The Future Of Tales Is In The West (Part 2)
Fri, Aug 6th, 2010, 9:15 pm (EST) by Shawn
In yesterday's first part of this article, we detailed the recent events surrounding Namco Bandai's postings on Namco Games's Facebook wall and the misconceptions surrounding comments that it would be incredibly easy for the company to release the PS3 port of Tales of Vesperia. This second part details what both sides can do to help release more Tales games in the west.
What Namco Bandai needs to realize with the Tales series is that while it might not be as big of a juggernaut as other RPGs such as Final Fantasy or the company's very own Tekken franchise, there is a very passionate fan base, much like the fan bases for Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei and NIS America's Disgaea franchises.
The company also needs to realize that part of the lackluster sales can be attributed to two factors: release dates and fan outreach. One such example of the former would be Tales of the Abyss's release in North America. Namco Bandai released the title mere weeks before Final Fantasy XII and had little-to-no advertising, with only a few websites having advertisements for the game, compared to Square Enix's mammoth advertising for the their title. With Square Enix pushing out a limited edition version of Final Fantasy XII, many gamers were forced to pick one of the two and many forgoed picking up Tales of the Abyss if they happened to noticed it. The lackluster sales that followed only helped to push the game to the back of the store, furthering hampering its sales.
Keep on reading for more of the second part of the article.
The Future Of Tales Is In The West (Part 1)
Thu, Aug 5th, 2010, 6:47 pm (EST) by Shawn
Late last month Namco Bandai's Japanese branch revealed a series of new Tales games, one of which being Tales of Graces f, a PS3 port of the original Wii version which includes a plethora of new additions and updates. After a small number of fans posted on Namco Games, the branch of the company responsible for causal mobile and PC releases, the company posted the following response on their wall:
Firstly, thank you all for your excitement around the series. We also love the series here at Namco of America and are working with our Japan counterparts to determine if we'll see US releases for these games. Unfortunately, we don't currently have any plans to bring Tales of Graces to the US. If this changes, we'll let you know as soon as we can!
For those who follow the series and the company, Namco Bandai has normally disregarded fan responses to the Tales series, so to have the company acknowledge the fans, let alone comment on talking to their Japanese branch, which has control over what titles the North American branch can and cannot publish, was a welcome sign indeed. Shortly after this announcement, a petition on PlayStation.Blog Share for Sony to help localize both the PS3 and PSP Tales titles was posted, along with a plethora of wall posts on the Facebook wall which totaled over 300 in just a few days time.
Keep on reading for more information, as well as details for how to let Namco Bandai hear your voice on the matter.
New Tales Post Vanishes From Company Facebook Wall
Mon, Aug 2nd, 2010, 7:30 pm (EST) by Shawn
Last Friday we reported on Namco Bandai posting a statement on their Facebook wall responding to the comments for a localization of Tales games outside Japan. What followed was over 100 posts to the company's Facebook wall and over 1,000 votes on a petition on Sony's PlayStation.Blog share for Sony to help localize PlayStation titles in the series, among other things. The company responded yet again, but this time things happened quite differently.
The original statement, which was posted less than an hour ago, read: To all Tales fans! We are ecstatic to see all of your responses. Thanks for your loyalty and passion towards the game. Unfortunately we do not have any plans to localize the series at this time. We’ll be sure to let you know if there are any changes to the plans. Thanks again for your support.
For those who closely looked at the comment, it was oddly noticeable that "series" was used instead of Tales of Graces, as in the previous statement. Just the comment alone sparked quite a few negative posts, as was to be expected. But unlike the previous statement, which still can be seen on the company's wall, this new statement, along with its 30+ comments, is now completely removed.
One has to wonder why the company would remove this comment, as it stated almost the exact statement as the previous comment, save the replacing of the game for the series. Namco Bandai has yet to comment on the removal.
Namco: We're Working On US Tales Releases
Fri, Jul 30th, 2010, 9:56 pm (EST) by Shawn
Since the release of Tales of Vesperia on the Xbox 360, which was followed by a Japan-only release of a Director's Cut version of the game on the PS3 which appeared to have been in the works from the beginning, as well as a plethora of Japan-only titles in the series, many have wondered if the company still cared about the series in North America and Europe. Namco Bandai has just made a statement on their official Facebook page about just that.
Earlier today, after receiving numerous fan posts on their Facebook page, as well on other social media websites such as Twitter and YouTube, the latter of which was likely the cause of their comments section being disabled, the company finally responded to their fans with the following statement:
Firstly, thank you all for your excitement around the series. We also love the series here at Namco of America and are working with our Japan counterparts to determine if we'll see US releases for these games. Unfortunately, we don't currently have any plans to bring Tales of Graces to the US. If this changes, we'll let you know as soon as we can!
