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Office De La Langue Francaise Vs. Videogames
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Screwhead replied on Sun Aug 19, 2007 @ 9:58am |
 Coolness: 685640 | [ www.cbc.ca ]
MONTREAL (CP) - Video game characters such as Lara Croft and the Mario Bros. will have to hone their French now that a joint industry-government initiative aims to boost the number of games available in the language of Moliere. The Quebec government is close to finalizing a deal with the Entertainment Software Association of Canada to have all games sold in Quebec translated into French, The Canadian Press has learned. "The deal will be announced very shortly," said Nathalie Gelinas, a spokeswoman for Culture and Communications Minister Christine Saint-Pierre. Gelinas declined to provide details about the deal, but a source familiar with the negotiations said video-game distributors will assume the responsibility of making games available in French. "This is a big, big step for distributors because it implies added costs" said the source, who asked not to be identified. "It's a question of goodwill." The agreement is expected to be formally announced by mid-September. Gamers in Quebec have long complained that many of their favourite games are available only in English. Their cause has been taken up in recent years by Quebec's language watchdog, L'Office quebecois de la langue francaise, which is said to have played a role in the negotiations. The language watchdog received 262 complaints in 2005-2006 about unilingual computer programs, including video games. Recent figures suggest that less than 40 per cent of the most popular games in Quebec are available in French. That number is believed to be as high as 80 per cent in European markets, causing many to grumble about the lack of choice in Quebec. But the source close to the negotiations cautioned that formatting differences mean European copies of games in French can't simply be sold in North America. "It is a lot harder than is sometimes let on," the source said. "It's not just a question of language, but also of formatting." Saint-Pierre made it clear shortly after Premier Jean Charest's Liberals were re-elected last spring that finding a solution to the gaming issue would be a priority for her office. "It was an irritant that people didn't have access to a French version," Gelinas said. "There was room for improvement." But some video-game retailers questioned whether the joint initiative will have the desired impact. "Players are used to playing in English," said Jean-Francois Patenaude, a manager with a small video-game retail chain in Montreal. "I don't think it will change much for them." Patenaude even suggested that the deal could up operating costs for smaller retailers, who will be forced to buy copies of games in both English and French. "For sure you can talk about preserving the language, but you can't hurt business for the sake of a video game," he said. [ www.canada.com ] When Super Mario crosses over the Quebec border he will have to be able to speak French. The government and the video gaming industry have reached an agreement to make sure an increasing number of French games will be available in La belle province. The lack of French games on the Quebec market became "an irritant," said Nathalie Gelinas, spokeswoman for Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre. Gelinas said an "announcement on the agreement is imminent" without providing further details. "Many people complained about a number of games," Gelinas said. She stressed that the department signalled early this spring that it was targeting the video game industry. "This has been a preoccupation for some time in Quebec," Gelinas added. "In France, there's more access to French versions and this agreement works to head in the same direction." Quebec's linguistic watchdog, the Office quebecois de la langue française (OQLF), reported 262 complaints were made on video games in 2005-2006, which represents some five to 10 per cent of complaints received at the agency. About 80 per cent of video games in France are available in French compared to a little over 30 per cent in Quebec, noted spokesman Gerald Paquette, whose agency has been intimately involved in the agreement and is preparing to make a formal announcement in weeks. "If we could, through this agreement, reach 80 per cent [of video games in French] and more, we would be happy," Paquette said. "There's been a sweeping movement by consumers and French-language protection groups," about the issue he said. "It became a priority for us and we had to intervene." "What was important was to obtain the collaboration of distributors and game makers, and since they're [mostly] not in Quebec, they're not as sensitive about the issue," Paquette added. "We