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Violent Games, Local Tastes
from the from-blood-to-oil dept
I've dealt with a few projects in my lifetime that required "localization". In almost every case, almost all of the "localization" meant "translating any words into the local language" and nothing more. However, when it comes to video games, it appears that localization can mean quite a bit more work. Due to various laws and regulations, companies are finding that they need to tweak the content of their video games for many of the international markets they enter. The article talks about Carmageddon as an example. In the US version, you drove like crazy and ran over whatever people got in your way, splattering blood all over the place. The UK deemed that too gory and insisted that the people you were running over be turned into zombies who splattered green blood. In Germany, it was robots, oozing black oil. It's gotten to the point where one group is even working on a specific "localization engine" for games - designed to make just such a process easier (though, the details of how it works aren't explained very clearly). Of course, I wonder how much interest there is in "bootleg" out-of-country games there are. I imagine kids in the UK would want to download the gorier American version, for example, so this could be yet another example where local laws don't really mean much in an online world.
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Why assume everyone wants indecenc y?
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It's more than language
You have to understand the various cultures where the product will be used and pay attention to things like color as well.
In some countries, the use of colors like yellow and brown are frowned upon because these colors represent 'foul' substances such as urine and feces.
In the U.S., it's common to use green to indicate good or go and red as bad or stop. These colors take on different meanings in other countries and cultures.
The company that I work for has developed a massive internal-use-only guide for product localization. Some of the items listed make you stop and say "Huh, why is that a problem?", but it's important to the customer, and we do try to be customer oriented...
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More restrictions in the US?
(in Japanese)
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20030624-00000221-kyodo-bus_all
I think I heard Euro Disney also sells alcohol.
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Re: It's more than language
Oh, I know that, but the company I worked for at the time, didn't. :)
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Re: More restrictions in the US?
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