Fan translation of video games
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In video gaming, a fan translation is an unofficial translation of a video game made by fans.
The
Fan translations of video game console games are usually accomplished by
Purpose
The central focus of the fan translation community is historically of Japanese-exclusive computer and video games being made playable in English for the first time, and sometimes of games recently released in Japan that are import-worthy and are unlikely to be officially localized to English-speaking countries. It has since expanded to include other languages as well. Fan translations to English have provided a starting point for translations to many other languages. A fan translation is also started if a certain game released in Japan is not announced for localization within one year from its Japanese release.[citation needed]
Fan translations may also be done to titles that have received official localizations that fans perceive as flawed; for example, if the game had controversial content removed (such as
The fan translation community was at its most popular, and attracted the most media attention, when certain popular game titles were still being worked on. These were usually parts of popular series such as
Some already translated RPGs are available on reproduction cartridges to play on the real hardware for some systems like the SNES.
Origins
The earliest English fan translations were done by Oasis, a group formed by Dennis Lardenoye and Ron Bouwland, two Dutch fans of the
In Korea, many fan translations of games made by ELF Corporation were produced for DOS PCs, starting around 1996. These patches were successful and ELF hired some of the translations teams for official Korean releases later on.
These were possible before emulation on PCs became popular (or even adequate enough to play games) because the games were on
Revival after emulation
The development of console emulators led to access to foreign video games. A revival began in 1996 when a group calling themselves Kowasu Ku formed under the lead of one "Hazama". The group stated plans to translate Final Fantasy V, but their efforts were never publicly released. Later that summer, a user called Demi announced work on a Final Fantasy V translation and founded Multiple Demiforce. It was eventually dropped in favor of Final Fantasy II (NES), a more manageable goal at that time. Demi and Som2Freak used Pasofami to post four screenshots of their work to Archaic Ruins, an emulation website. Shortly after, the translation stalled and the group disbanded.
Derrick Sobodash (Shadow) and David Timko both saw the Archaic Ruins website and contacted Som2Freak expressing interest in translating Final Fantasy V. He provided each with some primitive tools, and for the next few months, Shadow and Timko worked against each other. Both projects generated renewed interest in fan translation.
After months of working against each other, Shadow and Timko began cooperating.[2] RPGe, the first major translation group was established on July 8 in the #ff5e IRC channel, on the EsperNet IRC network by Shadow, Timko, Hooie and Thermopyle.[3] The start of RPGe sparked many other efforts to unify and within months, Translation Corporation, DeJap Translations and Starsoft Translations had formed.
RPGe's translation of Final Fantasy V was completed October 16, 1997 (version 0.96).[4]
Notable fan translations include that of
Legal issues
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2013) |
It is unusual for copyright holders to object to fan translations. This is probably largely because the electronic games in question are generally not considered commercially viable in the target language, so the translation is rarely seen as a source of lost revenue.
However, in 1999, one well-known incident in which copyright holders took action involved the translation of a Windows game maker called
In 2014, publisher
In September 2022, translation group ZeroField, responsible for English translation spreadsheet and overlays for
A popular belief in the fan translation community is that distributing only a binary patch, which must be applied to the full, original game, is legal. The reasoning is that the patch only contains the new data and directives for where it is to be placed, and does not have the original copyrighted material included in any form, and therefore it is useless unless the user applies it to a (copyrighted) ROM, the acquisition and legality of which they are left completely accountable for. This belief is untested in court. Regardless, the patch must still contain a translated script that is derived from the copyrighted script of the original, but this anti-
There have never been any legal cases involving fan translation issues, and such projects have been relatively widespread over the Internet for years. In recent years, anime fansubbers have started to attract the attention of some American anime distributors; and as of 2004 one manga scanlator has been handed a cease and desist by a Japanese company, but most of this attention has been restricted to polite entreaties asking fan translators to refrain from dealing with licensed material. As with the fansub and scanlation scenes, most sites devoted to translation hacks will not acknowledge projects that compete with commercially available localizations, and respected groups will generally attempt to steer clear of projects that may see localization.
