In the heated ongoing conversation over “censorship” in localization, we’ve heard a whole lot from fans and even translators, but we haven’t seen much discussion from Japanese developers. Which is why, when speaking to Tetsuya Takahashi this week in Los Angeles, I asked him for his thoughts on the matter. His answers…
A month ago, we brought you the news that Vroom in the Night Sky, one of the few Nintendo Switch games currently available, would be losing its highly questionable but ultimately adorable bad English translation and getting a rewrite. That rewrite is now here, and it’s... worse, somehow.
Yesterday, a localizer for the publisher XSEED took a dramatic stance on what he saw as potential censorship, asking his company to remove his name from the credits of the upcoming JRPG Akiba’s Beat after the developers removed a controversial phrase involving the KKK from the game.
An extraneous “N” inserted into the English translation of The Legend of Zelda in 1987 has finally been removed, and it only took 29 and a half years.
One of the most striking things about Resident Evil 7 is just how gore filled it is. It’s packed with chopped off limbs and sickening body horror. But it seems that the experience is a tamer in Japan.
You know that part in Final Fantasy X where Tidus tries to force himself to laugh in an attempt to cheer up Yuna? You know how it’s become sort of a running joke in video game localization? Turns out it came from an acting class.
Check out this detailed blog post by the team behind Shovel Knight digging into how they localized the game for Japan. So many rad little details. Sleep bubbles!
Nintendo employee Alison Rapp, who’s been a target of harassment over censorship controversies in recent months, said on Twitter that she has been fired. “Today, the decision was made,” she wrote. “I am no longer a good, safe representative of Nintendo, and my employment has been terminated.”
The team behind a nine-month-old fan translation of Fire Emblem Fates disbanded yesterday, appearing to cancel their project in the process. That decision prompted disappointment and anger, but there are reports a new team has picked up the project.
When Fire Emblem Fates was released for 3DS in Japan early last summer, it didn’t have a US release date. Within 24 hours, fans were hacking the game and translating it on their own. What started as an experiment became a race to translate the game before Nintendo of America.
Cassandra Lee Morris voiced Lin Xenoblade Chronicles X, one of the game’s main characters—and a source of controversy. In the US and Europe, the character couldn’t wear certain bikini costumes. On YouTube, she released a video about the process of making the game and weighed in on the “censorship” discussion.
Neko Atsume, the super cute Japanese mobile cat game, now has an English version courtesy of its latest update. You can grab it here for Android, and here for iOS once Apple approves the update.
The Yokai Watch games are hugely popular in Japan. For good reason, they’re a lot of fun. The third numeric entry in the series was recently announced, and it’s got me thinking. And worried.
Why pay 30 bucks to download a game from Steam when you could shell out ¥179,450 (Roughly US$1,760.76) for the Japanese package version?
An image that's been circulating since early last month when Square Enix's Bravely Default came out for European 3DS demonstrates how Japan's nearly naked 15-year-olds become Europe's slightly more sensibly dressed 18-year-olds.
Every time I visit Hong Kong or Taipei, I notice that more and more console games are being translated for the Chinese market. Be it English to Chinese or Japanese to Chinese, it seems much of the focus is now on creating games that the Chinese can play. On the flip side, Chinese game companies have been trying, and…
Crytek's near-future military shooter for the PC, Warface, is currently live in Russia, with a closed beta in China. But the game plays differently in both regions.
As English-speakers, we take for granted a lot of things: One, that every game will either be originally published in our language or localized for it (and woe betide those that aren't...) Two: That the voice acting, if incompetent, will at least sound poorly acted and not read off a page.
"Gnhhh!" ... "Whhhhaaaah!" ... "Bah….ah...gahhhhhh"... "Hmmmf!"... "Ehiehhh" ... "Mhaemm!".. These grunts, sighs, squeals and miscellaneous other vocalizations compose roughly 1/4 of the dialogues in the early hours of Final Fantasy XIII.
Nazi imagery is a big nein-nein in Germany, and the localized version of Wolfenstein was supposed to have removed all of it. A small swastika slipped through, and Activision is said to be recalling the game from shelves there.
