Next year, Capcom is hoping to improve its localization efforts. Director and executive corporate officer for Consumer Games Business Katsuhiko Ichii told GamesIndustry that the company wants to break into more territories and have titles translated into 13 to 15 languages.
“We’ve seen a great deal of expansion of markets in emerging countries and regions, such as Russia, Eastern Europe, South Africa, India, and the Middle East. When you combine the size of these new markets, they’re about as large as the markets in major developed nations such as Germany and France. However, to successfully break into these regions, localizing our games is a must. Up until now we’ve only done English voiceovers for game characters, but by next year we’re looking to do voiceovers in languages of 5 to 7 countries, and have the in-game text translated into 13 to 15 languages. This will give us with a major boost in the area of game localization.”
Capcom is also looking to expand its overall pool of developers in 2013. Roughly 100 additional staffers will be brought in starting next month.
“We’re looking at taking on about 100 additional developers next year, with plans to continue strengthening our development structure. Capcom is actively working to create games for the ever-diversifying range of platforms, such as smartphones and tablet devices. That’s why we intend to actively recruit and employ largely new graduates. This will provide us with individuals we can raise up into employees capable of forging Capcom’s future.”
Nintendo published an Iwata Asks for Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney a few days back. Right now the discussion can only be read in Japanese, as the game has not been released (yet alone announced) for North America/Europe.
A bunch of details from the Iwata Asks have been translated, at least. There’s a roundup below covering how the project got started, tidbits about meshing the two series together, and more.
– Crossover between the two series had been thought about for awhile
– One of Hino’s dreams was to collaborate with Ace Attorney and creator Shu Takumi
– While Nintendo’s Brain Age games served as Layton’s inspiration, Ace Attorney has always held its place in Hino’s mind as the Layton series’ rival
– Hino admired the series’ charm and the flow of the Ace Attorney games
– Both of these influenced Layton’s design
– Hino feels that the two series are actually rather similar
– Hino: “From the outside, Professor Layton and Ace Attorney appear to be made with completely opposite game designs in mind. Professor Layton was created to go in a direction games don’t usually go, and Ace Attorney was created to appeal to the fans. However, even though the superficial interfaces are incredibly different, the core wrapped inside the package is essentially the same game.”
– Hino knew a crossover wouldn’t be possible until Layton was an established franchise
– Idea was presented to Capcom in 2010
– Takumi first heard about the project when he was working on Ghost Trick
– Takumi wasn’t involved with Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney’s initial development because of his commitments to Ghost Trick
– In May, he was called out to a yakiniku restaurant by the producer of the project in what Iwata termed the “Capcom tradition”—the practice where a superior takes hapless subordinates out for food when they want to reorganize existing projects
– Takumi was reluctant at first to work on the project
– In his mind, Ace Attorney has always been its own little world
– When the phrase “witch trials” came up during a brainstorming session held in Level 5’s Tokyo office over the first half year, he started thinking: “What would it be like for Phoenix to hold trials in a world where magic exists?”
– Most important factor in changing Takumi’s mind was that if he was going to do a crossover, he wanted to do something that would’ve been impossible in just the Ace Attorney world
– The idea took such a hold that before he knew it, that Takumi found himself working on the script when he’d merely gone over to bounce some ideas off of the staff
– Running with the idea of magic and witch trials, Level 5’s team put out the idea of having an “ultimate criminal, one where anything he writes would become true”
– Iwata noted that usually, one company takes the leadership role in collaborations; having two companies work together to write and compose the music together was unusual
– Programming was generally done by Level-5
– Art direction was generally Capcom’s job
– Music equally divided between Layton and Ace Attorney tracks
– Art required more attention, especially on Professor Layton’s end
– The team tried to adapt the Professor Layton style of art to Ace Attorney’s
– Transforming Ace Attorney from 2D to 3D and transformation of the characters into anime cutscenes both took some time
– Other characters in the game are a mix of both styles
– Mahone is drawn completely in the Ace Attorney style
– If you look carefully, you can tell which side the characters fall, but the blending of the two styles is still very natural
– Hino was most proud of his city’s design and graphics
– Setting was medieval, so he found it especially interesting to note the differences between Labyrinth City and Layton’s fantasy London
– Hino wanted a world that was balanced between realism and fantasy
– Takumi enjoyed the 3D effect in the cities, which gave them a sense of awe
– Takumi says the game is packed with 30 hours of content, easily
– Takumi also said that Professor Layton fans will enjoy seeing a new, more playful side to the Professor
– Ace Attorney fans will enjoy both the nostalgia of seeing Phoenix and Maya interact again, as well as the newness of the situation.
– Takumi: “The logic and scientific investigation that’s held up in the series up until now won’t apply to this world where magic exists, so you’ll have to put together a new logic.”
– Hino feels that the game encompasses the best of both series
– The crossover shouldn’t be viewed as just a side-story (with its implied throwaway, subpar quality), but as a fusion that embodies the feel of both games
– Hino suggests that players listen to the ending song once they finish the game, which is a hybrid of the two main themes played by a symphony
Senran Kagura producer Kenichiro Takaki has hopes of releasing Senran Kagura Burst in the west.
Takaki believes the best option at this point would be to bring the game over through the 3DS eShop. Takaki said that this may be possible “when Nintendo further builds up their infrastructure for downloadable games”.
“Of course, we’d like to release it overseas. But, one of the most important things about the game it’s not just an action game, it’s also very sexualized. What we would like to do, when Nintendo further builds up their infrastructure for downloadable games, is release it as a downloadable title.”
Recent news regarding the Mass Effect franchise has proven to be inaccurate. BioWare had apparently made statements confirming a late 2014 to early 2015 launch for the next entry in the series, and there had also been talk about future Wii U support.
Now GamerSyndrome – the original source of the interview – has updated its story, all but confirming that the Q&A was fabricated.
“This interview has been removed. The information provided previously by the author of this post was deemed to be obtained from an inaccurate source and NOT an official Bioware or EA interview response. We apologize for the inconvinience.” [sic]
BioWare community manager Tully Ackland added a denial of his own:
“Just want to make it clear as I’ve had a few questions. Any rumours of release dates for our next Mass Effect project are completely false.”
It’s unclear why the interview was published in the first place. Just keep in mind that any updates you’ve read about Mass Effect over the past few days or so is likely untrue.
Media Create’s latest hardware sales from Japan indicate that the 3DS has surpassed lifetime sales of the PlayStation 3.
3DS sales now stand at 8,799,378 following sales obtained between December 3 and December 9. Sales of the PlayStation 3 are at 8,716,260 in Japan.
Here’s the full listing of Japanese lifetime hardware sales:
Nintendo 3DS – 8,799,378
PlayStation 3 – 8,716,260
Nintendo DS – 32,875,469
PlayStation 2 – 21,829,112
PSP – 19,488,236
Nintendo Wii – 12,608,700
Xbox 360 – 1,608,399
PlayStation Vita – 1,074,621
Nintendo Wii U – 308,142
Announced back at New York Comic Con, The Amazing Spider-Man: Ultimate Edition is supposed to be heading to Wii U sometime in the future. Now, we may have a more solid release window, courtesy of Amazon. The online retailer lists the game as available for pre-order, and says it ships in March of 2013, which would put it within the Wii U’s gigantic “launch window” laid out by Nintendo.
I’d guess this is true just based on the fact that any later and it’ll lose relevance among the necessary crowds, but who knows– Amazon has been wrong before!
