rant of the moment ~ imports.. >.<, why, o why? Options

[DivA]

okay, i have come to the realization that the USoA gets the shortest straw in regards to japanese games.. >.< there are lots of interesting titles being released at Japan that never see the light of day at the states ~ case in point.. i recently got drawn to a game called, Atelier Marie for the GBA (quite by accident, by the way..). the premise is beautiful, an RPG dealing with the ideas of alchemy by learning from the inhabitants to create various formulas, thereby progressing through the game's story.. the plus-side ~ i can import it for about $64.00 (ouch.. -.-), the minus-side ~ no translation.. =. no big deal, this is an incentive to learn the language, i suppose.. =/ but the point is this ~ why do the neat & unique games stay at Japan, while select few staple titles (things that go BOOM) make it to the USoA? & while i'm on the subject ~ what is the deal with the time lapse for game language translations? =. i can go out & purchase an anime dvd that has the options for: english, japanese, japanese with english translations or even french! O.o feh, one would think technology has reached a point where all games could be programmed with this option; but then again, that would be logical ~ can't have logic in the business world *smacks head* what was i thinking? ;p

*deep breath*

[Crushinator]

Firstly, think of how many horrible games are released here in America. Japanese games have the same ratio of crap to good (if not higher), so although the games seem "wacky" and "japaneeze" the vast majority are still utter feces.

Face the facts that not everyone is an anime-obsessed japanophile fan-person, and the market for bizarre, very japanese-oriented games is far too small to make ANY kind of profit here.

Redubbing an anime into english and putting on DVD is a big task, but nowhere near the effort that is required to translate all the menus/speech/text in a modern-day game (especially the game you mentioned). Like I said above, the cost>benefit margin is way to slim (if its even positive.)

As far as simultaneos region development goes, it seems that a lot of big names games are doing that nowadays. The N64 Zeldas and Wind Waker, Silent Hill 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, PSO, Sonic Adventure 2, Shenmue....the list goes on. While the games don't usually see a simultaneous release, the development effort behind them is for USA and Japanese at the same time, and the worldwide release is always a consideration from day one.

Remember, its not like there is some magical switch that turns all the language in a game from Japanese to English to French to Swahili. It takes people time and effort to make all those changes.

Oh yeah and this...

QUOTE

the USoA gets the shortest straw in regards to japanese games

Shortest straw compared to what? Japan??? No other region in the world gets more japanese games offically (I say offically cuz of course most games are bootlegged and released in Hong Kong) released than the USA. Be glad you don't live in Europe, South America, or Australia, they get like 1/3 of the games released here, both American and Japanese.

[HC82]

Crush summed up what I was going to say, but a little less emphasis on the whole odd Japanese imports. The biggest issue is of course money. Translating a video game is far more difficult then an anime, especially an RPG. Considering all the dam text/dialouge, and having to program that text/dialouge to appear/start up at according senarios requires a bit of work and planning, not just with the AO people, but the programmers as well. You have a team for both parts. I've seen how they voice anime. They hire some American guy, he reads a rewritten script, watches the anime being projected and the magic happens.

Also the productions costs alone for publishing, translating, and marketing are the real reasons games created in Japan don't make it to the US. If a publisher isn't confident that the game will sell well, they simply aren't going to bother, nor or they going to gamble with a few million just to see if the game will profit, let alone break even.

The US society is alot less "Japaneized" then Japan is "Americanized". Some unique Japanese made games simply wouldn't sell well in the US. Look at the silly mr mosquito game. The reason why it sold well in Japan had less to do with it being a really great game and more to due with the sheer "WTF" novelty of it all. They actually ported the game here, and aside from the fact that a game about playing a mosquito isn't exactly speculated to fly off the shelves here, the game recieved many average reviews from numerous game reviewers. In contrast the game Parappa the rappa recieved great reviews and it peeked peoples interest to try it out. There are alot of interesting Japanese games out there, but alot of them are just average to above averages games, whose selling point reloves only around its bizarre nature.

Then there is also the fact that many games that are good, never reach the US because publishers are simply to afraid to gamble. Even a game like ICO, which was actually a pretty good game, sold terribly in the US. It still recieved good reviews, yet still didn't do well, go figure.(I personally chalk up the terrible sales to an overall short game and poor replay value, word of mouth is what made Dynasty warriors become what it is, and it can cause people not to buy a game too)

[DivA]

if i lived at Europe, then i would order online for a US or JP system.. ;p my point is this ~ the world is getter smaller & smaller, things are getting more global; i look forward to the day when something that is released, is easily available for the world to acquire as a whole...also, i look forward to the day when all languages & currencies are replaced with a unified global standard.. =. when we start realizing that we all live on the same rock & actually nurture this revelation, then we may actually get somewhere as a civilization..

*shrugs* a consideration, only for big titles.. =. true, both regions have good & not-so good ~ but there are good games that are not brought over & vice-versa; that is the unfortunate element.. *shrugs* oh well, that's one thing the internet is good for - too bad the import costs are expensive.. >.< i understand that the issue revolves around money & gambling, but sometimes ~ the people in charge don't know a hit when they see one & instead, rely on a staple to bring over Super Mario XXVII...same plumber, same plot, same everything ~ only looks better.. ;p

to much of one thing = REHASH

a lot of japanese games may be quirky, but there is lots of originality too.. ^.-