dothackgu.1up.com wrote:Salvador Aihara here with another exclusive interview. Last time we made it into the QA side of the NAMCO BANDAI building, and now we are out to meet with Masahiro Knittel (known as Mabi to his hacker friends).
Salvador: Bah! You scared me! Who are you?
Mabi: I'm Masahiro Knittel, and I'm the Localization Producer for .hack//G.U. Volume 2 and Volume 3.
When I meet new people and tell them what I do, most people get a blank look on their face. "What's localization?" "What does it mean to be a producer?" Those can be tough questions to answer.
Salvador: Okay, I�??ll bite, what�??s localization, and what does it mean to be a producer?
Mabi: Localization is the process involving moving (both literally and figuratively) a product from one local market to another local market. In my case, this means bringing a product from Japan to North America. People immediately equate this with translation, but it's so, so much more than translation.
Ultimately, the goal of localization is to transplant a product into another culture, not just another language. Ideally, the change will be completely transparent, so that the average person won't feel like it originated somewhere else. The challenge in that is to fully understand the product that is being transitioned, as well as both the culture that it's coming from and the culture it's transitioning to. Capturing subtle nuances and conveying them effectively can be pretty difficult.
As a producer, my role is that of a project lead. I supervise the overall direction the project is heading in, and coordinate with all the various individuals involved in the many facets of making a project into a reality. I'm heavily involved in every aspect of the project, from planning, translation, software development, and voice acting, to marketing, public relations, sales, and game testing. My job is to know what is going on with a project, where to take it next, and how to take it to the next step. I'm basically the "go to" guy lol.
Salvador: Wow, that sounds like a lot.
Mabi: One of the biggest challenges in .hack//G.U. is the sheer scale of the project. There is an epic storyline, dozens of characters that are critical to the story, hours and hours of movies and voice acting, and hundreds of thousands of words of text. Getting all of it straight and consistent is really tough.
Salvador: What else is challenging on the games?
Mabi: Another challenge was making sure that the feel of the game's setting was accurate. "The World" is a fictitious MMORPG, so naturally, players will be members of the culture surrounding MMORPGs and use all the jargon associated with it. I wanted to make sure that other players who are also members of that culture didn't perceive anything odd or inaccurate.
Salvador: So how did you make sure that .hack got all the jargon right?
Mabi: I used my own experiences from playing MMORPGs to make sure that the dialogue and jargon sounded natural within an MMORPG context. I'm actually an avid player in the World of Warcraft universe, and other WoW players out there who are .hack fans may have run into me without knowing it. I apologize in advance if I've unknowingly PKed/ganked you.
Salvador: I think you PKed me online last night. I would like my 16 gold back, please. What is the single best thing about working in Localization in general?
Mabi: For me, the biggest appeal of being in localization is the sense of accomplishment of having finished a game. It's really cool to see the project I worked to behind the glass cabinet at my neighborhood game store. Inside my heart, I'm all, "omg I helped make that!!" lol
Salvador: And what is the best part of working on .hack?
Mabi: The greatest appeal to me of .hack//G.U. is the intense drama the story brings to players. I mean, you really get a feel of the pain and strife that these characters go through, and that's amazing. All the voice acting that went into G.U. is stellar, and they're really good at what they do, not to mention really great people to work with! Another appeal was that the story is about what happens when things that go wrong in an MMORPG begin spilling over into real life. Being a gamer myself, it made me stop and think about how interesting �?? and scary �?? that would be.
One of the most fun times during the project was supervising the voice recording for volume 2. The studio that we did the work at, and the voice actors, are all amazing people. I came away from that feeling jazzed about the work and having made some great new friends in Los Angeles. (shameless shout out to everyone on project G.U. �?? you guys rock!)
I love how devoted the .hack fan community is. The official G.U. forums are quite active and there is always a ton of discussion among forum members there about this or that having to do with the .hack universe. (I have posted on there but I won't give out my avatar's name muhaha).
I really hope that .hack//G.U. fans will feel how much love and devotion went into this project. Everyone involved has invested an enormous amount of personal energy to help make this game a reality here in North America. I'm confident that fans won't be disappointed at the epic story, unique plot, and intense drama in volume 2, and that when they're done, they'll be anxiously awaiting the arrival of volume 3!
Salvador: Wow, you have a lot to say. My hand has cramped up trying to write all this down. I need a break. Tune in in two weeks for a new interview!
Salvador OUT!
Everyone said that they are going to release the actual release date on March 15th. 
but we can't really be to sure.