More analysis can be found in the full story.
Tales of Innocence Interview with Absolute Zero Translations (Part 3)
Fri, Jul 9th, 2010, 10:59 pm (EST) by Shawn
As many Tales fans might already know, Absolute Zero Translations recently released their Tales of Innocence translation patch. We recently asked for questions for the people behind the effort, and we've gotten back the answers. We spoke with the project lead, Matt, otherwise more commonly known as throughhim413, about the the translation, what obstacles they had to overcome, and even what their favourite Tales character is.
This is the third and final part in a multi-part interview. Last time, we spoke to Matt about what key lessons aspiring fan translators should look out for, what the team's future plans are, and what might have happened if the team hadn't received donations during the duration of the project. This time, we relax things a bit with some general "what's your favorite" questions, what the highs and lows of the project were, and the one key lesson aspiring fan translators should look out for.
Tales Union: What is your favourite Tales character?
Matt: Jade has been a favorite ever since I played Tales of the Abyss. I really like the whole calm and collected way that he carries himself. His attitude really lends itself to the kind of humor that I enjoy.
I can't help but mention Hasta from Tales of Innocence. He's a minor villain and he really shouldn't be as awesome as he is. I crack up so bad whenever he's on screen. From the way he talks to the random references that he makes, I'm not sure that there's a character in the series as out-there as Hasta. He was a lot of fun to translate and I hope people enjoy his antics as much as I do.
And I'll give an honorable mention to Kohaku Hearts. She's just a very cool female lead whose character grows by leaps and bounds as a function of the story. I really like the multiple sides of her personality that come out as you get further in the game.
More of our exclusive interview can be found in the full story.
Tales of Innocence Interview with Absolute Zero Translations (Part 2)
Thu, Jul 8th, 2010, 8:39 pm (EST) by Shawn
As many Tales fans might already know, Absolute Zero Translations recently released their Tales of Innocence translation patch. We recently asked for questions for the people behind the effort, and we've gotten back the answers. We spoke with the project lead, Matt, otherwise more commonly known as throughhim413, about the the translation, what obstacles they had to overcome, and even what their favourite Tales character is.
This is the second part in a multi-part interview. Last time, we spoke to Matt about what went on behind the scenes during the translation effort and what sorts of challenges the team faced. In the second part of our interview, we find out what key lessons aspiring fan translators should look out for, what the team's future plans are, and what might have happened if the team hadn't received donations during the duration of the project.
Tales Union: It is common knowledge that Absolute Zero Translations is working on Phantasian Productions on Tales of Destiny for the PS2. Are you currently working or are planning on translating any other games, and if so, would it consist of the same team as Tales of Innocence and/or is it another Tales game or another series entirely?
Matt: That's kind of the eternal question. "Now that you're done, what are you working on next?" My plan is to get back to work on Tales of Destiny after a bit of a break. Kingcom will be going back to focus on Super Robot Wars J for the DS next, I believe. This will certainly not be the last time we work together. We don't know what our next project together will be or when it will happen, but we hope that you'll all join us again when the time comes. In the mean time, we both have more than enough work to keep us busy.
More of our exclusive interview can be found in the full story.
Tales of Innocence Interview with Absolute Zero Translations (Part 1)
Wed, Jul 7th, 2010, 5:11 pm (EST) by Shawn
As many Tales fans might already know, Absolute Zero Translations recently released their Tales of Innocence translation patch. We recently asked for questions for the people behind the effort, and we've gotten back the answers. We spoke with the project lead, Matt, otherwise more commonly known as throughhim413, about the the translation, what obstacles they had to overcome, and even what their favourite Tales character is.
This is the first part in a multi-part interview. In Part 1 of our interview, we speak to Matt about what went on behind the scenes during the translation effort and what sorts of challenges the team faced.
Tales Union: Were there any difficulties in creating the modifications for the translation patch? If so, which one gave the team the most trouble?
Matt: Gotta defer to Kingcom on this one since I just handle the translation side. He said that while he did have to rewrite the subtitle code several times, he thinks the grammar stuff was the most difficult to implement. People might not notice it, but we went to great lengths to ensure that all of the variables in the game would result in natural English.
Whereas a lot of translations have to settle for "Discard 2 Poison Powder," our translation managed stuff like "Discard 2 measures of Poison Powder." Instead of "Purchase 3 Knife" it was "Purchase 3 Knives." It took a lot of work for both of us to recognize where it was necessary and how to make it work, but it was totally worth it.
More of our exclusive interview can be found in the full story.
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