Japanese language support

[rotsujin]

In the current generation of consoles, games can have the ability to support multiple languages and auto select the display language based on the system setting.

You should leave the original Japanese language version in games that you localize. There may not be many Japanese in the US, but your target audience is small to begin with and you should do whatever you can to expand it, not only to native Japanese speakers, but to people like me who spent years studying the language and want to play the game in its original context.

Larger companies (Capcom, Sega, Tecmo Koei) already do this, and you should follow suit. I would buy Trinity Universe from you instead of importing it if you left the Japanese menus/text as an option.

[odinfan]

Umm, this is NIS America.... not Nippon Ichi Software. You're on the wrong board if you think they're going to leave the Japanese in. This company caters to the US, not overseas, sorry.

[Elysion Zero]

Dialogue is one thing, since subtitles will do the trick. But the actual language of the game? The only fix to make that understandable to us native language speakers is to actually replace it.

[magusgs]

I don't really see any point in NISA cannibalizing NIS's business. If you want the text in Japanese, import the game. In any case, I doubt NIS partners (e.g., Gust) would play along, as they surely wouldn't want their Japanese sales getting cannibalized by an overseas company that takes a cut from every purchase.

[bloodyaftertaste]

I don't see why they shouldn't. I just played Fragile dreams which you could have in Japanese or English. I thought that was a nice touch.

[rotsujin]

Umm, this is NIS America.... not Nippon Ichi Software. You're on the wrong board if you think they're going to leave the Japanese in. This company caters to the US, not overseas, sorry.

Did you read my post? I live in the US.

I don't really see any point in NISA cannibalizing NIS's business.

NISA would cannibalize sales on a game that's been out in Japan for months? How? People in Japan are going to wait to import the US release? Give me a break.

The only fix to make that understandable to us native language speakers is to actually replace it.

No, it can support both. Change your system language to Japanese, French, Italian, German or Spanish and launch Bayonetta. You will see.

I don't see why they shouldn't.

Thanks, seems like 1 in 4 people here actually read the post and know what they are talking about. Do the mods ever weigh in? I can't see myself coming back here if this is the quality of this forum.

[shymel94]

I'm sorry, but I don't see any point in leaving the Japanese text in the game. I think Elysion Zero was referring to how most people in the US can't understand Japanese writing, so the only way to fix that is to change the text into English. I can see people waiting to get the game from America because games in Japan are expensive. I mean, if NISA feels the need to leave it in, I guess so.

[Elysion Zero]

Language Support Scale of Appeal

5 - English Text, Japanese Dialogue - Holy Grail; FUND IT!
3.7 - English Text, English Dialogue - Better than an Americanized version, but loses points due to dubbing
2.5 - Americanized English Text, Americanized English Dialogue - Slightly better than not understanding the game at all
2 - Japanese Text, Japanese Dialogue - Import it; undesecrated by poor translation/dubbing
1 - Japanese Text, English Dialogue - Probably Japan's Holy Grail; would bomb in the US

So you see, supporting Japanese text with an english dub doesn't appeal to more than a small portion of gamers, and Japanese text with Japanese dialogue is what you can import without a publisher spending extra time jamming it into the english release. There's every reason not to include it in a game release outside of Japan. Importing may be costly, but it's the only way to get a preferable version of games that aren't mainstream. Sometimes it's the only way to get games that aren't mainstream. Ultimately, if you're a niche gamer in any way and want either Japanese text or in some cases unincluded Japanese dialogue, you can expect importing to be a necessity.

EDIT: The only situation in which the Japanese text would be reasonably included is in a worldwide region free release. 1 version of the game, Japanese dialogue and text matching whatever language the console is set to. This is the best idea ever for releasing games, and it's rather stupid that this hasn't been implemented universally for all games.

[magusgs]

I don't really see any point in NISA cannibalizing NIS's business.

NISA would cannibalize sales on a game that's been out in Japan for months? How? People in Japan are going to wait to import the US release? Give me a break.

I would buy Trinity Universe from you instead of importing it if you left the Japanese menus/text as an option.

You really should read this guy's posts more carefully.

[ritsukot74]

I don't think any of you understand what he's trying to say.. Obviously the text cannot be in japanese, what would be the point on that?? All we ask for is that NISA keeps the dialogue in the original japanese voice and translate only the text. Not only because english voice actors are not that great for these type of games, but also because they would save so much money in doing so.

[odinfan]

To the TC, if you're still around, I read your post, you don't have to get cocky. I don't think YOU understood what I meant with my context. Like people have said, if you want the text in original Japanese, import it. Do that or don't complain here.

He's not talking about localizing, because NISA already does that.

[ritsukot74]

*sigh* I don't want the text in japanese... just the voice... it sounds much better, don't you think?

[shymel94]

NISA does leave in Japanese voices in what I've played, the OP stated he wanted the text though ritsukot74.

In the current generation of consoles, games can have the ability to support multiple languages and auto select the display language based on the system setting.

You should leave the original Japanese language version in games that you localize. There may not be many Japanese in the US, but your target audience is small to begin with and you should do whatever you can to expand it, not only to native Japanese speakers, but to people like me who spent years studying the language and want to play the game in its original context.

Larger companies (Capcom, Sega, Tecmo Koei) already do this, and you should follow suit. I would buy Trinity Universe from you instead of importing it if you left the Japanese menus/text as an option.

[lopez]

Having the option between Eng + Jap voice acting is nice, but I'd want NISA to do all english text, unless everything is voiced, then English VA and japanese text is fine. If I want to test my japanese comprehension then I'd just import the particular game from Jap

[odinfan]

That's what I was trying to say this whole time.... I'm not going to bother.