My disdain at publishers refusing localizing games.

[Sadivinedevil]

Though I'm not to happy about the prospects of .hack//Link being localized I'm even more annoyed that games such as Xenoblade and the Last story, which have high prospects of being localized, are getting axed by Nintendo of America. The same thing almost happened to Solatorobo recently, but thank god Xseed is bringing it over to America.

Many Publishers have thought that American gamers are more interested in American made games and a lot of Japanese games don't get localized because of this. This has been a common trend that has been happening since the beginning of the game industry, but what tans my hide right now is that it seems to be happening more frequently now than before, with companies like Namco Bandai and Nintendo of America. What's even worse is that a lot of these games have been translated and had most of the localization work done for them already they just aren't reaching America. I can blame Nintendo of America for Solatorobo's almost non release, the Last Story and Xenoblade's predicaments, but just yelling at them alone won't get them over here any time soon. Thankfully there is a movement called "Operation Rainfall", which has the main objective of trying to get Xenoblade, the Last Story and Pandora's Tower released, is underway. Unfortunately, I can't be as optimistic for the many other great games that haven't reached America or Europe.

For those interested in Operation Rainfall
http://boards.ign.com/nintendo_wii_lobb ... 3345328/p1

[Haseootamashi]

I knew the fact this was going on, But damn...Didn't know it was this bad, and as if they're not localizing .hack//link, they did it with .hack g.u and the original series. Why the hell can't they do it with link? :/, Though the first series is hard as hell to find a copy of them..Like even any of the four originals...

[Kuukai]

It's not worse, you're just more aware of the games not coming over, and in general it's better, I mean at least they're still coming out in English...

[Erranty]

I knew the fact this was going on, But damn...Didn't know it was this bad, and as if they're not localizing .hack//link, they did it with .hack g.u and the original series. Why the hell can't they do it with link? :/, Though the first series is hard as hell to find a copy of them..Like even any of the four originals...

I can pick up the full set right now by hitting my 3 local gamestops.

[Murakazu]

I do believe that localization isn't happening as often as in past years. It kinda makes sense if you think about it. It may actually be more cost efficient to make games in your own country with your own people that work for you rather than translating a game from another country, don't quote me on that though. Although, I can't say that I like it. I believe there are some games that must come over here and they're just not.

[Kuukai]

That's not true. You just have the internet now. Look at gamefaqs' list of ps2 games, for example. There is a gigantic chunk of them that we never got here and (this is important) that you've never heard of. Nintendo's been awesome at doing this, actually. The original Custom Robo, the original Sin and Punishment, the original Mother/Earthbound... They don't like risks. I don't know what the content of Xenoblade looks like but if it's anything like Xenogears I can see why they're not bringing it here. The North American version of Xenogears had to be heavily edited and censored just to meet 3rd party ps1 guidelines. NOA 1st party games are much stricter. No god, no controversy. That's why Mother 3 never came out (all the same-sex kissing NOA didn't want to endorse).

[Kaori]

No god no controversy, I find it hard to believe that they refuse to localize those yet they gave so much frakking time for crap like duke nukem forever, and it wasnt even a great game!

[Murakazu]

That's not true. You just have the internet now. Look at gamefaqs' list of ps2 games, for example. There is a gigantic chunk of them that we never got here and (this is important) that you've never heard of. Nintendo's been awesome at doing this, actually. The original Custom Robo, the original Sin and Punishment, the original Mother/Earthbound... They don't like risks. I don't know what the content of Xenoblade looks like but if it's anything like Xenogears I can see why they're not bringing it here. The North American version of Xenogears had to be heavily edited and censored just to meet 3rd party ps1 guidelines. NOA 1st party games are much stricter. No god, no controversy. That's why Mother 3 never came out (all the same-sex kissing NOA didn't want to endorse).

So are you telling me that the reason most games aren't over here is because of mass censorship? I just can't understand their reasoning if thats the case. Maybe its because I'm older or whatnot but it just seems ridiculous to change something so much that you lose out on what makes a game great.

[Sadivinedevil]

That's not true. You just have the internet now. Look at gamefaqs' list of ps2 games, for example. There is a gigantic chunk of them that we never got here and (this is important) that you've never heard of. Nintendo's been awesome at doing this, actually. The original Custom Robo, the original Sin and Punishment, the original Mother/Earthbound... They don't like risks. I don't know what the content of Xenoblade looks like but if it's anything like Xenogears I can see why they're not bringing it here. The North American version of Xenogears had to be heavily edited and censored just to meet 3rd party ps1 guidelines. NOA 1st party games are much stricter. No god, no controversy. That's why Mother 3 never came out (all the same-sex kissing NOA didn't want to endorse).

