Video game localization
The game's name, art assets, packaging, manuals, and cultural and legal differences are typically altered.
The original transliteration of the Japanese title would be "Puck-Man", but the decision was made to change the name when the game was imported to the United States out of fear that the word 'Puck' would be vandalized into an obscenity.
In addition, the names of the ghosts were originally based on colors - roughly translating to "Reddie", "Pinky", "Bluey", and "Slowly".
Ted Woolsey, translator of Final Fantasy VI, recounts having to continually cut down the English text due to limited capacity.
[2] Early video game translation was not often a priority for companies, leading to budgets being low and localization time being cut short.
As opposed to their older counterparts, video games can have a large amount of dialogue and voice over, making localization efforts significantly harder.
[8] Though being crucial to maintain a good release window and leave games less prone to piracy, Sim-ship has its drawbacks.
[9] An issue that arises with an outsourced localization is that the company lacks knowledge of the game, as opposed to in-house developers.
A localization kit may contain elements such as general information about the project (including deadlines, contact information, software details), resources about the game itself (a walk-through, plot or character descriptions, cheat codes), reference materials (glossaries of terms used in the game world or used for the specific hardware), software (such as computer-aided translation tools), code, and the assets to be translated.
[15] A fan group called DLAN has undertaken the work of localizing many games, mods, cheats, guides, and more into Castilian Spanish when the official versions were of poor quality, such as with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
In the original Japanese version the protagonist, Miku, was a frightened seventeen-year-old girl looking for her brother Mafuyu who disappeared after entering a haunted mansion.
In the US and European versions Miku is nineteen, has Western features, and is not wearing the original Japanese school uniform, but developers did not think necessary to change her brother's appearance, so when players do find Mafuyu at the end of the game they do not seem to be blood-related.
A product for mass consumption only keeps the branding features of the trademark; all the other characteristics might be subject to customization due to the need to appeal to the local market.
On the other hand, players also find narration and dialogue closer to literary texts or film scripts where a more creative translation would be expected, but unlike most forms of translation, video games can adapt or even change the original script, as long as it is in the search of enhanced fun and playability of the target culture.
He also commented on why the UK and Ireland, which are English speaking countries, also experience the same delays as those in continental Europe with many different languages despite little or no modification.
[18] For instance, the German version of Team Fortress 2 (2007) has no blood or detached body parts as a result of this regulation, which can cause difficulty for players as it is hard to tell if an enemy has been hit or taken damage.
[19] Despite a significant overhaul of the graphics, the German localization of the World War II game Wolfenstein (2009) contained a single visible swastika on an art asset.
[21] China also has strict censorship rules, and forbids content that endangers the "unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state" or the "social moralities or fine national cultural traditions", amongst other qualifications.
[22] As a result, the Swedish PC game Hearts of Iron (2002), set during World War II, was banned because maps depicted Manchuria, West Xinjiang, and Tibet as independent states.
The localization of Football Manager (2005) was similarly banned because Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China were all treated as separate teams, putting them on equal footing.
[22] Other localization challenges or controversies arise from material deemed too sexual for the cultural expectations of the target market.
[7]: 248 In this context, glocalization seeks from the outset to minimize localization requirements for video games intended to be universally appealing.
[7]: 248 Academic Douglas Eyman cites the Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft as an example of glocalization because it was designed at the outset to appeal to global audiences while celebrating Chinese culture.
The interactive element of this type of text makes it difficult for producers of localization because it has an aspect of randomness, for example a user may have to input a command or a message at a certain point.
There are multiple programs that can be used, most popular being Catalyst and Passolo, which allow producers to work directly with the game code.
The most important challenge is the lip-syncing of newly recorded dialogue, and fitting the subtitles into each part of a pre-recorded or pre-rendered scene.
[24][25] Some fans consider resulting changes to plot and characterization as marring the original artistic vision, and some object to sexual content being removed or bowdlerized.
[26] In the face of Nintendo's unwillingness to communicate about localization, speculation and conspiracy theories circulated among enthusiasts,[24] and several employees of the Treehouse were alleged to be responsible for unpopular changes.
[26] Allison Rapp, a Treehouse employee not directly involved in localization, garnered controversy due to her comments on Twitter.
[26] Some however interpreted the essay as defending the exploitation of children, and readers of the alt-right, neo-Nazi publication The Daily Stormer organized a letter-writing campaign to have her fired.
