Topic: Quebec Getting More Games in French

[WindyMan]

Nous apporterons une contribution et écrirons une partie de cet article dans la langue française!
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=14243

 Quebec is the part of Canada where French is the dominant and preferred language, despite the fact that the country is officially bilingual in French and English.  However, reports state  that only 40% of top games released in Quebec are available in the more romantic language.    

That's going to change, though.  The Quebec government has announced that it has struck a deal with the game industry to ensure that all games entering the eastern province will have a French translation included.  According to The Canadian Press, game publishers will be covering any extra costs this would entail.    

A government spokesperson said that the details of the agreement will be publicized soon.  We'll let our French-Canadian friends know if there are any further details in this agreement at that time.

[WindyMan]

If you're wondering what the abstract translates to:

"We will make a contribution and write a portion of this article in the French language!"

You see, we care about you too, Quebec.

[zxkork]

Does that mean games in Quebec will be released later then their "untranslated" counterparts? If so, screw that deal, I'd tather get the game in english on time rather then in both languages 2 months later =/

[Kairon]

Quebec, welcome to Europe?

[TJ Spyke]

It's not an agreement, it's the idiotic Quebec goverment who passed a law stating that if the game is released in French anywhere in the world, it has to be in French in Quebec too. So basically any game released in Europe will have to be translated into French if it is released in Quebec too.

Since this will require extra time and money, expect games from small/budget publishers (like Majesco, Atlus, Nippon Ichi, Xseed) to either not be released in Quebec or released much later (since it might not be worth the cost just to release it in just one province). Gamers in Quebec better get ready to have to order certain games like RPGs from an online site like Amazon Canada since I know there will be publishers who would rather not release the game in Quebec rather than waste time and resources like this. Pity that gamers will have to suffer because of their provincial government.

[Ian Sane]

"Does that mean games in Quebec will be released later then their 'untranslated' counterparts? If so, screw that deal, I'd tather get the game in english on time rather then in both languages 2 months later"

I'm more concerned about this affecting the entire country.  Will a bilingual version be the ONLY version released in Canada?  Will Canada as a whole have to wait for translations?  Considering that the Quebec government is who is making the deal I'd assume no for now but Quebec has a lot of clout with the federal government.  Quebec may whine about waiting longer and using "Canadian government logic" the solution will be to have the rest of the country suffer too.

Methinks areas in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland near the provincial border are going to get a rise in game sales with Quebec residents popping by for games on time.

Probably no one who actually plays games is requesting this.

[Kairon]

That sucks. How can Quebec choose to be so... stand-offish?

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: Kairon
That sucks. How can Quebec choose to be so... stand-offish?

Because they see games like Alien Syndrome here and want nothing to do with it!

[matt oz]

Is QuĂ©bec still trying to become independent?  I haven't heard anything about that in a while.

[Ian Sane]

"Pity that gamers will have to suffer because of their provincial government."

Doesn't everyone suffer because of the Quebec provincial government?  I wouldn't be surprised if somehow people in Argentina are affected somehow by those guys.

I should become an Candian English videogame bootlegger.  My hatred of the Toronto Maple Leafs should allow me to slip into Montreal undetected.

[Ian Sane]

"Is Québec still trying to become independent?"

Only when they want something from the federal government.  I've suggested that BC and Alberta should try the same tactic.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"Is Québec still trying to become independent?"

Only when they want something from the federal government.  I've suggested that BC and Alberta should try the same tactic.

One Canada is enough for me!  

[Kairon]

::blanches::

Oh Canada...

[zxkork]

Le Parti Québécois is still trying to achieve independancy, but the timing is just not right, that's why they aren't pushing it right now. That law is really retarded, I mean, it's nice for kids who generally only speaks french, but that's about it. I'm also afraid the extra development costs generated by the translation of the software will be handed down to the consumer. This is annoying considering that games are already more expensive in Canada then they are in the US, wich is a nonsense considering how the US and Canadian dollar are currently on par with one another.

[KDR_11k]

Funny wannabe frenchies.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Does this mean making french games for Quebec isn't worth it?  So companies will just forego the French North American version completely and fly around Quebec as some kind of center of non-entertainment.

Ian's scheme may work afterall.

[Kairon]

edit: whoops

[Guitar Smasher]

Maybe when I'm over in Quebec getting my beer for cheaper, I'll bring over a few games to bootleg.

[WindyMan]

Don't look too hard into this one, guys.  Most "top games" are already translated into French for the French market.  It's just convenient for publishers to release one version of a game across the United States and Canada.  All that will likely happen is that Quebec will get their French/English version at the same time the game is released in France.  Not that big of a deal for publishers.

Besides, it's not like Quebecers can't just drive over to Ontario and get the game at the same time as everyone else.  Yeesh.

[Ian Sane]

"Besides, it's not like Quebecers can't just drive over to Ontario and get the game at the same time as everyone else. Yeesh. "

You do know Quebec is like the size of Texas, right?  It's not like some rinky-dinky province that takes an hour to drive across.  If you lived in the center of Quebec what the hell are you going to do?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Give up gaming.

[Sir_Stabbalot]

Order from another province?

[Elfslayer]

I'm concerned about the quality of these translations. I wonder if we'll get France french version or an actual Québec localization? I stopped going to the movies in french because the France dubbing we had in some of the major movies was awful.

[TJ Spyke]

WindyMan, that would basically mean Quebec would have to wait longer to get games than the rest of Canada. Canada almost always gets games the same day as the United States, while Europe (which includes France) usually get games several months later. At the very least, this would cause RPGs and other text/voice heavy games to be released later in Quebec (and maybe Canada in general if a company doesn't want to make two different versions for Canada).

The best solution for consumers is to just order the games online, or move out of Quebec.

This was just posted on NeoGAF by a poster named "Meta Knight":

Quote
just heard an interesting info from someone working at Beenox (owned by Activision):

The deal (it's not a law, it's a deal) was made between the Quebec government and the Entertainment Software Association of Canada. The following companies are part of ESA Canada: Activision Incorporated, Buena Vista Games, Electronic Arts, Microsoft Canada, Nintendo of Canada Ltd., Sony Computer Entertainment, Take-Two Interactive, THQ, Ubisoft Entertainment, Inc. et Vivendi Games, Inc.

Details will be revealed mid-september.

 

[Magus19]

It takes 5 hours to go to ottawa from quebec city. I will now do my buisness at amazon.ca