Mass censorship isn't as big of a deal today as it used to be, but it is still present. I am very doubtful that that is the main reason why games don't get published. In the case of Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's tower it is more or less ignorance about the potential of unknown Japanese games selling well in America. Unknown doesn't really apply to these games though because Xenoblade is the spiritual successor to Xenogears and Xenosaga, the Last Story has the creator of Final Fantasy at the helm, and Pandora's Tower has an interesting concept. It would be idiotic of NOA to not release these games in America because they would definitely be in the Wii's top sellers for this year.

I might be annoyed that .hack//Link might not get the chance to be localized, but I already own it and I have already played it on my region free PSP. The Wii isn't region free so no one in America can play these games until they are released in America. Our movement to localize .hack//Link seems insignificant now when compared to Operation Rainfall, and it's obvious because Monado the Beginning of the World, Xenoblade's previous title, has literally become the most wanted game on Amazon via preorder.

By the way Xenoblade has more in common with Final Fantasy XII than it has with Xenogears. It takes place on two giants (one Mechanical and the other is Biological), and it is about a war between man and Machine.

[Kuukai]

No god no controversy, I find it hard to believe that they refuse to localize those yet they gave so much frakking time for crap like duke nukem forever, and it wasnt even a great game!

Who did what now? That game has nothing to do with Nintendo... And the other platforms have gotten laxer. My favorite example is how they took f-bombs out of MGS3 and appended them on in MGS4. Hell, the main issue isn't even what's allowed on the platform from a third party (although Nintendo still has some lines it won't cross here either), it's what Nintendo wants to stick its name on.

So are you telling me that the reason most games aren't over here is because of mass censorship? I just can't understand their reasoning if thats the case. Maybe its because I'm older or whatnot but it just seems ridiculous to change something so much that you lose out on what makes a game great.

Self-censorship. As a "family-friendly" company, there are some things Nintendo wants to steer clear of in the US to avoid controversy. I have no idea if this is one of those things, but I know Xenogears or Xenosaga totally would be.

Mass censorship isn't as big of a deal today as it used to be, but it is still present. I am very doubtful that that is the main reason why games don't get published. In the case of Xenoblade, The Last Story, and Pandora's tower it is more or less ignorance about the potential of unknown Japanese games selling well in America. Unknown doesn't really apply to these games though because Xenoblade is the spiritual successor to Xenogears and Xenosaga, the Last Story has the creator of Final Fantasy at the helm, and Pandora's Tower has an interesting concept. It would be idiotic of NOA to not release these games in America because they would definitely be in the Wii's top sellers for this year.

Note that it's rated M in Australia. Pandora's Tower isn't selling very well in Japan, that might be something they're looking at.

I might be annoyed that .hack//Link might not get the chance to be localized, but I already own it and I have already played it on my region free PSP. The Wii isn't region free so no one in America can play these games until they are released in America. Our movement to localize .hack//Link seems insignificant now when compared to Operation Rainfall, and it's obvious because Monado the Beginning of the World, Xenoblade's previous title, has literally become the most wanted game on Amazon via preorder.

On the other hand, an import wii is insanely cheap and unlike Link Xenoblade is being released in English. In fact, upon further research it doesn't look like Xenoblade is particularly not coming out here. Unlike Link, they announced it, the Amazon page is up, and they have some sort of statement from pr that it's still coming.

[Sadivinedevil]

Nintendo in general isn't completely a family friendly company I've seen them release many M rated titles before. NOA on the other hand might be obsessively family friendly, and that's probably why a lot of casual cash ins get green lighted in America, but games like Disaster Day of Crisis don't. I still don't think censorship is the main reason why games don't get released in America.

Just because a game gets an M rating in one country doesn't mean it will get an M rating in another, understand cultural differences. Also just because a game doesn't sell well in some countries doesn't mean it won't sell well in others, again understand cultural differences.

