VC game releases not restricted by region

[Black Tiger]

Game|Life got this comment out of Nintendo of America senior VP George Harrison-

We are aware that there are some very successful Japanese franchises that have a small following in the US, and that they could never be reached by putting these products out at retail. We're open to games released in Japan if we can get them translated properly.

The significant thing is that he didn't just say, "it is policy that all VC games may only ever be released within their region of origin" or something.

Game|Life followed the quote with this-

But, Harrison adds, for the time being, Nintendo of America busy enough working through the major games that have already been released in the US.

Which still leaves open the possibility that we may see some Japan exclusive VC games over here after the Turbo catalog is exhausted, which will happen a lot sooner than with any other VC console and no other console has as proportionately big list of quality unreleased titles. Combined with strong TG-16 VC sales, it only makes sense that its a real possibility(and not just "it'll never happen").

[Odonadon]

Cool news, but at 1 game per week (if that) it's going to be many a year before we see that happen, if we see that happen   I have a feeling it's more likely we'll see GBA games and other Nintendo games making appearances.

OD

[Necromancer]

Oh, I'm not so sure about that big O.  Isn't there only 80 or so domestic hucards (screw 'Turbochips')?  Even if they released every single one, at one per week it would take less than two years.  I seriously doubt that they will have moved on to the next console in that short of time span.

[Keranu]

Yeah I read about this today on Wii's World - this brings some good hope . I like how Harrison said they're not only interested in bringing games out here, but translating them as well, so hopefully we'll get some decent games that would be nice to play translated (unlike a shooter or something).

Oh, I'm not so sure about that big O.  Isn't there only 80 or so domestic hucards (screw 'Turbochips')?  Even if they released every single one, at one per week it would take less than two years.  I seriously doubt that they will have moved on to the next console in that short of time span.

And they probably won't even bring out all the domestic Turbo Chips / HuCards, as they already claimed awhile ago, so we might be looking at a figure of around 50 games.

I'm excited to see any future news to this.

[TR0N]

I was reading about it over at kotaku.com.

It would be nice if nintendo invested in releaseing jpn only titles... on the vc for the u.s market.

Beside that would open up a huge catalog of games that, would keep the vc going for many years.

[GUTS]

See now some translated roms, that's worth $5-$10.  I'd definitely buy a Wii if they started translating Duo games.

[Keranu]

I would definitely pay money for translated games too. I've only bought one VC game and it was mostly for the novelty of playing a Turbo game on the Wii, so translations would certainly make VC games worth the purchase.

[Odonadon]

I still maintain this will never happen   I think translations might happen for the "bigger" systems (Genesis and SNES), but doubtfully TG16.  If Hudson begins to release one VC game every 2 weeks, or every 3 weeks, the library will last several years.  I still maintain it's more likely that after those years are up we'll see GBA or something instead of translated Japanese TG16 games.  I agree it would be totally awesome, but think about the money and effort that goes into a translation.

OD

[FM-77]

Doods, this will never happen. Translating a game involves actually translating them. I e, it means work. Work + Nintendo does not match. Not gonna happen. They'll keep selling old junk for ridiculous prices. They probably even downloaded the ROMs off the net instead of making their own.

[termis]

I e, it means work. Work + Nintendo does not match. Not gonna happen.

 

The translations would certainly be nice.  But most of the ones that really need them (text heavy RPGs/sims) are mostly on the CD format anyway, yeah?

[Keranu]

I still maintain this will never happen   I think translations might happen for the "bigger" systems (Genesis and SNES), but doubtfully TG16.  If Hudson begins to release one VC game every 2 weeks, or every 3 weeks, the library will last several years.  I still maintain it's more likely that after those years are up we'll see GBA or something instead of translated Japanese TG16 games.  I agree it would be totally awesome, but think about the money and effort that goes into a translation.

OD

If the bigger systems got translations, I wouldn't be so sure that the TG16 wouldn't get any, mainly for two reasons:

1. ) The PCE library is huge compared to the TG16 library. Not only does this show a large base of Japanese games in general, but it's a fantastic alternative to still make money off Turbo games once the American TG16 games run out.

2. ) The Hudson Entertainment guys have been asked millions of times if they would be interested in translating PCE games and of course they are, but just not sure how easy it will be for them to do that. If Nintendo and Sega start translating their games, I don't see why Hudson wouldn't jump on board and so the same .

Furthermore to make things easier for them, there are already PCE games emulated on the VC in Japan, so this makes one step accomplished .

I've doubted the idea of games being translated for the VC before, but now with George Harrison admitting that they are interested in the idea, it gives me a little hope.

[Odonadon]

If the bigger systems got translations, I wouldn't be so sure that the TG16 wouldn't get any, mainly for two reasons:

To elaborate on what I  said before, I think it's pretty likely that the we won't see any Megadrive or Super Famicom games translated.  I just think it's more likely than a PCE game.  Just think of how much bigger the Genny and SNES fan-base is in the English speaking world.

1. ) The PCE library is huge compared to the TG16 library. Not only does this show a large base of Japanese games in general, but it's a fantastic alternative to still make money off Turbo games once the American TG16 games run out.

Again, it would definitely be cheaper to forget about any translations and just bring out games for another console.  Hell, even providing the ability for us to play our actual CD games would probably be a lot cheaper than a translation

2. ) The Hudson Entertainment guys have been asked millions of times if they would be interested in translating PCE games and of course they are, but just not sure how easy it will be for them to do that. If Nintendo and Sega start translating their games, I don't see why Hudson wouldn't jump on board and so the same .

