and Pandoras Tower on the Wii-U.

Honestly, I dunno, this is a ridiculously dumb move on NoA's part, especially with their "We're going to recapture the core gamer" stance.

What's on the Wii release list this year? Zelda? Kirby? Is that it?

programjunkie

Chris FOM wrote: »

(lots snipped)
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that how Nintendo handles this will have a large impact on their relationship with traditional gamers for the next few years, including during the launch phase of the Wii U. So far they're off to a pretty crappy start. There's still a chance to fix it, but the clock is ticking.

Good post, and I agree. For Nintendo to not sell a fully translated game stateside after an extensive campaign asking them to take people's money just demonstrates a hubris and complete lack of concern for their customers that reflects badly on them and their future products.

I've toyed with the idea of getting a Wii U (I bartered my Wii away), but this whole situation is making that look like a losing proposition unless I want to play Wii U Fit, now with more yoga.

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

Mblackwell wrote: »

Some Americans absolutely cannot understand British accents (as performed by real Brits). Note that I'm not one of them, but even until we started watching a lot of British comedies together my wife just glazed over sometimes when I'd watch a British tv show. And that's BBC English there.

Right here

My ladyfriend is a Doctor Who fanatic and a fan of BBC shows in general

I really cannot understand what the hell they're saying most of the time

You have to be, as the British say, taking the piss. I have trouble understanding radically divergent dialects, in my non-native language.

cckerberos

Okay... as a gamer living in Japan and able to speak Japanese, which of the three is most recommended?

I literally haven't touched my Wii in nearly two years and haven't played a game on it since Muramasa: The Demon Blade. But I'm intrigued by the thread.

vagrant_winds

Massive roaming action rpg? Xenoblade
Linear story-focused "Gears of Final Fantasy"? The Last Story.