Oh boy you just opened a whole can of worms with your import a Wii comment. For starters import one and you'll see that proprietary things such as plugs and connections are different in each country, the plugs from a European Wii are different from an American Wii. Suppose you change the plugs and hook it up to your TV you will get no signal because you didn't understand the difference between PAL and NTSC. You then have to get a PAL TV and hook up your PAL Wii to it. In addition to actually buying the game you probably have spent somewhere around $300 for this setup. That $33 PAL Wii doesn't sound so cheap anymore does it. I'm sorry for being a jerk and all but this is basic knowledge about how the PAL and NTSC systems are setup. A Handheld like the PSP doesn't have these issues because it doesn't use PAL or NTSC and it is region free. PSP games that are imported from Europe or Japan will work on an American PSP because of this. The Wii, PS3, and Xbox360 on the other hand are not only restricted by regioning they are restricted by the PAL and NTSC systems. Not only is it hard to remove the regioning from these consoles, but trying to get an English game from Europe to play on an American TV is impossible because of PAL and NTSC. Games from Japan on the other hand will work on a region free console in America because both America and Japan use NTSC.

I saw an unofficial announcement for Xenoblade's release after my last post. This still doesn't mean it will be released, but Nintendo could be waiting for the final localization touches that NOE is doing to be done before they announce it officially like they did with Solatorobo when they gave it Xseed. I'm more or less annoyed at their comment that they had no plans to sell it in the future.

[Murakazu]

I thought that the PS3 was region free so you could play games from another country onto a American PS3. The 360 and wii as you have mentioned don't have that capability.

[Sadivinedevil]

I thought that the PS3 was region free so you could play games from another country onto a American PS3. The 360 and wii as you have mentioned don't have that capability.

I heard that some games on the PS3 are region free, but I'm not sure if all of them are. I still doubt that a PAL PS3 game will work on an NTSC PS3.

[Kuukai]

Nintendo in general isn't completely a family friendly company I've seen them release many M rated titles before. NOA on the other hand might be obsessively family friendly, and that's probably why a lot of casual cash ins get green lighted in America, but games like Disaster Day of Crisis don't. I still don't think censorship is the main reason why games don't get released in America.

First-party? Aside from Metroid Prime or Sin and Punishment 2, what? Even those games aren't all that violent, and they certainly don't question Judeo-Christian religion or contain f-bombs.

Nintendo more globally doesn't allow even third-party nudity (Sony has first-party), and has toned down violence in games across time and space--from Mortal Kombat ages ago in the US to No More Heroes 2 last year in Japan.

Censorship isn't the main reason games don't get released in America, the main reason is irrelevance (Hokuto no Ken CR 10, Simple Series 390,000, Nobunaga's Revenge and He Means it This Time). But for popular, high profile games, "image maintenance" (let's not call it censorship) is a huge factor.

Just because a game gets an M rating in one country doesn't mean it will get an M rating in another, understand cultural differences. Also just because a game doesn't sell well in some countries doesn't mean it won't sell well in others, again understand cultural differences.

Japan and the US have cultural differences. In Japan people wouldn't freak out about Mother 3. Australia doesn't like violence as much, but otherwise it's not all that exotic to us. An M rating there is certainly in indicator of around where it would be here... I'm not sure why we should believe a game that didn't do well in Japan that no one here knows anything about would do that much better in the US...

Oh boy you just opened a whole can of worms with your import a Wii comment. For starters import one and you'll see that proprietary things such as plugs and connections are different in each country, the plugs from a European Wii are different from an American Wii. Suppose you change the plugs and hook it up to your TV you will get no signal because you didn't understand the difference between PAL and NTSC. You then have to get a PAL TV and hook up your PAL Wii to it. In addition to actually buying the game you probably have spent somewhere around $300 for this setup. That $33 PAL Wii doesn't sound so cheap anymore does it. I'm sorry for being a jerk and all but this is basic knowledge about how the PAL and NTSC systems are setup. A Handheld like the PSP doesn't have these issues because it doesn't use PAL or NTSC and it is region free. PSP games that are imported from Europe or Japan will work on an American PSP because of this. The Wii, PS3, and Xbox360 on the other hand are not only restricted by regioning they are restricted by the PAL and NTSC systems. Not only is it hard to remove the regioning from these consoles, but trying to get an English game from Europe to play on an American TV is impossible because of PAL and NTSC. Games from Japan on the other hand will work on a region free console in America because both America and Japan use NTSC.