An article of Helbraun law firm remarks in the context of fan translations that redistributing complete games with adaptions most likely does not fall under
Game company acknowledgments
On July 12, 2007, RPGamer released an interview they did with Koichiro Sakamoto, a game producer from Square Enix, acknowledging fan translations:
"On a similar note, we told Mr. Sakamoto that a fan translation had been done some years ago for
In 2010, publisher Xseed Games licensed and paid for the use of a fan translation of Ys: The Oath in Felghana (PC) in the PSP port in order to offset the localization costs of such a "niche" game.[15]
In 2010, Rising Star Games teamed up with Spanish fans of Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon to translate the game's script.[16]
In 2011,
In 2010, the Japanese game company
In 2021, NIS America reached an agreement with the fan translation group Geofront to use the latter's translations of The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure as a basis for official releases.[21]
Gaming culture and learning
While many studies covering fan translation examine the more technical aspects of extracting the text and manipulating it to translate it,[22] some others emphasize on the literacy and language related practices gamers develop through their engagement in the fan translation of games. They adopt many roles, acquire and put into practice not only IT skills but also linguistic and sociocultural skills, and maintain interesting conversations online with fellow gamers that lead to meaningful and situated metalinguistic discussions on language chunks and translation strategies.[23]
See also
References
- ^ Szczepaniak, John (June 2006). "Japanese ROM Translation". Retro Gamer. 25: 102–105. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2011-07-16.{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2011-07-18.{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2011-07-18.{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ EMU News Service (June '97) David Timko and Shadow Join Forces for FFV Translation! Archived 2007-02-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ EMU News Service (July '97) New SNES Translation Group Formed Archived 2006-11-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ EMU News Service (October '97) Final Fantasy 5 Archived 2007-05-12 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Parkin, Simon (October 29, 2008). "Mother 3 Review". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on September 4, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
- ^ Parkin, Simon (September 17, 2009). "Policenauts Review". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
- ^ rpgd (archive.org) rpg news archive
- ^ "Final Fantasy Type-0 Fan Translation Gets Shutdown By Square Enix". Cinema Blend. 18 July 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
- ^ "Square Enix squashes Final Fantasy Type-0 fan translation". Joystiq. Retrieved 2014-07-18.
- ^ Schreier, Jason (21 July 2014). "Final Fantasy Fan Translation Has Become A Fiasco". Kotaku. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
- ^ "[UPDATE] NIS America Asks the Legend of Heroes: Kuro No Kiseki Spreadsheet Creators to Cease Their Work - Noisy Pixel". September 2022.
- ^ Reviewing the Questionable Legality of Fan-Made Translations of Video Games on helbraunlaw.com (accessed May 7, 2017)
- ^ "RPGamer E3 - Front Mission Interview". Archived from the original on 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
- Gamasutra. 2008-12-26. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
- ^ "Why the Golden Age of JRPGs is Over". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
- ^ Newton, James (2010-03-08). "Rising Star and Spanish Fans Translate Fragile Dreams Together - Publisher and community work together as one". Retrieved 2016-02-13.
- ^ "School Days is coming in English!". JAST USA. Archived from the original on 2013-01-17.
- ^ "Journey to Phantasmagoria in Aselia the Eternal". JAST USA. Archived from the original on 2013-01-10.
- ^ Ishaan (2010-07-18). "Minori In "Constructive Negotiations" With Fan-Translation Group". Siliconera. Retrieved 2013-03-18.
- ^ "Software Studio minori, Fan Translation Group in Talks". Anime News Network. 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2013-03-18.
- ^ "From Fantasy to Reality: Our Partnership With NIS America". The Geofront. 2021-06-25. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
- .
- ^ Vazquez-Calvo, Boris. "The Online Ecology of Literacy and Language Practices of a Gamer" (PDF). Educational Technology & Society. 21 (3): 199–212. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2019-01-20.