A few days ago Nintendo Treehouse’s Chris Pranger appeared on the Part Time Gamers Podcast to discuss what it’s really like in the process of localizing, touching on costs, to labor, to decision-making from how the market in a particular region looks. Obviously, localizing games from Japan to America is a lot of work. Tons of translations have to go into it as well as heavy consideration into how lucrative a product can be for a particular market and if it’s worth it. Chris Pranger touched on why attempting to localizing the more obscure titles is always a tough sell, and the laborious and arduous nature of it all:
The hardest thing for everyone to understand and to accept — and I’ve seen this first hand in the company, that this is typified — people think that obviously they’re right, and what they like or dislike has to be the norm. Why would it be otherwise? And they just say the classic “Why do you hate money? Why do you hate money, Nintendo?”
And it’s like “What are you talking about? We’re trying to make…obviously it has to make calculated risks, but at the same time, one of those risks…and I mean they’ll bring up games that are very Japanese games, like Captain Rainbow for instance. They’ll bring that up like “Look how many people want this. Don’t you want money?” And we’ll be like “Yeah, we do want money, which is why we know it’s a colossal waste if we ever try to localize that in this current market, because look at you people. You don’t make up a big enough group.
The hardest part for people to realize is how much money it takes sometimes to make a game like…if it’s a Japense game, to bring it over the States. Not just translating and then localizing and marketing, but if it’s a game that has substantial voice text, oh my goodness! That is a collosal cost to bring that over. And some games you look at and you’re like “Well how are they going to bring that over?” and it’s like “Well, they can’t.”
You look at something like even Xenoblade Chronicles. People love that game, you know, within a certain group. That game is not the type of game that just pulls in enough to justify the costs on that. So that’s like, we got it in the States by luck, that NoE decided “Oh, we’ll take the fall. We’ll localize that.” Okay, cause someone is going to have to eat the costs somewhere, because that game is guaranteed to not sell enough to justify how big that game is. You know, hundreds of hours, all voiced. That’s a lot of money that goes into that.
And people are like “Why do you guys hate money?” We don’t. That’s why you literally can’t make everything. And people don’t like finding out that their fanbase is actually too small to justify the costs of the thing they want.
It’s unfortunate that a lot of games we’d like to see localized don’t see the light of day due to market appeal in a region, but at the end of the day – as much as it’s great to appease the fans – business comes first. If it makes sense, and it can be profitable, it’ll be done. If not, tough luck.
Super Mario Bros. is getting a soundtrack in honor of its 30th anniversary. In Japan, the two-disc set is due out on September 13. Pricing is set at 3,240 yen.
Here’s the lineup of games featured in the soundtrack:
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Land
Super Mario World
Super Mario USA
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Super Mario 64
Super Mario Sunshine
New Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Galaxy
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Mario 3D Land
New Super Mario Bros. 2
New Super Mario Bros. U
Super Mario 3D World
Super Mario Maker (bonus track)
There’s no word on this time about the soundtrack’s availability outside of Japan.
It’s the first Friday of a new month, which means that Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is getting new DLC today. Players can get their hands on the following content:
10 New quests;
4 New Challenge Quests;
1 Bonus Palico: Purple Pal;
1 Guild Card background;
7 Guild Card titles;
Here’s the official trailer:
To nab Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate’s latest DLC, follow these steps:
– Connect your Nintendo 3DS to the Internet
– Load your copy of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
– Go to the “DLC” menu
– Download the various items
– Quests will be saved under “Event Quests” (with the Questatrix)
– “Challenge Quests” (with the Arena Bambina) will be saved in the Gathering Hall
– G-Rank quests and G-Rank Challenge Quests can be found in the Elder Hall and Assembly respectively
– For the Episode Quests make sure to talk to your Housekeeper and read their directions since some quests will show up at the Gathering Hall while other will come up at the Elder Hall
Special challenges on Pokémon Shuffle have given player the opportunity to gain Mega Stones for Pokémon that are typically unobtainable by normal means in the game. We’ve had many events since Pokémon Shuffle released earlier in the year, and we now have another one to join the ranks, this time for Garchomp!
The Mega Garchomp challenge is now live and will run until August 17th. Just like most of the other Mega Stone challenges so far, this is a competition to see which players can rank the highest in their respective regions. If you’re one of the top 12k in Europe, 18k in North America, and 50k in Japan, you’ll earn a Garchompite for Mega Garchomp. If you happen to also place in the top 16k in Europe, 26k in North America, or 70k in Japan, you’ll receive an Attack Power Up, while the top 3k in Europe, 5k in North America and 15k in Japan will also obtain a Mega Speedup alongside the previously listed. As usual, if you happen to not rank in your region you will still be awarded a Jewel just for trying, so give it a shot! You have nothing to lose!
Hoenn’s third legendary Rayquaza makes its return to Pokémon Shuffle! For players that weren’t able to obtain Rayquaza the first time around, you now have another chance to catch the green beast.
This event will run until August 17th. As usual, be sure to Check In to update your game and gain access to this event. Good luck!
Capcom published two more weapon videos for Monster Hunter X today. View trailers for the Bow and Heavy Bowgun below.
Life of Pixel has been received a new patch. On Miiverse, developer Super Icon talked about what’s changed.
The new update primarily addresses bugs and makes minor fixes. Additionally, players can now switch sound between the TV and GamePad.
Below is Super Icon’s full Miiverse note:
Have you been experiencing any issues/errors while playing Splatoon over the past day or so? Well, it’s not entirely out of the ordinary.
Errors were something that Nintendo was somewhat prepared for. Actually, Nintendo mentioned this on the company’s Japanese Twitter account last night.
If you’re encountering errors, you should try resetting your Wii U. That’s definitely the first step you should take. If you’re still seeing issues for whatever reason, try reentering your connection settings on the console or rebooting your router. All should hopefully be fixed by taking these steps!
Thanks to John for the tip.