and the Ministry of Culture had to establish a certain partnership [with them] to come to an agreement, and this is what we will be unveiling in mid-September." Among others, Nintendo's Mario Party 8 for Wii, released this year, is available in French in France but in English in Quebec, like many other Nintendo products. One of the OQLF objectives in its 2005-2008 strategic plan is to make sure gamers have access to products in French. "We call it a sectorial intervention," said Paquette. "Instead of reaching every single retailer, we intervene at the source: game makers and distributors." Quebec is a video game development and game makers hub. Companies such as Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, which have expanded operations there are "excellent collaborators, great partners of the office," Paquette said. Although according to the latest OQLF lists of French video game availability, even Ubisoft fails to provide an Xbox 360 2007 French version of Wartech in either Quebec or France. According to industry figures, some 3,500 people in 70 different companies work in the video gaming industry in Quebec. In addition to developing its homegrown talent, the province has drawn major international players such as Ubisoft, which earlier this year announced it would invest up to an additional $450 million to expand its workforce of 1,600 to 3,000 by 2013. Ubisoft said the announcement didn't come as a surprise since it had been working with the government on the issue for some time. ***** now, if you read between the lines, video games that aren't translated into french won't be able to make it into the country.. So now we're gonna get longer wait time for translations to happen.. and they're not just satisfied with french subtitles and menus, they want EVERY bit of spoken dialog translated. Fun. |
| I'm feeling warcracktastic right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Deadfunk replied on Sun Aug 19, 2007 @ 3:01pm |
 Coolness: 153055 | 0c telment con, pasque les compagnie payeront pas pour les faire traduire, et les traduction sont tjrs a chier dans les jeux, pi jveut pas jouer a eds jeux en francais ca craint la marde! |
| I'm feeling promiscuous right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» nothingnopenope replied on Sun Aug 19, 2007 @ 4:02pm |
 Coolness: 201275 | The funny thing is video game development is a big industry in Montreal. Only in Quebec would they try to cause problems for one of their own major tech industries. |
| I'm feeling gangsta right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» DCRn replied on Sun Aug 19, 2007 @ 6:23pm |
 Coolness: 158285 | Christ. I don't want a video game with Anne Dorval's voice "acting" :( |
| I'm feeling unclesamgodamn right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» moondancer replied on Mon Aug 20, 2007 @ 11:09am |
 Coolness: 92315 | This is so stupid. They're talking about so much money for such a tiny market. For smaller videogames it won't even be worth it, at least not before releasing it everywhere else first. Quebec already makes up a small enough portion of the total market but the portion of us that want videogames in french equals an even smaller market than that. The real tragedy is we'll probably just end up being singled out from a lot of games... and then there will be a lot more people complaining. |
| I'm feeling bored right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Deadfunk replied on Tue Aug 21, 2007 @ 8:28am |
| Coolness: 153055 | yep, we will have to buy our games on ebay ! wich mean even less money for the translation shit,
this is completely stupid |
| I'm feeling promiscuous right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Screwhead replied on Tue Aug 21, 2007 @ 8:29am |
| Coolness: 685640 | Buy games?
lol |
| I'm feeling warcracktastic right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» JojoBizarre replied on Tue Aug 21, 2007 @ 9:35am |
 Coolness: 295025 | man this gonna be awesome, finally a game where I can hear Yve Corbeil screaming at germans trooops!
/sarcasm off |
| I'm feeling yeah right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Deadfunk replied on Wed Aug 22, 2007 @ 8:08am |
| Coolness: 153055 | Originally Posted By JOJO_BIZARRE
man this gonna be awesome, finally a game where I can hear Yve Corbeil screaming at germans trooops! hahah gold, never tought about that!! yeah screw ... *cough* buy *cough*! |
| I'm feeling promiscuous right now.. | |
| Good [+1]Toggle ReplyLink» Anarkoid replied on Wed Aug 22, 2007 @ 12:41pm |
 Coolness: 192725 | They are really doing the good thing if they want all the stuff that was said about videogame and violence to become true... |
| I'm feeling stress-con3 right now.. | |
Office De La Langue Francaise Vs. Videogames
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