Why do devs keep lying about translating time?

[tongue_of_colicab]

I'm fed up with those lies. Okami wii is to come out next month or so in the US. Now some guy from Capcom says the EU has to wait untill summer, if we're lucky. And all because the game needs to be translated. Now this guy is obviously lying and this makes me angry. Translating a game doesnt take 6+ months. Books with 500+ pages get translated into more languages in less time. Even if for some impossible reason it would take 6 months to translate a game he is still lying because the ps2 version is already translated and the wii version is exactly the same.

We are living in 2008, how hard can it be to translate of few lines of text? They know years before the game is done it will be released WW, still they start translating after its done and still manage to take forever to do it.

I'm seriously thinking about just chipping my wii and be done with it. Download every game I want and take a picture of it, send it to the dev and tell them I wont spend a penny on their software anymore untill they stop giving me this translate bullshit. Nintendo doesnt even has a EU date for Brawl, a game with no text. Okami is already translated and still takes 6 months to get translated... again... Go away.

The same goes for the localization of the games. All the publishers have their systems and all set up long ago. It really isnt going to take months more time because you need to release a game in a bunch of euro countries with slightly different rules.

I'm fed up with it. I have to wait months more and to top it off I also have to pay by far the most money for the game compared to Japan and the US.

 

[rekator]

It's more the certification age from all the countries of the EU than "only" the translation who take time, and probably the the go and return for modification…

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Thats not the problem either as most stuff in Europe is just PEGI exept for the UK so it wont suddenly take 6 months after the US rating and release to get it released here. Besides I think you can also us the US verion to get rated here if its the same so you can get a rating for both regions at more or less the same time. Certainly isnt going to take a extra 6 months.

 

[StefanS]

Thats not the problem either as most stuff in Europe is just PEGI exept for the UK so it wont suddenly take 6 months after the US rating and release to get it released here.

No it isn't Germany has separate boards for certification, so does Austria, so does Irland, for example. Just because there's the usual PEGI logo printed on the back, doesn't mean it has only certified by PEGI. Just because there isn't a local rating system, doesn't mean it hasn't tested by local authorities.
For instance, even though Ireland uses the PEGI rating system, it has banned Manhunt 2 (the original version) from sale.

 

[Crossbar]

Hot Shot Golf 5 seems to have given the rating boards a hard time given how long time that game has taken since the release in Japan.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

IIRC PEGI is a voluntary game rating system, established by the games industry but not an official EU government body. The existing national systems are still in effect to determine appropriate material. See http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=33220

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Different ratings systems or not, this cant possibly be the reason for having to take months to get games out here.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I don't know, but don't underestimate the power of bureaucracy to negatively interfere with mortal men's lives!

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Well, yes. I did forget about that. But even so, I assume its fine sending in a english version to lets say france so all the rating for EU could start at the same time as for the US.

But that isnt the problem because the capcom guy said it was the translating which is obviously just a lie as they already got a completely translated version called the ps2 version. And how come others games dont have the problem? brawl? wait 6 months. But zelda en galaxy where released at almost the same time. Maybe devs just like to piss people in EU off? Are there any devs here that could comment on the euro disliking?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Don't confuse developers with publishers either. You'd need to be sure it's the developers holding things back and not the publishers before throwing stones. If you care about being just, anyhow...

 

[Crossbar]

Don't confuse developers with publishers either. You'd need to be sure it's the developers holding things back and not the publishers before throwing stones. If you care about being just, anyhow...

Yeah, just look at how Sony prioritise different PSN games for different markets, some get released first in PAL and some in NA etc., fortunately the PS3 games are region free so far and can be accessed by eager gamers who cannot wait.

Obviously the timing of the release of certain titles on certain markets play a significant role, maybe more so than the translation part.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Don't confuse developers with publishers either. You'd need to be sure it's the developers holding things back and not the publishers before throwing stones. If you care about being just, anyhow...

Well nintendo and capcom do their own publishing so that shouldnt be a reason for games like brawl and okami to be delayed.

Obviously the timing of the release of certain titles on certain markets play a significant role, maybe more so than the translation part.

