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Game localization refers to the process of transforming videogame software and hardware for preparation to be imported and sold in a new region, usually a different country. Although translating the text assets is a large part of localization, the process includes any changes made to a game, including altering art assets, creating new packaging and manuals, recording new audio, transforming hardware, and even cutting out whole portions of the game due to differing cultural sensitivities. The decision to localize a game relies heavily on economic factors, such as the potential profits that could be made in a new country.〔O’Hagan and Mangiron, p. 111〕 As such, the process is usually undertaken either by the game developers themselves or by a third-party translating company, though unauthorized fan localizations can occur if a translation is poor quality or if a game is not going to be released in a specific language. As an industrial field, localization is still in development and lacks consistency in terms of implementation and importance. Gathering information about industrial localization practices can often be difficult because of the lack of consistency between companies, as well as non-disclosure agreements many translators have to sign. The goal of localization is to create an enjoyable, non-confusing play experience for the end user by paying heed to their specific cultural context. The suspension of disbelief is of utmost importance to the process; if a player feels as though the product was not meant for them, or if the localization creates confusion or difficulty in comprehension, this may break immersion and disrupt the player’s ability to continue the game.〔Bernal-Merino 2008〕〔O’Hagan and Mangiron, p. 211〕 == History == The founding concepts of game localization can be seen early in videogame history, as in the case of the localization of Pac-Man. The original transliteration of the Japanese title would be “Puck-Man,” but the decision was made to change the name when the game was imported to the United States out of fear that the word ‘Puck’ would be vandalized into an obscenity. In addition, the names of the ghosts were originally based on colors - roughly translating to “Reddie,” “Pinky,” “Bluey,” and “Slowly.” Rather than translate these names exactly, they were renamed to Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. This choice maintained the odd-man-out style of the original names without adhering to their exact meaning. The change in cultural context between the two countries provoked a change in the game text that was not a precise translation.〔O’Hagan and Mangiron, p. 49〕 An important concern for early localization was the limited amount of processing space available to house text strings that were longer than the originals, as was often the case with the NES and SNES (55). Ted Woolsey, translator of Final Fantasy VI, recounts having to continually cut down the English text due to limit capacity.〔Kohler 2005, p. 226〕 Often the budgets and production times for localizations were short, resulting in translations that were either confusing or entirely re-written. Early translations were sometimes “literally done by a “programmer with a phrase book.”.〔Corliss 2007〕 For instance, the original translation for the Sega Genesis game Beyond Oasis (original Japanese title, Story of Thor) was discarded by the English editor because it was nonsensical. Instead, it was completely re-written without any input from the translator.〔O’Hagan and Mangiron, p. 327〕 Sometimes the poor quality of the translation helped make the game more notable, as in the case of the notoriously poor translation of Zero Wing, whose text “All Your Base Are Belong to Us” became an early Internet meme. Technology in the early 2000s expanded to allow text to be stored in ASCII strings instead of in picture format, allowing for more efficient processing and more storage space for housing text. Better audio capabilities and reliance on voice acting created new challenges and avenues for translation, allowing the use of dubbing while also adding the burden of translating and recording new audio.〔O’Hagan and Mangiron, p. 58〕 As graphics improved and games relied more on cinematics, more attention had to be paid to lip-syncing as well as visual gestures that might be culturally-specific. In present times, there has been significant uptake in the amount of text and dialogue in a game, especially for triple-A RPGs. For instance, the team in charge of localizing Fable II into five languages consisted of 270 actors and 130 personnel- a far cry from the lone programmer with a phrasebook.〔Chandler and Deming 2012, p. 317〕 Likewise, the dialogue scripts for Star Wars: The Old Republic contained over 40 novels worth of text. Director of audio and localization Shauna Perry reports that SWTOR had as much audio as ten Knights of the Old Republic recorded back-to-back.〔Fahey 2008〕 The length and intensity of these projects presents never-before-seen complexity in the localization process. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Video game localization」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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