CONFERENCE
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LOCALIZATION
Tuesday, March 6
10am-6pm
Game localization is a cornerstone of the game industry, responsible for approximately half of the global revenue stream. Game publishers and developers are quickly realizing that their industry is not only benefiting from localized versions of their games, but is wholly dependent on localization to drive revenues and increase appeal. Beyond the traditional gaming markets, the demand is quickly increasing from a growing number of countries and emerging markets around the world, which is prompting publishers to partially or fully localize more products into more languages to maximize their ROI.
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HIGHLIGHTED SESSIONS
Game Localization: Using the Past to Understand the Present and Predict the Future
Matt Whiting (Microsoft Studios and Ted Woolsey (Microsoft Studios
Game localization has developed rapidly and organically over the years and continues to emerge as its own unique form of content localization. Starting with localization in the early '90s (the SNES/Genesis era), when games were sold in the toy department of major retailers, this keynote session for the 2012 Localization Summit will first look back on the evolution of game localization and reflect on how we've advanced, and then discuss the state of the art today at Microsoft Studios. As the game localization discipline looks forward, certain technologies (machine translation) and social initiatives (crowd sourcing) present alternative options for localization. How viable will these be in the future? How might they make game localization more efficient or accurate? Explore these questions and more with these industry veterans!
Audio Localization Done Right: Simultaneous Scripting and Recording
Hikaru Taniyama and Masaharu Shibayama (Square Enix)
While multi-language simultaneous development has become an industry standard nowadays, this method of game development still poses a big challenge for localization and sound divisions. The audio and translation pipeline has to deal with an increasing amount of audio files and text resources at the same time without compromising the individual language quality. Localizing from Japanese is inherently complex. It sets high expectations for an effective work environment that is able to streamline processes across participants such as the sound engineer, localization translator, sound studio and development team. By presenting an internally developed localization tool, this session will provide a solution for effective simultaneous audio script translation and multi-language recording. Resource implementation (text, audio), hand-off to translators and recording studio and asset management will be discussed.
StarCraft II - Carte Blanche Localization
William Barnes (Blizzard Entertainment)
When Blizzard launched StarCraft II in July of 2010, it was lauded globally as one of the most thoroughly localized games ever. Jim Raynor enunciated perfect Korean, Dr. Hanson's French was sublime, and Tychus Findlay spoke flawless Russian. The multi-player unit VO was every bit as entertaining in Italian as it was in English. The melting pot city streets of the multi-player maps hinted at Ridley Scott's depiction of Los Angeles 2019. The in-game cut-scenes and pre-rendered sequences were tailored perfectly for eleven locales. And, even the Map Editor was launched fully localized in 11 languages. Hear how and why Blizzard elected to localize StarCraft II as comprehensively as they did.
Crysis Management: Localization from a Developer's Perspective
Judith Matz (Crytek)
If working as a developer in localization teaches you one thing, it's this: nobody knows what you actually do, other than "making it work somehow". This talk will attempt to shed some light on the localization-related tasks a developer should typically take care of before the actual localization phase takes place. During the talk, we'll try to locate and visualize critical localization risks during game production and in some cases suggest ways to minimize them.
GAME LOCALIZATION SUMMIT ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Miguel Á. Bernal-Merino
University of Roehampton, London.
Miguel Á. Bernal-Merino is a lecturer and researcher in multimedia interactive localization. He has worked none-stop for the past few years to raise awareness about the issues involved in the localisation of video games within both the industry and academia by leading several events in Europe and the US. He believes passionately in localized versions that play as wonderfully as original ones, and looks at the challenging road ahead with a positive determination and excitement. He remains committed to building the bridges that will allow developers, publishers, localizers, and academics understand each other's work better, and ultimately improve overall quality, player satisfaction, and ROI.
His expertise lies in the translation of rich-media texts (such as video games, films, etc.) He has several publications on audiovisual translation and game localization, and although permanently based at the University of Roehampton in London, he is invited as a guest lecturer in many universities around Europe. He is also working towards a full integration of game-like applications to enhance literacy and language learning complementing formal education.
His expertise lies in the translation of rich-media texts (such as video games, films, etc.) He has several publications on audiovisual translation and game localization, and although permanently based at the University of Roehampton in London, he is invited as a guest lecturer in many universities around Europe. He is also working towards a full integration of game-like applications to enhance literacy and language learning complementing formal education.
Kate Edwards
Englobe
As the founder and principal consultant of Englobe Inc., a Seattle-based niche consultancy for content culturalization, Kate is a gamer who became a unique hybrid of an academic geographer, writer, and geocultural content strategist, all coexisting with a passion for cultures, technology and games. Formerly as Microsoft's Geopolitical Strategist in the Geopolitical Strategy team (a position and team she created and managed), Kate was responsible for protecting against political and cultural content errors across all MS products and locales. She implemented a "geopolitical quality" review process in the Microsoft Game Studios and was personally responsible for reviewing potential sensitivities in all 1st party games. Since leaving Microsoft, she has worked on numerous titles, including Dragon Age 1 & 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Ninja Gaiden II and Dance Central 1 & 2. Kate is also the founder/chair of the IGDA Game Localization SIG and a regular columnist for MultiLingual Computing.
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