Given how there is next to nothing worth to buy in EU for the wii I doubt that is the case (ofcourse you'll never know with the twisted thoughts some devs have, especially nintendo). The only game worth buying will be no more heroes which comes out here at the end of the month (see, atleast this didnt need a 6 month delay), thats the first game since Galaxy came out in December.

But ofcourse waiting untill the summer is great to release your game, when everything is on holiday and outside because of the (hopefully) nice weather.

The release list over here is as empty as it could be, no reason at all to think your game will to better in the summer.

 

[ERP]

Took us 3 months to do one of the games I worked on, I was stuck in the office waiting for final approval from Europe over Xmas, while everyone else was on vacation.

It's a whole host of things, sometimes you have more than one SKU in Europe, there is a lot of round and round loops of getting something translated, running it through language test and having it changed as a result. Sometimes there are memory issues. But technical changes are usually minimal, assuming you planned to support multiple languages in a single SKU from the outset (and some developers still don't).

Passing TRC's in a Europe vs the US can raise issues, because they place different emphasis on the various TRC's , and as mentioned above there is getting a rating in the various release countries.

It really can add up to months, depending on how it goes and how many languages your shipping.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Ah that clears things up some more But that still makes me wonder, lets assume that big devs like Nintendo and Capcom know right from the start they will also do a EU version. Than why not make the versions at the same time? If you're working in the english version, why not to the french/german/etc version at the same time? the translating itself shouldnt be a problem as I dont think it would matter wheather you have 1 or 5 translaters working at the same time. The adding of the translations shouldnt be such a time consuming job if that was taking into account when building the game? It shouldnt be to much of a problem to get multi language versions done at the same time right? They dont need 6 months to make the US version from the Japanese version, 6 months to add a few extra langauges seems afwully long to me, especially for big devs/publishers that dont have to worry about having one employee more or less working on it.

 

[rekator]

I also thinking that when a game is go for a younger audience the certification is more longer, they have to check all the game to be sure it's a real "younger" audience.
A 18+ is more simple, you only have to put 18+ on.
Ex: GTA, they probably don't check the game, 18+ automatically.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

Translating to and from an asian language can actually be very, very tricky. Particularly when GUI elements are involved, like buttons with text, stats, and so on. It's not just replacing a piece of text, you can't even do basic tests without someone who can read that language's characters...

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Thats why I was talking about the time it takes from US to EU. Even from Jap to US/EU shouldnt be so hard if you just keep it in mind from the start and not start thinking about it when you are already done.

Or am I just to simple minded?

 

[ERP]

There are just a lot of moving parts in the translation process.
Text is generally not "done" until you send off the master, although you commonly start translations earlier. Sometimes there are technical ssues with multi language support. You might have to add support for multi-line buttons or text boxes because the German translation is 3 times as verbose as the English version.
For us at least we have translators engineers and testers all in different locations, so closing the loop is time consuming. Getting bounced once by a platform vendor will cost you weeks.
And Japanese developers in particular haven't exactly been known for there forward planning on different language SKU's if some of the stories that float around are to be believed.

And a lot depends on the shear amount of text.

 

[archie4oz]

Or am I just to simple minded?

Hate to say it, but yeah you are being simple minded...

 

[catisfit]

It's not just translating sentences from language A to language B. You might have loading screens which have the text hardcoded inside them (e.g. an image file), so you need to regenerate all these assets. Or you might have fields where the text is to appear on the screen, yet when you translate suddently the words are a lot longer so it spills over. You need your font faces to be extended to every character you need in every language. You then need to run it past the platform so they can check it fits their policies (e.g. using the set phrases for system parts, such as "Memory Card (8Mb) (for Playstation 2)" wherever you want to refer to a memory card.

Then clearly because of all these changes, you need to test the game thoroughly, for both translation mistakes (all your base are belong to us!), and also to check all the text fits where it should do - especially in the German market, where words can be ridiculously long.

Then do this process 5, 10 times. Using the word "lying" is pretty offensive when you don't understand the process involved. You're clearly an English speaker so if it matters to you that badly, buy a PS3 and you can play games early (such as Unreal Tournament 3) as it's region free.