The Not-As-Complicated-As-You-Would-Think World of Localization
Posted on July 04 2011 by Nathanial Rumphol-Janc
Since its founding, Operation Rainfall has spread throughout the inter-webs like wild fire. Not a day has gone by where I do not see it pop up, in some form, on the many video game news feeds that I follow. While The Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, and Pandora’s Tower stand in the foreront of the localization battle, they aren’t the only games that North American gamers are screaming for. It’s important to look at how some of these other games are being handled to better appreciate and understand the localization issue.
 
Two such titles are Solatorobo: Red the Hunter and Tales of Graces.
 
Both of these Japanese titles have already been slated for European releases, just like the Rainfall’s big three. However, while Solatorobo will be localized for North America, Tales of Graces will not.
 
Solatorobo is a DS game being localized by Xseed; it will be release in the States this fall. According to Ken Berry, Director of Publishing at Xseed:
 
We have been keeping an eye on this title for awhile. Thankfully, due to our good relationship with Namco Bandai, having done Fragile Dreams and Sky Crawlers with them before, we have an open channel of communication. We were weighing before whether to do this title or not and once we found out Nintendo of Europe was already localizing this into English it made our decision much easier. This is a title the developer, CyberConnect2, are super passionate about and they really wanted to see it released in the U.S. and they worked with us to make it happen.
 
Like the Wii, the DS, is a dying system, even more so than the Wii because the 3DS is already available on retail shelves. When asked if the Xseed team was worried about publishing on a fading system, Berry replied:
 
We’re definitely worried and that’s one of the things we discussed with Namco. We had to make sure that their expectations are inline with the realities of the market now. I think both of us, meaning Xseed and Namco, are going into this project hopeful because its such a great title, but we’re also realistic about the type of sales we may see due to overall environment of the DS market right now.
 
Tales of Graces, a Wii game, is a different story. According to Tales Studio executive, Makoto Yoshizumi:
 
We wish to deliver the best and most complete experience for US and European fans, therefore we’re localizing Tales of Graces f. The game on the PS3 version is on a blu-ray disc. It would be next to impossible to condense all the game’s data on a Wii disc, so unfortunately, there will be no Wii release..
 
So, because the Euro-localization was beefed up to HD for the PS3, they can’t apply the English translation to the Wii version that was originally released in Japan? Okay, I understand why that would cost more than the standard locilization, but it’s still pretty messed up.
 
But the real key difference between games like Solatorobo and Xenoblade is Nintendo of America. Xseed stepped up to the plate; their whole moto is to bring high quality games state-side. But when the NOA is asked by thousands of gamers to publish already-translated Wii games, which have not been buffed up to the PS3, they don’t budge.
 
We’ve addressed this issue so many times on this site, and it just doesn’t make any sense. There are no Wii games coming out (besides Skyward Sword obviously). Nintendo wants to bring their hardcore gamers back from Sony and Microsoft, but if they aren’t willing to bring highly-demanded and already translated games to North America then why should we believe them? Why should we come back? I’m part of Nintendo’s core audience, and I have been since before I can remember, but the way they’ve handled this whole situation makes me wonder why I put up with them. Honestly, if I don’t get to play these games, I won’t be that upset. I have a busy life and I will move on, but this isn’t the first time Nintendo has pissed me off; this is just the topping on the cake. So while I won’t be hurt from the loss of these games, Nintendo will lose the money I would have paid to play them.
 
Source: Siliconera via Go Nintendo
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