Asked millions of times by a handful of people like us, yeah.  There will definitely not be much consumer demand.

Furthermore to make things easier for them, there are already PCE games emulated on the VC in Japan, so this makes one step accomplished .

A pretty damn minor step compared to translating all text of a game, and then getting into the code of each game to make the changes.

OD

[Black Tiger]

To elaborate on what I  said before, I think it's pretty likely that the we won't see any Megadrive or Super Famicom games translated.  I just think it's more likely than a PCE game.  Just think of how much bigger the Genny and SNES fan-base is in the English speaking world.

But haven't the TurboGrafx-16 VC games been selling at least as well as the other VC platforms? If it ever happens for any VC platform, then wouldn't it make sense for Hudson to bring over PC Engine titles? The fan bases of Genny/SNES/TG-16 don't mean anything to VC sales if the VC sales don't reflect them.

And there are tons of PCE HuCards that don't need even any translation at all. For titles with a few japanese words, they could even include an extra disclaimer at the compatability screen before you download, warning about small amounts of japanese text.

2. ) The Hudson Entertainment guys have been asked millions of times if they would be interested in translating PCE games and of course they are, but just not sure how easy it will be for them to do that. If Nintendo and Sega start translating their games, I don't see why Hudson wouldn't jump on board and so the same .

Asked millions of times by a handful of people like us, yeah.  There will definitely not be much consumer demand.

The handful of us who asked Hudson to fix Military Madness was enough to motivate them to get into the code to make the changes.

Furthermore to make things easier for them, there are already PCE games emulated on the VC in Japan, so this makes one step accomplished .

A pretty damn minor step compared to translating all text of a game, and then getting into the code of each game to make the changes.

It may not be the best business model for Sega or Nintendo, since they're busy pumping out tons of big titles for all kinds of platforms. But Hudson is a totally different company that can use all the business they can get.

If they're willing to push hard on the cell phone market developing "original/new" games, I think its reasonable to believe they'd consider putting the resources into translating PC Engine games if VC sales are doing well enough. Basically, if they can make enough money off of it, they'll do it if they're allowed to.

[Odonadon]

But haven't the TurboGrafx-16 VC games been selling at least as well as the other VC platforms? If it ever happens for any VC platform, then wouldn't it make sense for Hudson to bring over PC Engine titles? The fan bases of Genny/SNES/TG-16 don't mean anything to VC sales if the VC sales don't reflect them.

Well, I think you can figure that whatever the sales figures are for the VC, they are a miserable fraction of what they were back in the day   I think the VC sales do reflect established fan bases, but not directly.  This is why I think the TG16 VC games are selling as well, if not better than the other platforms.

And there are tons of PCE HuCards that don't need even any translation at all. For titles with a few japanese words, they could even include an extra disclaimer at the compatability screen before you download, warning about small amounts of japanese text.

Good point, but how many lay-people are going to download a translated Japanese TG16 game?  Not many I bet.  I think the majority of people are downloading VC games for the novelty or nostalgia.  I don't have any facts to support this of course, but I can bet you that pretty much everyone I know in "real life" do not want to download a VC game they have never heard of (I wouldn't, and I'm a huge retro nut)

The handful of us who asked Hudson to fix Military Madness was enough to motivate them to get into the code to make the changes.

Something wasn't working as intended after it was put on the market.  Gotta fix it.  Not quite the same thing

It may not be the best business model for Sega or Nintendo, since they're busy pumping out tons of big titles for all kinds of platforms. But Hudson is a totally different company that can use all the business they can get.

Maybe, but I think it's more likely Hudson would go do something else like it's own handheld or something, or stick just to developing new games and releasing VC games for now.  As we all know profits come from the software, and at around $4 a pop on VC they can't be raking it in all that good (I think we can assume Nintendo receives a fair chunk of that money) And even if a whopping 400 people downloaded 1 translated game over a course of a year - that still isn't very much money.   Unless Hudson charges a premium, in which case we can almost guarantee people won't be spending extra dough on a Japanese game they've ever heard of.

If they're willing to push hard on the cell phone market developing "original/new" games, I think its reasonable to believe they'd consider putting the resources into translating PC Engine games if VC sales are doing well enough. Basically, if they can make enough money off of it, they'll do it if they're allowed to.

That sounds like an odd statement to me - I don't think it's reasonable at all to believe they would put resources into translating 15/20 year old games   And I agree with your last sentence, I just doubt they would make any money out of it. 

It's hard to see and easy to forget, but we're quite the little Niche here.     I have a very hard time believing a big game company today would engage in fanboy fancy (I sense flame posts coming... )

OD

edit: Just to be clear, I would be more than thrilled to see a Japanese game show up translated in English on the VC.  I just don't think it will ever happen.

[Keranu]

Good point, but how many lay-people are going to download a translated Japanese TG16 game?  Not many I bet.  I think the majority of people are downloading VC games for the novelty or nostalgia.  I don't have any facts to support this of course, but I can bet you that pretty much everyone I know in "real life" do not want to download a VC game they have never heard of (I wouldn't, and I'm a huge retro nut)

But once again, look at how well normal TG16 games are doing on the VC to begin with. I don't see why these same people wouldn't download Japanese games, especially if they're translated. I think one of the reasons why TG16 has done so well on the VC is because people haven't got to experience the TG16 and the VC is a great way of being introduced to it.