I do understand the difference, I'm not sure you do. PAL is a last-gen, interlaced video interface. It looks terrible. I wouldn't want to buy an analog PAL TV if I lived in Britain, just like how I wouldn't buy an NTSC TV here. So how would I play videogames, you ask? The Wii supports progressive output over component cables. It also uses an external power supply that provides DC power at 12V/3.7A in all countries. What this means is I can literally just unplug my Wii and plug in a UK Wii into my existing setup, and 95% of Wii games (including Xenoblade) will work just fine. I've imported PAL PS3 games and the same thing applies: just don't play in 480i and it works fine. The 360 is probably the same, except some 360 game are region-locked (no PS3 games are), although like the Wii you can probably import the console and switch out the AC adapter since it uses an external one (I've heard some weird things about the voltage and shape changing across generations or something though), while this is impossible for the PS3 since it uses an internal power supply so you'd need some sort of hard-core voltage converter if you wanted to import the console (luckily there is no reason to do this, ever, since the thing is region free).

I saw an unofficial announcement for Xenoblade's release after my last post. This still doesn't mean it will be released, but Nintendo could be waiting for the final localization touches that NOE is doing to be done before they announce it officially like they did with Solatorobo when they gave it Xseed. I'm more or less annoyed at their comment that they had no plans to sell it in the future.

Still it has three things going for it as far as a localization goes, plus an English release, which is way better than we could even hope for with Link. We don't even have the vague PR announcement...

[Sadivinedevil]

I'm sure Nintendo has released a few First party titles that aren't what would be considered family friendly. Xenoblade is a first party title since Monolith was made into a first party branch of Nintendo and it isn't what I would call that family friendly. Though as I've said NOA is probably less willing to release the less family friendly games even if they are first party

I guess I'm just old because I'm used to seeing issues involving PAL and NTSC and "apparently" everything works perfectly when it is imported. I'm also sure that Interlaced or Progressive scan has nothing to do with whether or not the signal is PAL or NTSC because Interlaced and Progressive just stand for how the lines on the TV are displayed. Here is an easy to understand example

Interlaced (Every other line is illuminated as image is formed, this creates a not so smooth 30FPS refresh rate)
_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

Progressive (Every line is illuminated as the image forms, This results in a smoother 60FPS refresh rate)
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________

Old PAL TVs had 576 lines and NTSC TVs had 525 lines, this has changed since we've moved into the highdef age. The images differ though because they use different technologies.
Import your PAL Wii and see if it works on an American TV and I'm sure it won't work even if you have it set to progressive scan. I'm unsure about Digital signals, Which has replaced NTSC and PAL with ATSC, it is different technology after all. Still the fact of the matter is that the Wii still uses analog signals which is still PAL and NTSC, and we all know PAL and NTCS don't mix. I also wasn't kidding about the plugs being different, but the Wii probably will work with either plug since it they both have the same connection to the Wii.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/uk%2 ... 00.jpg?o=6

[Kuukai]

I'm sure Nintendo has released a few First party titles that aren't what would be considered family friendly. Xenoblade is a first party title since Monolith was made into a first party branch of Nintendo and it isn't what I would call that family friendly. Though as I've said NOA is probably less willing to release the less family friendly games even if they are first party

This is what I've said so far:

As a "family-friendly" company, there are some things Nintendo wants to steer clear of in the US to avoid controversy.

Nintendo more globally doesn't allow even third-party nudity (Sony has first-party), and has toned down violence in games across time and space--from Mortal Kombat ages ago in the US to No More Heroes 2 last year in Japan.

I never said whatever you're having me say about all of their global games being family friendly...

I guess I'm just old because I'm used to seeing issues involving PAL and NTSC and "apparently" everything works perfectly when it is imported. I'm also sure that Interlaced or Progressive scan has nothing to do with whether or not the signal is PAL or NTSC because Interlaced and Progressive just stand for how the lines on the TV are displayed. Here is an easy to understand example

Interlaced (Every other line is illuminated as image is formed, this creates a not so smooth 30FPS refresh rate)
_________________________

_________________________

_________________________

Progressive (Every line is illuminated as the image forms, This results in a smoother 60FPS refresh rate)
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________

Old PAL TVs had 576 lines and NTSC TVs had 525 lines, this has changed since we've moved into the highdef age. The images differ though because they use different technologies.
Import your PAL Wii and see if it works on an American TV and I'm sure it won't work even if you have it set to progressive scan. I'm unsure about Digital signals, Which has replaced NTSC and PAL with ATSC, it is different technology after all. Still the fact of the matter is that the Wii still uses analog signals which is still PAL and NTSC, and we all know PAL and NTCS don't mix. I also wasn't kidding about the plugs being different, but the Wii probably will work with either plug since it they both have the same connection to the Wii.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/uk%2 ... 00.jpg?o=6

