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Why don't more Japanese games get released in the USA?

KilarneyKilarney
edited November 2006 in Video Games
I was looking at this list of Nintendo DS game release dates:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/releases.html

Japan has a ton more games coming out in the next few weeks than the USA.

Why is this? Isn't it pretty cheap to translate a game - after all, the hard work of programming the game itself has already been done.

Also, why are there so many more games being released in Japan. Even if we don't get all of their games, shouldn't we have about the same number of our own?

Comments

  • AprecheApreche
    No because Japan continues to hate us. The real reason is that despite the overwhelming evidence they still don't think the Japanese games will sell in our market. Also, they are still selling out of DS Lites in Japan. They sell hundreds of thousands of them every week. The system has basically taken the country by storm.

    Making a Japanese DS game is incredibly profitable because you sell many copies and don't have to ship it around the world. Making a US DS game is a much riskier endeavor. The price of translating is meager. The real increase in price is because you have to print so many more copies to get them to all the retailers in North America. Then you have to spend money marketing the game. Then you have to spend money to ship these games by truck all over the freakin' continent. It's much easier to blanket a small island with little cartridges than it is to blanket the freakin' US.

    So yeah, we still get the shaft. At least Capcom realizes we love Phoenix Wright.
  • AprecheApreche
    Oh, I forgot. Translating might be relatively cheap, but it isn't as easy as you think. Depending on how these games are programmed you might have to spend lots of time re-writing things to make sure the text fits in the same amount of memory as the Japanese text did. Also, there are other things you need to do for localization besides translation. You need new box art, new manuals, change cultural references, etc.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    edited November 2006
    You also end up with an Internet virus because of a typo... ala "All your base belong to us"
    Post edited by HMTKSteve on
  • MamathMamath
    The game "All your base are belong to us" hails from has a bad translation all round. I have no idea how it managed to even get to the printing stage?

    One day all games will be downloadable and distribution won't be a problem. :D Maybe.
  • KilarneyKilarney
    Since I have a connection in Japan, are there any Japanese DS games that I shouldn't miss? I don't read the language, so it would have to have English support, or at least be fairly language independent.
  • HasbroHasbro
    Had this been asked a few weeks ago I would have responded with "Ouendan" but the great gods of localization smiled down upon us and there is a port being released under the name of "Elite Beat Agents." The game itself (at least in its Japanese incarnation, I haven't looked into the English title yet) is a hilarious yet incredibly effective rhythm and music game (ala Parappa the Rapper, etc.) that fits perfectly within the control scheme of the DS. I highly recommend checking it out.
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