You seem really confused about this. The Wii supports both interlaced and progressive scan. All models run off the same DC power, they just use different AC adapters across regions that supply this power. Component cables are even the same between the US and the EU (unlike how Japan uses D-Terminal). If you use progressive scan over composite cables and a US AC adapter it works. Can you please check google instead of speculating? PAL vs. NTSC was a big problem during the last generation, I'm not sure why you think it applies to HD...

[Sadivinedevil]

Putting the plug issue aside, there are different plugs in other countries, I think you are wrong about a Progressive scan PAL signal working on an NTSC TV. For starters Interlaced and Progressive scan only have to do with the frame rate and not whether or not the signal changes between NTSC and PAL. To be precise a PAL signal is still PAL even if the Progressive scan is turned on. In addition PAL progressive scan is 50FPS and NTSC progressive scan is 60 FPS, and that is actually a big deal even though it seems insignificant. More importantly to correct myself from before PAL has about 625 lines while NTSC has 525 Lines, and that is why the PAL Wii won't display well on an NTSC TV. Other things like how the colors are displayed through PAL and NTSC differ greatly and you will most likely get a Black and White image if you can get an image at all that is. You say this isn't a problem anymore, but you are also incorrect in assuming this. If you haven't noticed the Wii only supports an Analog video output (Composite, S-Video, and Component cables), and it is because of this that the Wii still has issues with PAL and NTSC. Maybe next generation if Nintendo decides to add a digital video output for the Wii U this argument would be pointless. I can see that happening, but that doesn't change the fact that the Wii is still under the old PAL and NTSC systems. Also only Component cables will allow you to display a progressive image on a TV out of all the analog cables.

[Kuukai]

EDTV is basically the same across the two types of TVs. Look, I found this instantly via google. Can you please stop saying it doesn't work?



Importing a PAL Wii is simply a matter of buying the thing.

[Sadivinedevil]

It looks like Nintendo thought ahead on this and I must say they were smart to do so. I did not know this, and I'm sure a lot of Americans don't either. Going from 576i to 576p on an NTSC screen though won't work and will give you the black and white screen that is cut off at the top and bottom. That is what I was arguing about and I did not know Nintendo planed for this in advanced. So what I'm a dumb@$$ because I don't research things that aren't common knowledge in America. This is clearly NTSC progressive scan and not PAL progressive scan. What you were saying before made absolutely no sense, to a person who knows basic knowledge of how PAL and NTSC work, until I saw this video, but I honestly could not believe you when it sounds like you are saying that 576p (PAL progressive) will work on an NTSC screen. Next time bring up these videos or any other evidence to back up your claims or else I or anyone else you talk to will think your an absolute idiot blabbing on about how the impossible is possible and argue with you like I did. Arguments like this can be avoided if you do so.

Also I'm sure there are many TVs that can support both formats I wasn't completely against the Idea that a PAL Wii would work in the US, I just thought it would be a somewhat complex setup. But going from the viewpoint of a consumer who has an older TV this would be impossible if the PAL console didn't have NTSC progressive scan. All I can say is the world is changing and I'm just and old 20 year old man with a cane and false teeth.

[Kuukai]

So what I'm a dumb@$$ because I don't research things that aren't common knowledge in America.

I'm not calling anyone names, but it is kinda weird you could argue for so many posts in a row without actually checking if it worked, especially when I asked you to.

Next time bring up these videos or any other evidence to back up your claims or else I or anyone else you talk to will think your an absolute idiot blabbing on about how the impossible is possible and argue with you like I did. Arguments like this can be avoided if you do so.

No, arguments like this can be avoided if you do an ounce of research before telling someone they're wrong. I only had to post the video because you refused to check. I told you things had changed from the last generation. There are dozens of videos and hundreds of websites talking about this. How is it my fault you can't bother to check google before telling someone they're wrong for the third time? Clearly your understanding here was flawed, mine wasn't perfect either (neither of us realized color would work in other modes), but I actually checked what I was saying would actually work before I went around spewing it. This is common sense. You did not. You just kept saying it would never work. Same with the plug issue, which is another thing where you seemed not to accept my explanation, let alone look it up...